Gram's Secret

Many thanks to Cammy for her willingness to guest post today!  I can't wait to try this tip out (as soon as I start cooking again ... maybe next month.)

Secrets.  80+ years of secrets.  My grandmother has had many years to figure out tricks and secrets in life that just work.  It has been a well know fact, in my family, that somehow when Grandma makes a dish with chicken in it, it is so full of flavor, and what she does changes the flavor of an entire dish!  Gram will say that the way you cook the chicken is the key to the whole dish.  Family members have asked for her "secret".  Humbly she shrugs and says, "Oh, I just brown it in a pan."  Well let's just say those directions have never yielded good results for me ... every time my chicken tastes ... well ... not like Grandma's. Several months ago family was together to celebrate the arrival of my nephew.  One night as Gram was making dinner the ladies hovered over her to see what her idea of "browning" is.... and so we got it!  I've done this since then and wow ...

So here is what she does:

This applies to all kinds of chicken (boneless and skinless), and is done even when the chicken will have some sort of a sauce in a dish.

Take whatever chicken pieces and put them into some sort of a large pot.

Add in several cloves of fresh chopped garlic and at least half an onion coarsely chopped.

Add enough oil so that there is somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2" of oil in the pan. The idea is  not to have the chicken covered in oil/deep fried, but much more than just lightly pan fried.  (I have only ever used coconut oil, but I'm sure any other oil you would use to pan fry chicken would work as well). 

Turn the heat to medium high and cover. Allow chicken to cook like this for around 15-20 minutes, flipping after one side has some brown areas on it.  

Note: It should look similar to the picture but if the chicken is going to go in another dish and continue to cook then you don't have to worry about it being cooked all the way though.

So there it is ... the secret -well, her secret - on adding flavor to all of her dishes. I'm sure I would have figured this out one day on my own, but most likely not for another 50 years. I'm so thankful for Gram's secrets and tricks of the trade.