Hot chicken had me
THE last time I did a food challenge more than a decade ago, I vowed that I’d never do one again, writes Ed Gilbert. Having successfully completed the Man v Food burger challenge at the North Star pub in Cardiff, the memories still haunted me many years later.
But, they say that time is a great healer.
So, I guess that’s why I found myself at Sticky Fingers street food market in Roath on a Friday afternoon to try and work my way through the different heat levels of Nashville hot chicken served by Fowl & Fury.
Fowl and Fury has been open since May this year and is the only place in Wales which specialises in this Tennessee fried chicken dish.
There are three key things to know about Nashville hot chicken:
That it’s always hot. That’s why it’s called “hot” chicken. So, even the mild heat level is hot.
It’s always served with white sliced bread to absorb the chicken juices.
It’s always served with pickles to provide some spice cut through.
Owned by Jamie Rees, Fowl and Fury serves six different spice levels of Nashville hot chicken, ranging from Country, the mildest, all the way up to Fury, which actually sounds quite dangerous.
My plan was to work my way through all of them in order from mildest up and beat the chilli heat.
However, Jamie had a few choice words of advice for me before I started. Firstly, I always needed to have a glass of milk to hand and second, I needed to ensure that I put my toilet paper in the fridge as soon as I got home.
Finally, he told me the most macho rugby blokes often crash and burn fastest. As a geeky beanpole, the odds looked as though they were probably in my favour.
Now, I must admit that I’m a bit of a chilli coward. I’ve eaten Fowl and Fury’s mild heat level before and found it pretty uncomfortable. So, to say that I was afraid was a bit of an understatement. I was terrified.
I saw off the Country with absolutely no bother. Without any chilli heat, it was simply a deliciously juicy, crisp and well-seasoned piece of southern fried chicken. If you’re looking for an alternative to one of the big chains in Cardiff then this is one of the best around.
The chilli burn arrived with the extra-mild chicken. This was added to the menu after Fowl and Fury received feedback from some customers that even the mild was too spicy. It was absolutely delicious, with a lovely complexity of spice and good level of chilli heat. I’d certainly start here if you’re not great with chilli like me.
Next was the mild, which is around something like a madras curry in terms of spice. This is where I started to struggle a little bit. It was still lovely but it was probably about the amount of chilli that I’d be comfortable with if I was eating something out of choice.
Onto the medium and it was all becoming a bit of a blur at this point if I’m being honest. The chilli heat made my nose start to run and my eyes began to water. I’m sure I’d also probably seen off a few glasses of milk by this point too. Still, I managed to get through it without too much bother, I think.
I was nearly on the home straight with the arrival of the hot. However, this was anything but hot. In fact, something like “this is a bad idea” would have been a more appropriate description as apparently it makes some customers experience feelings of sadness.
Jamie also warned me about the adrenaline rush which comes with eating chillies and this was the first time I’d ever experienced it in such a big way. I began to feel light headed and a bit spaced out. However, I took it one mouthful at a time and eventually got through it.
Feeling rather pleased with how far I’d managed to get, despite the intense suffering I was experiencing, I moved onto Fury, the final hurdle. I was again warned that due to the different types of chillies in this heat level, there was a slower chilli build than the previous hot spice level.
Therefore the best tactic was to try to eat it as quickly as possible. I also had to wear gloves and ensure that I washed my hands thoroughly afterwards!
I think I started off fairly quickly as planned but I rapidly hit the wall, feeling in even more of a daze and struggling a bit to catch my breath. However, I battled on towards my final goal and just like that, with the last mouthful, it was over.
While I can wholeheartedly recommend the Nashville hot chicken from Fowl and Fury, I most certainly can’t say the same about the experience I went through. If my next food challenge isn’t for another 10 years, it’ll still be too soon.