“You know, a-chiff, a-choff.” That was my great-grandmother’s response when my mom asked why her signature chicken dish was called chiff choff. The way my mom tells it, my great-grandmother’s answer was accompanied with a hand flipping movement, seemingly implying that “chiff” and “choff” means either to flip or to pan fry. Though that appears to be untrue. Maybe she was being coy with my mother in an effort to protect the shrouded history of this dish. What is more likely, however, is that in addition to speaking rough English she was simply too busy to be seriously interested in...