By Emily Kemme
Fried chicken, hands down one of America’s favorite foods, got off to a tame start. Likely brought to the Southern colonies in the eighteenth century by Scottish immigrants, according to Adrian Miller in his recent deep dive of the fried chicken dinner’s history, basic recipes for this crave-worthy food were probably provided to African slaves by their plantation owners. Although frying foods was also typical of West African cuisine, it was spice added by the slave population, pulling from traditional West African seasonings — most predominantly chili peppers — which made all the difference.
Because fried chicken tastes best when prepared with tender young birds — think, “Spring Chicken,” — the dish was a highlight of spring and summertime meals. It was labor intensive, reserved for Sunday supper. Dipped in flour or batter and then fried in lard in a cast iron skillet, the dish came to represent the American south. After the Civil War, industrialization lowered the cost of chicken, and the portable, picnic-friendly dish provided African-American women with a means to earn a living.
Although fried chicken is rich in taste and calories, the heat came later
Legend has it that about 100 years ago, Nashville ladies’ man, Thorton Prince, had a practice of tom-catting, arriving home in the wee hours of the morning. Tired of his late nights, for punishment one morning his girlfriend cooked up a batch of fried chicken for breakfast, going heavy handed with the peppers and spice. His reaction wasn’t what she’d expected. Prince fell in love with the spiced chicken and opened Prince’s Hot Chicken soon after. That chicken shack is still going strong, spawning competitive knock offs Hattie B’s, Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish, and others. Each claims to serve the hottest hot chicken in Nashville.
Colonel Sanders and KFC made fried chicken a global phenomenon, but the fiery versions pretty much stayed down south, with the hottest of hot only recently crossing the Mason-Dixon line in 2015 to find success with LA’s Howlin’ Ray’s, and The Budlong Hot Chicken shops in Chicago and Denver the following year.
Hot Chicken Arrives in Northern Colorado with Music City Hot Chicken
Sam Graf spent time visiting Nashville friends, but hadn’t heard of Nashville hot chicken before 2010. With KFC picking it up for their menu, the concept started trending. Graf decided hot chicken would be well-received in his native Fort Collins. And he was sure that green chile loving Coloradoans would eat it up.
“We have a lot of hot heads up here, people tend to like food really hot,” Graf noted.
He and his brother, Jordan, opened Music City Hot Chicken in 2016, hoping to mimic Hattie B’s presentation style, serving chicken on toast with pickles, but tweaking it with southwest flavors. Music City’s lower heat level — green chile — is truly Colorado local, Sam said. Heat-wise, it’s about equal to their southern classic prototype.
The Graf brothers’ chicken is buttermilk breaded, fried, and then tossed into a hot oil mixture Jordan Graf calls “sand,” because spices infused in hot oil coat the chicken.
“The oil drains off and spices stay on the breading, which is a dry application so you don’t undo all the hard work in getting it crispy. If you put a hot buffalo sauce on it, the skin gets soggy. And that’s a shame,” said Jordan Graf.
With their method, the chicken skin stays tight to the meat, keeping it moist.
Their hottest version, the Flammable Solid, is the hottest thing Jordan said he’s ever eaten, like biting into a fresh habañero. He sticks to their signature Nashville hot. “It’s about as hot as I can go without making it a two-day commitment,” Graf said.
There are also gluten free tenders, with a nice crisped texture, thanks to Bob’s Red Mill gluten free rice flour.
For sides, indulge in mac+cheese, a palate-calming cup of creamy corkscrew pasta. The coleslaw is crunchy and tangy. Coated in a 50/50 mayo and cider vinegar dressing, it’s tossed with seasonal veggies like snow peas, and crisp apples. Look for changing seasonal sides — bacon-braised collard greens and garlic brussels sprouts are a couple — concepts Jordan developed drawing on his career in fine dining and full-service high end restaurants.
Fried chicken’s easy portability has been a positive force for the pair. They’ve been on the overly cautious side while keeping their restaurant open during the pandemic; even during the summer when in-house dining was allowed, they relied exclusively on take-out. “We’re doing what we can to get through it and stay safe,” Sam Graf said.
111 West Prospect Road, #C, Fort Collins | Phone: 970-286-2309 | Order from the App or On-Line | Take-out only | Music City Hot Chicken
The Post Brewing Company moves from pop-up to nearly permanent in FOCO
Newer to the Fort Collins fried chicken scene is The Post Brewing Company. They’ve teamed up with sister restaurant, Jax Fish House, who installed pressure fryers to recreate The Post’s version, one which Chef Brett Smith said came together after sampling between 50 to 75 fried chicken recipes all over the country. The Post’s chicken goes entirely gluten free, using a flour blend that absorbs significantly less oil than regular wheat flour, Smith said. The result is the skin stays intact and stays there longer for to-go versions.
“This to-go following for our chicken has been our saving grace during the pandemic,” Smith said. “It’s less greasy, but I always tell people, all the different stages of the chicken are great, whether ten minutes after coming out of the fryer, 45-minutes later after you’ve gotten it home, or eating it straight from the fridge the next day.”
The Post’s basic recipe shakes on a bit of spice, particularly cayenne and chili powder, giving it bold flavor. The Nashville Hot version kicks up the heat, preparing it with house habañero hot sauce made with tomato paste, puréed habañeros, and cider vinegar. Order it with slightly sweet, cayenne pepper-spiked hushpuppies and spicy collard greens with bacon. And don’t skip the rich, chorizo country gravy for dipping and dolloping over buttermilk cheddar biscuits.
The Post Brewing entered the FOCO market with pop-up classic Sunday fried chicken dinners at Jax, but has since expanded to offering it nightly, from 3:30 to 9pm. The Post Brewing’s beer is available to-go in crowlers, as well.
As with so many restaurants, “The Covid thing was something we would never wish for, but it’s pushed everyone’s creativity to try new and interesting things,” Smith notes.
