If you are unfamiliar with Kenny Shopsin then I fear for your life in the culinary world.
He is the most ridiculous, loud, and hilarious hi-octane philosopher and culinary personality I have come across yet.
He runs Shopsin's in New York, part diner-part heaven, and serves from what could easily be the most ambitious menu I have seen with mine own eyes. Not leaving out the fact that if it's not on the menu, and he has the ingredients, he will make anything for you. Providing he likes you, of course.
Should you need a crash-course into who and what Kenny Shopsin is, you should definitely take some time out of your day and check out "I Like Killing Flies". A chronicle and documentary of Shopsin's coming-of-age story, featuring his family and friends who have over time helped this establishment be everything it is today.
Aside from being one of the greatest people ever invented, he is no also an author and has come out with a grand cook book full of insight into his cuisine and recipes for the hungry-hearted.
Serious Eats did a great write-up on it back in August (just now getting around to reading it and writing about it) and they've been posting random one-off recipes from the book, which are interesting enough to make even the worst grilled cheese maker want to throw down on the burners.
Ostensibly, Eat Me is a cookbook, but it's also equal parts memoir and philosophical tome. [via Serious Eats]'My Sliders'- makes one set of 3 sliders -
Adapted from Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin.
Ingredients:
1 big yellow Spanish onion, thinly sliced
5 ounces chopped meat (20 to 30 percent fat)
Salt Butter for the rolls
3 Martin's dinner rolls, or any soft rolls about the size of Parker House rolls, cut in half but leaving them attached to one another if possible
3 slices American cheese
Procedure:
1. Fry the onion slices until they're brown and crispy (Kenny slices them very thin and throws them in a pot of hot oil until they are charred).
2. Divide the meat into three equal-sized balls. Preheat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it is searing hot. Place the balls of meat on the griddle or in the pan and press them down with a heavy spatula or bacon weight to form patties about 1/2 inch thick. Season them with salt. Place a bacon weight or heavy lid on top of the patties to keep them smashed down and cook about 2 minutes per side, until they are cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, butter the insides of the rolls and toast them in whatever way is most convenient for you. Place the patties so they are all in a row, butting up against one another. Put the fried onions on the patties, and then top each patty with one slice of the cheese. On top of the cheese, place the tops of the buns and on top of the tops, the toasted bottoms. Then, on top of everything, place your bacon weight or a lid and cook for 1 minute to melt the cheese and steam the bun.
4. To serve, place the bun bottoms on a plate. Carefully slide your spatula under the three patties to lift them up in one piece and place them on top of the bottom buns. Serve at once.
