For many, Memorial Day weekend is synonymous with the official start of summer, often marked by backyard barbecues where homegrown pitmasters try their hand at smoked butts, grilled summer veggies and homemade sides. In Nashville, a party centered around food wouldn’t be complete without hot chicken, a dish made famous by chefs and restaurants in Music City long before it became the destination it is today, with each putting his or her own spin on the spicy, smoky favorite.
But one chef has added a whole new meaning to the term “hot take.” With a few rounds of trial and error, a “secret recipe” hot chicken paste from a local business owner and a determination to take the hot chicken craze to the next level, Hattie Jane’s Creamery Executive Pastry Chef Lokelani Alabanza enters the scene with an unexplainably delicious Nashville Hot Chicken ice cream, just in time for the holiday weekend.
The flavor is sweet, yet smoky, tangy and creamy — with appropriate heat, true to the original. The hot chicken paste — given to Alabanza by James Lund, owner of Duck River Books on the downtown Columbia Square — includes garlic, bourbon, sugar, smoked paprika and cayenne, and boy, do the flavors show up in the ice cream. Looking to achieve that perfect zing, Alabanza added a few secret ingredients of her own and a true culinary delight was born.
“It’s an honor for me to pay homage to this beloved Nashville staple in such a unique way,” Alabanza said. “Mr. Lund’s hot chicken paste gave me a fantastic, robustly flavored base on which to build the ice cream, and I hope our customers will step outside the box with us and enjoy it as much as we do. It’s wild to see how good these sweet and savory flavors can be when melded together.”
Hot chicken may be her most sensational flavor yet, but there’s a close second. Puckett’s Barbecue ice cream also came to life recently, featuring the restaurant’s signature sauce.
A palate-pleasing cousin to the hot chicken, this ice cream is just as Puckett’s employees describe the Southern eatery’s popular barbecue sauce — a little sweet, with a little heat. Charred pineapple blended with the sauce in a vanilla base offers the perfect complement of flavors sure to thrill all lovers of ‘cue and ‘cream alike.
Both limited edition flavors will be available at Hattie Jane’s in Columbia and Murfreesboro, Tenn. Saturday, May 26 through Monday, May 28 — or while supplies last.
Alabanza is a professionally trained pastry chef who joined A. Marshall Hospitality in 2016. In addition to Hattie Jane’s, she is the executive pastry chef for Homestead Manor, the company’s multi-layer concept in Thompson’s Station and Deacon’s New South, A. Marshall’s newest restaurant in downtown Nashville that features dry-aged steaks, elevated seafood dishes, locally sourced sides and a robust beverage program.
Alabanza is known for her creative ice cream flavors, often combining savory and sweet ingredients like chocolate covered kettle or bacon & waffles. Other summer food-themed favorites have included ambrosia salad, Arnold Palmer, roasted strawberry cobbler and Mimi’s sundrop cake. To learn more, visit www.hattiejanescreamery.com.
Find Hattie Jane’s at 12 Public Square in Columbia or 116 N Church St in Murfreesboro.
