Col. Sanders, cookbook question are fun fowl topics

This week’s pen-in-hand question comes from reader Karen Evers Stanley of Rensselaer, Indiana.

“I have in my cookbook collection your cookbook ‘Further From the Farm’ Vol. 3 from 2010 and on page 131 there is mention of the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in Rensselaer owned by Harold and Harriet Evers – my parents,” Karen wrote.

“I love this book with its memories and recipes. I work as a volunteer for the Rensselaer Urban Forestry Council. It has become my passion to increase our urban canopy. Our group has planted over 1,000 trees. I would like to make a cookbook I would call “From Tree to Table” to educate the public on how trees contribute to our food supply and nutrition. We are a non-profit organization. I would be sincerely grateful if you Could you give me some advice on how to approach this project? Thank you for your many columns and cookbooks over the decades.

Thank you for your message, Karen. As I’ve mentioned in previous columns and cookbooks, your parents’ restaurant is a fond family memory from my own youth.

My mother Peggy and her family are from Jasper County, around the Wheatfield and Rensselaer area. Growing up, we often ate at this Kentucky Fried Chicken in Rensselaer while visiting my mother’s mother, our Grandma Green, or visiting my older sister Pam while she attended St. Joseph’s Catholic College from 1984 to 1988. Karen’s parents’ KFC restaurant, which opened in 1971, has a special distinction since it was the first of these restaurant franchises to open in this part of the Hoosier State. Stop by today and you will see that it still contains many memorabilia and photos of the Evers with Colonel Sanders.

As for writing and publishing a cookbook, it has become a gourmet project (in all definitions of the term) to launch in 2026, even for established public figures, restaurateurs and chefs. In a world where so many recipes are floating around, available with just a few keystrokes on a computer keyboard, it has become more difficult to get publishing houses to greenlight a cookbook or any book project.

For my four published hardcover cookbooks in my series, they were published between 2004 and 2019 and all with the same Washington state publisher, Pediment Press, working originally with owner Brad Fenison for the first three books and then with his son Chris Fenison for the final book.

My association under the umbrella of my flagship publishing journals was certainly key to the publication of my books, since the publisher knew of my established readership for two decades.

Fear factors today range from recent (now annual) wildfires, particularly those in California and Canada, which have driven up the price of lumber and paper, coupled with a shortened attention span of younger generations, who are also the same consumers who are turning to free online content rather than expecting to have to pay for related content.

Karen, that doesn’t mean your idea of ​​publishing a cookbook can’t happen. In recent years, authors, including aspiring first-time authors, have successfully written and published books and cookbooks using “an independent book publisher,” the latter often using a paperback format.

A grant application for financial support or underwriting may be necessary to help with your inaugural book project, Karen, but never be discouraged from trying your proposed project.

It’s never too late, as evidenced by some of my trips to Tennessee in 2009, when my mother, Peggy, and I took a quick detour to little Corbin, Kentucky, to see the original restaurant where Colonel Sanders began selling and marketing his famous Kentucky Fried Chicken. Visiting Sanders’ Café, which offered free tours while remaining a fully operational KFC for meals, we walked through what was a recreation of the Colonel’s office and his first kitchen, including all the original dishes, pots, cutting boards and furniture.

Remember that Sanders, who died at age 90 in 1980, was born and raised a Hoosier in Henryville, Indiana. His commercial fame and celebrity status came late in life, building his brand from a secret flavor recipe “from 11 herbs and spices” to make “finger-licking good chicken.”

In 1964, an identity still unknown in most of our country, except perhaps the southern states and part of the Midwest, Colonel Sanders, at age 74, was one of the “ordinary citizens” contestants on the CBS game show “I’ve Got A Secret” with host Garry Moore. Holding a check for $2 million, Colonel Sanders announced that he had just sold his chicken restaurant franchise chain of more than 1,000 restaurants to a larger company.

But it wasn’t her “secret” that had to be guessed correctly by the game show’s celebrity panel of Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson and the spunky blonde who claims East Chicago fame, Betsy Palmer.

Colonel Sanders’ secret that he whispered in Moore’s ear and showed to the public: “I started my restaurant chain at age 65 about 10 years ago using my first Social Security check, which was for $105. »

Today, Colonel Sanders’ name and brand identity are known internationally. His fried chicken and restaurants are particularly popular in Japan, where there are more than 4,000 statues of the Man in White praising his poultry recipe. He credited his use of a pressure cooker as one of the reasons his original fried chicken recipe was praised as being so delicious. He said he used his initial $105 “retirement check” to travel to take samples of his fried chicken throughout the South and Midwest to encourage gas station grills and small restaurants to buy his recipe and franchise idea.

One of the most ironic exchanges between Colonel Sanders and the panel of celebrities during his 1964 appearance on “I’ve Got A Secret” was the universal agreement and insistence of the panelists (especially Henry Morgan with support from host Moore) that Colonel Sanders, dressed in his traditional white suit and tie, with his signature white cane and mustache and black horn-rimmed glasses, had the perfect look to be a spokesperson for the brand for advertisements. The dry-witted Henry Morgan suggested, “You’d look great on a (liquor) bottle label because you could sell me anything.” »

Although Colonel Sanders’ fried chicken recipe is still top secret, I have his delicious “Lemon Sponge Pie” recipe printed in a small souvenir booklet that was a promotional giveaway at his restaurants half a century ago. It’s a refreshing dessert finale after enjoying your fried chicken with all the fixins.

Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and hosts a weekly radio show on WJOB 12:30 p.m. He can be contacted at PhilPotempa@gmail.com or mail questions to: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.

Colonel Sanders’ Lemon Sponge Tart

Makes 8 serving slices

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons of flour

3 tablespoons of butter

1 1/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 eggs, beaten separately

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup lemon juice

Grated zest of 2 lemons

Cream, butter and flour

Add the other ingredients (beat)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Bring the butter to room temperature – carefully cream the butter and sugar and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.

2. Pour into an unbaked 9-inch crust and bake slowly in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

3. Reduce to 300 degrees until testing is complete, about 45 minutes.