2023-06-26 12:14:00
More than 40 years after his death, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken is alive for a moment. “It’s him, isn’t it?” the young woman whispers to her friends after entering the restaurant. Then she plucks up courage: She speaks to the portly man in the white suit, who quickly leaves the chicken leg he had just been gnawing on, and they pose together with the widest grin for a souvenir photo. What is apparently not clear to her and her companion: It is “only” about Lawrence Thayer, who sometimes slips into the role of Colonel Harland Sanders and looks confusingly similar to him. The original, however, is long dead. The Colonel died in 1980, when the enraptured fan was probably not even born.
But Sanders is still a celebrity. Because his face still adorns the buckets worldwide, i.e. the buckets with chicken parts that go over the counter in the branches of the fast food chain. Even though he sold it in 1964 for the almost ridiculous sum of two million dollars, he remained the mascot and brand ambassador for the rest of his life: the friendly southern uncle in a white suit with a walking stick, a distinctive little beard and a penchant for fried chicken.
chicken over everything
But what about Colonel Harland Sanders and his chicken business? And is fried chicken really a specialty in the northernmost of all southern states? So as typical as horse racing and bourbon? If you mention the trip to Kentucky to friends, they usually follow up with a comment about fried chicken. And sure enough, if you’re looking for fried chicken in the state, you’ll quickly find it. And not only in the numerous KFC branches that can be seen from afar on highways and country roads by the oversized, red and white billboards with Sanders’ portrait, but also in many restaurants, snack bars and other fast food chains along the way way.
In London, Kentucky, Brandon Owens serves fried chicken with vegetables.
– © Sascha Rettig
From Louisville, the largest city in rural Kentucky, the search for clues quickly leads to London, a small town in Laurel County, far, far away from Great Britain. There, too, the dish is put on the table after arrival. What Brandon Owens says about it, however, sounds sobering at first. The one, the special, the authentic Kentucky chicken? “It doesn’t really exist,” explains the owner and chef of “The Kitchen” restaurant as he arranges his version with bourbon-glazed sweet potatoes in the open kitchen. Rather, it is a traditional specialty in the US southern states in general, for whites and Afro-Americans alike. It is something like a staple of the kitchen, which is already very fond of deep-frying. “Everyone used to keep chickens, after all.”
Traditionally, the chicken is tossed in breadcrumbs, bathed in buttermilk, seasoned to your liking and finally dipped in hot fat. At Owens, however, only the breast is served, very cultivated with a knife and fork: “So that you don’t get your fingers dirty while eating,” he adds. “But there are countless ways to prepare fried chicken.” The range is correspondingly large – as could be tasted at the beginning of the road trip in Louisville, for example.
Emil David has considered international variants of the fried chicken classic for his snack bar in Louisville.
– © Sascha Rettig
There Emil David opened his fried chicken stand “The Ramble” in the brand new food hall “Village Market” and focuses on modern, unusual variants. He himself grew up in the Philippines, lived part-time in Italy and New York City and also prepares the Southern classics with culinary influences from all over the world: His fried chicken sandwiches sometimes have an Italian parmesan crust, sometimes come with Korean kimchi or give a spicy kick with Buffalo Hot Sauce.
chicken in competition
But back to London, where numerous other chicken tracks lead. On the last weekend in September, for example, the “World Chicken Festival” takes place there for all advanced fried chicken obsessives. Highlights include more than just a contest pitting Colonel lookalikes like Lawrence Thayer against each other. In keeping with the name, a superlative can also be boasted: the festival ended up in the Guinness Book with the largest frying pan in the world. It has been in operation for over 30 years; to date, over 120,000 chicken dinners have been fried in bubbling fat. With this eccentric event, London wants to celebrate the great KFC chicken heritage in a finger-licking way.
Just a few kilometers away, in the 2,000-strong town of North Corbin, Sanders finally laid the foundation for the globally successful company in the 1930s. He ran a gas station right on the main traffic artery, where many hungry travelers stopped and to whom he and his then wife Josephine served chicken. To this day, one of the fast food restaurants stands at this KFC birthplace. The counter with the bucket edition is like everywhere else. The guest room of the “Sanders Cafe & Museum” catapults you back into the past and serves nostalgic fans who sometimes come from all over the world: With its dark paneled walls you dine in the ambience of the replica original KFC, where chicken is cooked according to the original Colonel -Art can feed. The combination of eleven herbs and spices is still the same today – and the composition is still a great secret that is guarded by the company like the gold in Fort Knox.
A museum full of chicken
This spice mixture is a topic in the adjoining museum, as is the bucket over the decades. You can also shop for souvenirs and browse display cases filled with obscure merchandise and historical memorabilia. Clogs with plastic chicken thighs are on display there. A copy of the pressure cooker, with the development of which Sanders from the late 1930s greatly accelerated the cooking time for the chicken parts, as well. It was a crucial step towards the chicken empire before he went from restaurant to restaurant with this pot and his recipe in order to work together in return for a corresponding participation – fast food franchising with a handshake, so to speak.
The Colonel doesn’t always seem to have been that nice in real life…
– © Sascha Rettig
At the KFC in North Corbin, the Colonel is celebrated unreservedly – and with him his life’s work in full dedication to the (chicken-filled) bucket. He’s not this cuddly southern gentleman for everyone, though. As fans at the store take a souvenir photo with the life-size Colonel figure, a local farmer, who has just finished eating his portion of wings, watches with curiosity. “I didn’t know the Colonel,” he says in a whisper, unasked, “but apparently he was a mean guy.” It is not the only time that the clean image is scratched during the road trip. Are these all just wild rumours?
Not always nice
You can also hear that clearly from Charlie Kramer’s stories – the now 86-year-old knew him personally. Decades ago, he worked as general manager at the “Claudia Sanders Dinner House” in tranquil Shelbyville. After selling KFC, Sanders and his second wife opened this restaurant, where Kramer sits today, decades later, rummaging through his memories. He remembers situations in which he crashed into the Colonel, whose irascible outbursts or how he used his stick to knock a pot off the stove when he didn’t like something he had tried with his golden spoon. Sanders was very strict about food and quality. “Later on we were friends, but before that it wasn’t always good,” he explains over lunch.
Although the Colonel can no longer show up for quality control, it’s not just the fried chicken in the “Dinner House” that tastes delicious. In the dignified atmosphere of a family restaurant, you can order opulent classics from the southern states – all under the gaze of the previous owner, who overlooks the dining room from a portrait. But why is it only Sanders and not the woman the restaurant is named after? There is another painting with the two of them, says the waitress, somewhat embarrassed. In the entrance area, up the stairs, on the first floor. However, only the Colonel can be seen clearly on it. Claudia’s face is hidden at an unfavorable angle by a stair post.
But the great chicken hero was ultimately Sanders, born in 1890, albeit at a later stage in his life. Until his big hit, he wobbled aimlessly through life for a long time. In the small “Colonel Sanders Museum” in Sanders’ former villa near Louisville, which is now the KFC headquarters, you get a good overview of his life: Because his father died early, the boy had to earn money as a teenager. He moved from job to job, helping out on farms, joining the army and working as an insurance salesman. He was never really successful – until he opened the gas station on Highway US 25 with his then wife Josephine in 1929. Their fried chicken was so popular that they opened another restaurant.
Chicken one last time
While all the Colonel information is being digested along with all the fried chickens, the search for clues in Covington, further north on the Ohio state border, ends with a final, filling dinner: at Roxanne and Richard Zumwalde’s “Purple Poulet”. That sounds fine and it is – with white tablecloths, silver cutlery and a tastefully dignified interior. In keeping with this, the couple who run the restaurant, which is dedicated to Southern cuisine, offer the upscale fried chicken variant.
Of course, it is served with several, very rich side dishes. But it is almost impossible to eat them. It’s all about trying and concentrating on the chicken – and it’s worth it. The skin is oily, but not too oily. Most importantly, it’s so crunchy that dangerously, you can’t get enough of it. And the meat on those big chicken pieces that stretch to the edge of the plate? It’s juicy, not dry at all, and highly addictive. No Kentucky Fried Chicken, but real, authentic, special Fried Chicken from Kentucky.
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