ti' punch chicken

out for my friday walk, i pondered what i would do with the skinless chicken thighs in the fridge. i decided i wanted a sticky sweet glaze. i had lemons. so i figured i'd to a sweet/sour thing with lemons and honey. unfortunately, i didn't know if i had honey. and the lemons are meyers. and i have no idea how to do a fry-pan glaze.

but that didn't stop me. i thought a little more and realized i had, if not honey, then cane syrup. and while meyers are too sweet, i had a lime. and if i'm gonna use 2/3 the ingredients of a ti' punch, why not just make a ti' punch in the pan?

so that's what i did. i cubed the chicken thighs, did my best (not good enough) to sear them in hot butter/corn oil. then i deglazed the pan with a double shot of rhum blanc de martinique. it wasn't boiling off quickly enough for me so i set it on fire. twice. on purpose! then i squeezed a couple of lime wedges into the pan, and dropped them in (ti' punch style). at last, i doused everything with some cane syrup and stirred it a bit to caramelize things. salt, pepper, finishing salt, and that was it.

we both agreed the chicken itself wasn't great, and the sauce didn't work at all once it cooled. but while it was hot? it was like a chickeny ti' punch. a total success. i won't say i'd make this recipe this way again, but it MIGHT make both a good marinade and a good barbecue sauce for grilled chicken. it's not often i make a sauce that comes out exactly as i was hoping. this time, i surely did.