Nashville Hot Chicken

We were at the wedding reception of a friend, chatting over a drink with the cousin of the groom. The conversation turned to our upcoming trip to Nashville. It would be a quick weekend trip from Lexington, our home at the time. 

“You need to try Hot Chicken,” he said. My husband and I must have had confused looks on our faces, and he must have been used to that kind of response, because he went on to explain. He lived in East Nashville and said that few people had heard of it, but it was a favorite among locals. 

We’d been to Nashville countless times before this encounter and we’d never heard of it. Although, I will admit that my interests in food as it relates to local culture was just beginning. I was equally intrigued and slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t heard of such a local delicacy fewer than 3 hours away from me. 

So the research began. We knew we would be in for a meal at a fantastic dive-like location with chicken that might burn our mouths off along with classic southern sides. 

On that trip we first landed at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, but after a peek inside the door, we realized they wouldn’t open for another half hour. We were hungry. So we headed to the second place we’d researched, Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish. 

I peeked inside the small kitchen to see large cast iron pans bubbling full of oil that had seasoning layers built up along all the edges. It was the kind of kitchen that was well-used. The kind that you knew produced delicious comfort food. 

What you need to know before I go on, is that I’m not a fried chicken fan. I’m really not a meat-on-the-bone kind of fan. It’s much more flavorful when cooked on the bone, but I’m not all that crazy about eating it off the bone myself. 

I finished every bite of the hot chicken we got that day. And the sides like mac n cheese and collards didn’t stand a chance. Those were long gone even before the chicken. 

As the name implies, hot chicken is hot. But there are different levels of heat. You don’t have to sweat buckets during your dinner. You can settle for a moderate spiciness. I tend to like somewhere in between. 

It’s been at least 5 years since that trip and our encounter with hot chicken, but it was the one trip to Nashville that left the biggest impression on me. Now, instead of Opryland (a theme park gone long ago), I now automatically think of hot chicken when someone mentions Nashville. 

The memories of that quick trip came flooding back when I was offered a review copy of the Hot Chicken Cookbook: The Fiery History and Red-Hot Recipes of Nashville’s Beloved Bird by Timothy Charles Davis. It is full of recipes for hot chicken and for all of the tasty sides. There are also some creative ideas for how to use your hot chicken including on pizza and in a salad. 

Bits and pieces about the history of the dish are speckled throughout the book and lead to a better understand and a few chuckles about how hot chicken came about. 

I’ll let you read about that for yourself. What I want to share is a hot chicken recipe from the book. You will be as amazed as I was about how easy it is. Why in the world had I not explored making this at home before? Not that we eat a lot of fried chicken, but this rub could work on many more things. Not to mention all the other tasty recipes in the book. 

I fried a batch of hot chicken last week and we paired it with some hard root beer. A great match. 

It’s not quite the same as eating it at dive in Nashville, but when you live as far away from it’s home as California, it is definitely the next best thing. 

Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review purposes. I was not required to post about it and received no compensation for doing so. 

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