Well, did you get your fill of hype and football yesterday?
Or better yet, did you get your fill of great food? I have often thought that the real function
of the Super Bowl was (aside from a few psychotic folk) an enabler for people
to get together, have appropriate food (which must include something orange)
and enjoy each other’s company. The game
itself is secondary (IMHO) to the opportunity to have a social gathering. Some of my favorite memories of “the game”
involve not the sport (who’s playing again?) but the chance to have fun and eat
food like Jambalaya and Gumbo.
In a bit of variance to what I just said, I am a bit
confused over all the Social Media postings like “what a boring game” and “a
waste of my time”. Another symptom of
the seemingly insatiable American belief of: “the higher the score, the better
the game”. They should be watching the
NBA, and the three-point festival that the league has turned in to. Certainly there is no wonder at the lack of
popularity of (European) Football/Soccer in this country.
Lastly, I somewhat also understand and appreciate the
sentiment of the NOLA Saint’s faithful, but seems to me boycotting the event is
a bit much. Despite sentiments running
high, I do not believe their team was entitled to win the NFC
championship. Certainly the “no-call” as
it has become to be named, was a factor but there were other opportunities
after that incident.
Our celebration (food) included simple yet appropriate fare,
a Jambalaya
And a "riff" on a Southern Classic, Red Jezebel:
The true classic Jezebel would include club crackers, but
being the culinary adventurer I am, I exchanged those for Ritz, with the
circular shape echoing the similar form of the red pepper jelly…. In reality I didn’t
have any club crackers!
Enough. March Madness
is just around the corner.. End of what (kind of unintentionally) turned into a
rant.
Let’s chat a bit more about food, more specifically:
“regional food”, dishes that are kind of associated with geographical
locations. Barbeq/cue is the typical example that leaps to mind, with all the regional variations found in the meats, sauces, preps,
and so on. One such category that I knew
existed, but not much about was “Nashville Hot Chicken”. Well, the February 4th edition of The New Yorker had an article called
“Letter From Nashville” providing 6 pages of three column text relating all
anybody would want to know about Nashville Hot Chicken which has now achieved
cult status. The Prince Family is
accredited with the genesis of it, and eventually led to their (legendary)
restaurant: “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack”.
The current owner is André Prince Jeffries
Like several foods that (inadvertantly?) turned into classics (Reuben sandwiches, "Buffalo" Chicken Wings) there is a story behind the genesis of Nashville Hot
Chicken. According to Prince family
history:
“Andrés great uncle Thornton Prince III, was a (sic)
handsome pig farmer and fond of women.
One Saturday night, he dragged home late, angering his girlfriend. The next day Prince asked her to make his
favorite food, fried chicken. The
girlfriend complied, but with a furious twist: she saturated the bird in
Cayenne and other spices.”
No doubt, Prince was expected to suffer, and
he did, but he also enjoyed the experience.
He began replicating the spicy fried chicken and selling it on weekends,
out of his home, and eventually opened a small restaurant, the BBQ Chicken
Shack, which became beloved in the black community.
When he died in 1960, the restaurant got passed around to various
relatives, eventually landing with the granddaughter of one of his brothers,
Jeffries. She made improvements, and
installed the “heat guide” allowing customers to choose from: plain; mild;
medium; hot; Xhot; and XXXHot. Stories
abound about people like Sean Brock and (the late) Anthony Bourdain, trying XXXHot
Chicken, and of course it today’s technology there are YouTube videos of the experience.
It is always served on two slices of white bread with a short stack
of dill pickle chips held in place by a toothpick.
The (prestigious) James Beard Foundation gave the restaurant its
America’s Classics award, which honors “timeless” establishments serving “quality
food that reflects the character of its community”. Alert readers just may, think about some
parallels between the Beard’s concept and the Feeder’s “Just Right”
designation.
Since the reputation and cult following of Nashville Hot Chicken
has spread, “imitators” abound: 400
Degrees; Bolton’s; Hattie B’s; Helen’s Hot Chicken; Pepper Fire to name a
few. A few are expanding into becoming a
Mini-Chain.
The original location of Prince’s suffered a fire in late December
that still has the original Ewing Drive location closed, but their other location
on Nolansville Pike is open. It is
slightly bigger than the original shack, and apparently has a slightly expanded
menu.
The recipe for the original spice blend is a closely held secret,
no cameras allowed, the kitchen is walled off from the eating area, etc. Of course good old YouTUbe has multiple
videos proclaiming to show how it is made..
Have not looked.
Anyway, if any of the loyal readers have experienced Nashville Hot
Chicken in some form, let the Feeder know.
With his sensitive institution, it is highly unlikely he will never
personally experience the dish..
According to some stories, DFD for eating the XXXHot might include
a change of undergarments..just a sartorial hint about
DFD,
And I earnestly hope they eschew MJ
