Chicken salad

Bow-tie pasta magically materialized by wishing for it very hard. 

This is a dill pickle. A sweet one would be better. Whoever invented dill pickles was a sourpuss.

Honey to compensate for the sour pickle.

This is the first time I bought commercial mayonnaise in what must be five years. It is better than I remember it. I ate a teaspoonful. I overestimated a little bit, by 100%. 

Browned in oil. Then water added, covered to steam. The fond and the oil and liquid and the seasoning that sloughs forms a loose sauce. This photo is showing the liquid in the pot.

The chicken stays moist because it was cooked quickly and briefly and cooled in the liquid. Shredded, it takes the form of a string mop and absorbs every trace of remaining liquid, fat, and seasoning that was added. 

As cooking technique goes, this is what separates the men from the boys. 

And the women from the girls, and the men from the women and the boys from the girls until everyone is left segregated by chicken-moisture-retaining skill, age and sex.