By CHRIS DANIELS consumer reporter
The Colonel's secret recipe, guarded more tightly than the Crown Jewels, remains safe from the public's sticky fingers.
Or so says KFC, which has just settled with an American couple who claimed to have unearthed the mystical formula of 11 herbs and spices.
Kentucky couple Tommy and Cherry
Settle found the handwritten recipe in the basement of their home, which they bought from Colonel Harland Sanders in the early 1970s.
KFC immediately filed a lawsuit asking that the piece of paper found by the Settles be given to the company.
But just as quickly, the company withdrew its legal action, saying the note did not disclose any secrets because it was not the original recipe.
KFC in New Zealand was quick to cash in on the renewed interest in its supposedly top-secret recipe, taking out full-page advertisements in daily newspapers.
Saying it was "giving away" the secret recipe for one day, KFC went on to offer a free piece of chicken to every customer who bought a burger combo.
Noel Dempsey, the chief operating officer of Restaurant Brands, which owns and operates KFC in New Zealand, said the level of interest in the secret recipe was remarkable.
"It is the recipe that everyone wants to understand and copy but can't."
The supposedly secret blend of 11 herbs and spices is just an elaborate marketing ploy, says author William Poundstone.
In 1983, he had a sample of KFC chicken analysed by food technicians to find out what it contained.
No herbs, or spices, said the scientists. The chicken had been dipped in skimmed milk and egg, then rolled in flour.
The coating mix contained four ingredients: flour, salt, monosodium glutamate and black pepper.
What Mr Poundstone contends is the real secret of that beady-eyed southern colonel is the way he cooked his chicken. His 1966 patent for a "process of producing fried chicken under pressure" shows a method of keeping chicken moist, while cooking large quantities of it very quickly.
That, apparently, is the true secret of Colonel Sanders - how to cook a truckload of edible chicken in lickety-split time.
