Brevity by Dan Thompson for July 12, 2018

Like Mr Ping said, “the secret ingredient is… nothing”

I read that the spices are secondary to the way it is cooked—in a pressure cooker I believe.

When I was a kid it was still called Kentucky Fried Chicken and at night half the letters were burnt out so it read, “ucky Fried ick”.

A couple of years ago, one of the Colonel’s now 70-ish year-old nephews found a handwritten recipe,

listing flour, and the proportions of various spices, stuck in an envelope tucked into an old scrapbook.

He worked for Sanders as a boy, and believes it’s the same as the original chicken coating recipe he helped mix up and bag for the restaurants back then.

 

A first it didn’t occur to him that it was a big deal…

a famous “secret” recipe, kept for generations in a vault, and only known to a few trusted people.

He shared it with a reporter, and of course it went all over the internet….

then, maybe after family pressure, he tried to claim that he wasn’t sure.

 

But it was already out there….

a lot of people tried it, and they all say it tastes like KFC.

I copied it back then…. you can judge for yourself:

 

(Excuse the wide spacing… it’s defying my usual line breaks so I ad to put in paragraph breaks.)

 

2 cups white flour … mix with 11 spices and herbs

 

2/3 tablespoon salt

 

1/2 tablespoon thyme

 

1/2 tablespoon basil

 

1/3 tablespoon oregano

 

1 tablespoon celery salt

 

1 tablespoon black pepper

 

1 tablespoon dried mustard

 

4 tablespoons paprika

 

2 tablespoons garlic salt

 

1 tablespoon ground ginger

 

3 tablespoons white pepper

 

If you need actual cooking directions, there are recipes out there….

this is just the list of coating ingredients that the nephew found.

I’m sure the newly truthful (and… um… deceased) Colonel won’t mind my sharing it.

The broaster (deep fryer under pressure) is an item that most don’t have, so while we may be able to replicate the seasoning, the exact texture would be harder without it.

He forgot to mention the million dollar advertising campaign.

https://youtu.be/YKRFlNryaWw

I remember a cartoon in a Playboy back in the early 70’s (don’t ask me who the centerfold was) where cops were hauling the Colonel in hand cuffs out of a building with one of them saying “We finally found out what those eleven herbs and spices were.”

What’s in the pop, Pop?

⇧ @susan

why start apologizing now for something you’ve made a habit of for some time now…?