Hot chicken
 Prince's hot chicken |
|
| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Alternative name(s) | Nashville hot chicken, Prince's chicken, Nashville-style chicken |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Creator(s) | Jeffries family |
| Details | |
| Course | Main course |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredient(s) | Chicken, buttermilk, cayenne pepper |
| Variations | Deep fried, skillet fried, hot fish |
Hot chicken or Nashville hot chicken is a type of fried chicken that is a local specialty of Nashville, Tennessee, in the United States. In its typical preparation, it is a portion of breast, thigh, or wing that has been marinated in buttermilk, breaded, sauced using a paste that has been heavily spiced with cayenne pepper, and pan-fried. It is served atop slices of white bread with pickle chips. It is both the application of a spicy paste and the presentation that differentiates it from similar dishes, such as Buffalo wings. It can be viewed in similar context to other foods that have been tweaked to be unique in a regional way, such as the slugburger or the Mississippi Delta tamale. It is similar in heat to Caribbean jerk chicken, but is sauced rather than spiced with a dry rub.
There are many restaurants in Nashville that serve a variant of the dish, and there is a city-wide festival and competition commemorating it.[1] The popularity of hot chicken has spread beyond the Southern United States due to the influence of Nashville's music industry.[2] At least one restaurant in Michigan, Zingerman's Roadhouse, now serves the dish.[3]
Preparation
Although the components of the dish largely remain the same, the preparation of the dish can differ greatly. A pressure fryer or deep fryer can be used, although most restaurants serve a pan-fried product. Nearly all hot chicken is marinated in buttermilk to impart flavor and to retain the meat's juices upon frying. Some preparations of hot chicken are breaded and fried after application of the spice paste; the more traditional method has the paste applied immediately after the chicken is removed from the fryer.
A typical Nashville-style hot chicken spice paste has two key ingredients: lard and cayenne pepper. The two are mixed together, three parts pepper to one part lard, and heated until they form a thick sauce. Some restaurants vary the composition of the paste, adding sugar, garlic, or additional hot sauce. The paste applied to the fried chicken by the server using a spoon and latex gloves; it is lightly squeezed into the finished chicken by hand. The heat level of the chicken can be varied by the preparer by reducing or increasing the amount of paste applied.
Variations
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The main variation to traditional hot chicken is in the application of the spice paste: before breading or after breading, and whether or not additional spices are applied. Recipes, cooking methods, and preparation steps for hot chicken are often closely guarded secrets, proprietary to the specific restaurant, so the look of the chicken may vary widely.
A variation of the hot chicken theme is "hot fish", typically a breaded and fried white fish (usually whiting or trout) or a catfish filet prepared using a similar cayenne paste as hot chicken, or using a cayenne power blend sprinkled liberally over the filet. Some hot chicken restaurants also serve hot fish, but recently some have begun to specialize in hot fish only.[4][5]
History
Anecdotal evidence suggests that spicy fried chicken has been served in Nashville for generations. The current dish may have been introduced as early as the 1930s, however, the current style of spice paste may only date back to the mid-1970s. It is generally accepted that the originator of hot chicken is the family of Andre Prince Jeffries, owner of "Prince's Hot Chicken". She has operated the restaurant since 1980; before that time, it was owned by her great-uncle, Thornton Prince. Although impossible to verify, Jeffries says the development of hot chicken was an accident. Her great-uncle Thornton was purportedly a womanizer, and after a particularly late night out his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge. Instead, Thornton decided he liked it so much that, by the mid-1930s, he and his brothers had created their own recipe and opened the BBQ Chicken Shack café.[6][7][8]
Ironically, what began as breakfast revenge is now considered to be a staple food for late-night diners. On weekends, most restaurants dedicated to hot chicken are open very late (some past 4 am). As of 2013[update], fourteen Nashville restaurants serve hot chicken, either as the focus or as part of a larger menu.[6] For a time, country music stars Lorrie Morgan and Sammy Kershaw owned and operated a now-defunct hot chicken restaurant called "hotchickens.com".[9] The former mayor of Nashville Bill Purcell is a devoted fan, sponsoring the Music City Hot Chicken Festival and giving numerous interviews touting the dish. While in office, he frequently referred to his table at Prince's Hot Chicken as his "second office".[10][2]
Appearances and awards
The American alternative rock band Yo La Tengo released three songs about Nashville hot chicken ("Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1)" and "Do Not Say A Word (Hot Chicken #2)" from the album Electr-O-Pura and "Return to Hot Chicken" from the album I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One). The band, while recording several albums in Nashville, became devoted consumers of the dish.[11]
On February 28, 2013, the James Beard Foundation announced that Prince's Hot Chicken Shack was one of the year's five recipients of the "America's Classics Award" for its role in popularizing what is now billed as Nashville Hot Chicken in "restaurants from Birmingham, Alabama, to New York City".[6]
References
- ^ "Music City Hot Chicken Festival". Musiccityhotchickenfestival.com. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ a b Raskin, Hanna (May 26, 2009). "Hot Chicken - What the Heck is It?". Slashfood.com. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ Weinzweig, Ari (February 26, 2008). "Nashville Hot Fried Chicken Tuesdays!". ZingermansRoadhouse.com. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ Krall, Hawk (November 29, 2011). "A Sandwich a Day: Hot Fish from Bolton's in Nashville". SeriousEats.com. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ^ Stern, Jane; Stern, Michael (2009). "Hot Fish Sandwich". 500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 167–169. ISBN 054741644X.
- ^ a b c Reitano, Karlie; Kasperzak, Hannah (February 28, 2013). "James Beard Foundation Names 2013 America's Classics Award Honorees" (Press release). James Beard Foundation. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
- ^ Cornish, Audie (June 01, 2008). "The Quest for Spicy Chicken". NPR.org. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ "André Prince Jeffries - Prince's Hot Chicken". Southernfoodways.com. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ Lawson, Richard (February 9, 2007). "Hot Chicken Burned Kershaw". Nashville Post. Retrieved October 16, 20.
- ^ Crump, Rebecca (December 29, 2008). "Prince's Hot Chicken Makes List of 100 Must-Try Southern Foods". Ezra Pound Cake. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ Ridley, Jim (August 30, 1999). "Hot Chicken No. 3". Nashville Scene via WeeklyWire.com. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
External links
- Music City Hot Chicken Festival
- "Bites Exclusive: Winning Hot Chicken Recipe!" by Nashville Scene
