***WARNING: Not a health food post!!***
Nothing quite like some “Finger lickin’ good fried chicken” right?
Out of curiosity earlier this year I was on a “comfort food” week and decided to trial the so-called “leaked 11 secret herbs and spices” purported to be in the KFC seasoning.
Nothing too secret about this recipe now… you Google it and it comes up in Wikipedia, as well as on other websites in various forms. Lots of people had tried it and suggested alterations, but I thought I’d give it a crack in its seemingly purest form first and then make up my own mind about what needed to be changed!
There were a few differences in the way I prepped my chicken – firstly and probably most importantly I didn’t deep fry the pieces. I used my air-fryer instead. Definitely less oily than a deep fry, but to crisp up the outside of the crust, I did spray the pieces with olive oil spray before putting them in. I think it just makes me feel better about eating fried chicken. One thing I do note though with using the air fryer, is that you need to eat the food straight away, hot and straight out of the machine. If you leave it, it just doesn’t taste as good. This is in contrast to real KFC that is deep fried, and even the next day, if you stick it in the oven, it still tastes awesome. This is true for the air fryer for other items too, like spring rolls for example.
So how was it really?
Honestly, it was tasty… but definitely not the Colonel’s secret recipe. I have read around other versions of this recipe, and one home cook suggested to use MSG (monosodium glutamate). Now I don’t use MSG or have it in my house, but if you were to try it, I’d use it in place of the salt component. Deep frying would certainly change the taste, but I am pretty sure it still wouldn’t be the same as the stuff in the big white and red striped bucket.
Here is the recipe (as appears in Wikipedia):
11 Spices – Mix With 2 Cups White Fl.
- 2/3 Ts salt
- 1/2 Ts Thyme
- 1/2 Ts basil
- 1/3 Ts oregano
- 1 Ts celery salt
- 1 Ts black pepper
- 1 Ts dried mustard
- 4 Ts paprika
- 2 Ts garlic salt
- 1 Ts ground ginger
- 3 Ts white pepper
Also there was a lot of conjecture on the internet around whether “Ts” meant “teaspoon” or “tablespoon.” I have tried this recipe both ways – with the teaspoon measure, definitely not enough flavour; with tablespoons – better, but still not the right flavour. To get the right thickness of batter, you have to roll the chicken pieces in the seasoning, dip/coat them in egg, then roll them in the seasoning again. It was fun to have a go though and the kids still liked it.
My verdict on this was probably 6.5/10 overall score, but a LIKENESS to KFC of prolly only 5/10. To get closer to the secret, perhaps next time I’ll MSG instead of salt as well as deep frying in oil.
If anyone out there has tried or altered this recipe and had success – I’d LOVE to hear from you!
xxDr Megs
