Are they going to Swen this up?

[Kealia]

While stuck in traffic yesterday I saw a sign in the window of KFC that said they are now serving Nashville Hot Chicken.

I know it won't be anywhere near as good as the real thing but could it possibly be good?

I know Swenocha is probably rolling his eyes at the thought of this but I have to say that I am intrigued.

[Beer-lord]

No way is there a chance KFC could even come close to the real thing. But then, I've not had KFC chicken in decades. Am I missing anything?

[Kealia]

I can't recall the last time I had KFC either. I'm sure it is nowhere close but the marketing did it's job to get my attention.

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[BlackDuck]

Yea...the marketing is good on that. I haven't had KFC in forever also. But I kind of want to try that hot chicken. More because they are the only place that has it here. So it's not really the fact that it's KFC, it's more the fact that it's the only option I have.

[FedoraDave]

I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a disappointment. Same thing happened with wings. Back in the late 70s, I was in college in Western NY, just south of Buffalo. This was just before "Buffalo style wings" caught on nationally. Now, everywhere you go, there are Buffalo wings.

But they're not. Most of them are not even close. Sadly, most people don't know this, having never had the real thing.

[bpgreen]

I was underweight through my 20s and actually worked hard to gain weight. That became less of a problem in my 30s. Then I got fat.

Then I worked on getting healthy. I lost about 40-50 lbs and am avoiding fried food so I can keep those pounds off.

[swenocha]

I had envisioned never trying this, when I have a dozen or more great HC shacks to hit, including one within a mile of my house. But... I had the opportunity to sample it and discuss it with a real HC chef. He bought a big platter of it to share with his staff, using it as an education opportunity (which was pretty genius... having them analyze, pick out flavors, honestly review).



And the review...

Note that the Colonel assures me that this is the best spicy chicken I've ever had, but since the Colonel died in 1980, I'm not putting a lot of stock in his statement. Watching them prepare it, this is their standard extra crispy chicken with a very thin, oily sauce squeezed over it, and with pickles laid on top. Standard order comes with a side of biscuits (instead of white bread) and cole slaw.

Mine wasn't soggy or anything like that. The chicken was actually nicely cooked. The application of the spice wasn't saucy, so it doesn't come off as Buffalo sauce or anything like that, and the tenders remained crispy. There was no pool of sauce in the bottom of the container either, so that was appreciated. I will note, however, that a lot of posts and pics have shown the chicken literally swimming in the oily stuff, which causes the breading to be soggy and is just pretty gross looking.

The spice level is lower than mild. I get a bit of smoky paprika spice, but nothing in the way of heat. The real thing of note, though, is the lack of real HC flavor. We all agreed that it tastes like teriyaki, crazily enough. Slightly spicy and smoky, but very much teriyaki.



http://uproxx.com/life/kfc-hot-chicken/3/

It's a shame that people across the nation will taste this and assume this is what HC is, but as others have stated prior, such is the fate of any regional cuisine that goes national like this. That all being said, it's certainly edible and (dare I say) pretty tasty. But it's not Pepperfire... or Prince's... or 400... or Hattie's... or... well you get the idea. It doesn't taste like HC to me, but it does taste like reasonably good slightly spicy chicken. Much like the hot fish at Captain D's, I'd never pass up a real HC place to get this, but if the family wants KFC, I may well order this again along with their order. I will admit to liking the Captain D's hot fish better than I like the KFC hot chicken, however.

Perhaps this will be an entry to HC for you all around the country, leading you to want to pilgrimage to Nashville to get the real thing. Much like Philly cheese steaks, Chicago Pizza, Buffalo wings, etc. before it. Just come visit... I'll hook you up with the real thing. They've been making it here for nearly a century. The people here know how to do it right...

[swenocha]

I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be a disappointment. Same thing happened with wings. Back in the late 70s, I was in college in Western NY, just south of Buffalo. This was just before "Buffalo style wings" caught on nationally. Now, everywhere you go, there are Buffalo wings.

But they're not. Most of them are not even close. Sadly, most people don't know this, having never had the real thing.

This exactly is what is likely to happen here as well. NHC has gone crazy all across the country, but you really need to try it here to get the real thing. Not just KFC... O'Charley's and Logan's Roadhouse both are taking it all across their footprint. Both are bad. I would say KFC is better than either. I will note, however, that a few places are getting good reviews. Carla Hall (who grew up in Nashville and was on those Food Network contests) is opening a place in Brooklyn that gets good reviews, and I recently heard about a good place in Australia. But I've heard just as many spotty reviews. Even here, there are regular restaurants adding it as a menu item to mixed results. I've had a few ranging from iffy to kinda bad.

[FedoraDave]

Swen, your review seems honest and fair, and since you live in that region, I expect you to know your HC, just as I'd expect someone from Philadelphia to know their cheesesteak, or just as I have a better understanding of real wings than someone from San Jose.

Wings have drifted from the original concept to include teriyaki, garlic-and-butter, and who knows what else. Even the hot sauce isn't the same as the original. Frankly, my brother's wing sauce recipe, developed during his college days, is pretty spot-on, and all it uses is Frank's Red Hot and squeeze Parkay. Honest. But keep in mind, the Anchor Bar, where wings originated, served them up because the wings were surplus, and they didn't know what to do with them. They were first just set on the bar like a bowl of peanuts or popcorn. True fact. So they weren't trying to be fancy or create a "gourmet" thing. They were trying to add some fire to the bar fare so people would order more beer.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Willoughby Brewing Co. had a blurb on their menu coming soon Nashville Hot Chicken for months, then no mention on the menu about it, a couple month later they have a fried chicken dishes on the menu "Henny Original" and "Henny Hot Nashville Style Hot Sauce" I was told that the hot is actually pretty mild though, have not tried it yet. After eating at Hattie B's last year, can't imagine non native Nashville-ites producing anything close to the real thing. It is not just the food but it is the experience of the chicken joint too!

[swenocha]

Swen, your review seems honest and fair, and since you live in that region, I expect you to know your HC, just as I'd expect someone from Philadelphia to know their cheesesteak, or just as I have a better understanding of real wings than someone from San Jose.

Wings have drifted from the original concept to include teriyaki, garlic-and-butter, and who knows what else. Even the hot sauce isn't the same as the original. Frankly, my brother's wing sauce recipe, developed during his college days, is pretty spot-on, and all it uses is Frank's Red Hot and squeeze Parkay. Honest. But keep in mind, the Anchor Bar, where wings originated, served them up because the wings were surplus, and they didn't know what to do with them. They were first just set on the bar like a bowl of peanuts or popcorn. True fact. So they weren't trying to be fancy or create a "gourmet" thing. They were trying to add some fire to the bar fare so people would order more beer.

I always love the stories behind these things. The NHC story is pretty interesting as well. NHC dates back to the '30's. According to legend, Thornton Prince (great uncle of current owner Ms. Prince in the pic in the eariler post) was a womanizer, and one night he got home late from a night out with a lady. His girlfriend who he lived with had made him fried chicken for dinner, but he since he got home so late, she served it to him the next morning for breakfast, adding a hefty dose of extra spice in revenge for him cheating on her. But Prince loved it so much that he honed the recipe and opened the Prince's BBQ Chicken Shack (now called the Prince's Hot Chicken Shack) shortly after. Prince's became a gathering place for the African American community. Eventually they moved locations to downtown right behind the Ryman. When the white musicians from the Opry heard about the addictive chicken, they made their way to Prince’s out the back door of the Ryman after their performances. In the early days the white visitors came through the back door and had to sit in the kitchen. Eventually everyone ate together in the dining room, becoming an early source of integration in the Nashville community. Pretty cool story. This link goes into the story over the decades in great detail and really shows better than I can the impact of HC on the Nashville community over the decades. It's a really great read, as it's a good education on the lengths that people and government went in terms of segregation in the early decades of the 20th century. I learned a bunch from it, and I highly recommend it. http://bittersoutherner.com/how-hot-chi ... a59p7eQbIT

This is the kind of history that KFC doesn't have in their Hot Chicken...

[FedoraDave]

I love the backstories, too. And the Prince story is a good one! Interesting that the whites had to go in the back and eat in the kitchen, but also great that this was instrumental in integration.

As far as the Anchor Bar, I went to college with a girl who was friends with the owners of the Anchor, and she told me the story. They just didn't want to throw the wings out and waste them, so they deep-fried them, put some hot sauce on them, and put them out. Makes sense, since the best thing to cut the burn of hot sauce is ... wait for it ... alcohol! When people raved about them, they put them on the menu and started charging for them.

Ten-cent Wing Night was a huge, major, big deal at the Taco Junction in my college town! Bunches of hungry (and drunk and high) college students scarfing down chicken wings in downtown Fredonia!

[ScrewyBrewer]

For obvious health reasons I haven't eaten any fast food in several years now. But when I last did I would have to sneak it into the house when no one was around so I could enjoy it in peace. Otherwise the 'Kale' lovers in my family would ridicule me into submission with their rants about dying from clogged arteries and the like. I actually feel like having some fast food right now come to think of it.

[MrBandGuy]

Great stories. We're getting a few Nashville transplants or fancy chefs opening HC places in Louisville. Reviews are mixed. I'm not a fan of hot sauce, so I haven't had any (yes, I'm that guy).

I really just wanted to point out that this conversation made a KFC ad show up on the top of the page. And that made me laugh.

[Pudge]

I don't have a problem with "wings", but now if you call them Buffalo Wings you should be held to a standard. There are a wide variety of wings just as there are a wide variety of burgers.