The Secret To Geoffrey Zakarian's Super Flavorful Fried Chicken Is A Seasoning Usually Reserved For Fish

Geoffrey Zakarian, like many a TV chef before him, likes to put his own spin on basic recipes. When Zakarian makes a martini, he adds olive oil to the gin, while he puts Worcestershire sauce in his egg salad. His fried chicken recipe also includes a special touch. Instead of going with his best approximation of KFC's 11 secret herbs and spices, he adds half a cup of Old Bay seasoning into the buttermilk marinade and sprinkles more seasoning on top of the cooked chicken.

Old Bay is the unofficial flavor of my home state, Maryland, and while manufacturer McCormick is no more forthcoming than Colonel Sanders as to the actual ingredients, it does disclose that the seasoning is made from celery salt, black pepper, red pepper, paprika, and other unnamed spices. It's marketed as a seafood seasoning mix, but Old Bay is actually much more versatile. 

Old Bay can often be used interchangeably with Creole or Cajun seasoning, and Zakarian isn't the only chef to have thought to use it on chicken. Baltimore's now-closed soul food restaurant Ida B's Table was famous for its Old Bay fried chicken, while Washington, D.C.-based District Fried Chicken & Co currently features a hot honey Old Bay fried chicken sandwich on the menu. Nor is this dish restricted to the Mid-Atlantic region, since Emeril's Bistro 717 serves up Old Bay fried chicken wings to passengers on Carnival Cruise Lines.

Even though Geoffrey Zakarian comes from Massachusetts, I'm pleased that he's making such enthusiastic use of Maryland's favorite seasoning. Still, there's a lot more that he could be doing with it, should he feel so inspired. I'm currently an economic refugee in the Midwest, where Old Bay-flavored items are few and far between, but back where I come from, you can't swing a blue crab without hitting such a thing. Thanks to my sister, I've been lucky enough to sample Old Bay Goldfish crackers (of course they tasted good) and I've also been able to find Campbell's Chunky Old Bay clam chowder. I still miss Old Bay potato chips, however, and have never even seen the Old Bay-flavored beer produced by the formerly Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery.

If Zakarian wants to explore only partially charted territory, he might want to look into making Old Bay-flavored desserts. These may not be common, but they do exist, and McCormick has even developed recipes for Old Bay sugar cookies and chocolate truffles. 

Several local ice cream makers have also adopted the state's signature seasoning for use in their product — both Baltimore's The Charmery and La Plata's Landon's make an Old Bay caramel flavor, while Alonso's (also in Baltimore) and Cup'r Cone in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware have been known to offer Old Bay chocolate ice cream.