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KFC Accidentally Reveals The Colonel's Recipe
08-26-2016, 09:36 PM
Joe Ledington, the nephew of Colonel Harland Sanders, accidentally revealed what appears to be the original recipe for the coating of what became Kentucky Fried Chicken during an interview with the Chicago Tribune. http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/resta ... cialflowFB]Story here.
If you don't want to bother reading the story, the recipe found handwritten on the back of a document in a scrapbook, photographed by the Tribune, and reposted by Esquire magazine is as follows: Quote:11 spices — Mix with 2 cups white flour1) 2/3 Ts salt2) 1/2 Ts thyme3) 1/2 Ts basil4) 1/3 Ts oregano5) 1 Ts celery salt6) 1 Ts black pepper7) 1 Ts dried mustard8) 4 Ts paprika9) 2 Ts garlic salt10) 1 Ts ground ginger11) 3 Ts white pepper
According to a separate Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/re ... story.html]article, trial and error determined that the chicken should be dipped once in buttermilk and then the breading, and fried at 350 degrees F. And that a dash of MSG on the chicken just before you eat it apparently makes a big difference. The complete recipe as determined and published by the Tribune is: Quote:Fried chicken with 11 herbs and spicesPrep: 30 minutes
Soak: 20-30 minutes
Cook: 15-18 minutes
Makes: 4 servings
2 cups all-purpose flour2/3 tablespoon salt1/2 tablespoon dried thyme leaves1/2 tablespoon dried basil leaves1/3 tablespoon dried oregano leaves1 tablespoon celery salt1 tablespoon ground black pepper1 tablespoon dried mustard4 tablespoons paprika2 tablespoons garlic salt1 tablespoon ground ginger3 tablespoons ground white pepper
1 cup buttermilk1 egg, beaten1 chicken, cut up, the breast pieces cut in half for more even frying
Expeller-pressed canola oil
1 Mix the flour in a bowl with all the herbs and spices; set aside.
2
Mix the buttermilk and egg together in a separate bowl until combined.
Soak the chicken in the buttermilk mixture at room temperature, 20-30
minutes.
3 Remove chicken from the buttermilk, allowing excess to
drip off. Dip the chicken pieces in the herb-spice-flour mixture to coat
all sides, shaking off excess. Allow to sit on a rack over a baking
sheet, 20 minutes.
4 Meanwhile, heat about 3 inches of the oil in a
large Dutch oven (or similar heavy pot with high sides) over
medium-high heat to 350 degrees. (Use a deep-frying thermometer to check
the temperature.) When temperature is reached, lower the heat to medium
to maintain it at 350. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time, being careful not
to crowd the pot. Fry until medium golden brown, turning once, 15-18
minutes. Transfer chicken pieces to a baking sheet covered with paper
towels. Allow the oil to return to temperature before adding more
chicken. Repeat with remaining chicken.
A note on MSG:
A number of readers have asked how much MSG to use in the recipe above.
Although KFC has confirmed that its present-day recipe uses MSG, that
ingredient was not part of the list of herbs and spices we received from
the Colonel's nephew, so we didn't include MSG in the published recipe.
But we did taste the fried chicken with a sprinkle of MSG. If you want
to try the chicken with MSG, we suggest doing as we did: Sprinkle a
little on the finished chicken pieces right before eating.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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That seems similar to an 1700-1800 recipe for fried chicken, though that one also had a malt wine or beer.
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Colonel Sanders is noted for pioneering the use of a pressure cooker to fry his chicken. Note: it takes a specialty pressure fryer that seals without a rubber gasket to do this because the hot oil will destroy the gasket.
Oh, is it possible to get MSG in mainstream supermarkets anymore, or are non-Asians too phobic about the stuff? I'll admit I haven't looked recently. There's a couple of Asian supermarkets within walking distance of my house, so that's where I get mine. It's kind of hard to miss at those places.
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Around here, I usually see MSG in the spice section of the grocery stores. (Mind you, around here there's a noticeable Vietnamese community.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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In North America it's sold under various brand names; the ones I see around most often are Accent and Sazon, also called "Sazon Goya". (Both manufacturers are based here in NJ, which probably accounts for why I see them most often. ) Ajinomoto shows up in the International aisle at the grocery stores I shop in, too.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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And tonight I made a batch of this recipe. Protip: if you use chicken breast tenders instead of a whole chicken cut up into parts, fry at 300 F or so instead of the 350 given in the recipe because otherwise you'll burn the coating without fully cooking the chicken inside. (Which actually kind of comes close to what actually happens inside a KFC fryer -- it starts at 400 which browns the coating, then drops to 250 because of the moisture in and temperature of the chicken, and cooks at that temperature for the rest of the cycle.)
Anyway, it came out really well. It's a bit spicier than I remember KFC ever being, but for at least 40 years now the formula for the KFC coating has basically been flour, salt, pepper and MSG, as documented in the 80s by William Poundstone in his book http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Secrets]Big Secrets. Also, this recipe is richer than the original, as Col. Sander's patent on the frying process uses reconstituted skim milk as the soak, not buttermilk and egg. Just make sure you have big jars of spices, as -- in case you haven't noticed -- everything is measured in tablespoons. I almost emptied a jar of white pepper making tonight's dinner.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Another thing that probably helps is using an actual pressure fryer to cook the chicken, as it not only cooks the chicken much more quickly, but allows far less oil into the chicken, and far less of the natural moisture to escape.
The unfortunate thing is, though, that actual pressure fryers are hard to come by. (DO NOT fry chicken in just any old pressure cooker! The hot oil WILL melt the seals and cause a catastrophic pressure loss! Use only a certified pressure fryer to fry chicken.)
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2 tsp salt
1 Tbs celery salt
2 Tbs garlic salt
That's a lot of salt. I wonder how it would work with ground celery seed and garlic powder (or granulated garlic), reduced in volume of course, to account for the lack of salt. Also, maybe the volume of one of those, probably the celery seed, could be made up with MSG.
Actually, a big clue as to whether those quantities are tablespoons or teaspoons lies in the fact that two of those measurements specify thirds of the designated unit. One third of a tablespoon is a teaspoon, but I think I've seen a set of measuring spoons with a one third teaspoon measure exactly once. Hmm. Maybe I'll point that out at the Chicago Tribune, if it's possible to comment on the article.
Edit: So, I successfully registered an account with the Chicago Tribune, and every time I tried to enter a comment, it tried to sell me a paid subscription. Sorry, I don't visit the site often enough to justify the cost.
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Inquisitive Raven Wrote:2 tsp salt
1 Tbs celery salt
2 Tbs garlic salt
That's a lot of salt. I wonder how it would work with ground celery seed and garlic powder (or granulated garlic), reduced in volume of course, to account for the lack of salt. Also, maybe the volume of one of those, probably the celery seed, could be made up with MSG.
... If you're doing that to reduce your sodium intake, perhaps monosodium glutamate wouldn't be the best replacement.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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It is indeed a lot of salt -- and strangely enough, the chicken is not at all salty. It is, instead, a bit spicy.
Per your thoughts, I might experiment the next time I make it.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Quote:robkelk wrote:
Quote:Inquisitive Raven wrote:
2 tsp salt
1 Tbs celery salt
2 Tbs garlic salt
That's a lot of salt. I wonder how it would work with ground celery seed and garlic powder (or granulated garlic), reduced in volume of course, to account for the lack of salt. Also, maybe the volume of one of those, probably the celery seed, could be made up with MSG.
...
If you're doing that to reduce your sodium intake, perhaps monosodium glutamate wouldn't be the best replacement.
Well, I was going off the fact that apparently the test chicken didn't taste quite right without MSG, but I would note a) the glutamate radical is significantly larger than a chlorine atom and b) I was proposing to replace the salt in one of the blended seasonings, so all things considered, you would end up with a net reduction in the amount of sodium. Actually, one of the commenters at the Chicago Tribune claimed that there's no point in using more than a half teaspoon of MSG for four servings of meat because there's no effect on taste at larger amounts.
Edit: So I did some digging, and it turns out that celery salt is one part ground celery seed to two parts salt and garlic salt is one part garlic powder to three parts salt by volume, so taking the salt out of those two ingredients leaves 1 tsp ground celery seed and 1/2 Tbsp (or 1.5 tsp) garlic powder. I happen to own a set of measuring spoons with a 1/2 Tbsp measure which I got at either ShopRite or Walmart, so I don't have to actually composite a half tablespoon using the teaspoon and half-teaspoon measures. Note that if you can't find ground celery seed, apparently grinding whole celery seed roughly halves the volume, so if you want or need to grind your own, start with two teaspoons of whole celery seed.
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