Ingredients:
Serves 8-10
Chicken
2 chickens cut into 8 pieces
2 sleeves of club crackers crushed
1 quart buttermilk
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp minced thyme
4 cups flour
Biscuits
5 cups of flour
5 tbsp sugar
5 tbsp salt
1 tbsp baking soda
2 cup buttermilk
10 tbsp frozen grated butter
5 tbsp honey
Gravy
2 tbsp cooking oil from the chicken frying (brown bits but not dark brown bits)
2 tbsp flour
hot milk
hot water
sea salt
black pepper
Instructions:
Day ahead: Coat your chicken pieces in kosher salt (1 tbsp per chicken) plus fresh ground pepper and cayenne. Place in zip locks or tupperware-style bowls outfitted with lids and cover the chicken in buttermilk. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
Start your biscuits early. They can sit while you cook the chicken. Heat the oven to 400. Whisk your dry biscuit ingredients. ( flour, sugar, salt, baking powder) Then grate in 8 tbsp of frozen unsalted butter. immediately mix in 3/4 of the buttermilk. If all of the dough is incorporated, then fold it out onto a floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle that is about an inch and a half thick. Cut into 12 small rectangles/squares. Bake for 15 - 18 minutes. Then melt 2 tbsp of butter on the stove add 2 tbsp of honey and store. Then brush over the tops of the biscuits while still warm.
Next, turn the oven down to 350. Prepare the breading by adding 1 sleeve of cracker crumbs plus 2 cups flour into a ziplock along with half the minced thyme. In another Ziplock do the same thing. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and place each piece in the Ziplock one by one shaking to coat. Then add each piece to a cookie sheet (you will need two). And place in the freezer while you heat your oil. Heat canola oil in an enamel casserole on medium-high heat. Test the oil by putting a pitch of breading into the pan. If it creates medium-sized bubbles it's ready. Cook chicken in batches until dark golden brown about 10-12 minutes per batch, then transfer to a cookie sheet outfitted with a wire rack or foil if you don't have racks and bake each batch of chicken another 15 minutes. Continue this until you are done. When the last batch goes into the oven it is time to make the gravy. My mom's recipe for gravy is a very loose recipe it requires "feeling it out".
To make the gravy remove all but 2 tbsp of the cooking oil from the pan or if the oil and fried bits look too brown then start a new pan and add in oil without the dark brown bits. Add in the flour and whisk. Then add in heated milk and whisk until it seems to be the right consistency. If it is too thick add hot water tbsp by tbsp. Continue whisking and season with salt and pepper.
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