肯德基的秘密配方原來就是這個？

KFC describes its closely guarded original fried chicken recipe as “one of the biggest trade secrets in the world.” The company says the original handwritten recipe is housed in a 770-pound safe encased in two feet of concrete and guarded by video cameras and motion detectors.

肯德基將其嚴密守護的原創(chuàng)炸雞配方稱為“世界上最大的商業(yè)秘密之一”。該公司表示，最初的手寫配方被放在一個770磅(約合350公斤)重的保險箱里，外面還封了兩英尺厚水泥，另有攝像頭和動作探測器監(jiān)控。

It is the Fort Knox of fried chicken.

它就是炸雞界的諾克斯堡(Fort Knox，美國國家金庫所在地。——譯注)。

Despite all that, the recipe for the spice blend used to prepare the chicken may have been accidentally revealed to a reporter for The Chicago Tribune by Joe Ledington, a nephew of the man who made the recipe famous. The newspaper printed the article, along with what might be the recipe, last week.

盡管如此，這個用來腌制雞塊的香料配方有可能已經(jīng)被喬·萊丁頓(Joe Ledington)無意間泄露給了《芝加哥論壇報》(The Chicago Tribune)的一名記者。喬是讓這個配方出名的人的侄子。上周，這家報紙發(fā)表了一篇文章，里面提到了這個有可能為真的配方。

The reporter, Jay Jones, was sent to Corbin, Ky., to write a story for The Tribune’s travel section about the town where the colonel served his first fried chicken. While there, he arranged a meeting with Mr. Ledington, whose uncle, Col. Harland Sanders, founded Kentucky Fried Chicken and was its snowy-haired ambassador.

《芝加哥論壇報》記者杰伊·瓊斯(Jay Jones)原本是被派往肯塔基州科爾賓城撰寫一篇有關這個城鎮(zhèn)的旅游文章。肯德基(Kentucky Fried Chicken)創(chuàng)始人哈蘭·桑德斯(Harland Sanders)上校就是在這里賣出了自己的第一塊炸雞，如今他白發(fā)蒼蒼的形象成為這個城鎮(zhèn)的一個標志。在科爾賓期間，瓊斯約見了桑德斯的侄子萊丁頓。

Mr. Ledington greeted the reporter with a family scrapbook that he said had belonged to Claudia Ledington, the second wife of Colonel Sanders, who died in 1996. Her last will and testament was stuffed in the back of the scrapbook and its final pages contained a handwritten recipe for a blend of 11 spices, Mr. Jones said.

為了對這名記者的到來表示歡迎，萊丁頓讓他瀏覽了一本家族剪貼簿。他說這個剪貼簿原屬于桑德斯上校的第二任妻子克勞迪婭·萊丁頓(Claudia Ledington)，后者于1996年去世。瓊斯表示，剪貼簿的后面有克勞迪婭的遺言和遺囑，最后一頁有一張手寫配方，顯示有11種原料。

“That is the original 11 herbs and spices that were supposed to be so secretive,” Mr. Ledington told the reporter, later adding that as a boy his job in the family business was to mix the spice blend in a tub on the roof of the garage.

“那是最初的配方里使用的11種香草和香料，這是要保密的，”萊丁頓對記者說道。后來，他還提到他小時候在家族企業(yè)里的工作，就是在車庫屋頂上用一個盆子調配這些原料。

“The main ingredient is white pepper,” Mr. Ledington told the newspaper. “I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it” in the 1950s, he said.

“主要原料是白胡椒，”萊丁頓對這家報紙講道。“我把它叫作神秘配料，”他說。50年代的時候，“沒人知道什么是白胡椒。也沒人知道怎么用。”

In a later phone interview, The Tribune said, Mr. Ledington walked back his claim, saying he had never shown the recipe to a reporter before and did not “know for sure” if it was as authentic as he first said. He did not respond to a phone message on Wednesday requesting an interview.

《芝加哥論壇報》表示，在后來又接受電話采訪時，萊丁頓推翻了原來的說法，稱自己從來沒有給一名記者看過配方，也不“確定”這個配方是不是真的。他沒有回應時報周三以語音留言形式發(fā)出的采訪請求。

Kentucky Fried Chicken takes any threat to its secret recipe very seriously, and in the past has sued to keep it under wraps. In an email on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Yum! Brands, the corporate parent of KFC, which is based in Louisville, Ky., said the recipe contained in Ms. Ledington’s will was incorrect.

肯德基對其秘方受到的任何威脅都慎重以待，以前為了保密曾提起訴訟。周三，肯德基的母公司百勝餐飲集團(Yum! Brands)的發(fā)言人在一封郵件中表示，萊丁頓的遺囑中包含的配方是不正確的。百勝的總部位于肯塔基州的路易斯維爾。

“Many people have made these claims over the years and no one has been accurate — this one isn’t either,” the company said in a statement.

“多年來，很多人都這樣說過——但沒有一張配方是正確的，這張也不例外，”該公司在一份聲明中表示。

So, how do you make Colonel Sanders’s secret spice blend? The world may never know. In the meantime, here is the recipe that the colonel’s nephew showed The Chicago Tribune:

那么，如何配制桑德斯上校的秘密調料呢?公眾或許永遠也不會知道。不過，這里有一份上校的侄子展示給《芝加哥論壇報》的配方：

11 spices — mix with 2 cups white flour 11種調料與兩杯面粉相混合

2/3 tablespoon salt 三分之二匙鹽

1/2 tablespoon thyme 半匙百里香

1/2 tablespoon basil 半匙羅勒

1/3 tablespoon oregano 三分之一匙牛至

1 tablespoon celery salt 一匙芹菜鹽

1 tablespoon black pepper 一匙黑胡椒

1 tablespoon dried mustard 一匙干芥末

4 tablespoons paprika 四匙辣椒粉

2 tablespoons garlic salt 兩匙蒜鹽

1 tablespoon ground ginger 一匙姜粉

3 tablespoons white pepper