KFC Hot Chicken (pre)Tenders
Let me explain that cryptic title. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
Last week's print edition of the Scene presented an informal analysis of chain restaurant hot chicken (KFC, O'Charley's, Jim 'n' Nick's), pitted in a blind tasting against two local favorites (400 Degrees and Hattie B's). For the record, I was not one of those staffers because I figure that the less often I actually go into the office, the harder I am to recognize and thus am harder to fire. Over at the Fraternal Order of Hot Chicken Facebook group page, there has been some debate and consternation over what one poster refers to as "the latest Nashville Scene debacle" and whether chicken tenders can officially be considered hot chicken.
I, for one, couldn't care less whether strips of breast meat pass somebody else's definition of official hot chicken. Whatevs. Given my choice, I always prefer dark meat on the bone, and if a thigh isn't your favorite cut of chicken, I'm not sure we can be friends. But if you don't think that tenders can be hot chicken, I suggest you drop by Pepperfire and challenge Isaac Beard to prove it to you.
But in the interest of my own edification and the fact that somebody from Business Week wanted to interview me for my opinion on KFC's hot chicken, I gave them a shot. A box of tenders later and I pretty much agreed with my friend Vivek Surti's appraisal: if I had to order fast-food hot chicken and there wasn't a Popeye's nearby, I'd probably get these again. However if I was actively seeking out hot chicken, the KFC version would be the last thing I would go for.
My order wasn't soaked in pooling grease like others that I have heard complaints about. The spice was unevenly spread across the tenders, clearly the result of a careless application from a squirt bottle. But the flavor wasn't horrible. It mimicked elements of the traditional spice profile of Nashville Hot Chicken, though I'm thinking that KFC introduced a little liquid smoke to the party after they were forced by market research to back off on the heat level. But they weren't developing this recipe just to prove something to Nashvillians; they were foisting it on all of America, so they had to limit the destructive effects of hot chicken while still attempting to communicate the gestalt of the dish.
So why so mad, bruh? I've heard from many Nashville residents who are genuinely pissed that KFC and other restaurants around the country have the temerity to try to serve their own versions of our dish. I got to thinking where this visceral reaction was coming from, and then it struck me. KFC has created the Bro Country of hot chicken, and we've had enough of the commoditization of our culture.
In Nashville, we appreciate authenticity, creativity and, above all else, things that have soul. If you'd asked a Nashvillian what good country music was three years ago, we'd have told you about Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell or Chris Stapleton back when he was the lead singer for The SteelDrivers. This was long before the national Grammy voters found out about our local treasures. (Note to Chris: Pack an extra empty duffel bag when you fly out to LA next week.)
But when you try to create country music aimed at the least common denominator, or rather the widest common denominator, you get ... Florida Georgia Line. And that pisses us off here in Nashville. It's not that we reject that it exists or don't appreciate the money and jobs that this derivative music brings back to town, but it is generally soulless, and we don't want to be formally associated with it.
It's the same thing with hot chicken. I do believe that Carla Hall will be able to fry up some fine birds in Brooklyn the same way that I appreciate the country music that Laura Cantrell is recording in New York. (Though it is important to point out that both of them lived in Nashville at one point in their lives.) I don't think we have the patent on producing real country music or hot chicken, but if you're gonna try to replicate either one and put Nashville's name on it, it sure as hell better have some soul.
And it would be better if Norm McDonald was not involved.
