Today we get out our church keys as we wade through slag tanks and a variety of varieties before getting some screw action. We share memories of Hollywood poolsides, debunk rumors, flout protocol and reveal the surprise cure for all feelings.
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Matthew Amster-Burton 0:04
I'm Matthew
Molly 0:04
. And I'm Molly
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
and this is Spilled Milk the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have
Molly 0:10
it. Today we are talking about pineapple juice.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:14
Yes.
Molly 0:15
Wait a minute, how did this happen? This didn't this like kind of fall out of another episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:19
It totally fell out of another episode. I don't remember which one. I don't have any evidence that it was suggested by a listener. Our listeners hate pineapple juice and don't want to hear us talk about it. But we're doing it anyway.
Molly 0:29
That's right. Well, you know what, I'm so glad that we're finally getting around to talking about this. Because number one, pineapple juice is delicious. Number two, pineapple juice is one of few products I can think of that come packaged the way it still does. Yes,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:45
we're gonna talk about that. Yeah, I do not know why I was not able to figure out the answer. Okay.
Molly 0:50
Okay. And buy like packaged the way it does. I mean, like any like, cans, right? Like, I mean, and this is like a sturdier can than like a, you know, a soft drink or soda can Right, right. It's more like a like a soup can it is it's like a soup can in this case. It's got like a little, like a little flip top tab thing like, Oh, yes. But it used to have Do you remember it used to have a little peel off? They'll peel off tab underneath it was this little sort of
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:19
teardrop shaped opening that you could cut your tongue on? Yeah, yeah.
Molly 1:24
Yeah. And then do you remember the larger version of this can which you had to use a church key to open? Yes,
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:29
I feel like opening a can with a church key is a thing I associate with my dad opening a can of tomato juice, which I know is not the topic of this episode. But it's juice in a can. And like I think of that as like a real dad thing to do.
Molly 1:43
I definitely think of it as a certain generation of adults like that are now your dad's age, they would have been opening a can like this, it would have been, I don't know, like the like the classroom assistant or something in grade school. Or if you ever had to go to like Sunday school or something like that. There was definitely somebody with a church key not at like an actual key to the church. The church key opening a can of pineapple. Obviously,
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:11
it's Sundays go otherwise, like without a church key, how would they get the classroom open? But like, I still do this periodically. Like sometimes I'll open like a can of chicken broth using a church key. Like I don't know why that's better than just using the can opener but it's kind of fun. I imagined like 80 year old men carrying around their church keys and like, in case they need to open a can of something and then like getting them confiscated from by the TSA when they try and get on the plane.
Molly 2:40
I'm not sure I have one. I don't. Oh, yeah. You know, we should do a whole episode on church keys. Maybe because why don't we call church keys? It's very tongue in cheek, you know?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:52
Like, like, like how there's, like a Italian pasta shape called pre Stranglers? That's right. Yeah. Yeah, I've never I've never used my to try and break into a church. But I but I've opened a number of cans with it. Great,
Molly 3:07
Matthew. So you know, my memory lane involves a lot of church keys. And what about your memory lane?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:14
It involves, like my earliest school lunch memories, which are memories of hot lunch in later elementary school, like fourth fifth grade. And I remembered like two basic things that I remember from a hot lunch are stag chili. That would be served a little Styrofoam cup. On Wednesdays Wednesday was chili day, I will never forget. And little cans of dole pineapple juice with the peel off. And like yeah, like, I don't know when the last time like if I had if I sat down. And I don't think you can buy Styrofoam cups anymore. You probably can, right?
Molly 3:48
Oh, yeah, I mean, I have been given a Styrofoam cup in like, sort of one of the states that was the middle of our country. Okay, in the last couple of years. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:57
so here's what I'm going to do you know, we always talked about like, how if we had a time machine and we could use it just once, what would we do? This is going to be my time machine. I'm going to put some stack Chile in a in a Styrofoam cup. I'm going to open a little can of dole pineapple juice. And I'm going to like suddenly, you know, look in the mirror and I'm nine years old again.
Molly 4:16
Yes. And then are you going to discover that? I'm trying to remember what happened in the movie Big? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:24
I've always go from from from big to small. Well, I mean, I guess at the end of the movie does, but the movie isn't about like an adult child. And mishaps. Yeah, no, I'm realizing if I like went back, it was nine years old again. I would be I would be like missing some of my favorite like grown up things. So I'm gonna, actually okay.
Molly 4:45
Okay. Well, so let's talk about this stuff. Because I think pineapple juice. I feel like this is almost like a perfectly engineered food product.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:55
It's really good. I
Molly 4:56
know that it's not highly engineered, but it's exciting. actually good. It
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:01
just thinking about highly engineered as we will sit is oh yeah
Molly 5:05
okay. Okay, so So Matthew You did the research for this educate me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:10
Alright so first off a variety of different oh no I said variety and that I was gonna say variety again a variety of different varieties of pineapple I'm just going for it are used to make pineapple juice. According to Wikipedia numerous pineapple varieties may be used to manufacture commercial juice the most common of which are smooth Cayenne, red Spanish queen, and ABA Kashi. I
Molly 5:34
love this. He is responsible for naming pineapples. This is great. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:38
and then and then I thought about making a real or fake pineapple name quiz too lazy but but there are a lot more pineapple varieties that aren't used for making commercial Jews including chum, Pakka, Montijo, scudo, Jas queen and PR one dash 67
Molly 5:57
which is school somewhere.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:00
It's yeah, it's a public school somewhere like in Brooklyn. And it's also like a robotic pineapple. Like I like a steampunk pineapple.
Molly 6:08
Yes, PR one dash 67 Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:11
or maybe I mean, cyberpunk. I always confused this.
Molly 6:14
I wonder if it's one of them. Did you ever watch Battlestar Galactica? No, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:18
didn't. Oh, man.
Molly 6:19
The Cylons have numbers, model numbers. And I wonder if this is like a second generation model number like a
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:28
Cylon is like a space pineapple that tries to kill you. That's
Molly 6:31
exactly right. Okay, that's exactly right. Yep. You're gonna love this show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:35
So we did do a pineapple episode, right? Yes, I
Molly 6:40
think yeah. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:41
I think said I'm sure we talked a little bit about pineapple juice there. So like pineapples themselves are obviously probably an ancient food. Pineapple juice is not an ancient food because producing it like in more than then like a, you know, trivial quantity requires industrial juicing, clarifying and pasteurization. All right. Wow.
Molly 7:01
Okay, clarifying. Yeah, Claire, are you gonna clarify that
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:05
I'm gonna clarify that industrially? The first commercial pineapple juice producer was the Hawaiian pineapple company, now known as dole, which developed the process in the early 30s. And first marketed it in 1934. So like, before that, you know, if you think about a pineapple, how are you going to get much juice out of this? And why before it's a commercial product, right? So true, it is a juicy fruit, but it's also a very fibrous fruit.
Molly 7:34
It's also like, large, it's not a shape that lends itself to like, a, like a reamer type device.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:43
Yeah, I mean, like, juicing in general is kind of a modern thing. In the past, you know, you would just kind of eat the fruit. Because like, if you produce the juice, it's just gonna, it's gonna take a lot of work, it's going to not have as much nutrition and it's gonna go bad right away. So so like, refrigeration, obviously, is another big part of it. Okay, so unlike most juices, as we know, pineapple juice is mostly sold in cans, and wow, did I go down a rabbit hole trying to figure out why this is. And there are lots of purported explanations, most of which really don't make any sense. So like some people say, like, it's because it's not refrigerated and exposure to light would cause it to oxidize. But like, that is true. Like, let's know more true for pineapple juice than a lot of juices that are sold in glass bottles in the juice aisle. So
Molly 8:38
well, yeah, what makes one juice more more susceptible to oxidization oxidization oxidation, oxidation than other juices?
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:48
I don't I mean, it's gonna be like the molecular structure of stuff in the juice, but I don't know. I mean, that could be the reason but I, I couldn't really find any evidence that that was really the case. Just people claiming it. A lot of people say it's sold in cans because it's acidic, but so is orange juice, which is sold in plastic bottles. So is cranberry juice, which is way more acidic than pineapple juice. And we you know, we just had some 100% cranberry juice, I remember and yeah, oh, by the way, Reber on the cranberry juice episode that we try that 100% cranberry juice, which was very good, but like you could only drink like homeopathic quantity of it because it was so strong. While at the show Lori and I used some of the rest of it to make cocktails like vodka tonic and 100% cranberry juice. Really good. Really?
Molly 9:39
Yes. Wow. That sounds fantastic. Okay, so So how do they make this stuff? I mean, so not only do we have a fruit that is like very fibrous, but it's also got this core that is quite like Woody, it's got it's like, like, like the cob of a corn cob. Almost.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:58
So I was hooked. I mean, the answer was going to be like people stomp on them because I feel like that's how everything should be juiced. I know we break this up from time to time, but you know, the video of the woman falling out of the grape stomping that absolutely. I think about this at least once a month. I probably watch it at least once a month.
Molly 10:17
Oh, I mean, I think it is one of the internet's best reasons for existing is the fact that that video can just be passed around and around and around and around and you can revisit it anytime you want. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:30
I mean somewhere somewhere out there like like the woman who's who fell out of the grave stopping that is probably is probably listening to this show right now. You're probably gonna want to watch it right now. That's pretty good invitation, wasn't it? It was very good. Yes. Yeah, you put me right right there like in the vat and then out of the VAT. Anyway, that's not how pineapple juice has made. So strap in because it's Wikipedia time in a big way. Alright, quote to clean pineapples before juicing a brush and spray cleaning machine is used to remove stains imperfections and pesticide residue. After cleaning the fruit is put into a pineapple peeling and extractor machine to obtain pulps which are put into a spiral juice extractor. So I think probably the peeling an extractor machine is like produces like you know how like when you get like a big chunk of cord peeled pineapple. I think that is that is the output of the of the peeling and extractor machine okay and then those pulps are put into a spiral juice extractor. And a juice fine filter is then used to remove all solids fiber and colloidal particles from the pineapple juice.
Molly 11:38
So I think a spiral juice extractor if if I'm to have to guess yeah, oh, I see you or your guests. Are you gonna say I was gonna say it's either like a big corkscrew. Yeah, or it's a centrifuge get like the spiral you know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:58
I mean, it's basically a meat grinder, I think without without like the cutting part because it's like a big it's a big old screw that like that uses screw action to press the pineapple pulps against a screen and squash the juice out but so
Molly 12:15
it is definitively not it doesn't use centrifugal force.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:19
It doesn't use force it uses uses screw action, a phrase that I'm gonna keep saying until you acknowledge that I'm saying screw actually, I never never okay. Oh, also, I don't know what this part of the of the spiral extractor does, but it features a part called a slag tank, which is like so fun to say like, isn't that a great insult?
Molly 12:39
What do you think this slag tank does?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:41
I think maybe like it collects the solids that have been like totally juiced out probably like dropped into the slag tank. That's
Molly 12:48
what I was gonna say too. And I wonder if then like, Can I think about how people use like parts of coconut for other purposes like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:56
oh, yeah, we're gonna sort of get to this. Well, I feel
Molly 13:01
like there you could do a lot with all that fibrous de juiced Stalag, right? Slack Yeah, all the slag and the slag tank
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:08
will you call me a slag tank? This is my new King. No, you've gotta
Molly 13:12
wait for that dude. Go Go get some screw action.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:16
Okay, hang on I'm texting or texting lots. It's a good starting to call me a Slack tech. All right. So, then a vacuum degasser is used to remove the air and the pineapple juice. Removing the gas prevents the solids from floating. I do think they just removed the solids before this, but I guess there are more solids. D gassing also helps reduce foaming in packing and then sterilization occurs in a heat exchanger. After this process the sterilized pineapple juice is cooled to 50 degrees Celsius pasteurizing pineapple juice stops the enzymes that cause browning.
Molly 13:53
Ah, okay, that's meaningful. Okay, keep going.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:57
Yeah. So then the pasteurized pineapple juice is putting iron drums aka steel drums lined with ease? Yeah. Do line with aseptic aluminum plastic composite bags. After cooling the pineapple juice is put into bottles or cans using a filling machine. Okay, so okay, like that's a that's a pretty engineered food product, I would say right. Yeah,
Molly 14:22
I mean, they are having to do a lot of things to get the juice out of the fruit for one thing and then they're having to do a lot of things to make the juice behave the way they want it to.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:34
That's exactly it because yeah, like if you if you like left out the pasteurization Well, I mean first of all, it would grow bacteria but it would turn brown
Molly 14:42
right? Do you think that like No, actually, nevermind. I was about to say do you think that like in health food stores, they sell the brown brown pineapple juice unsulfured apricots but then I really Sofer zation is not the same as pasture is but they sell
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:57
raw milk at you know health food store. as they might sell raw pineapple juice,
Molly 15:02
I bet the bread I bet it would have a very different flavor the way that unsalted apricots tastes so different from salsa,
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:07
what we're going to talk about, like a more or less processed pineapple beverage in a minute, which I've had had, but I'm very curious about, okay, okay. So Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines consume about half of the world's pineapple juice. And those countries along with Costa Costa Rica are also the largest producers. Hmm, okay. And oh, so important note, according to the US Food and Drug Administration manufactured and canned pineapple juice can have finally insoluble solids. Although it cannot have coarse or hard substances or excessive pulp.
Molly 15:41
Matthew, should I open my pineapple juice at this point, please
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:43
do Oh, yeah, open it and see if it contains excessive pulp. Okay,
Molly 15:47
I'm gonna look for it. Yeah, hold on just a second chill and shake well before serving. Okay. The
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:53
directions are the FDA may may get you in trouble. Oh, yes. Drink up. Oh, my God.
Molly 16:02
Pineapple juice
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:03
is so perfect. Is it is it same as it ever was?
Molly 16:08
It's same as it ever was. It has this like intensity of flavor. And I think part of what's nice about it is it's so different from you're not thinking about the like cranberry juice cocktail. Okay, which has this intense cranberry flavor, right, even though it's sweetened. But there's a thickness to it, obviously, because it's a lot of water has the viscosity. It has a viscosity to it. Which I mean like orange juice does too. And unfiltered apple juice and stuff. But still, there's something about the the texture of pineapple juice that really contributes to the satisfaction I experience from the flavor. Absolutely.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:48
Yes. Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Do you now also have the song once in a lifetime stuck in your head? I was stuck in my head so hard, because I said same as it ever was. Isn't that song?
Molly 16:59
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Same as it ever was. Doo, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:05
I have never seen stop making sense and cute. Laurie and I are planning to watch it when we when we get back because it just had like the big rerelease? Oh my
Molly 17:13
god, I did. Oh, I would love to go with you. So I saw it when they remastered it in like 1998. I went to the premiere at Castro Theater in San Francisco. And all the talking heads. Were there. All four of them. Oh, it's Jonathan Demi, who was still alive then. And it was incredible. Oh my god. I mean, dancing in the aisles. It was so much fun. Okay. Yeah, I can't wait to see.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:46
Back to pineapple juice, the serious serious now let's talk about using pineapple juice in drinks and cocktails.
Molly 17:53
Yeah, cuz I think you know, people don't. Well, I don't live in a household where we buy a lot of juice. We just aren't big juice people. But you know, because pineapple juice doesn't live where like the fresh juices that I think are much more common now than they were when we were kids like Sure. I mean, when we were kids, it was like just Tropicana. And now sadly, all right, but fruit juice comes in like a fresh perishable. refrigerated. Pomegranate. That's right. And pineapple juice. I don't think I ever see it there. You know, it's like on a different aisle with all the shelves.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:27
I think it's I think I don't think I've ever seen like, you know, refrigerated perishable pineapple juice. I
Molly 18:34
don't think I have either. And so therefore, I don't think of buying it the same way that I might if we're having friends over for breakfast, like go buy orange juice. Yeah. And I really think that it, I wonder how many people actually keep it around as a juice as opposed to a mixer.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:52
i Okay, next time we have friends over for breakfast a thing we've never done. I'm going to pull out a big can of pineapple juice, or PJ as I call it, and put it in the middle of the breakfast table and bring the church key over and ask like who wants to do the honors?
Molly 19:10
Well, hold on. This raises another question, which is that? Is there any form of packaging for pineapple juice that you've seen? That is reclosable?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:18
That is such a good question. So
Molly 19:20
when I was Googling
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:23
around, can I save like, you know, in all honesty that I've seen this in real life? I don't think so. So
Molly 19:29
make it wouldn't make any sense to buy it the way that you buy orange juice or grapefruit juice or whatever because positivity
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:36
is sold that way now, but positive is a strong word. I don't know. Like I feel like whenever we need it, we need to do some Googling. Okay, yeah. Look, here's Libby's pineapple juice sold at Kroger in like a classic plastic juice bottle.
Molly 19:52
Oh, okay. Okay. Does it come refrigerated? No,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:55
it's in the it's in the unrefrigerated juice aisle. Okay. Okay. Okay, okay, so So this does exist, but like, I don't remember seeing this bottle. So I don't know, you know what I failed to do that I should have done for this show. Last night, Lori and I went to bar Victoria and I could have ordered pineapple cocktail, but I didn't think of
Molly 20:16
it. Speaking of pineapple cocktails, I just thought of one that you hadn't written on overpriced here. And so I can't wait to chime in about it. Let's talk about using pineapple juice in drinks and cocktails.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:26
Okay, Molly, have you ever had or have you familiar with Tip paci?
Molly 20:30
You know, I have had a version that is sold in like PCC these days and I have a feeling it is probably not nearly as good as it would be if I had it like in Mexico. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:40
well, I want to hear your impression of that one though, because I don't think I've ever had it and didn't really know what it was until I started researching this episode. So teapots, A is an ancient fermented Mexican beverage made from fermented pineapple peels, and then sweetened with sugar and flavored with cinnamon. And it's very lightly fermented and contains very little alcohol.
Molly 21:03
So I purchased it one day, I think it was summertime and I had heard of this stuff sort of in the abstract saw can have it. You know, like near a sandwich. I was buying at PCC. And I was really
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:18
bad. Molly is something is near a sandwich. She will buy
Molly 21:21
it as she's in it. She's into it. She's got two sizes in
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:25
it. You were in the bottom.
Molly 21:28
The one that I think I bought I don't think it is. Well. I think I was really drawn in by the word pineapple and of course fermented I like fermented things. I think I didn't realize that it was pineapple peel. That's so interesting.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:40
No, so the modern like commercial version is made with fermented pineapple juice god. Okay. The most popular brand in Mexico is freemax tape ah, chico. And I guess I'm sure this is sold at Mexican groceries in Seattle. And I've never tried it and will do so soon. And I'll report
Molly 21:58
Well, the one that I had, I want to try again because I want to try a different one. I was not thrilled with what I had. Okay, but I can't speak to the quality of the brand.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:10
Alright, so cocktails. Have you had a pina colada anytime recently? Yeah.
Molly 22:15
Have I ever? No, I haven't had one recently. But they're so good. And I always forget when I do have one how like rich they are too with the cream of coconut in their coconut cream. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:26
like, but as lime also, right? Yes. So so that cuts the cuts the richness a little bit. I think the last time I had one of these, I think we we made them at home just because we wanted to say we were drinking pina coladas. And that was in our Broadway East apartment. So it would have been before December turn two. So a while ago,
Molly 22:46
okay, Matthew, what about have you ever had a jungle bird?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:50
No. I saw Josh fro the other day.
Molly 22:53
Oh, you did? Oh, yes. We should wait. We should tell the listener. We're recording this remotely. You're still in Tokyo. I'm still in Tokyo for just a couple more days. So I think I first had a jungle bird at a bar in Palm
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:06
Springs. Oh, it sounds like a Palm Springs kind of drink. So
Molly 23:10
I'm looking at a recipe for it on liquor.com right now. Their version has like one and a half ounces of Blackstrap rum. Okay, three quarter ounce Campari. One and a half ounces pineapple juice, half ounce lime juice, and a half ounce simple syrup. That sounds really good. demostrar a syrup if you're feeling fancy, it is so good. I mean especially if you like me, I do like you like bitter bitterness in your cocktails in this you get like that delicious pineapple and rum combo plus lime you know like the that's what the the Holy Trinity is. rum, pineapple and lime juice. Yeah, and then in this case you had compare it to that I mean, what interest there? Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:54
Will you like make me or take me for one of those make me or take me some time? Yeah, okay, take me coffee a slag tank.
Molly 24:05
Oh, wow. Okay. Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:08
All right. So there's the Singapore slang. I don't think I've ever had one. I do remember seeing them advertised as like the signature cocktail at a at a fancy movie theater in Bangkok once didn't get it. Yeah. But it's made with gin, cherry brandy, quatro, Benedictine, lemon juice, pineapple juice and bitters, which is a lot of things. But I assume it's very good. That if you had one darn
Molly 24:35
good to me, I've never had a Singapore Sling. No, that sounds fantastic, though. Maybe? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:40
we should. We've never done like a tiki drinks episode.
Molly 24:44
I don't tend to think of myself as a tiki person. But then you know, I look up the jungle bird and I'm like, Well, I like rum. And I like lime juice. And I like yeah, like pineapple too.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:55
We could we could either go to a tiki bar, or we could like pick like a couple that we want to make at home.
Molly 25:01
I think that sounds great. Okay, let's do it. Maybe we could do like a Hallmark holiday movie. Yes. With some tiki drinks.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:10
Oh, that's so great. All right. I think so you're on. Yeah. And yeah, producer, producer. Abby gets really upset if one of us watches a Christmas movie before Thanksgiving. So I will watch a Christmas movie like an April just to make Abby mad. It's
Molly 25:25
really funny. Okay, great. All right, but we should but we can do it. We can do it next month. And if you're, I think when does this episode air? December 14. So right so next month meaning January? No. When Matthew and I are recording this next month is December. So whatever month you're listening to this, you could watch a Hallmark Christmas movie and drink tea drinks. You can do whatever you need to do to feel right. Yep,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:53
I learned that there's a kind of a trashy version of a pina colada called the Staten Island Ferry that's just Malibu rum and pineapple juice.
Molly 26:01
You know, I'm pretty sure that I've had that like pool side some Sure. Not that I've had that many poolside cocktails. But that does seem like probably something I would have had. We should have more poolside cocktails. We should we should we went to a pool once in LA in Hollywood. Remember? That's right when we were at the IACP conference, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:24
Yeah. That photo of us we looked so good. All right. Pineapple juice can also be used as a meat tenderizer or marinade. And it is delicious. In marinade. It technically works as a meat tenderizer because it contains an enzyme called bromelain, which breaks down muscle fibers and other tissue using a marinade as a tenderizer. Like, doesn't really typically like do what you want it to do. Because like, either you marinate like for a short time and it doesn't get very far into the meat or you marinate for a long time and the meat gets mushy. But as a flavoring pineapple juice in a marinade is great.
Molly 27:01
So what would be a better way to tenderize something? braise it, I think okay, okay, so cooking. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:08
having said that, okay, so like for stir frying like you know, treating treating me with a little bit of baking soda for stir frying is like a classic Chinese restaurant technique that like is covered in friend of the show. Kenji spoke the walk, and I do do that at home. That would be called velvet. NG. Velvet ng is a little different. Oh, okay. Delving involves egg whites. Oh, okay. Okay. But like it's a related technique for sure.
Molly 27:37
Got it. Oh, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:37
learned that bromelain because it like eats away tissue has one commercial pharmaceutical use, which is for debriding burn wounds and debriding is removing the dead tissue. So you're welcome everybody.
Molly 27:50
I hope none neither of us and none of our listeners ever ever have any experience with that? Yep. So Matthew, yeah, hi. Remember in my like, early mid 20s talking with a friend of mine who swore by that like one rumor about pineapple juice. Do you want to explain what this rumor
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:08
Yes. And we had a listener complain recently that they did not like it when we talked about jizz on the episode while we're doing it again.
Molly 28:16
Oh, okay. Go on. I was gonna say Did they not like us using that word?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:20
Oh, no, no, is that we were talking about the substance at all. Oh,
Molly 28:24
okay. Okay, I feel like we would be there's it's a big oversight though to not vote on apps on an episode about pineapple juice.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:32
Okay, so I did not know whether this was true or not. And it's not. Wait, does
Molly 28:37
everybody know what the rumor is? Oh, the Oh, yeah. Sorry. The
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:40
rumor is that if you are a person who ejaculate semen and you drink pineapple juice, it will make your semen sweet or good tasting. Okay, it is not true. There's a great quote from Dr. Jeff foster a urologist who told Mashable quote, There are no quality studies that have really looked at this as it is a difficult thing to justify getting funding. But having said that, Foster said that in reality, eating these fruits is unlikely to make a difference to semen taste, quote, If it did, it would alter the constituents of the medium that the sperm is in and potentially damage it. Semen is almost completely protected from what you expel. I
Molly 29:20
was gonna say, I feel like you know if these vital bodily fluids were that easily affected by things we eat, or you know, things we ordinarily eat? I think we'd have a lot of problems. Yeah, when I mean layin,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:36
it's different from like asparagus, like making your pee smell funny because like pee is stuff that you're trying to get rid of.
Molly 29:42
And also pee is a direct byproduct to have like digestion, right? I mean, semen serves a different purpose.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:49
It does serve a different purpose than P You're right. Okay, we just we just got I just got emails and we just got our medical licenses. I
Molly 30:03
feel like we were getting close to earning them. But now we lost that weight.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:07
Actually, no, we don't get our medical license until we get until you answered this next question, which I when I was Googling this, Google said that people also asked quote, What does pineapple do for a woman? Virginia?
Molly 30:25
As far as I'm concerned, nothing. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:27
I mean, yeah, like, it probably probably won't hurt, but like that depends her probably like how you're applying it.
Molly 30:36
Wow. Okay. Well, I feel like if you're
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:38
a woman in Virginia, get in touch.
Molly 30:44
All right. So this has been our pineapple juice episode, which I think was was really instructive. You know, both in like the knowledge sense and in the like, you know, was
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:54
it the other sense of instruction was excited to hear what you say next
Molly 30:58
one, like, is it possible to change the taste of your semen? Okay, yeah, not? Well, at least not with this stuff.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:04
Right? No, you I think you'd have to like, I was gonna say something really gross. Nevermind.
Molly 31:08
Oh, no, no, no. Okay. All right. So I hear that we may have a beak of the week. Yes,
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
we have an emergency beak of the week. You've
Speaker 1 31:17
got sharp claws and you can perch up. Hi, you've got those wings because they help you fly such an interesting bird. its beak of the week.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:30
Wife it's your Laurie and I have been going to our favorite park in the worlds in Phuket G Park in western Tokyo, which is a park that is famous for birdwatching, we've seen some cool stuff. We've seen the common Kingfisher, which I think was a past week of the week. We've seen some great cormorants. We've seen grey heron, I've seen some common pie charts, which are a cool redheaded duck. But we were there the other day in the rain. And we were like, that looks like a small duck but not a duckling. And it's not duckling season. Anyway, what is that? If, if you're at all interested in birds, you probably have the Merlin bird app on your phone, which can identify a bird from a photo. So I took a photo and it said, Oh, that is a little green. And it looked at the picture and say yep, that is absolutely what we're looking at. And a little green is one of the most delightful birds you will ever see. It does look kind of like a small dock but with interesting coloration. And I learned when I did a little more research that grebes are not ducks, they are not geese. They are not closely related to any of those common waterfowl. What they are is small flamingos. What Yes, so Greaves and flamingos form a family that doesn't contain any other types of birds.
Molly 32:48
What do they have in common? I mean, is it like like on the like a genetic level
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:53
it's well there are like some like morphological features that are not obvious in in like the developed organism that you would have to like, look at look at the skeleton. It's tough to see but if you but but no, but having said that, like if you look at pictures of flamingos, in grieves, they like, you know, they have like some facial features in common. I'm
Molly 33:11
gonna have to go deep on this. Okay, so wait, is this is this why you called it a? An emergency beak of the where's the emergency and
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:19
the emergency is that I saw a bird so interesting that we had to bring back beak of the week. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, it's a little group. So cute. We saw it. We saw two of them. In the north pod. It's in pooka G like, if you if you're listening to this today, get over there. They might still be there. You
Molly 33:36
sent me like a listing maybe from your Merlin app about the little cream and it has really lovely coloration really sophisticated, I would say I mean, I don't mean to like impose my human values onto this thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:50
Oh, wow. The Greaves are really upset because you did that. Here. It says it's also known as the DAB chick the DAP chick DAB chick Yes. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, I want to I want to be I want to be a cool DAB chick, but I'm really nothing but as what it was slag heap slag, slag tank,
Molly 34:09
slag tank, Matthew, I've got some spilled mail from listening check rate. Let's do it.
So listener, Jeff says Hi, Matthew and Molly. First off, I want to thank you for the podcast. I recently took some time off to deal with severe anxiety and your podcast was one of the things that took my mind off things. I've also enjoyed your books and look forward to reading the ones I haven't read yet. Is there any possibility of you teaming up to write a spilled milk book? I've been eating a lot of my favorite meals lately. And we'd like to ask if either of you have any meals that you eat during times of anxiety? Gosh, that's a great question. Yes. Okay. Well, hold on. I want to address the first question. Yeah, I don't think we have any plans to write a spilled milk book.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:54
No. We've never tried to write one without telling Molly about it, but teaming up sounds like sounds Like cover a lot of conflicts. I think the thing the thing is like this show is like silly and like kind of about nothing, which doesn't really translate into book form. Yeah, sure. I think that makes sense. Yeah. But I mean, if someone wants to wants to, like come in with an offer, like a big offer, we would consider it. Yes. But like,
Molly 35:22
I mean, when I even we have the same literary agents so you know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:26
Yeah, like it's weird. It's weird that Michael hasn't come to us with like an eight figure offer for the for the Spielberg book. It is surprising probably probably we just need to like update our contacted for eviction.
Molly 35:38
Okay, wait, I have some thoughts about that like meals during times of anxiety. So first of all, Jeff, I've been there, man. Yeah, Matthew and I are both people who struggle or have struggled at various times with anxiety and we we get it anyway. Okay, I'm just gonna say for me, scrambled eggs. Perennial always there for me food, and especially with some grated sharp cheddar folded in which in my house turns them into cheesy eggs. Oh, one Oh, yes. So for me kind of an ideal meal under those circumstances, would probably be cheesy eggs, and maybe some boiled potatoes, some kind of potato that boils well, with salted butter on the boiled potatoes and a lot of salt. And that would be it elegant as a baseline. I also think good crusty bread and salted butter can cure all feelings, and just makes feelings go away. Matthew, you take it away.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:40
Okay, so for me, I'm thinking about this and it is it's gonna be my answer is gonna be less about the specific food and more about kind of the context in which is prepared. So like, when I am feeling anxious, I will seize upon like the act of making food as like a thing I could screw up and disappoint people. And so what I really want is for someone else to cook or get takeout and and present it to me in a way that I can't do wrong. Yeah. And so like, like I don't even really feel like cooking for myself. If I'm if I'm very anxious, I would rather just like you know, get some teriyaki madness like teriyaki from from my local teriyaki place. Teriyaki madness is going to be an incredibly soothing meal for me, because like, it's always going to be the same, it's going to be good, it's going to smell good. It's going to be simple, and I don't have to do it. But also like if someone else is cooking, and like you know, cooking something that produces a good smell along the way, like that is going to be very soothing, partly because I'm going to be like, okay, like, I can sit over here and do my thing. I don't need to get involved in what's going on in the kitchen, then we'll sit down together and eat it and like, I'm just not picky about what the specific food is.
Molly 37:49
I'm really glad that you raised the issue of sort of, you know, not wanting to cook in those situations. And I think that's actually maybe part of why I chose that or thought about the foods I did because oh total foods that I can't mess
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:01
up. Yeah, no scrambled eggs out making scrambled eggs does sound really satisfying.
Molly 38:05
Well, and I also think scrambled eggs for dinner feels very like comforting.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:09
Oh yes.
Molly 38:10
I'm not actually a big hot breakfast person. I love scrambled eggs for dinner, though. And we have them. I mean, if I if if I have my way we have them at least once a week.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:24
Nice. Thanks, Jeff. That was great question. Thanks, Molly. Do you have it now but wow,
Molly 38:29
I do Matthew.
You know, I'm going to break now but well, protocol, because so here's the thing. A number of weeks ago, producer Abby can look this out. Okay. And can also vouch a number of weeks ago, I mentioned a book by Rachel Kong Rachel conch second novel Real Americans that was that was not released yet. That's right. It's still not released. It's coming out. I'm 24. Okay. No, it has a character named Matthew, do you remember that part? About that? Okay. So here's the deal. You know, for many reasons, I feel like it's taking me a while to get through books these days. Gosh, I can't imagine why. I can't imagine it's almost like a baby or something's weird. Anyway. Oh, my God, Matthew, I have to mention it again. Because honestly, I have not enjoyed a book so much in memory. That's awesome. It is not only the kind of story that just picks you up and carries you in from page one. But also her writing like on the sentence level is just like clean and well paced and like delightful.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:50
Is it full of small epiphanies? Like Like I mentioned in the masterclass ad that may or may not air with this episode. I am
Molly 39:59
so glad you're out. As Matthew, well here's what I can say about it. So not only so it's told from three different generations within the same family, okay? And it's not only interesting on the level of the plot, I mean it each of these characters is a really interesting person to be inside of. But there's also kind of a mystery you're trying to unravel the entire time. And part of it is kind of a scientific mystery and part of it has a little touch of magical realism about it. Nice, but that's like a very small aftertaste it leaves I really thought long and hard about whether or not I couldn't mention the same thing twice for now but wow, but this book is like such a big wow for me. I can't say enough good things about it. I think that this book is going to be huge next year.
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:47
Okay, well, I can't believe you violated protocol this way you're canceled No, I
Molly 40:53
can't wait to rebuild Kong deserves all the book sales.
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:57
Yes. preorder it pre
Molly 40:58
order Real Americans by Rachel calm that spelled K h o n g. Rachel calm also used to be an editor lucky peach. Yeah, great. has a great history as a food writer. There's a lot of food in this book too, which is delightful. Caught right. I'm thinking right now of a scene early in the book, maybe like on page nine or 10 when the narrator is eating shrimp cocktail, and has just like a really funny observation about what it is like to chew shrimp. Anyway, it
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:29
was kind of small epiphany that I met. Ah, it's so
Molly 41:32
good. Anyway, I'm so excited for her. I'm so excited for the world to get to read this book. Yeah, I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:38
excited for me because I haven't read it yet. Great. All right. Our producer is Abby, sir. Catella. Molly has an excellent newsletter that I'm always excited to see pop up in my inbox. It's called I've got a feeling and you can subscribe at Molly weisenberg.substack.com.
Molly 41:54
And if you didn't know it already, now you do. Matthew is a singer and a songwriter and also plays multiple instruments. Matthew is a part of two bands and also collaborates with other people. You can find his music all over the place on the internet. One of his bands is called early to the airport and the other is Twilight diners.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:17
Thank you. Thank you what a great plug. Please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts and check in with other Spielberg listeners at everything spilled milk.reddit.com I think I fixed like for a while our email address wasn't on our website for some reason. I think I fixed that. But anyway, if you want to send us some spilled mail, it's contact at spilled milk podcast.com
Molly 42:38
We love to hear from you. All right. Thank you for listening to spilled milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:43
This show it's been hosted since 2010 by a couple of real slag tanks.
Molly 42:49
You know, this show is a difficult thing to justify getting funding for.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:56
Well, that explains a lot. I'm Matthew Amster-Burton
Molly 42:59
I'm Molly Weissenberg.
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:00
I'm PR one desk 67
Molly 43:04
Oh, and Haim smooth Cayenne
Matthew Amster-Burton 43:16
I put everything spilled out spilled milk.com which is wrong. That's wrong.