That’s not a sensible argument. The stuff about KFC probably was copied directly from Poundstone. If you want to dispute the accuracy of it you’ll need to attack Poundstone directly.
Otherwise, all you’re saying is something along the lines of “That site can’t be trusted. They just copy stuff out of the encyclopedia.”
As far as the multi-level marketing goes, I’ll admit that I didn’t notice it. It could well be there. Who’d have thought that free web-hosting services would stoop to advertising shit unrelated to the stuff being hosted?
I wasn’t saying you (or the link) are definitely wrong, I was just pointing out that it’s not crazy to be dubious about the veracity of a website that: a) has derived a significant chunk of its editorial content from a lame-o uncredited rewriting (the Poundstone stuff on KFC is not taken verbatim, or at least is not the entire chapter) of a twenty-year-old book, b) also uses that same editorial content to talk about how to duplicate PlayStation disks and c) has information about how to start your very own transparently illegal multi-level marketing scam.
It’s there. Click on the link to the “home” page, or the “marketing” page. Sample quote:
A valid point–if the aforementioned wasn’t clearly the work of the author and the hosting service, which it is.
Not exactly. The come-on for the MLM scheme is there to debunk it. What it does have is a come-on for a hi-tech version of the old envelope stuffing scheme.
I should point out that this is old news, since the unattributed source for that cite is William Poundstone, who wrote about it in Big Secrets way back in 1981. The website you linked to uses a quote from the book almost word for word.
Fessie beat me to this for the most part, but I also worked at KFC for about 2 years when I was in high school… I met my wife there even! (She didn’t work there, but was a friend of someone who did.)
Just wanted to point out again, for anyone who bought what AHunter3’s assertion that “KFC doesn’t fry it’s chicken,” that this is completely wrong. They do use pressure cookers for the original recipe, but they are really pressure fryers, as they are filled with (wait for it)… piping hot cooking oil!. The original recipe is deep-fried in a special sort of pressure-cooker, which is the only part of the “secret recipe” that my aunt wasn’t able to figure out until I told her.
The Extra Crispy chicken is definitely deep-fried in traditional oil vats, without the pressure-cooking.
And KFC is only “Kitchen-Fresh” chicken if people who make it in their kitchen also a) drop it on the floor now and again, and b) leave it laying around under heat lamps for 2-3 hours. KFC doesn’t deserve much of the criticism they receive, but “kitchen-fresh”? Yeah right.
This from someone who used to defend them against the blatantly stupid accusations of using genetically-engineered boneless chicken meat that they grew in industrial plants… yes, people actually believed that one for a while.
Oh, and I worked at KFC before they made heavy use of the acronym (all the signs still said “Kentucky Fried Chicken”), but we all called it “KFC” anyway.
And it was also before they made a cartoon character out of Colonel Sanders, but I always found it vaguely creepy that a dead Colonel’s likeness was staring at me from everywhere in the place. His face was on the boxes, on the cups, on the ketchup packets, even embossed in the napkins. shiver Kind of morbid, now that I think of it.
Ironically, part of what gives KFC Original Recipe its taste is the fact that those pressure-cooker-fryers are designed to filter or “polish” and reuse the oil (back in my day it was probably mostly lard). You did not want to eat the first batch of chicken in fresh brand-new oil, it was usually way too light in color and looked nasty. The bits and pieces of breading that the filter captured were then used as the basis for the gravy, which was made nearly from scratch (the cornstarch part was a packet that may have had other ingredients).
The only thing that came in frozen and pre-breaded was the chicken sandwich. We even used to make the cole slaw from scratch, starting with 7 lbs of sugar (for a 90 lb batch). The sugar basically filled a 21-piece bucket.
The thing I fault KFC for is typical corporate greed. When I started there, it was a job that required some cleverness, some attention to detail. That was in the Heubelein (sp?) days. Then R.J. Reynolds bought it out and started dumbing things down, and hiring incorrigibles. If you create a job that any idiot can do, pretty soon the only people willing to do it will be the idiots. The incorrigibles came from a government program wherein companies were allowed to take tax breaks equal to half their salaries. Which was probably appropriate, since they only did about half as much work - unfortunately that left the remainder of the work for the rest of us to do. They did introduce timesavers a year or so later, though, such as having the cole slaw sauce arrive pre-mixed. They also shrank the portion sizes on a regular basis, even as they raised prices, and failed to come through with promised raises. All the talk about the corporation rewarding merit was so much hot air - a good wake-up call for high school kids. That, and finding out that working with the general public when they’re hungry is an awful way to make a living.
I did make a misstatement above - the word I wanted was marinate, not sautee. That’s what they do to keep the Extra Crispy juicy.
Aren’t they Honey Smacks and Golden Honey Crisp now? I still call em Sugar Smacks and Super Sugar Crisp, I was around back then. They aren’t fooling anyone.
Originally Posted by Judith Prietht
*Also, “get the taste on your face” is a little more than mildly suggestive. *
Oh thanks for the image. It was gross enough already … now this. I don’t even want to go there, but now I must. Eww. Cheap hookers come to mind.
For those who still call it Kentucky Fried Chicken, don’t feel too bad. Having just spend two weeks driving from Key West to Oakland without using more than 100 miles of interstate, I can tell you that there are many small towns left with the original signage that still proudly proclaims the name in full form.
Pretty much, though we were in a hurry when we used I-95 to get from Miami to Jensen Beach, Florida. We then took I-10 from Picayune, Mississippi to New Orleans since it seemed too much bother to go another way (though a couple were readily available). US-90 merges with I-10 shortly before reaching San Antonio from the east. And finally, if you take 60/93 northwest from Phoenix towards Las Vegas, you pretty much have to do about 20 miles on I-40 to get to Kingman.
Yes, it was a great trip. And one of the more fun parts was finding a route from Vegas to Oakland that didn’t use an interstate. In January it isn’t so easy to find a way over the Sierras when you don’t have chains.
And for all of those people who consider KFC on par with crack, I am just glad I don’t live in KFC Buffet country. I’m also glad I don’t live in Cracker Barrel country; any restaurant where macaroni and cheese is considered a side vegetable is a place where I could live out my years happily. And Waffle House, I love me some Waffle House (why are all the good junk dining places not on the West Coast?).
