With social media being a big part of our lives, it can be used for many things good and bad. Unfortunately a lot of the latter, and one of the main problems facing social media is the spreading of fake news. Fake news spreads like wild fire and could prove to be very harmful to the subject at hand, which is why I urge people to search for the truth first before just sharing these stories and very often than not, the truth is very easy to find. KFC have been hurt in the past with such fake news about how they go about preparing their chicken, hence they launched their Colonels Kitchen Tour, which see's them going around the country to random branches of KFC, inviting local media and influential personnel to get a behind the scenes experience of what goes down in the kitchen of a general KFC.
Last week the tour stopped off at KFC Gateway and I was part of a lucky few to who attended. After formalities were complete it was time to go into the kitchen and the first thing that gets your attention is how strict their are on hygiene, well obviously it is a food prep area but the controls put in place to ensure that this standard is met not only amazed me but others on the tour. From wearing hairnets at all times to washing your hands every 30 minutes or after touching other areas of your body, KFC do not take cleanliness lightly. Especially since most of the food prep involves staff using their hands to make your food.
We were given a detailed step by step demo on what happens from the time the product is delivered, to how its stored, chilled then prepped to cook, what temperatures are needed for them to accept deliveries and if the product doesn't meet their standards it is sent back. There is a freezer where the chicken product is stored and a chiller for other products. The chicken is defrosted, checked for any defects such as bruises or feathers, then dunked in water, drained by being shaken 7 times then added to breading station which consists of flour, the secret 11 herbs and spices and other additives. The chicken is then folded 10 times in the mixture, ensuring every part is coated perfectly, drumsticks get a double coat as when frying it tends to lose some coating if only coated once. Then the chicken is patted down 7 times to make sure everything sticks on. This procedure is called the 7/10/7 which is performed every time when making chicken. The pieces are then placed on frying racks, and each piece has its own place on the rack ensuring a thorough cooking process.
All of KFC's chicken products are cooked in high pressure fryers, for 15 minutes, ensuring that the chicken is golden crispy and perfect every time. Oil in these fryers are checked daily with an oil checker made especially for these fryers. We then moved onto the food prep are to see where all the delicious burgers, wraps and orders are made. The food prep station is spotless with all the cooked products available to the person who is making it in the various warmers which are labelled accordingly. Food is assembled in a matter of minutes and sent out to dispatch. It's astonishing the workings behind the scenes and many take it for granted as we don't get to see what goes on. This tour helped dispel those myths and fake news about how things go down in the kitchen at KFC and left me pleasantly surprised to see the measures put in place by KFC SA, speaking to the owner of the store after the tour, he said how they'd get inspectors coming to look for even the most smallest things, that is how far they go to ensure the stores are spic and span.
It was a long morning and things do get hot in the kitchen so after seeing them make all this delicious food, we were treated to a lunch time feast which no one could say no to!
After an absence of more than 3 years, KFC South Africa have heeded the call of thousands of their supporters by bringing back the much loved Double Crunch. When you combine 2 juicy fillets, 2 slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, smothered in a new special mayo and served in a fresh sesame seed bun, whats not to love about it? They celebrated the relaunch of this burger by treating some real fans of the burger on an action packed Sunday, those select few were the lucky ones to get their hands on it before anyone in SA. Not to worry though, you can find the #DoubleCrunch as of today, 16th September 2014 at all branches. Well go on then, what are you still doing reading this??? Go buy one before the Colonel changes his mind and pulls it from the menu!
What is 2 rand? If someone had to ask you for it, it's a lot of money but if you had it in your hand, it isn't really much. Most people use it to tip car guards or petrol attendants, make up change to pay for the parking, or sometimes it just gathers in your purse or wallet with other change with eventually starts to bother you. What if I told you your R2 can do much more? What if I told you your R2 could help feed millions? A charity that has a set amount which is minimal, how? Well with the help of KFC, every time you make a purchase at one of thier branches, you get the option to purchase "Hope" for R2 to add to your order.
What is Add Hope? It was launched 4 years ago by KFC as their solution to feed the millions of starving children in South Africa. Statistics show that over a billion people are at the risk of starvation world wide and 239 million of them are from Africa. South Africa contributes 12 million to that figure with an estimated 3.3 million being children and the number is ever increasing. The R2 you donate goes straight to one of 90 beneficiaries which are feeding schemes that will use that money only to feed the children because the purpose of this year long drive is to provide nutritional, healthy and balanced meals to the growing children who don't have access to it.
To this date the Add Hope initiative has managed to raise R183 million since its inception in 2009, R31 million of this has been raised in 2013, this included the R2 donations from the public and the franchisees who selected local community projects to contribute to every year. This campaign is different to others because it gives each an everyone one of us the chance to better the life of someone less fortunate, everyone deserves the right to a meal and we with the help of KFC and Add Hope can do this together.
Today KFC began national sales of its much talked about Double Down "sandwich". It made international news when it was launched for the very first time in the USA in April 2010. What it essentially is, is two original recipe chicken fillets that are used in your Colonel burger but in between they stuff a slice of smoked chicken, 2 slices of cheddar cheese and two helpings of the Colonel dressing. Basically its a burger with no bun! Genius! The one served in SA is different to that sold overseas, as they serve bacon with theirs and since majority of the KFC branches are Halaal and Kosher they have opted to use the smoked chicken slice in stead. Many will question nutritional value of such a meal but then again people aren't going to be ordering this on a daily basis, I for one cant wait to sample it as I was salivating looking at the tweets on my TL today! It proved to be such a hit that #KFCDoubleDown tag was trending across South Africa. It sells for R44.90 and is the perfect meal if you're flippin hungry, looking for a carb free meal, cure for a moerse hangover or just want to enjoy some good and tasty!
KFC is undoubtedly one of South Africa's favourite fast food franchise, with outlets nationwide all making that delicious crispy fried chicken just the way the Colonel used to. Now although they're mostly noted for the food, locally KFC have been running a campaign for a while, a campaign known as "add hope". Add hope is a national feeding program which ensures children have access to nutrition in order to live, grow and thrive. How can one be a part of this? Simple, after placing your order at any KFC, you can donate R2 towards this cause by adding it to your bill. Your R2 can go a long way to feeding the less fortunate.
Riaanon his journey
Recently KFC partnered up with renowned South African adventurer Riaan Manser to help feed South Africa's children. In September he embarked on his journey, an epic adventure to cycle the country and his route will read the message of "hope". In total Riaan would travel 4100km in 2 months, stopping off in many towns along the way to highlight both, the plight of hunger and the positive impact that Add Hope is making to the countries children. This Friday, the 19th of October see's him making a stop in Durban at the North Beach KFC, situated in the Mangrove Beach Center on Somtsea Road at 9am. Come join in and support Riaan in his inspiring journey across the country, to better the lives of the children. You together with KFC, Riaan and the Add Hope campaign can help a nation prosper.
You can follow Riaan on his journey via twitter through @KFCSA or @riaanmaser or follow the hash tag #addhope
You may or may not have known but I love KFC, heck that's
where the inspiration for the name of my blog came from! Yes I know many of you
would deem it to be unhealthy and in the present day with everyone changing
their lifestyles to lead a much healthier one, one would agree that fried foods
are the ones to stay away from but my argument is, one should eat in moderation
and also look at other foods you consume as they might not be as healthy as you
think if large quantities are consumed.
However back to the topic at hand. Recently KFC invited yours truly to a
once in a life time experience where I was flown to Johannesburg to spend the
day with the KFC team along with the members from the PR team at Ogilvy and
other journalists. The event dubbed "Great Taste Tour" was put in
place to celebrate the launch of the Colonel's autobiography along with a cook
book containing recipes from the Colonel himself. These recipes were recently discovered
in the archives in Louisville, USA and the guys at KFC thought it would be a
good idea to release it to the public.
I arrived in Johannesburg on Tuesday evening and made my way to the Southern
Sun Hyde Park Hotel, where a meet and greet session was arranged for everyone
going on the Great Taste Tour. I met the various personnel from Yum brands,
Ogilvy as well as the journalists and "twitter influences" (as they
liked to call us) we discussed the brand and traditions of KFC over drinks and
dinner later on that evening. Getting to know everyone and what their roles entailed
as well as obtaining an inside feel to the chain was a real eye opener for me and
got me even more excited for what was in store for us the following day.
Yum brand execs answering questions
The next day, we were summoned to the lobby after breakfast to board a
shuttle that would take us to our first stop, the Emmarentia branch of KFC.
Once there we were met by Jason Kerr, Doug Smart and Owen Viljoen of Yum/KFC as
well as Daryl Milne of Rainbow Chicken Farms. We were given a chance to ask
questions while group of 3's were escorted into the kitchen for a tour on what
exactly goes on in the back. While I patiently waited my turn, it gave me
a good opportunity to ask the people in charge, questions that fascinated
me about the brand. From which is the largest store in terms of size, how much it
costs to open up a branch and what this entails, to how they come up with the
items on the menu. I also learned more about the chickens being used from
Rainbow as that tends to be a touchy subject with the animal
activists.
breading the chicken
Not long after that, it was my turn along with my fellow
influences to go into the kitchen. Upon entry we were asked to put on a hair
net, wash our hands and sanitize them. All this being standard practise of any
store, cleanliness in an environment with food preparation is a must. Once all
scrubbed up, we were escorted around the back with Jason Kerr and shown the prep
area where the chicken was made. To my surprise, the actual breading of the chicken
involved 2 processes, quite detailed ones but it all seemed pretty easy if you
know what you're doing. Basically they take the chicken from the fridge, give
it a rinse and it is placed in a dish which contains flour, the 11 secret herbs
and spices and powdered egg and milk. Now there is a special routine to coating
the chicken as we found out after one of the influences, Rabin
Harduth's poor attempts were shot down. The staff have to follow 7 steps of
folding the chicken into the breading, before patting it down another 10 times.
There after they remove 2 pieces at a time, dusting the excess with a tap and
shake of their hands.The pieces are then placed into the trays for the frying
basket with each piece placed in a certain way on the tray to avoid "marriage"
in the fryer. The drum stick is the only piece to receive a double coating to
give it that extra crisp texture and avoid it from exploding while frying. Once
ready, the trays are slotted into the basket and placed into the pressure
fryers where they are left to fry for approximately 15 minutes.
The secret 11 herbs and spices
While the chicken was being cooked, we took a tour of the
stock rooms where we found boxes of the secret 11 herbs and spices and tons of
the yummy mayo that goes onto the burgers, we tried to sneak some out but were
caught in the process, unlucky for us. All veggies are freshly packed in
vacuum sealed packages with best before dates. They purchase fresh produce
as much as possible;things like coleslaw are made in the store as apposed to
being made in a central kitchen so it is as fresh as it can be. We also
learnt more about the hygiene aspect, how they have separate buckets of water
and cleaning agents for area's indicated by colour for raw food and cooked
food. All their utensils and dishes are air dried once washed to ensure no
bacteria is transferred.
various clocks
Making our way to the food preparation area I noticed there
were about 5 clocks on display, each showing different times, these were to
keep track of the various items that were being cooked because KFC pride themselves
on the freshness of their product, each item only has a certain time limit to
be sold. Each store has generated its unique forecast so they know when the
busy periods are and this ensures minimal wastage. For example, the fried
chicken is placed in a "wet warmer" meaning there is water in the
trays below to keep the moisture locked, that chicken can only be kept their
for a maximum of 60 minutes after which if not sold, it must be discarded.
frying basket
Time was up on the pressure fryer and it was the moment of truth,
to see the results of Rabin’s chicken versus that of Shirley who was a store
employee. It was quite evident who's was the better looking chicken, not
knowing how to place the chicken on the trays, Rabin's pieces had married onto
each other which didn't allow for proper frying. Once the chicken is done,
there is a quality check to see if all pieces are fried and coated perfectly,
then a random piece is selected to be cut and its temperature is checked. Once
this is done and all inspections are met, the chicken will be sold to the
public.
fried chicken
I really enjoyed the tour of the kitchen as we are never
really aware of what happens back, nor do we actually wonder. The average
person just walks into a store, places their order, pays then leaves with their
purchase. To see all the steps taken to make ones meal and the strict
guidelines they take to making your food, its no wonder it tastes great all the
time. The steps they take for cleanliness really impressed me the most, coming
from a very fussy mum who wants her kitchen kept spotless at all times, it was
a relief to see how clean they keep their working environment.
wicked zinger box meal
Once the tour of the
kitchen was complete, it was time for lunch. We could order anything we liked
on the menu and as much of it as our hearts desired. As the phrase says
"go big or go home" I went for the Wicked Zinger Box Meal which
consists of a Zinger burger, 4 Zinger wings, chips, mash and gravy and a coke.
It more than hit the spot as it filled me up for the rest of the day.
*** History break: Something I didn't know about Colonel Harland Sanders only began marketing his secret recipe
chicken at age 65. Before then he ran a service station and diner. He would
serve his secret recipe chicken to patrons but when a new road
was built that detoured drivers
away from his station, he lost clientele and began to experience financial
difficulty. It was after this that he decided to go out and sell the KFC
franchise using his special seasoning for the chickenHe didn't sell the recipe
though, that he always kept a secret which aided in the growth of the franchise. Not long after that people from
around the world wanted to buy into his chicken franchise and so the world wide
phenomenon began. The first store to open in South Africa in 1971 was the
Orange Grove store in Johannesburg, which still exists to this day! Right up to
the age of 90 Colonel Harland Sanders travelled the world visiting the various
stores that made his famous chicken to make sure his traditions were being
followed, I'm sure he passed away peacefully knowing that his brand was in good
hands.***
Back to the trip: The next part of the tour consisted of a
trip to the PnP Good Food institute, where we were going to cook recipes from
the Colonels autobiography. To assist us with the cooking was award
winning Chef Jodi-Ann Pearton. Although it was the beginning of winter it
was a rather warm day so it was a good thing she started off with making
something to drink. It was the first time I had tasted a Mint Julep which
consisted of sugar syrup, mint leaves, ice and a shot of bourbon.
The cool
refreshing drink was just what was needed ahead of our cooking experience. Each
of us was asked to chose a partner and find a cooking station. Rabin and I
paired up, first on the list was a Chicken Mulligan which is a type of a stew,
following the steps from the recipe and Chef Jodi-Ann, most of us were making
good progress. Next up were biscuits to accompany the stew, although called
biscuits it was more of a scone. Rabin and I had some left over dough so we
decided to make K F C shaped biscuits. These were placed on the side to rise.
Next on the agenda was the desert, a Brown Betty which is very similar to the
modern day apple crumble.This was made by reducing apples in half a pot of water with
sugar and cinnamon, placed in a tray and covered with a topping made from
crushed digestive crackers mixed with sugar and walnuts. Butter was added on
top to give it a glaze when being baked in the oven.
Last on the list were fried tomatos, quite an unconventional
dish but one that I enjoyed quite a lot. Thickly sliced half ripe tomato's
dipped in egg, then flour, then egg again, were rolled in bread crumbs,
following the same folding and pressing steps the Colonel used with his
chicken. Once coated, it is shallow friend in a frying pan until golden crispy.
Once all the meals were done, one had to stand back and see how much we had
prepared and how simple it was to do. We plated up but many of us were still full
from the lunch but we had a taste of what we had prepared. I was very
impressed with my biscuits and fried tomatos, definitely recipes I will make
again at home. The Colonel's autobiography and recipe book are available to
download from their Facebook page, so I'd urge any person who loves to cook to
download it. Even if you don't like cooking, you will be amazed at how simple
some of the recipes are.
Sadly after the cooking was done, that was it for the tour
as we were driven back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to the team who put
together this brilliant affair. I learned so much andthe thinking behind certain elements of the
business. There is so much more that goes on in the background than meets the
eye and it was a privilege to witness it first hand.
You can download your copy of the Colonel's autobiography and cookbook via KFC SA's facebook page.
AMG133: Even though life may fly past you with rapid speed, always take time to slow down and enjoy chicken wings.
Just a random post, dedicated to the the wing that the chicken giveth. Is it just me or are chicken wings awesome? I mean really, I've eaten out many times, had many starters and in the meat variety this is by far the greatest. Yes you have to get your hands messy and there is the bone to deal with but thats just lame excuses to deny your taste buds of this great snack. Heck I think the preferred finger foods of the gods is chicken wings! Think about it, why do chickens have wings? They dont fly? Surely the soul purpose of it is to be cut off, defeathered, cleaned, dipped in batter and fried to be eaten with hot sauce?
sticky wings
Which brings me to my next point, theres a variety of them, crispy fried served with hot sauce, grilled honey mustard and sticky bbq are favourites, but sticking to my theme of the blog, I prefer the fried variety. Why? I dont like the gooeyness (if there is such a word) of the others. Plus most of the bbq marinades vary big time between places and some if not most dont hit the nail on the head all the time. At least with the batter, its just a question of whether they're gonna burn it as the hot sauce will cover the minor taste bud speed bumps such as "less salt" etc.
My hot wings Top 5:
5. Checkers fried chicken wings - I kid you not, I was hungry, I was forced to go to this vile supermarket and in the mixture of various pieces of chicken I saw some wings, so I asked only for them. Went home and ate them with some hot sauce and bly me they were good to kill the cravings!
4. KFC Zinger wings- My favourite take out of all time but it doesnt make my number one spot. They tried and failed many a time with this item on their menu, often burning it or getting the recipe really wrong but it seems they have settled on one that is selling and quite frankly isnt that bad. My only gripe is that they dont have any hot sauce for it! Wings and tomato sauce is a no no!
3. Hooters- Now the American franchise has been in SA for a year or so now and the menu isnt one you'll be flipping through over and over again, being a sports bar you cant blame it. Their chicken wings are good but truth be told I expected better. They're too "generic" if I could use that term. The hot sauce on the other hand is quite good. Please note I refer to the proper wings on bone and not that boneless crap.
2. Chicken Licken- Their actual chicken maybe not such a great hit with me but thankfully these guys changed the recipe for the wings. In fact they are so popular most branches I frequent have more wings in the warmer than the actual chicken! The Soul Fire sauce is available to purchase in sachets or the bottle if you're feeling thirsty
1. Spur- yes they average family restaurant they might be but they got something on those bad boys, fried to perfection drenched in that southern style hot sauce with extra garlic served with their "dirky sauce" (blue cheese dressing). It really does make me contemplate ordering mains from them.
