The Impatient Chef Forgot to take Pictures of his Nashville Hot Chicken Recipe

Image curtesy of clipartpix.com

So, this piece of clip art will have to do.  

Where to begin?  

Heat.  The Impatient Chef likes spicy foods.

Where else?

Taste.  Every bit as important as heat.  

I have tried Nashville Hot Chicken, and attempted to make some from a recipe once.  I did it by the books, which is to say that I made the chicken with some spices in the breading, and made a spice mixture into which I ladled some of the friar oil, and mixed it up before slathering the crispy chicken with it.  

The result?

A resounding "Meh".

I was missing something.  But, what was it?  

Well, living in Nashville, of course.  That is something certainly missing.  I don't know what real, authentic, bona-fried Nashville Hot Chicken tastes like.  After some serious sourpussing over the sheer mileage between here and there, The Impatient Chef gradually hatched a plan.  

The Plan.

A bit of research revealed that really crispy fried chicken gets breaded in corn starch.  The breading had been a little soggy in the sauce for my first batch, so why not?  However, I wasn't too certain about using entirely corn starch, so I though "What about corn flour?"  

Now for the spice.  

The Impatient Chef adores buffalo wings.

Of course!  Use butter instead of the friar oil.  While I was at it, I decided to forgo the spice mixture, and instead use hot sauce.  I opted for Tapatio.  

The Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of chicken.  I used dark meat.  
• 1/2 cup corn starch
• 1/2 cup corn flour 
• 8 tablespoons Creole seasoning (I like Tony Chachere's)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup and 1 tbsp. hot sauce (I used Tapatio)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup AP flour

Equipment:

• A deep fryer, or dutch oven with just enough oil to cover the chicken.  
• 3 pie plates, or shallow dishes for the breading
• Fat skimmer.  
• Fast read thermometer.
• Sheet tray with a cooling grid. 
• Small sauté pan
• Wire whisk
• Shallow bowl
• Pastry brush. 

Directions:

1. Rinse the chicken and pat dry.  
2. Arrange the pie plates in a row.  To the first one, add the flour.  In the second one, crack the egg, add one tbsp of the hot sauce, and beat until uniform in color (but don't get carried away).  Into the third one, add the corn flour, the corn starch, and 4 tablespoons of the Creole seasoning.  
3. Sprinkle 4 of the tablespoons of the creole seasoning on all sides of the chicken.  Roll it in the flour until coated, then the egg mixture, and then the corn starch mixture.  Place the chicken onto the sheet tray with the cooling grid.  Do not discard the surplus corn starch mixture.  
4. Turn on the fryer, or start heating the dutch oven.  The temperature should be 375 degrees.  
5. While the oil is heating, you will notice that the chicken is turning slightly red.  This is the red from the hot sauce in the egg mixture showing through the breading.  Sprinkle a little more breading on all sides of each piece, and pat it down.  You are trying to cover most of the red.  Wait a few minutes and do it again.  I did three rounds of this.  Now, if you are making french fries with this meal, you can heat the oil first, and add the extra breading to the chicken while those are frying.  Otherwise, heating the oil at the start of the recipe means that you will have to keep it heated for 10 to 15 extra minutes while adding the extra breading.  The Impatient Chef loves good food, but hates Global Warming, so using only the BTU's that are necessary is a plus.  
6. Once the oil is heated, carefully add the chicken.  Be careful to not get splattered.  After a minute or so, nudge them with the fat skimmer to make sure that they aren't sticking to the bottom.  
7. After about 5 minutes, melt the butter in the small sauté pan until it barely starts bubbling.  Add the remaining 1/4 cup of hot sauce.    Whisk it until uniform.  Remove from heat.  
8. When the chicken has reached 165 degrees, remove it from the oil and into a shallow bowl.  Pour the hot sauce and butter mixture over it.  Use the pastry brush to spread it over as much of the chicken as possible on both sides.   There should be very little of it, if any, left in the bowl.
9. Serve with your choice of sides and have a box of facial tissue handy.  

Note to spice lovers.  You may experiment with hotter sauces, but be kind to your less adventurous guests or spouses.  This recipe has a nice flavor, and a nice heat.  Why make tomorrow morning any harder than it has to be?  

Disclaimer:

This is not authentic Nashville Hot Chicken.  When I moved to the hot sauce instead of the spice mixture, the recipe became more Buffalo than Nashville.  My wife really liked it, so I will call it a success.  

--The Impatient Chef.