For You Old Timers - KFC Ribs????

The Wendy's IB thread got me remembering this abomination but I didn't want to clutter that thread since it was already threadjacked.

Many years ago, I want to say mid 70's/early 80's, KFC started selling ribs. Wel, ribs was their term for it. My wife and I had seen their commercials and like all good advertising, they looked great. So when I picked my wife up from work and told her I was going to stop there she was very excited. How excited? OK, get your mind out of the gutter.

She was so excited that she was in the door before me and ordered the largest size they had. Imagine a big chicken bucket filled with rib like stances. I seem to remember it costing around $18 with tax. That would be about $50 in today dollars. And what we got was awful. There were long, skinny bones covered with a meat-like paste. It was awful. My wife and each tried 1 rib and gave up. But, being good parents, we took them home to our dogs. They wouldn't eat it. And we all know what dogs will eat.

So, anyone else have the please of once feating on this culinary delight?

KFC"s version of ribs was a mid-seventies nightmare. Mike Royko wrote one of his best columns about the contrast of the breaded, deep fried crap from KFC, compared to an old time south side BBQ Master who put his heart and soul into his ribs. And I didn't think that they could possibly be as bad as Royko said, so I bought a small order. They were that bad and worse. Their time in this market was counted in days as I remember.

Off to Google for that column. Royko is one of my favorite writers of all time. That sounds like a classic.

Well I couldn't find the Royko article. But I did find this:

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/show ... p?t=161006

This is some kind of Canadian website that talks about them test marketing (I assume) ribs again circa 2005. Sounds completely different though from their description and my remembrance.

Grabbing this thread by the horns, I don't recall those ribs (probably a good thing), but I DO recall when Kentucky Fried Chicken sold livers and gizzards. I was never a gizzard fan, but certainly I downed my share of those Kentucky-fried livers. They also used to make the biscuits from scratch on-premises, even as recently as 1984 (when my then-girlfriend worked at a KFC and was regularly assigned the biscuit-making chores). It's actually hard to convince anyone under the age of 40 or so that Kentucky Fried Chicken (not "KFC") was actually a very good place to eat at one time; my grandmother, who probably fried her weight in chicken every month, liked it quite a bit, back in the day.

JiLS - are you sure it was KFC that had the various innards? I'm certain Brown's used to do them, but I don't recall KFC having gizzards and livers.

What I miss from Brown's is their old slaw recipe: it was orange and somewhat sweet, probably made with something similar to Kraft French Dressing.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:I DO recall when Kentucky Fried Chicken sold livers and gizzards. I was never a gizzard fan, but certainly I downed my share of those Kentucky-fried livers.

I remember eating these at a KFC in Galena, IL during my pre-teen year's. I didnt like them and havent tried them since, that was around 15 years ago if not longer. I will have to try them somewhere good now that this thread came up and reminded me of them.

In the late 1970s, I took a road trip to see my grandparents in North Carolina. Along the way, we stopped off in Corbin, Kentucky, where Harland Sanders got his start, pressure-cooking chicken with his "secret" 11 different herbs and spices. I thought the chicken there was much better than at the franchised places. And, they had urinals like those at the Skylark.

A couple of years later, I was fortunate enough to briefly meet The Colonel in person, in an elevator in the Prudential building (I was at Leo Burnett, which was KFC's agency at the time). He seemed pretty frail, but he was obviously healthy enough to make the trip from Louisville to Chicago.

I can't imagine him having any interest in ribs.

I clearly remember KFC BBQ chicken in the mid 70s. I loved it as a 5 year old. All mushy and sweet. I dont' think it lasted very long.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Grabbing this thread by the horns, I don't recall those ribs (probably a good thing), but I DO recall when Kentucky Fried Chicken sold livers and gizzards. I was never a gizzard fan, but certainly I downed my share of those Kentucky-fried livers. They also used to make the biscuits from scratch on-premises, even as recently as 1984 (when my then-girlfriend worked at a KFC and was regularly assigned the biscuit-making chores). It's actually hard to convince anyone under the age of 40 or so that Kentucky Fried Chicken (not "KFC") was actually a very good place to eat at one time; my grandmother, who probably fried her weight in chicken every month, liked it quite a bit, back in the day.

I am somewhere between 30 and 40, and I remember when KFC was a tasty meal. We used to get it at least once a month during my 1970s childhood, and it was always a treat. Every time I've had it since then, it's been less a treat than a chore to consume.

It's possible that my remembrance of chicken past has been skewed by the prism of nostalgia, but having heard similar sentiments from others has convinced me my faulty memory is not to blame here.

In Louisville, well actually Shelbyville (about 20 miles East) is a restaurant called Claudia Sanders, which is the Colonel's wife's restaurant and she makes the original KFC Chicken. Honestly if anyone goes through Louisville and has the time, I would recommend stopping here. They make all the fried chicken fresh, when ordered and it's just really big, juicy pieces of love.

http://claudiasanders.com/menu.htm

I had gizzards at a KFC not too long ago - off of I-65 in Northern Indiana. They had a Lunch Buffet and they sold livers and gizzards. Maybe a year ago...