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00:00:01
The one where Doug and Steve get lost in the (shoyu) sauce.
31 Plays1 year ago
Main takeaway is don't make fondue. Also, a lot of work goes into running a restaurant. And, not surprisingly, Steve loves his eggs as wet as possible.
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Transcript
To Clean or Not to Clean: Grill Remnants Debate
00:00:00
Speaker
Uh, do you consider, um, burnt, uh, burnt up remnants of previous meals seasoning for the next meal or do you clean that out? Who, who, who does that? Is that a thing? Uh, have you ever been to like, um, uh, you know, like some parks and stuff will have like grills, like public grills.
Public Grill Experiences and Solutions
00:00:22
Speaker
That's always like, that's like my nightmare. It's it's, uh, no, cause I do that. I grew up, um, at,
00:00:30
Speaker
Um, some like long Island, like sunken Meadow state park, we would go to every year, um, go out of our way to go there and we'd only have, we wouldn't bring a grill with us. We'd bring, we'd use whatever is there that just the flat top, either low standing or they have the little bit higher ones and you exactly what you see. Like you, you have the horrific remnants of the past, you know, a few, few weeks on there. So I spent a lot of time just getting on high heat, burning all out. And there was one time I can't find them.
00:00:58
Speaker
I think I got them picked up at H mark, but they do sell like disposable grilling sheets that have their not perforated, but there's, there's holes in them preventing and they, they just are supposed to be spaced out to match up with most grill marks. So it's nice. It's just a very quick, you put it on and you could go right to grill and
Mastering the Art of Grilled Pizza
00:01:18
Speaker
it's posted all the time. You need to do to clean it up. But yeah, man, that's the first thing I do. I just like on the gas grill that I have go high, he try to burn.
00:01:26
Speaker
everything off and then, yeah, I don't, I don't want to do any around. I'm sorry, dry he's thinking about that. Oh my God.
Pizza Party Planning and Execution
00:01:42
Speaker
You throw the pizza towards the back and then now you pretty much don't want to cook any one quarter of the pizza longer than for 25 seconds or something. You just have to like time it and then rotate it. You just got to keep. If you don't, it'll literally just catch on fire. That's cool. The idea of doing it is for sure. I get into moods of like when I told you like a few months ago and we were making all those pizzas.
00:02:10
Speaker
Like I got into it and I wanted to do it, but limited with the resource you have, it's like only, like I'm not, at that point, I was not willing to buy the full out setup in order to do it, but I like the idea of it for sure. That often happens.
00:02:26
Speaker
Right. It is one of those things where it's like, well, you know, unless you have like a restaurant or like how often I mean, how often should a responsible adult make pizzas? Well, did you say you were like making pizzas for like your your neighbors and stuff or like
Fondue Failures and Lessons Learned
00:02:40
Speaker
you do? Oh, yeah, we always have to because I could the minimum I can make is like my dough recipe makes eight pies, eight personal pies. Fantastic. Yeah. Well, I mean, yes, true. The first time was fantastic.
00:02:53
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So yeah, I mean, you can. But yeah, so it's pretty easy to throw like a pizza party because you can do like the first one turns into like some sort of like garlic bread type situation, just like pull apart thing. And then the middle six are like pizzas. And then the last one you turn into like some sort of dessert pizza type. Yeah. Oh, that's a good idea. You kind of spaced it out. That's nice. You got your courses out of that.
00:03:19
Speaker
Uh, yeah, it's good. And then, uh, we've gotten now like, we'll have people, well, it's been a while, actually, maybe we'll do it again this summer. Uh, we'll have people over and then we just like, I prepped everything. So I'll like, I'll make the doughs, I'll make the sauces, I'll make all the toppings and stuff. And then people just come in and they make their own. Yeah. That's what I was going for when I.
00:03:37
Speaker
the debacle that I created. It ended up being all right, but I'm sure, yeah, the way that you were describing it, that was what I was trying to go for. Why is there so much fish in this town, Steve? I don't know. Yeah, so like I was saying, I go through, I'll get all caught up in one type of a food. You look up all these videos and read up on it and try to go to the store. You get all the upfront, the ingredients, just so you can kind of get
00:04:03
Speaker
get into. I often do that, like I do with the with like the Instapot and with like the pizza to a limited extent. One of the things that I did at some point, we were like getting ready for this like years ago, this is like probably right after we got married, Betty and I. And it was like a New Year's party that we did at Betty's friend's apartment in in the city. And I got into it's like, oh, let's do New Year's.
00:04:30
Speaker
things. Let's look what's like a small appetite. I got it in my head to do like fondue. Oh my god, there's a worse decision. Because then I started going into I said, I've had fondue. You could have many options. You go to the you know, the sharper, you know, a cheddar you do. Oh, we can I can make like desserts, I can do chocolate. So I got all this stuff into it. I was reading up on and from when I compare like the expectation and what I was hyping myself up to the
Concert Mishaps and Cooking Disasters
00:04:55
Speaker
results. When I say that everybody's like eating and trying to be polite and smiling, but
00:05:01
Speaker
No, you know what it was good I couldn't hold it myself either cuz it wasn't that great I wasn't gonna gag but it was like not great was I did the traditional look I followed what you were supposed to do I guess the the original versions are these it's man I can't remember now what it is but the
00:05:20
Speaker
the cheese that they have have a stronger taste and smell. Um, and like a, like a Gruyere. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like a Gruyere. And I, um, you know, on, on paper, it all sounded good. I've had all these cheeses that I bought before. It wasn't like I was taking wild swings. There was some basis for it, but I don't know if it was like the intensity of it or, or what, or the fact that it had to slowly heat to get liquid. And then that smells like wafting over or whatever it was, but
00:05:50
Speaker
man, the one girl was like, she was like, she felt bad about it, Lauren. She was like saying, she's like, I'm kind of sensitive, you know, my stomach, but as she's explaining it, she's like, you know, and then she's like, she's like, uh, she couldn't even say it was, you know, it was an interesting, or it was just like the aftertaste. She's like, it's like, it's like eating like the smell of like feet. I've never felt like so, uh,
00:06:18
Speaker
self-conscious about like something I've cut where it's been a complete failure. Because then, you know, I then have to, you know, quietly pack everything away and like, throw all. Anybody want any leftovers? Anybody? So I just dumped it. But I bought those little like, those little forks. I think I there's somehow I recouped it. I'm pretty sure we ended up just
00:06:47
Speaker
moving it on to the, to the dessert part of it. And there was enough food. It wasn't like I was catering this small little event. Thankfully there's nothing to do, but, um, yeah, man, like that, when I'm with that group of friends, it's Betty's like, uh, old, um, her bridesmaids from, from the wedding. Yeah. That'll, that'll come up. And it's like, wow, man, it was like those deuce chills. It's just like, that's one of the ones that I go right back. I'm like, oh my God, I could feel it. The embarrassment wash over me. Uh,
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, man. But that's like the foots. So certain things, you know, there's that could be a risk. There's I think about when I try to when I'm like onto the new thing that I want to try doing. But yeah, so I still I've told so many people the.
00:07:32
Speaker
the absurd story or just how absurd it was when I think I was just in for the weekend or something. I came to me, you, Sam, and Sean, maybe Matt? I don't know if Matt was there or not, but we went to go see the back-to-back tour with Jay-Z and Eminem. When I showed up, I think it was the day of the concert and we had to get there a certain time or whatever.
00:07:55
Speaker
running behind or like when I get there, we are ready to leave. And I walk in and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, we got to get we got to get out of here in the next few minutes. But before we go, we got to finish these like 70 dumplings. And I guess you had just learned to do dumplings that weekend or something. And you're like, yeah, we got to we got it. But an absurd request. I don't I don't recall that. I remember the event. I remember like getting ready for it. Was that do we like stay?
00:08:24
Speaker
somewhere do we go? Was that the way we went to like Red Roof Inn or was that like State College? No, that was right when they built the new Yankee Stadium. It was like the first few months. Wow. Yeah, that's right. That's going back for sure. Yeah, we've known each other for a minute. It's crazy how much like how far back you could go. And it's still all stuff like post college. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I think that's that does come up often. It's like man, it just
00:08:52
Speaker
going back and like in the timeline, it's crazy. Yeah. It's just, uh, forever. But that, um, uh, that fondue story, that is, uh, that's pretty horrible. That's pretty cool. That's why you gotta, if it's like a big event or something, you gotta, you gotta stick to the classics. Well, I thought, I think that was one where it's like all, you know, I, I really just, that was really swinging for it. Cause I, I had, I was no, no tried and true at all. The stuff was all a new setup, a new technique and all that.
00:09:20
Speaker
And I try not to replicate that. Like I've done a bunch of cooking for Betty's family that have been the stakes. Not that the stakes were high, but I want them to know that I'm cooking and I know that it's all good. But so I won't stray too far away from some a lot of the class. And then I will get into like a lot of like Cantonese style cooking. I would get in like a book and did a bunch of videos. And I was following that. I think I thought I told you was there was a while there, like maybe a few months leading into
00:09:50
Speaker
Chinese New Year. There's some other event. It was like over the summer where Betty's, her brother, her dad and her mom all have birthdays in December. And so leading into that, I was watching a bunch of these cooking with Lao videos. It's like a guy. Have you, have you seen that or heard those? I have. Yeah. Yeah. So it's pretty awesome. It's like very thorough, like the whole presentation and technique. And I, I, I, I find myself, it's very easy to, to,
00:10:20
Speaker
get into those and follow them. So I did a bunch of those dishes, and I looked up a bunch of other stuff. And those dinners that I did where I was cooking for her parents and her brother and his wife have come off pretty
Cooking Techniques and Unusual Combinations
00:10:32
Speaker
good. I don't think they're just being nice. I think that the food is good, and then it comes out. So I try to not, yeah, it takes too much of a risk these days. Crazy. For any of those dishes, have you gotten to the point where you just
00:10:47
Speaker
You can just make them. You don't need to reference anything. It's just kind of... Yeah, it took a while. There's a stir-fry dish of you could do with either broccoli or bok choy, and then there's a marinade that goes with it that includes that Chinese cooking wine. There's a bunch of prep that has to happen, but I remember when I did it the first three times, I followed every bit of it. Now that it's been six or seven times, I'm
00:11:15
Speaker
You know, I'm measuring it by eye, doing a couple of things like that. So now that's that stuff is encouraging. But I think I need to be cooking the main dishes, the protein dishes. I think I need a little bit more time practice to just be to just just kind of like wing it. I got real into in the last year or so. And I guess technically I do the
00:11:37
Speaker
typically do like the Japanese version, but a lot of there's a lot of countries effectively have like a dish like a stir fry dish that is egg and tomato. I've seen that. And I've seen a bunch of that I've never
00:11:51
Speaker
I've never made it. I've never had it, but it looks, it looks interesting. Um, and I was asked the better if, uh, yeah, it's the comfort food, right? Like you put, yeah, yeah. And is it exclusively a breakfast thing? I think so more. Yeah. I mean, it's America's or whatever. You can eat whatever, but, um, yeah, I think I've mainly seen whenever I like read about or watch videos about the making of and stuff. It seemed like they were always making it for breakfast. Yeah.
00:12:16
Speaker
No, that, that I would definitely be into that for sure. Uh, I would, I got to try it at some point cause, um, uh, like, um, I would, uh, the, the Paco and Jason Crystal, those guys always made fun of me. Like there was a certain point where I would have, um, those tomato slices and make them part of my breakfast. Like I'd order at a Denny's or a diner or whatever. And he'll say, can you give me a side of tomato slices? And I don't know where it came from or why I started doing it, but like, I liked it. You know, that's the,
00:12:44
Speaker
having that with like eggs or whatever it was. And then my growing up as a kid, I remember my brothers, my brother Bobby, especially, people catch up on everything. And the one that freaks everybody out was catch up on top of scrambled eggs. And I would do it too. And there's nothing wrong with that for me, like you get on the side.
00:13:03
Speaker
And I feel like those flavors and those profiles kind of are close to what that that dish would be. Like it's now I now I will say like any time I see somebody just with like scrambled eggs just and there's buried under ketchup. I do. I do gag. But that is actually Chris was really big into that. Chris did that. Like, yeah, that or like, yeah, so much ketchup on on eggs. But that is that one kind of grossed me out. But the one that really kills me is people that just like drowned rice in ketchup.
00:13:33
Speaker
I just want to, I just want to throw myself off a cliff when I'm like, I can't do that too. My brother would do that all the time and like, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. I mean, I guess I get it, but I just, yeah, I don't know. Sometimes like the ratio is off too. It's like way more ketchup than rice. Like it's just, no, that's, that's too much of any condiment. Um, yes, it would be too crazy, but
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah.
Breakfast Blunders and Beverage Mishaps
00:14:02
Speaker
I mean, I'm not thrown off by like we used a lot of it. The, uh, the something, something else that was another fail that, that I did that, uh, the, uh, Paco crystal Eddie, those guys will remind me of all the time when you get to that tailgate where we did the breakfast shots. And, uh, we had like, I don't know what game it was if it was Michigan or whatever, but it was an early morning game. So we tailgated early for sure. And, uh, you know, it's who's bringing the bacon, who's bringing the eggs. And I,
00:14:29
Speaker
I brought a loaf pan and I threw all these eggs in there and I was cooking. I said, I'm in charge of the eggs. I love cooking. I love cooking eggs. No problem. It was like so slow. It ended up being, it just took so long. There was no way that was going to work. You know, it just like the, uh, the thought that went into it, just a little bit more thought would have like went such a long way, but you had people, uh,
00:14:58
Speaker
out of boredom, just taking more shots of tequila. So everybody was throwing up. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I don't, I remember, I wish I had photos of that time because of the mileage it had where it would come up all the time, but, um,
00:15:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's another fail for sure. To be honest, that is actually a lot of restaurants, especially a lot of places that do certain types of like breakfast sandwiches and stuff the way and I actually kind of wanted to do this here mainly just out of like it's like a healthy way to eat eggs. But the way they'll prep a lot of eggs is they pour the egg mixture onto like a sheet pan and then they cook the sheet pan in the oven in like a water bath. So the eggs kind of get like steamed and you end up with like perfect square eggs that you just cut out and put
00:15:45
Speaker
sandwiches. Oh, yeah. Okay. So yeah, I mean, it could work. I just think the inside of the oven wasn't hot enough to steam. But no, but this was like like a pound cake pan, which was very too tall. Yeah, tall. And yeah, and it was constantly stirring it just at the surface area. It just wasn't going to work. You know, there was there's no way very, very quickly. I can buy it by the time I had committed, you know, twenty eight, twenty four eggs in there and there was like no going back.
00:16:15
Speaker
I was like, there's a lot of us, right? Perfect. No problem. I got it. And, uh, by the time somebody said, do you, did you think about this or whatever it was? It was far too late. You have to just keep on going. Not as bad as, um, whoever. And I feel like it might've been me or somebody, it might've been one of us. Cause we, we tended to be the ones that like got the groceries or whatever, but there was like, um,
00:16:36
Speaker
Uh, a lot, we used to do like mimosas in the morning, whatever, kind of start the morning with like a mimosa. And we, uh, again, either we did or somebody had bought, uh, like orange juice with like extra pulp. So the, it's just like, um, it was almost like you were eating, eating the champagne. It was real gross.
00:16:57
Speaker
It's just, and I'm actually a big pulp fan. I like, I like my OJ, but not, uh, not as an alcoholic beverage. That was gross. Yeah. It's, that's asking a lot for sure. Would not do that again. I'm trying to think of like a design, like a cooking or like something I've tried that was just like, uh, a complete disaster that I didn't like. You didn't get anybody sick or anything like that. That's, that's the worst. Like you feel guilty about it.
00:17:24
Speaker
but I've had quite a number of like, that didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Like over salting or seasoning. I know I did ribs the one time, I did like the char siu, like Chinese barbecue ribs. I did like three summers in a row where it was like really good and I tried different version every time, but then I used this cooking with Lao recipe that they had and they went heavy on the seasoning and I blindly used their proportions and it just was like so unbelievably salty.
00:17:54
Speaker
It was, I thought it was an edible, but everybody was like really nice about it. They just like, they ate it. But the, um, yeah, I know just at that point you had to drown it in rice to just even it out. Like I don't season my rope, my white rice. So it's just, uh, you know,
00:18:07
Speaker
took away some of the bite. I did do recently along the same lines of way too salty, but just based on the recipe. What's the cooking guy that looks like Chucky from Rugrats? Weissman? No. He's like a white guy with a completely bald head.
00:18:28
Speaker
Oh, bald head. You said Chucky from Rugrats. Chucky from Rugrats is the guy with the red hair that's long. Oh, who's the main character? Oh, man. Oh, I don't remember. But the guy who looks like Chucky is the burger guy who does all the different Americana.
00:18:42
Speaker
burgers. That guy looks like Chuck. He's got a burger place in New York City, which is incredible. Is it really okay? Yeah, he's big at the smash. Yeah, I do love a good smash burger. Although I do feel like it's one of those things that I feel like there's a lot of foods, again, especially like really simple foods that they have to, there's got to be like a precipice of some sort where it's like, I don't, I don't think you can get them any better than a certain level. Like is, is it actually that much better than the second most, the second best smash burger in New York City? Like, I don't know.
Culinary Influences and Recipe Experiments
00:19:11
Speaker
Uh, but yeah, I forgot what that guy's name of some cooking dude, cooking guy, some cooking. What is he's a bald guy, huh? Tom. Um, the kid's name is Tommy for sure. Tommy Chucky, Angelica, Phil, dill, Kimmy, Susie. Tommy's the name of the kid. That doesn't help us from what we're trying to talk about. Uh, you're right. Sam the cooking guy. Oh yeah. He's not bald though. No, not Sam's cooking. That's the Canadian guy. Uh, Sam the cooking guy. I watch his stuff too.
00:19:40
Speaker
Yeah, he is the most like dad cook. Oh, too much. So he's like hanging out with this. He's like smoking weed with this kids and sons do all the recording and stuff, right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I think it's that that dude can cook. I think it's the Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. Yeah, I used I use that guy's rosemary salt recipe.
00:20:00
Speaker
for my turkey. Yeah, that's him. Anyway, but yes, so that's he's like, wait, what was the Rugrat character? Tommy. Tommy. It's Tommy all grown up. So while the main reason I bring up he had a like a
00:20:15
Speaker
chicken thigh that was poached in a shoyu sauce. Not only a soy-based sauce, but a dark, fermented soy sauce, so real strong.
00:20:31
Speaker
It was like two cups. Not even exactly like two because you have to like literally immerse the chicken. And it was, uh, yeah, I was like, I don't, I guess some people just have like a better tolerance for like that strong of like a salt flavor. Yeah. Yeah. That was for everybody that ate it. It was kind of a bit of a hard pass.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, I've definitely been to, uh, uh, potlucks or we've done like friends giving your cousins giving where we bring stuff and you know, that's the test. Like how much are you taking it back with you? I've had some misses. Good. You got to stick to the classes. Yeah. Well, like I did, cause I cooked for everybody for, I did, um, uh, like a, uh, a sweet Italian, um, Turkey sausage, um, um, stuffing.
00:21:18
Speaker
And it was awesome. Like I made it for my family and everybody, you know, loved it. But then when you put that, I guess it wasn't visually appetizing. So when I went out there with all these other, like really cool, uh, other dishes, it's like, you know, to the side and then, uh, yeah, I know. Uh, and then I made like this really good, um, jalapeno cornbread. That was like, it was awesome. It was like upside down. It was like a, it's like a pineapple upside down cake recipe, but it's for cornbread. And then you put like jalapenos on it, but it looks cool and it tasted like really good. And, um,
00:21:48
Speaker
that I, I made that for my, for my family. And then I had a little bit left over and then I kind of cut off the rough, you know, the un-eat parts where they couldn't possibly eat all of it. And that's, I brought that as another, as a side dish. Everybody went right past my stuffing and went right to that. They, they all had like little spoons of my, my jalapeno cornbread and they loved that.
00:22:09
Speaker
So you never can tell. I think next year I'll do that. Like bigger, bigger portions of that. That's, yeah, that tends to be, you never really know. Oh, you know, actually something I did for one, I always try to do some, I always try to do a few new things at Thanksgiving. Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
I have like a couple staples, like a couple things that I always make. But then like a few I always try to introduce some new dishes. And the one the one year I can't remember Cook's magazine or somebody was doing like staple dishes of America, something like that for Thanksgiving. And I think Wisconsin or something was black rice. And I was like, I just needed like a real simple dish. And I was like, Oh, that's fine.
Cooking Mistakes and Personal Growth
00:22:49
Speaker
Let's try that. I'd never cooked with black rice, which is like a really like hard grain. And
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah i really i didn't like a lot of things on thanksgiving like i really really underestimated how long like i think i cooked it for four or five hours of just boiling this rice and it probably it was so rock hard it probably needed another like another four hours or something.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah. Uh, so that was, um, by the end of the night, most of the stuff was like halfway gone or gone. That was the whole pot was there. So, but, uh, again, I didn't feel too bad. It's literally just like a bowl of rice or whatever. So I'm like, whatever Wisconsin content sucks anyway. So I was going to ask, I've had, when you said black rice, I thought like you normal long grain rice that you add something to make it black, but you're saying that's, that's the grades themselves are black. Yeah.
00:23:45
Speaker
Yeah, I've never had that. I've never seen. Is it a weird taste like?
00:23:48
Speaker
I guess cooked to the right amount and like making it like straight through. Is it supposed to be like a certain? I guess you know what? I something I have tried to be better about is before I cook anything, I I want to I try to have the thing first to understand what is supposed to come up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so like I've never I've till today never had it proper because I don't know where I would even really come up.
00:24:16
Speaker
So that was constant, I guess, but I mean, what am I doing with my life? Yeah.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah, but no, there's one. Do you have any like, simple dishes that you've just now you're at the point that you've just perfected them for like, example, for a lot of people, there's like, some people have gotten like, really good at making like, eggs, like scrambled eggs, or, yeah, I, I, well, yeah, for scrambled eggs, I like the way that I like it. For whatever reason, my kids don't like scrambled eggs should be like a slam dunk, but they don't
00:24:48
Speaker
really like it. But I like wet or Yeah, for scrambled eggs, I've perfected the way that I like them for sure. And like, I'll just make a portion of the side for myself. But yeah, it's like more runny and you know, low and slow. And some people hate that. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Betty doesn't like the soft one. You I think if that's the case, if you like that, you will definitely like the egg and tomato dish. It's very much that. Yeah, I'll give it a shot. Yeah.
00:25:18
Speaker
I think, I think I will do that. Yeah. Uh, all right. So you, you, you, you, you're very good at making the eggs for yourself as well. Well, you know, it's, it goes to the weekday dishes, like the weekend dishes. I took a little bit more time with, but the week, week, um, dishes are pretty standard. What the kids will eat and what they always want. White rice. The only vegetables they'll have are like, um,
00:25:44
Speaker
boiled like four, four minute boiled carrots. Um, and then what are these three minute boiled this out of my face? Well, I'll be like, this is too hard. Actually, no, like the broccoli be like four minutes, but, and then the carrots will be like seven minutes, but, uh, you know, you gotta cool them off right away. Cause if it's like too soft, too hard. Yeah. They get, they're like, they're in that mode. Um, but mostly it's, uh, like chicken, like they'll either chicken breast or chicken thigh.
00:26:12
Speaker
And it's a simple seasoning. It's like salt, pepper, paprika, and then like just pan sear and then, um, let it cool. And that, if I could have enough portion of that, like that, that could be two dinners or, um, you know, some version of that, you know, mac and cheese, I, I've the way that they like it. Like it'll be a little bit more fancier than out of the box. Like I'll do all that and they, they like mine better than the ones they have at school or from a craft box. So that's encouraging.
00:26:39
Speaker
And then, um, what's the proper mac and cheese where you make like a rue or whatever? Yeah. Yeah. I'll do like a tablespoon of flour to a tablespoon of butter. And then, um, classic. Yeah. Now it's, um, it's yeah, it's good. Like that, that I'll, I used to be, um, that's a dish that I've made so many times that I used to all the proportions, but now I'll, you know, I, I'll just try to make a little bit more and a little bit less than.
00:27:05
Speaker
approximate approximate whatever pasta is left in the box and uh But I won't be too I can still get the flavors that they they like without going too crazy with like measuring out Yeah, you know some stuff like that like they like really plain pasta and then salmon salmon is pretty good like the timing of it I'll do like scale it like just salt and pepper and I'll do the
00:27:35
Speaker
Yeah. I can just peel it right off for them. Um, but like I'll do like flesh side down for like four minutes and just let it sear on the skin side to get
Choosing the Right Cookware
00:27:44
Speaker
it crispy. And then it should release from the pan. And then I got that nice, like, um,
00:27:48
Speaker
It's been the most versatile utensil I got is this big fish spatula that's like long and flat. The fish spatula is the, like, that is the level up. Like once you're using a fish spatula for just about anything, like on the stovetop, you've made it to like, I don't know, what is that, orange belt or something? Yeah. Yeah. I tend to use that fish spatula for most things like chicken or anything, like most things. So it's- Yeah, I can.
00:28:18
Speaker
The only, what I don't have though, which I'm missing from my game, I think I'll get it, uh, for over the summer or maybe I guess the winters. I do not have a single cast iron and like the seasoning of it, it's like, they don't really care too much. Like I'll, I'll make a steak and I'll just use like a stainless steel and I, um, my, my, my dad or my, my cousin had stayed at my, my family's house in Pennsylvania and he left over his cast iron and, uh,
00:28:45
Speaker
I cleaned it a little bit, and I seasoned it, and then I was using it for that weekend, and it was awesome. Yeah. I mainly only... So I've switched... I did the cast iron thing for a while, and then at some point I switched to carbon steel, and I have not gone back. Oh, really? Because it's like, yeah, because carbon steel, you have to do the seasoning stuff. It's got all the maintenance things that cast iron has.
00:29:12
Speaker
it is, I don't know, like, 80% lighter, like, it's just a much more versatile pan. And also, because it's so much lighter, has so much less material, it heats up a lot faster. So you can kind of get to the temperature you need it to be in a much shorter period of time. So yeah, I mean, if, yeah, if you're the type of person that's like willing to, you know, like, take care of the pan or whatever, like, I would also look into carbon steel, like there's some really good. So
00:29:42
Speaker
With the amount of cooking you do, do you get a better appreciation for like the, uh, like you and Chrissy will do these culinary experiences? Like, well, how far does that go? Like, I know we've talked about omakase before when we were in, but have you done like the full on Christronomy?
00:30:00
Speaker
experience. I have done gastronomy stuff. I don't know if that's still as in vogue these days, but I don't think so. Yeah, I don't see too many restaurants that are just that. But I don't think I don't think Christy and I have ever done that. That's why again, I don't even know if it's like that in vogue anymore. I think the last time I did that was maybe like 20. I think it was probably in New York City was probably like 2012 or something long
Gastronomy Experiences and Reflections
00:30:24
Speaker
time ago. But yeah, I think I do have a
00:30:28
Speaker
appreciation for like, like really well, like well sourced ingredients and really well prepared food like at a restaurant like I understand, you know, why, why they're more expensive or like why it's a little more
00:30:45
Speaker
Right. Whatever. Like, yeah, I, I get it. It's a lot of work. Like it's a lot of you just put a lot of effort into the put a lot of heart into and so yeah, for sure. I definitely I definitely there was a point probably even as recently as like 10 years ago or so where I was a complete opposite. I was like, I don't
00:31:02
Speaker
I mean, I always got like higher quality food ingredients, I think coming from California, like easy access to produce was always like a thing. So like anytime I went somewhere else that didn't have that it was always a bummer. But as far as the rest of it where it's like, I don't know why anybody would pay hundreds of dollars to sit in a restaurant and do whatever. Yeah, I get it. It's still not something I would want to do all the time, but I definitely
00:31:28
Speaker
I understand. It doesn't make sense to me, even though like ambiance part of it, to be honest, like that I didn't used to get how like, you know, restaurants are supposed to like invoke certain feelings and like they set certain moods, certain vibes or whatever. Like even that I I get like, you don't want to like spend all this time and effort and money putting something together and then just like, you know, serve it on the top of like a pickup truck. Like you just need
00:31:55
Speaker
So like, yeah, all that stuff. Yeah, I do have a much more of an appreciation for it now. So at I've never been to, besides the Picasso thing, this this Mexico trip that we went on, it was an all inclusive place. And like they have you they have, you know, restaurants that they have for dinner that you have to make reservations for. And of all the restaurants that they had, two of them were no kids should be there. Right. Not not even just for
00:32:23
Speaker
because it's for couples and intimate or anything that it's like, they're not going to like what you have. They're not going to make kid menu items. And one of them was this, uh, Cocina de Altor a place. And it's, I guess gastronomy. Uh, I mean, definitely like small sampling, uh, portions like Tom's type stuff kind of, yeah, it was like nine courses. And even like the, they did create this environment and experience where they were Betty and I were
00:32:53
Speaker
not so much, we're talking about the entire dinner experience, not even so much the flavors, but everything else was just the smartest part of the conversation as we're going through. It's like, oh man, that's crazy. We never would have done that or we would have thought of doing it that way. Not their silverware, but they're serving plates. There was, I guess, some thought on how they would be served. It's not just the shape, but it's like there's undulation crests and
00:33:22
Speaker
like a round part to the ceramic plate or a single serving spoon of smoked salmon on a pumpkin with certain seeds. It's crazy. I appreciated, like you said, the fresh and gains. There's a lot of thought that went into it. Would I do it every day? Absolutely not, but I'm so glad I had that experience. I really didn't want to make fun of it because the things that the guy was saying was like,
00:33:49
Speaker
was crazy. I just didn't, um, you know, they, they, they served it all professional for sure. Like it was very, um, the, the, the, the training that these guys had, you know, they, there was no stutter. There was no reading off. They, the guys knew it, the menu inside and out. Um, they worked with, uh, at each table and there was only like 25 tables there. Each, each server came, they timed it out perfectly. And then they'd had a guy would be working with, um,
00:34:19
Speaker
help a partner and they'd go behind us and they'd serve it at the same time that way. And that was part of the experience also. So like, and they take it away in unison out. And then, um, they, they paired, uh, drinks that went with it. There was like, Oh yeah, just, um, all the different, like, uh, like there was, there were themes. He came up, he came over at the, at the eighth course and he said, he's like, okay, well, our proteins are over. Um, we're going to the chef, the chef wanted to, um, um, now go into the dessert portion.
00:34:47
Speaker
It's like, you know, this guy's passing notes from the, from the chef, just like the chef recommends that you take it all in one bite or the chef recommends that you take the, the perfectly aged sourdough and then put all the different components and then in one bite and really try to imagine this or that, you know, it was that kind of a thing. And, you know, like completely stone face, like no reaction. I try to like, I'm going to listen to everything they said, and it wasn't even had to do with any pressure of like, well, I'm paying, you know, a thousand dollars for this meal or anything that because, you know, it's, I could have taken it or I couldn't, I,
00:35:17
Speaker
I didn't have to go to this restaurant. It was all a little bit the same if I would've went to the buffet, but I was like, let me just, uh, go all in. And it was an experience that I'm very glad I did it. And the food was really, really good. Um, but I never would have put all these things together. One dish that they did was called, I think I did laugh at this. He said, they put it down in unison in front of me and Betty, and you had a, um, uh, it was like a silver leaf. It looked like silver. Um, there was a,
00:35:46
Speaker
a round ball that looked like stainless steel, like a ball bearing. They looked inedible, but it was a perfect square that was rough in texture, and it looked like it was hard. It looked like it was something. They said, the chef calls this concrete and steel. That's exactly what that looks like. The ball bearing was a truffle, and then
00:36:14
Speaker
you know, the, the silver leaf or whatever that, that other part of it was a white chocolate. There was like a hazelnut component to it. And it was all like very rich flavor, but it was all a small portion. And then you are supposed to cleanse your palate as you go on throughout. So I've never had any food like this, but it was, um, uh, I'm very glad that I did it. I can't imagine what they do. And Betty was reminding me like in that, um, did you see that Netflix movie with, um, Oh man, it's with a Randall park.
00:36:44
Speaker
Um, and Amy Wong, Ali Wong, uh, always be my, I'll always be my maybe. Yeah. Well, the Keanu Reeves session was, that's a fun movie. Yeah. I saw, I saw all the ones, but we were getting those types of vibes where like, you gotta put a headset on to listen to the sound. It's like, yeah,
High-End Dining and Cultural Comparisons
00:37:03
Speaker
man. We're just like two steps away from that. Uh, wait, so you think you have the bug now? Like the, no, no, no way. I know the kids would never, you know, that was, that was for sure. You know, a quote unquote treat.
00:37:14
Speaker
Because we'd have to do that on a date link. We dropped the kids off. If we were there for five days, two of those days, we did a drop off at the kids club thing and for a session. But no, the kids would never, we wouldn't bring them to a restaurant like that. So it was definitely a treat and an experience that I'm glad we did.
00:37:35
Speaker
Wait, aren't you at the, you're at the, uh, year 10, right? Yeah, man. Yeah. It's, uh, next this, this, uh, this month, well, April, April 27th, if there's any time for super fancy restaurant. Well, that's what this was. This was, uh, well, that was like, we wanted to do at the beginning of the year, we're like, Oh, it's the 10 year. So we want to do like a big all inclusive and, you know, try to get as much, uh,
00:38:03
Speaker
things we can do, because it's hard to get away, but we'll do something, um, a smaller version of that. I'm sure like during the weekday. Uh, but yeah.
00:38:10
Speaker
That was definitely a good experience. Yeah, when you were talking about it, it reminded me of the... Wait, did you watch season two of The Bear? No, I saw it. I'm into the first, I think, two episodes when they were getting the menu together. All right. Well, yeah, keep watching it. There is an episode that will... Pretty much your experience that you just had, but from the other side. Oh, really?
00:38:36
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's pretty good. But yeah, like that Omakazi place that we went to in the fall, the final all the dishes had like ridiculous names. But the final dish, I think I mentioned this before, I mentioned the ingredients, but I don't know if I mentioned the name. The final dish was called something like The Hand of God. And what a height, a lot of pressure. Well, not always a lot of height. Well, the crazy thing about this restaurant is
00:39:01
Speaker
Pretty much so there was a 21, I think it was a 21 course meal. Each one was just, you know, just a piece of sashimi or whatever. So it was not that crazy. But every dish or most of the dishes had like a custom plate to the point where it's like, man, it's crazy opening a restaurant and then having to like,
00:39:23
Speaker
you know, contract out some pottery, you know, somebody that's just can make plates and you're just like making one off plates for like one off dishes. That's exactly what it was. Yeah. I'm looking at the photos right now. It's just like crazy. These are custom plates that are just. Yeah, that's not those are West Elm plates. Yeah. Yeah. So I just I just sent you a photo. So this one was they serve like the shank of a beef shank, I guess, but they
00:39:53
Speaker
It was, it was, it was a cauliflower bone marrow puree. So there's like super white and the flavor, like the cauliflower is like very intense. And then they had like a brioche bread with a caviar on it. And it was like some other sweet, sweet part that went on. So, and they said that this, this was one where they were like, um, they gave you a small, small spoon and he explained, he's like, the, the chef recommends that you take the small spoon and put as much as you can take the, the moose, the, um,
00:40:23
Speaker
The bone marrow cauliflower and put that on brioche and eat it in one shot like just eat all of it and so like he's explained it and I you know, it's it's all everything was sort of like either on a ceramic like Crazy plate or like a stone slab like this and I remember being like struck by the this It looked like a toy like it's a section of a shank like a bone bone. It's like so clean Yeah, and that's what I said. I said how I said, is this real? How does he get it?
00:40:52
Speaker
He said, yeah, this is the bone. He said, our chef cleans each bone to get it perfectly white. I remember being very impressed with that.
00:41:07
Speaker
Yeah, it does. It looks like sometimes if you go by like dog treats, they'll look some some dog treats are like a hollowed out bone with like peanut butter or something in the center of them. But the bones are like impossibly white. And I think it's because they go through some sort of like chemical manufacturing process or whatever that kind of like strips everything away. So the fact that somebody is just like hand doing this is like, yeah, it's a lot. Yes, this is and I just sent you the
00:41:37
Speaker
concrete and steel. I forgot this. There's a powder. It's a hazelnut powder on the bottom that's meant to be like concrete debris. Then there's a hazelnut or cocoa ice cream, but that's in gray in color. Then you have that ball bearing that's actually a mousse. The whole thing was super impressive. I want to make that now, actually. I guess I want to make my mediocre dinner now.
00:42:06
Speaker
Nah, just don't make fondue and I think you'll be... What's the point? I gotta live, I gotta live, don't I? I guess, just keep doubling down on it and you're like, nah, this time... One of these days.