Here we go: another blasphemous recipe from Bravado Spice. The influences here are pretty straight forward: classic Southern, Tex-Mex, and, Nashville. We start with some skinless, boneless chicken thighs. You can just as easily use breast, but dark meat will pretty much always be juicier. No matter what, make sure you pound the chicken out flat for even cooking. 

When marinating with buttermilk, you really only need about 20-30 minutes, though some people insist on a hour, and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Buttermilk is pretty acidic, and the Bravado Spice Garlic & Árbol Moruga Scorpion Hot Sauce is too, and you really don't want to leave your chicken to marinate for more than 8 hours, tops. Do NOT let it marinate overnight or it will start to denature the protein in the chicken. 

Fry your chicken to golden brown in 350°F oil. Do NOT use extra virgin olive oil as it will absolutely burn and smoke. Canola, vegetable, corn oil, peanut, etc. will all work fine. If you'd like to try a healthier take on this sandwich, you can pan sear, or bake. Just be sure to season it well with salt & pepper. 8-10 minutes is probably fine for frying flattened thighs, but if you used chicken breast and did't flatten it, you may need to fry for more like 12-15 minutes. 

We designed this recipe around the star of the show: our new Garlic & Arbol Moruga Scorpion Hot Sauce. Here it pulls double duty as an acidic element in the buttermilk marinade and again spread on the fried chicken. In a traditional Nashville Hot chicken, you would add a bunch of pepper powder to some of the frying oil and brush that all over the chicken. If you were to try to substitute the powder with hot sauce, it will separate from the oil and you'll just end up with an oil slick. 

And now we assemble the torta. Traditionally, almond shaped bolillo bread rolls are used to make tortas, but in recent years, specialized torta bread has become popular; and to be fair, it's usually a bit softer, flatter, and toasts exceptionally well. Any Mexican grocery store or bakery worth its salt will usually. have both. Take the extra 4-5 minuets to toast the bread before making your sandwich. It's absolutely worth it. If you have fresh refried beans on hand, by all means, use those. Have some left over from last night's take out? Perfect. If not, store bought will work just fine.

There are differing opinions regarding mayo vs butter on the bread. Lettuce, tomato, and cilantro are pretty standard. If you have some pico de gallo sitting around, that will work great as well. Some people also like to add avocado slices and that will also be delicious. This makes a GIGANTIC sandwich. When shooting this video and making this recipe, we ended up splitting it. Try this recipe at home; we're sure you'll love it as much as we did.

Stay bold,

-Bravado Spice