The Adventures of Krystal Kid: It's not gravy but its good!

Saturday, June 09, 2007

It's not gravy but its good!

In my last post I mentioned the deliciousness of a Krystal with Swiss cheese (the Swisstal) and the addition of mushrooms. I then started to wonder how good it would be with the addition of gravy. You see, there are few things in life that cannot be made better with the addition of one or more of the following:

Cheese
Butter
Chili
Gravy
Salsa

Any chance you get to add two is even better! So as I sat at the sauna I call work yesterday eating my lunch of linguini with turkey meatballs, I started to think about gravy and Krystals. Suddenly it was clear.

Krystal au jus

And Swisstal au jus

Yes they were both wonderful, although in the future I'll pass on the mustard and pickle.
You may be wondering how I got au jus so quickly and easily. Did I spend the afternoon with a roast slowly cooking in the oven? Nope. Did I use a packet of Knorr au jus mix? Nope, that stuff is way too salty.
I went to the home of the best ready to go au jus on Earth, Arby's. Before you attempt this (and I do reccomend trying it) you need to scope out your local Arby's. Not all of them still serve the French Dip sandwich, and in fact it probably doesn't show on the menu even if they do. You'll have to ask if they serve it. If they do sell the french dip then you're set.
To be technically correct you should simply order "a cup of jus." Since "au jus" means "with gravy," ordering "a cup of au jus" means "a cup of with gravy." Obviously mixing languages causes problems sometimes. However, I suspect if you ordered "a cup of jus" you're going to get in trouble since everyone in the US pronounces "jus" as "jew." Either tune up on your french or just go monoglot and say "a cup of that dippin' sauce."
If they sell the French Dip then don't let them give you any guff. They can and do sell the jus, it's on their cash register, but they might have to hunt it down.
While you're at Arby's you might consider picking up one of their Jamocha shakes. Nancy loves them. But then Nancy has a taste for coffee and chocolate stuff. I hate coffee so a Jamocha shake does little for me. If you like chocolate and coffee then have at it.
While they're fixing your "cup of jus" step over to the condiment counter and pick up a few packs of Arby's sauce. It can also come in handy.

The Arby's sauce on the Chik was wonderful. The Arby's sauce on the Krystal, not so much. In fact this experiment has led me to once and for all conclude:
Krystals work best for Savory recipes.
Chiks work well for Savory or Sweet recipes.
I did not try the "Horsey Sauce" because I do not like horseradish at all. If someone tries it, please let me know how it goes. Krystal Lovers like it steamy.