Music City Hot Chicken Festival
Evidently a Road Trips Foodie hasn’t experienced chicken if he or she hasn’t tried Nashville Hot Chicken (and there’s been an annual festival since 2007 just to prove the point).
The Music City Hot Chicken Festival is held in East Park, 700 Woodland Street, Nashville, Tennessee, July 4, 2015. The event begins at 11 a.m. with a parade of fire trucks and free Hot Chicken samples to the first 500 people in line. All day long, visitors can enjoy Hot Chicken from Nashville’s best Hot Chicken establishments, cold beer from Yazoo and other edibles from local vendors.
Of course there’ll be music by local bands and an Amateur Cooking Competition.
According to the sponsors, Nashville Hot Chicken has three components: bread, chicken and pickle.
*Bread: Authentic Nashville Hot Chicken uses simple white bread – 1-2 slices placed under the Hot Chicken to absorb the juices and flavor.
*Chicken: While each Nashville Hot Chicken restaurant may have their own secret blend of spices, many note that it’s not just an intense amount of heat that makes it authentic, it’s that heat and flavor. The chicken is fried and coated in these seasonings, most typically in a “dry” sauce – often made with a base of lard or oil. The use of a “wet” sauce (such as Buffalo-style chicken) is NOT Nashville Hot Chicken.
*Pickle: Authentic Nashville Hot Chicken places a few slices of dill pickles atop the cooked chicken. While some folks may want to experiment with bread & butter pickles, this is not the authentic way.
The Hot Chicken Festival is a “rain or shine” event.