No Drive-thru
If you’re vegan, chances are you know this great neighborhood place that makes exactly what you like in a sandwich. And when you’re visiting friends in other cities you base your entire visit around this one insane food stand where you can get veggie chicken drum sticks made to order and, and, and…
We are sympathetic to the great vegan plight, of course: Very few places understand and cater to your dietary aesthetic, right? But as rad as we think it is that you can get vegan BBQ in most dorky Midwest cities nowadays, there’s a problem here, people. Every time one of these cookie cutter vegan fast food chains opens up, a good cook loses his/her wings. We like fake chicken burgers with avocado as much as the next vegetarian, but come on?
So without getting too preachy (too late) we at Hot Knives would like to unveil a new section at our own little, centrally located blog. It’s called “No Drive-thru” and we like to think of it as an overly indulgent, deconstructionist, po-mo take on vegan fast food — more of a creative idea sketch pad than cookbook fodder — and rather than stuffing it in a bag, we’re putting it on China plates. So without further ado, our first No Drive-thru recipe: Our take on the great pillar of fast food, In and Out Burger's animal style fries...
"Animal Style"
Grilled Onions
2 white onions, peeled and chopped
1 Tbs, canola oil
1 Tbs. Braggs Amino
“Thousand Island”
1 cup veganaise
1/2 cup organic ketchup
1 Tbs. yellow mustard
1 Tbs. Sriracha
2 Tbs. sweet pickle juice
1 Tbs. grilled onion pan juice
Fried Pickles
1 cup bread and butter pickle chips
1 cup dill chips
3 cups canola oil
1 cup tempura batter
1/2 cup beer
1. Heat a sauté pan to medium and add chopped onions with the canola oil. Let ‘em sweat for about 1 minutes, then add the Bragg’s and turn heat up to high, scorching them for another 2-3 minutes of until brown. Set aside.
2. Mix ingredients and whip thoroughly. Set aside.
3. Pat your pickles dry with a paper towel and prepare your tempura batter (some dry tempura batter has trace amounts of egg, check first, but we’ll be coming up with a homemade replacement soon).
4. Place a wok on high heat and add canola oil. Once oil is scorching hot, dunk your pickles in the batter, thoroughly coat and then fry in oil for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Fish out with a slotted spoon and dry on paper towels.
Excerpt from my email to Jona, the night I first tasted "Animal Style:"
Unreal. They made this super avant-garde micro dish that simulated the experience of an In-n-Out hamburger almost completely (not the meat, but the sheer abandon, the California joy): it was deep-fried tempura dill pickles in "Animal Style" sauce (vegan 1000 Island) with caramelized onions and these crazy handmade blue potato parsely chips. Seriously, it was fucked. Best meal of tour. I don't even remember: it was a taste haze. I got really stressed out, talking to Evan, all like, do people who read your website even UNDERSTAND how good it tastes? How can we make them know?!
When I heard about this food happening and I was so close yet so far away (Tijuana) I was filled with the heaviest feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out) of my last many months.
It sounds like so many dreams come true.
Hot Knives have genius minds.
Dear Hot Knives,
Please come to Denver for a visit. You can stay on our air mattress.
Thanks, Liz
Steve, your latest pondering of FOMO is the most intuitive yet. If FOMO had a taste it absolutely would taste like In n' Out Burger.
Claire, I have an answer to your question. About how we can "make them know." We can redesign the utilitarian but bareboned Hot Knives site but we need help. We belong in the kitchen, not in the deep web!