Fried chicken is comfort food. Hot chicken is discomfort food—in the best sense of the word: crisp-fried chicken imbued skin to bone with peppers’ fire that can range from quite hot to white hot. While some variations are found outside of Nashville (Keaton’s of Statesville, North Carolina, is a sterling example), it is a signature of the Music City, where at least a dozen different restaurants make it their specialty. It originated at the still-thriving Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack a couple of generations ago, when proprietor Thornton Prince’s girlfriend, wanting to get even with him for his carousing one night, sopped his fried chicken in a painful amount of hot sauce. Instead of screaming for mercy, he yelled for joy, and hot fried chicken soon became Prince’s trademark.
Allegedly mild versions of Nashville hot chicken tend to be ferociously hot.
Hot chicken may be cooked in deep fryer or skillet, and its heat can be elevated in several different ways: The batter in which it’s coated may be laced with pepper, the frying oil itself can be spiced, or it can be brushed with a pepper-hot paste either before or after being battered. It always is served with white bread, which sops up the spicy chicken juice and becomes a delicious hot companion, as well as with tart pickle chips, which may themselves be peppered.
Nashville hosts a Hot Chicken Festival every Independence Day.