Dark amber honey glaze

Honey burns if you glaze too soon. I have brushed it onto chicken at the start of a roast and pulled a pan of black, bitter thighs that no amount of scraping could save. So I give four thighs and a pile of carrots oil, salt, and pepper, and I roast them about thirty minutes with nothing sweet on them. Only then do I stir dark amber with cider vinegar, brush the pan, and put it back for eight to twelve minutes — wet and glossy, not black.

That is weeknight dinner. I eat it off the sheet pan at the stove, still hot enough to make me careful. One pan.

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in chicken thighs
• 1 pound carrots, scrubbed and halved if thick
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons Raw Texas Honey — Dark Amber
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Putting it together

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the chicken and carrots with the oil, 3/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper on a sheet pan. Set the thighs skin-side up.
2. Roast 30 minutes.
3. While that cooks, stir the dark amber, vinegar, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until the glaze looks even.
4. Brush the glaze over the chicken and carrots. Roast 8 to 12 minutes more, until the chicken is cooked through and the glaze is glossy.
5. Rest the pan 5 minutes, then serve from it.

Tips

Watch the last minutes. If the edges of the honey go from gold to dark brown in a hurry, pull the pan. Burnt honey is bitter, and you cannot stir it back. Pork chops or a tray of squash take the same glaze; keep the last-stretch rule.