I remember the first time I had soy sauce chicken.

It was a beautiful Canadian summer. I had recently purchased a new home and I just had a meeting with the developer to customize my features: brick colour, flooring, tiles etc. I’ll admit it was both exciting and stressful even though it wasn’t the first house I’ve bought, it was my first pre-construction. I really wanted to make the right choice. Everything had to be perfect!

Did I pick the right exterior brick? Should I have picked a different laundry room colour? I probably spent a week just picking the absolute perfect lot. After that meeting my mind was aloof, buzzing with internal chatter, the good the bad and the manic. It’s safe to say on this summer’s day I most certainly wasn’t thinking about food….and that’s pretty rare for me. My husband did the husbandly thing at that time and told me to “Snap out of it already!” as we cruised though what was soon to become my neighbourhood.

I can still remember that feeling, the novelty of exploring a new neighbourhood. Passing by the grocers and thinking to myself this is where I’ll soon be shopping. Driving past a breakfast place and thinking soon I’ll be having my pancakes and corned beef hash here. The fast food takeaway right next door, though small in size had the largest presence in the plaza. You could spot the colouful sign from far off and even with closed eyes it could be identified from it’s unmistakable smell. Car windows slightly down, I inhaled the scent of hot oil, salt and deep fried potatoes. And then we drove a bit further.

On this particular day, in some odd twist of roles, my husband suggested that we stop for lunch at the Chinese place up ahead. Now, here’s some absolute truth. My house is a sort of food dictatorship. We pretend, as some countries do that there’s freedom of choice and we’re a democracy. A giant pretense if I say so myself.

In my household when eating out, I pick the type of food, I pick the place, I order. When I’m cooking I choose what’s on the menu. So it is written, so shall it be done. To this day, the hubby responds to a food question with a question.

Me: “What do you want to eat today?”

Him: “What do you want to eat?”

And despite knowing he’ll always turn it around on me and the choice is mine, I still ask anyway…knowing this dance of ours always has the same end. This is that farce I talked about earlier and this is the absolute truth.

Now it’s on this fateful day, at this Chinese Restaurant that my husband so uncharacteristically picked out, is where I had my very first taste of Soy Sauce Chicken.

It arrived at the table, not very robust looking, the skin soft and not at all crisp or glossy like I’d imagined. It was only after setting eyes on the platter, after it landed with an audible plunk ever so quickly onto our table, did I realize the chicken was poached. I was very hesitant I’ll admit. Immediately my mind spun a tale of a wicked plot of the universe, one that involved retribution for us because we changed the course of events.

We chose the red pill instead of the blue pill and we allowed our fates to be sealed when he picked the restaurant.

And just like I accepted my fate by signing on the dotted line of that house contract, It was time for me to accept what ever fate was to come my way and I picked up a piece with my chopsticks, placed it by my lips, paused for a moment…and then opened my mouth.

What the hell was I worried about?! The thing was damned delicious. And that’s the very first time I’ve had soy sauce chicken. I’ve probably had this dish countless times since, at what I like to call my friendly neighbourhood Chinese Restaurant.

Now my version of soy sauce sauce chicken is inspired by the flavours of that very first one but it’s also quite different. Marinated, roasted and basted with a delicious sauce that leaves the skin firm, glossy, and slightly sticky. And the flavours are a mixture of salty, spice and sweet. And just like the poached version the basting sauce can be drizzled on top of white rice to form a complete dish. Since experimenting with this recipe I’ve made it quite a few times and I’m more than satisfied with the taste and texture.

Just this weekend past, I asked the hubby

Me:” What do you want to eat?”

Him: “What do you want to eat?”

And I made my Honey Soy Sauce Roasted Chicken.