Once again my friends, yet another anonymous source has been generous enough to offer us exclusive photos of another bag of KFC spice mix! Whilst I can't mention this source (naturally) I can tell you it was garnered from Australia...

As a bonus, there are also pictures of KFC's milk & egg powder mix, KFC salt, and the sources' opinion was also given on the contents of the Original Recipe mix:

The one and only, Kentucky Fried Chicken Original Recipe Seasoning mix!



The famous Herbs and Spices in a bowl (Fascinating isn't it?!):



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The KFC Milk & Egg Powder Mix:





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The Official KFC Original Recipe Salt:



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I received these photos a little while ago from a KFC Cook who of course, shall remain anonymous They were actually sent by the same kind person who told me of KFC's Official Ingredient Ratios.

Anyway, to his comments (via email):

"I've been studying the mix thoroughly. The first thing I smelt when I opened the spice mix was? .... Cloves! It was as clear as the sun at midday! Cloves & White Pepper!

Oh, and notice the ingredients listed on the packet? "MSG, Herbs & Spices, Salt" ... AND? Garlic Powder!!! ...

______________________________________________________

ANALYSIS OF THE KFC SPICE MIX (From our anonymous source):

APPEARANCE:

An olive/brown/grey colour with black and tan specks throughout. There appears to be a green tinge of sorts... It also has clearly distinguishable crystalline elements within it (i.e. MSG)

It is a highly refined mix, although I wouldn't say it was a "powder"... The fine granulation is close to McCormick's Ground Black Pepper in size.

TASTE:

Tastes like white pepper (85%), salt and MSG (a lot!)... There is also a "sweet" taste to it, once the heat of the pepper settles in, and just before the salt and MSG overwhelms one's tastebuds.

It has a similiar taste to "chicken salt". There is a bitter aftertaste... A "chemical" type taste.

One's Mouth fills with a strange "odour" (Cheap MSG?) ... Nothing else (i.e. no other herbs or spices) can be detected by the tastebuds. It is possible that there are other herbs and/or spices in the mix, but that they are in such minute qty's that they're being masked by the white pepper.

AROMA:

The aroma reveals a much different story: The nose can easily detect White Pepper (mostly), Black Pepper, Cloves, Sage, Mace & Cardamom... Also possibly Coriander.

NOTES:

Cloves was the very first aroma (after white pepper of course) that I detected immediately upon cutting open the packet. I verified it many times over the next half hour; it was very distinct indeed.

However, once I transferred the mix to a new container, the smell of mace and cardamom stood out as most apparent. Sage came in a close third.

Interestingly, one can not taste (or smell) garlic at all.

THOUGHTS:

I suspect that the reason for the discrepancy between what one can taste, and what one can clearly smell, is that KFC Corp is utilising synthetic aromas created in a Lab, firstly as a cost-cutting measure and secondly as a method of ingredient "protection". (Physical analysis of the sample reveals little besides White and Black Pepper, MSG and salt..."

My comment: William Poundstone anyone? ...
__________________________

The Colonel

Glad to have you back Col.

Yes, Welcome back Colonel.

It's been some time.

the colonel does it again. welcome back indeed. and likewise, a hearty welcome back to you john.

Hey! Thank you very much guys for the warm welcome... Believe me, I appreciate it very much! It's great to be here again... especially seeing as the KFC "hush money" has burnt a hole in me pocket, and every last cent is now gone...





I'm kidding!!!



Regards,

The Colonel

Welcome back Colonel!!!

In regard to the pictures above, does anybody know the ratio between the flour and rest of ingredients?

H&S 740grams

Egg&Milk 225 or 340grams

Salt 1.36Kgs

Breading Flour???

Has anybody tried putting dried milk and egg in their flour instead of egg wash?

I tried this, only with powdered milk (dont have the egg yet) and IMHO can say it was the BEST coating i have ever produced yet. The coating was very tender but still stuck to the chicken. Beautiful chicken using Kid's
1.3 (thanks Kid!) I will post some photos soon!

Any thoughts?

Hey Grubby!

KFC has always utilised 25 pounds (or 11.4kg's) of flour per bag of seasoning mix. I tried getting a photo of the bags of KFC flour but alas... my contact never came through (well, not yet anyway). As for the utilisation of powdered milk and eggs in our mixes, the first thing to understand is that KFC use to use real milk and eggs, at least throughout the 1970's anyway...

Check this photo out, which came from a 1974 promotional brochure (at the time it was only for the eyes of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees):



Yup... "official" Kentucky Fried Chicken Milk & Egg wash

Now, the only reason modern-day KFC uses powdered milk and eggs is because it is cheaper... MUCH cheaper for them. The quality of the end product certainly suffers though, but that's not to say you can't make great fried chicken utilising it (providing the herbs and spices are of sufficient quality as to "over"-compensate, I guess.

Having said that, and as most of us know, even the KFC of today has days when the chicken is acceptable... days when the chicken is pleasant enough to eat. But the problem is that it is ENTIRELY a hit and miss affair. If that 16 year old cook is too busy thinking of his latest girlfriend, or how drunk he's gonna get "this weekend" with his buddies, then forgit it! His chicken will come out dry, undercoated, over-browned and greasy!

But if they follow the corporate-inspired instructions "to the letter"... then the product is quite edible. Having said this, some of you guys on your worst day, would produce superior chicken to modern-day KFC, believe me!

The easiest way to sum up KFC Corporate chicken is that it is "soulless" and without "heart". And this ingredient - which the Colonel use to inject regularly into ALL the franchises he visited - is now, sadly, lost forever.

Which is where we come in! The Colonel's Kitchen

Alright, I've prattled on long enough...

The Colonel

Hey Colonel

As usual, a very passionate and heartfelt response...That's what we love about you mate

Was thinking only of covenience...One bowl or bag of dry ingredients vs two...(lazy B)

Now! Back to the "REAL" KFC

Some photos of my attempt's
First photo: Straight of of deep fryer (A bit oily)
Second: With time to drain...

Hope it makes you HUNGRY!!!

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grubboy wrote:

Hope it makes you HUNGRY!!!

For postage purposes my address is.... hehe It looks GREAT Grubboy! The colour is pretty much spot on too. But the question is: How did it taste my friend?

Interesting post Colonel with your anonymous source's analysis. I wonder about any synthetic aroma's or flavorings, why its not listed on the bag? Protecting their recipe this way would make it virtually impossible to replicate. I don't know if there is a wide array of variability between the seasons and the quality of spices, but when I used to work with Naked Juice we decided to add a natural flavoring to all the SKU's because we had such a variability between season to season in regards to the specifications of the fruit. It also served as a cost cutting mechanism, we were able to lower the amount of raw ingredients.

Colonel have you ever smelled or tasted 99-X and KFC corp dry powder mix side by side as a comparison?

Dustin

During my research into where I could find dehydrated red bell peppers, I came across a company which manufactured oleoresins. These are concentrated flavors from mostly vegetables, herbs & spices, but they can even make them from some types of meat.

They can be in both liquid and powdered format and are guaranteed to maintain flavor consistency regardless of the time of year.

I'm sure everyone has noticed the difference in taste between northern hemisphere fruit and vegetables and their counterparts from the southern hemisphere.

Frankly, I find vegetables from Chile to be some of the best I've ever tasted.

The point I'm trying to make is that fast food companies like KFC are unlikely to use the real H&S in their spice mixes when they can purportedly get flavor consistency from synthetic and/or oleoresin concentrates at far less cost.

Perhaps it's also a way to bypass the ingredient disclosure requirements in some countries. If you're not using the real thing, why would you need to declare it in the ingredient list.

Imho, the only way the smell test will work is if KFC and 99-X are each made with all real or all artificial ingredients or the identical combination of each.

In a blind test, when comparing apples to apples, can anyone tell which apple aroma is the artificial one?

I guess that's why I never succumbed to the temptation to order 99-X from Marion Kay. I don't want to reproduce 99-X. I want to replicate Colonel Sanders Original Kentucky Fried Chicken.

That is my goal and I'm sticking to it.

Thank you, Dustin, for allowing me to vent on your post. I needed this.

L

dprovo wrote:

Colonel have you ever smelled or tasted 99-X and KFC corp dry powder mix side by side as a comparison? Dustin

Dustin,

Sorry for not responding yet mate, but I moved house a couple of months back, and I seem to have misplaced my bottle of 99-X

In brief the answer to your question is "yes."... But let me see if I can track the relevant spice mixes down and I'll get back to you...

P.S Lumpy, that's one excellent and highly relevant post my friend

Colonel, in your estimation when did KFC corp change the OR recipe? Was it gradual and subtle, or sudden? I remember the story of the Marion Kay owner who figured out what spices they replaced or put in inferior spices and herbs, I think that was back in the 70's. But now we come to the conclusion that they most likely use only white and black pepper, and the others are synthesized in a laboratory.

Also do you still hold to this position:

I realised that it is quite possible that it was allspice I smelt in the "Corporate Mix", and NOT cloves afterall... So, for my next recipe I intend to use allspice in place of cloves...

I notice the above post now says cloves instead of Allspice. I can for sure smell Mace, and Allspice in 99-X, or could really be Cloves? Every time I have added cloves or cinnamon they really stood out too strong.


Dustin

Dustin, sorry for the delay mate... read on, to hear of my "tragedy":

As far as Allspice and Cloves go my friend... it was indeed true that at first, I thought the aroma was definitely Cloves... but, now I believe it was actually the aroma of allspice (Indeed, whilst they are two different spices, they do have some remarkable similarities)

But in all honesty, I still have further testing to do.

As to the mutual aromas of 99-X and the Corporate O.R mix (some of which I use to have), I am bitterly disappointed to say that the they have become lost after I shifted house a few months back! I have turned the house upside down in my search for them, but to no avail...

I am somewhat upset by this, but in the end I must remain philisophical. Perhaps some more may come my way soon

From what I recall though, their aromas were similar but "different"... Not helpful I know. But the only way I can describe it is that 99-X smelt like a "real", natural version of the Corporate mix. And when you consider that 99-X does indeed utilise authentic herbs and spices (as opposed to the synthetic aromas used by KFC Corp) then this makes sense.

Also, the herbs and spices grown by Marion Kay are of a very good quality indeed. So, the aromas are slightly different again for this reason as well. (As a test, buy two different black peppers from two different spice companies, and you will notice that they both smell very different - even though they are both "black pepper".)

In summary... they have some similarities, but it is also like comparing apples with oranges too because KFC Corp's mix is mostly synthetic, whilst Marion Kay's is completely natural. The biggest difference of all though is in the tasting... The two simply can NOT be compared when it comes to the taste-test!

99-X as most of us know, is just a taste extravaganza! Whereas, I can personally attest that when I cooked up the KFC Corp mix at home, my family and I had one of the worst fried chicken experiences ever! I'm not kidding when I say that if I made up a batch of white and black pepper with loads of MSG and salt, then THAT would have mimmicked it almost perfectly...

Blech!

Hangon mate... I'm gonna have to break here for tea! We're having Meatloaf tonight (No! Not the singer! )

Back soon Dustin my friend!