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So how many childhood memories do you have from chowing down on those crispy drumsticks? Alot, I bet. I can't count how many picnics, family reunions, backyard campouts, and baseball games just wouldn't have been the same without a bucket of KFC. And how many times did you order chicken from other restaurants, wondering why it tasted nothing like your favourite chicken? I mean, how hard can it be to make all fried chicken taste equally good? What can it possibly be that they use in their recipe that the others don't? And this special secret ingredient - how come the other restaurants don't simply add it to their chicken so that we can all enjoy the same great flavour from any restaurant we go to? Really, how difficult can this be?

Well, difficult it has been. Colonel Sanders knew how to keep a secret. Otherwise known as Harland David Sanders (1890 - 1980) went travelling at the age of 66 to promote his chicken franchise. His baggage included 25 white suits, a collection of seasonings, and a pressure cooker. His second wife, Claudia, stayed at home and sent the secret seasonings, already mixed, to the franchises so that nobody could find out the ingredients or measurements. He lived until the age of 90 in 1980.
Since then, various labs have been analyzing the batter and cooking process. Here is what some of them found:
It was necessary to start the cooking at 400 degrees F. This provides a high enough temperature that browns the coating quickly. Chickens weighing around 2 1/4 and 2 1/2 lbs are best. They can be cut into 8 or 10 pieces. About eight quarts of oil at 400 degrees F is needed for a regular 5 lb batch.

A pressure cooker was used because this technique would combine steam from the moisture in the coating, thus cooling the cooking temperature to 250 F. If the temperature remained at 400, the chicken would just burn. After a couple of minutes the heat is turned down to 250 F for the duration of cooking. This style of cooking with the steam and pressure prevents the normal moisture loss in the chicken. It takes about 10 minutes total cooking time. At this point the pressure was released and the chicken was drained and placed in a warming oven at 160 F until purchased.
It was believed that the original recipe contained many herbs and spices, but by the 1980's, the recipe was much simpler. The chicken pieces were dipped in a mixture of skim milk and eggs, then rolled into flour with only salt, pepper, and msg (for flavour)

Here is a copy cat recipe for the seasoning from the original recipe before 1980 that is so close that nobody can tell the difference:

Combine 1 tsp of chili powder, 1 tsp of dried basil, 1 tsp of oregano powder, 1 tsp of powdered sage and mix together in a bowl. Add 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp dried marjoram, 2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp onion salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, and finally, 2 tbsp Accent (msg-based seasoning). Add this seasoning mixture to 2 cups of flour. Dip the 8-10 chicken pieces in the milk-egg mixture and then roll them in the seasoned flour mixture. Deep fry in pressure cooker for 10 minutes at 400 F.

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