Harry Kersh: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out the difference
between a US and a UK KFC.
This is "Food Wars."
Now, you can't actually get a small drink at a UK KFC.
It starts at regular.
This is what a regular drink looks like.
Joe Avella: This is what a US regular looks like.
Harry: And this is what a large drink looks like.
Joe: And this is what a US large looks like.
Harry: This is a regular fries,
and this is a large fries.
Joe: Here's the US regular. All right.
And you want to go the next size up,
this is the US large.
Googe!
[laughing] Look at how big that is!
It's, like, five of those ones that he had.
Googe!
Harry: Let's find out how much a large fries
weighs in the UK.
Joe: Let's weigh our large fry.
Oh, man. Oh! [laughs]
They're packed in there, dude!
Look at that!
Is that everything?
Harry: This is what a regular popcorn chicken looks like.
Joe: We have a large popcorn chicken.
Harry: And this is what a large popcorn chicken looks like.
Joe: And if you want to go even larger than the large,
you get yourself a popcorn chicken box.
Something for you and your buddies, I'm sure.
You're not eating this by yourself.
[nuggets plopping]
Did I lose any?
No, no way!
Am I doing this without?
Oh, don't jinx it.
Yeah, aw, oh!
You, you,
and you.
That all of them?
Producer: That's all. Joe: Crumb.
Harry: In the UK, you can get buckets in three sizes.
You can get a six piece,
you can get a 10 piece,
or you can get a 14 piece.
[laughs]
Is it...? Ugh.
Joe: Eight piece.
Whoa!
Ugh.
12 piece.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is, I'm not gonna even, I can't even dump it.
Yo!
Look how much chicken this is!
Oh, my God, what a mess.
Producer: I'm gonna get the close-up cam now.
Harry: Unfortunately, KFC in the UK
doesn't disclose its ingredients,
but what we do know is calories.
For example, in the UK,
a drum is 170 calories.
Joe: And in the US,
one of these guys for the original recipe
is 130 calories.
But if you get extra crispy, like this guy right here,
it's actually 170.
Harry: USA is actually still winning on calories.
That's largely thanks to the sides and the drinks.
If you were to walk into a UK KFC
and order a three-piece meal
and they gave you a drum, a thigh, and a wing
with a large fries and a large Pepsi,
that would come to 1,155 calories.
Joe: Our large fry is 930 calories,
and our large drink is 380.
And if you were to order a three piece
with a large fry and a large drink in the US,
it would be roughly this many calories.
The KFC in the US has released its ingredients list.
I would like to go over the ingredients of the french fries
at the KFC in the US.
All right, here we go.
Sea salt, monosodium glutamate, maltodextrin, salt,
dextrose, vegetable powders, tricalcium phosphate,
hydrolyzed soy proteins, spices, soybean oil,
natural flavors, potassium chloride,
paprika extract (color), turmeric extract (color),
potatoes (obviously), vegetable oil.
It has soybean oil, canola, cottonseed, and/or sunflower.
Beached — "beached."
Bleached wheat flour,
and it contains 2% or less of rice flour, durum wheat,
whoa, semolia?
Sem-OH-lin-ah, sem-ol?
Sem-OH-lin-ah.
Durum wheat sem-OH-lia.
Sem-oh-LIN-ah.
I don't know what that word is.
It looks like it's easy, but it's hard to say.
Sem-OH-lin-ah? Semolina?
Durum wheat semolina, there you go.
Dextrin, salt, degermed yellow corn meal.
Oh, thank God it's been degermed.
Cornstarch, leavings (sodium acid pyrophosphate,
sodium bicarbonate), dextrose again,
xantham gum, there he is!
Annatto extract color,
disodium dihydrox —
disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate,
in parentheses, "to maintain color." OK.
We add so many chemicals to our fries,
we add more chemicals to make it look like
it doesn't have any chemicals.
Thank you, disodium dehydra, dehydra,
what the f---?
Yeah, whatever.
Harry: Here are some things you can only find on the menu
at a UK KFC.
So, instead of a chicken sandwich,
what we call ours is the chicken filet burger.
I think it's pretty much the same thing.
It's, like, breaded and fried chicken between two buns,
with some lettuce and some mayonnaise.
We also have something called the Zinger Burger,
which is pretty much the same thing,
but the spice level is amped up a little bit.
You can also turn these burgers into a tower burger.
What that does is adds cheese and a hash brown
to the burger, which, in my opinion,
very worthwhile addition.
Joe: We have some stuff in our KFC they can't get in the UK.
And, surprisingly, some things I thought were, like,
kind of, like, paramount to the KFC menu.
Mashed potatoes and gravy.
This to me seems like something
that has just always been part of KFC
along with the chicken.
Look at those mashed potatoes, man.
It's a tub of mashed potatoes.
OK, let's make a mess.
Oh, yeah!
Oh, my goodness, put that on the cover
of Gravy Aficionado Magazine!
Another thing I didn't realize you guys don't have,
biscuits, or, as you call them, scones.
This is called the Famous Bowl.
It is mashed potatoes and gravy and corn,
topped with popcorn chicken, topped with cheese,
all in one bowl.
Yeah, this thing, I don't think I've ever had one of these,
'cause it looks ridiculous.
Harry: Now, Joe, I'm glad you also think
that the Famous Bowl doesn't look that great,
because, to me, that looks like a nightmare.
Now, we have a slightly different approach
to sides in the UK compared to the US.
For example, our corn comes on the cob.
Baked beans, these are slightly different
to the regular beans that you might put on toast in the UK.
They have kind of a barbecue sauce flavor to them.
There's a few other language differences,
like instead of chicken tenders,
we call ours chicken mini filets.
Joe: Mini filets, chicken tenders,
they look exactly the same.
We got those.
Yes, they have corn, but we have ours off the cob,
which I think is not as good as on the cob.
This pile right here, and, I know,
they do have wings at KFC in the UK, yes, I know.
But only in the US can you order them by 48.
[laughing]
48 wings!
I'm dying right now, man. Producer: It sure smells good.
Joe: They smell so good.
The potpie, when I saw a potpie on the menu,
I was like, "Yeah, a little side potpie."
No, dude. This thing weighs, like, a puppy.
This thing has kind of got some weight to it.
Harry: I gotta say,
the potpie actually looks quite good.
We love meat pies here in the UK.
You'll often see people tucking into,
like, a steak and kidney pie or the chicken pie.
But, yeah, they should probably put that
on the menu over here.
I think they'd cash in on the British market.
Joe: Let's talk sauces. It's sauce talk.
Sauce talk.
I think that these sauces are also specific
only to the US and not the UK.
The KFC Finger Lookin' Good Sauce, see that?
We also have the summertime barbecue sauce.
Honey mustard.
And, of course, buttermilk ranch.
Harry: There are a few sauces which are exclusive to the UK.
For example, we have this Spicy Supercharger dip,
which is kind of like a spicy mayo-type thing.
We have some sweet chili sauce, garlic mayonnaise,
another really good option.
Garlic mayo on chips is just fantastic.
Joe: Why don't we have those sauces here?
Oh, man, I want those.
Harry: Now, usually, we'd have even more
exclusive menu items to show you, but unfortunately,
the UK KFCs are currently operating with a reduced menu.
Here's what you could normally find on the menu
at a UK KFC.
[typing]
A vegan burger, the Big Daddy burger,
a range of chicken wraps, some rice boxes,
onion rings, curry sauce, Krushems,
and a full range of hot drinks,
including English breakfast tea.
Joe: In the UK, you can get teas,
including English breakfast tea.
Now, technically you can't get tea at the KFCs in the US,
but you can get something
called Mountain Dew Sweet Lightning,
which I think is probably pretty close.
Harry: Yeah, that's pretty much exactly the same
as a breakfast tea.
Joe: Dude.