Food 10

Wine X Staff

Online Edition

Not everyone has the luxury of living in Nashville and having access to all the Nashville Hot Chicken  (NHC) you can eat.   There’s a few more of you (y’all..lol) that might live in the South and can at least get your hands on a reasonable facsimile.   The rest of us, well, we gotta make do.

Making do usually means something like crossing your fingers and hoping that one of a handful of hot chicken restaurant chains will find its way to your area and then become rooted.  Neither seems to be that easy.   We don’t live in the most deep-fried-friendly American era, so there’s that.   And there there’s the hit-or-miss nature of spicey foods.  Wine X happens to deeply believe that All That Burns The Lips, Frees the Soul……  so we say to all those spice-o-holic, cheers!

We checked out several of the best Hot Chicken hot spots in N-ville, and you can find our recommendations here.    So go…. You should.  A chicken pilgrimage should be in your future.   Hattie B’s, Adele’s, Biscuit Love, and Josephine all helped us fall in love.

It’s not out of the question that you have no idea what NHC is.  My last drive through Napa netted no NHC look-a-likes on the menu.  What it is is something like this….. the garden variety NHC is just fried chicken with an ample amount of cayenne and other southern spices, served on white beard with pickles.   Lots of variations are out there, but they all center around the hero, the chicken.

Most recipes follow a similar pattern.  First, you do a marinade with a fair amount of cajun-style hot sauce, cayenne, and such, plus a penetrating liquid like a pickle juice.  If you have the luxury of a full day or even a half-day to let the chicken marinade, you’ll be happy that you made the time to prep.   When it’s go time, you’ll have a dry mixture flour dredge and a buttermilk binder that you’ll want to do at least twice.   Fry up what you’ve got, and after it’s out, you’ll brush on a hot glaze that blends cayenne, red pepper, paprika, and brown sugar with a little oil. Serve it hot.  As if that isn’t possible, but you know what I mean.

Wine Pairing

There’s a lot you can do right here and a little you can do wrong.   In part, you can follow the strength-on-strength formula, and that will get you part of the way.  But I struggled with dry wines that were heavily oaked, whether white or red.   And there is the matter of time of day that comes into play as well.  Hot chicken is as much a brunch staple as it is a lunch/dinner dish.   Bunch hot chicken with a little spicey honey on the side, paired with a dry or off-dry prosecco is simply heavenly.

 As I tasted my way through N-Ville, I found these wines to be really friendly with NHC:

Whites:

• Proseco – you can go dry or off-dry. The florals of prosecco do just a little better with NHC than other bubbles.    By all means, do a sparkler with any brunch NHC
• Unoaked Chardonnay:   Just my obs, but the buttery notes of an oaked chard simly get their ass kicked by the fat from the fry.  Live to play another day by not pretending that you have a strength on strength there, unless you think you can find an American or Hungarian oaked chard.   
• Chennin Blanc:  A go to with spicey foods.  
• Viognier:  D-I-T-T-O
• Sauvignon Blanc: This one is reeeeeeal dicey and honestly can go bad.  New world SB only… others should not apply… LOL….  go for more lemon and run from the grapefruit-dominated versions.  Serve really F cold.  No promises here.  This is an option you’ll only want to attempt at home. 

Reds

• Zin: The hotter, sweeter, and the spicier, the better.  I don’t typically dig hot zins, but there’s a time and place for everything. This is the time
• Malbec:  If you gotta do a red and arent a zin fan, this is my only other recc…. And just being honest, it’s a lukewarm rec.   If you’re reading this and you’re struggling, my friend, this is the day you need to find or rekindle your love of bubbles.  Just sayin’.

XR DIY NHC FTW

X Rated Do it yourself, Nashville Hot Chicken, for the win…..

If you’re not in the Middle Tennessee area and you don’t have access to a reasonable facsimile, we’ve got you covered.  Do what we say….  Let us alpha you through this dish the first time and then you can take the training wheels off on your second attempt

Ingredients

For roughly seven or eight servings (you’ll want leftovers)

• 3½–4-lb. chicken, cut, and patted dry.  You’ll want about 10-12 total pieces.  I cut the chicken breast into three if t they’re large pieces. Two otherwise.  
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4  tablespoons kosher salt
• Four eggs – the most local and fresh you can find
• 2 cups of buttermilk.  Don’t cheat here.  If it’s not buttermilk, it’s not NHC.
• 4-6 tablespoons of either Crystal hot sauce or Lousiana brand hot sauce.  Tabasco will do if you can’t find the others. 
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 10 cups vegetable oil for frying
• 6 tablespoons cayenne pepper. If all you have is older cayenne that’s turned brown, you’ll need to replenish 
• 2 tablespoons of molasses or dark brown sugar.  See if you can find Imperial
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika.  You can use hot paprika, but smoked is best.  And sweet paprika is a distant third
• 6  tablespoons pickle juice. 

Untoasted White bread and sliced pickles (for serving)

Prep (the night before)

• Combine the chicken pieces with the black pepper, 2 Tbsp hot sauce,  2 Tbsp. salt, and the pickle juice in a large bowl. Cover and chill at least 3 hours, but overnight is better

Go Time!:

• Mix eggs, buttermilk, and 2 Tbsp. hot sauce in a large bowl.  This will be your coating step 
• Whisk flour,  1 tbs smoked paprika, and remaining salt in a separate large bowl. This is your dredge
• In a large pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat until you get to a temp of  325°. 
• Pat chicken dry. 
• Dredge each piece of chicken in flour mixture, shaking off excess, then dip in your buttermilk mix. Then come back to your flour dredge again, liberally, and place on a baking sheet.
• You’ll want to fry in a few batches, with enough space in your dutch oven to prevent the chicken from touching consistently.  It’s time to fry your chicken, turning first when you see the bottom is turning a nice medium brown.  Continue until skin is deep golden brown and crisp.  I typically use an instant-read thermometer to make sure that the chicken has reached 165°. When you get there, move the piece to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet to collect the residual oil 
•  Very thoroughly mix together the remaining cayenne, smoked paprika, brown sugar, chili powder, and garlic powder, adding about 1 cup of your frying oil after the first ingredients have fully mixed together.  The heat of the frying oil will make a syrup.   Brush your fried chicken with the syrup mixture
•  Serve with bread and pickles…. Or however, you prefer!  CHEERS!