When you last went to a McDonald’s, did you meet up with the bell, the ball, the boot and the bow tie (also called the bone)? That happens to be the happy family of Chicken McNuggets… one of those little attention to detail that, well, makes for the whole experience.

These nuggets however have the same width and according to McDonald’s, this is to ensure consistent cooking time for food safety in all McDonald’s restaurants.

But why four shapes? Besides the fact that chicken McNuggets are given unique shapes for kids and kids-at-heart to make dipping more fun, McDonald’s believes that four shapes is because three would be too few while five would be weird. Sounds reasonable!

Once the nuggets are shaped using a rolling cookie cutter, they are smothered in batter and then fried in a manner that they get partially cooked. The final step is to flash freeze them before packaging them for shipping to McDonald’s restaurants.

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