Colonel Sanders would be horrified
Years ago, Colonel Harland Sanders came up with a top-secret recipe for the 11 Herbs and Spices topping, which KFC dipped chicken in before deep-frying. To keep the secret, the company breaks the production of ingredients into two stages: the first part is produced by Griffith Laboratories, the second - McCormick.
This recipe is considered one of the most well-known trade secrets in the food industry - or rather, it was considered. Until recently. Because on the eve of Christmas, Colonel Sanders' nephew Joe Leddington, who now runs the company, decided to give an interview to the Chicago Tribune magazine. He met with writer Jay Jones to talk and even brought along a family photo album and his aunt's will. On the last page of the will, Jones found a strange handwritten note, painfully reminiscent of the same recipe.
This entry immediately appeared on the Tribune's Twitter. Both Leddington and KFC lawyers deny that this is the original secret recipe for the 11 Herbs and Spices, but the Tribune is unstoppable. They conducted an experiment: they cooked the chicken according to the found recipe, treated it to specially invited testers - and they admitted that the taste of the resulting dish was no worse than the branded one from KFC.
So the recipe is:
- salt (two thirds of a tablespoon)
- dried thyme leaves (half a spoon)
- dry basil leaves (half a spoon)
- dry oregano leaves (one third of a spoon)
- celery salt (one spoon)
- black pepper (one spoon)
- dry mustard (one spoon)
- paprika (four tablespoons)
- salt with garlic (two tablespoons)
- ground ginger (one spoon)
- ground white pepper (three tablespoons).
Image from Chicago Tribune twitter
According to the publication, the nephew of Colonel Harland Sanders, Joe Ledington, shared the original recipe for "11 Herbs and Spices" with the editors. The 67-year-old man said he found the recipe in the family records of Colonel Sanders' second wife.
Here is the recipe in full:
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Time for soaking: 20-30 minutes
Roast time: 15-18 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2/3 st. spoons of salt
1/2 st. tablespoons dried thyme leaves
1/2 st. tablespoons dry basil leaves
1/3 st. tablespoons dried oregano leaves
1 st. a spoonful of celery salt
1 st. teaspoon ground black pepper
1 st. a spoonful of dry mustard
4 tbsp. paprika spoons
2 tbsp. spoons of garlic salt
1 st. a spoonful of ground ginger
3 art. teaspoon ground white pepper
1 cup low fat cream
1 egg, beaten
1 chicken, cut into pieces. The brisket should be cut into two parts for even frying.
canola oil
1. Mix flour and all spices in a cup;
2. Mix cream and egg in another cup. Soak the chicken in the cream mixture at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove the chicken from the cream mixture and wait for the excess cream to drain off. Dip the chicken pieces in the flour and spice mixture, coat all sides of the chicken, shaking off excess flour and spices. Place the chicken on a wire rack and let rest 20 minutes.
4. While the chicken is resting, pour 7-8 cm of oil into a cauldron (or a pan with thick walls and high sides) and heat over medium-high heat to a temperature of 175 degrees (use a kitchen thermometer to control the temperature). When the temperature reaches 175 degrees reduce the heat to medium to maintain 175 degrees. Fry 3-4 pieces of chicken for even frying. Fry chicken until golden brown, 15-18 minutes, turning once. Place the fried chicken on a plate lined with paper towels. Heat the oil to 175 degrees before frying the next batch of chicken. Fry the remaining chicken pieces.
The publication reports that the original KFC product and Ledington's chicken recipe were almost "indistinguishable" in taste.
KFC is an international chain of catering restaurants specializing in chicken dishes. The company was founded by entrepreneur Harland Sanders, who began selling fried chicken dishes during the Great Depression.
Colonel Harland Sanders (1890 - 1980) - Founder of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). AP
Sanders invented a chicken recipe that became popular all over the world. chicagotribune.com
11 bottles of herbs and spices specified in the recipe are stored in a safe at the company's headquarters. AP
Note that the original recipe of Harland Sanders "11 herbs and spices" is considered one of the most well-known trade secrets in the food industry. A copy of the recipe autographed by Sanders is contained in a safe at the company's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. There are also 11 bottles with the herbs and spices indicated in the recipe.
Chicken wings and pieces of chicken in a fast food chain KFC — Kentucky Fried Chicken are popular all over the world. Since 1940, more than 20,000 establishments have opened in 125 countries around the world.
Everything seems to be simple - fried pieces of chicken or chicken wings in a crispy spicy crust, but tens of millions of visitors to these cafes cannot deny themselves the pleasure of eating another portion of this fast food.
The main secret of such a popular dish is breading, which is known as follows - it includes flour and a mixture of 11 herbs and spices.
The secret of this breading has never been patented, because when obtaining a patent, the composition and proportions would have to be disclosed, and any patent has a validity period. The original recipe is stored at the company's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky and only a few people in the world know this secret composition.
However, in August 2016, information appeared that the husband of the niece of the founder of KFC, Colonel Sanders, found in one of the diaries an envelope containing a list of herbs and spices that make up the original breading. Although the official representatives of this network refute the truth of the recipe, it was still worth a try.
One thing can be said - most likely it is true kfc chicken wings recipe.
To make KFC chicken wings you will need
The secret composition of KFC breading
For 2 cups flour
- Salt. ⅔ tablespoon.
- Thyme. ½ tablespoon.
- Basil. ½ tablespoon.
- Oregano. ⅓ tablespoon.
- Celery salt. 1 tablespoon. (⅓ tablespoon salt mixed with ⅔ tablespoon dried celery)
- Ground black pepper. 1 tablespoon.
- Dry mustard. 1 tablespoon.
- Paprika. 4 tablespoons.
- Garlic salt. 2 tablespoons. (⅔ tablespoon salt mixed with 1⅓ tablespoon dried garlic)
- Ground ginger. 1 tablespoon.
- White pepper. 3 tablespoons (this ingredient is controversial)
For wings
- Chicken wings. 12 pcs.
- Eggs. 2-3 pcs. (not in the photo).
- Soda. ½ teaspoon (for marinade)
- nitrite salt. (Optional). ¼ teaspoon (for marinade)
- Allspice. 1-2 pcs. (for the marinade).
- Chili flakes. To taste (for marinade).
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Cooking KFC chicken wings at home
Let's start with the spice mix.
Grind all 11 ingredients in a mortar to a powder state.
Cut the chicken wings at the joints into 3 parts.
We do not use the most extreme joints in this recipe. Although you can cook them, about a glass and a half, which then will serve as the basis for KFC gravy for french fries or mashed potatoes.
Pour one and a half liters of water into the pan, add nitrite salt, soda, allspice grains and about a tablespoon of a mixture of spices.
Bring water to a boil and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
Sprinkle chicken wing pieces with chili flakes.
Pour hot, but not boiling marinade and leave for 8-12 hours.
Why use a hot marinade?
At KFC restaurants, chicken pieces go from “frozen at -18ºC” to fully cooked in less than 2 minutes. For this, special equipment is used.
At home, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to cook anything in deep-frying under pressure. Therefore, you have to improvise and achieve the desired taste by other methods.
After the wings are marinated.
Add the rest of the mixture to two cups of flour.
Thoroughly mix spices with flour.
Pour out the marinade. There is no need to dry the wings.
Sprinkle a large plate or dish lightly with the flour mixture. Pour the remaining flour with spices into a plate, where we will coat the chicken.
Whisk the eggs in a deep bowl.
Dip chicken wing pieces in flour.
Then in a beaten egg.
And then again in flour, so that the breading is denser. Roll carefully so that there are no open areas of the chicken, even from the side of the joints.
We spread the prepared chicken on a dish sprinkled with flour and let it dry for 10 minutes, after which we turn it over and leave it to dry for the same amount.
Heat odorless vegetable oil in a deep fryer. You can also use a small but deep frying pan. Pour about 2½ centimeters of oil into it - so much so that it almost covers the wings.
One by one, we lower the pieces of wings into hot, but not overheated oil. The oil temperature is approximately 160-170ºС.
The chicken should lie fairly freely in the oil - you should not stuff the pan or deep fryer too much.
After 10 minutes, turn the wings over and fry them until fully cooked. We carefully watch the frying process - the oil heats up quickly and the breading can start to burn.
Transfer cooked wings to paper towels to absorb excess oil.
It remains only to put on the table
Ecology of life: What do we know about KFC? An old American brand, a cafe with a menu based on chicken from Kentucky. The founder - a certain Colonel Sanders, who came up with the idea of frying chicken with a mixture of 11 herbs and spices, which gave success to his whole business. Many tried to find out the composition, but ... and now the truth and the wrong side of the business.
What do we know about KFC? An old American brand, a cafe with a menu based on chicken from Kentucky. The founder - a certain Colonel Sanders, who came up with the idea of frying chicken with a mixture of 11 herbs and spices, which gave success to his whole business. Many tried to find out the composition, but ... and now the truth and the wrong side of the business.
It's no secret that when opening the first cafe in 1952, Sanders did not have any clear recipe for what exactly to fry the chicken in order for it to get its unique taste. Yes, there were spices and herbs, but there was no single recipe. Therefore, he experimented, offering visitors different options. And at some point he settled on the only option that everyone liked.
Nowadays, it is known that only the chief manager of the company keeps the original recipe in his safe. Spices and herbs are produced in two different factories and blended in a third. And only a few people from the top of the company that owns the KFC brand know the recipe. This is the biggest culinary secret these days.
The problem is that the founder of KFC sold his business a long time ago, back in 1964, and then the brand changed owners several times. Now Yum! Brands owns several large chains and the chicken empire is just one of them.
Why do you think such a large company needs some precepts of a grandfather who is no longer alive? Why such difficulties? Can you imagine what it takes to keep this list a secret, and how to keep it in general?
Surely one worker knows everything he does, the second knows what he does .. finding these people is not difficult. What about logistics? One plant for the whole world ... local chicken, local Pepsi, and seasonings bring horseradish from where and without them it’s impossible to cook ... Someone would have blabbed long ago. And who works in our kitchens at KFC? Right...
However, there are publications that say that the secret of KFC is very simple - salt, black pepper and a flavor enhancer add flavor. After all, no one bothers to disassemble the chicken into components and find out its chemical composition. But we can also find out the composition ourselves, ordinary consumers without any chemistry and laboratories.
Cooks will say up to 70% of the spices and herbs that go with chicken meat. There are not many options. But here's what a regular spice mix looks like:
All together it should look something like this:
And as a person who understands cooking, I will say that to fry a piece of chicken to get a rich taste, you need a lot of these spices, moreover, when deep-frying in oil, a lot of things will be lost.
However, this is what is actually dipped in chicken at KFC restaurants. White powder, most of which is flour.
Yes, there may be black pepper, also salt, but there is definitely no turmeric, red pepper, or any herbs at all, everything that changes the structure and color of the mixture in which the KFC chicken is fried. I will say more, spices and herbs are not visible in the final product and their smell is not felt, there is no basil, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf or something else here.
The American newspaper Chicago Tribune has learned one of the most valuable and protected culinary secrets - the recipe for cooking fried chicken Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) with spices. The publication tested this recipe in practice and made sure that the resulting dish practically does not differ in taste from the branded one, Lenta.ru reports.
The recipe was shared by 67-year-old Joe Ledington, whose aunt was the second wife of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders.
So, when cooking chicken, 11 herbs and spices are used - salt (two-thirds of a tablespoon), dry thyme leaves (half a spoon), dry basil leaves (half a spoon), dry oregano leaves (common oregano, a third of a spoon), celery salt (one spoon), ground black pepper (one spoon), dry mustard (one spoon), paprika (four spoons), garlic salt (two spoons), ground ginger (one spoon), ground white pepper (three spoons).
So, the chicken must first be cut, the breast cut in half for more even frying. To prepare four servings, the listed dry ingredients should be mixed in one container with two cups of baking flour.
In another container, mix the skimmed cream, a by-product obtained from the production of butter from cow's milk and a beaten egg. Soak chicken in this mixture at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, then remove, excess mixture should drain.
At the same time, you need to pour seven to eight centimeters of canola oil (Canadian oil of low acidity) into a cauldron or into a heavy saucepan with high walls, put on fire and heat to 175 degrees (use a cooking thermometer). When this temperature is reached, reduce the heating to maintain it at this level.
Before frying, roll the pieces in the dry mixture and shake off the excess. Fry three to four pieces at a time so that the frying pan is not crowded - for 15-18 minutes, until a moderate golden brown color appears.
The publication notes that for almost complete similarity, it is necessary to sprinkle the finished pieces with monosodium glutamate immediately before use. However, it is not mentioned in the original recipe.
By the way, KFC gave evasive comments regarding this recipe.
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