Between 2:00 and 4:00 p.m., things are a little quiet at the griddle station. Restock for the next day, pre-cleaning and sanitizing for the days end, and service for the occasional food order.
'Mason' approached, looking somewhat bewildered as he glanced side-to-side, hoping to find instructions posted or a counselor on hand to guide his search for a hot sandwich.
"How's it going, what can I do for you?" I asked, giving him a generous and welcoming smile. The verbal cues seemed to settle his meal time trepidation and he flashed a broad, beaming smile.
"Oh, sweet! Ummm, I just wanna get a burger and some fries," he stated. I showed him how to fill out the order form and where to place it for future reference.
"Soooo, just meat and cheese?" I asked, scanning his white chit, "No lettuce, pickle, tomato, onions?"
He claimed to have missed that part, feeling that it would be like the advertising pictures with all the accompaniments on it.
"Everything only no onions, hate 'em," was his final word.
Come to find out, after a very short interview with his culinary consultant, Mason didn't like the heat of raw onions. We can fix that, I told him.
"OK, while, the burger is cooking, let's try some things out with onions," I stated, like an instructor prodding a reluctant student, "we're gonna grill some using a few easy-to-do preparations. You folks in the home audience can try this in your own kitchens." My fake, info-mercial voice was on and it caused Mason to break a crease of a grin on one side of his mouth. He strained his neck to watch how I put melted bacon drippings onto the hot griddle and spread thinly sliced onions onto the surface in a low stack.
"Next, I'll use just canola oil in another pile, and finally, cook a third portion in canola then, reduce with Balsamic vinegar. That shit will blow you away, dude!" I was getting excited as the chemistry of applying heat to the carbohydrates in onions was explained. Those carbs converted to simple sugars, then, the simple sugars became 'caramelized' with additional heat, giving grilled onions a sweetness that is antithetical to the pungency we experience in say, a fresh salsa.
"Dude, it smells so friggin' sweet!" he told me as his eyebrows raised while pulling on the bill of his ball cap, leaning further over the grill, "that's amazing..."
With a pair of kitchen tongs, I pinched the onions in bacon fat for him to taste. His face said he had just finished a test. The ones in canola, he gave a neutral nod of agreement. The onions in oil and reduced in Balsamic vinegar, elicited the look of a marathon finisher.
"Oh...My...God...!" he quietly murmured, "I want those on my burger!"
"What did you learn at college today, Mason?! That onions are friggin dee-licious when they're prepared the way you like 'em, right? I chided.
"Yes, sir. Thank you SO much!" he concluded, reaching over the sneeze guard for a fist bump.
Atta Boy...
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