Some foods taste better a day or two after they’ve been cooked.
Sometimes there’s nothing that satisfies like a slice of cold pizza for brunch, and most stews and chilies become more saturated with flavor if they’re allowed to steep for a few days. While salads and seafood tend to wilt or spoil, and little joy can be found in a stale hot dog or cool hamburger, other not-so-recently cooked foods can also improve with time.
“My mom made a batch of her fried chicken yesterday for today’s picnic,” my wife announced with delight in her eyes last Sunday morning. “There’s nothing like eating her fried chicken while you’re sitting on the grass in the sun.”
On a whim this weekend, my wife and I contacted her parents and siblings and organized a trip to New Hampshire for a family outing. While we were all eagerly anticipating grandma’s fried chicken, along with the chips, cheeses, lemonade, and lite beers, there were other delicacies that made for a memorable feast served on china while we sat on a blanket in the shade.
Between two halves of a baguette, my wife made a sandwich with roasted green peppers and slices of a mild sausage she’d grilled the night before for our dinner. Cut into finger sandwiches with just a touch of mustard, they offered a tangy counterpoint to the moist, savory breaded chicken that fell easily off the drumstick.
While we dug into our tasty leftovers, the most senior item on our plates, however, was my favorite: a jar of sour dill pickles made by my mother-in-law over a year ago and recently discovered at the back of a shelf. She was worried about their age and insisted the whole jar needed to be finished that day.
The dark green spears were still crunchy and the sour was pleasantly wince-worthy. After the more benign comfort foods for lunch that day, the pickles were bracing. They offered the perfect pick-me-up we required to change into our swim suits and jump in the lake instead of slipping into a summertime siesta.
While there is a time and place for barbecue sauce and sizzling grills, a cold supper of leftovers can be equally sumptuous if eaten with three key ingredients: a lush lawn, a verdant vista and a cloudless July sky.”