A Finger-Lickin' Good Knockoff

Kudos to Long Island foodie Ron Douglas, who has apparently cracked the secret recipe for KFC's chicken, including the legendary 11 herbs and spices which give it its legendary flavor. Douglas, a fast food aficionado just like me, quit his financial services job to raise his kids and reverse-engineer some of his fast food favorites. Hmm.. nah, I probably shouldn't even consider that.

While I congratulate Mr. Douglas on his achievement, I temper my enthusiasm because I have no desire to make, let's say, KFC fried chicken or Long John Silver's fish and chips, at home. For one, neither is terribly expensive, and the price more than makes up for the work and mess that I'd surely cause if I were to try to do this at home. Furthermore, I've come to the realization that a lot of recipes, especially those with many ingredients (11 herbs and spices) are fundamentally cost-inefficient and wasteful, because you inevitably purchase an ingredient that you use 5% of which you never use again.

Besides, in the occasion that I prepare meals for guests, I'd much rather prepare them my penne a la vodka, lasagna, or garlic chicken as opposed to something they'd suspect I picked up at my local fast food drive-thru.

I remember more than ten years ago I found a recipe for Long John Silver's fish batter on the Internet and gave it a shot, with my deep oil filled pan and some scrod fillets. Not a good experience.