Try Hot Chicken the Culinary Treasure of Nashville
The unique geography, history, and culture of different regions are some of the most rewarding parts of traveling. Perhaps there’s no better combination of all these factors than stepping out of your comfort zone and trying some of the dishes that make a city or a region famous. The cuisine of the American South is widely known for its wide range of richly comforting food served with quaint hospitality that you just can’t find anywhere else. Although Nashville is known more for its music than its cuisine a humble dish with a hilarious backstory is slowly making its way around America like a rising music star.
Nashville Hot Chicken has its origin in the period of segregation and the Jim Crow Era. Like many Southern cities, Nashville began to expand as people migrated from the country to urban areas in search of work and more opportunities. With this rapid influx of people, populations began to expand very rapidly but segregation laws prevented the integration of cultures between Southern African Americans and whites. A common sight in many black neighborhoods at the time were small family-owned diners that specialized in serving food such as barbeque and fried chicken with their own unique recipes. One of these restaurants was called the Barbeque Chicken Shack owned by a man named Thorton Prince. Although a successful business owner Prince had a reputation as being a bit of a womanizer. One night after coming home particularly late his wife wanted revenge. The story goes that the next morning she served Prince fried chicken for breakfast made with a monstrous quantity of cayenne peppers. She had hoped that the peppers would turn the chicken inedible to her shock her husband told her how much he enjoyed it. After some tweaking with his brothers, Prince began to serve the new dish at his restaurant.
Although this is not the Hot Chicken, Nashville is known for today the basic recipe began to evolve from here. The first place to serve what today would be called Hot Chicken was Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack which began to serve the dish in the 1970s and is owned and operated by the Prince family. What separates Hot Chicken from other fried chicken recipes is the unique regional twist you can’t taste anywhere else. The preparation of the chicken begins the same with a wet marinade of spices coating chicken pieces before their drenched in buttermilk and fried. Where most fried chicken recipes would stop as soon as the chicken was done cooking Hot Chicken Recipes call for a sauce to be added made from cayenne. Although different recipes call for different spice blends, frying times, or buttermilk batters the garnish of the dish stays that same. The chicken is to be wedged between two pieces of white bread and served with pickle chips. Restaurants in the area closely guard their unique blend of spices and cayenne sauce recipes, while some emphasize the heat of the dish others blend the sweet with the spicy or any combination in between. Professional chefs and cooks meet every year for a friendly competition to determine the city’s best hot chicken during Nashville’s annual Hot Chicken Festival. You can decide how hot you like your chicken when attending a Continuing Education CME conference in Nashville. The conferences are only half day which leave plenty of time to explore all the hot chicken restaurants.
The popularity of Hot Chicken is spreading all over the country and is even making its way on menus around the world but the best way to try the dish is where it all started in Nashville. With so many restaurants serving the dish, it can be hard to decide which one to choose. Many locals swear that the best place to go is with the family who created it at Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack. If you’d like to step on the wild side for more variation a few other great places to try are Moore’s, 400 Degrees, Party Fowl, and Bolton’s. Don’t worry if you’re out late on the town taking in all the sights and the unique music part of the tradition of these diners is staying open to the wee hours and serving a dish that has made their city famous. Most restaurants serve the chicken with a range of flavors and spices that can be enjoyed by everyone. If your tastebuds are sensitive and you’re not a fan of spicy food the chicken can be ordered plain. If you’re a true culinary daredevil that doesn’t shy away from spice many establishments are willing to serve guests extra hot chicken that will singe a culinary memory you’ll take with you when you leave. Whether you’re interested in trying this delightful dish before you take your trip to Nashville or you’d like to relive memories there are plenty of easy to follow recipes out there for you to enjoy this dish at home
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