Use a small mixing bowl, or a medium sized zip-lock bag, and dump in the following ingredients:

About 1/3 bottle of Wishbone Italian dressing

Half of a medium onion, roughly chopped (I used a Vidalia onion for this, but any mild onion would do)

A teaspoon (more or less) of Emeril LaGasse’s Original Essence

A pinch each of salt and pepper (would be even better with fresh-cracked pepper)

Combine ingredients well, and if you used the bowl, pour into the zip-lock bag. You can marinade chicken, steak, or even fish in this marinade. Marinate for anywhere from a couple hours to overnight.

I used this with 5 good-sized chicken breasts, marinated for about 2 hours in the bag. I then grilled the chicken over charcoal for about 10 minutes. Yum-O! That was the juiciest, most tender chicken I’ve ever eaten. We were actually cutting it with our forks! Next time, I’m going to go over to McGonigle’s Market and pick up a couple of KC Strip steaks to try this on. I also want to try this on a nice chunk of salmon, too.

Since posting this article, I have read several cautionary items regarding using a marinade that raw chicken has been immersed in. It's probably better to dispose of it after marnating the chicken. If you don't dispose of it, be sure to cook it thouroughly to destroy any bacteria. In this case, I did cook it over a charcoal fire long enough for it to reduce pretty well. It worked out well, but I have since stopped using marinades once they have been used.

After I put the chicken on the grill, I still had the marinade left in the bag. I couldn’t bear the thought of just dumping it, so I made a little "pan" out of aluminum foil, poured the marinade into it, and placed it on the grill. I had a few Johnsonville brats on the grill, too, and when they started to look done, I put them in the pan of marinade, and just let them simmer. The marinade reduced a little bit, and turned into a delicious sauce! Check out the photos!

Does this look good, or what? My aluminum-foil "pan" is on the right with a couple Johnsonville brats in the marinade which has been reduced to a tasty sauce.

A close-up of the chicken - and it was just as juicy and tender as it looks! I'm getting hungry again, just looking at it.

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