KFC Original Recipe

Sanders' Original Recipe of "11 herbs and spices" is one of the most famous trade secrets in the catering industry. Franchisee Dave Thomas, better known as the founder of Wendy's, argued that the secret recipe concept was successful because "everybody wants in on a secret" and former KFC owner John Y. Brown, Jr. called it "a brilliant marketing ploy." The New York Times described the recipe as one of the company's most valuable assets. KFC uses its Original Recipe as a means to differentiate its product from its competitors. Early franchisee Pete Harman credited the chain's popularity to the recipe and the product, and John Y. Brown cites the "incredibly tasty, almost addictive" product as the basis of KFC's staying power. On the other hand, Allen Adamson, managing director of brand consultancy Landor, remains unconvinced about the contribution of the secret formula aspect. He argues: "The story may still be part of these companies' folklore, but I'd be surprised if more than 2 percent buy the brand because of it." ==Recipes==

A copy of the recipe, signed by Sanders, is stored within a vault at KFC's Louisville headquarters, along with 11 separate vials that each contain one of the ingredients. KFC employs two different firms, Griffith Laboratories and McCormick & Company, to formulate the blend; to maintain secrecy, each firm is given a different half of the recipe. Once the Griffith portion has been formulated, it is sent to McCormick and combined with the remaining ingredients there. In 1983, William Poundstone conducted laboratory research into the coating mix, as described in his book Big Secrets, and claimed that a sample he examined contained only flour, salt, monosodium glutamate and black pepper. KFC maintains that it still adheres to Sanders' original 1940 recipe. In Todd Wilbur's television program Top Secret Recipe, Sanders's former secretary, Shirley Topmiller, revealed that Sanders learned from his mother that sage and savory are good seasonings for chicken. Also, Winston Shelton, a former friend of Sanders, said that the secret recipe contains Tellicherry black pepper. Sanders recommended the Marion-Kay seasoning to franchisees over the corporate version, as he believed the latter had been made inferior by the corporation's inattention. Tribune staffers conducted a cooking test of this recipe, which took several attempts to get right. They had to determine whether the "Ts" meant tablespoons or teaspoons. After some trial and error, they decided the chicken should be soaked in buttermilk and coated once in the breading mixture, then fried in oil at in a pressure fryer until golden brown. As a pressure fryer was too big, a deep fryer was used alternatively as a substitute. They also claimed that, with the addition of MSG as a flavor enhancer, they could produce fried chicken which tasted "indistinguishable" from fried chicken that they had purchased at KFC. The recipe found by Joe Ledington reads as follows: While Ledington expressed uncertainty that the recipe was the Original Recipe, he had a hand in mixing the Original Recipe for Colonel Sanders when he was a young boy, and recalled that white pepper was a principal ingredient. ==References==