KFC secret recipe accidentally revealed by Colonel's nephew

Hmm. I worked at KFC in the 80s and I don’t recall it being brined. Frozen chicken straight from the distributors, thawed in the deep sink, dipped in batter and then the flour mix. I remember thinking that the 11 secret spices in the spice bag was maybe 11 different kinds of pepper and salt. I sure didn’t detect ginger, but I don’t have the most discerning of palettes.

Is this a big sink of salty water? :)

I love KFC but I have had less than good chicken there. It’s rare, but it happens. Chicken has been dried out and the crust soggy.

The secret recipe is OK I guess but it’s the pressure fry cooked chicken that I love. Deep frying chicken is an easy way to get juicy chicken but adding pressure makes it almost idiot proof and just takes it to a whole new level. So it’s kinda suspicious how I ever get dried out chicken there.

Hah. Nope. Not as a recall – it was just water out of the tap without adding anything – but I leave open the option to have faulty memory. Or maybe they’ve changed the way they do things now-and-then over the years. Thawing frozen meat in cold water, for example, can be a recipe for food-born illnesses if it’s not managed well.

On a semi-related note, I’ve had KFC chicken a couple of times since I worked there in the 80’s, and it makes me feel like I want to die. Original recipe is a recipe for a long and uncomfortable day mostly spent on the toilet. Fun. Extra crispy, for some reason, is moderately less of a stomach hazard (even though it’s just the exact same thing, except double-dipped in batter and flour).

Meh, accurate recipe or not, KFC isn’t very good these days.

Yeah Chic-fil-A is choking the the Colonel’s chicken.

Pshhh.

Rasin Canes is the best fast-food chicken joint, full-stop. Zaxby’s is middling at best, and is the only restaurant to consistently wreck my stomach. Bojangles is pretty fuckin’ good, but not quite as legendary as my fellow North Carolinians make it out to be.

But Rasin Canes is just sublime. A tiny, carefully maintained menu. Beautiful, delicious, cheap food, every single time. And that goddamn Canes sauce. Oh, that Canes sauce.

In fairness, I never cared much for CFA, even before their gigantic Anti-Gay whatever-the-hell inspired me to boycott them more or less permanently. And KFC, I’ve always more or less loathed, but their “thing” is really bone-in chicken, which I just don’t enjoy eating. Sides are KFC are uniformly good, though!

I think this is the best post ever.

Haven’t had a decent KFC in the UK for a while. The last had chunks of wet skin dropping off slimy chicken glistening in a layer of dirty brown frying oil.

My nearest chicken shop (does kebabs and pizzas too) is better in a “not chunks of wet skin dropping off slimy chicken glistening in a layer of dirty brown frying oil” sense and I dont shit myself for a few days (i have low standards for 2.99 meals) but I there isnt a decent place unless i drive into London.

I love KFC here in Canada. I definitely am going to try this recipe out!

Interesting point about the international differences. I’ll have to give the Canadian KFC shops a shot someday.

In Hong Kong, I hear they’re different too. I haven’t tried them yet but my cousin says they have these pretty good wings. And they apparently also sell knockoff versions of the Macanese custard tarts that are famous in China. You may have tried them at dim sum places. A lot of the Trip Advisor reviews say the standard chicken is still pretty mediocre though.

I agree Raising Cane’s is the best.

I like CFA too, though. Their spicy chicken sandwich is great.

Wait, so what’s in the batter? Just milk and egg?

I still love the flavor… just not the quality of their tiny overcooked pieces of chicken.

From my experience, I don’t think it’s uniformly good here in Canada. I have a soft spot for it, but I’ve sometimes got it a bit soggy and unappetizing. I’ve never gotten sick or indigestion from it though.

KFC still makes my favorite coleslaw. I’m not really a big slaw fan but something about the KFC version I really like. I think it’s because It has so much sugar in it it’s like a dessert coleslaw :-)

I love Raisin Canes but those are tenders and not bone in Fried Chicken. Those are two entirely different things to me and I would never put them in the same…bucket ;-)

My favorite fried chicken would be a place in Austin called Lucy’s fried chicken. If you ever go there get the fried chicken nachos too! It’s a massive plate of nachos with bits of their fried chicken throughout and a fried chicken wing on top.

The best fried chicken I’ve had was back in 2011 when I was passing through Memphis on my way to Birmingham, Alabama, so I first did an internet search on best places to eat in Memphis. And one place came up very prominently: Gus’ Fried Chicken in downtown Memphis. At the time they had just expanded to a second location in the suburbs too. But I went to the original location in downtown. It was so good! Definitely the best fried chicken I’d had.

Just now I did a search on them. And they’ve now expanded to 16 cities! Including Kansas City! Holy shit, I had no idea they had expanded so quickly since 2011 to now.

I like KFC’s pot pies. Actually had one last night. At 790 calories it’s a rare purchase, though.

I agree with that. Sometimes the deep fryer isn’t changed frequently enough, sometimes the batter is a little bland - it’s not always consistent, unlike McDonalds or similar places. But the quality of the underlying chicken is always decent - it’s not like some others are saying about the chicken being scrawny or overcooked, etc.

it’s not exactly fine dining. I just like it as a guilty pleasure now and then, especially when you can just order a bucket of chicken breasts/fries/gravy- yum.

Fun trivia - I’ve had KFC on my birthday since I was about 4 years old - it’s the one time I have it every year. And that’s coming up next week, yay!

So anyone actually try this recipe yet?