How Hot Chicken Happened | Hacker News Reader

How Hot Chicken Happened

bittersoutherner.com

95 pointsjger1550 comments

These are all cute folk-lore tales, but nothing more. Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years on all manners of food, and commercially bottling hot sauce (in the US at least) since the early 1800s. To try and pretend putting hot sauce or dried pepper spices on fried chicken is something that originated in the post-war south is utter nonsense.

It's the modern marketing machine at work. The heartwarming story and mythos are an important component for manufacturing that authenticity and uniqueness. It even encourages gaslighting by people in the region who pretend to have "grown up on the stuff" when they really only found about about it five years ago.

Also, to anyone who loves hot chicken, next time you're at your favorite Chinese place, ask for Mala chicken, you won't' be disappointed.

Here's a solid New Yorker article on Hot Chicken:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/02/04/the-family-bus...

Apparently Prince's chicken started as a prank!

I'm happy that it's continuing to grow in popularity, myself.

For those on the West Coast, Hattie B's recently opened in Las Vegas at the Cosmo.

For those on the West Coast, well LA, we actually have access to incredible hot chicken in Howlin' Rays. The chicken definitely stays true to the Nashville original and they have the lines to prove it (peak is like 3 hours).

It's apparently now a thing here (LA):

https://www.latimes.com/food/la-fo-nashville-hot-chicken-pri...

To give Howlin Ray's some credit, they did a pop-up night here in Nashville with 400 Degrees (one of the highest regarded places) and it was incredibly packed and successful. Next time I'm in LA, I will be at Howlin Rays!

Not sure if things have calmed down in the last year, but get ready for 2-3 hour lines.

i went to howlin rays a few times when it opened (the line was “only” 15-30 mins long then). it’s delicious but the line is way too long now to go regularly. i switched to dave’s for a while but that’s now got a long line too. luckily new options have popped up and maybe will tame those crazy lines at howlin rays eventually.

Been in Nashville for about a year and half. Prince's Chicken is the best I've had, but of course Hattie B's is the most popular. Pro-tip if you in Nashville and don't want to wait in the huge lines at Hattie B's, it is rumored that Party Fowl was founded by somebody who used to work there and stole the recipe. Go to Party Fowl no lines.

Don't go to Party Fowl. It sucks.

You want hot chicken without lines? Either order hattie b's online and pick it up, or go to Slow Burn, Pepperfire, TNT BBQ, 400 Degrees, or Big Shakes

I live in Nashville. Party Fowl is a last resort.

another vote against Party Fowl. Its fine enough for a large group of people if you need seating, but if youre only in Nashville for a short period of time, try something else.

If you do end up at PF, the lacquered lollipops were the best thing they had of everything I tried.

Another vote for Pepperfire here. Absolutely delicious.

Party fowl also has a more expansive menu. Hattie B's is still the best though, I would just go there at like 3:30 when there would be a very short line.

I really like spicy food and don't think I'm a wimp, but the medium intensity hot chicken I had at Party Fowl was REALLY fucking hot too. Much hotter than the same level at Hattie B's. If you have 5 heat-levels on your chicken with medium being the second lowest, you should really adjust it so that medium is tolerable to regular people. I swear that stuff was hotter than anything else I've ever had, including lots of ghost pepper flavored products and all the other spicy food I had living in Nashville

No doubt. I got the medium at Party Fowl at was crying a few minutes in. The bartender was laughing.

Hell yeah this sounds like my kind of place! I'm so used to restaurant food not actually being all that spicy that I always order whatever's spiciest, and then every so often I find a place that actually takes spicy seriously and it just about kills me (in a good way). It turns from eating for enjoyment to eating tot accomplishment at that point, which frankly is more memorable.

Maybe they just have a bartender that likes messing with people.

+1 on the Prince's recommendation.

But does Hattie B's usually have huge lines now? I haven't gone very often in the last year or so, but I can't really recall ever standing in the ordering line longer than a few minutes.

I went to Hattie B's around 6 pm on a Wednesday last month and only waited about 15 minutes.

Last time I went at 11 on a weekday and the line was quite long. It moved quickly though.

depends on which one. The midtown one always has a long line. The one on 8th ave can be up and down but has a ton more seating. Same with the Sylvan Park one.

You can also hit up Bishops in Cool Springs and they carry it too.

For those that know... how is this difference more/less than the spicy/hot chicken from Church's (aka Texas outside US) or Popeye's Chicken?

Those places and even Bojangles tend to have spices in the batter that might give a slight red/pink color to the skin.

If you get the HOT Nashville Chicken, and I mean the hottest one hot they serve, it will be dripping red, almost smothered in red hot sauce and cayenne powder. I’ve been to Prince’s, Hattie B’s and Bolton’s. Bolton’s was crazy spicy and left the stomach in a state of fury for a few days.

Marinate chicken pieces in equal parts butter milk and a Louisiana hot sauce (cayenne based) overnight to get a really tender and juicy fried chicken.

Don't make the mistake of thinking pouring a standard hot sauce on fried chicken == nashville hot chicken, though. This is what a lot of restaurants that don't specialize in hot chicken have done to jump on the craze, and it's not at all the same. Those sauces will have a lot of vinegar which affects both the flavor and texture negatively. Nashville hot chicken traditionally is coated in a mixture of lard (or oil) and cayenne.

I had more in my last paragraph but removed it so I wouldn’t confuse anyone. I’ll just give the marinade I like the most, that one and the one where you just use pickle juice overnight.

Thanks, was mostly just curious as I like Church's and Popeye's hot and sometimes think I wouldn't mind more kick... it's definitely not wet though, which is what I gather from this. Will keep it in mind next time I'm out in the South-East.

edit: I'm not sure how wide it can/will spread since I know too many people who cringe at what I would call "medium" hot.

The big difference seems to be when the spice is added, with Church's/Popeye's/Indy's/Zaxby's spice added primarily before cooking/frying and the Nashville Hot added seemingly like an afterthought as something of a dry rub on top of the already fried chicken. (There are of course exceptions and variations in recipes, but that's the starting gist more or less.)

A large benefit of the Nashville Hot approach is that it is easier to spice to order/taste (most Nashville Hot restaurants are known for their numbered spice scale, they way that Thai is also typically known for its spice) rather than try to hit a consistent spice target. Which means that by default a Nashville Hot place "mild" may be less strong that Popeye's comparable "mild", but also that the scale goes to spice extremes that a Popeye's wouldn't try for fear of lawsuits. The article mentions that Prince's has spice levels that they only allow for carryout and will not allow people to eat on premises for fear of bothering other customers. I've seen Nashville Hot joints require certain spice levels to be accompanied by a glass of milk and for the eater to wear disposable gloves while eating.

It's generally lard/butter based, so calling it a dry rub is not technically correct, but watching it applied that still feels like a close enough approximation of an analogy.

Also, thought I should add the disclaimer I'm from Louisville, KY so most of my experience of Nashville Hot is definitely filtered through Hipster Fad lenses, so I am very much not an expert on the subject and you can take my knowledge with a grain of salt.

First of all, the base fried chicken is usually much better than you'd get at a fast food chain.

Second, it's legitimately spicy. At higher heat levels the chicken is dark red from all the cayenne. Eating it is more akin to eating a raw pepper than eating something like Church's spicy chicken.

For those in Tokyo, Soul Food House in Azabujuban has some very good Hot Chicken and delivers through Uber Eats.

This sounds a lot like Nandos.

(Also, the article is 90% about the racialisation of urban planning in Nashville and the author's surprise at discovering that different communities eat different foods.)

> author's surprise at discovering that different communities eat different foods.

i think it's more that in a well researched and sourced article you can't just start from the generalisation "well it's well known that minorities like spices" as that assumes an us(the reader-part of the mainstream) vs them(the quirky minority) mentality

Never mind that the "secret" was out a long time before 2005, when the author left for grad school. There was even an Insomniac episode from 2003 that featured Prince's. I think the fact that nobody in her family had heard of hot chicken speaks more to her and her family than of the general population (white or otherwise) of Nashville.

Well the article is on the internet and has a global audience(esp when amplified by aggregators like hackernews). i personally didn't know the origins of hot chicken(my first interaction with it was KFC)

I'm even lots of Nashville Hot Chicken but am not familiar with Nandos. From googling it looks like chicken marinated in a peri peri pepper based sauce then grilled. Nashville Hot Chicken is fried and coated in a cayenne pepper based paste. So, I expect they taste quite different but would both be delicious.

Thanks for noticing that.

As Portuguese it was a surprise to discover that "our" recipe had lots of variations around the world, back when I started traveling.

Naturally the idea to combine spicies and grilled chicken, is a natural thing to do in any community that has access to both.

Regarding Nandos, having tried a couple of them in UK, the experience is quite different from what you would actually get in Portugal.

It's popular enough that KFC is cashing in on the trend

Personally, I put Bolton’s above all. :)

It's too dry!

I do miss living in walking distance of both Bolton's and Pepperfire.

cwage's ranking at https://quietlife.net/2015/07/27/the-best-hot-chicken-in-nas... is older but still pretty good.

So it's just chicken with hot sauce?

Not unless you consider lard plus cayenne to be hot sauce.

https://quietlife.net/2014/11/16/nashville-style-hot-chicken... is a nice breakdown on the variations.

https://www.nashvillescene.com/food-drink/article/13022673/b... is an example recipe.

It's more like butter infused with spices, not hot sauce. Using an oil-based coating allows the fried chicken to stay crispy. They also add pepper to the batter.

Fried chicken + cayenne pepper + buttermilk + brown sugar + some other spices. It's not buffalo wings nor does it taste like them if that's what you're wondering. It's closer to a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy's or Chick Fil A, but a bit more sweet/spicy than just spicy. I've made the following recipe at home and it's fairly close (I would cut down the 6 tablespoons of cayenne to 2-3 and try it before adding more):

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/nashville-styl...

Sounds like buffalo wings, only subbing sugar for vinegar.

Cacio e Pepe is just pasta with cheese and pepper.

AIUI there's chilli powder in the breading, too.

So you've never had lemon pepper wings either i'm guessing? try some, it'll change your life

Lemon pepper on macaroni and cheese!

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