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least 4 hours or overnight.
    2. Stir the flour, garlic and onion powders, paprika, and cayenne together in a large bowl. Divide the flour mixture between 2 shallow platters and season generously with salt and pepper. Pour the remaining 2 cups buttermilk into a bowl. Drain the chicken in a colander and pat it dry. Dredge the pieces, a few at a time, in the flour mixture and pat off any excess. Then dip in the buttermilk and allow the excess to drain off. Dredge the pieces in the second plate of flour and pat off the excess. Put the chicken pieces on a baking rack set over a baking sheet and set aside while the oil heats.
    3. Pour about 3 inches of oil into a deep cast-iron skillet; the oil should not come more than halfway up the sides of the skillet. Put the skillet over medium-high heat and heat the oil to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Working in batches, add a few chicken pieces to the hot oil and fry, turning occasionally, until evenly golden brown and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a rack to drain. Serve on a platter, drizzled with Tabasco Honey and garnished with parsley.
Tabasco Honey
    1 cup honey
    3 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
    Kosher salt
    Whisk together the honey, Tabasco, and salt to taste in a bowl. Serve with the chicken.
     

     

Jasper Alexander’s
Hattie’s Southern Fried Chicken
    SERVES 4
    1 (3½-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces, rinsed, and patted dry
    1 tablespoon kosher salt
    ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
    Vegetable oil, for frying
    3 cups all-purpose flour
    1. Put the chicken in a large baking dish and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
    2. In a large cast-iron skillet, heat enough oil to come about halfway up the pieces of chicken to 325°F. Put the flour in a large, sturdy plastic bag. Add the chicken, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat; shake off any excess flour. Working in batches, add the chicken pieces to the hot oil and fry, turning the chicken and adjusting the heat as necessary, until the skin is golden and a meat thermometer inserted into the chicken registers 160°F, 20 to 25 minutes.

Name: Keith Young
Hometown: Freeport, Long Island, New York
Occupation: Firefighter
    “We kept busting Bobby’s chops because he had everything prepped, he had four burners working, and he had a woman behind a curtain, like the Wizard of Oz, handing him any pot or pan that he needed. You never see her on camera. We were an hour behind Bobby when it came to service. Stressful, definitely, but the cold beers seemed to make it all go away!”
    —KEITH YOUNG

    I turned up the heat with New York City firefighter Keith Young. Keith thought that he was showing off his firehouse favorite chicken cacciatore for the Food Network special “Real Men Cook,” but I had some thing else in mi nd.
    At 6 feet 6 inches and 250 pounds, Keith Young was an impressive opponent. This member of Ladder 158 in Brooklyn is also a volunteer firefighter in the Long Island town of Freeport, where he lives with his wife and children. Just like fighting fire, food is a passion for Keith. Before he joined the FDNY, Keith earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the prestigious Johnson & Wales culinary school and worked in a half dozen restaurants from New York to Lake Tahoe. His previous career has served him and his coworkers well—they are guaranteed an outstanding meal when he’s in the kitchen, and he’s freed from dish-washing duty. In 2003 Keith published
Cooking with the Firehouse Chef,
a cookbook full of his favorite recipes and anecdotes from one of the “hottest” kitchens in the world. That book led to television appearances from the
Today
show, to Wayne Brady, and of course, to Food Network.
    Keith needs to do more than make food that’s deliciously satisfying; he also has to be frugal because there is no such thing as a free meal at the firehouse. Firefighters pay for their own meals, and Keith has become the