Give Your Fried Fish The Nashville Treatment For A Flavor Explosion

Most culinarily inclined folks know about Nashville hot chicken, a Music City phenomenon birthed a century ago by the scorned lover of a man called Thornton Prince, who himself perfected the recipe and opened the first hot chicken shack. The spirit of Nashville is personified in that chicken, but guess what? It's not just the chicken. The Nashville Hot flavor explosion lives equally well in a plate of fried fish — arguably, even more so. 

That's because there's something deeply personal about fried fish in Deep South communities, including Nashville. A Southern fish fry is an informal neighborhood gathering that encompasses everything from history to cultural connections, regional cooking techniques, and plain ole fun with family and friends, similar to a scaled-down slap-your-back family reunion. The Nashville Hot spice tradition appears at communal fish fries but is even more common in simple at-home suppers. 

Basically, giving fried fish the Nashville treatment means spicing it up — way up, per preference, tolerance, or bravery. Getting that kick into the fish and onto waiting plates happens in one of two ways: adding the special ingredients to the fish dredge or mixing them into the leftover frying oil, creating a spicy coating for basting the fried fish.

First up in the Nashville Hot equation are the actual ingredients creating that sizzle. When using the spicy-coating approach, there's no better guide than the owners of the wildly popular Hattie B's in Nashville, who unveiled their secret recipe in a cookbook collection titled "Fried & True: More than 50 Recipes for America's Best Fried Chicken and Sides." Again, Nashville Hot isn't just about chicken anymore; this method works perfectly for fried fish. You're certainly welcome to personalize, but for the sake of authenticity, it's crucial to maintain at least the same core components. They include cayenne pepper and light brown sugar as well as garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, and ground black pepper. 

Those mix-mates (blended with the hot oil used for frying the fish) create the spicy coating. For fiery delight, brush it over the crispy fried exterior crust. This technique also provides an instant update for frozen fish fillets or fingers. You're basically transforming the concept of culinary "finishing oils" and doing it the Nashville way.

The alternative method, which is much easier, involves commercially available Nashville Hot spice blends. In this case, you'll be adding the seasoning blend directly into the fish dredge before frying. It works equally well with cornmeal or flour, though cornmeal dredging is more common in Southern recipes. You can still add extra punch and pizazz by basting the finished fish with Nashville hot sauce or serving it tableside.