Kentucky Fried Chicken
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MEMORIES:
Mystic369 remembers...When I was five, we would go over to my great-grandmother's house on Friday nights and sometimes we would bring ... More »
Posted on 02/19/09
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Trivia:
Kentucky Fried Chicken sure did chicken right when their restaurants first opened in the early 1950s and they haven’t slowed down yet. Now based in Louisville, Kentucky, the fried chicken empire evolved from very humble beginnings, during the Great Depression in the small town of Corbin, Kentucky, all the way to where it is today, an example of just about the closest thing to home cooking that fast food can provide.
Harland Sanders started frying up chicken for his roadside gas station in 1930. In 1935, as his chicken’s popularity and his reputation continued to rise, Sanders was made an honorary Kentucky Colonel by then-governor Ruby Laffoon. During these years, Colonel Sanders worked to perfect his fried chicken recipe, deviating from the typical slow and time-consuming pan-fried method, as well as tinkering with the herbs and spices he added to the flour mixture. It was 1940 when he perfected his famous “secret blend of eleven herbs and spices” and boy, did the people come from all around to try it. As the Colonel put it, he was serving “Sunday Dinner, Seven Days a Week” and was soon pursuaded to open a business solely for his chicken. The new restaurant was conveniently located right across the street from the original station.
As is unfortunately the case with many a new restaurant, it wasn’t too long before the beloved Colonel Sanders and his chicken business began to fail. As the restaurant went under, Sanders looked for ways to repay his debt, traveling the country and selling his recipe to anyone he could find with the stipulation that he would be paid 5¢ for every piece of chicken sold. Shortly thereafter, the first Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant would find a home in, of all places, South Salt Lake City, Utah. After that, franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken caught on like wildfire. Within 10 years, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchises in the United States and Canada. In 1964, Sanders sold his interest in the company, staying on as a spokesman for his famous brand and image. KFC found rapid expansion after this, and with the help of Colonel Sanders famous face, sales would continue to rise. A barrage of commercials soon hit the airwaves, pointing out the neglect of tradition in a world where families were leading increasingly busy lives.
For all that advertising, however, what likely sold most people on Kentucky Fried Chicken were those mysterious and highly touted “7 herbs and spices”. The mere suggestion of a secret recipe made the chicken seem all the more special, all the more “finger lickin’ good” as it were. And it should come as no surprise that, to this day, this recipe is one of the most highly guarded trade secrets around (though the Colonel always insisted that each of the eleven herbs and spices could be found in just about anyone’s pantry.) Cynics have even gone so far as to suggest that the 7 ingredients are nothing more than mere salt and pepper and the rest is all hype. Whatever these ingredients may or may not be, the fact remains that it is some darn good fried chicken. But let’s also not forget that chicken isn’t the only thing in KFC’s bucket of tricks. As any aficionado of the chain can tell you - Kentucky Fried Chicken is almost as famous for its mashed potatoes and gravy as it is for its poultry. And let’s not forget the biscuits - and the cole slaw - and the corn on the cob - and…you get the picture.
Sure, all these foods may have been brought home in a bucket, and they certainly all found their way through a modern food processing plant or two before they made it into your home. But by the time everything was laid out neatly on the table, Kentucky Fried Chicken managed to look less like typical fast food and more like a hearty, home-cooked Sunday dinner. And for that feat alone, the Colonel certainly deserves a dignified salute.
