Today I will allow myself to walk through the dish, which, it turns out, has a lot of fans.
As I recently learned, Colonel Sanders has been choosing the optimal combination of spices for decades so that in Russia his chicken will be judged by the crispness of the crust and the softness of the meat. "
When I read this comment, I even wondered - what criteria can still be used to evaluate the kritza from KFC? Can we talk about some unusual taste or exquisite aftertaste? About the original combination of spices and magic breading, which after each bite caresses all the taste buds?
You can throw slippers at me - I don't notice anything like that in this dish. For me, to be honest, KFC is in last place in the ranking of fast food. Too fatty, this Colonel Sanders chicken. Heartburn and heaviness after it is provided.
Yes, sometimes I cook something similar at home. But only because children, oddly enough, like it. Moreover, children like the home option more. Perhaps because I'm trying to make it less greasy.
The funny thing is that the recipe for this chicken, or rather, a mixture of spices, turns out to be "one of the most valuable trade secrets of America." So, at least, the company told a journalist who asked for comments on the recipe that one of the chicken inventor's distant relatives, Joe Ledington, had learned.
The recipe for the mixture includes:
• Salt. ⅔ tablespoon.
• Thyme. ½ tablespoon.
• Basil. ½ tablespoon.
• Oregano (oregano). ⅓ tablespoon.
• Celery salt. 1 tablespoon.
• Black peppercorns. 1 tablespoon.
• Dry mustard. 1 tablespoon.
• Paprika. 4 tablespoons.
• Garlic salt. 2 tablespoons.
• Ground ginger. 1 tablespoon.
• White pepper. 3 tablespoons.
Actually, there is no originality of the selection of spices here. All of them are quite familiar to the southern cuisine of the United States, the traditions of which are borrowed from both European settlers and from dark-skinned slaves who are massively imported there.
As for the idea of deep-fried chicken directly, its recipe is found in such publications such as The United States Cookbook: A Complete Guide for Women, Housekeepers, and Cooks (1865), p. 104. Common Sense in the Household: A Guide to Practical Household Management (1874), p. 90.
And in Advances in Deep-Fat Frying of Foods (CRC Press,. 2008) it is generally said that fried chicken has long been included in the diet of the Scots, but it is the seasonings that were brought in by African slaves as cooks.
The fried chicken also traces the origin from West Africa ("The World of the Slave: An Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States [2 volumes]")
Chickens... were fried in palm oil.... Pieces of chicken, fried in oil, sold on the street... they all left their mark on the evolving cuisine of the early South.
This, incidentally, gave the basis for Creole-style fried chicken: the chicken was dipped in dough and deep-fried.
Knowing this, it remains perplexed why the recipe is considered "secret".
True, I have confidence: all this secrecy is purely marketing. Just to sell not very healthy chicken of a very banal taste.
What do you think?