The Unbeatable Sweetness of Frying

“Onions are excellent company.”

—ROBERT FARRAR CAPON. THE SUPPER OF THE LAMB

Chief Among My Mother’s Food Prejudices was her intense and unequivocal dislike for garlic, onions, and all the rest of (as Mrs. Beeton once put it) “the alliaceous tribe”—all the way down to the subtle, humble chive. (She would have sooner put ground glass in her baked potato than those little snips of green.) According to Waverly Root in his book Food, an ancient Turkish legend holds that when Satan was cast out of heaven and fetched up on earth, garlic sprouted where he first placed his left foot and onions where he placed his right. The identification of these vegetables with Satan would have made terrific sense to Mom. I love the things myself.