Jesse Houston, formerly of Parlor Market and now at his own Saltine in Fondren, offered a recipe in the February/March Garden & Gun magazine inspired by Prince's Hot Chicken Shack in Nashville (and as a lover of spicy foods I have a sudden hankering for a Nashville road trip)!
"It was a religious experience," he said of the "hurts-so-good spicy fried chicken." His own recipe works just as well with chicken or cornish hens, but he pays tribute to local Mississippi hunters with the quail.
The buttermilk and pickle juice bath is most intriguing to me. The buttermilk tenderizes the meat and the pickle juice adds tang. The dressing helps take the edge off the heat. He recommends serving it with "cheap white bread at the base and supermarket pickles on the top."
He adds, "There's a flavor profile you can only get from cheap-ass pickles."
p.s. If you do go to Saltine, you must order the Caramel Cake. It will look and taste nothing like you expect, but you will thank me!
