Some of you know. For those who don’t. Your boy cooks some mean Nashville Hot Chicken. It all started when I was craving a really bomb chicken wing. I googled, “Best Chicken Wing in LA” and all that shit. Although I was looking for a sports bar/normal chicken wing situation I came across this place Howlin’ Rays. The Yelp reviews were through the roof and the dude from Hot Ones (Sean Evans) had a video of him and Brian Redban (Dude on Joe Rogan’s Podcast) getting smoked away by their chicken. I had to give it a shot. I tried to get a couple of my work friends to come with me. After weeks of, “Can’t make it this weekend.” I decided to go on this voyage by myself. I went Masters Sunday and waited in line, by myself, for three hours, to buy chicken. It was sweet though, there was some dude from Nashville behind me and we talked about chicken. (Cool story Dolan). Long story short it was the best chicken I ever had in my life. I got Hot and X-Hot Wings. The look on the dude’s face when I get X-Hot was, “Bruh. You’re not ready for this.” He followed his look up with, “Here’s some free fries. You’re gonna need these.” After my taste buds got tossed into a different dimension I made it a mission to learn how to cook the stuff. Recipe after recipe and Youtube video after Youtube video I feel like I have a recipe that’s pretty solid and since it’s on a piece of paper that hangs out in my room I figured I’d post it to my blog that nobody reads. You know, in case I lose the paper. “But Bobby! What if someone steals your recipe and goes on to make millions of dollars?” Grow up dude. This is real life not some Pixar movie.
First you start yourself with a fundamental salt situation. Cover the chicken with a nice thin layer of salt. Work it in there a little bit. Then prepare the marinade. (All scale to 1 lb. of chicken).
– 1 Egg
– 2 Garlic Gloves (Cut to Large Chunks)
– 1 Ghost Pepper
– 1 CUP Whole Milk (A lot of people go with Buttermilk here. I’ve tried it. Not a fan.)
– 2 TBSP Hot Sauce (Any Hot Sauce Works)
– 1 Habenero
Let it sit for 12-24 hours. Or however long. Break the rules. Be free.
Now it’s time for the flour.
– 2 CUP Flour
– 4 TSP Salt
– 2 TSP Pepper
Time to bread it baby. Now the Nashville way is to double bread it. Which means bread it once. Then throw it back in the batter and bread it again. Go ahead and do things your way though. As Bob Ross says, “It’s your world.”
After the bread situation. Go ahead and dump it in the oil (350 Degrees). Now your boy’s got a little deep fryer he got on Amazon. It makes things sooooo much easier. Personally, I use peanut oil, because Howlin’ Rays uses peanut oil and the smell when the chicken is cooking smells soooo much better than vegetable oil.
Alright. Time for the money maker. The Nashville Hot Chicken Coat. First. Get all your spices together.
– 3 TBSP Cayenne Pepper
– 1/2 TBSP Brown Sugar Light
– 3/4 TSP Sea Salt
– 1/2 TSP Paprika
– 1 TSP Garlic Powder
– 1 TSP Pepper
Now add 1/2 Cup of Hot Sunflower Oil to the spices and stir it up. I’d recommend keeping it at a warm temperature. When the chicken is done, throw it in the sauce and toss it the best you can. After the chicken has been coated. I usually throw some extra cayenne pepper on it cause I’m nasty AF. This would be considered a “Mild” taste. If you’re looking to really kick it up a notch. Get yourself some Dried Habeneros/Ghost Peppers and throw them in coffee grinder. After you toss it in the Hot Chicken Coat. Cover it with cayenne, then habenero (Medium/Hot). If you’re trying to murder someone. Cover it with cayenne, habenero and then ghost (Hot/Extra Hot).
Serve with pickles and get smoked.