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I don't think there are many who still read my posts here that eat much fast food, but I thought I'd mention what I had last night for dinner. I'd seen a couple of good reviews for KFC's limited-time special, Nashville Hot Chicken, so I tried it last night. It does taste reasonably good. I would not say it's the best tasting spicy chicken I've ever had, as KFC touts in it's advertising. I understand they have both 'original and 'crispy' versions. What I had was the 'original,' and I would guess it is basically KFC 'original' breading with some significant additions to the spice mix. They mention in the advertising both cayenne and smoky paprika. There is a lot of paprika in it as the chicken coating, as presented, looks red. I'm pretty sure there is ground cumin as well. Wing Stop's cajun flavor wings are spicy hot and have quite a bit of cumin. KFC's Nashville has a milder flavor. Wing Stop's cajun has a stronger cumin flavor. Wing Stop's cajun is hotter initially, and I think it tastes better. Again KFC's tastes good. The dish Nashville Chicken as served in Nashville comes with dill pickle slices. So does KFC's. The pickles KFC used are a bit wimpy, and I don't think they added much. However one piece of chicken I got apparently got a good drop of pickle juice on it when the preparer was spreading the pickle slices out one per piece. That piece noticeably tasted of dill, and that flavor did add quite a bit. It might be better to eat it with your own dill pickles
What about the heat of the 'Hot Chicken?' It's deceptive. The breading effectively hides how much capsaicin you are getting in your mouth. While you are eating you get mild flashes of heat, like biting into bits of black pepper. Toward the end of the meal though enough oil has coated your mouth that it begins to sting. And after you've finished it seems hot. Not knock you down hot. But significantly hot and it stays hot in your mouth for hours. Personally I don't remember that kind of reaction to cayenne, before. But I do remember having that happen with hot paprika. I do wonder if KFC has blended hot and mild paprika for this recipe.
KFC's Nashville Hot Chicken is definitely not for anyone who can not take lots of spices or hot foods. It seems mild, but it is quite potent... after you have finished eating.
I had problems later in the evening, but to be fair I don't think it began with KFC or its recipe. I had an unusually big lunch yesterday, then had the KFC for dinner before I was really hungry again. All seemed fine as I went to bed. A couple hours later I woke up, still tasting cumin and feeling the heat in my mouth. I felt queasy. I didn't thrown up, and doubted that I would. But it seemed like a possibility. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom, and very quickly felt better. I recognized two separate symptoms: 1. I'd gone to bed too soon and my stomach hadn't done its work for the evening; 2. I was having problems with having ingested too much sulfur. The first was easily enough to make me feel bad. The second was plenty to make me feel sick. Staying awake and letting my stomach wake up and do its job for awhile is an easy cure for the first problem. Only passing time helps the second. The flavor of cumin in my mouth wasn't making me feel any less queasy.
I don't know where the sulfur came from. I don't think my lunch was solely to blame. Were there sulfites in the pickles? Maybe, but there wasn't much of them. What was extra in the breading mix besides peppers and cumin? I don't know for sure. The breading was a bit different from KFC's usual. It retained cooking oil more than usual and was quite rich on its own. My usual suspects for sulfur-vs-stomach problems are egg yolks and molasses/treacle. Molasses gives me the most problems, but the breading wasn't sweet. Does the Hot breading have extra eggs and or egg yolks in it? Might be. Does it have some other source of sulfur? I don't know. It wouldn't take much sulfur along with having gone to bed without first having digested my dinner to make me feel awful.
What about the heat of the 'Hot Chicken?' It's deceptive. The breading effectively hides how much capsaicin you are getting in your mouth. While you are eating you get mild flashes of heat, like biting into bits of black pepper. Toward the end of the meal though enough oil has coated your mouth that it begins to sting. And after you've finished it seems hot. Not knock you down hot. But significantly hot and it stays hot in your mouth for hours. Personally I don't remember that kind of reaction to cayenne, before. But I do remember having that happen with hot paprika. I do wonder if KFC has blended hot and mild paprika for this recipe.
KFC's Nashville Hot Chicken is definitely not for anyone who can not take lots of spices or hot foods. It seems mild, but it is quite potent... after you have finished eating.
I had problems later in the evening, but to be fair I don't think it began with KFC or its recipe. I had an unusually big lunch yesterday, then had the KFC for dinner before I was really hungry again. All seemed fine as I went to bed. A couple hours later I woke up, still tasting cumin and feeling the heat in my mouth. I felt queasy. I didn't thrown up, and doubted that I would. But it seemed like a possibility. I got out of bed and went to the bathroom, and very quickly felt better. I recognized two separate symptoms: 1. I'd gone to bed too soon and my stomach hadn't done its work for the evening; 2. I was having problems with having ingested too much sulfur. The first was easily enough to make me feel bad. The second was plenty to make me feel sick. Staying awake and letting my stomach wake up and do its job for awhile is an easy cure for the first problem. Only passing time helps the second. The flavor of cumin in my mouth wasn't making me feel any less queasy.
I don't know where the sulfur came from. I don't think my lunch was solely to blame. Were there sulfites in the pickles? Maybe, but there wasn't much of them. What was extra in the breading mix besides peppers and cumin? I don't know for sure. The breading was a bit different from KFC's usual. It retained cooking oil more than usual and was quite rich on its own. My usual suspects for sulfur-vs-stomach problems are egg yolks and molasses/treacle. Molasses gives me the most problems, but the breading wasn't sweet. Does the Hot breading have extra eggs and or egg yolks in it? Might be. Does it have some other source of sulfur? I don't know. It wouldn't take much sulfur along with having gone to bed without first having digested my dinner to make me feel awful.