yes, the fry oil we used came in a box, a big 25 lb block of white clay wrapped in a plastic bag, place it in the cold fryer, cut the bag off and turn the fryer on. In 10 minutes the block would be melted. I bet that's the taste we are missing! Found a Pioneer chicken recipe, looks pretty close to what we did (times were right!) but we marinated our chicken in something before coating. Maybe that's the one thing he missed...