We enter the long, cold season with too much metal talk, pirate carolers and some Burgundy beef. Thanks to Producer Abby's extreme editing skills, we learn about the un-apeeling nature of having a human body, brother roasts and The Whole Franco and not about Molly's opinion of Taylor Swift.
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Molly 0:00
Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
This is spilled milk the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can have any
Molly 0:10
today I'm so glad you have allowed me to say today's topic is beef bourguignon,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:16
or is it birth Allah Belkin Yun
Molly 0:19
Oh nicely done nicely done with the Yan Yan Yan
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:24
they call me Yong Yong buff as my as my rap name
Molly 0:31
Okay, great. Today we're talking about beef bourguignon or beef, beef, burgundy
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:36
deep burgundy ocean Okay, and this this episode started out as an idea for an episode on French stews in general and men were like that sounds like a lot of work.
Molly 0:47
Yeah, we were like you know, winter is a long cold season that lends itself to making lots of different slow cooked stews. But really let's just cut right to the chase and go with I think sort of the the grand mother be
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:05
us when you said winter is a long cold season it reminded me of the Cinderella album and song long called Winter Do you remember Cinderella I repair metal bands like The meet at yes
Molly 1:17
cut where did Hair Metal go? I mean what did all those guys do with their hair?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:22
That I mean that hopefully they donated it
Molly 1:24
yeah
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:26
I think I feel like if all those bands like you know like Bon Jovi is still very popular like and there's your kind of semi ironic appreciation of like, you know, every Rose has its Thorn like a lot of Motley Crue socks and stuff. I feel like Cinderella is kind of forgotten. And that was really good
Molly 1:39
like the same thing with like poison for Bret Michaels. Yeah. Who else was in that?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:45
Warrant?
Molly 1:46
Warrant? Cherry Pie? Yeah, they did cherry pie and then there was like hair metal light like Tesla Mr. Big
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:53
Yep. Yeah, I know. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Who else? Well, I guess I can think of more like not like not on the lighter side like Doc in a rat. Mentioned Skid Row, right?
Molly 2:06
No, I was trying to avoid it because I
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:09
always you always. But Skid Row is great. It was
Molly 2:15
also I just feel like we don't we don't recognize it as such. But I think that at least in terms of hairstyles, yeah, Jerry Cantrell of Allison chains was a really important bridge between Hair Metal and like all that came next Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:34
was was his did he mousse? Because I feel like me okay, because I feel like like you know that when when we transition for like hair metal to grunge like the hair length stayed the same but but it was the product was less product.
Molly 2:48
It was almost like no product product. No, no bathing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:52
No mousse, that's That's called being being genuine and authentic. Yeah, I
Molly 2:56
will. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:57
it's weird that like two to 27 year olds like us would start the show by talking about this kind of thing.
Molly 3:06
Is there anything else we want to mention? From current culture?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:10
Oh, yeah. From the Staff from from very recent years. No, I think I'm good.
Molly 3:17
Okay. Me too.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:18
Why don't we go down memory? I mean, that was that memory lane.
Molly 3:24
Well, you know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:25
it's always wait where you did we start because you were saying that one of these bands was like the beef bourguignon of of, of hair metal of rock.
Molly 3:33
I said that beef pork and Yan was like the grandmother of French cry grandmother beef stew right
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:38
you said long cold winter and I said Cinderella
Molly 3:41
There we go. You know then it also makes me think of Cruel Summer and so then we can go like a whole other direction so like, bangles adjacent bands that's not as fun wait was was Cruel Summer bangles, or was it Bananarama? That sounds right. Bananarama was banana remember Venus? I'm your Venus on your fire your desire.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:01
Very good song. Doo doo doo, doo doo.
Molly 4:06
Okay, so what about? What about our beef bourguignon? Memory Lane?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:10
Okay, so when I was working for Sturla taobh, briefly in the early 2000s, maybe around the year 2000, a coworker was talking about making beef pork in yellow, and how and how, like, it was a very involved recipe, but then it was like, so worth it. When it was done. I was like, I've heard of this dish, like as, like an example of a fancy dish, but I've never had it, and I want to try making it too. So I ended up making the cooks illustrated recipe. It was a big project. It was I think, definitely the first time I made a bouquet garni it came out great. And I've made it maybe like three or four times since.
Molly 4:44
Awesome. You know, I really don't think I had beef bourguignon. Truly. Until a few years ago, okay, my mother made it because so I don't know if you're familiar with this thing that happened. and usually just before Christmas in Seattle, it's called the Christmas ships. That sounds vaguely familiar. So the company Argosy cruises they basically do this thing where they load up a boat with singers. Oh, okay
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:17
knock it out with like booty and not with booty.
Molly 5:19
They loaded up with guys with patches over their eyes and big chests of gold,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:25
okay? Like big like barrel chests of
Molly 5:30
anyway now, I think that some people like pay to ride the Christmas ships. But basically the deal is if you live anywhere near any body of water in Seattle, which there are many bodies of water and many different neighborhoods, even like a duck pond, it now many different neighborhoods that that, you know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:50
it's a wet city,
Molly 5:51
it's a wet city. Basically, at some point during the pre Christmas season, the Argosy cruises will be coming by your waterfront area with a ship full of singers and it is kind of delightful. Okay, because I remember when we first moved to the house we live in which is about a quarter mile from the sound right? And I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:14
the sound of
Molly 6:17
anyway, but I remember sitting at the dining room table one night I was home alone, Brandon was working at the restaurant. And all of a sudden it was like the beginning of like a scary story. And all of a sudden I started hearing like Christmas carols. But it was from like far off.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:31
Oh, your house is haunted by like a child who died on Christmas. It's
Molly 6:35
up. But the thing is that you know the sound like just carries up the hillside. Anyway, so from like a quarter a third of mile away. I could hear the Christmas ship and these singers singing and it was so magical. I loved it so much. Okay, but anyway, so when my mother moved to Seattle in 2015 I remember being very excited to be like Mom, you are going to find this magical. Let's figure out what night the Christmas chips are going to be nearby and we can hear them. So my mom made beef bourguignon from ina Barton's recipe I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:11
sure that's good Yeah.
Molly 7:12
Oh my god, it's so good with pearl onions.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:14
Oh yeah. Pearl and you know, there were some pearl onions in the pot like I had like eight pearl.
Molly 7:18
You give me a pearl on yen I
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:21
you know, I thought about it and I just just didn't deserve
Molly 7:26
pearl onions. Oh my god, it's so so so good. And at least for a couple years there when we managed to actually look at the calendar for the Christmas chips and plan ahead. It was so delightful to go to my mom's have before getting your eyes and then like you know stand by the window and listen to the Christmas chips.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:47
Wow. And they probably saying like all all of your favorite Carols like the 18th life I'll be there for you.
Molly 7:58
Yes, sir.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:03
Dr. Feelgood?
Molly 8:14
When I first moved to Seattle, I worked at the front desk of a Pilates studio. And my friend Keaton, I think was a paralegal at the time. And anyway, through a customer at the Pilates studio. I joined like a recreational bowling league.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:28
No, that's great. I know.
Molly 8:31
Anyway, yeah, it was super fun. It was through underdog sports, which is like an amateur sports league in Seattle. Really great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:38
Do you ever bowl a perfect game?
Molly 8:41
Anyway, Keaton joined with me and so for like a whole season like once a week we would go bowling and we were put on a team with like a couple of guys we didn't know. But anyway, we decided that our names were going to be from like old hair metal stuff. Okay, so anyway, so my name was always Tawny kitane Oh, yeah. And Keaton was always Dr. Feelgood I can't remember who the guys were. Because they really didn't Jamie lane.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:10
Dickey six. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Molly 9:13
I can't believe we forgot Whitesnake. Why?
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:15
Oh, of course. Oh, God. I don't know where I'm going. But I sure know where I've
Molly 9:19
been. Yes. Hanging on the promises and the songs of yesterday. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:23
a really good song. You know, you know what song when I was in like middle school if there was like a school data they played Girls, Girls, Girls by modeling. Like we all thought this is so cool. This is probably the coolest song ever. Like dorky or
Molly 9:42
what about. Let's see how that Van Halen Yes, of course, but I feel like Van Halen motley crew. These were like a different. This was like less metal.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:54
I know. I think Van Halen motley crew were like, like classic 80s metal. Do you like I mean metal metal and encompasses a lot of different things?
Molly 10:04
It's true. I mean, like it was never like was speed metal. speed metal was a thing. Death Metal.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:11
Yeah, but like like none of these bands were like, you know serious like, you know if you were like a heavy metal kid like you weren't into poison you were into like Metallica, Megadeth anthrax, that kind of thing. Oh god, I forgot about em. thrugh anthrax had that one funny song that everyone liked. What was that one? I'm the man.
Molly 10:28
I don't remember that. Taylor Swift has the man. Okay. Still doesn't make me like Taylor Swift. Oh, there we go. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:36
we're all gonna get letters.
Molly 10:38
Okay, but anyway, yeah, so my mother's beef pork in yellow. I really think other than your beef. Bourguignon is maybe the only one I've had. My mom had more pearl onions, which I appreciate.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:47
So yeah, I have some frozen pearl onions. I'm going to supplement like I put it in like fresh pearl onions that I peeled myself. That sounds terrible. Oh, it was it was some there was appealing. It was not appealing. There was appealing.
Molly 11:09
Oh, it sounds like some sort of dermatologic procedure.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:12
Yeah, yeah, there was a chemical peel. Okay, and so the reason we had been working on this morning was partly because my friend Molly was coming over,
Molly 11:20
but also literally 9:50am Yes, but also it's bistro
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:24
night here as heard on the bistro night episode, which was episode 553 or something. 556. And so it is teenager of the show December's birthday, it's their last birthday as teenager of the show. Their last birthday, and then they're going to turn into a ghost and haunt you with Christmas carols.
Molly 11:44
Oh, wait, we decided didn't we decide what teenager the show December is going to become when they're no longer a teenager?
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:50
We did and I completely totally forgot. Do you remember a child of the show? A car? A A cots de cartes de that's good. It gots D sounds like a cool robot from a Star Wars.
Molly 12:02
Yeah, it does. Okay, well, let's talk about what beef bourguignon is. Because I think that beef bourguignon is one of those things where like, probably anybody who's done any cooking at all, or ever been interested in food, has heard the phrase beef bourguignon, but I think few of us actually stopped to think about what the heck it is. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:19
it sounds like an old school thing that you would get at a restaurant that also serves bananas foster or another flaming dessert. That's exactly right. Okay, so as we know, it's also called bufala, bulk and Yun or beef, burgundy, and it's a French beef stew made with lots of red wine. And the thing that makes it beef pork in yellow is the garnish of pearl onions, mushrooms and bacon or salt pork lardon. So, it's a garnish, because you don't throw those things in at the beginning of the stew because they would overcook especially the onions, you cook them in a pan near the end of cooking, and then toss them into this do. Okay, so So just when you think you're done, you have this whole other cooking project. This is why this is why this is what I did most of the day yesterday.
Molly 13:01
Okay, well, that sounds satisfying. It was yes. So, okay, I would think that this would be a dish that is typical of Burgundy, like the region,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:10
and apparently it is not so it's, you know, not that you can't get it there. But it's not like an old school traditional burgundy and dish. The Bourguignon in the name probably refers to either the wine or the garnish, and it's sort of the gardener. Um, that's a good question. I think there are other dishes like like ala book and Yan, that have that have bacon and onions or onions and mushrooms or something like that. Okay, you know, in a way that like, I can't think of another example, we will come up with one but that they're like,
Molly 13:39
like quiche Lauren, which would imply what, like leeks and ham? Yeah, or that
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:44
it was just made by Lorraine. Like, like selling selling Lyonnais, or like Allah leonesse Like has onions. Right? What it does? I don't know. I think so. Really, like they're like Geographic Names in French cuisine that imply like a specific ingredients rather than the dishes from that place. Okay. That's the only example I came up
Molly 14:08
with. Okay. I mean, I know that there are ingredients typical of different regions. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:12
So and this is a very similar dish to Coco van but with beef instead of chicken. And there are lamb versions also, which sounds very tasty too. So nice. Yeah. And the first reference to the dish is from an 1867 cookbook, but it didn't really become a popular bistro dish until the 20th century, especially after a scoff EA published a recipe in his like big big ass Escoffier a book in 1903. Did you know?
Molly 14:51
To clear minds
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:04
This is already our best episode.
Molly 15:08
No, I'm scared to cough. Okay, wow. I can't believe I cannot believe it's taken literally 13 years of this show for one
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:23
I'm not sure if that's true.
Molly 15:26
Okay, great. Wow. All right.
Terrible. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:35
Molly's taken taking off the chunky Christmas sweater.
Molly 15:38
Okay, here we go. All right, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:39
yeah, scarf yeas, big asas coffee a book came out in 1903 and popularized a bunch of dishes. It's also this is also similar to another excellent French do called Dog province Sol, which is also made with red wine and beef, but also but with tomatoes, sometimes orange peel and Arab tip pro vols is this episode over and over, you're not gonna be able to get the trade back on the track. That's okay. Okay, can you just talk about Cinderella.
Molly 16:07
Let's just talk about how to make before
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:13
this is supposed to be a professional show for serious food. People who like French food and other fancy things. Edit it harder. Oh, we edit it hard. Like producer Abby is known in the podcasting world as as an extreme editor.
Molly 16:32
Okay. All right. So Matthew, did you make that cooks illustrated recipe today?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:36
No, I did not. I made a simple recipe from serious eats and ran into a little bit of trouble which I'd like to talk about just in case this cautionary tale can help out a listener, but it did come out tasty. It's Daniel grits his recipe from serious eats. The idea is you and I mean, how do you make beef bourguignon in general, you get a chuck roast, you cut it up into chunks, or slabs and brown them. If you brown them in slab form, which I did for this, then you cut them up into chunks, which
Molly 17:03
worked really well. Why did you brown them in slab form,
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:05
it's just easier to brown slap shots, you can just flip them like steaks, that's smart. That's you braised with flour for thickness, red wine, vegetables, and a bouquet garni, which is herbs tied up with string, like a couple a couple years ago for tamale making. We got like the big ball of kitchen twine, which has been very satisfying.
Molly 17:27
It's pretty great. So you have to remove the vegetables then Right? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:30
so so so like some carrots and onions go in like in big pieces. And then those are just for flavor. You remove those and then you make a garnish. This one was glazed carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms and large almonds of salt pork, and you add that to the stew and then you just cook just until the onions and carrots are tender. Okay, and then you skim the fat you garnish with parsley and you serve delightful. So hey, here's the issue that I ran into. And this is this is a thing that I've noticed before and I want to kind of like call out as maybe this is a thing to be wary of. Hmm, okay, are you ready for one of my trademark fiery rants? Yeah.
Molly 18:04
Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:06
so the series, each recipe has you add fish sauce and soy sauce for umami?
Molly 18:12
Okay, like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:13
I am not in any way opposed to that, I think, you know, it doesn't it doesn't add any, like flavors that you don't want in the stew. Like, you know, it just adds new mommy roundness. But those things have a lot of salt in them. And so I got what I ended up with was, I wanted to reduce the stew, so to give like, you know, thicken it a little more and give it some more like red wine forwardness, but I couldn't because it was already too salty. And so I think the reason like, you know, I think if you asked like, you know, Daniel grits he would say, you know, I'm using those things as they add, like, you know, a variety of different like, you know, layers of umami flavor, but really, I think what you should do is just put in some MSG
Molly 18:54
before, I mean, I have to say so or not, yeah, yeah, I mean, I know garden, I guarantee is not adding umami to hers, and it was more red wine forward. Yeah. And it was in many ways, almost like richer, beefier flavor.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:14
Yeah. So like normally like if the if it hadn't already been like, you know, overseas and I would have probably reduced this by a third. Okay, would it would have gotten thicker and wine year okay. So so I think like I've seen other recipes and especially other stew recipes series eats tends to do this a lot where it says like, you know, throw in, throw in some some fish sauce or soy sauce, you know, people will never know it's in there, but it's gonna like add layers of umami that you didn't know existed. And you just run can run into a situation where you the dish is overseas and is
Molly 19:45
there a umami source like an easy to add umami source? That is not high in salt? Yeah, MSG. What about Bragg's Liquid Aminos?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:56
I think that's pretty salt. Is it? I've
Molly 19:58
never tasted it. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So MSG. So why are we trying to avoid it? Because I don't
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:03
know we did a whole episode. That's right. We did. And also, of course, yes. You don't need to add like any additional umami source because it's got like beef and onions and stuff in it. Yeah. So other than that, I think I think if I had like held back on those things and reduced it more, I think this would have been one of my favorites. And I think I would make this recipe again because it is pretty simple. And just not add the fish sauce and soy sauce and just rely on a little MSG and reduce the sauce.
Molly 20:30
Yeah, it's got so many sources of MSG. Yeah. You're browning the beef. You got the cooked onions. Also mushroom mushrooms. Yeah, mushrooms. Big time. Bacon. I mean, it's Yeah, okay.
Matthew this morning in order to deal with the fact that you felt it was too salty. You put it over egg noodles. Yeah. Right. Which I have to say made it so that it tasted perfectly balanced. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:00
I thought I thought that worked really well. So yeah, like buttered egg noodles is a great accompaniment boiled or mashed potatoes obviously. Tonight, I'm just going to serve it with a big loaf of crusty bread probably some grand central como loaf. And salad, not like pour it on sale.
Molly 21:16
I feel like what I would want is I would want to have I think I would want the beef bourguignon. Maybe with some sort of potato and then I think I would want a salad afterward to cut through the richness afterward.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:29
Yeah, I think we're gonna serve the salad first but you're right Sally after sounds so good then I think
Molly 21:34
then I would want bread and cheese and then I would want dessert like I would want to do the whole like, you know, Franco the whole Franco Franco cooking James
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:43
Franco Dave Franco? Franco American Spaghettios Yeah. Franco the Spanish dictator That's
Molly 21:51
right. I was gonna say Franco dictator. Yeah, first name Frank. Yeah. Last Name dictator. Or dictator Franco. It's your new favorite toy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:04
Did I tell you about a thing? I think that happened at work involving a gynecologist with a funny name No. Okay. At Work someone started a thread like on the on the like, you know, discussion slack at work about like, you know, people people would like names names that like you know, fit their their jobs, like you know, like, you know, Bob Baker and he owns a bakery like you know, those kinds of things. And my friend Kelly, who I'm going to call out here I'd like now now everyone's gonna know it was her even though everyone knows anyway, posted one and then immediately deleted it because she was like, I don't know if this is work appropriate. But then shared it loop with some of her friends. And it was and this is this was real, I believe. I don't remember I think in Colorado, like she like posted the website, every everything. gynecologist named Dr. Harry beavers. So basically, like, at least like once a month now like this popped into my mind, and I laugh like it's just so delightful.
Molly 23:04
Oh, God, that is great. Ah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:08
I can't remember who it was beaver singular, singular or plural, but so sorry, apologize. Doctor. If I got your name wrong. It was something like ah, it's perfect. It was great.
Molly 23:17
It's perfect. If you're listening Doctor, please let us know. Please let us know. Yeah, contact is spelled out. podcast.com So do you serve beef bourguignon? On any occasion other than bistro night?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:29
No, I think there's the first time I've made it in like 10 years. Do you think that there's like a
Molly 23:33
way to make it that would be less time consuming? Like what makes it different from like, beef stew?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:37
Okay, I'm glad you I'm glad you brought this up because it's time for another one of my trademark fiery rants. I was thinking like, remember when I made you that recipe book? Yes. 40th birthday.
Molly 23:50
That's right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:51
Did I put the like beef and Barolo recipe that is simpler than before him Yan and I honestly, I think it's better.
Molly 24:00
And so and that is relatively simple. Such that it is something you met you have made often.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:07
Yeah, like what makes it so much? Oh, it's that. It's that you don't have to cut the beef up into chunks. It's more of like a pot roast recipe. Okay, and it's got it's got you know, Mira PA and pancetta. And a big chunk of beef and a bottle of any red wine and you cook it until the meat is soft, and you reduce the sauce a little bit and you're done. Then you slice it. Serve it with some polenta.
Molly 24:30
That sounds fantastic. Yeah, no,
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:32
I'm not knocking beef pork and y'all like, but I kind of kind of wish I'd made that different Barolo.
Molly 24:37
Do you feel like so? You know, it was Christmas not too long ago.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:41
I guess now when people are hearing this like the the long What do you call it? Winter? Winter is a long season long, cold season. Yeah, the long cold season is proceeding a pace. It's like it's now. February 2.
Molly 24:51
Yeah, we're recording this on December 30. Yeah, but still, I had one of those Christmases where I felt very keenly the fact that I Like the sandwich generation right now, for sure. It was like it was it was a small crowd this year. It was just my mom, Ash, myself and June, my mom was recovering from surgery. And Ash is massively pregnant right now and has hyperemesis gravidarum. Which means that they are like vomiting and or nauseous all day long. And so truly, I was the only adult in the House who was like fully capable of planning things and like running the show classic sandwich and I tried to make it super easy on myself. And my mom was so helpful in like the, you know, the mom way like she bought Dungeness crabs like I went to the store and she paid me back. And I had bought like, some cured meats that I knew we all liked. And I had some really nice cheeses and I had some grissini that I had bought. And I did made some roasted brussel sprouts, and we had some good bread. And sounds great. It was a great dinner, but I truly, I mean, I could have just like sat down on the floor on the floor and cried because I so desperately wanted somebody else to come along. And like be in charge of making it feel special. Oh, sure. And I'm Santa Santa. Anyway, I kept thinking about how when I was a kid, in either Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner there was always like the big roast that dad makes. You know what I mean? I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:30
I know I know that as like a like a you know, What's What's that old? Old Americana Norman Rockwell image. I call him norm. He hangs out at my bar cheers a lot. But I we didn't have that when I was growing up. There wasn't it wasn't like a big dad roast there was for Thanksgiving.
Molly 26:47
Oh, there was a dad roast for us at Christmas. And sometimes it was a brother roast. Because my brother David, actually, all of my brothers are very good cooks. But my brother David went to the Culinary Institute and knows his way around the kitchen. And either my brother David or my dad would be making some sort of giant roast. And it's not that I really actually like eating meat that way. I don't doubt myself sitting there at the table going Molly, would you even like it? If somebody came along and presented you with sort of like a big ol dad's roast kind of dinner? You'd like the thoughts. I would like the thought. But anyway, I was just in thinking about beef with Barolo and beef bourguignon. It occurs to me that and maybe you and I are a bit atypical this way but it has been so long since it is ever occurred to me to buy a large piece of meat for the purpose of like slicing it like serving it slice. Yeah. As opposed to slice the
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:45
beef and beef and Barolo and I did. I did a quick a supermarket. Yeah, I totally does.
Molly 27:50
I mean, I'm like, I think of the cuts that you and I are using as sort of some of the lesser cuts, right? Like the fatty or tougher ones that you're going to braise or stew or whatever. Whereas I think of and maybe this is just like indicative of the socio economic sphere I grew up in but there was more like nicer meat that you would slice. Yeah, but I feel like also I am. Did you ever have a leg of lamb totally leg of lamb? Yep.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:15
Do you ever have a hunch of?
Molly 28:19
No, but my dad like to beef shakes. Sorry, no, lamb. Lamb shakes are really good. Yeah, yeah, there was always or even like lamb chops or like a little rack of lamb chops. I never cooked that shit.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:33
I sometimes make lamb chops. But wait for the show. Laurie isn't a lamb fan. So sometimes I will like buy a rack of lamb when tots D and I are going to be having dinner at home and cut it up into into chops and cook them. Very tasty.
Molly 28:46
Yeah, I just don't maybe I don't know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:48
Maybe Maybe that's maybe that's like, you know, meat meat dad, my like, you know, Layton? Meat dad tendencies coming to the fore?
Molly 28:55
Yeah, yeah. It could also be like the part of the country I grew up in too. That's true. It was yeah, it was more like sort of cattle country. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:05
yeah, we will be more likely in the northwest to get a leg of salmon.
Molly 29:08
We get a leg of salmon. Get your hot smoked salmon. Yeah. Oh my god. Hold on,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:13
hold up.
Molly 29:14
We can cut this part. But wow. Wild Salmon Seafood Market at fisherman's terminal in Seattle. What I mean, I have been a patron of that place for a long time. I haven't been in ages. I literally go like once a year to buy Dungeness crab. What a patron. I'm an amazingly valuable patron. But anyway, oh my god. I went there on Christmas Eve morning. And I got there when it opened. And there was already a line that went all the way down the building. But it was so fast. Oh good, so efficient, and like it like everyone was so cheerful, the staff and the customers. It was pure delight.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:52
We should We should definitely cut out this part where you said something nice about a local business. We don't want to get that reputation.
Molly 29:58
It's just it has nothing to Do with before you know but
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:01
anyway, let's leave in the thing where you dis Taylor Swift got this part,
Molly 30:05
but what about the part right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:07
Let's leave it all in. Let's just put it all on episode has
Molly 30:10
everything in it literally it's surf and turf and farts Yep.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:15
We never say that again.
Molly 30:19
Okay, Matthew, do we have any any spilled mail?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:22
We do and it's remarkably topical
this happens sometimes like I put a call we put a call out for like emails on a certain topic and then they start to come in like after the episode airs now like what did we say? So I don't know what episode this was. We were talking about named food nights like Taco Tuesdays or bistro night. And so we asked if listeners had named food nights and we got a couple of reports. You want to hear them? I love
Molly 30:52
how you just looked at me. And we got a couple of reports. Okay, yes. From listener Kayla. Kayla says I absolutely love your show and have been a longtime listener. first time caller. Thank you listener Kayla. I was just listening to your oat milk episode today guys, it was the goat milk. Didn't the listener email segment you talked about if anyone has a branded meal that their families have like Taco Tuesday. I'm absolutely sure this is a silly one. But in my family we do fancy grilled cheese night. I love that. So we do the basic equation of grilled cheese, tomato soup and a salad but as fancy as possible. I'll use nice bread like sourdough or a country style loaf. Or occasionally make homemade bread. Use very fancy cheese that melts nicely like a Greek air. And if I have bacon around I'll add that to the sandwiches. I use a ton of butter and grilled them very slowly with the cheese shredded so it's extremely cheesy and gooey and delicious.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:49
I think that's a really good tip like shredded shredded cheese and cook them slowly. Love that.
Molly 31:53
Yes. Kayla says my family is obsessed with fancy grilled cheese night and it feels like a win all around. Since everyone eats the meal. I have a six year old and a four year old so this is not always a given. Nobody ever gets sick of it. I hope this finds you well and wishing you the best in the new year.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:09
Thank you, Kayla.
Molly 32:10
Thank you, Kayla.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:11
I feel inspired. Yeah, I might have fancy grilled cheese now. That's great. This one comes from listeners Susan who writes my daughters and I have a long standing tradition of Tuesday being P night. Tuesdays used to be the night our family had pizza every week. A few years after starting this tradition my youngest had to remove dairy and gluten from her diet and finding suitable pizza substitutes was hard. We decided that on Tuesdays we'd have pizza and she'd have anything that started with P her favorite choice being perfectly prepared eggs and we call it P night instead. Now she's able to have dairy again and we've returned to all having pizza but the name has stuck Susan listening from Fairview Montana. I just like the day P night.
Molly 32:47
I love P night What a delight. Oh, these are great. I feel like I gotta get on this like named night.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:55
I wonder what perfectly prepared eggs are Susan Susan, if you're listening over there in Fairview, Montana, who let us let us know what perfectly prepared eggs are. Molly, what's your snack in? Hey, watch your snacking. Gotta tell me what you snack in. Or I'll release the Kraken. So what's your snack in
Molly 33:16
cheese? Okay, this one is probably going to be pretty useless as a recommendation.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:22
I don't know like getting this specific thing. Yes, but like this category of thing I think people can do Okay,
Molly 33:29
so I have a friend and student named Leah Osbourne who's a wonderful writer. And Leah is Taiwanese American and recently went to visit family in Taipei came back with a whole bunch of goodies and gave me like a little care package. And one of the things that she gave me was three little individually wrapped Taiwanese pineapple cakes, which are a really typical thing in Taiwan. Basically, I think of it as almost looking like a fruit Newton. Yes, except it is like you know how a fruit Newton has like you know, it's like sliced at each end so you can see the filling with a Taiwanese pineapple cake there is like pastry that goes all the way around it and casing this like kind of almost gummy pineapple filling completely anyway, they're about the size of like a Fig Newton. The dough is really like short and flake Yeah, the pineapple flavor is subtle but but pineapple Li and they are so delightful. I had never had them before Lea brought me three of them from I wish I had I wish I could remember the name of the place. I brought the wrapper but it was a bakery that I think her mother has gotten Taiwanese pineapple cakes at for years and they sell them in these beautiful like little paper wrappers. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:48
it's a beautiful wrapper. You asked if I could read it. I cannot. Okay, I mean, I know what some of the characters mean, but I can't tell you how to how to read it
Molly 34:56
anyway, but I venture to guess that at any store near you that has a good selection of Taiwanese foods. You might be able to find pineapple cakes probably will be individually wrapped maybe in like a little you know glassine bag type thing. They're delightful I really enjoyed cutting mine kind of into thin little slices and I had it with a cup of tea
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:18
oh that's lovely yeah there are real textural delight the texture is so good all right asked me if I have it now but well oh no wait you have a wet just yet. I also have a watch snack and many of our listeners I think will be familiar with Wong Fei Hong spicy peanuts they're these like such weenies Mala peanuts that have like, you know crispy dried chili bits and such one peppercorns in them. That's not my recommendation. This week. My watch is nagging this week is Lay's potato chips. Wong Fei hung spicy peanut flavor, which I found it MTM market. They are so tasty they're like the kind of zigzag roughly yeah plays and they really nailed the flavor like I don't know if there's like peanut in them but you can sort of taste Do you have any? I'm sorry. But they're a delicious like spicy Spicy numbing chip that also has pretty big chunks of fried dried chilies in the bag which I found so good. Although the first one I've been into I was like what is this not realize it was in there and then once I determined that it was a piece of dried jelly I was like okay, this is great.
Molly 36:25
That sounds fantastic. And so we can get that at m to m market here in Seattle. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:29
look for a look for it at any any Asian supermarket that has a good chip and snacks section. I assume it's been a pretty popular item.
Molly 36:37
Matthew Do you have a now but well? I do
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:47
it's like we started February now you all will have heard this song a million times by now like even like today like you know I'm not in the first 300 million people to enjoy this song. But I've been playing Kill Bill by Sousa non stop has one of the best choruses ever in a song I think absolutely pure direct into the lizard part of the brain. Like you know, this, this song gets in there. It's super fun. The whole album is good, but that is by far my favorite track.
Molly 37:15
Excellent. Our producer is Abby circuit tele who really has her work cut out for her.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:20
Oh, yeah. But but she is a hardcore editor who like slices. dices does it once, twice or thrice is. Believe it or not. My band early to the airport has a new single called cornerstones. It's featuring Steph Hackett, who turned in an amazing guest vocal that will probably be out on all of the streaming services by the time you hear this. So the band is early to the airport. The song is cornerstones I sing lead vocals, and I think it's a pretty catchy song and the rest of the EP should be out sometime this year.
Molly 37:55
Awesome. Okay, you can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts and
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:59
you can hang out with other spit. Why did we call our listeners we came up with a funny like, like pony pals or something. What was that? I haven't Lily's little like listener. Lilies as listeners. I'd like to yum. Why did I bring that up again?
Molly 38:18
Wait a minute. Isn't that like Lilit ease?
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:22
Two is the two is like lowercase and you
Molly 38:25
two loyalties,
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:28
okay, this little DS or little little little t's
Molly 38:34
just tell them where to find each
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:35
other. spilled. milk.reddit.com just go there and hang out. I thought this was gonna be a short episode. It was not thank you for listening to spilled milk.
Molly 38:44
The show that there was appealing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:48
It certainly was appealing.
Molly 38:50
I'm Molly Weissenberg.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:51
I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Yeah, don't tell Abby the stuff you were saying about Taylor Swift before this episode. Oh, yeah,
Molly 39:06
definitely. We're not recording right now. No.