Processed Chicken At Thai Restaurants, Yuck!

[Jingthing]

Whine alert -- this is just a whine. Nothing positive about this post!

OK, have you noticed how pervasive the FAKE CHICKEN pieces are now at all kinds of Thai restaurants? You can almost forgive the cheap ones doing this, but I am seeing this at quite nice places charging enough to actually offer REAL food.

I am talking about those dry uniform slices of chicken you see in curries and soups, etc. I have even detected the dry, no taste qualities of this sad product in minced chicken dishes!

Now of course if you see actual chickens with heads hanging in the glass, you're going to get chicken, so you do get real chicken at kaw mun gai places, and gai yang places, etc.

Chicken is a good food. It's healthier than red meat. People should eat less red meat for their health, and it's also greener. But that fake chicken stuff is just a horror show of awfulness! The word cardboard comes to mind.

With this bad trend, are we going to get to the point where you get much better Thai food OUTSIDE Thailand, than inside?

I find if I am exploring the menu of a new restaurant, eventually I try a chicken dish, and these days it is usually this bad stuff. So it's a wasted dish. Try asking them if they serve real chicken, they will always say yes! So asking doesn't help, you have to order a dish of this embarrassment to poultry to know.

Sadly, I end up eating more red meat than I'd like, thanks to this state of affairs.

Yeah, I get it that they do this shameful thing to their food because it's easier and cheaper so they make more money. But that ain't fair to the customer, now is it? I wouldn't mind if they were open about it and at least offered the option of paying extra to get REAL chicken. But they don't and they won't. Oh, the humanity.

Edited March 22, 2011 by Jingthing

[surayu]

After reading the title i am now struggling to understand what was the verdict on the chicken, after he got processed at the restaurant ?? sooorryyy yes i think i know what you mean, one day out of curiosity i did try one of those ready meal boxes from CP they sell at 7/11, somehow the "chicken" had a very unexpected texture and taste, like the pork ham, really

[Jingthing]

After reading the title i am now struggling to understand what was the verdict on the chicken, after he got processed at the restaurant ?? sooorryyy yes i think i know what you mean, one day out of curiosity i did try one of those ready meal boxes from CP they sell at 7/11, somehow the "chicken" had a very unexpected texture and taste, like the pork ham, really

I am finding this same kind of stuff at rather expensive restaurants! It is really wrong. It's an insult to Thai food. There ought to be a law.

What's next? Fake pork slices in curries and soups? I know there is a meat base for this garbage, but all the juicy life (and natural taste) of it is PROCESSED out.

Edited March 22, 2011 by Jingthing

[surayu]

I am finding this same kind of stuff at rather expensive restaurants! It is really wrong. It's an insult to Thai food. There ought to be a law.

then the "chicken" should be remand into custody (back into the kitchen)

[Jingthing]

I am finding this same kind of stuff at rather expensive restaurants! It is really wrong. It's an insult to Thai food. There ought to be a law.

then the "chicken" should be remand into custody (back into the kitchen)

Imagine complaining and sending it back. But it isn't chicken! Yes it is! No it isn't! Oh, never mind ...

[surayu]

Imagine complaining and sending it back. But it isn't chicken! Yes it is! No it isn't! Oh, never mind ...

Well, just put it like this, the picture you added is clearly a "farang-chicken/whatever", the restaurant is thai, the food supposed to be thai, we are in Thailand, farangs are bad, just show them the pic and they will agree, just don't expect any money back and pray the owner is not a BiB

[Jingthing]

It just pisses me off to have to "test" new restaurants in this way. It's not like the cardboard is inedible or the curries or soups surrounding that mess can't be tasty. So when you get that stuff, you are just learning that the kitchen is greedy and lazy, but it is getting to be like most places are like that recently. Caveat, I am talking Pattaya, hopefully it isn't as bad other places. Veggie types are probably asking, why not just get tofu, well actually I would prefer good tofu to chicken-board, but generally Thai places serve that odious cheap yellow Thai style tofu that comes in tubes. Of course, once I learn a place is serving chicken-board, then if the food is good enough otherwise to go back, for me it means no chicken, but I like chicken.

Whine, whine, whine!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Edited March 22, 2011 by Jingthing

[DP25]

Haven't gotten the fake chicken very often. Fake chicken would be a welcome improvement though in some curry stalls that seem to only serve bone, skin, gristle, feet, and mystery organs in their chicken curry.

[jazzbo]

Remember? Parts is Parts:

[Jingthing]

I don't really eat street curry anymore, too much dirt and dust in the air in these parts, but in those places, yes I do recall the bone and gristle thing. Not very nice, I agree. So when I mentioned cheap places in the OP, I was referring to very low end restaurants but up from street stall/market places.

[Igor]

What's next? Fake pork slices in curries and soups? I know there is a meat base for this garbage, but all the juicy life (and natural taste) of it is PROCESSED out.

Welcome to the 21st Century. Protein is expensive and it's imperative to use every little scrap. Voila! Processed meat. The way to handle this is to let the manager of the restaurant know how you feel and withdraw your business. Especially if you are a regular customer.

BTW - there are many scientists who would argue with your claim that chicken is healthier than red meat. In fact, a lot of them say you're not eating ENOUGH red meat.

[Jingthing]

What's next? Fake pork slices in curries and soups? I know there is a meat base for this garbage, but all the juicy life (and natural taste) of it is PROCESSED out.

Welcome to the 21st Century. Protein is expensive and it's imperative to use every little scrap. Voila! Processed meat. The way to handle this is to let the manager of the restaurant know how you feel and withdraw your business. Especially if you are a regular customer.

BTW - there are many scientists who would argue with your claim that chicken is healthier than red meat. In fact, a lot of them say you're not eating ENOUGH red meat.

Don't have the link but a recent study out of UK says eating more than a moderate portion of red meat more than three times a week greatly increases your chance of getting cancer.

[transam]

Haven't gotten the fake chicken very often. Fake chicken would be a welcome improvement though in some curry stalls that seem to only serve bone, skin, gristle, feet, and mystery organs in their chicken curry.

I must agree, AND l prefer the fake stuff cos of that, sorry JT.

[Jingthing]

Haven't gotten the fake chicken very often. Fake chicken would be a welcome improvement though in some curry stalls that seem to only serve bone, skin, gristle, feet, and mystery organs in their chicken curry.

I must agree, AND l prefer the fake stuff cos of that, sorry JT.

I would agree too, but that really wasn't my point.

I haven't found that gristle treatment often in any kind of real restaurant. I just want to know what I'm going to get, if it would be gristle (which I can easily avoid by not eating street curries where you can SEE the meat anyway), or fake chicken. If I knew I was going to get fake chicken, I just wouldn't order the dish with chicken. Yes I also eat more fish/seafood than I feel like for this reason.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Jingthing

[Igor]

Don't have the link but a recent study out of UK says eating more than a moderate portion of red meat more than three times a week greatly increases your chance of getting cancer.

Don't have the link but I read recently that three portions or more of junk science every week can cause insanity.

Haven't you realized yet that, these days, everything causes cancer? Especially things I have funding to study.

On the one hand, we have bodies that are designed to break down and digest meat products and, on the other hand, too many carbohydrates gives us diabetes. You pays your money and you takes your chances. The science is DEFINITELY not in...

[Jingthing]

The science will never be in. But we have to make daily decisions based on reasonable evidence. Life isn't a rehearsal.

OK, here's a link referring to the recent UK health recommendations --

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/02/20/new-health-alert-over-red-meat-cancer-risk-115875-22935775/

Evidence, inclusive, but good enough for me to take it seriously.

Also linked to heart disease and diabetes.

How much do you want to bet Mr. Igor thinks human caused climate change is a hoax?

Edited March 27, 2011 by Jingthing

[edwardandtubs]

The science will never be in. But we have to make daily decisions based on reasonable evidence. Life isn't a rehearsal.

OK, here's a link referring to the recent UK health recommendations --

http://www.mirror.co...15875-22935775/

Evidence, inclusive, but good enough for me to take it seriously.

Also linked to heart disease and diabetes.

How much do you want to bet Mr. Igor thinks human caused climate change is a hoax?

The problem with this "evidence" is that they don't differentiate fresh red meat from processed red meat. If you take away the hotdogs and bacon and ham which are full of cancer-causing sodium nitrate, there's no evidence that red meat is harmful.

[Jingthing]

Good point, so logically it would make sense to at least cut down on processed red meat products.

[Igor]

Do I believe in anthropogenic climate change? I believe YOU do. Isn't that enough?

You've supplied a link to an article in the Mirror. Don't know if you've ever lived in the UK but that's not exactly a top shelf source. Better than the Sun but still hyperbolic in it's reporting.

I could give you lots of links that show a low carbohydrate, high protein diet is beneficial to your health. But better if you just do a little research yourself instead of letting the Mirror do it for you. Start with the Atkin;s and South Beach diets and come around to the Paleolithic diet. The science of nutrition is evolving rapidly as we understand the biochemistry better. Remember 12- 15,000 years ago we were almost exclusively meat eaters. What carbs we ate, we knocked the dirt off and ate raw. !5K years is a mere blink of the eye in evolution. We are still meat eaters.

Am I on such a diet? Never said I was. I believe in a more balanced approach to food. My beloved khao soi would never make it into a carbohydrate restricted diet.

By the way - no MR Igor. That's not my surname. Just call me Igor. But never Iggy!

[Jingthing]

Yes I know the Mirror is a yellow rag.

But the source is the UK government.

Please.

http://www.government-news.co.uk/dept-health/201102/red-meat-link-to-bowel-cancer-warning.asp#

[Igor]

Yes I know the Mirror is a yellow rag.

But the source is the UK government.

Please.

http://www.governmen...er-warning.asp#

Just because the gubmint says so doesn't mean it's not junk science. The linked press release say that eating lots of red meat "probably increases" your chances of having bad things happen to you. If they were certain would they have used the qualifier? Of course not. The warnings on a pack of smokes says use this product and you WILL die a horrible death. That's pretty definite. Meat eating? Not so sure...

"Please"? You're welcome.

Good night. See you on another thread.

[Jingthing]

OK, Mr. Igor. Time for a ham sandwich.

[WebBangkok]

I could of sworn you did this thread a year or 2 ago.

I remember you having this whinge also.

[Jingthing]

I could of sworn you did this thread a year or 2 ago.

I remember you having this whinge also.

You may be right.