The BCS, short for the Bruce chicken sandwich, is the chicken sandwich I make at home. It’s the crunchy cornmeal crust I’ve been chasing since the mall food court, built like The Bruce burger: everything cold, sharp, and sour stacked over a hot patty, with mayo and mustard kept apart.
It’s had three versions, below.
Picks
A dark, crunchy crust against cold crunch, sharp onion, and sour pickles.
- Chicken sandwich patties: Whole breast, pounded to 1 cm, buttermilk soak
- Breading and frying chicken patties: Cornmeal dredgeDredgeCoat food in a dry layer, usually seasoned flour, before frying or searing., shallow-fried
- Assembling chicken sandwiches: Mayo on both buns, shredded lettuce, thin tomato, thin-sliced raw red onion, sour pickles, on a toasted bun
- Chicken sandwich sauces: Mayo and mustard, kept separate
Iterations
| Year | Version | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | The BCS, behind the counter | A fast-food breaded patty, built Whopper style: onion, pickle, tomato, ketchup, the works (see The impossible quest for the perfect chicken burger). |
| 2015 | The 2015 BCS: the home version | A homemade breaded patty (Pan-fried chicken burger), with mustard in place of the ketchup, and extra pickles and onion. |
| 2026 | The 2026 BCS: the cornmeal patty | A cornmeal-fried breast (Cornmeal fried chicken), the crust from the mall food court. The picks above are this version. |
Why these picks
- Cornmeal crust. The darkest, crunchiest coating, and the closest I’ve come to the mall sandwich. It holds up under a full build.
- Mayo on both buns. The fat the breast doesn’t have, and a barrier that keeps the bottom crust dry.
- Mustard on the patty. Sharpness right against the crust, where it cuts the fried fat.
- Red onion and sour pickles. The same job they do on the burger: something sharp and something sour, so the third bite is as good as the first.
How it fails
- Soft crust: it waited on paper towels, or the tomato sat on it. Hold the patty on a rack and build right before eating.
- One-note: the onion or pickles are missing.
Variations
- Mall style: mayo, lettuce, and tomato only, on a kaiser (see Crispy, mall-style chicken sandwich).
- Ground patty: swap the breast for a double-coated Pan-fried chicken burger patty.
Recipes
Cornmeal fried chicken (the patties are in “Patties for sandwiches and burgers”).