UPDATE: This is probably deep-fried small intestine, according to commenters, for some of whom finding this in their KFC is apparently a common occurrence.
John says he found some brain in his KFC chicken thigh in Raleigh, NC. We asked him if he was sure it wasn’t just skin and fat mixed together.
Pretty sure, yeah. Fat usually has more of a yellow tint, and is more gelatinous on chicken. This was a solid looking piece, a little more than 1/4th of an inch thick at the widest part, and it had the unmistakable “lines” that you see in the brain organ. It was also firm to the touch, unlike rubbery fat. If it was a piece of skin/fat, it sure pulled off a good look alike.
Look on the bright side; at least now we know KFC uses real chicken.
More gruesome pix, inside…
Says John,
Needless to say, we’re never eating at KFC again. (Especially after looking at these greasy close up shots.) It’s not worth the time to take it back to the store, seeing as how all they’d do is give us a gift certificate to come back.
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I just ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken today. I really, really didn’t need to see that.
Even the little picture is really gross!
Thank god, I stay away from most fast foods (most meaning that I’ll eat at one, once a month… maybe).
it sure looks like brain matter… what the hell is that black stuff or is it dark green? GROSS!
Oh sweet Jesus that is DISGUSTING
Thank you consumerist…
You’ve made atleast one person physically sick with those images…me
Um, so? People eat animal brains all the time. Nothing wrong with that.
Would chicken brains have sulci like a human brain?
Not to mention, this guy just bought a bucket of artery-clogging nastiness and he’s complaining about brains. Brains are arguably much better for you than the deep-fried animal skin he was about to feast upon.
What weird lines we draw in this country. We’ll eat animal muscle and skin deep-fried in animal fat but God forbid we eat brains.
Given that a chicken’s brain is tiny, that’d have to be the whole thing. Unless…it’s not a chicken brain! (cue ominous music)
That just makes me want to puke… I’d have to agree, they definitely are brains. Now what I really can’t understand is why anyone would eat KFC in the first place. Their chicken is just nasty, especially compared to Popeyes or Churches.
From my experiences with KFC, I’d never expect to find brains anywhere near that place.
i’m going to barf.
and never eat kfc again. ever.
It’s a chicken liver – not a brain. They are often found in thigh meat. This one doesn’t look like it’s cooked (which I admit is gross), but it’s not brains.
He’s lucky they didn’t charge him extra.
Umm.. To interject some sanity into this:
1. Chickens don’t have brains in their THIGHS.
2. Chickens have brains in their skulls, like most creatures.
3. Chicken brains are… um… how shall we say this in a manner so as not to offend any chickens out there…. um… Not Very Big At All.
Most likely this was some kind of visceral organ meat.
@narcolepticdoc: I hear ya.
Course, in looking at the picture, I can’t tell you what I am more disgusted with. The entire subject matter looks awful, not just the brainy part.
iirc, brains are actually notoriously difficult to cook such that they don’t turn into a simple gelatin. Has dude NEVER seen an uncooked chicken drumstick with the skin still on it? Probably the skin from the *attatched* drumstick had something *slightly* funky happen to it and it didn’t get all the way cooked or all the way unattatched before the stuff hit the spices or the fryer. Pick it off and eat the rest if you’re so inclined.
Uh, you ARE eating a dead animal. Why don’t the bones gross you out just as much?
That appears to have the same pattern that raw chicken skin and turkey skin has.
Looks like a lump of skin and fat to me. Chicken skin puckers like that.
I don’t see what’s so gross about these pictures anyway. Is this one of those “I can’t eat meat that looks like it came from an animal” things? Meat is animal corpse parts — if you can’t deal, don’t eat it.
It’s amazing how many people get so squeamish when they’re shown something to remind them that meat is made of dead animals. Yeah, I get it, brains seem kinda gross, and the pictures are pretty icky, but seriously, brain is reasonably nutritious.
It’s not brain, it’s intestinal track that’s commonly found inside a chicken breast piece under some bones.
It’s Raleigh not Ralleigh.
@Eilonwynn: I can hang with the brain and or skin…I have eaten worse but WTF is that greenish stuff near the bone?
Thats not where the brain goes.
HOLLY CRAP, i like KFC, but that chicken looked like hell, damn…
And eating brain isn’t that bad, try it sometime (BUT NOT LIKE THAT, GREEN STUFF WTF!!!).
I’m going to have to go with the people who say it is not a brain. It is way too big to be a chicken brain.
If it is some other animal’s brain then… oh god, I don’t even want to think about that.
From the tightly packed nature of the coils and the proximity to the thigh, I’m guessing you’re looking at deep fried small intestine. If you really must eat that oil soaked artery cement, it’s probably better not to look too closely.
I see a lot of internal organs where I work (human ones, not chicken ones) and I’m with Spiny Norman. My first reaction was “guts.” Brain would either be recognizably shaped like a brain, or be completely broken down into gray goo from the frying. The intestines come in a little membrane sac, and this looks very much like a tiny version of the human small intestine. Still kind of gross, but really, ultimately just chicken chitlins. Except not cleaned, and thus full of poop and digestive juices.
If you want to do something about it, report this to the department of health. I realize that your local store didn’t slaughter the bird and package it up for frying, but the health department can get the ball rolling with KFC corporate.
Gross, but what do you expect from the Colonel?
That is so obviously not a chicken brain. Although the intestine theory sounds good.
Thanks for making everyone vegetarian for a little while, consumerist.
I agree with Kerry/Spiny Norman/Narcolepticdoc,
Looks like organ meat. My guess is the pancreas.
And why is everyone making such a big deal out of THAT. I’m more disgusted by how much that piece of chicken is glistening from the sheer amounts of grease. ughh
What’s the problem here? KFC = Kentucky Fried Chicken, it doesn’t say what part of the chicken.
I think that is the guts. The trail endings are cosidered very good. You ever eat the the guts behind the thigh quarter of a KFC fried chicken? They are very tasty. Just eat it.
I would chomp that right down. Isn’t brain what makes pepperoni spicy? I did my time as a vegetarian and now embrace my omnivorous position in the food chain. If we weren’t designed/evolved to eat meat, then why the canines?
Gotta echo a few other posters here: nevermind the brain/pancreas/skin/intestines, or whatever it is, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SOYLENT GREEN SHIT NEXT TO IT?!?! YUCKA!
@alk509: “Soylent Green is People” Please don’t forget
…
I just threw up in my mouth a little.
It’s obviously intestines. Not cleaned (problem) but then again, not brains. Actually, franks used to be made out of pig intestines (hopefully clean).
I’ve once had a (kosher!) fried chicken squirt blood on me. (For those who don’t know, it means it wasn’t really kosher, because kosher food is salted to death to get the blood out).
Still, yuck.
Never liked KFC. Don’t think they can possibly win me over now, unless I suffer blunt head trauma and start thinking I’m Hannibal Lecter.
If this is a chicken thigh, which I believe it is, it’s not intestines or brains. It’s actually the kidneys. You will find this on most every piece of store bought fried chicken thigh and even fresh cut chicken. It’s located where the thigh meets the spine
[www.hormel.com]
“The kidneys are on the interior, running along either side of the backbone, near the tail. They are about 1 to 2 inches long, and roughly the diameter of a pencil. They are somewhat rough and bumpy rather than smooth. Bright red when raw, they cook to a brownish gray. They have to be “dug out” of their veterbral nest with the tip of the little finger or a chopstick.”
MUNLAWIN I beg to differ with you. Apparently “Soylent Green is Nasty Effing Chicken” I can’t understand why the dude complaining didn’t even mention the green shit on the chicken and I really appreciate the rest of you doing so because I was looking at the picture going ummm I don’t see brain but I sure see snot, spinach, something nasty green. Oh yeh and I was eating when I saw them, I have a stomach that is pretty strong but I almost threw up over that green stuff in the pic.
As a result of the discovery of deep fried brains in a bucket of KFC, a new Zogby poll has found that among Zombies of all ages, 98.7% stated that they would be more likely to eat at KFC in the future.
Fuck that. Seriously, I was just sitting down to dinner.
You bastards.
Well, fortunately the odds of getting a helping of worms in that intestine segment are not too high: [www.smallholder.co.uk]
Thanks Consumerist, now I I just lost my appetite. For a week.
Screw the brain thing… that can be plucked off. The green goo, however, has just ensured that I won’t be eating KFC for the next few months.
@Spiny Norman: No, I just savor it, eyes closed. I’ve seen worse. Ever open a pot and see a pig’s head staring up at you? One of the benefits of country living.