We made shoyu chicken this weekend, and since it was for the potluck, we actually thickened the sauce — usually we’re too lazy. Before this, I didn’t really get how adding cornstarch worked, and my sauces kind of thickened unpredictably, so after a while I decided it was too much trouble. But then a couple of months ago, I saw a cooking show (Good Eats — Alton Brown is so fun to watch!) that explained how cornstarch thickens stuff; I didn’t realize you had to cook the cornstarch mixture in order to get its molecules to do their job! 😀 I know it’s obvious to anyone else who cooks regularly, but it was a big revelation to me. Before seeing the show, I’d throw in the cornstarch mixture towards the end of my cooking, but for this weekend’s shoyu chicken, I let everything cook for a while after adding the cornstarch mixture, and it worked, so I was happy!