If you havent heard by now, foodies everywhere are losing their collective shit over hot chicken. Lets investigate wtf it is:
Hot Chicken or Nashville Hot Chicken is fried chicken hailing from The Volunteer State (surprise) and is, quite literally, just fried chicken thats been rubbed and basted with hot sauce. According to Wikipedia, our bff who got us through college,
Who created this shit? Apparently, hot chicken was born when a total bro who was sleeping around crawled home to his main bitch and was like, make me a sammich. She responded by dousing his chicken breast (which was going on said sammich) in hot pepper. Her plan fucking backfired when he loved it, and we assume she resorted to other means of retaliation. Or something.
Wanna make this shit? We found this recipe via Epicurious and Bon Appetit so like, you know its good.
Ingredients
- 2 3.5-4-pound chickens, each cut into 10 pieces (breasts halved)
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 tablespoons Tabasco
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- Vegetable oil (for frying; about 10 cups)
- 6 tablespoons cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- White bread and sliced pickles (for serving)
Ok get ready cause this is going to take a fucking while. Toss chicken with black pepper and 2 tbsp. salt in a large bowl. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. Watch or something in that time period.
Whisk eggs, milk, and Tabasco in a large bowl. Whisk flour and remaining 4 tsp. salt in another large bowl. So much whisking.
Fit a Dutch oven (thats that big Le Creuset you have) with deep-fry thermometer; pour in oil to measure 2. Heat over medium-high heat until thermometer registers 325 and be fucking careful. Pat chicken dry. Working with 1 piece at a time, dredge in flour mixture, shaking off excess, then dip in milk mixture, letting excess drip back into bowl. Dredge again in flour mixture and place on a baking sheet.
Working in 4 batches and returning oil to 325 between batches, fry chicken, turning occasionally, until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of pieces registers 160 for white meat and 165 for dark, aka 1518 minutes. Transfer to a clean wire rack set inside a baking sheet. Let oil cool slightly.
Whisk cayenne, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, and paprika in a medium bowl; carefully whisk in 1 cup frying oil. Brush fried chicken with spicy oil. Serve with bread and pickles and something creamy because your mouth will be one fire.
Read more: www.betches.com
