Fried Chicken -or- In Search of the 11 Herbs and Spices

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Fried chicken.  I know no one who grew up not having fried chicken as a part of the family menu.  My mother made it, usually on a Sunday.  And, who doesn’t like fried chicken.  I do know people that avoid it like the plague, since it’s fried and is loaded with fat.  But, as I tell people, I don’t work out to stay in shape.  I work out so I can eat.

As the years went by, fast food chicken seemed to take over and people quit frying their own.  Those who have never fried chicken will claim it’s just too much work.  Little do they know how easy and cheap it is. 

We  all have our favorites and those favorites usually have secret recipes.  But what happens when those restaurants disappear?  One of the best rotisserie chickens around was Kenny Rogers who completely vanished from the United States.  (see my rotisserie chicken post Jan 2012) Even Seinfeld’s characters knew how good it was.  KFC has been around most of my life, but I remember when the changed from a sage gravy to a beef gravy for their mashed potatoes.  I do love KFC chicken and their cole slaw. 

When I lived in New Orleans, I became attached to Popeye’s since there was one within walking distance of my apartment. My wife and I drove quite a ways one night to get some Popeye’s and I was so disappointed.  I don’t know if my buds had changed or they changed the recipe, or what.  I just no longer liked it. 

Knott’s Berry farm has some of the best fried chicken ever.  I don’t get out that way very often, and they closed most of their Mrs. Knott’s restaurants. 

One day I’m at a party and the main dish served was fried chicken.  It was pretty good so I asked “Where’d you buy your chicken?”  I was surprised to hear that they fried it themselves that morning.  They told me how easy it was and how much cheaper it was than fast food.  That did it for me, I had to try it. 

Luckily for me, I have an outdoor kitchen, plus I live in California, so outside cooking is the way to go.  Easier to clean up the mess and the wife doesn’t yell at you because of the mess.  I find though, that if you just clean up as you go and make an effort not to make a mess, it’s a whole lot easier. 

So the quest began.  Now, my wife had made some fried chicken a few times so she was my first resource.  She said go to the Better Homes and Garden’s cookbook.  It’s a simple recipe that ain’t bad but left me unsatisfied in the quest.  It’s simply mixing flour, paprika, salt and pepper, coating the chicken, and frying for about an hour total. 

My friend Greg and his wife Barb, took us to Knott’s.  Boy that chicken was just like I remembered.  Turns out Barb had worked there as a teenager and told me that Knott’s soaked their chicken overnight in salt water.  That process is called “brining.”  So I started brining my chicken, even for the rotisserie.  1 cup salt and a gallon of water.  Remember the salt causes the meat to absorb liquid and gives you really moist chicken.

Then I read a recipe where they too brined the chicken.  They also used an egg wash like I do for chicken fried steak.  So, now I got salt, pepper, paprika, and flour coating after a bath of milk and egg (the egg wash.)  Not bad, but still searching. 

I found a recipe saying that it’s from the internet and is Cordelia Knott’s recipe.  I have no idea if it is or Knott ( I know) but now we’re getting somewhere.  This recipe brined, then used an eggwash with buttermilk.  The flour mix had added thyme, garlic, and cayenne.  Not bad at all.  Plus, they used peanut oil for frying. 

Not long ago, I saw a tv show where Todd Wilbur, the Top Secret Recipes guy attempted to duplicate KFC.  He actually did some investigating and even used a little science.  A chemist examined a piece of KFC and declared the oil to be soybean.  Todd visited KFC and found they used a certain type of broaster so he borrowed one.  Now, I read in Colonel Sanders bio that he made that original chicken in a cast iron frying pan, but it took about 30-40 minutes and his customer base was growing like crazy.  That’s when he started using the broaster, which is a commercial pressure cooker. 

In Todd’s research, he interviewed the CEO of the company that makes the broasters and this guy tells Todd the secret is they use Black Tellicherry pepper.  Then the Colonel’s old secretary tells him the Colonel always talked about sage and savory.  Todd added MSG (Accent), salt, sage, garlic, paprika, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and onion powder.  What he didn’t tell us on the show was how much of each. 

The tasting was a panel of KFC folks who did a blind test and all picked out the real KFC over Todd’s, but the CEO of KFC said it was the closest he’d ever seen anyone come to it.  Hmmm! 

I read a lot of “real” KFC copycat recipes.  Ron Douglas, a well known food hacker, uses some of the same but adds oregano, basil, and chili powder. 

1 teaspoon ground oregano * 1 teaspoon chili powder * 1 teaspoon ground sage * 1 teaspoon dried basil * 1 teaspoon dried marjoram * 1 teaspoon pepper * 2 teaspoons salt * 2 tablespoons paprika * 1 teaspoon onion salt  * 1 teaspoon garlic powder * 2 tablespoons Accent (an MSG-based seasoning)

 

Another guy who had a video on youtube added bay leaves,coriander, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.  What caught my attention on his was that he used a pressure cooker and while it was cooking, someone walked in the kitchen and said “Hey, it smells like KFC in here.” His youtube video is under loxdeaddog- cooking o.r. kfc chicken.  He says his recipe came from a KFC forum in the UK. 

Yet another said the secret was a buttermilk brine with salt and sugar.

 So, as you can see, there’s a lot of experimenting goin’ on.  I’ve tried some of it and so far, this is the best I’ve done.

 

Uncle Ron’s Fried Chicken (for now)

 

I used a buttermilk brine overnight for 12 hours:

3 cups milk and 3 tblspn white vinegar ( this since I didn’t have real buttermilk)

2 tblspn sugar
1/3 cup kosher salt

I used an eggwash:

1 cup milk

2 eggs

Breading:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tblspn MSG (Accent)
1 tblspn paprika
1 tspn each salt and black pepper (I didn’t have tellicherry but saw some at WalMart)
½ tspn each of garlic pwdr, onion pwdr, cayenne, marjarom, rosemary
¼ tspn each of coriander, sage, thyme, savory, and allspice (I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout uppin’ these to ½ tspn each on the next round)

Fried 8 pieces (one whole chicken), 4 at a time in soybean oil 350F 40 minutes, turning after 20.

Just to make sure you got it, I brined the cut up pieces overnight.  I dried them with a paper towel. Heated my oil to 350 degrees.  Dipped each piece in the egg wash then coated with the flour mixture in a shaker bag, and put directly in the hot oil.  Turned after 20 minutes and removed after another twenty and let sit on a paper towel covered plate for about 10 minutes before serving.

So right now, I have 13 herbs and spices and I still don’t have it exactly right (for me), although my wife and I both agreed, it’s pretty darn good this way.

Please let me know if you have an idea to make it better, even if it’s removing ingredients.

Enjoy!

 

Note:  Sorry I didn't post any pics for this one.  I'll get some on here soon.