Chicken Recipe: Poppycock

By Stephen M. Silverman

Monday September 29, 1997 12:00 AM EDT

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A handwritten note believed to have possibly contained the late Col. Harland Sanders's secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken is a bunch of bull, KFC said Monday. The note was allegedly found in the basement of a home once owned by the colonel, who died in 1980. The distinguished old gent came up with the recipe in the 1930s, claiming it contained 11 secret herbs and spices. Restaurateurs Tommy and Cherry Settle, who bought the Sanders home in the 1970s, had hopes of selling the recently discovered recipe to a collector, their attorney told the Associated Press. Instead, they were sued by KFC, who dropped its legal action once it was concluded that the recipe wasn't even close to the colonel's.