Regional specialty of Nashville (of course). This stuff is great. It’s just perfectly fried chicken that is then tossed in this incredibly rich hot sauce, although that’s not even the right word. It’s not really a sauce in any way I usually think of it, it’s a mix of hot bacon fat, cayenne pepper, and some spices. It reheats just fine, but after 10 minutes it will separate in to liquid on top, spices on the bottom, so you have to stir it up when you reheat it.
Also? You are supposed to “dry brine” the chicken before you bread it. Which is a “pinkies-up” way of saying you salt it and put it in the fridge overnight. But if you want to sound like an asshat, you can call this dry brined chicken. But it’s just salt.
Other than that, I used a deep fryer because I have one, otherwise you can pan fry the chicken just fine. But my instructions will be for using a deep fryer.
Finally? This recipe is from Hattie B’s, which is the restaurant in nashville that invented it. This level of heat is what they would consider a “medium.” So…bear that in mind. Pretty sure a “hot” would literally burn your face off.
Ingredients
For the “dry brined” chicken marinade:
3-4 pounds chicken tenders (or parts cut up that way)
1 tablespoon kosher salt / 1/2 tablespoon regular salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper (optional)
(SEE? THAT’S IT! SALT AND PEPPER! Anyway, moving on.)
For the dry coat:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
For the wet coat:
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons hot sauce (like tobasco sauce, not like salsa)
1 cup milk or buttermilk
For the sauce:
6 tablespoons bacon fat
6 tablespoons cayenne pepper (not a typo, read the name of the recipe)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (if the sugar is forming clumps, like when it dries out, break them up by hand ahead of time in to mostly a powder. It will make it much easier to make the sauce)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
Directions:
Take the salt, pepper, and chicken, mix it thoroughly in a bowl, and put it in a sealed bag overnight. Congratulations, you dry brining wizard.
The next day: Get two decent sized bowls. Mix all the ingredients for the dry coat in one, and all the ingredients for the wet coat in the other. To coat the chicken, as you remove pieces from the bag, do dry coat, wet coat, dry coat again, and then set aside (preferably on a wire rack, but that’s not necessary). To prevent annoying mush from forming in your bowls, when you dip the chicken in flour, before you move it to the wet coat, shake it off really well. After you dip it in the wet coat, just hold it up for a few seconds to let the excess coating drip off of it before returning it to the flour.
Heat the deep fryer to 375. Working in batches of however many chicken pieces can fit in a basket at a time, fry for 10 minutes or until internal temperature is above 165 F. You should be able to hear it when it’s done. Set aside on a wire rack on a cookie sheet or on paper towels to drain.
Now, mix all the ingredients for the “sauce” in a small saucepan on low heat, stirring frequently to keep it from burning, until the bacon fat melts and the spices become suspended in it. If the brown sugar is clumping up, you may have to spoon it out and break it up by hand, because there’s no water here to dissolve the sugar, so it just stays hard.
Side note: I think maple syrup might be a good substitute here as well.
At this point, you have everything you need. Pour the sauce in to a large bowl, and toss the pieces of chicken with it. If you are worried about the heat, you can easily still serve the chicken, it’s great fried chicken, and then just provide the sauce as an optional side that people can apply as they like.
eatbensmeat 