This, this, this, this is mythical.This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
You know what freaks me out, Josh?
It's not ghosts and ghouls or even spiders and snakes.I have like this totally irrational fear of like concepts.You know what I mean?
No, but explain to me like I did.
Yeah, like, I don't know.It's like the feeling of rejection or solitude, being alone forever.Things like that really get to me.
Yeah, it's things that are even scarier than ghouls because they're real and they're pervasive and they're in your life.And a thing that's really helped me face my fears and understand that they are indeed irrational but also present is therapy.
It's actually having somebody to talk through those irrational fears with.
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Do you eat your lucky charms all together, or do you save your marshmallows for last?
The marshmallows always come last, and they come in this order.Hearts, stars, and horseshoes.Clovers and blue moons.Unicorns, rainbows, and then a gold.Then finally, we get to the tasty red balloons.
Just a little stitious much.
This is a hot dog is a sandwich.Ketchup is a smoothie.
Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what?
That makes no sense.A hot dog is a sandwich.A hot dog is a sandwich.
Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates.I'm your host, Josh Sharer.
And I'm your host, Nicole Inaidi.
And today, I would say this is maybe top five dumbest podcast ideas.Oh my God!Okay, so what happens is we have this large brainstorming document where we come up with all of our ideas.
And then anytime an idea has sat in there for more than a year without us doing it, we eventually throw our hands up and we go, ah! Ah, we gotta do it.Because today we are doing, what is the better bite of food?The first bite or the last bite?
And at first I was like, ah, funny, dumb, sat in the dock for a year.But now, I'm thinking this is maybe the most profound thing.
You really get into psychology with this, right?
Yes, this is one of those psychological podcasts that we love doing so much.I love doing these because I think we reflect on who we are as people.100%, also- Like our core, our id, is it the id?
There's the ego, the super ego, and the id, and all of them just want to have relations with your mom, according to Freud.I think that's what he was saying.
Well, oh.Well, I would be with my dad, right?
I think so.I don't know how it works.
Eh, you know what I'm gonna do.I think you would also be shocked at how much this comes up in your day-to-day life.
Because every time I approach the last bite of food, I almost enter a strange sense of sweet mourning.
Really?You have a petit mort?
No, le petit mort means something different.It does, I know.Google it.I learned that.Do you learn that?Wait, say the movie you learned that from on three.One, two, The Bride of Chucky.Trixie and Katya.Oh, I learned from the Tiffany.
No, Jennifer Tilley in The Bride of Chucky.
Oh, yeah.No, I got it from by Trixie and Katya.Oh, that's a fun time.
No, but anytime I'm coming on, when I think of first bite versus last bite, my favorite food in the world is a burrito.
A burrito.It is like a large taco, but rolled and sealed on all ends.Correct.The last bite of a burrito for me is always going to be the best bite.
The butt of the burrito.And if I'm thinking of specifically my favorite burritos as a little very discreet, what is it, very demure, very thoughtful, Oh, God.I have not seen the original video.I'm trying with the memes, children.
Please have patience with me.I'm 32 years old.
By the time this comes out, that ship has sailed.
But there are these very discreet burritos from Burritos La Palma, right?
And they're very wet.They're filled with guisados, they're filled with stews.And so burritos specifically This is going to be food-dependent here on Best Bite First or Last.
This is all food-dependent.We can go through some foods later, yeah.
But the final bite of a burrito, when you're eating it somewhat vertically, all the juices are going to pool at the bottom and they're going to sort of wet.Effectively, it becomes a dumpling wrapper at that point.
At the end, yeah, yeah, yeah.
The tortilla.And so you're left with this beautiful pool of all of the juices that have flowed down there.And the final bite, I prepare it like a panipuri or like a logeme, a perfect bite.I put the right amount of salsa.
I take a bite of the raw serrano chili. And then I pop the last bite in my mouth and I linger on the thought of this bite for as long as I possibly can, knowing that it is going to be the last bite of food that I have for a while.
And there is something that is simultaneously, Nicole, sad about that.That's my last bite, but also beautiful because I'm there existing in the moment.
Wow.You're very sensitive young man.
That's what all my teachers said.
So deep.So deep. I used to care a lot about my final bite being the perfectly constructed bite.And in my heart, in my mind, that's like a... So again, I'm going to go with Mexican food too, like enchiladas.
When you have the beautiful enchiladas, the sour cream, the guacamole, a little bit of salsa, rice, beans, and there might be a side salad depending if you're in Santa Monica or not, okay?
So I think about the final bite being a perfect amalgamation of all of those things on the final spoonful as I take my last bite.
The side salad is just iceberg lettuce with some chopped tomato, right?
Yeah, that's the side salad, baby.
The dressing is all the juices of the other stuff.
In my mind, that used to be my idea of a perfect bite is getting every single last thing on there.
But now, in my old ripe age of 31, I think a spoonful of enchilada, like the center of it, the soft delicious center of it might be the best last bite of food for me.
With no adornments, just... I mean, yeah, I think by that time the guacamole has become room temp and the sour cream is room temp and the enchilada isn't necessarily that hot anymore.So I'm not that on top of it, you know?
It's like eating a bowl of cereal.
I'll say this about it like eating a bowl of cereal the first bite is always the best bite for me because everything is at its optimal texture and temperature so the milk is ice cold right the cereal is nice and crunchy and it's light and you eat it and you're like oh that's great but by the end do I like that I'm also thinking as I'm speaking is this is a cereal milk the best part of a bowl of cereal do you think it is?
It's tough.Okay, so if we're talking about like the actual science behind this, right?Like there are diminishing returns on your pleasure because of the idea of sensory specific satiety, right?
It's the idea that... Sensory specific satiety.Not society.
Not society.We do live in a satiety though.But think about the idea of like you haven't had any flavor in your mouth for a long time.You've just been... So like breakfast. drinking water, well breakfast, but even think about like dinner, right?
If you have four or five hours between a meal, you know, you haven't tasted anything a long time.
You're sucking in air, you're tasting saliva, you're drinking water, maybe a little iced coffee or something, but then you get to that first bite of that enchilada and the flavors are literally just more new to you at that moment.
You haven't experienced that in a while, so you're going to taste them more intensely. And so science would say that as you, as time goes on, each successive bite tastes a little bit less new than the last.
Also, you will start to get full at some point, right?
Right, right, right, right.
And so then that actually kind of takes longer than people give it credit for, though.
Yeah, like the feeling there's a delayed sense.Okay, that's what competitive eaters talk about.They're like, if you can't do an eating challenge in 20 minutes, you probably can't do it in an hour either.
But like you do start to get a little bit full.It's not as fun.That said, I think there's a violent spike for the last bite.
Right.A scientifically, this is all like this isn't a hard science.This is like psychological, you know, but to me, I like this is all very romantic to me.It's like it's like the relationship.
I was just going to say, it's just like a relationship.
It's like leaving a lover with a lingering kiss on your way out the door.So true.You think about that kiss so much more.
I was just about to say that.That's so crazy.Than any of the middle.
There's this like violent bell curve where the first and the last are always going to be the most special.
Yeah, I was thinking about it.
But then that one weird thing she did with her tongue at kiss number 48.No.
Yeah, I agree.I was thinking about it.It's like a new relationship, the first bite of food.It's like, oh my God, what is this all about?I'm tasting all the flavors.I'm noticing all the nuances.
And then at the end, and then there's that center part where you're just like, okay, I guess we're just moseying along.
The doldrums.The doldrums of the bowl of cereal.
Yeah, like, oh, they leave their shoes here.Oh, they leave their laundry here.And then it's like, oh, the last bite, you're like, that was good.I don't know.It's so interesting.
So cereal is interesting to me.
I am an atypical one person, I think.Cereal enjoyer?Yeah.But cereal enjoyer specifically.
I made myself a bowl of cereal for dessert last night.However, it was Magic Spoon, which is the protein cereal.
Dude, I love Magic Spoon so much.That's your dessert?I got six boxes of Magic Spoon that all had one bowl taken out of them from Sporked. and they knew how much it meant to me, so they left it in my office.
I have been eating a bowl of Magic Spoon every single night for dessert.I do half water, half milk, scoop of protein powder, a little bit of malt, because I'm protein powdering my milk.So I do a cup and a half of Magic Spoon cereal.This is not an ad.
They made such a spectacular product.The honey nut is unreal, and I have a white chocolate protein powder, a little bit of malt in there.Shake it in a cocktail shaker with ice.Strain it.I swear to God, this is what I'm doing every single night.
I did this last night.I intentionally depress all the cereal in the milk.This is like a protein-based cereal.
Depress the cereal in the milk.Please explain to the people what depressing cereal is.
It's where I just tell the cereal about my childhood.Exactly.No, I take the spoon and I kind of tamp it down into the milk because I like a soaked cereal.And Magic Spoon, a lot of protein.Protein holds up better than like the porousness of a grain.
It is super, super crunchy.
I've never had magic spoon before.
Oh my God, I got three boxes in my office right now.Yeah, we'll eat some after this.Okay, cool.But the point is like, I let it set for five minutes.I do dishes, I fold some clothes, whatever I need to do.
Because to me, cereal isn't good until it has gotten a little bit of sog, right? No, no, apparently other people don't do that.You just why not just eat dry cereal.
I said milk.Well because the milk tastes good I speed run my cereals, but you just eat it as fast as you can Yes, I eat my cereal as fast as I can literally like an Olympic sport Like I should be timed when I eat cereal.It's incredible
Do you think there's something to the technique of a last night?Because I was really lingering on my last bite of cereal last night.So I was like, this is my last bite of something good before I go to bed.
And what I did, I have like very, I'm eating and I have a very steep bowl.Not a lot of surface area.It's probably like. like almost it could be like a large coffee mug.
But like one of the ones that you see in like Friends, they go to Central Park and they get in those comically large.
Yeah, I watched like four episodes of it because I read Matthew Perry's autobiography and I was really moved by it.
Never watched it.New information about that.Anyways. I slurped the milk with like the last remaining bite of cereal.
I slurped the milk with vigor and it like it brought in extra air into your mouth, which it's the reason that ramen tastes better when you slurp it.Same thing with the cereal and the last bite of that cereal was so much better than the first.
Wow, that's so interesting.I guess we're just opposite sides of the spectrum, I guess.
Well, let's talk about some different foods then.Okay.Because like cereal is really unique in the sense that for you, it gets worse every second it's in the milk.
It gets so much worse.Also, but I like, again, people probably know this, I love old people cereals.And I feel like old, like things like grape nuts.
The ones that were made for the war.
I love grape nuts and Weetabix and stuff like that.
It gets soggy out there in Normandy.
So I don't know what it is.The second Weetabix, any liquid touches it, it's just horrible.So I literally crush it up really, really fast and I just spoon it into my mouth.
No, I use the back of the spoon and I just go at it and my milk is always like, I'm on like a whole milk kick right now.Nice.And I also have Fairlife milk and I just go at it really, really hard and it's so much better than like this.
I guess I'm a texture person because I don't eat oatmeal anymore that much either.
I do love me some oatmeal.
I hate oatmeal.I will say this.I think the first sip of a drink is Better than the first bite of food.Oh Like imagine like a protein shake like the coldness of the protein shake you specifically yours is protein powder blueberries and water.
Protein powder, blueberries, peanut butter, a little bit of Greek yogurt.If I have a banana, I'll put a banana in there.But blueberries are frozen.
So imagine the first sip of that, how good it is.And imagine like a first sip of beer.And imagine like a first sip of a latte.Like for me, drinks, it's always the first time it touches your lips or makes contact with your mouth.
Food, it's dependent, like if it's like a crunching, like a crunch wrap.
We talked about this on the podcast a while ago about how passionate you were about a crunch wrap being hot and fresh out of, I was gonna say out of the oven, out of the microwave.
No, it's out of a tortilla griddle press.Tortilla griddle press.That's what it goes into, it steams it a little too.
I'll say the first bite of a crunch wrap is better than the last bite of a crunch wrap.
That's interesting.That's interesting because Taco Bell, if I were to make the Crunchwrap, right, I want to get back to the drink thing in a second because soup is also drink.We've established that.Soup is drink.Soup is drink.
But if I were to make a Crunchwrap, the first bite would, it would not be the best bite. It's never the best bite.I've now decided.
Because of its hexagonal nature.
Because of its hexagonal nature.There's certain foods where I think the first bite of a burger is never going to be the best given its geometry.
Well, let me tell you something about me.I am a food splitter.I've always been a food splitter.You might have not noticed this about me.
You cut your burgers in half?
I cut my burgers in half.I also, you're going to hate me, I also cut my burritos in half.
So I can get the best first bite.Maybe I subconsciously am a first biter girl now.I think you are.I think now I am.I think before I was like, the last bite has to be perfectly curated.Everything has to be in its place.
It was like a perfectionist situation, but now I'm like, screw it.The first bite, I'm going to get everything and it's going to be so good.I'm going to tilt my head.I'm going to bite into it.It's going to be delicious.
You're out there demanding your own pleasure, Nicole.
That's incredible.I'm reclaiming my time.
Nicole, you think it's good to have dreams, right?
I dream of learning Spanish.
Because here's the thing.I love Mexican food.Anytime we cook in the Mythical Kitchen, all I want to make is Mexican food.All I want to eat is Mexican food.
I've spent almost my entire life in Southern California, and I've learned a fair bit of Spanish.You know, I can get by in restaurants. But I feel like it's a culture that I appreciate so much.I really want to travel all throughout Mexico.
And the fact that I don't speak it, I think, is weird.And I think I could only appreciate the culture and food a lot more if I was actually fluent.And by golly, I'm going to do it.
That's great, Josh.I really think you have the ability to do whatever you set your mind to.And if that's learning Spanish, I think you can do it.
And I failed it in college, but that's because classrooms aren't always the best environment, which is why I'm really excited to do it through Rosetta Stone.
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I treat the first bite of food simply as a means to set up the next bite, to set up a good bite.
So it's like it's like biting the cigar.
Literally, yes.A burrito.I literally am like I'm nibbling off because the tortilla always bunches at the end.
Yeah.I'm literally like chewing through that plain tortilla and deliberately not going far enough in to get delicious toppings.
It's pleated.It's pleated.Yeah.
I'm literally chewing through that and I'm like, let me give myself a little amuse-bouche of plain tort.You know, sometimes I'll lube it up with some chili de arbol or some salsa or whatever.
But I'm like literally setting up for my first perfect bite in a burger.If it's a thick burger, I'll cut it in half.But like a thin, you know, kind of backyard burger, like if I'm making it at home, like a quarter pound of meat or less.
I'm not gonna cut it in half, but what I wanna do is expose the angles to be able to fit more into my mouth.You know what I'm saying?
I feel like cutting it allows me to fit more in my mouth.
Cutting it does, but then you lose the Socratic form of what a burger is, because a burger is circle.You hold a circle.A burrito is long tube.
A half circle is a half circle.It's not a burrito.
No, I'm talking about burger right now.I'm talking about burrito.
Okay, so what if it's, so what? You ever share?You never share food?You're not a food sharer, Josh Sharer?
No, I am, and I almost always... Yeah, but that's... I mostly share food if I go to, like, a fancy restaurant.In which case, I don't... The last burger I remember splitting, it's at a fancy French bistro called Petit Trois.
The burger ends up costing, like, $40, but it is insane.
Do you slice that one in half?
Because I'm always there with people.I'm never just eating that as a meal myself.That'd be crazy. That would be crazy.It's like a foie gras bordelaise on it.Really, but there's still special sauce in American cheese.
But like, yeah, you do sacrifice a lot by cutting that burger into multiple pieces.
Well, it's such a wet burger.It is also a very wet burger.Most of the burgers we're eating at this 2024, they're quite wet, wouldn't you say?
We have wetted our burgers more than we did in the past.
No burgers are very dry anymore.I was actually thinking when you were talking about the Burritos La Palma burrito and how wet it is, I was like, wow, I eat a lot of dry ass burritos.
But I wet it with salsas.You know what I mean?
I do appreciate a post-wet burrito, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.I have another food I'm gonna throw into the ring here.
Wait, I was gonna, no, I was talking about Socratic forms and hamburgers.Well, okay, okay, okay, okay.Sorry, Bob.Something I know, I'm sorry.Something I noticed, I'm manic about this.
Something I noticed in the early days of Instagram, if you posted a picture of a burger cut in half, this one picture still got likes on Instagram and it wasn't all reels.
God, I worked in my food photography for nothing.But if you posted a picture of a whole burger, it would get double the likes as that same burger cut in half.
Yes.I remember even me and Eli A. Ruth from Food Beast talked about this.
Yeah.Because that was the nature of food blogging back in the day.But it like speaks to the idea that people associate a burger with like whole circle.Right.That's the cartoon form.And I think it even affects your own enjoyment of it while eating it.
Wow, you really think that well, yeah.Oh my gosh.How do I eat a burger?Do I use one hand to eat a burger or do I use two hands to eat a burger?It depends where the burger is from you.Do you one hand it like a like a carlsjr baddie?
Yeah, I one hand it but I always use it literally sometimes causes problems in our in our thumbnails and we're taking thumbs and me holding a burger you hold the butt
I hold, but I don't like, Chappie, who is our lovely thumbnail photographer, and they do incredible work, always wants me to hold the burger with only my thumb supporting it.
But you can't do that, because oftentimes it's wet and the bun is falling out, and so I always hold burgers with my pinky and my thumb underneath. And it's this weird claw motion.
But I think I get a lot more joy out of eating a burrito that is not cut in half, feeling the weight, feeling the heft of it.A sub sandwich, same thing.A party sub does not eat the same as a hoagie.
You take a big slice of a sub instead of eating the whole hoagie.
Really?I wish more people sliced sub sandwiches in like fourths to make it more easier to manage.
No.Like when you go to Bay City, it's a great sandwich spot in Santa Monica.What are you doing?
Yeah, I mean, that's cut in half because I'm getting a large sandwich, but I think there is something to, I think, you know what part of it is?
I'm constantly manicuring my food like a landscape artist, trimming hedges to try and get to the best bits.
Do you ever do that?You're like halfway through a burrito and they're like, it's too much rice there, I'm gonna take it out right now.That's gonna increase my enjoyment for the next two or three bites by at least 20%.
Um, do I do that?Um, I don't think, do I do that?No, I don't do that.I don't do that.I don't, I don't, I don't find value in that anymore.I think when I was younger and I cared a lot more, but now I don't care anymore.What's wrong with me?
Where's all the joy gone in my, in my, in my food?
No, but I mean, joy and pain are just sides of the same coin, right?Like I think what you've found is comfortability. You know, and I'm not, I'm still out here chasing the high of a wet ass of a burrito.
You know?Stop chasing that wet ass, Josh.
You know what the best bite of a burrito is?So this only works with big sloppy ones, right?Big sloppy wet ones.But you're eating it over the foil that it came in.
And all of the drippings are dripping down.You get the last bite and you take it and you flip it over into the drippings and you swipe it up and you just go and slurp it in your mouth.
I bring the foil to my face and I lick it off.
No!Everybody else is just bruised.
We're not gross.We're awesome.Now, here's a fun one.Desserts and ice creams.Because, you know, dessert and ice cream is all about pleasure and enjoyment.You know, you don't need it, but we want it, right?
I think first When we talk about first and last bite of food, like one cereal was an interesting example, right?For you, it gets worse as it sits.For me, it only gets better as it sits.So we're going to be opposite drafts on that one.
But drinks, right?Sometimes a cocktail.A Negroni is a great example.
I like the first sip of a cocktail always.
To me, there's a point where it like... If it's an up cocktail, if there's no ice, the first sip is always gonna be the best because that is when it is coldest and there's nothing keeping it colder.
But to me, something like an old-fashioned or a Negroni, something that has a big rock in it and something that is not shaken or stirred on ice, that needs time to dilute.
So the first sip of a Negroni, like a Negroni's always best to me towards the end, probably 60% of the way through because it's gotten enough dilution and coldness to really temper the astringency of the Campari.
Interesting.So I think it's that initial tang and bitterness that hits me.That's the most pleasant part.
It's not the end of the Negroni is the worst part for me.Why are we so different?We're so similar.
I think that that makes us a good podcast.So I'm going to talk about if you were just like, yes, man.
Yeah, I don't know.I think it's that initial astringency.I love that initial astringency of a cocktail.Like even if it's a margarita, like the first hit, the first time.So if I'm having a margarita, it probably has a salt or tajin rim, right?
Imagine the first time it hits your tongue and you're taking a sip of the cocktail and you're smelling the lime. That is by far, exponentially a more pleasant experience than the watered down bits at the bottom of the margarita.
I literally started salivating envisioning myself drinking margarita right now.
It's so harmonious.The way your tongue hits the salt and the acid and the alcohol and the ice.I think it's really beautiful.And I don't get that at the last tail end of the cocktail.
So my favorite cocktail is the penicillin, right?And the interesting thing about the penicillin is you either do a spoon float or a spritz.I just prefer spritz.It's super, super smoky Isla Scotch.
Like a Laphroaig or like a peat monster or something like that.And it creates this like beautiful campfire aroma, but it's only a spritz.So you're not tasting the smoke as much, but you do experience the aroma.
And so the first sip of that is always so bracing and biting, but then finishes refreshing and sweet and citrusy. And then you're right, every successive sip after that isn't as good because you're losing the aromas from the spritz.
So I think that kind of speaks to the idea of like, if you are in a craftsman's hands for certain foods, and this comes down to like a lot of stuff, right?You know, like burgers, there's like an artisanal craft to it.
All of these toppings should be stacked in a way when it lands to you, that is ideal.In the same way that this cocktail is constructed in a way, or even margarita.
That's what you're hoping for.Yeah, but that's what you're hoping for.
But then you ever take a bite of a burger and the toppings start slipping out?Sure.And then you start just, you're like a field medic trying to cram the entrails back into the burger.
Yes, yes.Like, no, get back in there.Of course.
You know, so I think there's something to that honoring the first bite of food because that was the way that it was meant to be eaten.
But then the last bite gives you control, like you portioning out the right amount of iceberg lettuce and sour cream.
But also you can be responsible for your own happiness.
So if that means removing a tomato from the burger that they forgot to remove, or if it means cutting it in half, or if it means shoving french fries into it, making it monkey style or whatever they call it. Like you have free will.
Second food beast and Eli reference of the day.
We should bring Eli on the show one time.Yeah, I think it'd be fun.Yeah, I think you can.You're the master of your own happiness and you don't need to leave it to the chef to do it all the time.You don't need to leave it up to G.O.D.
or whoever you think is up there.
I think there's one food that we can agree on with a first bite. I don't know if it's always gonna be the first bite that's the best, but the last bite is definitely not the best.
I want to talk about dessert too, so bring it on.What is it?
No, but I don't even believe that.I think the fourth... The fifth bite of pizza's the best.
Because it's one, bite the tip.Two, side, side, then... Center.Two, three is side, side, and then fold.
Yeah, the foldy, the fold.The first fold is the best bite.I used to be a crust eater first.Do you know that?
To get it out of the way or because you enjoyed it?
Yeah, to get it out of the way.
I respect that.Yeah, yeah.I still do that.Oh yeah, desserts.
Ice cream.First bite, last bite.I like ice cream soup.
Same.Me and Julia have a beautiful symbiotic relationship where she takes a pint out of the freezer and she starts eating it.Sometimes she likes to eat it with a fork because it's so hard.
And then by the time she's had her fill, I take it and I warm it up in my hands and I start scraping the slightly melted ice cream off the side.
I love melted ice cream.I love ice cream soup.
Same.I think there needs to be like a bit of like, what's it called?Like an amorphous solid or like a non-Newtonian fluid.
Non-Newtonian fluid.Oobleck.Right?It's gotta be that like one touch can turn it to liquid, but there's still structure to it.
I think we're just like drinking creme anglaise.
I think that's what we're getting at.Like if we could, if it was like not frowned upon by society, we would just drink like this glass would be filled with creme anglaise right now. We should.
It's like hot chocolate, but just egg-flavored.
That's all protein powder is, isn't it?It's creme anglaise, I mean, pretty much.
Yeah, if that would help you drink it more.Yeah, protein powder is just like creme anglaise.
What do you mean?It's protein, which is eggs, and sweetener.
Wait, it is protein, which is eggs.That's the statement that I'd like to harp on real quick.It is not.You can get egg white protein.It just smells like old gym farts. If you wanna drink that.
Is this me trying to relate to you?I'm so sorry.That's what I get for trying to be on the same side as you.
I think it's food dependent.
But also, if you care about it, you're going to care about it.Yeah, that's it.If you care enough about your last bite of food on your first bite of food, you're going to care.And that's it.
That's our point.If you put any thought into this, you'll likely enjoy food more than the next person.I totally agree with the idea of sensory specific satiety that scientifically the first bite of food is going to taste better.But to me, man,
That romantic last bite, it just, there's nothing like it.
Oh, you just, you feel the final touch on your fingers for forever and that burrito just wetting your mouth.
Gives you a little kiss goodbye until you meet again.
God, when's lunch? Nicole, you think it's good to have dreams, right?
I dream of learning Spanish.
Because here's the thing.I love Mexican food.Anytime we cook in the Mythical Kitchen, all I want to make is Mexican food.All I want to eat is Mexican food.
I've spent almost my entire life in Southern California, and I've learned a fair bit of Spanish.You know, I can get by in restaurants. But I feel like it's a culture that I appreciate so much.I really want to travel all throughout Mexico.
And the fact that I don't speak it, I think, is weird.And I think I could only appreciate the culture and food a lot more if I was actually fluent.And by golly, I'm going to do it.
That's great, Josh.I really think you have the ability to do whatever you set your mind to.And if that's learning Spanish, I think you can do it.
And I failed it in college, but that's because classrooms aren't always the best environment, which is why I'm really excited to do it through Rosetta Stone.
I know!Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program and it truly immerses you in the language you want to learn.
Get a lifetime membership with access to all 25 of Rosetta Stone's offered languages for 50% off.That's a heck of a deal, Nicole.
You can learn anytime and anywhere.Learn on the go with the mobile app or at your desktop on your schedule.
Yeah, it didn't exactly work in a college classroom.I'm not gonna sit in still per se.It's also got a speech recognition feature that gives you feedback on your accent.
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All right, Nicole, we've heard what you and I have to say.Now it's time to find out what other whack yetis are rattling out there in the universe.It's time for a little segment we call Opinions are like casseroles.
Welcome to our casseroles, they smell like onions.I'm your host Josh Sharer.
You know what really bothers me about working from home?
The bidet that we have doesn't fit on our toilet, which is cool, because normally I'd rather be getting paid for it.And so normally I'm doing it at work where we have bidets.
We're getting paid at home to do it, too, if you're working from home.
Yeah, I guess, yeah, now that adds up.Anyways, but I'm saying like on mornings when, well, Maggie, hold off on the opinion real quick.
On mornings when I am coming to the office and I'm like, I could go right now at home, but no, I'm going to wait it out until I get to work.
I don't care about your bowel movements right now.
I care about other things.
That's the real last bite of food.
Let's get into that opinion fight.
What's going on?A Cheeto is a corn chip with cheese on it, and that makes it a nacho.
Well, a Cheeto is not a chip.It's not a corn chip.
It's a puffed corn snack, I believe, is what we decided.
Yeah.And I think I would agree with that distinction.Although initially I balked at it.But when you think about like, well, are pretzels chips?It's like, no, they're in the same aisle and they're in the same bag.
Do you remember when your school got Flamin' Hot Munchies?
My school didn't have that.
Your school didn't have?What did your school have?
What sort of snacks?Baked.Baked chips.
What about like your elementary school?
Because they passed like a new act when we were in, God, I think it wasn't until my freshman year in high school.They passed a new act where they had to get rid of all sodas and they instead had Izzy's.
They made bank off Chipotle.They're still at Chipotle's.
Even though they have Ollipop as well and school contracts in California.
Because they had like 3% juice or something.
Yo, the orange Izzy's.Oh, the clementine Izzy's.Oh, that was my SHIT.
And they replaced all of the fried chips with baked chips.And I was like, well, great.I'm no longer eating chips ever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.We used to do something called nutrition.Yeah.And we would have food.What I used to do all the time.
They changed recess to nutrition.
Yeah, we got, I used to get a buttered bagel with cream cheese and then I would put the baked hot Cheetos on there.That was a good time.That was such a good time.What do you feel about this?
Nacho is short for Ignacio, right?
Ignacio Ayala being the chef who invented it in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
So yeah.So no, a Cheeto's not a nacho.Nice try, silly.
Yeah, get that lawyer BS out of town with us.We're not falling for it.Can't be powdered cheese.
Hey, Josh and Nicole.I'm from El Paso.Big, big, big, big fan.El Paso.
Shout out to Chewy's Tacos.
Recently, Matt Pat, funny enough, had a video where he was talking about how taste buds change every few weeks.
And I was wondering the relationship between that and seasoning to the edge, right?Because let's say you're at a fine dining restaurant and the chef you've worked under has a particular salt level that's his max?Is that seasoning to the edge?
Who's setting the standard of the edge?Is it the head chef? The person, the individual, or the customer in that scenario.I don't know.It was just something interesting I thought of.
Thank you.Such an interesting question to ask.
Fantastic question.And calls into question a lot of what we think of the idea as like expertise and mastery in a certain way.
I almost want to save this as a podcast.
I think, I just want to answer it real quick.Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.It's probably tough to title and thumb.
Sure, okay, fine, fine, fine.
Ah, we're running a business here.
You're right, you're right, you're right.
So to explain what he's talking about, seasoning to the edge, is this idea that if one more grain of salt added to a bite of food would make it too salty.You want that perfect level.
But it tends to be pretty high.Salt is far and away the most important ingredient in any kitchen, in any recipe.Correct.No matter what.As far as who sets the idea of what the edge is,
If the question in any kitchen is who's setting it, it's the head chef, right, who's teaching everybody else.But what happens when that head chef's taste buds change?One of the chefs that I worked for, a lot of his cooks would be like,
I always salt it a little bit less than he does, because this dude been smoking cigarettes, just chain-smoking cigarettes, and a lot of chefs have, and they do dull your taste buds.Sure.
This dude been chain-smoking for 20 years, and I would have food cooked by him that was seasoned to his edge that I would taste it and say, this is over. And so his cooks literally had to be like, yo, I think we gotta season this a little bit less.
And it almost caused a bit of an issue because he was like, this is wrong.Like, dude, we're getting complaints from customers.
Right, right, right.Yeah.
So that's actually a really astute question and a real issue that comes up.
Yeah.And I will say this.When I say seasoning to the edge, the edge of salt isn't as thin of a line as you're thinking.
That whole one grain is BS.
It's not actually one grain.I think whenever you add like an eighth of a teaspoon of salt, that's whenever you can notice it.I will say it's more like the edge.I'm thinking about like an actual mountain edge right now.
And like where the bar is set where you can't pass it.I would say the bar is like a feet, like a foot, like one foot away.And like you need to be able to determine that for yourself. Does that make sense?Probably not.
Do you ever like really like over salt stuff at home?
The thing about me is I have a saltier... I'm a saltier person than David is, so I salt my foods a little heavily.I also put a little bit more fat in my foods than probably his mom or my mom or he does for himself.
So I think my foods always taste a little bit better because of that.Because I'm trained in a way to... My problem is I'm trained to make food taste good no matter what.
So it's really hard to unlearn that whenever the things that make food taste good are fat and salt.
I don't know.I find myself there with so many recipes that I'm cooking at home where I'm like, I know the three things that would make this immediately better is butter, lemon and salt.
Because you're balancing just fat, salt and acid.And those things just they really coalesce into something beautiful.But then I'll have to like stop myself because I'm like, well, this is a Wednesday.
It doesn't need to be the best thing you've ever made.You want to eat something a little light and healthy.Yeah.And so, yeah, having like train yourself away from seasoning to the edge constantly.The other day, I I over salted oatmeal.
It's like so dumb, but I was just like salt in it.
What do you need?Why do you need to make the dude?
I salt my protein shakes.
You've salted a milkshake one time and it absolutely changed my life.
So that's what I'm saying, though Like salt is the most important ingredient and sometimes yeah, you don't need to ride the edge of your oatmeal, dude No, you don't you really don't Yeah, great question.
Hello This is Darren in Chico, California Chico I've occasionally gone to chili cook-offs.Hell yeah.Where the spectrum of things brought is kind of confusing.Yes.There's all meat chili with no beans.Yes.There's vegetarian chili.
There's chili with no tomatoes.Somebody had to say it.And it left me with the question, is there a definition of chili that doesn't allow you to include shrimp curry as chili?You guys are great.Thanks.
Shrimp chili.Is that a thing that exists?
This is chili crab fascinating to me, because we did a whole podcast about chili.I think we called it is chili soup.But I literally said that chili is an American curry.Obviously, chili con carne is from Mexico.
But like, the importance of chili in American cuisine, the fact that you go from the San Antonio chili queens cooking a legit Mexican recipe to an immigrant from
Macedonia in Cincinnati, you know, making hot dog slop with ketchup and cinnamon and chocolate.And those are both accepted as chili.Right.Yeah.How far can we stray from that?Because you talked to somebody from Texas, right?
They'll say that a bowl of Texas red has no tomatoes nor beans in it. Right.And you eat a bowl of Texas red and you're like, damn, this is one of the greatest things I've ever had.
I don't think I've ever had it before.
Oh, God.It's I mean, so close like carne guisada.It's just like in the meat tends to not be ground.It's like shredded, not even shredded.It's it's very thinly cubed.
And that's the way that I tend to cook my chili.If I'm if I'm making my best chili for a chili cook off, I tend to put beans in it and a little bit of tomato because that's what people expect.
and I don't want to give them something completely out of it, but I'll take chuck and I'll cut it into centimeter cubes and I'll render that down, toast all the chili powder in the actual fat.I'll use fresh chilies.
I do something a little bit close to Texas red, but also with the expectation of people probably gonna want beans in there.I've been to chili cook-offs where, I've been to a weird amount of chili cook-offs.
Have you entered chili cook-offs?
Yeah.I mean, like, not like big ones, but like people will throw them.
I've been brought in as like a ringer to like multiple people's corporate chili cook-offs.
I know the florist one, right?
The florist one, yeah.There was a buddy's law firm, my girlfriend, my ex-girlfriend's law firm.And at that one, I lost to, this is why this is personal to me, it was a like chicken white chili
that was literally canned Ortega chilies and just a ton of cream with shredded rotisserie chicken.And I lost to it.
Listen, she was, I think it was more a popularity contest.I'm saying nepotism.But I was literally like, this is not chili.Under no definition of chili is chili.A shrimp curry would have been more, I think it actually was a partner's daughter.
A shrimp curry would have been more chili-like than this chili that I lost to.And so I think you are correct.
I think we use the term chili in America in the same way that the term curry, which is also a pretty loaded term, is used in like South Asian cooking.Or at least in Britain, where they just say curry for everything.
This is so personal to you.Wow.I've never heard this story.I love a new story.I love when you tell me.
It's been a long time since you told me a new story.We were repeating a lot of the old ones.I only make Mormon mom chili from like allrecipes.com.That's who I am.
That's the most popular kind of chili in America, right?
I take whatever ground meat I had in the freezer.I thaw it out.I take out some cans of some canned tomatoes. I take out some canned beans, I throw it in an Instant Pot, c'est la vie, whatever.In a few hours, I have dinner.That's how I cook chili.
Unfortunately, I wish I had more love, care, and attention for chili.I'm not that person.
You should go balls out on a chili one day and see what happens.
I'm just not that person, Josh.Dude, it rips, man.Balls out chili?I don't want to make balls out chili.I want my balls to stay in.
Because I'll make balls in chili a fair amount too.I have a pound of ground turkey.I don't know what to do with it.I got some tomato paste and I always have spices, cans of beans.I'll make balls in chili and enjoy it.
Balls out chili is where you're like, you are treating this chili with the same intensity as if you were making Julia Child's buff bourguignon recipe, right?You're layering your seasoning.I made chili for Julia's boss who
loves chili more than any other food.And it was his birthday.And we were like, you know, we had six for co-workers over and I was just like, I want to make the best chili I've ever made in my life.
And what did he say when he had it?
He said it was the I'm going to flex for a second, Rachel Ray.Sorry if this comes back to you.But he said his previous favorite chili was Rachel Ray's. Now it's mine.
Love you, Rachel.Come on the show.Oh, yeah.That'd be great.Do you have any more opinions, Maggie?We have one more.One more opinion.
Like a poblano cheddar cornbread.This is Leighton, a.k.a.Dragon.Longtime second time.
So for my controversial opinion, coconuts have hair, coconuts produce milk, coconuts are not cold-blooded, and coconuts do not lay eggs.Therefore, coconuts are mammals.
Okay, put down the magic mushrooms, dragon.
I rest my case, your honor.
There's one thing that's missing, a heartbeat.
I was gonna say, it produces milk, but what of the teats, Leighton?
What do you mean?You gotta make your own teats.The holes, the bowling ball things?
Teats is one-way hole.I think of teats as... Teats one-way hole.Well, things can get in there.You ever had a clogged nipple?
No, I've never had a... Have you had a clogged nipple?That's a thing that can happen?
A girl like me has had a clogged... What was it clogged with?I had a clogged duct.
Oh, well, yeah, so I guess given Nicole's clogged nipple duck, I do accept that coconuts are mammals.
It normally only happens to pregnant people, but I had a clogged duck once and you don't want to know.
It's a plunger.I do.Oh, no.Oh, no.I do want to say the general.
This podcast just became NC-17.
Only second base.The general argument that a coconut is not cold-blooded and does not lay eggs.I think that's tough, right?This sign is not cold-blooded and does not lay eggs.
I'm telling you, heartbeat.There's no heartbeat.It doesn't have eyes.It doesn't have ears.It doesn't have a central nervous system.It doesn't have, I don't know, a thymus gland.It's not a mammal.
You know what this argument is structured like?
It's structured like the argument anyone would have who has ever gone on Twitter and said, debate me.Why won't you debate me?
It's like, no, because you're just going to say stuff like coconuts aren't cold-blooded and produce milk, ergo they're mammals.And then I have to waste my energy.
Coconuts don't even have blood.
Describing why that's false.I know, but this is big debate me on Twitter energy.
They're not cold-blooded.They're not warm-blooded.They're no-blooded.Zero blood.Zero blood in a coconut.
I don't know.What's a xenomorph?
I don't know.It's the creature from Alien.I feel like I should re-watch most of the Alien franchise.
You should watch it.Yeah.I really like Prometheus.
I saw that in theaters, but I was in a state in which I cannot remember any of the plot. It was like one in the morning, I don't know how, and I was the only one there, all my friends were supposed to go.
You went to a movie by yourself at one o'clock in the morning?
All my friends were supposed to go, and my friend Hannah was in a sorority, and for some reason the sorority was employed to do the marketing for the local theater of this, and she was like, hey, everybody, guys, we got Prometheus, a coyote t-shirts,
And you're all going to come out and it's like a midnight premiere.And me and all my buddies are like, yeah.And then it came time to actually go.And all my buddies are like, no.And I'm like, well, I'm going, I think I rode my bike there.
Yeah, it was like freshman year in college.
This is the second new story of the day.
Yeah, I tried to repress it.
Josh, I don't know what you're doing, whatever kind of work you're doing outside of here, but I'm loving the new stories.Yeah, we're bringing up old things.So did they.They're also loving the new stories.That's great.
I'll start telling the new stories.Maggie, you're liking the new stories?Love it.So good.
I'll tell you about the time.No, you've heard this story.I saw Disney Pixar's Brave in that same theater.Oh, I ended up throwing up in the bathroom for a couple hours.Anyways, that's about all of our time.
And on that note, thank you for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich.We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday on wherever you get your podcasts, and a video version here on YouTube every Sunday.
Back then, the labels weren't as clear as they are today.
What are you talking about?
The labels today, they're like, oh, this is 5, this is 10. Oh, we got new episodes out all the time, Wednesdays, audio.I just said that.If you want to be featured on opinions like casseroles, give us a ring and leave a quick message at 833-dogpod1.
They weren't even like sealed back then.They were just like wrapped in plastic and there'd just be like a label.But what did that mean?Nobody knew.
For more Mythical Kitchen, check out our videos.
We have a great series called Last Meals where we interview celebrities, well, not we, that guy, Josh Sharer, interviews celebrities for The Last Meals, and we got some really exciting ones coming up, so tune in.
Also, they were always tinged with green, and then now they're not.What happened?How did they take the green out?How much is it?All right, see y'all next time.
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