Today we're keeping it real and wondering why are we doing this topic. After excessive hypotheticals, cake stands and keg stands, we (of course) bring up Singles (yet again) and flip the lid and squirt. We discuss Cold War metaphors and Winona Ryder before ultimately deciding to plug it up.
Planet Money: Episode 253: Gold Standard, R.I.P.
Spiced Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Molly's Now but Wow! - Real Americans, by Rachel Khong
Matthew's Bands: Early to the Airport and Twilight Diners
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Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi. I'm Matthew.
Molly 0:05
And I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
And this is spilled milk, the show where we keep it real. Keep it even realer and you can't have it.
Molly 0:11
Today we are talking about upside down foods.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:15
Yep. And this one was suggested by listener flower knuckles on Reddit great name. And I believe they did not give any indication of what they meant by this, but we love the phrase so much that we're going to do a whole episode on it.
Molly 0:30
Yep, yep. When we first decided to do this episode, I really was drawing a total blank. The only thing that came to mind was pineapple upside down cake, of course, which we will talk about first. Yeah, yeah. So, Matthew, let's, let's, let's skip down memory lane, shall we?
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:46
Okay, yeah, I have so many upside down foods on my memory lane. It's like it's pretty much like I was weird to leader. Yeah, I was a picky eater as a kid and I demanded, like, all my foods be served upside down. This is a Dr. Seuss book I'm describing.
Molly 1:02
I think it's a part of wacky Wednesday. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:03
yeah, it's a total wacky Wednesday scenario. Yes.
Molly 1:06
I think the only thing that comes to mind when I think of the phrase upside down foods and my childhood, okay, is fruit on the bottom yoke. And I don't
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:17
is such an interesting observation. Is that an upside down? This whole episode is going to be like, is an upside down food? I don't know. I feel like it's sort of is
Molly 1:26
because the thing is, is you don't I mean, I think the intended eating the serving suggestion, right for that is to stir the fruit in, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:38
Maybe I think, okay, we should be to a whole episode on fruit on the bottom yogurt. Because this was a thing I thought was discussed. Oh, yeah. As a child. I like blended yogurt. Totally fine. fruit on the bottom. It's like they're hiding something scary down there. Like in the depths like there's like a giant squid down there. That's
Molly 2:00
swimming and open water. Exactly. It's so fruit on the bottom yogurt.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:03
It's like yeah, like the whole if you think of the ocean is like a big yogurt with fruit on the bottom and you do not want to go down there and see like, what's growing down there? That's right. That's however, since you said that, okay, and now I can imagine three ways of eating fruit on the bottom yogurt one of which I have never thought about before. So like stirring it up. That's one way I believe like my mom used to eat it a lot when I was a kid and I believe she would just like kind of put the spoon down there. So you get a little of the fruit with each spoonful. Ah, I would sometimes like eat down to the fruit on the bottom and then throw it out. That's another way but what about like running a knife or spoon around the edge and turning it out like a flawed?
Molly 2:41
I was hoping you would say that
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:43
I want to do this so bad.
Molly 2:44
I don't think it's going to come out as neatly as we want it to but I love the thought of it emerging like a fine or like like just a ready made panna cotta.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:53
Where exactly so we're recording this remotely today because Molly hasn't called next time we record together like a week other like on Monday. Let's have a segment in whatever episode we do that day, where where we turn out try and turn out a fruit on the bottom yogurt like it's a flaunt or pannacotta
Molly 3:09
Okay, could you please procure one or two?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:13
I'll try. I don't know. Do they still make them fruit on the bottom? Yogurt? Yes. in large quantities.
Molly 3:19
Was it a Dannon brand thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21
It was many brands I associated with like store brand like like I'm gonna get like a lucern. Many, many brands like Telemark has fruit on the bottom like it's calm.
Molly 3:31
Okay, okay, I'm ready. I'm ready. Okay, well, so that was my memory lane.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:36
All right. So what are upside down foods?
Molly 3:38
Well, so I mean, I think that they are whatever you want them to be kind of
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:43
Yeah, like Watson. I had some like intense conversations the past few days about upside down foods, which we'll we'll get into.
Molly 3:50
Are you guys still married? Oh, after?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:53
I mean, like did it any of them? Like, like descend into like vitriol? Not quite. Okay, but well, we'll definitely get there.
Molly 4:01
Okay. You'll get you'll get to the vitriol is is that at the bottom of the yogurt?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:05
That's what's at the fight. Yeah, like the further down you go, the more vitriolic the yogurt.
Molly 4:13
Oh, that's gross. So let's start off with the obvious one. Okay, this one is so obvious that even June when I mentioned to her that we were doing an episode on upside down Foods was like, ah, do you mean pineapple upside down?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:27
Of course,
Molly 4:28
the collapse again.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:29
All right. First of all, have you had this stuff? No. No,
Molly 4:33
you've never had a pineapple upside down. person on earth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:37
Wow. Oh, it's been it's I feel like it's been too long since there's been like a thing everybody's done except you and this is a good one. So okay, I've had it recently because why would the turtle already made the pineapple upside down snacking cake from the snacking cake book by Yassir Rafi Jun was recently looking at that and wants to make it Yes, spiced pineapple upside down cake. I thought it was really tasty. It did. didn't have maraschino cherries. Thank God I'm not a big fan of either although I do like the look of the classic where it's pineapple rings with a with a cherry in the middle of each ring it has it said it's got such like a you know 50s That's true credible food look to it. That's true.
Molly 5:15
That's true. Okay, so I'm really sorry if you hear something in the background my dog is rubbing his face on the rug and sneezing
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:22
Oh, I turned on I turned on like, you know, background noise reduction. So hopefully it's tuned for that. Okay. All right, so I tried to look into the history of pineapple upside down cake. The best I was able to come up with was it was possibly made popular by a doll recipe contest in the 1920s in the US, but then according to Wikipedia, they received over 2000 versions of the recipe which seems to indicate it was already popular at this time.
Molly 5:47
Okay, so I'm really interested in this because I wonder what it is that makes it such that pineapple is like the fruit to turn upside down and pour cake batter on
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:58
that's a really good question because like I mean we are gonna get to others for sure
Molly 6:03
that what I just did there No, I just made it sound like you just turned the Pineapple Upside batter on it. You don't even have to like cut it up.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:13
Oh just take take up a whole pineapple round you kind of slop some cake batter on there and then eat it's like a it's like a performance art piece so fibrous, so painful. What if What if our new thing like we need to get big on YouTube or tick tock and our thing is going to be like extremely literal recipes. So like the first one is going to be pineapple upside down cake as you just described. I don't have an idea for the second one yet but we are we are skilled improvisers. So we're going to come up with it right now.
Molly 6:43
Well, I think this is a really great idea because the only other idea I had for getting famous on like Instagram and Tiktok and YouTube and stuff was to to you know, like become a Trad wife and get pregnant like eight times, but I'm 45 I feel like my day is still squeezing or downward.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:01
I might have to go the octuplets route which would be huge on Tik Tok. We haven't had it. We haven't had an October attack. Huge. Yeah. Have you tried huge tech tax? It's new, like new for the makers of tic tac toe. It's just one big one. You just lick every time you need to freshen your breath.
Molly 7:20
Can you imagine? Instead of chapstick if you have like this giant tic tac even like keeping your bag and just lick it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:29
Yes. Okay, so wait, I did come up with another idea for our extremely literal food tic tock hamburger so we'll dress up as burgers like like be a uar GH er which is like a like a member of the bourgeoisie like in like a mercantile society. And then we'll just carry like big hands. Okay, okay.
Molly 7:51
I'm here for it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:53
To hit videos. Yeah, we need to get these done by Halloween.
Molly 7:56
Okay, so back to what we were saying.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:00
Okay, hang on. I need to take off my sweatshirt. It's too warm in here. Oh, I
Molly 8:03
know. I'm really heating things up with with my talk about getting pregnant at age 45. Matthew, what do you think it is? That makes it so that pineapple is the fruit to put in an upside down cake?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:16
Oh, wow. I'm so glad you remembered that. That's what we were talking about. Before we got to burgers? I don't know I think because there are others like is it kind of the right amount of juicy maybe so that like some of the juice like sinks like gets into the cake but not so much that it makes it soggy?
Molly 8:38
Maybe Maybe also Well, it's pretty you know, if you cut it into mushrooms The other thing that
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:46
there's other canned fruits that could in principle be used.
Molly 8:49
I mean, I think that you could kind of use anything I mean we're going to talk about tart data in a minute there's also like pair Tatem but
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:57
here's like a canned pears but it fell apart would fall apart it would fall
Molly 9:01
apart Apple would do well but you have to cook the apple too long to get it right right well yeah, we'll talk about tart to tan so I wonder if pineapple is kind of the perfect thing because it it has structural integrity even when it's cooked on like a pear for instance. And it also doesn't take forever to cook
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:18
this reminds me of I feel like there was there was like a planet money episode about like Why gold became like the most popular precious metal like for 1000s of years and it they concluded that it had to do with like certain properties of gold like it doesn't it doesn't tarnish and like I don't remember what the other ones were can can we but not too rare.
Molly 9:37
Pineapples are like a kind of gold. Yeah, gold color sometimes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:43
Yeah, so So same reason Exactly. Yeah, maybe we should like put this we should email this question two to planet money@npr.org And ask them to do a pineapple episode. Let's do let's do I feel like they would be able to focus they focus on like, yeah, like like colonialism and stuff instead of instead of the important questions like why is it the only one used for Upside Down Cake? That's right. I learned that a pineapple upside down cake also beloved in Brazil and Portugal not sure exactly when this happened or why but like very similar to the American version.
Molly 10:12
Okay, so anything else we need to say about pineapple upside down cake?
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:16
Well, I mean, wotso recently made the one from from snacking cakes, and I thought it was really tasty. I snagged it. And it's not made with rings. So it's made with with more like little chunks. So So you got like a beautiful it looks like sort of like a paved path, like cobblestone path on top rather than a bunch of rings with with cherries in them.
Molly 10:37
Did it look like memory lane?
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:39
It looked like it tasted like memory lane. Yeah, but with with a hint of spice.
Molly 10:43
Hmm. Okay, let's move on to the next thing that obviously comes to mind which is tart TechTown. We just talked a minute ago about apples being another suitable candidate for an upside down preparation, which I put under time
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:56
under the heading of upside down cakes. But is it a cake? I've never made it. I've eaten it maybe once or twice.
Molly 11:01
Oh, I've made it a lot. I really loved hard time. And I went through a period of wanting to learn wanting to like perfect my technique with it. I think I wrote the recipe for it in Bon Appetit or a homemade life or something way back when it is definitely more tart or pie than cake because Okay, for the crust, you either go like puff pastry or a pet breeze a kind of route. Yeah, the thing is, is, you know, I think the reason that it is done the way it's done is you really have to cook the apples for quite some time in the skillet. Right okay, like you can't I mean, I think you could just pour a batter over them instead of putting pastry there but with a pastry so nice. And of course she apple.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:47
And you start with like pretty big apple chunks. Right?
Molly 11:50
You do you do? I think I start with quarters.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:53
I want one of these.
Molly 11:54
Oh my god, Matthew, I should make you one. I'm pretty darn good at it. Okay, and I mean, I really I get the apples like really? I get the caramel. Really? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:03
that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, I want one of these. And I think like either either either pastry be fine, but I think I might lean toward puff. I like puff
Molly 12:09
with it. And I have to say I buy do for puff pastry.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:14
Oh, yeah, of course. I wasn't thinking I was gonna like ask you to make puff pastry.
Molly 12:18
Matthew, I was thinking about this. When I was thinking about this episode. Do you know how
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:24
it was kind of tautological but yeah.
Molly 12:28
So have you bought do for a puff pastry? Okay, why is it
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:32
for sure.
Molly 12:33
Why is it gray?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:34
Oh, I don't know. Have I noticed that it's gray. I feel like it is the most off putting. When I said I bought it what I mean is Watson has bought it and made stuff with it. I'm not sure how many times I've actually deployed puff pastry myself.
Molly 12:47
It is a surprising color when you take it out of the package like when it is in its unbaked state. It's like unappealing. Okay, I would love to have somebody weigh in on this Kenji. Hey, can you
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:01
listener listener? kanji? Yeah, text us like a few weeks from from today. And let us know why. Pastry frozen puff pastry might be gray. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they do for really is better. On the other hand, the like Pepperidge Farm, not made with real butter. Also very tasty. I'm still criticized. Yeah. Okay.
Molly 13:19
So what else? All right, like now we're gonna veer into more like gray.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:24
Yeah. And like, Okay, so there's a thing I want to discuss that maybe we should like, bring up sooner. Like, we'll get back to like cakes and cake like things in a minute. But here's what I want to ask you. This is the thing that almost brought me in white for the show glory to tears. Actually, like, we didn't really disagree on this at all, but for the sake of love a good story. If you're in space, like Okay, so first of all, if you are upside down on Earth, like hanging like, like with gravity boots or something is anything you eat an upside down food.
Molly 13:53
No, you're upside down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:57
Okay, that's fair. So I did a little bit of research on eating upside down, which like, I feel like like, there was a time liquid like, it's it's a question that like kids ask or like, you know, you asked to try and like entertain a child, like, you know, can you still eat upside down? Or would the food just like fall right back out of your mouth? And like, I think everybody knows
Molly 14:15
a minute. Yeah, I just saw that you have an entire section on the agenda devoted to eating upside down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:21
Yeah, that's right. So I want so yes, of course, it is possible to eat upside down as someone put it on Quora. It's the same way you're able to vomit standing up it's peristalsis. So like the esophagus has muscles that like move the food along. But I really liked this answer from Quora user K. Doyle who wrote quote, I'm not an expert, but here's my observations from previous experience. A you spill food all over yourself be you swallow more air so you burp and fart more. See you end up with food or drink in your nose as what once was the roof of your mouth. Now the bottom and the hole that goes to your nose. He's ready for anything to go in. Front Ready a great thing. So I guess don't do that.
Molly 15:04
Wait a minute. Isn't this like a cake stand?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:07
I guess I've heard that term and I don't really know what it
Molly 15:10
is. It's like I've seen it done. I've certainly never done it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:14
We're gonna do it on our tick tock, where we're just gonna stand on a keg.
Molly 15:17
I bet we have a lot of listeners who have done cakes probably has us to them. Our listeners love to party. That's true. Kenji Textus.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:26
Our listeners are very much into the Greek system.
Molly 15:32
So I want to know, like, I never thought about this. But yeah, if you were doing a cake, Stan, or you know, for those who have never done it, I think you're
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:39
saying take stand and like, as a cake stand.
Molly 15:44
You're doing a cake stand. You're upside down on the cake, right? People are holding you up to do a handstand.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:52
I'm gonna look up keg stand on Wikipedia. And there's an article about this.
Molly 15:56
You are slurping the beer directly out of the like, the keg tube, which I'm sure so. Yeah, well, I'd never occurred to me that you might get like beer in your nose.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:09
I'm gonna go ahead and say this doesn't seem like a great idea. Really. Up until now, I thought people did this because they thought it was a smart thing to do. Um, yeah, but but I'm still cool. Let's let's let's make this clear. Yeah, yeah. So then why for the show, Laurie asked the question that blew everything wide open, which was if you're in space, can you eat upside down? Is there such a thing as upside down in space? There's not there's not a thing is up. So that's what I said. But then But then Laurie said, what if you're on a space station and there's like monitors and controls and shit that have like an orientation and you are like, turned 180 degrees from the orientation so like the print the like words on the monitor upside down, then are you
Molly 16:50
still hate this? I was gonna say that, I think I think that like, a space station is an anthropocentric concept. It's true. Yeah. And space is not anthropocentric.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:07
Okay. So your if you're like, oh, in the vacuum of space, then probably probably like whether your food is upside down is not going to be one of your top concerns.
Molly 17:16
Yeah. Okay. No, that's put that out. I'm gonna go with that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:19
Yeah, I sort of got the idea at some point that like, why for the show, Laurie had maybe been on a space station or was planning to become a space tourist at some point. Like she she was like, more into this idea than I expected.
Molly 17:32
Do you guys like, like, exploring hypothetical ideas together? Sure. Oh, I don't I don't like it. I don't like it. Interesting. Okay, why not? former spouse of the show, Brandon, when we were like newly dating, he liked to explore this hypothetical of like, is bank robbery moral? Like, talked about this before?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:58
Probably, but it feels like a pretty easy.
Molly 18:02
This is a classic Brandon PEDOT hypothetical. Like, could he rob a bank? Like Would that be okay? Oh, definitely. I know, it's so easy. It's like not moral because ultimately, you're stealing money from people.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:18
But But more to the point. You're like putting the people in the bank in extreme danger who have like nothing to do with you and your problems. So
Molly 18:25
this is true. Anyway, but Brandon,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:29
like, oh, so So what about what is your like stealing stealing some bitcoins for like some like, like a bitcoin exchange where like, most of the people are there people are like, you know,
Molly 18:39
you mean they're in October, like in an actual Bitcoin exchange, like on Wall Street? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:43
but like you're stealing other people's deposits, but probably those people are like some combination of like, you know, drug kingpins, and crypto bros.
Molly 18:51
Okay, okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:52
I'm fine today. Anyway,
Molly 18:54
I do not like exploring hypotheticals. It drives me okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:58
So that's the kind of thing I meant, more like, you know, what if we, what if we were in space, like, you know, what if we, what's another hypothetical, like, you know, imagine living in a different place, or like, you know, what, if we had never met and like, you know, who would who would we be, like, settled down with that sort of thing? Oh, that's like playing mash. It is. It is like playing mash. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Molly 19:22
I enjoy mash. Sure. That's, yeah, that's a hypothetical. It is. Yeah. Sort of like, see, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:28
think you just don't like stressful hypotheticals. That's true. Like, I don't want to rob a bank.
Molly 19:34
Yeah. Because, you know, here was my conundrum. If I went along with it. I was married to a man who straight up might do something like that, because Brandon Pettit when I met him was like, I don't I don't know. I'm real Renegade.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:50
I think I think like you would get to some point in the process. We're like, Ooh, this is too dangerous. I don't actually want to go to jail. Yeah.
Molly 20:08
I just thought of another sticky food that is like unquestionably I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:13
another sticky we're really talking about sticky foods. I guess I guess it's hard to tell kind of sticky Sorry,
Molly 20:21
I just thought of another upside down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:26
Okay, question are all upside down foods sticky
Molly 20:35
The reason I said that is because a lot of sticky
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:37
buns sticky buns are yes, absolutely. And upside down food. Like that's that's the next question like is any food that you like flip the pan over and turn them out and upside down food and I think yes,
Molly 20:48
well but then then cake is an upside down food because you usually serve like Bundt cake you serve it like upside down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:55
I literally put Bundt cake on here. My cake isn't upside down food. it bakes one way but then you eat it the other way.
Molly 21:00
Yeah, but then anything could be an upside down food. I could be like, Oh, I roasted this chicken breast side up and now I'm gonna eat the thigh. When the thigh is. Upside Down chicken. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:13
agree. That's upside
Molly 21:18
okay, this is okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:20
I knew that a bit away from us. And I'm so happy it did. But now if you think about the Bundt cake, like Yeah, it'd be it's an upside down food when you like present the beautifully turned out Bundt cake which also by the way, I think is like the scariest thing at all of cooking is trying to turn out a bundt cake right? Yeah, it's really nerve racking then you're gonna slice it and the slice is gonna sit on its side while you're eating it. So then it becomes a sideways food. Next week's episode sideways food.
Molly 21:47
And we're gonna we're gonna interview Paul Giamatti. That's what I was gonna say. Oh yeah
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:56
I like I don't I don't think that movie like I think movies probably pretty problematic. But I do try
Molly 22:01
it maybe probably doesn't hold up. But you know what does hold up. Yeah, Paul Giamatti is cameo in singles. Yes. Over in the Virginia in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:10
I absolutely do.
Molly 22:12
So good. Once again, we found a way to mention singles in a spilled milk episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:18
Yeah, I recently picked up a flyer I didn't go to the show. But like, like a bunch of bands, like got together to like play the entire single cover the entire single soundtrack as like a tribute show. We should have gone to this.
Molly 22:29
Matthew, we are living in the right city. Oh, yeah, sure. For sure. Okay, what about like other things like Okay, so right now, I have both a ketchup bottle and a mayonnaise bottle in my fridge that are designed to be stored upside down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:44
That's an upside down food. It's okay. I think yes. I think that is a great innovation in condiment packaging and shampoo packaging.
Molly 22:52
Oh, you know what? Yeah, I have a Pantene bottle right now that's designed to be upside down ya know,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:57
like like it makes you think like why did we ever have right side up bottles?
Molly 23:02
Or yeah, like why do we keep doing this right because I the majority of the bottles I have in my shower are right side
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:10
I mean to be fair, like this this is does not really apply in the shower where we're like, it's okay to make a mess because you're going to clean it right up but like a ketchup bottle. I think there is there is like a risk that you could like flip open the bottom thing and like a little bit of ketchup like splotches out
Molly 23:24
it's usually ketchup water. I know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:28
So like water, maybe maybe worse than the fruit on the bottom.
Molly 23:32
What about mustard water that always wants to come out first too. So yeah, I mean, I think this is the hazard of using upside down condiment packaging is that you think you can just flip the lid and squirt but you still have to shake it
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:47
Yes, I think you can flip the lid and squirt I recently tried a new product I probably already mentioned which was Dawn filed what's it called? Di bottle Dawn easy squeeze there we go. And I thought I thought it did this really well you have to like the trade off is like if it's not going to drip you have to get it has to be so you'd have to squeeze it pretty hard so like you do you don't need to have like like some some measure of hand strength to for that format to work
Molly 24:18
well and then there's the perennial problem with Don which is that it makes your sponge smell like mildew.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:23
I know like I should write the Procter and Gamble a letter like a handwritten letter and say please make this available in like you know fragrance for like not even fragrance free but like unscented version. Yeah,
Molly 24:34
I don't know why don is still being manufactured. It literally makes everything it touches smells like
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:40
milk, but it's blue. Okay, so yeah, so, upside down condiments definitely an upside down food. Okay, okay, here's a rabbit hole that I went down. When you eat a burger. Do you ever flip it upside down so the top one becomes the bottom but you know maybe I do
Molly 24:55
like midway through your right I started to shake my head. No, but I I think maybe I do.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:01
Yeah, I think I think I definitely sometimes do this. Like, if it feels like there's a risk that the bottom bun is going to disintegrate because like the bottom bun is usually thinner than the top.
Molly 25:11
You know when I made burgers recently from some butcher box ground meat butcher box, which is an advertiser for spilled milk, thank you butcher box. The meat was so juicy it literally just destroyed the button and I do think I flipped it upside down in that case.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:29
Yeah. The thing that I was delighted to find when I was researching upside down burgers is that this is one of those things that's like a perennial news story for like a clickbait story for slow news days. Like here's the example headline. Eat your burgers upside down food experts say everything you know about burger binging is wrong.
Molly 25:49
Who everything about burger binging sounds. Yeah, to me. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:53
all like, like any day of the year like you can you can say like, you know, did you know there's a better way to eat burgers and I guess people will click on it. And then you can find like backlash to these articles. Like no, you should eat your burger right side up. So like the meat touches your tongue first not the toppings. Do you have a strong opinion on this? No. Okay,
Molly 26:13
because I don't put very many toppings on my burger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:15
I agree. Yeah, like,
Molly 26:16
here's the other thing. So cheese is on top right? So if I turn the burger upside down, the cheese touches my tongue first. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:24
I should warn you right? We are veering directly into spork full territory. Oh no. We're gonna get a cease and desist from from Dan patch. Microwave. we've invented a new pasta shape.
Molly 26:36
It's called the upside down pasta. Yes. And oh god, I can't believe we haven't talked about Stranger Things yet in this episode that
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:45
I didn't even think of it like I watched I watched the first two seasons and then kind of forgot about it. We also haven't talked about the Tim Pano from big night.
Molly 26:52
Oh yes. I was gonna say that our pasta is shaped like Winona Ryder's face oh okay, which is you know, like Stranger Things or maybe it's one of the other guys the
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:06
cards face Maybe it's like a like a you know it has it has like all of their faces as pasta shapes. And somehow you're like the fidelity is very low. Like this Winona Ryder is this pinwheel part is this one of the other guys is this Becknell this is the right is this Millie Bobby Brown in pasta for
Molly 27:29
she have a little bit of blood dripping out of her nose
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:32
but we can use like tomato juice juice is a great yeah we're gonna we're gonna like destroy Dan Patrick Finn and his pasta with this idea. Do you think we have to license Stranger Things or can we just make our own Stranger Things Boston without asking me
Molly 27:47
because yeah it's nobody could do it as well as we can right and the people that Stranger Things know that that we are the pasta people we are the pasta people. Okay, wait a minute.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:56
I have another idea. Yes, Flon flood I would say definitely an upside down food.
Molly 28:02
Oh, big time. You can't have fun without turning something upside down. Yeah, blazer. Yeah, so lizards.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:08
Okay, so So I think there may be some listeners who are not familiar with this concept, although I'm sure we've talked about it many times before that like a blizzard is this wonderful, like blended soft serve ice cream dessert served at the Dairy Queen chain. And when they serve the blizzard, they like prove to you that it's like thick and rich by turning the cup fully upside down before before serving before giving it to you they turn it upside down their back right side up. They don't turn it upside down and then hand you the upside.
Molly 28:36
The other thing is they're usually there's usually signage in dairy queen that says if they don't do this, you're your Blizzard is free.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:43
Yeah, so I'm not sure what else there is to say that say about that in the context of upside down foods, but it's one of my favorites.
Molly 28:49
Yeah, you know, Matthew, it occurs to me that they're there there's a whole realm of like savory upside down foods that I think we haven't touched on yet.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:59
So wait one more thing about Blizzard one thing I like about when they turn the blizzard upside down is like if the employee gives you sort of a look like we both know this is like a dumb thing that my boss is making me do but I'm doing it anyway. So are we kind of on the same page about this I really enjoy that little fraction of a second human interaction truly the joyless look on Yeah, and like the I've tried to get across the idea of like, I'm not like some asshole who's going to call you on it if you if you didn't flip the blizzard all the way and try and demand a free blizzard like you know, we're on the same side here even though there's like a big power differential savory foods.
Molly 29:35
Yeah, let's talk about savory foods because for instance there is todich
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:41
Yeah, so like version like crispy, crispy bottom rice dish that you turn out and becomes a crispy top rice dish. There's mock the similar Palestinian dish mock Luba. So like any any number of things where like you crisp something up on the bottom of the pan and that you want to showcase that so you flip it upside down. What I make skillet cornbread we did a cornbread episode like I will flip that out so that so that it like showcases the the burnished crispy bottom and that it doesn't get soggy as quickly okay I think most like Southern Style cornbread people do not do that but I do
Molly 30:17
What about so for my birthday you cooked a bistro now what about that potato galette? You made? Was that cooked and flipped it was just thinly sliced.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:32
Thinly sliced potatoes with greasy air and Parmesan cheese and thyme and shallots incredible yeah but that is served right side up so oh cannot match it on this episode.
Molly 30:44
Oh no.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:45
But there's this Are you familiar with the Nigella Lawson dish supper onion pie, I think from how to be a domestic goddess maybe it's sort of like a like a tart to tan of onions. You like cook a bunch of red onions and put them in the bottom of a pie plate. I did not eat enough before this episode. I'm getting so hungry. And then you put like a like a sort of like a cheesy cheesy pastry disc over that. And then you bake it for a while and then you flip it over and serve it. onions on top. It's so good. I haven't made it into law.
Molly 31:18
That sounds incredible. Wow. Okay. No, I'd never heard of that. But I do have that book.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:23
Let's Yeah, let's let's have that sometime soon. We can have like an upside down bistro night because I'll make I'll make that and then you can make the top 10 Oh, yes. Okay, what could be better than bistro night upside down bistro night? Yes. Okay. Go to the upside down from Stranger Things if we could have upside down bistro night
Molly 31:40
there? And if if we could have our upside down Stranger Things pasta there?
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:45
Yes, of course. No. We're gonna we're gonna market that in the real world and the upside down and we're gonna make double the money.
Molly 31:51
Yes. What about like terrains, or pat Hayes?
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:56
I mean, I think by the definition we're working with these are upside down foods.
Molly 32:00
Especially if you're making like a country pate or something. And let's say you line the terrain mold or something with paint. Yeah, you gotta serve that upside down, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:09
Yeah, this is such a rich vein. What about jello molds? I have never actually seen one in the flesh. I don't know if I have either. You know, that's like anything molded is gotta be served upside down. Right? I think so. Or is it that you're making it upside down and then it served right side up?
Molly 32:26
Oh my god. Okay, my mom back in the 80s used to have these like butter molds where you could make butter in specific shapes. Oh, you remember this? Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:35
I think we sold those at sirloin top. Yeah,
Molly 32:39
this would have been like a very 80s thing. Sure. You very Martha at very early days of Martha Stewart. Absolutely. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:45
do you remember any specific shapes like maybe Winona Ryder's face
Molly 32:49
and I think that mom had some ones that were like Christmas themed where it was like you would make kind of like a Christmas tree shape. Okay, that makes sense. That was truly like in relief like you know it had dimension to it. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:02
yeah, I'm trying to think of like what other like 80s actors might might have been available in the form of butterball Don Johnson maybe Don Johnson Yeah, maybe Phillip Michael Thomas who is the the other guy on Miami Vice his career apparently just like went up in smoke as soon as Miami Vice and
Molly 33:25
you know Matthew When I went to buy some postcard stamps recently to send postcards and stamps to to our new subscribers during our pledge drive the postcard stamps that I got from my like local like mail place. They were these wonderful like Miami Vice colors. Oh, and it had like a sailboat. Okay, and the guy who handed me the sheet of them and was ringing me up I was like, Oh, these are very Miami Vice and he looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:55
I think I think like that may be disappearing from the cultural consciousness or may have already
Molly 34:01
how things like this.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:04
What were the stamps called?
Molly 34:05
There was only one choice so he just gave me the postcard stamp.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:10
I wonder Are you wondering if these are like Jimmy Buffett Memorial stamps? Very they work really fast.
Molly 34:16
If if there was like a little Margarita I would have Yeah, hang on. Matthew I've got them right here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:23
Oh, oh yeah.
Molly 34:25
You can't really see but like this sale is pink. Okay, you know Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:29
I can I can see it. Yeah, no, I like it. It does. It's like like a Miami Vice sort of like you know, like I just kind of regatta kit. Okay. It's interesting that we mentioned wacky Wednesday earlier. Do you remember back that far? Let's let's go down memory lane from of this episode. Because you're at the end of the episode. I tried to think are there any books about upside down foods and I came up with one the butter battle book by Dr. Seuss, which is like a Cold War metaphor involving some people who eat their bread butter side up and some people eat their bread butter side down.
Molly 34:59
I forgot about this. This was a Cold War metaphor. Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:03
What Yeah, cuz the whole thing was about like, like they they they get into this arms race where the weapons get more more and more elaborate, but they're like fighting over absolutely nothing.
Molly 35:14
Oh, how did I never well, I guess because I was a child and and I was just taking it at face value.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:21
Yeah no I when I was when I was a kid like I definitely like was into geopolitics. That's when your favorite movie was Dr. Seuss. You ever watch the show alias with Jennifer Garner? Oh,
Molly 35:32
I think I may have watched it like a few episodes. Okay, well, like Watson, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:36
came up with it with an alias joke that I was very proud of. But like maybe some of our listeners will enjoy it because we're not actually going to do this in alias like her cover for her like, you know, super spy job is that she works at a bank called credit Josephine. But like when she goes into the bank, she goes into a secret door that leads to the underground layer of like the secret agent company. And so Laura and I said we're gonna start like an alias rewatch podcast called debt credit Josephine's guide to the global capital markets. So like, you have to be like really in the dough because otherwise you're gonna see the David this be like, I'm not listening to that.
Molly 36:13
You guys, you guys. Yeah. Just like our listeners. Yeah, I mean, you
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:19
do instead of kickstands. Oh, okay. Now I know that's our wild hypothetical is like what if we started
Molly 36:24
a podcast? Matthew, let's do a segment. Do you want to
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:28
Yeah, I would love to do a segment. We don't have like another hour of of material about outside on foods,
Molly 36:34
please. No. Okay. Okay. This week we have some mail from listener Talia. Matthew, do you want to read it? Sure.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:47
I'm coming up on the anniversary of my divorce and I'm planning to throw a party. The fixed stars was very important for me during the hard parts of my divorce. So I figured I'd come to you for a fun part two, what kind of foods would you serve at a divorce aversary party? I'm struggling to have with much more than champagne and Oreos since they're separable. I don't have any ideas for this. So I'm putting it to you know, Matthew. Yeah. Okay. All right, then. Then we'll come up with them together. Okay. Okay. First of all, okay. Yeah, congratulations on relations listening in a good place to celebrate this. What about the theme of upside down foods? Because like a divorce can really turn your life upside down. But then, but then like, you've never like righted yourself.
Molly 37:28
Yeah, that good one, Matthew. I would have never thought of that. Okay, hold on. Let me think this let me think this through
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:36
huevos. Divorce Jada's
Molly 37:38
Oh god, that's such a good idea. But then it's gonna have to be like a brunch party.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:42
Okay, it's gonna be a brunch, right? Because like that, but but that's like so delicious.
Molly 37:46
It is so delicious. You could do it for dinner breakfast. You could do it for dinner. Yeah, it goes for dinner. You know? Okay, listen, Natalia. I'm sorry I'm gonna be boring here but if this were my diverse diversify
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:00
my you need to you need to diversify your portfolio and credit Delphine can help.
Molly 38:05
That's where my divorce aversary party. God that's fun. And difficult. I think I would just serve whatever the fuck
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:15
I like. Yeah, of course.
Molly 38:18
Matthew, if you were having a hypothetical divorce versus a party, I'm having. Like, what is something that you would serve that you absolutely love that maybe your spouse?
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:30
Oh, wow. Didn't like you. Okay, so you went from saying like, you don't like hypotheticals to like forcing me to have to imagine a scenario where like, I've divorced my beloved spouse and after like playing a party to celebrate this. Fuck you. Yeah. Okay, so what about the idea of I'm thinking like a half and a half pizza where like, one half is stuff that your x like to but you and you and you just like throw it in the garbage? Yeah. Like Lori and I have very, like, we agree a lot on pizza topping. So I don't know if that would really work. I don't I don't know. Like, I think yeah, you don't want to like you don't want to like highlight it to the extent of like serving things you don't like
Molly 39:15
I don't think no, no, no, no, this is all about things you do. Okay, so yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:19
so maybe things what Yeah, what about the idea of like, things you like that your that your ex like would not have? That's what I suggest that what you just said? Yeah, okay. Um, in this case, okay. This is this is why you and I are gonna have a divorce aversary party because I never listened.
Molly 39:37
Let's see here. We are coming up on my Okay. Brandon and I got divorced in May of 2017. So we just had Oh my God, our six divorce aversary. Congratulations. Thank you. And we have now been divorced long enough that I kind of don't remember the foods that Brandon doesn't mean that That feels like
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:00
a like a good milestone. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but you were never the foods that you like. So you should just serve. Okay, perfect. Okay,
Molly 40:08
I think we answered this brilliantly great. And welcome listener Talia,
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:13
tell you what about this. What about champagne and Oreo? Love that.
Molly 40:16
Okay, I love that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:17
Well cool. Molly. Do you have a now but Wow Do I ever
Molly 40:28
so Rachel Kang who I first knew of for her food she was Was she an editor at Lucky peach? I should know this. I think so. She certainly she was the author of a book that was written by the lucky peach editors in part called all about a sure but anyway, she wrote for lucky peach, bon appetit and more anyway, Rachel Kang K h o n g. She is a novelist. She's written so many different genres. Yeah. But I think I think novelist primarily, her second novel, which is called Real Americans is coming out in April and I know that that is still a ways away, but pre orders are really important. So you should preorder this but oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:15
this this sounds really good. Can I Can I read a little bit of the of the flap copy because it's about lease. Okay, please. Real Americans blink begins on the precipice of y2k in New York City. When 22 year old Lily Chen, an unpaid intern at a slick media company meets Matthew. Matthew is everything Lily is not. And you're gonna see how this really fits me. easygoing and effortlessly attractive a native east coaster and most notably heir to a vast pharmaceutical empire
Molly 41:41
that is used to a tee. Yeah, all those things. Some of you may have read Rachel's first novel, which is called Goodbye, vitamin Matthew, have you read it? Yes, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:50
have it. That was great.
Molly 41:51
I loved it. I really, really loved it. So I am so looking forward to real Americans. It'll be out in April 2024. We will link to the Penguin Random House listing for it in our show notes. You should pre order it. A preorder goes a long way. And I think we're all going to love this book.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:10
Okay. Our producer is Abby, sir. Catella. Yeah, we plugged our stuff we do. stenciling we always you know, we're always we're always doing stuff. We're always like flipping flipping yogurts.
Molly 42:19
Yeah, let's not let's not plagiarize stuff. Let's let's plug it up. Stops leaking out the bottom.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:26
Okay. Let's do that. Okay, you
Molly 42:29
can rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:32
and you can hang out and nominate other upside down foods you can like, like trade hypothetical scenarios with other listeners and everything spilled. milk.reddit.com And until next time, thank you for listening to spilled milk. The only podcast hosted by a couple of real I can't remember the name of the monster shit. Gorgo Gorgo melons. Demo Gorgons demo Gorgon Yes, yeah, we go. I know. I
Molly 42:57
don't want to demo because our demo Gorgon tape. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:02
You heard Have you heard volley Matthews demo Gorgon tape it rocks like kind of low find that? Yeah, I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. Nine Molly Weisenberg best Episode
Molly 43:20
Why did you have to bring that Oh, okay. Everything was going so well.
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:25
We'll edit that. Okay.