Fried Chicken with Pecan Honey Glaze

Do you ever get food cravings?  I mean real cravings for that certain food that you just can't stop until you drop everything you're doing and go make it.  That's what this is....your ultimate food craving.  I think about this chicken a lot. I dream about this chicken.  I mean there's something about crunch and sweet that sets off cravings like nothing else.  Make it once and you'll know what I mean.

Fried Chicken with Pecan Honey Glaze

1 quart buttermilk (4 cups)
1 frying chicken (3-4 lbs.), cut up into 8 pieces

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 tablespoons onion powder
11/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil or shortening

Rinse the chicken and pat completely dry with paper towels.

Pour 1/2 the buttermilk (2 cups) into a shallow bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat well. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Set up your dredging station with three shallow bowls. Place the remaining 2 cups of buttermilk in one bowl. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, garlic and onion powders, paprika and cayenne and divide the mixture into the other two shallow bowls. Season both bowls generously with salt and pepper.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and drain off buttermilk.  Then pat it dry with paper towels. Dredge the pieces a few at a time in the flour mixture and then shake off excess. Then dip each piece of chicken into the buttermilk and again shake off the excess buttermilk. Finally, dredge the chicken a third time into the second shallow dish of flour and shake off excess. Set chicken pieces on rack until ready oil is hot enough to fry.

Add about 3 inches of cooking oil to a heavy skillet…add no more than half way up the sides. Fry the chicken over medium high heat working in batches of 3-4 pieces at a time. Using tongs, turn the chicken pieces in hot oil for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked all the way through. I like to cover my chicken half way through this cooking process.

Remove chicken from the oil with tongs and move to a rack lined with a paper towel to drain; repeat to cook the remaining pieces.

Pecan-Honey Glaze

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup honey
1 cup coarsely finely chopped pecans

To make the glaze, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the honey until well blended. Bring to a simmer and add the pecans. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle the glaze over the hot fried chicken and serve.

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