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.

So many stories have been told about Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chicken, it's impossible to know where the truth ends and the fiction begins. This is one of those stories. A mix of memory, mystery and a pinch of "what if?" It involves one of the best-kept culinary secrets of all time, and the man who's arguably the original celebrity chef.

Attempts to unearth the Colonel's Original Recipe, or replicate it, have been made too many times to count. For KFC Corp., keeping the elusive mix of 11 herbs and spices under wraps has been paramount — not to mention a great marketing tool. In 2008, the Louisville, Ky.-based company used a Brink's armored truck and briefcase marked "Top Secret" when it made a big show of beefing up security at the vault containing the Colonel's handwritten recipe. Other protective measures include using two different suppliers to prepare the 11 herbs and spices so that no single entity can crack the code.

My assignment: research the restaurant, museum and fried chicken in Corbin for a "Fork in the Road" feature in the Chicago Tribune's Travel section. With the help of the local tourism office, I arrange to meet a man named Joe Ledington. The 67-year-old retired teacher has spent his entire life in Appalachia. He still lives in the house in which he grew up, just north of the city limits of Corbin, a town of about 7,300. He agrees to meet me to share a few yarns about the Colonel. You see, the guy he called "H.D." and "Old Man Sanders" was his uncle. Ledington says he used to do chores in the modest cafe as a young boy, making a quarter a day to sweep and clean up.

I enter the dark-paneled restaurant lit by naked fluorescent tubes and find Ledington leafing through a photo album. His wife, Jill, sits quietly at the next table, munching chicken from a familiar red-and-white box. Ledington and I shake hands, and I tell him about the assignment that brought me to this part of southeast Kentucky. Before I can even open my notebook, he draws my attention to the photo album overstuffed with pictures, newspaper clippings and various family documents.

"This was Aunt Claudia's album," he says, referring to his father's sister, Claudia Ledington, who became Harland Sanders' second wife when they wed in the late '40s. Claudia worked as a waitress in the cafe and was instrumental in launching what would become a multibillion-dollar fast-food chain boasting nearly 20,000 KFC restaurants in more than 125 countries. The album, with its nondescript cover and clear cellophane sheets, looks like the kind I used to buy for a buck at Walgreens. Ledington turns the pages, occasionally stopping to point out certain pictures, like the one of him posing with his famous uncle and others taken at the opening of a KFC in some faraway land. Sanders was always sporting one of his iconic white suits. Ledington says he had a closet full of them.

"I can show you what every family member got," he says, poring over the papers. "This was my dad, Robert Ledington. He was the first one. He got $209,888." But what I'm really interested in is the handwritten note on the back of the document. At the top of the page, in blue ink, it reads, "11 Spices — Mix With 2 Cups White Fl." That's followed by an enumerated list of herbs and spices. Eleven herbs and spices. And the measurements for each.

"The main ingredient is white pepper," he says. "I call that the secret ingredient. Nobody (in the 1950s) knew what white pepper was. Nobody knew how to use it."Later, back in Chicago, the Tribune put the recipe to the test in its on-site kitchen and compared it with a bucket of KFC Original Recipe chicken. (Bottom line: It was finger lickin' good.

I showed Ledington's list of 11 herbs and spices to KFC's parent corporation, Yum! Brands, located on Colonel Sanders Lane in Louisville. I asked if it is indeed the Colonel's Original Recipe. A KFC spokesperson responded via email: "In the 1940's, Colonel Sanders developed the original recipe chicken to be sold at his gas station diner. At the time, the recipe was written above the door so anyone could have read it. But today, we go to great lengths to protect such a sacred blend of herbs and spices. In fact, the recipe ranks among America's most valuable trade secrets." I tried again, adding that a "yes," "no" or "no comment" would be helpful.

I take a few pictures of Ledington and his photo album. There's a little more small talk, by which time his wife is done with her lunch. We all shake hands and say goodbye. I watch Ledington gather his scrapbook. He walks out of the restaurant, whose floors he said he swept as a kid, carrying with him what could be a secret so valuable it belongs on the other side of Kentucky. In Fort Knox.