If you taste the oil it isn't being fried correctly. Oil however is more efficient at caramelising surfaces because it is hot and in contact with all the nooks and crannies and it is the surface caramelisation which is where the majority of flavour comes from. So there is more of it. Longer cooking tends to dry out proteins as the juices start seeking the surface so fast cooking reduces oozing and retains internal juices. Decent pressure fryers properly used should be a perfect way of cooking chicken because they have precise temperature controls and timers which also means reliable replication. This is great for fast food as few people should safely attempt pressure frying at home. I think this is why so much of what many of us remember of earlier KFC is so tasty in recollection.

There is also a myth that all fried food is unhealthy. This is untrue. Most fried food is unhealthy because of it's preparation, but there has been a lot of interesting counter intuitive work ...including a PHD thesis from a guy in New Zealand that worked out what had been going "wrong" with chip frying .... and devised a methodology of making chips healthier and tastier. It is close to the Blumenthal approach .... slightly different.