Why is kfc so good

It is owned by Yum! Brands , which also runs Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Watch Live. So Good? That's right around the ideal level of salt for human enjoyment of dry foods, according to Witherly. KFC adds the infamous flavor-booster monosodium glutamate, or MSG, to dozens of items, as detailed on the company website.

It also uses foods naturally high in effectively similar free glutamates , like chicken. Although MSG has gotten a bad rap, most scientists agree that it's safe , as no studies have shown that it causes headaches or other supposed negative effects. Colonel Sanders' secret here is the use of a pressure fryer, something that can be dangerous without the right equipment and methods.

The pressure fryer not only lets KFC cook chicken faster and with less oil, but it also locks in moisture. Witherly theorizes that it may also drive some of that salt and MSG into the meat, making it that much more delicious. Semi-emulsified means it's a partial mixture of water and fat. Humans like emulsifications because all the salt or sugar gets concentrated in the water part, making for an extra flavorful rush when it hits your mouth.

While traditional fried chicken takes a few seconds to activate your taste buds, KFC's moist skin gives an immediate surge of salt and MSG. Food scientists have observed that people like the excitement of biting through different textures, whether it's fried tortilla and ground beef, cookie wafers and creme, or crispy breading and moist chicken.

People also enjoy the combination of opposite traits, such as salty snacks and beer. A number of scientists have noted the relationship between cooked food and human evolution : It made it easier to digest lots of calories and reduced the need for huge jaws. In the years following the introduction of this new design use of pressure cookers became more common in fast food preparation and we all have the Colonel to thank for it. Many people have also tried preparing fried chicken in a pressure cooker at home to duplicate KFC, but despite what some web sites promise, the exact make up of the secret recipe remains in doubt.

Both black and white pepper are common ingredients, but do you know what pipeline is? Piperine is a chemical found in pepper that gives it its famously strong flavor and odor and made pepper such a popular spice. It is piperine that is responsible for making your mouth tingle and burn a bit when you eat foods heavily seasoned with white or black pepper.

Piperine in large quantities has even been shown to help with depression in some cases. This versatile chemical has also been shown to aid in digestion which makes your body want it that much more. So even if the use of black and white pepper in the KFC chicken recipe is purely for the terrific flavor they provide it turns out they can do more for you than satisfy the cravings of your taste buds. The company jealously guards the specifics of the secret recipe behind its famous fried chicken.

A nephew of the Colonel may have let the recipe out of the bag in when he showed a reporter the following list of ingredients that was to be mixed with flour: Salt, thyme, basil, oregano, celery salt, black pepper, dried mustard, paprika, garlic salt, ground ginger, and white pepper. KFC has never publicly confirmed that this is in fact the coveted secret recipe that helps make the chicken so popular. Few products reach the iconic status of Coca-Cola. From humble origins more than a century ago, Everybody loves to eat fast, quick, and cheaply.

The fast-food market caters to these needs very Connect with us. Related Topics:. More in Business. Business Top 10 Worst Restaurants Ever! Whenever you get a craving for KFC chicken, it's the only thing that will satisfy the raging hunger beast inside of you. You don't necessarily know why it's so fulfilling to chomp down into a piece, but it is. And, in a Quora thread exploring KFC chicken's inherent appeal, Chef Martin Bayer pointed out one possible reason you just can't seem to get the Colonel's menu out of your mind or your mouth.

Sure, they brag about their 11 herbs and spices, which is great, but that's not what you are tasting when you bite into some extra tasty crispy," Bayer explained. The human mouth craves those flavors and that is what makes you go back for more KFC. While two of the official tastes bitter and sour don't present in KFC's fried chicken — which, c'mon, is surely a good thing — Bayer makes a salient point.

Per Savory Simple 's Jennifer Farley , who studied culinary arts at L'Academie de Cuisine, food that is more balanced among the tastes is more appealing to the palate. Remember the previously aforementioned tale about the Chicago Tribune supposedly sniffing out KFC's secret blend of herbs and spices?

Well, once they had their hands on what was allegedly the magic formula, they decided to put it to the test. They took to the kitchen in an attempt to replicate the fast food eatery's signature fried chicken flavor. After several batches, they realized something was missing — at which point they made a surprising discovery. After multiple batches that weren't quite right, the Tribune team came "very close" to recreating the taste of the Colonel's secret blend.

Then, on a whim, a reporter grabbed a container of the MSG flavor-enhancer Accent sitting in the test kitchen and sprinkled it on top of the chicken. According to the paper, their test chicken was "virtually indistinguishable" from the bucket they bought at KFC.

Don't let that deter you, though. While MSG tends to get a bad rap, U. Per the outlet, MSG — or monosodium glutamate — is simply a combination of sodium and glutamate, an amino acid found naturally in many foods like mushrooms and tomatoes. And guess what? Plus, it makes food taste really good. In , KFC offered near-total transparency by inviting Gizmodo to go behind the scenes for a tour of the restaurant's headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky.

There, Gizmodo 's reporter even tied on an apron in the KFC company kitchen and cooked up a little fried chicken of their own. But during the enlightening play-by-play of how the signature chicken is made, the reporter found that KFC is obsessed with the number seven. And, surprisingly, it actually plays a big part in making KFC's chicken taste so good. In preparation for its breading, the chicken is inspected and then dunked in a brine.

To dry the chicken off, KFC employees toss it — you guessed it! The chicken is then placed in the breading using a pseudo breaststroke motion seven times. When it's good and coated, the chicken is collected in a basket and see-sawed seven times. Finally, the chicken is placed on the frying rack and pressure cooked to perfection. So, you see, without KFC's commitment to doing things seven times, the chicken likely wouldn't be quite so flavorful.

When you think of someone making fried chicken, you probably think of them submerging it in a bubbling vat or iron skillet filled with oil. While KFC has always used oil, it originally used it in a decidedly different way: by basically hacking a pressure cooker.