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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 16, 2013 20:48:38 GMT
Hi all, Well in addition to Napoli pizza and US BBQ, I'm also a big fan of KFC. Not so much eating food from KFC, there are a few too many questionable practices there for my liking, but certainly a fan of recreating it myself. So that all aspects good/bad/questionable are at least under my control. Anyway, I think I've pretty much got the 'original recipe' sorted along with a few of the varieties that go along with it, zingers/towers/wraps etc and I've recently started on the hot wings which I'm also a big fan of. So I wanted to gauge whether anyone's interested in this before going to the trouble of writing it all out, which would take some time. Here's a few pics: Original recipe fillets: My Zinger tower. Chilli relish, chicken, cheese, hash browns, lettuce and mayo: Another shot: Hot wings, still developing, coating not thick enough and not hot enough, but still damn good!: Let me know, JK. P.s. Yes the original recipe contains MSG and anyone who feels a need to post about the apparently numerous/serious health implications associated with MSG should themselves do some independent reading on the subject first and form their own opinions, as I did and subsequently used without hesitation. Take it or leave it.
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Post by faz on Mar 16, 2013 22:03:23 GMT
Sounds interesting to me, I like a bit of fried chicken, but only rarely buy it. It would be good to be able to make it at home.
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Post by h12rpo on Mar 16, 2013 22:25:32 GMT
msg doesnt worry me.......wanna share the recipe ?
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Post by cannyfradock on Mar 17, 2013 8:21:06 GMT
Great pics JK. I love KFC, but my favorite outlet is in the Europa center in Berlin. The UK KFC chain don't seem to come anywhere near the quality of what you get in Germany (same with Doner kebabs). I have tried to reproduce the crumb with the help of this forum...... kfc.forumup.co.uk/ .....but failed miserably with every attempt. Looking forward to seeing your recipe. Terry p.s....sorry but don't know what MSG is. Is it the flavour enhancer found in many products?
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Post by muddy4x4 on Mar 17, 2013 9:43:07 GMT
Love to try and replicate those original recipe fillets please :-)
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Post by rivergirl on Mar 17, 2013 10:39:08 GMT
Great pics JK. I love KFC, but my favorite outlet is in the Europa center in Berlin. The UK KFC chain don't seem to come anywhere near the quality of what you get in Germany (same with Doner kebabs). I have tried to reproduce the crumb with the help of this forum...... kfc.forumup.co.uk/ .....but failed miserably with every attempt. Looking forward to seeing your recipe. Terry p.s....sorry but don't know what MSG is. Is it the flavour enhancer found in many products? Mono sodium glutamate. terry I love fried chicken but am trying a variety for the oven..... Trying to lose weight...... Looking forward to your recipe ....
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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 17, 2013 20:07:38 GMT
Well that's enough interest for me so I'll give it a go. I should say before I start that I don't have any photos of this recipe in process so it's just the text for now. I'll take some photos the next time I make it.
This is going to be quite long so I'm going to post in parts. I know I could just post the recipe but I've learnt from many not entirely successful attempts that there's a lot more to frying than you might think so part 1 below is what I think you need to know and understand before even attempting the recipe.
1. The Basics
So I'll cover a few basic topics first that should help you to better understand the process and make better chicken from the get go: - You don't need a deep fryer to make this, a pan of oil on the stove top with a suitable thermometer will work but believe me, every element of the cooking process is MUCH MUCH easier if you have a deep fryer, the best £25 I've ever spent! If you're going to buy one, I'd recommend going for the basic rectangular stainless steel varieties with at least a 3L oil capacity and somewhere around 2KW heating element. When you put food in the oil, the temperature of the oil will drop, sometimes so much so that the chicken won't fry it'll just stew whilst the oil recovers its temperature. The more oil you have, the less the temperature will drop and the larger the heating element, the quicker the temperature will recover whatever drop occurs, this is important. - MSG is a flavor enhancer, it creates a savory taste/'feeling' in your mouth. I have made KFC with and without MSG and the two results are in different leagues. It's readily available and cheap on ebay, I'd go for 250g/500g as a first purchase, 100g won't last long at all. - If you're going to make this then start with breast fillets or mini-fillets. I have made original recipe with chicken joints, drumsticks/thighs/breast sections, and as odd as it sounds it usually comes out too juicy. No doubt this sounds like something you want but when frying, chicken can be too dry and too moist. I need to find a way of cooking out more moisture from the chicken either before frying or during. Feel free to give it a go yourself, but not at first. - The above doesn't apply to wings, as a much smaller 'joint' this problem doesn't occur and they work great whether original recipe or hot wings. - The basic 'breading' process (but without the bread lol) is to dip the chicken in a wash, a few pieces at a time, then quickly drain and throw into the flour mix. Coat really well in the flour mix then shake off the excess and place on a rack or in the frying basket. That's a single coating but I've always found that at least two coatings are required so after the first flouring its briefly back into the wash and then into the flour for a second time. You could even go for 3 coatings but after cooking the coating would probably be thick enough to stop a bullet so use 2 as your base point. - Always work in batches no matter how much chicken you're making. For example if making mini-fillets then i coat 3-6 at a time, much more than this and you'll end up with a big sludgy lump of chicken 'stuff'. On the other end of the scale, doing it one at a time will take you forever. - The chicken should spend as little time as possible in the wash after the first flouring, just a second or two to moisten the flour, no more. Same goes with the flour to a certain extent, it's not as imperative, but don't leave the chicken sat in there once its coated, dust off the excess and sit it on a rack. - Try to move the chicken as little as possible once it's in the fryer. If using a basket then it needs one quick shake shortly after it's gone in to make sure the pieces aren't stuck together then another a few mins later to make sure it's cooking evenly. If you move the chicken too much before the coating is cooked then you'll end up removing parts of the coating which will let oil in and give you greasy chicken. - KFC have a resting period after frying where the chicken needs to sit in a warm oven (circa 80C) for 20 mins. I don't know the reason for this but I do think it's necessary, currently I let the chicken sit on a rack in the oven for for 10-15 mins (as long as I can wait!). - I won't go too deep into oil management here but in summary oil can be used for approx 10 fryings before it needs to be taken to the tip. But with floured frying that's not 10 continuously. The oil should be filtered every 2-3 uses, I use a funnel/sieve and a piece of kitchen paper and filter into a 3 litre bottle labelled 'KFC oil', it takes a while but oil's not cheap. I've also never had any negative effects from keeping used oil in a cupboard for up to 6-8 weeks after its first use, I've read it'll keep for months if refrigerated. Don't leave oil in the fryer for too long between uses either, it's just an opinion but I'd say if it's going to be more than a few days until the next use then bottle it, at least through a sieve to get rid of the big bits or give it a proper filter as above. Finally, buy oil in the big containers, at least 5L. If you're buying it 1L at a time from the supermarket then it's probably going to end up costing more than the chicken.
I think that covers the basic elements of coating and frying so I guess it's the recipe for part 2. lol.
JK
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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 17, 2013 20:50:28 GMT
2. The IngredientsThe Spice Mix This was taken from an article on the guardian website and I haven't had a need to change it. Just google 'guardian KFC' if you want a read. This is for original recipe only, I also make hot wings which is nothing like the below and will be covered separately. 1 teaspoon ground oregano 1 teaspoon chilli powder 1 teaspoon ground sage 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried marjoram 1 teaspoon pepper 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoon onion salt 1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons MSG It's not perfect but it's as close and you'll get. I'd recommend you make this in batches approx 4x the above so 4tsp oregano 4 tsp chilli etc. It keeps fine in an airtight tub. Also, if you need to buy a lot of what's above then make sure you're not being ripped off for your herbs and spices. Find an Asian shop nearby of alternatively order online it's far cheaper than the spice jars in the supermarket. The Flour Plain white wheat flour. It's important to use quite a lot of flour but not so much that it becomes wasteful to throw it away when you're done. If you don't use enough then the little bits of wash that drip off into the flour will clump up and you'll end up trying to dust chicken in lumps of stiff batter rather than in dry fine flour. You'll get a feeling for this once you try it. It's not possible to make good chicken and have no flour or wash left, there'll be plenty left of both. I'm not sure if used flour could be sieved and stored, I'd have to read into the health risks. The next step is to mix some of the spice mix into the flour. Now as it stands I don't have a ratio to give you as I'd never thought to measure it. Basically I usually mix in enough spice mix to give the flour a slightly spicy smell and so I can see that the flour has darkened slightly. If i had to guess then I'd say is something in the region of 80% flour to 20% spice mix, maybe slightly less. I've never measured and never had a problem but I'll take a measure the next time I make it. The Wash There's a simple concept that needs to be understood here. I think a lot of people have problems with their fried chicken darkening too much/too quickly. A recipe might call for 15 mins at 180C but by the time you've done 7 mins your chicken is dark brown and would likely be black before 15 mins came around. Option 1 is that you're oil is too hot but if you're using a fryer or a pan with thermometer than this shouldn't be an issue. Option 2 is more likely, it's the wash that burnt! Most casual cooks would think of and egg and milk mix as a wash, both of which contain sugars that will caramelize and subsequently burn if they're overcooked. A simple illustration of this is the below pictures: Forget the spices involved, they make little difference. The fillet used a milk & egg wash whilst the wings used a half milk half water wash. So the more sugars/carbohydrates in your wash, the darker the chicken will be, simple! So for original recipe I use approx 45% egg, 45% milk and 10% water. Of course it's not something you need to measure. For me it's usually 2 eggs, about the same amount of milk and a good splash of water. I usually add a pinch of salt and pepper then whisk well, the wash needs to be smooth, no stringy bits of egg white in sight! The Oil Vegetable or sunflower oil at 180C for mini-fillets/fillets. I believe that KFC traditionally uses corn oil but it's quite expensive here. The Chicken Make sure it's well trimmed, if you're using full fillets that are quite thick then you might want to half them to thin them out. The chicken should be at room temperature. I occasionally also brine my chicken before frying but that's too much to go into for this basic recipe so I'll leave it for another day. The next part will be breading and frying! JK
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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 17, 2013 21:32:54 GMT
You know what, I was going to write this by doing 1 part each day but I'm on a roll now so may as well just finish the bloody thing! lol. 3. Breading and FryingSo, this is all about a well managed production line. Get everything ready and in order: 1. Chicken ready trimmed and at room temperature. 2. Wash, well mixed in a big bowl 3. Flour mix, again in a big bowl, it'll minimize the mess 4. A fine rack to place the chicken on (or just use the fryer basket if your making a small quantity. 5. Oil up to temperature. Here's another opportunity for me to tell you to use a deep fryer. I used a pan the first 5-10 times or so and having to manage oil temperature whilst prepping the next batch is such a pain in the ass! That in addition to the fact that oil lasts much longer in a deep fryer than in a pan. In a fryer the heating element is raised off the bottom so all the waste flour drops down there and stays out of the way, in a pan the waste flour gets the full grunt of the heat source and will spoil the oil quicker. 6. Oven set at about 80C ('keep warm' temperature) with a rack on top of a baking tray or something similar. Don't rest the chicken directly on an oven tray, air needs to be able to circulate around it as in the chicken wing picture above. Now you're ready to go! If you're making full fillets then just bread one or two at a time, if using mini-fillets then as above you can used 4-5 at a time. So into the wash, make sure every piece is coated. Then lift out and use your fingers as a make shift sieve to allow the bulk of the wash to drip off (only a second or so) then it's into the flour. Toss the chicken around on the flour being sure that the pieces separate so they all get an even coating. You want to toss in the flour 10-15 times but you're not trying to 'push' flour onto the pieces, just let it stick naturally. Now take the pieces out of the flour a few at a time and again toss in your fingers to let excess flour drop back into the bowl but don't be too rough or you'll disturb the coating that's building up. Then back into the egg wash for barely a second or two to moisten the surface again. I don't even drop the chicken in the bowl for this, i just lower my 'hand sieve' in there, toss the chicken up and down once or twice then its straight out. One quick shake then its back into the flour for another good coating and you're done! Take the chicken out of the flour and toss between your fingers/hands to get rid of most of the loose flour then place on the rack. Loose flour will simply burn in the oil and reduce it's life so you want to minimise it. Now it's time to wash your hands and they'll be 1/2" thick in breading by this point! lol. The next step is a bit of an unknown, you either get the chicken straight into the fryer or you let it sit on the rack for 5 mins. Essentially you would usually only bread in batches that can fit in your fryer all at once (without overcrowding it!). However I'm beginning to think that a 5 minute rest on the rack before frying allows more of the wash and flour to mix into a dough and create little extra crispy knobbly bits on the chicken! I'm not sure about this yet but for a starter I'd let sit for 2-3 mins then fry, at the very least it'll minimise the amount of loose flour on the chicken by giving the wash time to absorb it. So into the fryer at 180C, almost straight away I gently rock the basket from side to side just until I assure myself that the pieces are moving independently, but provided you haven't over-filled the basket this shouldn't be a problem. Timing is a bit of a loose subject. I find that mini-fillets take 7-8mins whilst full fillets can take closer to 10 I'm not going to cover the temp/times for joints, that can come later. Anyway, I have a sneaking suspicion that the KFC oven resting may also have something to do with ensuring the whole piece is brought up to a minimum safe temp. All this aside, I've never had under-cooked KFC when frying at home. So out of the fryer, shake off the excess oil (forget resting on kitchen paper at this point, you need to get the chicken in the oven, just shake it) and then its into the oven for 10-20 mins. And there it is! Fine on its own but my personal fave is the zinger tower sandwich and its easy to make. From bottom to top: -Bottom bread -'Branstons hot chilli & jalapeno relish' You can buy it everywhere and it's perfect! -Fillet -Processed cheese slice, yes I said processed, lol. No other type of cheese is right for this. -Hash browns. I use frozen ones that you cook in the oven, don't be tempted to deep fry them, they're not made for that and the results aren't as good -Lettuce -Mayo -Top bread I'm starving! lol JK. P.s. I'll expand on chicken joints, hot wings etc later. This is enough for now.
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Post by Fat Bob on Mar 18, 2013 2:05:16 GMT
I don't eat meat but I thought KFC chickens are broiler chickens - cheap as chips exlayers - they pressure cook them to make them soft then add herbs and bread crumbs to hide the taste and fry for a bit of flavour.
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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 18, 2013 8:18:02 GMT
no idea.
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Post by cannyfradock on Mar 18, 2013 8:23:37 GMT
JK
Thanks for sharing the recipe....and nice clear method instructions. I've bookmarked your thread and will give it a go this weekend.
......cheers
Terry
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Post by umhloti on Mar 18, 2013 17:08:06 GMT
Dear greensheepuk
Thank you Thank ytou Thanbk you
i am filing this post for later reading I love KFC. I wanted to read this but havent had a chance yet wil do durinbg the week as i want to read and read again
Thank you for sharing this
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Post by turkey on Mar 18, 2013 18:50:05 GMT
I don't eat meat but I thought KFC chickens are broiler chickens - cheap as chips exlayers - they pressure cook them to make them soft then add herbs and bread crumbs to hide the taste and fry for a bit of flavour. at a guess they sell so much now they cant use old chickens as there would be too few and not a very stable supply. I do not doubt the chicken is mass factory produced and of lower quality tho the pressure cook part sounds right, I believe the fryers used also pressurize but is all one process. Why I have no idea but might allow more to be cooked at once and with a seal reduces the chance of the hung over Saturday lad splashing himself with hot oil lol. Always fancied making fried chicken as not too sure on the restaurants, can you shallow fry and turn or is it deep fry even if in a pan?
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Post by greensheepuk on Mar 18, 2013 19:12:05 GMT
Yeah KFC use a pressure fryer, I've seen on old KFC training video on the net where the chicken gets a short fry at normal pressure then gets moved around to break up any pieces that stuck together and then gets taken to pressure to finish cooking, whether this is still the process or not I don't know. I believe a pressure frier is used to shorten cooking times on larger pieces of chicken and help prevent it drying out but don't quote me. However thinking about it I'm pretty sure they don't use old birds, they produce their own chicken so why keep a bird alive longer to then have to take measures to 'cover up' the taste and improve the texture, doesn't make economic sense.
Anyway all that aside, turkey I have done batches of KFC where the oil was just over half the depth of the chicken and it worked ok but as expected it messed with the cooking times and I think in a recipe with so many variables, for me at least, I wanted to control as many elements as I could so stuck with deep frying.
JK
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