On Monday Jack, the sous chef, showed me how to make the candied pecans that go into the fruit and pecan salad.
This basic technique could work for any type of nut.
Start off by making the simple syrup. Normally, a simple syrup begins with a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water by volume. However, Jack showed me to start off with 2:1 ratio of sugar to water so that you don't have to cook it down as much. We made 8 Litres of syrup for 6 litres of pecans (you need enough to be able to cover them).
Bring the mix to a boil and simmer it for a few minutes until thickened. Add the pecans and bring it back to a boil. Simmer for about ten minutes, and stir occasionally. Strain the pecans through a colander very carefully - the syrup can really burn you - and save excess syrup for next time. Spread the nuts out on a sheet pan and cool immediately in a blast cooler or freezer. Be sure to stir them as they cool, otherwise they'll all stick together.
Once they're cooled, we deep fry them very briefly, about 2 minutes, so that they'll keep for a week or two. There's no need to deep fry them if they'll be used immediately. I would bet that they can just as easily be baked for a few minutes.
Be careful... these are highly addictive.