Sweet tea-brined hot chicken wings

Chicken second courses

If you had to name one food that was truly Nashville, it would have to be hot chicken. Originally created by an angry woman trying to get back at her womanizing boyfriend, her attempts at revenge were foiled when her spice-loaded fried chicken went over well with the dude instead of causing him severe pain (or, the pain was in fact, pleasurable since the chicken was so delicious). You have to respect a woman who gets her revenge in the form of fried chicken. This is no where near authentic hot chicken (haters gonna hate). It's baked rather than fried, with a level of spiciness at which hot chicken aficionados would turn up their noses and snicker. Milder than the mild at Prince's, that's for sure, and maybe I am a chicken, but for normal folk, "mild" in this case is still pretty darn spicy. It's like the ultimate Southern spa treatment: sweet tea bath followed by a hot spice massage. The sweet tea brine infuses the wings with flavor and moisture much in the way a salt brine does the