1972 Original Seasoning Style, Kentucky Fried Chicken "Extra Crispy Chicken"

I loved the Kentucky Fried Chicken of my childhood, the aroma was intense, the flavor was off the charts and I really miss the cracklin' gravy and soft rolls it came with. I used to go with my mother to pick up dinner from the store just so I could hold the warm bucket on my lap and inhale the aroma on the ride back home. Somewhere along the way as the company changed hands, the spice intensity "seemed" to diminish in volume. The KFC of today does not meet the aroma and flavor intensity of my youthful memories and it is sadly missed. Recently KFC has opened a campaign to "put the Colonel back in the chicken", my recommendation is that they "Put The Spice Back in the Chicken", that is all the campaign they need and word of happy mouths would give them back a larger share of the fast-food chicken market. Col. Harlan Sanders had a pride of product approach to his chicken, he was said to be equally picky about his gravy, and it showed. I don't think KFC will increase that spice to flour ratio again because that cuts into the profit, so those of us with a memory of that chicken, are forced to try and duplicate the chicken of our memories at home.

To recreate Original Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken, I would have to know the blend of the seasoning that goes in their chicken. I have a pretty good pallet, however, isolating each spice in a big blend is beyond me. I would also have to own a pressure fryer which is only sold in commercial form and cost thousands of dollars, so unless I grab one at auction, it isn't happening. I decided to shoot for recreating the Extra Crispy Recipe of 1972. Going on my research, so far as I can tell, the following five ingredients are in the spice/herb blend that original recipe contains: White Pepper, Black Pepper, Sage, Coriander and Savory as well as a healthy hit of salt, so as you can see I come short of the 11 herbs and spices. Still, the above blend is a great base from which to launch a seasoning of one's own, but that is not my goal. I want the taste of my childhood.

In 1964, Colonel Sanders sold his chicken franchise to John Y. Brown, Jr, Jack C. Massey, Pete Harmon, and investors Lee Cummings and Harlan Adams, who in turn sold it to Pepsico, who in turn spun it off into Yum brands. I am not going to go into the entire history of the changing of the guard that brings us to today's KFC, you can read about it here: WikiPedia, HistoryofKFC. My concern is a 1984 lawsuit between KFC Corp and Marion Kay Co,. Inc. You see, Harlan Sanders was still operating restaurants up in Canada and felt the seasonings had been watered down. He turned to an Indiana company, Marion Kay to reverse engineer his seasoning blend. He was not able to tell Marion Kay what was in the blend for contractual and trademark reasons but to my taste buds, they hit the nail on the head in their recreation of the secret blend. You can read the lawsuit that later ensued here: KFC CORP. v. MARION-KAY CO., INC.

So what is the spice blend that Marion Kay created for Harlan Sanders? That I do not fully know, however you can purchase a container of it here: Marion Kay, Chicken Seasoning Plus 9 1/2 oz. Chicken Seasoning 99 X 25 oz. Now Marion Kay recommends 2 tablespoons of the spice blend be mixed with 4 cups of flour, I actually bumped it up a bit and did 3 heaping tablespoons of the spice mix with 1 tablespoon of fine popcorn salt. I used a deep fryer and some of the Colonel's breading techniques based on the way he did it in a YouTube video, which can be seen here: Colonel Sanders making chicken at the Clinton KFC

Joshua Ozersky a food writer and historian wrote about all of this in his book Colonel Sander and the American Dream. He is the source from which I heard about Marion Kay Spices, 99x Chicken Seasoning. You can purchase his book here: Colonel Sanders and the American Dream.

White pepper

Black pepper

Ground Sage

Ground Coriander

Savory

The first four ingredients are listed on the Marion Kay 99x Chicken Seasoning. He said "Savory" was an ingredient in a 1967 commercial which was pretty funny. Here: 1967 Scary Kentucky Fried Chicken Commercial Lie Detector full). He did not specify if that was winter savory or summer savory, so that is anyone's guess. Monosodium Glutamate is also an ingredient in the 99x,  as well as copious amounts of salt. The rest of the ingredients are a mystery. You may want to try experimenting on your own if you are unable to purchase the Marion Kay blend. Below is a suggestion:

White Pepper
Black Pepper
Ground Sage
Ground Coriander
Ground Savory
Ground Rosemary
Ground Thyme
Ground Marjoram
Ground celery seed
Paprika (sweet)
Fine Plain Popcorn Salt

Accent Flavor Enhancer (monosodium glutamate)

White pepper, Black pepper, Ground Sage, Ground Coriander, Savory, crumbled dried rosemary, thyme, marjoram, celery salt, and fine plain popcorn salt. Accent Flavor Enhancer (monosodium glutamate)

For those who live in Indiana, Marion Kay does have a store for the public. It is located at:

The Marion-Kay Spice Store

1351 West Hwy 50, Brownstown, Indiana 47220

Mondays – Thursdays, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm. (Eastern Time Zone)

(1-800-627-7423) or locally (812) 358-3000 

So, to make the chicken here are the tools that I used:

The formula:

.
3 Tablespoons Marion Kay 99x Chicken seasoning.
1 Tablespoon Fine popcorn salt. (my preference, though Marion Kay sells a flake salt)
4 Cups of A/P flour, I used Gold Medal All Purpose Flour.

A good quality Pilgrims pride bird or any good quality chicken.

The brine:

Water.

Morton salt (table salt, for brining)

The equipment

Shallow, wide bowl for the egg/milk mixture

A large stainless steel bowl.
At least 2 raised cookie racks.
Sufficient number of casserole dishes to place under each rack to catch the flour and oil.
A deep Fryer (you can use a deep cast iron pot, cast iron conducts and hold heat well). 

The Oil:

Peanut Oil (though I believe Sanders used vegetable oil).

Since I cannot duplicate the pressure frying process that forces the flavor of the seasoning and moisture into the bird I used a brining method. After cutting up my chicken, I took my large steel bowl and created a brine using a tablespoon of Morton salt and 2 tablespoons of the chicken seasoning in enough water to cover my bird. I first placed the spice in a small glass bowl with enough water to cover and microwaved it for one minute. Then I stirred the mixture and added ice to cool it. I then place my chicken in the large steel bowl, poured in the spice/water mixture and added cold water till the bird was covered. I let this brine in the refrigerator for 5 hours. After that, I rinsed the chicken in a colander and ran plenty of fresh water over the chicken to remove the salt and excess spice from the chicken. I dried the chicken with paper towels as a wet chicken will create a soggy crust. 

Now you are ready to bread your chicken. Wash and thoroughly dry your large bowl. Place four cups of flour in your bowl and add 3 heaping tablespoons of 99x seasoning mix and a little less than a tablespoon of popcorn salt, whisk all ingredients well to incorporate. Keep in mind if you are using a different salt you are going to have to adjust this. Regular table salt tends to be heavy and falls to the bottom of the flour and doesn't make it onto the chicken, so I do not choose to use that. I did not buy any of the Marion Kay flaked salt so I felt that popcorn salt was a great alternative. 

Toss your chicken in the flour/seasoning mixture to coat, you want to work it for about 7 turns to cover completely, moving each piece onto one of your raised racks as it is coated. Once all of your chicken has the initial flour coating, you are ready to build that crispy crust. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg/milk mixture and then place it back into your flour, I did this in batches of two pieces at a time, you do not want to crowd your chicken. Toss the chicken around using your hands to coat evenly and heavily, about 7 turns, move to the other raised rack. Allow the chicken to sit for about 10 to 15 minutes until the chickens coating begins to look like a moist batter. Toss each piece of chicken back through the flour/spice mixture to build an additional coat onto the chicken. Fry your chicken in small batches, again never crowd your chicken and cook for 20 minutes, 10 on each side with the exception of the wings which I fried for about 11 minutes at a consistent 350°F. 

So now you might be thinking, what about that crackling gravy. This first time around I did not make the gravy, however, once my oil cooled, I removed the heating element from the fryer and rescued the crackling from the bottom of the oil and placed them in a container in the freezer. Each time I make this chicken I will rescue those crackling for the gravy with each preparation. 

Update: I made some of the gravy and yes, it is the real deal. 

If you would like to make Kentucky Fried Chicken Cole Slaw, I have posted a recipe on this site here: KFC Coleslaw, not a copycat... the formula is more simple than you think.

Drunken Beef and Carrots

2 beef chuck roasts
1 ½ bulbs fresh garlic
1 large grapefruit sized yellow onion
5 bay leaves
Fresh Cracked Pepper to taste
10 carrots, skin removed and chopped in half
4 stalks celery, cleaned and chopped in half
3 dashes ground clove
1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix
3 cups beef broth (from better than bullion)
2 cups burgundy
2 tablespoons kitchen bouquet
(no added salt)
1 tablespoon of oil
(You may add a cup of water to dilute if desired)
For those who like mushrooms- clean mushrooms, leave whole and saute in pan, add to dutch oven at the start of cooking. 

Cornstarch Slurry
3 tablespoons corn starch and the same amount of cold water. Whip with a fork until it loosens, add more water if needed. 

Heat frying pan on medium high heat, add oil and 1 chuck roast, sear beef in a hot pan on both sides, transfer to lg dutch oven, repeat with second roast. In the same pan sear the onion after you have skinned it and cut it in half, transfer to dutch oven with beef. Turn down heat on pan, break apart garlic, shell, remove ends and saute whole, rough chop on a cutting board and place in dutch oven. Add black pepper, ground clove, Lipton onion soup mix, bay leaves, beef broth, wine (water if adding). Cover tightly with foil and cook several hours at 350 degrees. The last hour of cooking add celery and carrots, re-secure the foil. When carrots are done, tip pan carefully and add the cornstarch slurry slowly, mixing it rapidly with a fork or whisk. Re-close foil and allow the gravy to thicken for 5 to ten minutes. 

Red Skin Whipped Potatoes

4 pounds red skin potatoes, scrubbed and halved
Fresh ground sea salt to taste
Fresh butter to taste (about 1 stick)
dash of white pepper 
2 cups half and half warmed in microwave

Scrub, halve and gently boil 4 pounds red potatoes. When potatoes are fork tender, drain, return to pot, add butter salt and white pepper and half the ½ and ½ . Use a hand mixer to whip potatoes, adding more half and half as needed. Do not over-whip, leave slightly lumpy.

Poblano Chicken Corn Chowder

3 Large Chicken Breasts
4 Poblano Peppers
3 Carrots
5-6 Ears of Fresh Corn, mix yellow and white
1 Large Red Pepper
1 Medium Green Pepper
1 Large Onion, yellow
5 Stalks Celery, trimmed
3 Medium to Small Potatoes
4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 Cups Whole Milk
1 Cup Half and Half
1 Cup chopped Cilantro
2 or more Tablespoons Garlic, minced,
White Pepper
Cumin
Thyme
Paprika
1 stick of butter and 2 tablespoons of oil
Tablespoon of Granulated Onion
½ Tablespoon of Granulated Garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons flour or cornstarch
8 oz of Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded

Do yourself a favor and use fresh corn cut straight off the cob. Cut the corn off of the cobs, set aside. Clean, trim and cut all vegetables into smaller than bite sized pieces (or larger if you like a more rustic soup, but you will have to adjust cooking time to accommodate). In a large soup pot add a tablespoon of oil and half the butter, add potatoes and carrots only, cook for about 3 to 4 minutes stirring often. Add all peppers, onions, celery and corn. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes or so. Pour contents of pan into large bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pot and half the remaining butter. Cook over a medium to medium high heat just until chicken is white and partially cooked, add vegetables back into the pot  add half the cilantro at this point. . Cook for another minute, add all spices and garlic (except the granulated onion and garlic), cook while stirring for one more minute. If you are opting to use flour, dust all of the veggies and meat in the pot and continue to cook it for another 2 minutes. Add chicken stock (this should completely cover all ingredients), lower heat and cook for about 10 minutes. Add milk and half and half... once the milk products are heated through add the granulated spices and stir to incorporate and dissolve granules. At this point you want to deal with the consistency if you did not use flour, create a slurry with the cornstarch and a little water, pour into chowder while stirring, bring it up to a bubble to thicken the soup. I let this go for about another 10 minutes on a lowered heat. Remove from heat, you can stir in the pepper jack at this point or opt to sprinkle it onto each individual serving. You do not want to add the cheese while the soup is still on the heat as it will separate. Garnish the soup with cilantro, paprika and tortilla strips. If you do not want to add all of the butter play with the amount however your soup will not have the right consistency and flavor. You can also opt to substitute tofu in place of the chicken if you want. The chicken stock I work with is Better than Bullion, Low Sodium Chicken Paste. I would not recommend using bullion cubes, canned stock does not have enough flavor, so unless you make your own from leftover rotisserie chicken, then I would recommend you use the Better than Bullion product. If you want a little more heat in the dish, garnish with minced habanero peppers or fresh Jalapeno. 

Note:  If you do not make and freeze your own, my go to stock is Better than Bullion, low sodium chicken base. It is always stocked in my kitchen.  

KFC Coleslaw

Authentic, the formula is simpler than you think.

The internet is filled with copycat attempts at KFC coleslaw... though many of the recipes are good, they are not genuine. The dressing is relatively simple; it is not as complicated as adding milk, buttermilk, or lemon. The recipe is less expensive than the copycats; it uses fewer ingredients, making sense for a chain restaurant needing to control food costs.

What about that Heinz tarragon vinegar? I know this to be a factual ingredient from two sources. I have seen a copy of a Kentucky Fried Chicken 1960's chicken cooking processes and recipe manual. No, the chicken seasoning was not in the manual, but the salad recipes were. The type of vinegar is confirmed in a lawsuit initiated by Kentucky Fried Chicken Corp. against Famous Recipe Fried Chicken Inc. (better known as Lee's Famous Recipe Fried Chicken) in Toledo, Ohio's U.S. District Court, filed in 1966. Lee Cummings, the owner and founder, was the nephew of Harlan Sanders; he was a key person in his restaurant chain. http://news.google.com/newspapers? Colonel Wins in Court


Most of my friends and family members love KFC Coleslaw. It's crisp, sweet, and seemingly spicy... it has that bit of backbite taste that is hard to identify. The other element I found curious was the thin, liquid-like sauce the coleslaw was in. How was that produced? Did they add milk to it? There is oil, vinegar, and commercial dressing in the coleslaw. The vinegar in the slaw is part of that "heat-like bite"; the other part is a regular yellow onion.

1 ½ Heads of Cabbage
1/3 Cup Onion
½ Cup Carrot
½ Cup Salad Oil
½ Cup Heinz Tarragon Vinegar
1 3/4 Cup's Miracle Whip
1 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon Sugar (I actually cut this down to 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 Teaspoon Salt

A splash of water, just a little


You will want to use a food processor to chop the cabbage, carrot, and onion into confetti. Core and roughly chop the cabbage in a Cuisinart-style food processor, pulse it a few times until it reaches the correct size (do not over pulse). Peel and roughly chop cabbage, carrots, and onions separately. This is important, especially with the carrots, as the color will bleed and cause the cabbage and onions to turn orange.

Prepare the dressing separately - place all ingredients in a mixing bowl in their indicated measured proportions, saving the oil. Using a hand or a stand mixer, combine all of the ingredients. Add oil slowly and continue mixing for about a minute until thoroughly mixed. You can even mix the dressing in advance and refrigerate it. 

Pour the dressing over the coleslaw and combine till using a rubber spatula. You will need to allow the coleslaw to marinade overnight.

At this point, the coleslaw consistency differs from KFC; it will appear thicker and almost frothy. You will also note a strong scent of very offensively pungent vinegar. Ignore both the consistency of the coleslaw and the high aroma of vinegar. Both issues will resolve themselves during the marination process. Trust me, that vinegar scent dissipates, and the dressing will achieve that relatively thin consistency. This is the real McCoy.

Just a Really Good Potato Salad, Excellent Balanced Dressing.

(make 1st)

For the Dressing
1  Cups Dukes Mayonnaise
1 Cups Miracle Whip
2 Tbsp French's Mustard
2 Tbsp Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Cup Heinz Tarragon Vinegar
1/4 Teaspoon Fine Ground Sea Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Ground White Pepper.

Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate well using a rubber spatula... scraping the sides. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill. This can be made a day ahead of time if you like.

For the Salad
Boil 3 Lg Eggs, peel and chill
5 Pounds Small Idaho Potatoes, Cut lengthwise and across (moon shaped)
1/2 Cup Lg. Fine Chopped Green Pepper
1/2 Cup Lg. Fine Chopped Sweet Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Cup Md. Fine Chopped Ylw. Onion
1/2 Cup Sweet Salad Cubed Pickles
3 Stalks Fine Chopped Celery.

Chop and place in a large bowl, celery, green pepper, onion. Add the salad cubes to the bowl as well. Peel, slice and boil potatoes to a soft al dente, pour into a strainer and then into an ice-water bath to stop cooking and cool. Once the potatoes are cooled, add them to the bowl with you chopped veggies. Fold in half the dressing mix, again using a rubber spatula. Rough chop eggs, add to bowl of salad. Fold in the remainder of the dressing and chill for a few hours. Sprinkle the top with paprika and parsley to garnish.

Note: What are salad cubes. Salad cubes are a large rough chopped pickle relish, they come in sweet and dill flavors. I have only seen these in the south. My suggestion is you rough chop sweet pickles as a replacement. The difference in a fine chopped pickle relish (like you put on a hot dog) and the rough chopped really does make a difference.  Several brands are Mt. Olive, Vlasic, Peter Piper, Shur Fine and the odd off brand.

This snap shows salad cubes v pickle relish -

Garnish ideas:  Sliced hard boiled eggs and paprika. Deviled eggs and paprika and or washed and trimmed green onion stalks. 

Russian Style Piroshki, Cheat Style!

I remember eating Piroshki when I worked at a Russian owned cafe in the De Baliviere area of St. Louis. Ironically it was called The American Cafe. I hate beets, but fell in love with Borscht. Another item served up was a delightful hand sized meal pastry called Piroshki. I thought about them the other week, read a few dough recipe's then thought about the big cresent rolls in my refrigerator. I had purchased a couple of packages on sale, simply because, who does not like crescent rolls. I decided to utilize them with a Piroshki recipe I had floating around up in my head. Instead of spending a few hours making a flaky pastry crust, I decided to make a shortcut and use the crescent roll dough to make my Peroshki's. Purchase the large or jumbo crescent rolls. One package of crescent makes eight Peroshki.

1 lb very lean ground beef 1 medium sized onion diced 3 palm sized potatoes diced 1 cup mixed vegetables 2/3 cup frozen seasoning blend aromatic veggies generous turns of fresh cracked pepper seasoning salt onion powder garlic powder 1 teaspoon better that bullion beef paste 1 pat butter about a 1/2 ounce of water Brown the ground beef chopping as you go. Remove beef to a mixing bowl. You should only have about a tablespoon or so of beef fat left (if the meat was quality). Add a little drizzle of oil or a tiny pat of butter, add and saute onions. Microwave the mixed vegetables with a paper towel at the bottom of the bowl to absorb any water from the veggies for 2 minutes only. Add to meat mix. Strain onions with a slotted spoon and add to meat mix. Add diced potatoes and cook till they begin to turn crispy add the seasoning blend and continue to saute. Season the potatoes with seasoning salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Strain potatoes and season blend adding it to the meat mixture bowl. Add one pat of butter, better than bullion to a skillet. Heat stirring with a whisk, add water and de-glaze the entire pan bringing the sauce to a bubble... it will thicken to the consistency of a glaze. Pour sauce over the meat mixture and mix it together very well distributing sauce.

Unroll the crescent rolls leaving the triangle together... you should have 4 pieces to work with. Lightly flour a board, rolling pin and the top of 1 sheet of crescent rolls. Using the pin roll the dough out side ways first to gain width, then roll long-wise, you are attempting to get the dough about 5-6 inches wide... Cut dough in half to create a square. Repeat with remaining dough. You should have eight squares. Using the same large spoon you cooked with, place a generous heap of mixture in the center of a dough square. Grab two corners of the dough and in a criss cross motion make a wrap, lift one of the two remaining corners and press in to the center of the little wrap, seal with the remaining corner forming a square envelope packet. Repeat with all dough square, be generous with the filling. Place all packets on an ungreased baking sheet using a floured plastic spatula. Brush the packets with egg wash. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes till golden brown. A few pointers. Use lean beef. Greasy beef will ruin your dough. The glaze from the pan amounts to only a few tables spoons and if it is mixed in well your filling should be most and not wet. Again a wet filling will ruin the dough squares and they will bake up soggy and not crisp. These little meal pastries are good cold as well.

Vegetable Beef Soup... Cooked Slow... All Day Long!

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread...

SHEPHERD'S PIE....

I always start this dish using leftover homemade mashed potatoes. That is what shepherds pie is or originally was... a dish using leftovers. Some people use chopped leftover roast, leftover sliced potatoes and peas. I usually just make it from an abundance of leftover mashed potatoes.

3-4 cups leftover mashed brought to room temp to make them spreadable,
2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion
2 cups peas and carrots
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon better than bullion beef paste
1/2 cup hot water
(or substitute 1/2 cup ready beef stock for water and paste)
3 - 4 tablespoons pulverized croutons (put them in a baggy and beat them with a rolling pin)
1 tablespoon of butter
2 - 3 tablespoons deep red wine
(if you would prefer a more "saucey" type of filling, use 1/2 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom, don't confuse this with cream of mushroom... it is dark and rich and a whole different soup, more gravy like)You should not dilute it much, just about 1/8 cup. You do not want a brothey filling, it won't work.

Brown the ground beef, drain and set aside. Saute onions adding garlic for the 1 minute. Meanwhile, microwave frozen peas and carrots just until they are no longer cold but not hot. Add the peas and carrots to the onions and garlic, saute 1 more minute. Add wine and stir to de-glaze pan. If you are ommitting the wine, proceed to the beef broth. Pour in the beef stock and continue cooking till it bubbles. Add the saute mix to the ground beef, stir to incorporate. Melt your butter, transfer crouton crumbs to a bowl and stir in melted butter.

Assembly
Butter a casserole dish, add ground beef mixture. Top with mashed potatoes and spread them evenly over the ground beef forming a sealed topping. Sprinkle crouton crumb mixture over the potatoes. Cook in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Note: you can really play with this dish... use your leftover meat and whatever kind of veggies you have (just chop them small). Add cheese onto the top of the potatoes. Some people really prefer this to the crumb topping or put a combo of grated cheddar cheese topped with the crumbs. You will want to switch the oven heat to broil for a few minutes, watch it carefully if you do.

LOIN ROAST, RICE and GRAVY, CARROTS AND GREEN BEANS.

THIS WAS SUNDAY DINNER WITH A GUEST. WE Had loin roast, rice and gravy, green bean w/onion ham seasoning and black pepper and carrots made with the roast. A nice time in all. I did a little marinating before popping it in the oven.

Pork Fried Rice with Cabbage and Mixed Onions