By: Evan Jankens

@kingofthekc

Whether it’s original or extra crispy, KFC is phenomenal. There are things in this world we may never know like how many licks are there in a Tootsie Pop or who is D.B. Cooper? One thing that people have been wondering about for years has to be the secret ingredients in KFC’s famous fried chicken.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Colonel Sanders’ nephew may have made a gigantic mistake. He spilled the beans.

Could this be what I think it is? The 11 herbs and spices? Ledington tells me, yep, this is it. “That is the original 11 herbs and spices that were supposed to be so secretive,” he says with conviction. During our chat, he quickly points out that the writing isn’t his uncle’s. He’s not sure who jotted down the list of 11 ingredients. But he says he’s sure it’s authentic because, as a boy, he helped blend those herbs and spices on the flat concrete roof of his uncle’s garage.

Joe Ledington was going through a scrap book and what was written on the napkin made the writer want to know what was on it.

Ledington just decided to spill the beans (or should I say herbs and spices).

“I mixed them over the top of the garage for years,” he recalls, noting that the job came with the fringe benefit of getting to use the swimming pool at Sanders’ motel-restaurant complex — a nice perk during the hot summer months.

The secret ingredient that he values the most you might ask, “The main ingredient is white pepper,” he says. “I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody (in the 1950s) knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it.”

The fine people at Yahoo condensed the story and laid out what the 11 ingredients are:

Chicken parts of your choice

Celery salt

Dried Mustard

White pepper

Garlic salt

Paprika

Ground ginger

Basil

Salt

Thyme

Oregano

Black pepper

Now you’re probably wondering what you need to do in order to make the breading? They also hooked it up with instructions as well:

Prepare oil in a cast-iron pot to fry. In a bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, 1/3 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of black pepper, 1/2 tbsp of thyme, 1/2 tbsp of basil, 1/3 tbsp of oregano, 1 tbsp celery salt, 1 tbsp of dried mustard, 4 tbsp of paprika, 1 tbsp of garlic salt, 1 tbsp of ground ginger, and 1 tbsp of white pepper. In a separate bowl, add milk and an egg and beat. Mix your chicken into the bowl, and then coat the chicken in the flour & spice mix. Finally, fry the chicken in the pot for 10 to 15 minutes. Let it cool and then serve.

Now that you have read this, I assume that you will be grabbing your keys, hopping in the car and then going straight to the grocery store. If you do make it, please let me know how it turned out.