Ingredients :

• Soy sauce — Use a classic salty soy sauce — not sweet, not light. Kikkoman in the red-capped bottle does the job perfectly. It provides the salt, the umami, and that dark color that gives the sauce its glazed look. Taste before seasoning at the end of cooking: depending on the brand, it can be quite salty.
• Honey — A neutral, runny multi-flower honey. No need to break out an artisanal chestnut honey — the soy sauce overpowers subtle aromas anyway. What matters is the fluid texture that melts quickly in the pan and starts to caramelize. Crystallized honey on hand? Twenty seconds in the microwave is enough.
• Chicken breasts — Cut them into thick pieces — about 3 cm — not too small, so they stay juicy in the center while taking on color on the outside. If you prefer boneless thighs, they work great too and are even more forgiving if overcooked.
• Garlic — Two cloves, no more. Garlic goes into the pan at the very end of searing — never at the beginning with cold oil, or it will burn before the chicken is ready. Burnt garlic gives a bitterness that ruins the whole dish. Thirty seconds, the aroma rises, and we move on.