If there's one thing I don't like to do when it comes to food, it's create conflict where conflict is not necessary. Why put two glorious food items against each other when both are heavenly in their own right? Why do I have to critically examine Chick-fil-A Sauce and Raising Cane's Sauce like I'm an investigator on CSI? However, this isn't something I want to do, this is something I have to do. As a food writer, it's my civic duty to put an end to this debate of whether Chick-fil-A Sauce or Raising Cane's Sauce is better and declare a clear winner, so we can all rest easy at night.
Buckle up baby, because we're about to get lost in the sauce. Let's find out if Chick-fil-A Sauce or Raising Cane's Sauce is the king condiment of the chicken world.
Scoring Guidelines
The sauces will be judged on three basic factors including taste, consistency, and compatibility with chicken for an overall score of 30. The scale will be from 1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest score and 10 being the highest. But who am I kidding, we all know darn well that neither of these sauces will score below a 9 in any category.
Chick-fil-A Sauce Analysis
Chick-fil-A describes their CFA sauce as a "classic dipping sauce with notes of honey mustard and smoky tang." Ooh la la. Do they mean "tang" as in ting tang walla walla bing bang, or just a smoooooth tang?
Now, let's take a deeper look. At first glance, CFA sauce is pretty thick, but everything is well blended together. As I spread it on my grilled chicken sandwich, I was ready to change my life forever.
Now may be the time to mention that I don't exactly eat condiments. I've never even had ketchup before, so this was a big deal for me.
As I took my first bite of chicken and sauce, I was quaking - physically quaking over how good the combination was. It was sweet with an undertone of barbecue that made me immediately go back for more. This sauce was so good that I dipped by leftover bun bits in it when I ate all the chicken.
Scores:
Taste: 10
Consistency: 9
Compatibility with Chicken: 10
Overall score: 29/30
Cane's Sauce Analysis
Raising Cane's describes their Cane's Sauce as "tangy with a bit of spice and full of flavor." That sounds very secretive to me. They didn't give me any concrete ingredients like Chick-fil-A did... hmmm.
Since Raising Cane's only serves chicken finger meals, I dipped my chicken fingers and fries in the sauce. My first observation was that this sauce was more smooth and less dense than CFA Sauce. I thought the consistency was very nice because it molded to the unique shape of my chicken and fries.
As I tasted Cane's Sauce on my tongue, I was pleasantly surprised. I was not expecting to like it as much as I did. It was sweet, but not too sweet, and it had a bit of a bite at the end.
The flavor was a combination of mayonnaise, (what I can only assume is) ketchup and garlic. Normally, I would never touch any of these items by themselves, but together, they worked it fierce. I became a fan and ate almost half the little cup of sauce. That's progress for me.
Scores:
Taste: 9
Consistency: 9
Compatibility with Chicken: 9
Overall score: 27/30
Which is better?
This has been an extremely difficult process for me, but at the end of the day, I have to choose a winner. Through this process, I've learned a lot about myself, life and chicken sauces.
Please don't come after me Caniacs, but Chick-fil-A Sauce wins the battle of the sauces. CFA Sauce has a better overall taste and score, so it is the king condiment.
It was an honor to score these two prestigious sauces. After doing this experiment, I propose that all Saturdays shall be for the sauce instead of the boys.