We’ve come a long way from the humble Chicken McNugget, with high-end restaurants serving their own versions using cod cheeks, salt beef and even trotters. But why have they become so popular?
At the Suffolk restaurant in Aldeburgh, nuggets are made from cod cheeks and served with a curried tartare sauce and seaweed salt. At the Spread Eagle in Wandsworth, London, Pitchfork cheddar nuggets come resting on a bed of warm onion chutney, with a side of saffron mayo. And, at the White Hart in Welwyn, confit chicken nuggets are drizzled with truffle mayo – “the boujiest chicken nuggs I ever did see”, as one commenter on the restaurant’s Instagram put it. More than a decade since Jamie Oliver did his best to dissuade the nation’s children from eating ultra-processed beige bites, nuggets – chicken or otherwise – are back on the menu, upgraded from fast-food favourite to restaurant-worthy fare.
“It’s our biggest-selling starter,” says James Jay, head chef at the Suffolk. “I think around one in six order it.” His nuggets sit alongside white-tablecloth classics such as lobster bisque, steak tartare and scallops – so what is the appeal of the seemingly simple dish? “It’s memory-evoking comfort food and there’s a playful element,” he says. “Ours is actually a play on words: ‘cod’s cheek-in-nugget’.”
