Why I'm Dedicating My Life to Hot Chicken

Morgan McGlone is the chef behind Belles Hot Chicken in Australia, where they serve some of the most sought-after fried chicken in the world today. He's popped up all over the world—with Noma in Sydney, with Rosforth & Rosforth under Knippelsbro in Copenhagen—giving people a chance to taste what his restaurant is all about: spicy chicken and natural wine.

I was born in New Zealand, started my cooking career in Australia, worked in the fashion industry in New York, Brazil and Paris, and trained under the great chef Pierre Gagnaire, but it was the American South that shaped what I do today.

In 2011 I moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where I worked for Sean Brock at his restaurant Husk. Two years later I moved to Nashville, where I became chef de cuisine at the other outpost of Husk, and it's also where I came upon Nashville hot chicken.

This is how my restaurant Belles Hot Chicken came about.

My friend and I were in Nashville, and we ordered some fried chicken from a famous local spot called Hattie B's. We then went to a wine shop and got a beautiful bottle of white wine from the producer René Mosse in Loire, and as we sat on the porch in the summer sun, eating chicken and drinking wine, I told myself: 'Fuck, I've gotta do this in Australia. This is a winner.' We opened in Melbourne in 2014 and now have six locations, including two in Sydney.

I'm really excited about coming back to Copenhagen to serve our chicken under the bridge where Noma is doing their summer pop-up. I'm bringing over all the sauces, a bucket of pickles and speciality salts, and we'll serve our fried chicken sandwich, which is kind of inspired by the 'zinger' burger from KFC. But obviously a lot better.

We serve the sandwich in a Japanese-style milk bun, toasted with clarified butter, so it's both steamed and crispy. We have our "good good" sauce, made with American mustard, ketchup, pickled jalapeños and apple-cider vinegar, and then add American cheese, lettuce and onion. For the chicken, we use a skin-on filet that's been fried for about 7-8 mins. It's pretty insane. To make good fried chicken, you need quality chicken with bones and skin so it crisps up in the frying oil.

My father and my grandfather were both cooks. When my career in rugby wasn't going too well, because I was being lazy, I started as a chef. My father told me: "If you become a chef you will never be without a job, because everyone wants to eat." I'm half Maori and half Irish. My grandmother is from a tiny island called Niue in the Pacific, not far from Tonga, and we grew up with an enormous respect for the land, farming and the sea.

This is something I recognized when I worked with Sean Brock, who really taught me how important it is to appreciate the producers you work with. I was enthralled by the way he champions farmers and upholds the cuisine of the South—and there is so much more to Southern food than fried chicken and barbecue. There is a real depth of cultures—from African American to French and Jewish—integrated into the cuisine, and there is nothing quite like it. At Belles in Australia, people come in and say, "Oh my god, I've never had anything like this in my life," but in the South this is an everyday staple. It's really cool to be able to bring that culture to Australia and New Zealand.

At Belles our thing has always been "hot chicken and natural wine." It's part of our logo and it's part of what we deliver: We always try to pair natural wine with spicy fried chicken and it just hits the right notes. The spice factor really resonates with low-intervention, zero-sulphite wines, and it's doesn't get too hot. The great thing with Nashville hot chicken is that there are many levels of spice, so it's all up to the personal palate.

And that's also reason why I'm excited about my pop-up in Denmark. You guys don't fuck around with natural wines. You got the best shit around.

I can't wait to go back.