Savoring Nashville

The smoky aroma makes it nearly impossible to resist Peg Leg Porker, an old-school barbecue eater in downtown Nashville.

As I stepped inside during a recent visit to the Music City, I was greeted by the sounds of grass-roots country music and Sun Records-style Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley rock ‘n’ roll.

Locals know the wet or dry, slow-rotisserie smoked ribs are among the best in town, and the house-made fruit- or chocolate-filled fried pies topped with ice cream are sinfully delicious.

Other menu items Peg Leg Porker ( http://peglegporker.com/) include pork from an 18-hour, slow-roasted whole pig, chicken wings (dry, barbecue, hot, extra hot), house-made pimento cheese, barbecue nachos, smoked green beans, mac and cheese, and that staple of Southern sips: sweet tea.

While Nashville has long been known for its music scene, including the famed Grand Ole Opry, its food scene is also booming.

“The capital of country music has a hidden talent for pitch perfect American soul food,” begins a recent story in Condé Naste Traveller magazine. Similarly, Travel + Leisure magazine last year proclaimed Nashville the No. 1 city for barbecue in America.

Many celebrity and formally trained chefs have recently set up shop in Nashville. But I wanted to go where locals regularly eat: Peg Leg Porker, which opened in 2013, as well as a few hot chicken and meat-and-three restaurants.

A longtime popular style of fried chicken throughout the South, hot chicken has become synonymous with Nashville, home of the Music City Hot Chicken Festival. A trip to Nashville doesn’t count unless you try this crispy yard bird with a cayenne-soaked coating.

The chicken is served as either a breast with attached wing, leg quarter or boneless tenders and is brined in buttermilk, floured and fried in a pressure fryer, then slathered with a layer of hot sauce seasoned with cayenne, butter, sugar, garlic and other, often secret ingredients.

My favorite hot chicken stop in Nashville is Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, which specializes in the fiery dish and also offers local craft beers that pair well with poultry and spicy foods.

Sides include Southern greens, baked beans, red-skin potato salad and a piquant salad of black-eyed peas. For dessert, the restaurant offers homemade banana pudding or fresh made seasonal fruit cobbler.

Hattie B’s ( http://www.hattieb.com/) is noted for having a slightly sweeter batter than other hot chicken restaurants, with heat levels that range from a mild “Southern” to the insanely spicy “Damned Hot” and “Shut the Cluck Up.” The dish is served, like all hot chicken joints, on sliced white bread with a stack of crinkled dill pickles or malted waffle with maple syrup on the side.

Some other hot chicken restaurants in Nashville – including meat-and-threes – also serve hot fried catfish which is prepared in the same manner.

At meat-and-three restaurants, customers choose one meat from a daily selection of several – such as fried chicken or catfish, country ham, meatloaf, chicken and dumplings, liver and onions, or turkey and cornbread dressing – along with three sides, like snap pole beans, deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, creamed corn, mashed white or sweet potatoes, fried green tomatoes, okra or black-eyed peas.

Monell’s ( http://monellstn.com/nashville) is one of my favorite meat-and-threes. It offers a family-style meat-and-three menu in several historical locations. Tables hold up to a dozen people, so if you’re part of a smaller party get ready to make some new friends.

Skillet-fried chicken is always a choice – along with several Southern sides, pineapple cobbler, house-made buttermilk biscuits, cornbread, sweet tea and pineapple juice-infused sun tea.

 

• Coming Wednesday: If you can’t make it to Nashville in the near future, try some Southern-style cooking at home. Look for a few recipes in the Food section.