WTF is up with KFC

[No name needed]

Sanders in a nut shell
Sanders remained the company's symbol after selling it, traveling 200,000 miles (320,000 km) a year on the company's behalf and filming many TV commercials and appearances. He retained much influence over executives and franchisees, who respected his culinary expertise and feared what The New Yorker described as "the force and variety of his swearing" when a restaurant or the company varied from what executives described as "the Colonel's chicken". One change the company made was to the gravy, which Sanders had bragged was so good that "it'll make you throw away the durn chicken and just eat the gravy" but which the company simplified to reduce time and cost. As late as 1979 Sanders made surprise visits to KFC restaurants, and if the food disappointed him, he denounced it to the franchisee as "God-damned slop" or pushed it onto the floor.[5][36] In 1973, Sanders sued Heublein Inc.—the then parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken—over the alleged misuse of his image in promoting products he had not helped develop. In 1975, Heublein Inc. unsuccessfully sued Sanders for libel after he publicly described their gravy as being "sludge" with a "wall-paper taste".[6]

 

[oldkimmer]

I don’t get to KFC very often but it’s usually pretty good. I ordered a double Big Crunch and man was it tasty. I had to wait for them to cook it. I couldn’t believe it. I have had a couple so so meals in the last 10 years. I have tried Popeyes. Not bad. I like the chicken from the 7 11 stores. Mary Brown is coming to the big cities up here. I’m gonna try them out. Have heard good things about them. Kim

 

[oldkimmer]

In about 1984 some lab tested the KFC secret powder. There wasn’t 11 herbs and spices. They only found 3. Kim

 

[68383GTS]

Chinese processing at it finest..

 

[barbee6043]

Maybe like cooking wild goose? Cook the goose, make gravy, and throw away the goose!!!????????
Heck yea 7 11 can fry the heck out chicken....Yea right!!

 

[dart4forte]

Did KFC takeout for New Years. 8 piece dinner, potatoes and coleslaw. Two of those choc Bundt cakes. $40.00!!!!!!!! Chicken not that good and the large coleslaw was a joke.

 

[barbee6043]

Price of fryers is up. We had to give $7 for one this AM!!! Retail! Price of taters and cabbage is thru the roof too!

 

[YY1]

I remember when KFC was some of the best fried chicken around, a little pricy but good. That was a recent as 10 years ago. Today's KFC chicken is terrible, greasy, the batter is not good, really small pieces. I am done with them.
Believe it or not, the local Kroger has some of the best fried chicken around. I don't know how much they make daily, but it is available around 10:00 AM and is sold out by 2:00 PM daily. Still reasonably priced, 8 pieces for $7.99

I used to LOVE Kroger's egg rolls.

They had a helluva pastry made with custard, whipped cream, and partially dipped in chocolate that I always called a "messy thing".

A friend told me that Publix broke the "gentleman's agreement" that kept them South of the Mason-Dixon, and Kroger to the North, and now Kroger is entering Southern markets.

They got here a few months ago, but are delivery only.

 

[Avispa]

I used to LOVE Kroger's egg rolls.

They had a helluva pastry made with custard, whipped cream, and partially dipped in chocolate that I always called a "messy thing".

A friend told me that Publix broke the "gentleman's agreement" that kept them South of the Mason-Dixon, and Kroger to the North, and now Kroger is entering Southern markets.

They got here a few months ago, but are delivery only.

 

[Avispa]

I also remember WAY back when the KFC chicken was pretty good, years back was the last time i tried it, definitely not the same or as good, i don't know what changed or if everything did.
My insignificant other can eat it all day and twice on Sunday, not me, they do make some great coleslaw though.

 

[diymirage]

That Popeye's chicken sandwich, though.....

Had one a few weeks ago.

Still good and one of the best values on their menu.

believe it or not, my favorite chicken sandwich is the "original chicken sandwich" from burger king

 

[pishta]

Goes right through me, I mean I can't get it at work unless I'm eating at a central office with the john available. Dont know whats in it but Exlax aint got nothing on KFC! Maybe the process includes a milk dunk or something....

 

[pishta]

believe it or not, my favorite chicken sandwich is the "original chicken sandwich" from burger king

OMG, get them for $1.49 at AM-PM markets along with the BBQ pork sandwich: Add pickles and its a Mc Rib. Not terrible, but consistant for sure.

 

[DemonDave]

Imagine a world where you need to "show your papers" to enter a restaurant. Oh wait, that world is right outside my door.....

Why did we fight the Nazis in WW2 again?

 

[33IMP]

I worked at Pioneer chicken a looong time ago. The chicken was great: a hard brown shell type, not a greasy pressure cooker coating. I still don't know the recipe but I remember 365 ish for 9 minutes for wings and legs, and 12 for breast and thighs, DONT CONFUSE THOSE! Raw thawed chicken was in a reddish brine overnight, then it went into the flour, then it was put into the batter bowl (dry powder with no ingredients on it from corporate and a cup of water) and then straight into the open fryer one piece at a time so they didnt stick together. We filtered the oil through a huge cone coffee filter every night and changed oil after 3-4 days. Good chicken. I'm sure the KFC doesnt use the old oil common anymore (poly-unsaturated?) so their chicken tastes different now. Krispy Krunchy chicken at Circle K around here is pretty good for FAST FOOD chicken. and that truck stop chicken is supposed to be pretty good too. Rememeber were talking FAST FOOD here, not slow broasted home recipes....Popeyes sandwich is still great and a good value. Chick-filet is awesome but a little pricey and not as big as Popeyes. BK's Chi-King sucks, about the same as Jack in the box's. I think its all the same producer of prebreaded white meat filets that gets dropped into the fryer for 4 minutes. Our supermarket chicken is hit or mis: Albertsons, Ralphs (Kroger) Vons, Stater Bros...sometimes its fresh, other times its dried out from sitting in the hot case. Used to be 5.99 for the family meal! now its 7.99-9.99. Still a pretty good value if it tastes good

I have had some really good chicken from my local stater bros, at a really great price......but most of the time it's dry, and not very warm. Andthe price has definitely gone up. Tried the same from the nearby smith's, but i wasnt impressed. I think I may try them again. KFC is certainly not worth the trip involved.

 

[diymirage]

OMG, get them for $1.49 at AM-PM markets along with the BBQ pork sandwich: Add pickles and its a Mc Rib. Not terrible, but consistant for sure.

the BBQ one is my plowing go to snack
cant remember the last time i got a tank of diesel without looking to see if they had a few of them warm

 

[No name needed]

believe it or not, my favorite chicken sandwich is the "original chicken sandwich" from burger king

Wow. You would have to walk 3 miles just to burn off the calories.
Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich

• sandwich (199g )
• Calories from Fat 263. Calories 569.
• 45% Total Fat 29g.
• 27% Saturated Fat 5.4g.
• 21% Cholesterol 62mg.
• 53% Sodium 1270mg.
• 11% Potassium 390mg.
• 17% Total Carbohydrates 52g.

 

[Dartnut]

I used to love Kentucky Fried Chicken before it turned into KFC.
Since I was a kid, it was my go to for a treat.
Nowadays, it definitely isn't as good as it was.
I work at an canola oil/shortening factory and have for 20 years now.
We used to make the solid shortening (it came in 2 Kg bricks) for Tricon which turned into Yum! industries but haven't for about 15 years.
That's what they used in the pressure cookers at KFC, I don't know what they use now, but the taste is certainly different. A lot different......
Let's turn the clock to today, and where I work, lo and behold, Yum!/KFC is going to buy our oils for their frying.
As oldkimmer mentioned, Mary Brown's is good and has taken a sizeable foothold in western Canada from KFC and they are taking notice!
They (Yum!) are going to buy the same oil from us that Mary Brown's uses and start cooking their chicken with it.
BTW, it is expensive oil compared to the regular oils, about twice the price but it lasts longer and is more stable.
So we'll see in the next few months if the oil itself makes a difference.
It really seems like they (Yum!) really cares and are affected by the competitors....

The way it stands now, when I go to KFC, it has to be just after the lunch or dinner rush, that way you are guaranteed fresh Chicken etc.
But the fries and the gravy sucks compared to the old days for sure.
And it depends on the outlet. We have 3 franchises in our city.
Mary Brown's chicken is good, but the fries are so so and the 'taters are so so as well. The gravy sucks. It tastes like it came out of a 5 gallon pail. We have 2 franchises here as well and one is better than the other.
I haven't tried Popeye's here, but I heard that it was pretty good.
I tried Popeye's in Montana and it was decent.

Also, you have to remember that KFC in the U.S. is different than that in Canada.
Lately, (As in the last 20 years) I liked the KFC in the U.S. better than in Canada.

And don't get me started on A&W, it really sucks in the U.S. compared to Canada!
It's a totally different menu....
It's totally different here except for the Root Beer which is awesome!

 

[diymirage]

Wow. You would have to walk 3 miles just to burn off the calories.
Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich

• sandwich (199g )
• Calories from Fat 263. Calories 569.
• 45% Total Fat 29g.
• 27% Saturated Fat 5.4g.
• 21% Cholesterol 62mg.
• 53% Sodium 1270mg.
• 11% Potassium 390mg.
• 17% Total Carbohydrates 52g.

If you want to play that game, look up what my favorite burger runs...it is the bacon king, also from BK

 

[toolmanmike]

Wow. You would have to walk 3 miles just to burn off the calories.
Burger King Original Chicken Sandwich

• sandwich (199g )
• Calories from Fat 263. Calories 569.
• 45% Total Fat 29g.
• 27% Saturated Fat 5.4g.
• 21% Cholesterol 62mg.
• 53% Sodium 1270mg.
• 11% Potassium 390mg.
• 17% Total Carbohydrates 52g.

And the sodium will kill you. Literally! Just ask my heart surgeon!

 

[pishta]

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...

 

[Ottmundr]

My wife and I don't eat much fast food so this came as a real surprise to us. Recently we were out for a drive. The wife likes to see parts of the country she has never seen before. Anyway, we decide to get something to eat and stupid me had forgot my vaccine papers. You have to have them to eat in a restaurant here. We decide to get some good old reliable KFC as it has been pretty much the same since we were kids. We got our chicken diners at the takeout and went to eat them in the far corner of the parking lot. Much to our surprise the chicken was not the same as usual. It didn't even look the same. We ate it but I have to tell you, it was not good. It was probably the worst fried chicken we had ever received from a fast food joint. The rest of the diners were no better. You used to get coleslaw and a bun. These were nowhere to be seen. It was just crappy chicken and fries.

So when did they change the recipe?

Needless to say, we will never order KFC again.

Jack

Lol you think fast food is chicken or beef?

 

[pishta]

If you want to play that game, look up what my favorite burger runs...it is the bacon king, also from BK

That used to be $5 on the BK app, now its 8 if you can find it. The BK app was the only reason I ever went to BK but now that is hardly worth it, specials are like a penny under what the franchise price is. I called them on that and they never got back to me.

 

[toolmanmike]

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...

Buttermilk! Fry oil is liquid at room temp. Shortening, lard butter, or beef tallow isn't. McDonalds used to cook their fries in beef tallow (fat) until it was deemed a health hazard. If it's solid at room temp it is sludge at body temperature. You better eat a lot of fiber because friction is the only way you can get it scraped off your intestines.

 

[44070dart]

On the way down south we would stop at Bojangles, once on the way down and then on the way back. PLEASE if you have any bad stories about it don't post them, I like there chicken too much .. We recently got Chick-fil-A and it's a pretty good sandwich ..KFC and Popeye's no way.