Fried Hot Chicken on White Bread with Pickle from ‘Nashville Eats’
This week, we’re spotlighting recipes from Nashville Eats: Hot Chicken, Buttermilk Biscuits, and 100 More Southern Recipes from Music City by Jennifer Justus (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), a book that proves Nashville’s food scene is as lively as its music scene. Try making the recipes at home and let us know what you think!
Fried Hot Chicken on White Bread. (Photo: Andrea Behrends)
Fried Hot Chicken on White Bread with Pickle
Makes 4 servings
André Prince Jeffries gave me strict orders: No sugar in the hot chicken. But I also believe part of the fun in cooking your own hot chicken comes from figuring out the spice blend you like best. And following the lead of the folks at Hattie B’s, I do like a touch of brown sugar to balance out the heat.
I use red pepper flakes for texture and an added layer of spice, and I like a touch of cumin for woodsy depth. Applying the spicy paste after chicken has been fried keeps the cayenne from scorching, and it allows the cook to customize the degree of heat per piece of chicken. Go ahead and experiment to make your own blend. And apologies to Ms. Jeffries. I’ll always visit Prince’s to taste the original.
For the brine:
½ cup dark brown sugar
½ cup hot cayenne pepper sauce (such as Frank’s RedHot)
¼ cup fine kosher salt
1 chicken (about 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
For the hot coating:
3 to 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
1 ½ teaspoons dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon fine kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
For frying:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon fine kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Vegetable oil for frying
For serving:
8 slices plain white sandwich bread (such as Wonder brand)
Dill pickle rounds
Make the brine:
In a large stockpot, combine 5 cups water, the brown sugar, hot sauce, and salt and heat the mixture over medium, stirring, just until the solids dissolve. Remove the pot from the heat and let the brine cool completely before adding the chicken to the brine. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight if possible.
Make the hot coating:
Heat the oil in a small saucepan, then add the cayenne, brown sugar, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, salt, and cumin, stirring until fragrant, about a minute, to combine the ingredients, flavor the oil, and open up the spices. Set the mixture aside.
Fry the chicken:
Prepare the flour for dredging by combining it with the salt and pepper in a shallow dish such as a pie plate.
Remove the chicken from the brine and pat it dry. Allow it to come up to room temperature (about 30 minutes, covered).
Pour a good amount of oil into a cast-iron skillet; it should cover the chicken about halfway once the meat is placed in the pan. Attach a thermometer to the side of the skillet and bring the temperature up to 350°F.
Quickly dredge the chicken in the flour mixture. Shake off the excess and lower the chicken, skin side down, into the oil. The temperature will drop to about 300°F when the chicken goes into skillet. That’s okay. Don’t crank the heat, but continuously adjust it up and down as you fry to keep the temperature hovering around 325°F. Be careful not to crowd the chicken—I usually fry about three pieces at a time in a 9-inch skillet.
Continue frying the chicken for about 10 minutes per side, turning it once using tongs. You can cover the skillet as you fry if you’d like, but leaving the lid off will make for crispier chicken, which I prefer.
Once the chicken is golden brown, transfer it to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool slightly before coating it in the spiced oil.
Arrange two pieces of white bread on each plate. Using a brush, dab hot coating mixture onto one side of the chicken. Place the pieces of chicken spiced side down on the bread slices and continue brushing the top sides with the hot coating mixture. Serve with plenty of pickles.
Reprinted with permission from Nashville Eats: Hot Chicken, Buttermilk Biscuits, and 100 More Southern Recipes from Music City by Jennifer Justus (Stewart, Tabori & Chang).
Nashville Eats by Jennifer Justus. (Photo: Andrea Behrends)
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