The Perfect Burger Condiment and a Tablespoon of Paradise

Tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, he had a NY chef who won a burger cookoff. The chef felt that his key ingredient was a caramelized onion and bacon jam. Then, not twenty minutes of television later, on Last Call with Carson Daly, Carson was at a Culver City bar called Father's Office, with 72 taps and what is considered one of the best burgers in LA. The burger is a special blend of meat with Maytag blue cheese, Gruyere, arugula, and a caramelized onion and applewood bacon compôte. So from NY to LA the way to a great burger is a bacon and caramelized onion jam/compôte. All that is left is for me to find out how to make it.

In more important food news, my grains of paradise apple pie is less than ten minutes from coming out of the oven. If the aroma of the sugar, cornstarch, spice mixture is an indicator, I'm pretty optimistic that it will taste good. Verdict to come.

I have an opportunity for my readers. I make pies quite a bit which requires that put slits in the top of the pie to let steam escape. Because I do this a lot, I thought it would be nice to have a signature pattern. I understand it might be hard to explain, but I would appreciate any suggestions to get me in the right direction.