Hello all,

I'm a newbie, and an avid lover of the 'old' Kentucky Fried Chicken. Old to me means early to mid 70s. I remember the taste quite well, and the batter used to be dark brown, spicy (full of flavor), and even crispy on the edges.

The new crap is like cardboard dipped in old vegetable oil.... terrible.

I'm on a mission to replicate the very old ORIGINAL recipe, and have gotten a Chicken Bucket off ebay yesterday, ordering 99-X plus the few extra ingredients recommended, and will soon be like the Colonel..... on a stubborn mission to perfection, the way Harland Sanders was!! Even Colonel Sanders said that the chicken of the 70s wasn't even correct, so I can't be positive of the older taste. But, beating the 'dogfood' they serve now won't be hard to do at all!

I just want to thank all of you for your research and advice, as well as the sources for the ingredients.... I'll keep y'all posted on my progress.

It's ironic that KFC is so against this movement. If they made the real original chicken, there would be no need to replicate anything; plus their sales would skyrocket once word got out. Nuff said!!

Thanks all!!

cbrayinga wrote:

Hello all, I'm a newbie, and an avid lover of the 'old' Kentucky Fried Chicken. Old to me means early to mid 70s. I remember the taste quite well, and the batter used to be dark brown, spicy (full of flavor), and even crispy on the edges. The new crap is like cardboard dipped in old vegetable oil.... terrible. I'm on a mission to replicate the very old ORIGINAL recipe, and have gotten a Chicken Bucket off ebay yesterday, ordering 99-X plus the few extra ingredients recommended, and will soon be like the Colonel..... on a stubborn mission to perfection, the way Harland Sanders was!! Even Colonel Sanders said that the chicken of the 70s wasn't even correct, so I can't be positive of the older taste. But, beating the 'dogfood' they serve now won't be hard to do at all! I just want to thank all of you for your research and advice, as well as the sources for the ingredients.... I'll keep y'all posted on my progress. It's ironic that KFC is so against this movement. If they made the real original chicken, there would be no need to replicate anything; plus their sales would skyrocket once word got out. Nuff said!! Thanks all!!

CB

Im fairly new to this forum as well, im glad you arrived.

I remember when the colonel posted the actual KFC formula's for cooking, i.e salt/msg, spice mix, flour. In that thread he noted a reduction in the amount of spices from the *golden area*. It is quite possible that it is the reduction, the sheer quantity of the spices included, and then the quality of the spices.

What we do know is there is more to KFC than Pepper, Garlic and salt.

I personally think 99-X is the key here, and others here feel it is not the OR. I can't wait till you give 99-X a try, it truly is amazing stuff.

Dustin

Thank you, Dustin! I'm glad you're aboard too; I truly feel that the folks on this site have a zest for great tasting food (especially fried chicken) , and I'm also glad I'm not the only one who feels that the 'old' original was so much better.

I must agree with you, that I think the quantity of spices was cut way back. The 99-X was ordered tonight, as well as the Tellicherry Pepper, Flake Salt, Coriander, and Mace.

So, as soon as the fryer and spices show up, it's SHOW TIME!!

CB.

Let me know how it tastes.

For your information I had in mind the following thread when I wrote the above.

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In a nutshell

KFC Corp today uses 6.60 tsp of Spices & Herbs per 3 cups of Flour

The Colonel in the past used 10.12 tsp of Spices & Herbs per 3 cups of Flour

Dustin

Hi Old School O.R. lovers,

Well I've been viewing this site for days now and even bought some spices and cooked up some of the recipes. Pretty good! Plan to do my first pressure cooked batch tonight in a mid 1990's Presto 6Qt stainless pressure cooker ( 15psi ) - wish me luck! Kentucky Fried Chicken brings back delicious memories.

It's been a couple of years since I tasted the corporate KFC stuff, so using the excuse that I needed to refresh my memory of the KFC Original Recipe ... I used a $3 off coupon at the local KFC yesterday and bought a 4pc Chicken Meal. They assured me the O.R was pressure fried... and being 4pm in the afternoon, they happened to be pulling some fresh out of the fryer just in time to fill my order.

My Sensory evaluation of the "Original Recipe KFC Chicken Purchased Yesterday (personal opinion):

Chicken Meat itself: Hot, very tender, and juicy meat... came out really nice as it was fresh out of the pressure fryer. Great!

"Original Recipe" Coating-Batter: YUK! YUK! YUK! ( 3 thumbs down) Super salty, Extremely heavy on MSG .... tasting like powdered chicken soup mix (not in a good way), and really oily (dripping in clear oil ... at least the oil appeared to be fresh). Barely any pepper taste (Black pepper only detected). Couldn't pick out any other spices in the flavour. It tasted basicly like dried soup mix with too much salt and MSG. Little taste of anything else. Coating was also too lightly applied (thin).

Conclusion: FAIL. I don't remember it tasting like this. (My memory goes back to the early 1970's). Not going back - not even to refresh my memory. Not worth it. Not the Kentucky Fried Chicken of olden days. The Colonel must be turning in his grave.

-----------

Question: Is the Marion Kay spice 99-X any better to refresh my memory of the old-school Original Recipe ?

- Big Chicken

BC,

The KFC in Canada must be awful. Here in the UK it's not that bad IMHO. The coating certainly does not taste like a soup mix - it honestly puzzles me.

I think the pepper is the key. I would suspect that the amount of pepper in 99-X (the alleged OR) would be too much for the modern pampered society, especially kids, and that is why the modern KFC has so little. I, myself did find 99-X a little peppery-overpowering but aside from that pleasant.

However, (I will be in the minority) I still think modern KFC is better than 99-X (some may call me a philistine but that's how I feel). Try The Kid's 2.0 (and no cheating MSG) - I found I enjoyed this more too (but crush the cloves fully). But please bear in mind that I do not have a pressure fryer - I deep fry so this may make all the difference.

I guess it's what you are used to too. I still have a whole container of 99-X and I intend to use it! It's still finger lickin' good!

Big Chicken wrote:

Hi Old School O.R. lovers, Well I've been viewing this site for days now and even bought some spices and cooked up some of the recipes. Pretty good! Plan to do my first pressure cooked batch tonight in a mid 1990's Presto 6Qt stainless pressure cooker ( 15psi ) - wish me luck! Kentucky Fried Chicken brings back delicious memories. It's been a couple of years since I tasted the corporate KFC stuff, so using the excuse that I needed to refresh my memory of the KFC Original Recipe ... I used a $3 off coupon at the local KFC yesterday and bought a 4pc Chicken Meal. They assured me the O.R was pressure fried... and being 4pm in the afternoon, they happened to be pulling some fresh out of the fryer just in time to fill my order. My Sensory evaluation of the "Original Recipe KFC Chicken Purchased Yesterday (personal opinion): Chicken Meat itself: Hot, very tender, and juicy meat... came out really nice as it was fresh out of the pressure fryer. Great! "Original Recipe" Coating-Batter: YUK! YUK! YUK! ( 3 thumbs down) Super salty, Extremely heavy on MSG .... tasting like powdered chicken soup mix (not in a good way), and really oily (dripping in clear oil ... at least the oil appeared to be fresh). Barely any pepper taste (Black pepper only detected). Couldn't pick out any other spices in the flavour. It tasted basicly like dried soup mix with too much salt and MSG. Little taste of anything else. Coating was also too lightly applied (thin). Conclusion: FAIL. I don't remember it tasting like this. (My memory goes back to the early 1970's). Not going back - not even to refresh my memory. Not worth it. Not the Kentucky Fried Chicken of olden days. The Colonel must be turning in his grave. ----------- Question: Is the Marion Kay spice 99-X any better to refresh my memory of the old-school Original Recipe ? - Big Chicken

Big Chicken,

Nice to meet you and I am glad you are here. We are close my friend, not there yet, but close. And FYI 99X is the O.R of old, no doubt about that my friend. KFC of today is so watered down, maybe 50 to 60 percent MSG, SALT, Pepper, oh and yes the rest of the spices and herbs.

Order some 99-X today, and help us decipher its contents.

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Dustin

Hello Dustin (dprovo): thanks for the greetings - and yes I'll be ordering the M.K. spice 99-X shortly.


Hello to you too beaureef: It's the excessif MSG that gives the present KFC O.R. coating that cheap powdered soup mix flavour. Too much MSG ruins any spice mix and burns your brain with soupe-mix flavour. YUK, I can still taste it more than a day after the meal - even though I don't want to.

beaureef wrote:

However, (I will be in the minority) I still think modern KFC is better than 99-X (some may call me a philistine but that's how I feel). ...But please bear in mind that I do not have a pressure fryer - I deep fry so this may make all the difference.

Oh my... You cooked 99-X in a deep fryer, killing the flavor of the spices in the process, and then declare that KFC is better than it? ... Why, that's like hobbling the "champion" horse and then declaring the old mule out the back to be a better runner, because she just beat the now-hobbled champion!

It's absolutely illogical.

My friend: Experiment within your means, but please, when you compare... compare apples with apples. The KFC of today achieves a moist and tender product purely because of the Pressure Cooking Process. If you cooked their spice mix in a deep fryer, it would turn out far worse than 99-X ever could, utilising the same process...

And by the same token, if you cooked a batch of 99-X in KFC Cookers, I guarantee it would come out far superior to KFC's garbage in every way.

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Nice try guys.

Unhappy customers. There's plenty more where they came from!

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I can garauntee you - KFC in England is good (although this clearly doesn't look like an English KFC - decor and trays are wrong)

Beaureef, stop spamming the board with KFC Corp propaganda... Even Pol Pot and Hitler had their fans, but should their misguided example be used to prove the "goodness" of those two despots?

You're really starting to come across as a "fanboy" KFC Exec, or something similar; and it's quite distasteful.

Propaganda!! It's real people in real life TC, I am afraid.

I am sorry that you consider this spam.