actbiggy
After speaking with the Colonel’s nephew and a former KFC employee, a reporter thinks he has discovered the company’s top-secret fried chicken recipe.
The 11 herbs and spices that KFC uses to flavor its “finger-lickin’ delicious” fried chicken are well-known for being kept very secret.
However, a Chicago Tribune reporter thinks he has decoded the crispy code after speaking with the Colonel’s nephew and a former employee.
Its biggest marketing gimmick has been keeping the recipe’s identity a secret. A Brinks guard was engaged by the business in 2008 as a publicity stunt to move the Colonel’s handwritten recipe to a new, secure location.
And on KFC’s freshly updated website, a character playing Colonel Sanders says he’s finally ready to share the secret with the world, at which point, of course, he breaks down, and an “out of order” message appears on the screen.
Many unsuccessful attempts to steal the spicy secret have been made. How is it possible that this reporter found it so easily since the last person who claimed to have found it was sued by KFC?
He then met Joe Ledington, the Colonel’s nephew. While looking through a scrapbook of family photos, Ledington took out the final will and testament of Sanders’s second wife, which had a handwritten recipe for a spice blend for fried chicken with 11 herbs and spices. Seriously.
When questioned if these were the original 11 herbs and spices meant to be so covert, Ledington said casually, “That is the case.”
Pretty anti-climactic, huh? No fireworks erupting, no ghosts of Colonel Sanders appearing.
KFC’s secret recipe revealed? Tribune shown family scrapbook with 11 herbs and spices https://t.co/k0ieLSbcPI pic.twitter.com/gg3NygwFqN
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) August 19, 2016
Here is the complete recipe as presented by Ledington:
11 spices – Mix with 2 cups of white flour
- 2/3 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 Teaspoon basil
- 1/3 Teaspoon oregano
- 1 Teaspoon celery salt
- 1 Teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Teaspoon dried mustard
- 4 Teaspoon paprika
- 2 Teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 Teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 Teaspoon white pepper
Ledington claims that white pepper is the key ingredient. He told the Tribune that when the recipe was created in the 1950s, “no one knew how to use white pepper.”
Photo Credits – Getty Images
The recipe “may be” legitimate, but Ledington can’t say “for sure” after realizing the potential harm he may have done, he told the Tribune, adding that this was the first time he had revealed it to a reporter. He then toned down his conviction.
Nobody was surprised when KFC refused to confirm or deny the recipe’s authenticity.
The Tribune test kitchen then performed a side-by-side comparison and discovered that the two were “nearly indistinguishable”—but only after adding MSG, which a chain representative acknowledges is a current ingredient.
Is it possible to ever be certain that this is the Colonel’s original recipe—possibly his most valued ownership in its entirety? Most likely not. KFC probably won’t let us know because it’s one of the most fiercely guarded trade secrets in business. However, feel free to try the recipe and make your own decisions by pulling out your pressure cooker (yep, the original recipe allegedly called for using one).
