Chef John’s Nashville Hot Chicken

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Description

If you’ve never had Nashville Hot Chicken, we’re talking about an ultra-crispy fried chicken doused with a cayenne-infused glaze, and by ‘glaze’ I mean melted butter and lard. For the record, I’ve never been to Nashville, so I can’t tell you how authentic this is, but it works for me, and is fairly easy to pull off.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ¼ cup pickle brine
  • 2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons fine table salt
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ¼ cup lard
  • 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup vegetable oil for frying, or as needed

Instructions

  1. Arrange chicken pieces in a large bowl.
  2. Whisk buttermilk
  3. pickle brine
  4. hot sauce
  5. and egg together in a mixing bowl. Pour marinade over chicken and stir to ensure each piece is thoroughly coated. Cover and let chicken marinate in refrigerator 2 to 4 hours.
  6. Mix flour and salt together in a shallow flat dish. Remove chicken from marinade and blot with paper towels. Reserve marinade. Toss chicken in flour until thoroughly coated. Return chicken to marinade
  7. coating all sides; remove chicken from marinade allowing excess to drip back into the bowl. Coat the chicken once again in flour mixture. Place on a rack. Repeat with all chicken pieces. Allow to sit out about 15 minutes to allow coating to dry out a bit.
  8. Place butter and lard in a large pot. Add cayenne pepper
  9. brown sugar
  10. paprika
  11. garlic powder
  12. kosher salt
  13. and black pepper. Place over medium-high heat. Cook and stir until fats melt. Remove from heat; keep sauce warm.
  14. Fill cast iron skillet about 1/3 of the way with vegetable oil. Heat oil to 350 degrees F over medium-high heat. Carefully place chicken into hot oil
  15. skin side down. Maintain an oil temperature of 325 degrees F
  16. adjusting heat as need. Fry until instant read thermometer reads 160 degrees F
  17. 8 to 10 minutes per side.
  18. Transfer chicken to a rack to drain. Brush with the sauce on both sides.

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 16 mins

Total Time: 10 hrs

Servings: 4

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