The juicy origins of a chicken dish that’s so hot right now
The dish
Nashville fried chicken, Tennessee, US
Plate up
Don’t let the name fool you. We’re not talking about chicken served hot. That would be too easy, too bland. Hot chicken in Nashville, Tennessee, is something else. It’s spicy. It’s really, really spicy. It’s essentially chicken parts – drumsticks, thighs, breasts, wings – that are marinated in buttermilk, before being floured and fried in hot oil, and then doused in a fiery paste of sugar, chilli powder, garlic powder, paprika, and an unreasonable amount of cayenne pepper. This paste-slathered chicken is then traditionally served atop a slice of white bread, with dill pickles on the side to cut through some of that heat.
First serve
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You have to love a dish with a good origin story and Nashville hot chicken has a good one. It’s the time of the Great Depression, the 1930s, in the segregated American south, and Thornton Prince is up for a good time.
A notorious ladies’ man, Prince leaves his “steady girl” at home once again and heads out for a night on the town. The next morning, his less-than-impressed lady-friend decides to punish Prince by serving him a breakfast of fried chicken with far too much cayenne pepper paste – a plan that backfires spectacularly when Prince declares he loves it. He goes on to open BBQ Chicken Shack, which is a huge hit in Nashville’s African-American community, before eventually achieving citywide fame when Prince’s grand-niece, Andre Prince Jeffries, moves the shop and rebrands as Prince’s Hot Chicken in the late 1980s.
Order there
If you’re in Nashville you can’t go past the ever-popular original, Prince’s Hot Chicken (princeshotchicken.com). It’s also worth trying another well-known institution, Hattie B’s (hattieb.com).
Order here
In Sydney, check out Jolene’s, a Nashville-inspired bar that does a mean hot chicken sandwich (joelenessydney.com). In Melbourne (and Sydney, and soon Adelaide), head straight to Belle’s Hot Chicken (belleshotchicken.com). In Brisbane, 2 Bros is great (twobros.com.au).
One more thing
Sharp-eyed readers will have picked up something interesting in that origin story. Though ladies’ man Thornton Prince is credited as the inventor of Nashville hot chicken, it seems his forever-anonymous “steady girl”, tired of his antics and with revenge on her mind, was the true genius behind the recipe.
Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.