If you like the taste of black licorice, you might enjoy Sambuca, an Italian liquor with anise flavoring. Sambuca is a drink for a couple of old Italian cronies to sip slowly at an outdoor cafe on a long, sunny day. The traditional way to drink it is with a coffee bean floating in it. This doesn't really do anything to the flavor on its own, but if you drink the Sambuca and eat the coffee bean, it's an interesting combination.

A number of years ago, I got the bright idea that black licorice flavor would be a wonderful addition to a piece of chicken breast. The easiest way to make this happen, or so I thought, would be to fry up a chicken breast on the stove top with a few shots of Sambuca, so the anise flavoring would infuse the chicken breast. So I chopped up some onions and some peppers, put my chicken breast on, and poured two shots of Sambuca over it. The problem was this. Sambuca has a lot of sugar in it, and the sugar caramelized on the heat from the stove. This completely changed the flavor I was going for, and my chicken didn't end up tasting like licorice at all.

I still think it's an interesting idea, at least in theory. I just don't have the cooking skills to make it happen, so if anyone has a clue how to go about this properly, please share your thoughts with me in the comments field. Maybe my licorice chicken will be a reality someday.