A friend of a friend (i.e. a person who use to work at KFC as a Cook) has graciously passed onto us the "Official" batch Ingredients and their correct mixing ratios, for the Colonel's Original Recipe Chicken!

Rejoice my friends! Rejoice!

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Note: KFC Corp. now uses Milk & Egg Powder (in order to save money), whilst the Colonel only ever used real Milk and real Eggs...

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Note: In the Colonel's day "Kentucky Fried Chicken" utilized *40 ounces* of Spice Mix, and approximately the same amount of salt, to 25 pounds of flour, which naturally increased the ratio of spice to flour, and decreased the ratio of salt to flour...

Use it wisely, Oh fellow Replicators...
_________________________________

UPDATE (May 29th, 2008):

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

I have discovered that the above ratios whilst being the Official KFC ratios for "Original Recipe" chicken as it is TODAY, are NOT the ratios used by even the KFC of old, let alone the Colonel himself!

A trip to KFC yesterday (the first in a very long time for me: Check review:

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) confirmed that nowadays KFC is using way too much salt, whilst - I ascertained - using LESS of the Colonel's spice mix! This is also confirmed by the above ratios where, for 3 cups of flour, they would use the equivalent of 8.8 tsps of salt (way too much) to only 6.6 tsps of Spice, which is way too little...

I remember that up until yesterday these ratios didn't make sense to me, even though they were mathematically spot on ...

But then I was reminded that KFC use to utilise *40 ounce bags* of spice, and if you put that into the above calculator the result for qty of spice to 3 cups of flour comes out a much more reasonable 10.1 tsps!

Which is about exactly the amount that I use (after dozens of tests)!

And as confirmation that the flour qty hasn't changed from the 25 pound standard in at least the last 30 years, we have the testimony of an ex-KFC Cook of the 1970's:

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(Scroll down to Megazoids first post)

So, to sum up: KFC HAVE lessened the amount of Spice and INCREASED the amount of Salt. Naturally, this is all done to save dollars (at our expense)!

I would estimate that the Colonel use to utilize 1.1kg (39oz) of Salt, and 1.13kg (40oz) of Spice mix to 11.4kg (25lb) of Flour. If you want to match the Colonel's ratios, then then use those figures

------------------------------------------

UPDATE: May 23rd, 2008

It is complete... for now.

I have created a calculator in Excel which matches the precise KFC O.R ratios, even when one is using only small amounts of flour (for example, the 3 Cups that we use...) And as you will note in the bottom calculator, I have - using KFC's own ratio percentages - demonstrated what Colonel Sanders himself would have mixed, if he were only using 3 Cups of flour! (Excluding the Milk & Egg Powder of course)

Match it to the amount of salt and spices that you use, and see how far off you were... or perhaps, you might have had it spot on already!

The calculator up top (the one that says, "Manual Version") is what my ratios were before I was given the Official KFC ratios... Naturally, I will now be following the Official ratios from now on, "to the letter"

Oh, you will also note the newly added "Key", which is just a guide at the moment... I was not able to get a hold of the scales today, so it will have to wait a few more days

Each ingredient has it's own Cup weight (Keep that in mind). The original weights needed to be converted to Cups (i.e. volume measurements) as many of us utilize Cups and tsps in our cooking...
___________________________________________

Edit (13th Nov, 2009):

Wow! This is a very old post, and we have learnt MUCH since then!

Discard the references to "40 Ounce spice packets" above, as Kentucky Fried Chicken has ALWAYS utilised 26 ounce bags of spice. The only variant to this that I know of, is in Canada, where they mixed the salt AND the spice mix together...

The mistake I made was in assuming that the entire spice package had been lessened, when in reality - and much more simply - the KFC Corporation had simply lessened the spices, whilst simultaneously increasing the MSG within the traditional 26 ounce bags KFC Franchisees had always been use too.

I will do a complete re-edit on this post, when I have more time

The following quote was made by a "Kentucky Fried Chicken" employee, who worked there when Colonel Sanders himself, owned the Company. It references the late 1950's:

Quote:

"The [Original Recipe] spices, seasoning, came in twenty-six-ounce bags, little plastic bags. That would mix with twenty-five pounds of flour, or about one ounce to one pound. A franchisee would call in or write in and order so much seasoning and so many buckets, and I would write up the order and put it in the basket and Harland - that was Harland Adams, Margaret's son, he was working at headquarters then - he would come by and take it to the Warehouse and ship it out." "The Colonel" - John Pearce, Page 124

Here are my calculations (revised heavily):

1 tsp of table salt weighs 6 grams. I don't think there can be any argument on this? So I thought I would come at it from another angle.

1 teaspoon of table salt = 6 grams
===================
11400 divided by 55 = 207.3
1250 divided by 207.3 = 6
===================

So it's...
6 grams (1 tsp) of salt per 55 grams of flour.

===================

This helps me as I think I am going to stop using the whole "cup" measure. It's also pretty easy to remember.

I am still trying to find this one out...

Here is a website that converts real easy...

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1250 grams equal 9.47 cups (US).

Still working on it. Sorry.

_________________________________________________________

3 tsp of salt for 2 cups of flour

Double that with 3 teaspoons equal 2 tablespoons

That means -

2 tbsps of salt per 2 cups of flour
(seems like alot of salt. Not to mention
throwing in the old MSG stuff in the mix.)

Sorry guys... I received an update from our anonymous contact:

The flour qty is actually 11.4kg, not 11kg's... Image has been updated.

Better to have been wrong and then be corrected, than to remain wrong forever though!

lol

I've redone my calculations and edited my previous post. I've gone over and over them, and I'm certain they are correct. I even weighed a teaspoon of table salt (6 grams) and a cup of flour (140 grams using the dip and sweep method) to confirm things.

I know you guys have done loads of batches, and I've only done a couple, but the 3 tsp of salt + (say 1/2 tsp of) MSG per cup of flour seems right. I think if you pre-salt your chicken before dipping, then perhaps it would be too much.

One thing that shocked me was the fact that I'm using 8 TIMES the herbs and spices that KFC do, and my last batch of chicken still tasted fine (apart from a little too much pepper). Ho-hum.

I believe you are correct in you calculations.

You are 8 times too much in herbs and spices?

We need to work on this, plus reduce the cost.

What would the herbs and spices look like
if you match the ratio?

A quick post, doing quick math.
(Salt goes to 'Not so bad...'):

Quote:

Here are my calculations (revised): 1 cup (of flour "dip & sweep" measure) = 140 grams 1 teaspoon (of table salt) = 6 grams =================== 11400 divided by 140 = 81.4 cups of flour 1250 divided by 81.4 = 15.4 grams of salt per cup. 15.4 grams is only 0.6 of a gram under 3 tsps. ===================

My comments:
1 teaspoon (of table salt) = 6 grams (3 teas=18 grams) <---
===================
11400 Flour divided by 140 = 81.4 cups of flour OK
1250 Salt divided by 81.4 = 15.4 grams of salt per cup. OK
15.4 grams is only 0.6 of a gram under 3 tsps. <--- AH-AH:

15.4 grams DIVIDED BY 6 grams (per teas salt) = 2.566666etc,

which we may (gently) interpret as 2.5 teasp, right?

So, 2.5 teas per cup = 5 teas per 2 cups (See, not so bad...)

Here's some numbers I was 'working' with, from 'Employees' thread:

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Quote:

"For every bag of flour (11.5kg), a bag of salt (probably in between 800g-1.5kg), a bag of Milk and egg mix, then a spice bag is added and mixed up.

Quote:

"I purchased a 40-oz bag of Original Recipe Seasoning

Working with the above,
(guesstimated above Salt bag to 1.14 kg for numerical convenience) I got:

Flour 11.5 kg ------- 25 lbs.
Salt 1 + kg ----------2.5 lbs. = 1 to 10 (Salt only) 10%
Bag of Milk/Egg mix ?? Don't care
Spice bag, 40-oz ? --2.5 lbs. = 1 to 10 (with MSG) 10%

Obviously, things have changed and YUM foods is:
1. Decreasing the 'Spice bag',
2. Increasing the 'Salt bag', and
3. Laughing all the way to the bank...

No wonder that their greasy crappy chicken doesn't taste like it used to:
Less flavorings, more salt (to make up for it).

Edit: Maybe changing the 40 oz Spice bag to the 26 oz Spice bag is when they
took out the 'real organic' spices and put in the 'artificial chemical powder' stuff, that their 'R&D labs' might have created???

Right.

Guys, great work indeed. Mega, you in particular have shown me where I went wrong... to sum up, the presumption I made (without realising it) was that flour, salt and spices are all the same weight per cup... which they are not!

Flour weighs about 125 grams per U.S Cup, Salt weighs about 292 grams per Cup, Egg and Milk Powder weigh roughly 272 grams per Cup and Spices weigh around 110 grams per U.S Cup!!! And this weight difference needs to be taken into account when one is measuring by VOLUME...

So, all of the percentages were out.

I have now realised that we need a strict set of weight and measurement guidelines in order to gain as much uniformity as possible... For now, I'll upload a quick amendment to the original post, but I now intend to utilize a set of scientific scales at my place of work in order to get precise measurements by the Cup for salt, spices, flour and even milk and egg powder (for those who want to mimmick the KFC taste of "today").

Thanks one and all! This is bloody exciting though! Using these ratios we will now know the precise ratios that the Colonel use to use... and I mean the PRECISE ratios....

The only thing that baffles me is how to work out how much MSG is in the mix... any ideas anyone?

Bye for now.

The Colonel wrote:

I now intend to utilize a set of scientific scales at my place of work in order to get precise measurements

What you working for the Drug Squad at the Police department or something??

Megazoid wrote:

I've redone my calculations and edited my previous post. I've gone over and over them, and I'm certain they are correct. I even weighed a teaspoon of table salt (6 grams) and a cup of flour (140 grams using the dip and sweep method) to confirm things. I know you guys have done loads of batches, and I've only done a couple, but the 3 tsp of salt + (say 1/2 tsp of) MSG per cup of flour seems right. I think if you pre-salt your chicken before dipping, then perhaps it would be too much. One thing that shocked me was the fact that I'm using 8 TIMES the herbs and spices that KFC do, and my last batch of chicken still tasted fine (apart from a little too much pepper). Ho-hum.

OK if you look at any cooking site they all say 1 cup of all purpose flour equals 110 Grams ... How do I know .. I make Pastry day in and day out for Pies .. I use a **** load of flour and 1 cup is 110 Grams




All-Purpose Flour and Confectioners' Sugar

1/8 cup = 15 grams
1/4 cup = 30 grams
1/3 cup = 40 grams
3/8 cup = 45 grams
1/2 cup = 60 grams
5/8 cup = 70 grams
2/3 cup = 75 grams
3/4 cup = 85 grams
7/8 cup = 100 grams
1 cup = 110 grams


Brown Sugar

1/8 cup = 25 grams
1/4 cup = 50 grams
1/3 cup = 65 grams
3/8 cup = 75 grams
1/2 cup = 100 grams
5/8 cup = 125 grams
2/3 cup = 135 grams
3/4 cup = 150 grams
7/8 cup = 175 grams
1 cup = 200 grams



Granulated Sugar

1/8 cup = 30 grams
1/4 cup = 55 grams
1/3 cup = 75 grams
3/8 cup = 85 grams
1/2 cup = 115 grams
5/8 cup = 140 grams
2/3 cup = 150 grams
3/4 cup = 170 grams
7/8 cup = 200 grams
1 cup = 225 grams



Cake Flour

1/8 cup = 10 grams
1/4 cup = 20 grams
1/3 cup = 25 grams
3/8 cup = 30 grams
1/2 cup = 50 grams
5/8 cup = 60 grams
2/3 cup = 65 grams
3/4 cup = 70 grams
7/8 cup = 85 grams
1 cup = 95 grams

Samurai wrote:

OK if you look at any cooking site they all say 1 cup of all purpose flour equals 110 Grams ... How do I know .. I make Pastry day in and day out for Pies .. I use a **** load of flour and 1 cup is 110 Grams

Thanks Samurai, and coppa eh? hehe.. not quite, but I do work in a Lab!

Now, are you referencing U.S, U.K or Aussie Cups?

I would like to come up with a standard set of measures for flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and of course spices, that we can all use. So that we (meaning the whole forum) are on the "same page" consistently. Perhaps, I can utilise a "guide" which has standards for all three countries or something, but I would like to preference U.S measurements first, if only because that is what the Colonel would have measured in

What "y'all" think?

The Colonel wrote:

Now, are you referencing U.S, U.K or Aussie Cups?

That is US cups ... All the Sites I work from use US measurements

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Yes chuckr, you are right. Maybe I subconsciously wanted to get 3 tsp of salt per cup lol.

The 140 grams for a cup of flour I knew would cause some raised eyebrows. The fact is it depends totally on how you put the flour in the cup, what sort of flour it is, and whether it is sieved or not. This is the inherent problem with the cup measurement.

KFC use a course ground flour which is going to be heavier than say cake flour.

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After reading the above, and then measuring my own scoop of Strong Bread Making flour, I came to the same conclusion - between 135 and 140 grams is about right (if it's scooped and levelled).

Life would be easier if measures were is grams instead of cups, tbsp & tsp's. On a side note, there is anecdotal evidence that Colonel Harland Sanders wrote out his recipes in milligrams. Tommy and Cherry Settle who live in Colonel Harland Sanders's old house , and found that handwritten note with 11 herbs and spices in the Colonels handwriting, say it was " in specific amounts, by the milligram."

Source :

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