I am over 70 and I remember the original.. crispy and good! Like you, I've hated it for the last 30 years.

You are in luck, then. I found the recipe (heavily edited / modified by me) that produced the best results. It's a royal pain in the ass to make, and requires food grade saltpeter (KNO3). Reagent grade (chemistry lab) saltpeter will have contaminants no one should eat. I ordered it online. Brining the chicken overnight is essential for the flavor and texture.

I added three different spice blends, including the disputed Chicago Tribune blend. It's very good, but doesn't taste like any KFC I've ever had. My personal spice blend has some adjustable knobs, like the hot red pepper / paprika mix. We like it hot, so we go more for a Popeye's taste.

This is by far the best home fried chicken I've ever cooked, and I've been doing it over 30 years. Attached.

Attached Files

KFC_fancy_recipe.pdf (397.1 KB, 46 views)

Oh, yes - a detail:

Tsp = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon

Makes a big difference in the flavor.

thanks for your effort to put together your recipe, I really do appreciate it.
I just don't understand why would one use the saltpetre (saltpeter) in something that should be fresh food.
It actually doesn't effectively prevent botulism, but it does inhibit the microbiological growth. Which shouldn't be a problem for someone cooking at home, following basic standards of cleanness and use the meat in few days.
Maybe it's my personal pet peeve, but I do connect it with cheap cured meat. You will not find it in jamon, prosciutto or fine salamis. And the fact that it is used in KFC preparation, it probably means they are anticipating low hygienic standards in their shops

I don’t know anybody who does this at home … same with MSG. MSG really is not needed and is primarily reserved for processed junk food or Aromat here in Switzerland.

and of course Yardbird, which I heard was terrible.

I'm not entirely convinced by the necessity of brining chicken either.

There are a couple of times when I've bought cheap chicken or turkey and despite cooking it carefully, it's been dry (which is the common complain about Turkey).
However, cooking a decent free-range Turkey in the same way has resulted in moist, succulent meat.

I have no doubt that brining would be effective with the cheaper bits of poultry but surely the answer is to buy better quality birds in the first place rather than soak cheaper ones in salted water.

The fact that brining is much more popular in the U.S. where poultry farming standards are just not up to those in most of Europe only really confirms this view.

I appreciate that crispy skin is another benefit of brining.

The above is the sole reason we've brined chicken - simply for a crispier and juicier fried chicken.

Otherwise, only brined turkey and pork before and I don't think it was particularly necessary.

I'm sorry, this is the first post you've made that I don't agree with but you're dead wrong here. MSG is an important ingredient in so many asian cuisines.

Uhh, OK. Brining is for tenderization. The chemicals (and I've done this exactly once!) definiely do tenderize the meat, much like tenderizing with buttermilk. No one has to do this, and I admit, it is a lot of work. I've done marinating with yogurt much more often, and the result is more tender than not tenderizing.

The result was really good, and this recipe is very, very good. Don't want to do it? OK. Use buttermilk or yogurt instead. You'll get a great result. The saltpeter and baking soda marinade is only one of several ways to get really juicy, soft on the inside chicken, crispy on the outside.

Choose your method as you prefer. It worked well for me.

Cheers!

Yes I am aware, but we were discussing American / Western food. I don’t know any home cook in the US that has a bottle of MSG that they use regularly.

That "parmesan" in a can that they have in the U.S. isn't all that different.

All the health scares concerning MSG were found to be groundless.

If you eat half a tonne of food of any cuisine, your body is going to have to go into overdrive to process it anyway -that was probably the real problem as so often asian cuisine in the west is not a controlled plate-full of food but many dishes and ultimately, many plate-fulls of food.

As mentioned earlier Aromat that sits on practically every Swiss table is MSG.
Condiments like ketchup, mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, Spaghetti sauce, mustard, and salad dressings have been known to contain added MSG, so always worth checking the label if you want to avoid it.

You'd have to avoid a lot more than just that:

https://msgdish.com/glutamate-foods-...y-contain-msg/

Well exactly...Parmesan and Roquefort and aged Alpkaese are loaded. Fondue night tonight!!

I know someone who cannot take even a tiny quantity of peanuts - she has to spit it out immediately and then wash her mouth out clean, or go to the hospital right away. So, yes, there are food allergies, and they can get very serious, very fast.

That being said, MSG isn't harmful for most people and is a very intense flavor enhancer, always used in low doses (like 1/2 tsp in a whole recipe of chicken).

I get it that a lot of ppl try to avoid bad ingredients in their food. I cook from scratch whenever possible, and I live in Switzerland, possibly the pickiest group of eaters on Earth.

Brining chicken in "chemicals" like (food-grade) KNO3 and baking soda, is not really different from using yogurt or buttermilk. You know exactly what you are doing in the first case, and don't really know the chemical composition of either buttermilk nor yogurt. High-temperature cooking kills all the bacteria, but maybe not the chemical products of the bacteria, which is the more important issue.

I looked up yogurt, and it was a bit frightening, even for a chemist: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...tbl2_272386489. There is a bunch of stuff in there, and I have neither the equipment nor the time to check it all.

No one will argue that marinating chicken in buttermilk nor yogurt is a bad thing. I'm fussing here that I got blow-back on marination in saltpeter and baking soda. I've tried it, and it was really good. I haven't experiencened health problems, and I was careful. I am also a chemist, and so I think about what I eat.

So: yeah, you can do it. Yeah, the results are good. No, you don't have to do it, so you are free to make your own choices.

@potken

Please do not tell people they are putting a combination of sodium and chlorine in their food, they will panic.

Never heard of this?:

https://www.fanaticallyfood.com/what...ent-seasoning/

Tom

Prosciutto is made by covering pork legs with salt (NaCl - Sodium Chloride) for some weeks.
How this is more fresh or natural than using saltpeter I do not know but I respect your right to your own opinion.