while most sauces have many ingredients in common , once in a great while a totally different one will come along that stands out from all the rest , then it can be a maddening
experience trying to copy it , I got my rub right after just a few tries , but there are some recipes that take years to figure out , for example , I have always loved Popeye's hot and spicy fried chicken , I tried for more than 20 years to copy it , I read any and everything ever printed or published on it and never got anywhere close to getting it right .
then one day I was having a private conversation with a cook in Germany ( of all places ) when I mentioned I had been trying to copy Popeyes . so we got to talking and it turned out the guy had been to the states and simply loved Popeye;s hot and spicy chicken also . but when he told me he knew how to make it taste right but couldn't get the crust correct , ( I thought yea right ) ..well as it turns out he had figured out the right spice combination , I told him that I had long ago figured out the crust but not the spice
so we agreed to share what we knew with one stipulation , and that was if we both agreed that when we put together what we had and then agreed that it was in fact a true copy , we would take the secret to our graves . so we both told each other what we thought we knew and both tried it and Bingo , it was in fact a perfect copy of Popeyes hot and spicy fried chicken , ... I had searched for years and failed miserably until a fateful conversation with a guy on the other side of the world . so it just goes to show that if you never give up , you might just find your answer
