Granny's 'Devil Chicken'

"You've got to find Granny's 'Devil Chicken'... Your Uncle Phillip would eat so much of it, he'd make himself sick!" - Craig William Beeley (my Father)

So far I have tempted you with stories about my heritage in relation to food, given you some insight in to the dishes that have withstood time and carried on being cooked throughout the generations, and introduced you to my late Granny Beeley; but of all the things worth mentioning to you about my Granny and eastern cooking, it is notably her 'Devil Chicken':

Granny's 'Devil Chicken' is one of those mysterious dishes that's bragged about, to the extent that you you can't help but be cynical and assume that the day you eventually do taste this amazing food, it will be an anticlimax from everything you had previously heard about it. Through out this assignment, whenever I've intermittently interviewed me Father about his memories of Granny's cooking he always raves about this dish; as far as he can tell me it concerns slowly cooking a chicken marinated in some sort of spiced mango glaze, and she'd serve it with mashed potato and green beans.
The recipe for this legendary dish has been something of a fickle obsession of mine, whilst I carelessly dismiss it whenever my Father brings it up in conversation, I secretly daydream about the ingredients and harbour a desire to try it, much like in Mapp and Lucia (1935) where Elizabeth Mapp is determined get Lucia's recipe for 'Lobster á la Riseholme’ but legitimately she can't. So, with Google at hand, I spent a good few hours searching this dish only to come across a recipe for 'Devil's Chutney', which is a simple condiment made of: onions, sugar, salt, sugar, and vinegar, this is commonly served as an accompaniment to coconut rice (so I've read). This research proved to be exactly what I had initially said to you about the anticlimax of some legendary dishes -
I told my Father about the 'Devil's Chutney' recipe and that I couldn't find a recipe for mango chicken, or a devil chicken, or chickens smothered in chutney, or any other description "...oh maybe that's it then..." He said. I have previously mentioned how my Father's memories of Granny's cooking are somewhat doubtful accounts, this possibly being the most disappointing one of all. I contacted my Uncle in an attempt to find out more, but alas all he could tell me was that "it was very good" and that he remembered the taste of "sweet chilli and mangoes".

Why is this story relevant I hear you say, if not at least mildly entertaining? This story serves as an example of the connection we make between food and memory; over time we cling to the thought of food as opposed to the reality of what it is and without a reciept of ingredients we can only ponder what we taste  - in this case, because 'Devil's Chicken' has never been cooked by anyone but Granny and no one can find the elusive recipe, my Father and Uncle have clung to their initial memories of it and made it out to be the Holy Grail of chicken dishes instead of seeing it for some simple chicken, in a marinade of something involving ketchup. Quite ironically, if you type "memory and food" in to Google search engine a number of links and scholarly articles are listed promoting foods that are supposed to improve your memory, which can be seen if you click on the link below. (Maybe my Father and Uncle should try a few of them!)

https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=memory+and+food&oq=memory+and+food&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30l3.44459.47461.5.47627.15.12.0.3.3.0.233.1749.0j9j2.11.0...0.0...1c.1.8.psy-ab.S5SUk7vLqKE&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.44770516,bs.1,d.d2k&fp=4224c9abb9e60957&biw=1366&bih=643