Food | K10's Stuff

K10ky Fried Chicken

Recently there was a supposed ‘leak’ of the Colonel’s original recipe which was published in the Chicago Tribune

It contained a list of the secret ’11 herbs and spices’ so I thought I’d give it a go as fried chicken is one of my favourites and it was an excuse to buy a deep fryer.

I tend to avoid KFC etc unless on a road trip but haven’t eaten old fashioned Colonel Sanders chicken for years. I used to like the original “Crispy Strips” that KFC sold as they had no skin or fat and I also liked the wicked wings. The traditional “piece of chook” is too greasy and the batter is a bit floury. Time to make my own.

I was getting sick of making sausage rolls and pies as I have not put in any time to develop some more recipes. I put it out there in The Pie Project for followers to come up with some suggestions for different pies but only Adam posted a suggestion and that was for a seafood pie which suck. ( Sorry Adam) So I am still looking for new pie flavours and would be happy to test-run your favourite meat pie filling within reason and don’t say Kentucky Fried Chicken Pie as I have already thought of that ……it could go viral like the Cruffin and Cronut. Maybe next week.

Even the Colonel himself likes a pie – pictured here at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels

Armed with the recipe it was off to the shops to get the famous 11 herbs and spices, buttermilk, some chicken and a deep fryer – for $69 I chose the Sunbeam Multi Cooker which is just like an electric frypan only round and deeper. It can be used as a saucepan/frypan, a slow cooker and a deep fryer and I thought it could be useful to make my pie filling as well.

THE ORIGINAL 11 SPICES SECRET RECIPE? (As published in The Chicago Tribune)
Prep: 30 minutes
Soak: 20-30 minutes
Cook: 15-18 minutes
Makes: 4 servings
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme leaves
1/2 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1/3 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
1 tablespoon celery salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried mustard
4 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons garlic salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons ground white pepper
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1 chicken, cut up, the breast pieces cut in half for more even frying
Expeller-pressed canola oil
1 Mix the flour in a bowl with all the herbs and spices; set aside.
2 Mix the buttermilk and egg together in a separate bowl until combined. Soak the chicken in the buttermilk mixture at room temperature, 20-30 minutes.
3 Remove chicken from the buttermilk, allowing excess to drip off. Dip the chicken pieces in the herb-spice-flour mixture to coat all sides, shaking off excess. Allow to sit on a rack over a baking sheet, 20 minutes.
4 Meanwhile, heat about 3 inches of the oil in a large Dutch oven (or similar heavy pot with high sides) over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. (Use a deep-frying thermometer to check the temperature.) When temperature is reached, lower the heat to medium to maintain it at 350. Fry 3 or 4 pieces at a time, being careful not to crowd the pot. Fry until medium golden brown, turning once, 15-18 minutes. Transfer chicken pieces to a baking sheet covered with paper towels. Allow the oil to return to temperature before adding more chicken. Repeat with remaining chicken.

I decided to make life easy and use chicken tenderloins which I put in the mixture of egg and buttermilk to soak

I arranged my spices in order and placed the measured quantities into small bowls

They all get mixed into the flour in a large bowl

The chicken is then dipped in the flour-spice mixture and left to absorb the flavour before a second coating

Only 10mins in the deep fryer and this is the final product

The flavour was noticeably not KFC maybe because the ingredients were a bit agrestic and just chucked in however this meant you could taste individual flavours.

Bare in mind this was skinless chicken tenderloins and resembled the original double-breaded “Crispy Strips” in texture (left) – the current fake crispy strips from KFC taste like your mum got them out of the freezer, microwaved them and put them in a cardboard box to go soggy. Next i am going to try wings / drummettes which should be more like Wicked wings (right)

They were also excellent cold and I took some across the road the next day at lunchtime and offered some to Jody and Boris who thought they were very tasty.

I would only say that the 4 tablespoons of paprika is a bit much and overpowers the other flavours slightly as you can see here in this photo from the original news story – lots of paprika !

The Pie Project

A good pie is pretty easy to find now days, and there are plenty of pie specialty places, Sylvia & Frans, Heather Brae, Pie in the Sky and Crescent Head Bakery, But you can make your own too!

I can’t remember eating a bad pie in ages, mainly because I have been spoilt by the efforts of the places mentioned above and won’t eat one from a petrol station oven.

But what is a bad pie? One where the main ingredient is missing. What annoys me most when I find a bad pie is that they have not put care into it. They have selected crap meat to save money, it’s chopped roughly into too-large chunks with bits of fat and sinew attached and the flavour of the watery gravy tastes like a rendering plant due to all the gelatine. Another pet hate is soggy pastry due to runny gravy making it impossible to eat without it running down your arm. Then theres the lack of imagination when selecting fillings. (STEAK, STEAK & ONION, STEAK & CHEESE, BEEF AND BACON and CHILLI if you are lucky)

I like pies, I like beer, I really like pies made with beer like a Guinness Pot Pie which is something that I just have to order if it’s on the menu, same goes for Kangaroo and eggs benedict some things I just can’t say no to.

So you should be able to put anything in a pie if you think about it a bit and compliment it with some veggies, spices and creative sauces so I’m going to try it.

Now that I can make pies I would like people to come up with some ideas and I will design, test and review the creations

Not having made pies before I went looking for a pie tray in Big W but no luck the closest thing was a Texas Muffin tray so I just bought this gadget

Diced round steak from the butcher was too chunky and contained some sinew

So I chopped it into smaller sugar cube sized chunks

I also dismembered a chicken and kept the scraps to use later in a pie but it didn’t eventuate – see below

Fry up some onion and the brown the meat

Add some beef stock, tomato paste, red wine, worcester sauce, salt and pepper and simmer for about 1 hour

Then add some corn flour and water to thicken the gravy before use

When the meat is almost cooked get out the pastry sheets to defrost 1 x puff (lid) and 2 x short crust (base)

The Pie maker came with a pastry cutter that puts slits in the base so you can overlap and fit the base into the mould, It’s a bit tricky as the pie machine is on and bloody hot

Spoon half a cup of filling into the base and put the puff pastry top on and close the machine which then crimps and seals the pies

Cook for about 12 mins, i checked after 10 and they looked done

The one on the top left mustn’t have had enough filling – still tasted good though

The finished product

Verdict – Excellent especially with beer and potato crisps

So I had some leftover chicken and pastry scraps and was going to make a chicken pie for Emma but she didn’t want it and went off to Venturers after having 2 min noodles as usual

I thought a dessert pie was on the cards so I chopped up about 1/2 cup of banana and then topped up with thin sliced apple

I chucked it in the base and then spooned in some peanut butter and some raspberry jam and topped it with some Rum & Raisin chocolate and brown sugar

Banana and apple cooked in raspberry jam and peanut butter with chocolate melting on top!

Oh It was horrible !… don’t ever make one !… really it was crap….. I’m not lying…i had to give it to the dog … no need to experiment people… stick to boring old beef ….don’t try anything new 😉

Now seriously it tasted UNREAL…However you could virtually chuck anything in there and it would taste good

I am going to ask for suggestions and do some experiments, give me some ideas, let me know what I should try next?

Making Porridge is Easy

I’m not sure why they sell instant porridge? – the stuff out of the box is pretty instant if you ask me !

Looking at groceries and prices, it’s a pretty simple concept that over packaged items not only waste resources but cost more. I have used pre-packaged porridge on some ski camping trips just for convenience, however, next time a zip lock bag will do the trick,

Here’ s what I do