A bucket of KFC Original Recipe Chicken makes me think of my childhood. Most of us didn’t have parents who were willing to fry chicken at home when we were kids, so KFC was kind of a treat. It showed up at block parties, Fourth of July celebrations, and soccer tournaments at the end of the season. Its crust was salty, greasy, spicy, and full of flavor. If you didn’t get a piece right away, you’d get the one at the bottom of the bucket, where the extra-crispy skin had already been eaten (also known as the saddest thing ever).
Even though the original Colonel Sanders might not have liked what the restaurant became after he sold it, we still think their chicken is “finger-lickin’ good.” So why try to make it at home at all? For one thing, it’s cheaper, and you can use better ingredients in your own kitchen. But what we really wanted to know was if the rumors about a secret mix of 11 herbs and spices were true. In the end, it was easier than we thought to make fried chicken that tasted just as good as KFC’s, if not better. But you do need to know a few tricks along the way to make sure the inside of your chicken is juicy and the outside is crispy.
