Vanisle_BC
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In search of KFC

What recipes do you have that mimic KFC? We have 3 recipes gleaned from the web and tried one last night. The flavor was about right but the cooking method (oven baked) was no good. Our herb/spice mixture had been made and stored some time ago; we don't even know which recipe we used to make it. Duh!

On the cooking aspect I'm thinking fried or better, deep fried, is the way it should be done; might try incorporating the spices (we have some left) into a tempura batter.

Anybody got a sure-fire KFC recipe?

Related question - how to make tempura that's as dry as in the best restaurant servings? We've done all the recommended things like very cold ingredients, using pop instead of water in the batter, and cooking in hot oil; but the results are always a bit on the oily side. Any comments?

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applestar
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The KFC COPYCAT recipe I have uses something like a whole tablespoon of msg.... :shock: (no never tried it)

Key to crispy fried results is double frying — have you tried that? 1st fry in not too hot oil, then Quick 2nd dip in slightly hotter temp oil.

Also, recently learned — dust ingredients in 1/2 potato starch 1/2 white flour and THEN dip in tempura batter.

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applestar
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...ah ha! — I just watched it recently so it was still not too far down in my watched list —

サクサク天ぷらを作る《ご家庭編》プロが教える裏技❗どのご家庭にもあるたったこれだけ加えてサクサク長持ち


— low protein (pastry) flour + potato starch
— storage container contained commercial tempura batter mix according to comment q&a (in the video he kept saying follow package instructions for actual amount of water)
— dribble batter from 30 cm/12 in above and when drops of batter behave as shown, temp should be about 170°C
— another revelation to me is how he turned OFF the stove — he said to turn it back on as needed since adding ingredients to fry will lower oil temp down to 165, 160.... (this explains my dilemma of how oil keeps getting hotter and hotter since it never occurred to me NOT to leave the stove on)

Vanisle_BC
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applestar wrote:The KFC COPYCAT recipe I have uses something like a whole tablespoon of msg.... :shock: (no never tried it)
Yes, that's an 'ouch.' I'm sure the colonel used MSG but we don't. Most recipes work fine without it.
Key to crispy fried results is double frying — have you tried that? 1st fry in not too hot oil, then Quick 2nd dip in slightly hotter temp oil.
Never heard of that. Doesn't it come out greasier? Will try your potato starch/white flour tempura dredge next time.

Vanisle_BC
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Applestar, thanks for the tempura video and translated comments. There's a few things to learn from it. We don't usually have potato starch. I wonder if corn starch would be a good substitute. We use a 'consumer level' (budget) deep fryer (safer than the gas ring and 'chip pan' of fat I almost burned down the house with, long ago while my parents were out.) In theory it should hold the temp reasonably steady but I wonder; and how hot is it really? Maybe I should get a meat thermometer after all ;).

Re KFC, I've no doubt the colonel or his descendants used MSG but we don't. Most recipes work fine without it.

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Gary350
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I was a cook at KFC when I was in college 1971. We use to get chicken flour mix in large bags probably about 30 lb bags. There was a recipe on the side of the bag in small letters I ripped off a recipe once before throwing the bag in the trash dumpster. That recipe is long gone about 30 years ago. The only thing I can remember in the recipe is, white flour, soy flour, salt, black pepper., and I don't remember how much of each. When I came to work every morning first thing I did was turn on the fryers let them heat up while I bread the chicken. Mix butter milk with 50% water then add chicken pieces, legs, breast, wings, thigh,etc, soak for 30 minutes. Chicken pieces had to be drained then put into a large flour tub to get a good flour coating. Chicken stayed in the flour tub for a while 30 to 45 minutes. Stir chicken in flour tub every 5 minutes to make sure no pieces are stuck together and all pieces get a good coating. After 30 minutes remove chicken from flour tub knock off extra flour then place chicken on a wire rack for about 45 minutes. Moisture from chicken pieces soaks into the flour and flour soon becomes soaked up with liquid. There is no dry flour powder on the outside of the chicken so there is no dry powder that gets into the 400 degree F cooking oil. Cookers are very large pressure cookers like you use to pressure can food in mason jars. You have to be careful not to put too much chicken into the oil or it lowers the oil temperature too much. We had a chart on the wall that said how many pieces of chicken went into the cooker that is something else I don't remember. When I first started working for KFC they swapped out the pressure cookers for a deep fryer with lids it was faster and easier than using pressure cookers. If your cooking chicken at home heat oil to 400 degrees add chicken pieces until temperature drops to 350 then stop. Close lid on pressure cooker but don't use the weight that makes it build up pressure. Now you time each piece of chicken. I remember legs had to deep fry 12 minutes. Breast & thighs 14 minutes. Wings 7 minutes. Livers 5 minutes. Remove lid scoop out chicken let oil drain off. End of the day we turned cookers off then turned on a pump that pumped cooking oil through a filter to clean it. All the left over unsold chicken went into the walk in freezer. Next morning I turned on the cookers and started getting chicken ready to cook. Made cole slaw, potatoes, baked beans, potato salad, etc.

Crispy chicken originated from day old chicken that was already cooked the day before but never sold. I started work at 8 am I removed chicken from walk in freezer to set out until about 10:30 am to be cooked a second time. Cooking a second time heated up the cold chicken and made it crispy.

I was actually thinking about this a few weeks ago. I got on google satellite view and went back to college to look around. I looked at the old chicken building it is still there but I can't tell what type business is in that building now.

If I still had the flour recipe I would love to cook some chicken except I don't need to be eating greasy food. It is hard to find butter milk in the grocery store these days only thing I found was a 1 pint container for $2.50 which is plenty for cooking 20 pieces of chicken. I don't think you really need to deep fry chicken in a pressure cooker that is something KFC does it is their claim to fame. 30 years ago I cooked very good chicken in a large pot of cooking oil. Pour 1 gallon of oil into a 2 gallon pot for cooking. Use a lid to hold the heat it worked great for me. The real trick to removing chicken at the correct time is stir while chicken cooks in 400 degree oil then when chicken floats to the surface remove it, a glass see through lid works good.

KFC use to claim 7 herbs & spices I have not seen an advertisement say that is 30 years. If you can get a Popeye Chicken recipe it will be much better than KFC

Vanisle_BC
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Thanks Gary, that's interesting. 400 Fahrenheit would be about 205 Centigrade - a lot higher than our deep fryer, or most fryers? will go. We don't have a pressure cooker - maybe just as well. I still remember my Mother's kitchen and ceiling covered with hot jam. We've just been watching "Chernobyl" and there are similarities!

This is the spice recipe I think we used for our recent attempt; more than 7 ingredients but it tasted good - without the MSG.

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tbsp celery salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tbsp dry mustard
4 tbsp paprika
2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp MSG (Accent)

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applestar
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Good quality fold open long probe-type instant read digital thermometer is a good investment— you can use it for almost everything from meat, yogurt-making, bread, candy-making, etc.

imafan26
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I use the basic recipe in the link. In addition to the ingredients add 1/2 tsp baking powder. It will make a crispier crust. The batter needs to be cold but thin to work best. Besides adding ice to the batter (which dilutes it), I would rather put the steel bowl inside another bowl filled with ice instead to keep the batter cold. Test the oil with the chopsticks. The oil needs to be hot or the batter will soak into the tempura when the oil is colder. Chopsticks in the oil will have small bubbles at the tip when the oil is ready.

It is possible to cut a medium shrimp in half lengthwise and stretch it to look like a large shrimp. It is what some restaurants do to decrease costs.

To make lacy tempura use chopsticks to drizzle batter on top of tempura in the pan. Do not overcrowd the pan, it will cool the oil. More oil will soak into the batter. Drain the tempura on a wire rack. Tempura pans do have the rack built in, but a cake rack on a couple of sheets of paper towels will do. Do not cover the tempura after they are cooked or they will steam. It needs to be eaten when hot so it is best to either cook it at the table or right before serving or it will get soggy when it cools.

https://futuredish.com/shrimp-tempura/


I got the KFC coleslaw recipe from the following site. It was not exactly the same, but it was my fault, I added too much mayonaise and did not have butter milk. It tasted different. It needs time for the flavors to blend so you do need to wait at least 4 hours for it to marinate. This recipe had too much sugar for my taste so I cut the sugar to two tablespoons.
https://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/kfc- ... at-recipe/

KFC Coleslaw Copycat recipe
Prep Time
15 mins
Total Time
15 mins

KFC Coleslaw Copycat - make your restaurant favorite right in your kitchen! Perfect for the summer BBQ's and potlucks!
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: KFC coleslaw, KFC copycat
Servings: 9 people
Calories: 125 kcal
Author: Anna
Ingredients
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 and 1/2 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar
2 and 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
4 cups shredded then diced cabbage about 1/2 of a medium head
1 medium carrot
1/4 medium yellow onion minced
US Customary - Metric
Instructions
Shred the cabbage and carrot and dice finely.
Mix all veggies in a large mixing bowl.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Pour over the veggies and stir all with a wooden spoon.

Cover the bowl with a saran wrap and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Stir again before serving.
Recipe Video



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