English Translation
Just my old standby: lemon chicken. (cooked in lemon)
i did a little searching of this use of “十八番”, shouldn’t it be read as “おはこ” in this case?
@ErisCeos
Yes, 十八番 should be pronounced as おはこ, which means that “the thing(s) that someone is very good at”. According to this article, おはこ is derived from the eighteen titles of Kabuki (歌舞伎) in the 19th century. Kabuki actor 市川團十郎（いちかわ・だんじゅうろう）put the scripts of the eighteen titles of Kabuki into a precious box that he was very good at performing. So, the precious box (お + 箱) is おはこ and we now pronounce 十八番 as おはこ. We often say 十八番 when trumpeting skills of ourselves or highly praising someone’s skills. 十八番 in the modern usage can refer to only one skill/output.
I’m not sure that “my old standby” is the right translation for 十八番. As Merriam-Webster defines, “standby” in English means “a favorite or reliable choice/resource” or “something reliable under an emergency situation.” The English translation doesn’t necessarily mean that I (the subject/speaker) am the one who cooked the lemon chicken. For example, “my old standby” could be a signature dish sold by a nearby restaurant and I always serve the dish to my guests. We don’t use 十八番 in this context.