Hog Sauce
March 15, 2022
Filipino Style Chicken Skewers
May 12, 2022Smoked Nashville Hot Chicken
This recipe diverts away from the traditional, by smoking the chicken before deep frying. Smoking the chicken first gives a super interesting and unexpected addition to an already super flavorful dish, that your guests will love you for.
This dish essentially calls for the chicken to be cooked twice, so it is important that you are mindful of this and avoid contamination or allowing the half cooked chicken to sit for too long before being deep fried.
What you will need
- 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups Flabby Phoenix Rub-Grab yours HERE
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
- 2 ½ cups buttermilk
- ¼ cup hot sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Tablespoon paprika
- 1 Tablespoon Garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
Buttermilk Brine
Chicken breading
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups panko crumbs
- 1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Kosher salt
- 2 Tablespoons Black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder
- 3 Tablespoons Paprika
- 2 Tablespoons Oregano
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder
- ½ cup deep fryer oil
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 Tablespoons Cayenne pepper
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon Black pepper
Spicy oil
Method
1. Trim off any excess fat on the chicken thigh, that is too thick to render out while the meat cooks.
2. In a medium sized container, whisk together all brine ingredients until well incorporated. Fully submerge the chicken in the brine and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours, up to overnight.
3. Before cooking, remove the chicken from the brine and wipe off the excess liquid with a paper towel. Liberally season the chicken on all sides with the spicy chicken rub. Save the remaining brine for the breading process, about 6 hours.
4. Place chicken thighs indirect on a 225F smoker and allow to smoke for about 45 minutes. Add your favorite mild fruit wood-I like cherry for this recipe.
5While the chicken is smoking, prepare breading by whisking all ingredients together in a bowl and setting aside.
6. Once chicken is finished smoking, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly for 5 minutes.
7. Bread the chicken by first submerging in the buttermilk brine mixture and then thoroughly coating in the breading. When breading chicken, it is a good idea to follow the wet hand, dry hand technique, which involves using one hand for the brine part, and one hand for the dry breading part. This allows you to avoid the thick build up of the mixture on your fingers.
8. Follow this process a second time, to double coat the chicken. This will give you the crunchiest chicken exterior.
9. In a large pot, preheat vegetable oil to 325F. Ensure that you have enough oil to fully cover the chicken. Generally about 4 inches is sufficient.
10. Working in batches, place the chicken in the oil and cook for 8-10 minutes, flipping half way through to ensure an even coating. Chicken will be a dark caramel/golden brown.
11. Remove chicken from oil, shake to get off most of the excess oil and then place on a paper towel covered tray while you cook the remaining chicken.
Serve chicken in a sandwich, making sure you have some great pickles, sliced onions and your favorite condiments. I like to serve with some Alabama white sauce, you can grab that recipe HERE
