What "Beat It" Tastes Like

Arpana Gvalani
Dec 4
3 min read

Updated: Dec 5

Michael Jackson — Beat It

Potato Kumpir with Beans, Guacamole & Cheese Sauce

(Track 5 of the “What A Song Tastes Like” series)

This one isn’t a flavour. It’s a rhythm.

Some songs simmer.

Some unfold gently.

Beat It does neither.

It arrives with precision, attitude, and a pulse you feel before you even understand it.

And when the new MJ biopic trailer dropped last week, it reminded me of something I’ve always admired -

not just Michael Jackson’s force,

but Quincy Jones’ architectural brilliance holding the whole thing together.

I have Thriller on vinyl, and the moment the needle hits Beat It,

you realise this is a track built like percussion.

So the question wasn’t:

What goes well with this song?

It was:

What would this song taste like?

A Kumpir with its own drumline

You can’t make a quiet Kumpir to a song like Beat It.

Too gentle, and it fades.

Too polite, and it disappears.

So the dish began with a roasted potato — steady, grounded, the kick drum.

Then came baked beans — sharp, bright, the first punch in the arrangement.

Guacamole softened the edges, the “don’t think this is all attack” moment.

And finally, the cheese sauce — heated, poured, and torched at the end -

a tiny kitchen solo that felt like the only fair answer to a song that refuses to underperform.

This wasn’t layering.

This was choreography.

Ingredients arriving like beats.

Each one hitting its mark.

Each one adding to the pulse.

The potato didn’t get toppings;

it got a rhythm section.

The torch moment

There’s a specific second when the cheese sauce bubbles under the torch -

quick, hot, a little dramatic -

where you wonder if you’ve just added too much attitude to a humble potato.

Perfect.

That’s exactly the feeling of listening to Beat It at full volume:

a controlled thrill,

a spark you didn’t plan,

a sense that the room just got louder.

The final punch

And just when the dish thinks it’s done,

there’s one last hit -

a handful of crushed salted crisps.

The snare drum.

The crunch that wakes everything up.

A reminder that Beat It isn’t smooth all the way through.

It snaps.

It cracks.

It has edges.

A Kumpir without crunch would be like the song without attitude —possible, but pointless.

THE RECIPE

Potato Kumpir with Beans, Guacamole & Torched Cheese Sauce

(A Note on Kumpir:

Traditional Kumpir is made in a special high-heat Turkish “kumpir oven,” which gives the potato its signature fluffy-inside, crisp-outside texture.This version is an inspired, home-kitchen adaptation — made in a regular domestic oven so the rhythm of the dish can be recreated anywhere.)

Ingredients

1 large potato (baked / roasted until very soft)
Butter
Salt & pepper
Baked beans
Fresh guacamole
Cheese sauce (your preferred blend)
Kitchen torch (for the finish)
Plain salted crisps (for crushing on top)

Steps

Cut the potato horizontally, mash inside its own skin.
Add butter, salt, pepper, and fluff the inside.
Add a generous scoop of baked beans.
Add a spoon of guacamole.
Heat your cheese sauce until smooth, then pour it generously over the potato.
Torch the top lightly until the cheese blisters and browns — the kitchen solo.
Crush plain salted crisps on top while hot — the essential crunch and final punch.
Serve immediately — this song doesn’t wait.