At some point, I'll get around to writing a longer treatise on the wonders - consisting, in roughly equal proportion, of cardiac perfidy and gustatory revelation - of In-N-Out's "Animal Style" offerings. But not today. Today - and, if you saw my recent column on Savory Onion Jam, I guess you'd say all week - I have eyes only for condiments, and few condiments inspire like In-N-Out's insanely caramelized onions.
Yesterday, as I was blabbering about cooking with friends, I tried to argue that the biggest prize from letting another cook into your kitchen is, aside from some help with the dishes, the potential to eat a meal that you'd not otherwise have thought of. A case in point comes courtesy of a dear friend's torrid love affair with thermal immersion circulators and my new favorite condiment: A pitch-perfect finger sandwich of pork loin sous-vide, local blue cheese, and savory onion "jam".
Respect for ingredients. Appreciation of taste. Legalized child labor. I can think of any number of reasons to engage your kids in the kitchen, but chief amongst them must surely be the joy of creating the food itself, of working side by side with your littles, of watching small hands learn to cut, whisk, and measure.
A clear violation of the spirit if not the letter of The Rules for cooking with just three ingredients, using leftovers like this, but one of the principal advantages of blogging, and self-imposed rules generally, lies rooted in the simple fact that one may ultimately do whatever one wishes. Of course, your readers may kvetch, and they'd have a point, but that's part of the game; the most important bit, as ever, remains the food.
