foods that are defined by their accoutrements

recently, i made myself frozen pierogi and sautéed onions for a late-night snack (which is way more involved than my usual late-night-food-vibe). however, as i was enjoying them, i realized i was actively eating around the pierogi in favor of the onions. so, i threw this thought out into the digital ether (aka my Twitter Circle):

which, after some back and forth, led to this suggestion from my dear friend and fellow writer Alex (whom you should definitely follow on Twitter):

so…yeah, here’s a bunch of foods where the nonsense accompaniment is better than the main dish:

baked alaska

as Alex posits above: just burnt meringue on a plate. must be lit on fire tableside to really work, i think.

bananas foster

once, my father and i were in a hotel ordering room service, and when we attempted to order bananas foster, we were informed the hotel was out of bananas. in response, my father said, “no problem, bring us the foster.” so we ate caramel out of a bowl. it was great.

escargot

a vehicle for garlic butter in fancy places where it’s unacceptable to eat spoonfuls of garlic butter.

pecan pie

this might be a controversial take, but if you left pecans out of this pie entirely, i don’t think anybody would notice.

eggs benedict

this dish is nothing without the hollandaise. everything else is there to line your stomach for mimosas.

oysters

it’s all about the mignonette.

ice cream sundae

if you liked the ice cream so much, you’d leave it alone. you’re here for the hot fudge, and that’s perfectly fine.

garlic knots

that herby parsley mix that ends up on all the sides of the box? incredible. garlic knots themselves? don’t live up to the hype.

stay tuned for the sequel, “foods that are ruined by nonsense accoutrements,” wherein i finally release my true opinion on how much cream cheese should actually end up on a bagel.

alex, your 5% is on its way.

xo
LSW