Why does my sauce split?

Question

I made chicken in peanut butter sauce. Similar to this question, it split.

I used chicken stock, peanut butter, honey and soy sauce, and cooked the chicken in it.

Shortening cooking time isn't an option, since the chicken needs to be done. Honey present in the sauce, as the answer to the other question suggested to improve emulsification.

My mother makes the same recipe regularly, with no problem. The only difference is she uses Skippy, whereas I used pure peanut butter. Would that be the culprit? How can I compensate for that, if that is indeed the culprit, if I want to avoid the innumerable strange additives present in Skippy?

Answer 1

To address the part where you asked for the difference between your mother's sauce and yours: yes, the kind of peanut butter may well be responsible for the difference. The Internet gives the ingredients as

ROASTED PEANUTS, SUGAR, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN AND RAPESEED) TO PREVENT SEPARATION, SALT

or, for a low-fat version

INGREDIENTS: ROASTED PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, SUGAR, SOY PROTEIN, SALT, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (COTTONSEED, SOYBEAN AND RAPESEED) TO PREVENT SEPARATION, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, MINERALS (MAGNESIUM OXIDE, ZINC OXIDE, FERRIC ORTHOPHOSPHATE, COPPER SULFATE), VITAMINS (NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXIDE HYDROCHLORIDE, FOLIC ADIC).

Your mother is using a product which has been specifically engineered to prevent separation. Especially the low-fat version also includes mono- and diglycerides, which are also a good emulsifier. You are using some product whose selling point is probably the low degree of processing. I suspect that it is not only the ingredient difference, but also the microstructure of the fat particles that play a role (the two may have been milled differently).

So, one option would be to use Skippy too. It would likely get you the result your mother gets.