Crusty Cheese:
Nachos, Lasagna, and pizza are good places to find this. One Italian restaurant in Salt Lake used to serve fried parmesan wedges with all its pasta. uh.MAZE.ing!
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| See those bits around the edge? Pure gastronomic gold! |
Crispy pasta:
Lasagna is the only dish I can really think of that this happens with frequently. I suppose it's the more common baked pasta so that might explain it. Basically, I love when part of the noodle hasn't been covered by sauce or meat or cheese and gets all crispy in the oven. It usually has just a little bit of chewy left in it too and that is just heaven!
Brownie corners:
Growing up I hated corner pieces. I always took the middle piece (being an only child 85% of the time, I was oddly accommodated in this regard). I hated the edge pieces and the corner was the last thing I would eat if I was absolutely forced. How times have changed! My vocality about the newly-discovered superiority of corner pieces led to one of my better Christmas presents two years ago:
Overcooked French Fries:
Once again, my younger self was very wrong about what is delicious and what is not. I remember many meals at Crown Burger where I slid the crispy fries to my sister and took the big, soggy, soft ones. Euphemisms aside, it's not the size, it's the crunch! These days I dump out the pack and dig out all the little, tiny, crispy fries that found their way to the bottom.
Dried Marshmallows:
Somehow the debate about fresh vs. dried (some say stale, I say cured) marshmallows arises every year around Easter time. I have a tendency to talk about Peeps a lot that time of year and it brings the debate back into full swing. In case you a fence-sitter, I will tell you the facts. Marshmallows are best served crunchy (the rule can be bent for hot chocolate as they dissolve anyway but they dissolve slower if you dry them first). Fact: chewing crunchy marshmallows makes you a better person. Story: Once upon a time Cami and I found some marshmallows in Gram's coffee tins at the cabin. They could not have been less than twenty years old. We had to use a hammer to break off shards. Best. Marshmallows. Ever.
Breakfast Counter Case:
A la Unsound Methods I will offer a counter claim to all this talk of crunchy, crusty, and crispy things being best. When it comes to my cereal, it must be thoroughly soaked. Cap'n Crunch will sit on my counter for a good fifteen minutes while I do anything other than eat it. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is meant to be soft. Weetabix is great because it is almost instantly soggy.
