(Thinkstock)Recently, a 200-page yellowed manuscript surfaced in the KFC archives. Colonel Sanders’ personal Southern-cooking recipes — none of them ever published — along with anecdotes, tips and life lessons fill its pages.The only glaring omission: the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices that make the Colonel’s chicken so crave-worthy.
The manuscript will be published online — with some of the recipes.
"We can't wait to share its secrets with KFC fans around the globe. Colonel Sanders was a lifelong cook and sage and his life lessons are just as powerful and relevant today as they were 40 years ago,” KFC CEO Roger Eaton told The Washington Post.
As for the secret “finger lickin’ good” recipe? It will remain locked in a vault.
The Colonel’s recipe isn’t the only well-guarded secret in the fast-food world. Sure, we know the secret to Mrs. Field’s cookies, but Famous Amos Cookies? Nope. (Although we’ve heard this recipe is pretty close.)
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MSNBC’s Bites looked at some of the remaining recipe mysteries.
Coca-Cola
Don’t even think about climbing the corporate ladder at Coca-Cola if your ambition is to uncover the recipe behind the carbonated beverage. Neville Isdell was the company’s CEO and chairman from 2004 to 2009 — he was with the company for 43 years before that — and still didn’t learn the Coke recipe.
“They didn’t tell me the secret formula,” he told CBS. “And I didn’t even ask, because I know the system, and I know how closely it’s held.”
Apparently only two employees know the secret recipe, and they’re not allowed to fly on the same plane together, lest there be a mishap and the secret perish with them both.
The Guardian points out that the secret recipe is, “in part, mythology,” in that the formula has changed many times over the years.
Dr Pepper
Dr Pepper is made from a secret recipe that uses 23 different flavours, making it difficult to recreate. Only three employees know that recipe. The company did clear up an old rumour: prune juice is not one of those flavours.
An old ledger book was discovered at the location of Dr Pepper’s first invention. A recipe titled “D Peppers Pepsin Bitters” was scrawled across its pages. Dr Pepper dismissed the recipe as one for a bitter digestive, not for the soft drink.
Legend has it that the drink’s top-secret recipe has been divided in two, with each part locked up in a different bank.
McDonald’s Special Sauce
It may be special, but it’s also a secret. The vaguely named sauce arrives at restaurants in sealed containers, with its ingredients kept secret from McDonald’s employees. Some claim the sauce is just McDonald’s version of Thousand Island Dressing. But that’s not very “special,” is it?
Read about more secret recipes here.
Which secret recipe would you most like to get your hands on?
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