How the hell do you make Kentucky Fried Chicken at home???

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Picard

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I've tried numerous times but mine never comes out remotely like KFC.
 
11 secret herbs and spices dude ,but I think the secret lies in those high pressure deep friers.
 
My mate's mom does it, she worked at KFC, no secret spices just salt and black pepper.
 
You won't get the same flavour as KFC, but you need to use seasoned flour. Most of the KFC flavours as far as I can tell are MSG, garlic powder, salt and a fair amount of pepper flavouring (it's different to actual pepper because it has no burn). It's no longer a blend of 11 secret herbs and spices, of that I'm quite sure.

KFC also use pressurised fryers and they fry in Crisco so you won't get the exact same texture. Trick is to wet the chicken very slightly with water (preferably from a spray bottle - this clumps some of the flour to create the extra crisp) then dip it in the flour, knock off the excess and deep fry at a medium-high temperature for at least ten minutes, depending on the size of the piece you're cooking.

There is a very long recipe I know of where you brine your chicken, then marinade in a buttermilk mixture overnight, then use a seasoned flour mix which comes out really nicely but it's a lot of work and to be honest, most people wouldn't bother.

My recipe is paprika, MSG (yes, I use it - it has an unnecessary bad rep - it's called zeal in SA), black pepper, plenty of salt, dried parsley, garlic powder, celery salt powder and flour. I brine the chicken pieces in a 10% salt solution for 2 hours before drying it off and dipping it in the flour - then fry it at 165 degrees Celsius until crisp...
 
Aqua_lung said:
My mate's mom does it, she worked at KFC, no secret spices just salt and black pepper.
Click to expand...

Well that's mostly true. There is certainly a little garlic powder in it and I suspect maybe some paprika but I can't be sure. You can tell by looking at a piece of KFC that there is a herb of some sort in there but I cannot make out what it is...
 
My biggest problem is getting the batter the same consistency as the shop-bought product.

Regarding the spices, i'm not too bothered. I can improvise. The crunchy exterior is what i can't duplicate.
 
An important bit to remember is to knock off the excess flour before you fry it otherwise you're going to land up with flour coming off in your oil, which will burn and create a bitter flavour which you will taste in your chicken. And don't get the temperature too high - you'll burn the flour and skin before the inside is cooked and it will be horrible...
 
Errrrm KFC use a batter, not dry ingredients. The batter is delivered in buckets.

And its not Kentucky Fried Chicken anymore...
 
Pixual said:
KFC is stuff designed to clog your arteries and shorten your life span.

Eat it no more than once a year.
Click to expand...

I eat the franchise bought products 4 times a year. I'm not too worried.

And I would like to make (if I can manage it) KFC at most another 4 times a year at home. I don't see this as hazardous to my health.
 
4Motion said:
Errrrm KFC use a batter, not dry ingredients. The batter is delivered in buckets.

And its not Kentucky Fried Chicken anymore...
Click to expand...

They might use a seasoned egg/milk batter to wet the chicken before dipping in the flour, but I doubt it's a batter that they're using...
 
DJ... said:
They might use a seasoned egg/milk batter to wet the chicken before dipping in the flour, but I doubt it's a batter that they're using...
Click to expand...

Nope.

They get buckets of the batter delivered.
The fryer dude take a piece of pre cooked chicken, dips It into the batter and then into the fryer.
I've seen them do it.
 
Order a bucket and then microwave it when you want it for dinner.

I somehow doubt you could ever replicate the taste of kfc at home.
 
4Motion said:
Nope.

They get buckets of the batter delivered.
The fryer dude take a piece of pre cooked chicken, dips It into the batter and then into the fryer.
I've seen them do it.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The batter would have to be incredibly thick to recreate the KFC texture which is not evident in the final product as it requires a large amount of flour to create the crisp that they achieve. I study food science in my spare time and knowing the texture and mouth-feel of KFC, I'm still fairly sure that it's seasoned flour, which has historically been KFC's method.

Many people refer to a seasoned flour mix as a batter too.

One thing that they might do is use a seasoned flour, then a very thin batter, and then back into the seasoned flour again but I cannot see a single dip in batter recreating the KFC crisp.

It is a secret though, so I might be 100% wrong...
 
WHich begs the question - what happened to the "secret" recipe of 11 herbs etc?

Maybe it was too time-consuming, so they ditched that in favour of the new "batter" - whatever... ?
 
hinds-southern-coating-hot-3129-p.jpg



Hinds southern chicken coating
You'll find it in Pick n pay
 
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