Super Valu Deli Counter

choo choo man

Hi,
Just wondering has anyone ever tried to replicate the Southern Fried Chicken breasts and wings available at the Deli counter. I tried to find out who supplies the chicken to Supervalu to no avail. I have a couple of family gatherings coming up and I would love to buy this chicken direct from the supplier or replicate it at home.
Any help is appreciated

rubadub

I have not had that chicken but have made my own southern fried spice blends. There was a forum dedicated to KFC and trying to figure out what the spices were and coming up with their own.

I did not deep fry the chicken, I either coated and shallow fried or coated lightly and did skin on thighs or wings in the airfryer, which give off enough fat.

The site is gone now, but I have some recipes saved. If you are interested I will find which one(s) I went with. This is a typical one, I think mine was similar but I did not add cloves (hate them). Also these are intended to be deep fried (guys on the forum would actually source vintage KFC pressure friers!). I would have a much stronger concentration of spices and mix with flour and potato starch and put a light coating on. I would go easier on the salt too.

RECIPE DETAILS:

Weigh out 200g of fine cake flour.
Add to it 22g of fine table salt.

That's most of the weighing bit done.

In an electric grinder place the following items:

1 x small or 1/2 large dried bayleaf
2 whole cloves (don't be tempted to add more)
1/4 teaspoon of garlic salt (NOT garlic powder)(use a cooks measuring spoon, if you have one - see picture below)
1/4 teaspoon of dried basil leaf (or 1/8 tsp if already pre-ground)
1/4 teaspoon of dried oregano leaf (or 1/8 tsp if already pre-ground)
1/4 teaspoon of dried Thyme or Savory leaf (--ditto--)
1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder or cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon of coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon of MSG (monosodium glutamate)
1 teaspoon of Sage Leaf
1 heaped teaspoon of White Pepper
1 heaped teaspoon of Black Pepper

Grind the mix and then take just 13 grams of it and add that to the flour and salt and give it a thoroughly good mix. You can now put the scales away.

Get some boneless small chicken thighs and dip in an egg/milk wash .. I'm sure you know how to do that ... then roll the chicken in the seasoned flour to give it a good coating .. the coating should not be too thick and cloggy.

Then within five minutes of coating the chicken (don't let it stand around) fry it for five or six minutes in a normal fryer ... till it's the usual KFC colour .. the fryer should be set around 165°C to give a fairly good 'bubble' as the chicken enters the oil.

Don't overcrowd the fryer just cook two or three pieces at a time..

On removing the cooked chicken, let it drain for a minute or so, on some kitchen paper and sprinkle 'very sparingly' with a tiny bit more salt.

The next stage is worth doing too...

Rack the cooked chicken in a pre-heated warm oven approx. 70° C with a bath of boiling hot water at the bottom to fill the oven with a bit of steam. KFC outlets still do this today using ovens made by the colonel's good friend Winston Shelton.

Leave you chicken rest in the steam for 30 minutes ... I tend to (quickly) turn my chicken over once halfway through this process. All this will help the coating turn slightly soft and sticky.... just like KFC chicken used to be.

The chicken is then ready to eat.

One very Important thing is not to overpack your teasooon measurements when 'constructing' this recipe .. keep them 'light and loose' ... perhaps use a cook measuring teaspoon like these:

Are you sure the chicken is supplied coated in supervalu, many moons ago a friend of mine worked there and they did the coating themselves, he managed to get me a small bag of it. Many chippers will do their own too and might sell you a bag of the spice mix.

This product linked below is meant to be extremely similar to the old school KFC recipe, it was said to have been cheapened over the years. There were lots of stories on the forum, I think the Colonel allegedly was telling places to use this companies mix instead of the "new recipe" as he was annoyed when he was bought out and the brand was cheapened.

https://marionkay.com/product/chicken-seasoning-99-x/

unfortunately it is only seemingly on sale in the US and in large quantities.

This is meant to be the same stuff with the salt & flour added
https://marionkay.com/product/chicken-seasoning-blend/

EDIT:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC_Original_Recipe#Recipe

It is well attested that Harland Sanders asked Bill Summers of Marion-Kay Spices in Brownstown, Indiana, US to recreate his secret blend of 11 herbs and spices.[20] While alive, Sanders recommended the Marion-Kay seasoning to franchisees over the corporate version, as he believed the latter had been made inferior by its owners.[20] In 1982, after Sanders' death, KFC brought a lawsuit against Marion-Kay and the latter was barred from selling its mixture to KFC franchises.[20] The Marion-Kay seasoning is still sold under the name "99-X," and according to Sanders biographer Josh Ozersky, it is indistinguishable from the original KFC recipe

Miaireland

Try the ones in the cooler section . Our Supervalu appear to take chicken products that are nearing the expire date from the shelf and serve them at the hotfood counter

choo choo man

Thanks rubadub, good point, I never thought Supervalu could be coating the chicken themselves!. Their coating is very unusual, I find it better than the standard KFC / Southern fried chicken blend. I will give your recipe below a go though, looks delish.

rubadub

The other thing I meant to try was to mix the spice mix (with no flour added) into breadcrumbs, then put egg wash on the chicken and coat it.

Some of the southern fried chicken is terrible, the tesco ones are pretty bad, both frozen and fresh, they look really good but have no real flavour to them.

The other thing to do is soak the chicken in buttermilk overnight, which makes it moist and the lactic acid tenderises it. This is seen as essential by some. I found a brand of seasoning supplied to chippers and they had instructions on how to use it and overnight buttermilk soaking was advised.

If you look at some chicken restaurants you will see mention of buttermilk.

never heard of this "tea brine" before
http://www.madegg.ie/provenance/

We take our chicken very seriously, it’s what we are all about! So we only use free-range birds hatched locally in a family-run farm. We tea brine for 48 hours to make them super tender and juicy. We then double dredge the Birds in spiked buttermilk and coat in our-house seasoned mix for that signature crunch. The end result is the best damn chicken you have ever tasted!

crackbird have a buttermilk chicken too, and lots of others.