New thoughts and new recipe

Just cooked up my 2nd recipe after a 3 month break.. i am speechless. I am not trying to brag, but i am literally on the verge of cracking the recipe.

Things i learned from this cook:

Caraway: Honestly after reading some things on here of people saying caraway didn't work for them etc, i was starting to doubt it myself. After tonights cook i am 1000% convinced of caraway. It is a crucial element in the recipe for creating the note. Probably one of the most important i would say for the note because you can have every other ingredient correct, but without caraway you will only have 50% of the note. Caraway is a major player in creating the note.

Cayenne pepper: For tonights recipe i went with just paprika. I can now see how i have been ruining all my recipes with cayenne pepper. 100% only sweet pepper/chilli is used in the recipe.

Marjoram: 100% this stuff is in the OR!! I am even thinking of going dominant on marjoram, say 1tsp of marjoram to 1/2 tsp of sage. I used it at 1/2 tsp for tonight and it worked great!! I just felt like it should be higher and the sage lower.

Cloves: 100% this stuff is in the recipe and i have replaced allspice with it.

Cardamom: 100% without a shred of doubt this stuff is in the OR!! This was definitely the 11th ingredient.

Some commentary:

I commend your earnest commitment, but question as to why you do not actually reveal your recipes in detail.

Caraway is merely a potential path to the critical flavor attribute which I refer to as 'nuttiness'.  Crank up the weight of Coriander Seed sufficiently and you will get 100% as much note assist from it as for Caraway (as opposed to 50% chance), and perhaps do so with less of what I will refer to as "flavor baggage".  There is a reason why 99-X has Coriander Seed very high in the "by weight" pecking order.  It may well be that Caraway accomplishes much the same task while at a lesser weight.  And this aspect may be beneficial.

I do not concur that Cayenne Pepper when used in moderation outright destroys the note.  But with that said, my Recipe #17 (as cooked) did not contain any Cayenne Pepper.  Nor did it contain any form of Sweet Pepper/Chili.  But then my #17 lacked some of the lingering Pepper "bite" of OR.  And Cayenne provides for such "bite".

Although Marjoram may well have been in the earliest OR, my recipe #17 blossoms with the flavor and note of OR, and it does not contain any Marjoram, or any other form of Oregano.  Savory and Marjoram share in common a fair number of essential oils, meaning that the combination of the two is actually overlapping in many key flavors.  Although there is likely no harm in combining them, it may be that you can fully suffice with the use of either one or the other of Marjoram and Savory, and not require both combined.  In my Recipe #17 I use Savory, but not Marjoram.  OTOH, Grace's well recognized recipe contains Marjoram, but not Savory...

I fully concur that Allspice is unnecessary, and that Clove is necessary.  Allspice is loaded with baggage, primarily (IMHO) in the form of a massive Cinnamon flavor overload.  But I think Allspice can be made to work if greatly reduced in quantity and supplanted with Clove.  My Recipe #17 does not contain any Allspice.

Although Cardamom might indeed work well, there is no Cardamom in my Recipe #17, and again, #17 essentially nails the essence of the OR.  So I must humbly refute that Cardamom is 100% necessary.

For herbs. I'm currently running Sage, Thyme, Marjoram and Savory. The key to me is getting a nice even blend such that not one pokes through too much.

Over on the other forum there is a guy who adamantly insists that Caraway is simply wrong.  His argument is not that it tastes bad, but that it isn't right for KFC.  He further states that if you want your deep fried chicken to taste just like 'Shake N' Bake' (as opposed to KFC OR) you must use Caraway Seed instead of Coriander Seed.