![]() ![]() ![]() How did a dish so challengingly hot become so iconic? Like so many emblematic Southern foods, fried chicken can trace its origins back to African slaves, who fried and braised poultry in spices. The taste is surprisingly botanical, as the spices dance from inside my mouth to my lips, and although I’m sweating, I can’t stop eating. There’s sweetness before the habanero heat hits. It’s incredibly spicy, but there’s a tune to this symphony of chillies. As I take a bite, the habanero hits my nostrils. My chicken arrives blackened from the spice rub, and is too hot to touch, but I throw caution to the wind. Opened in 1997, Bolton’s is a city institution. It’s served on white bread with a pickle that stands no chance of offsetting the cayenne, habanero and ghost peppers. The meat is buttermilk-marinated, rubbed in a special spice blend and deep-fried until crisp. ![]() The spicy, cayenne-soaked style of Southern fried poultry known as ‘hot chicken’ is to Nashville what cheesesteak is to Philadelphia. “Oh, bless your heart, that’s what he’s shouting about,” she says, gesturing to her friend, who’s pacing and cursing. “What level d’ya get?” a woman shouts from the next table. I step out of the family-owned joint - a shabby shack with a sun-faded fish mural - and park myself at a picnic table. Her response is a commonly heard Southern expression that sounds saintly but can also seem faintly disparaging. I’ve just ordered fried chicken legs - hot - with fries and slaw. “Oh, bless your heart,” says the hostess at Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish. (Photo: Gabi Porter.This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). Well said indeed.īolus chats with HotHouse owner Craig Samuel, who won't reveal what's in his hot chicken recipe. You walk away from Hattie B's and want to go home and take a shower." Well said, sir. Just as Samuel declares, "Hot chicken is not a clean dish. even if we do leave the HotHouse looking disheveled and with little desire to eat anything in the near future, apart from a handful of Pepcid tablets. Though as Bolus and I have learned over the course of our Brooklyn afternoon, different doesn't mean any less satisfying. It's not strictly cayenne, as it's just not dark enough." While Samuel - surprise! - refuses to divulge much at all about the recipe, a waitress spills the beans and reveals that there's ghost pepper in the mix. "It's hitting me really hard on the tongue," says Bolus. The bites that do leave us gasping for air - and requesting glasses of milk - feature a zing that is foreign to any of our previous experiences with hot chicken. There are certain bites that are flavored with the HotHouse's spice blend significantly stronger than others, though the skin achieves a perfect crispy coating throughout. It's the appropriate hot to me - we're four, five bites in and I'm still eating." Success. There's great balance, great heat and great seasoning. In addition to the restaurant's apparent usage of cayenne, brown sugar and either onion or garlic powder, Bolus points out a few novel ingredients that he picks up on: mustard seed, cabbage and "maybe some cumin and coriander." Regardless of the sandwich's lack of adherence to Nashville tradition, Bolus comes away pleased. This cuts down on that lingering burn sensation for which hot chicken enthusiasts profess unequivocal amounts of love. It's decidedly different from any type of hot chicken presentation that either of us has seen: For starters, the sandwich features a wetter spice than you'll find in Nashville, as the chicken has been brined in a hot-sauce bath of sorts. Made from an impressively thick cut of deep-fried thigh meat, the sandwich oozes hot grease that quickly seeps into its bun. Meat Hook Sandwich Shop's hot chicken sandwich utilizes several unorthodox ingredients. ![]()
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