KFC CHICKEN (ALMOST)

By Al Milukas

Al enjoys discovering great food, creative cocktails, and the people who make them. Listen to him on the Paul & Al show, weekdays on 94HJY. For more blogs delivered to your e-mail, sign up at www.livethelive.com.

Directions:

I absolutely love fried chicken. So when I saw the story where the nephew of Colonel Sanders revealed the 11 secret herbs and spices that made KFC’s original recipe chicken a worldwide success, I had to try it! I have to say, it may not be exactly like KFC, but it’s darn close!

Making the chicken at home means I do have some control over product quality. I can use pastured or organic chicken. I can use clean oil. And I can oven-fry my chicken, meaning I fry it in oil until golden brown, then finish the cooking process in the oven.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon celery salt

1 tablespoon dried mustard

1 tablespoon garlic salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons black pepper

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons thyme

1 1/2 teaspoons basil

1 1/2 teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 egg

5 lbs. chicken (your choice) oil, for frying

Combine the flour and the “11 herbs and spices” in a bowl. Mix well.

In another bowl, whisk together the milk and the egg. Add the chicken pieces to this bowl and let the chicken soak in it for 10 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Pour a couple of inches of the oil into a pan with high sides and heat it to 340 degrees, using a thermometer. Don’t fill it with too much oil, because oil expands when hot and it could spill over.

Take the chicken pieces and coat them with the seasoning mix one at a time, making sure you coat them well. Carefully place the chicken in the hot oil. Don’t overcrowd the pan...work in small batches. Too much chicken could cause the oil to spill over the top.

Fry the chicken pieces just until golden...no need to cook them all the way through. Place the pieces on a baking sheet lined with non-stick aluminum foil. When all the chicken has been fried, place the baking sheet in the oven and cook until the chicken pieces reach an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees.