Today we go back to the playground and are drawn awry by peanuts, almonds and oh yeah, pecans. We discuss these smooth, handsome husks before droops show up (yet again) and we decide on the approved textures of goo. Eventually we realize our credenzas are burning before making some kitchen resolutions like a couple of twig girdlers.
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Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi I'm Matthew and I'm Molly and this is Spilled Milk The show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have
Molly 0:09
any today we are talking about pecans. Yep. Or,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:13
or pecans,
Molly 0:14
pecans or pecans. Yes. So I mean, wow. Just like last week's euros episode. This one is full of pronunciations. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:22
yeah. Is Mr. Pronunciation gonna join us?
Molly 0:25
He is he Oh, good. Not yet. Okay, great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:28
So this is a knot. It's a nut, right?
Molly 0:31
So I did the research on this episode. And I was pretty psyched to do it. Because just recently, so I had bought some pecans at Thanksgiving, right to make Hoosier pie, which is a pecan pie with chocolate and whiskey. And or at least my family calls our pecan pie with chocolate and whiskey.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:52
Who's your pie, but it gets more complicated when you look up. What who's your pious Okay,
Molly 0:56
your pie is like kind of some sort of custard pie, which basically a pecan pie is also a type of custard pie. And it
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:03
was and it was created by Gene Hackman back when he was like coaching that hard luck basketball team.
Molly 1:08
I just spit a little bit on the mic. Cool. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:11
about what that deserved. Anyway, okay. No,
Molly 1:15
June recently asked me when I think when I was making Hoosier pie. She was like, oh, pecans are so tasty. Like, why don't we snack on the more like, you know, peanuts are everywhere for snacking or cashews. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:27
think it's because they're one of the more expensive nuts. Right? Well, so
Molly 1:30
the first thing I said was, well, pecans don't grow around here. But then again, neither really. I mean, I guess there are peanuts. They grow around here like Alvarez farm.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:40
Yeah. But I think when you when you get a jar of planters, I don't think they're grown in Washington.
Molly 1:46
No, no, no. So So yeah, the first thing I thought was, I think cones, and I think the south and I wasn't sure why that was okay. Yeah, either. Now, I am going to educate us. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:00
But should we go down memory lane first? Sure.
Molly 2:03
I grew up in Oklahoma. And my first encounter with pecans that I remember was on my elementary school playground. Really? Yes, there was a pecan tree. Wow. Cones would fall on the ground. And we would absolutely during recess, pick up pecans and step on them to crack the shells and we would eat pecans on the playground. All we
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:27
had was horse chestnuts. Oh, no rain for throwing at people but not for eating.
Molly 2:32
That's right. No, we had pecans. And I remember this was a very typical thing at a certain time of year on the playground. I mean, I remember eating tons of pecans on the playground.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:42
That is not what I expected you to say. Like yeah, so lovely. It is it's it's kind of I imagined, like it's something like if I was reading, you know, a memoir from like, the 1880s or something like, you know, well, here's
Molly 2:56
the sad part is that the school did a big like building projects, built a new building and like built it over that playground and move to the playground somewhere else. And that tree is no more but
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:08
like as a result of their their agreement with the city arborist now, the principal has to come out and throw a handful of pecans every recess. That's right. Okay.
Molly 3:19
Hold on. I have more. Oh, yeah. Also, my mother and Barbara Fretwell, who has been discussed many times on the show, always made at Bill's candy, which you've definitely mentioned before. Yeah. It's like a brown sugar fudge with pecans, right? It's ABC easy as 123 That's right. Yeah. So they made that every Christmas and that always uses pecans. When I've made it as an adult. And there's actually a recipe I wrote about it. I think maybe for Bon Appetit Magazine, maybe. Anyway, maybe there's a recipe for it with my name on it somewhere on the internet, which basically is is the handbills recipe that has been handed down through many generations. But my switcheroo with it is that I toast the
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:06
pecans first. Oh, that sounds that sounds key. obvious but good. And then of
Molly 4:10
course, my other memory lane is Hoosier pi s as previously mentioned. All
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:15
right. So I don't like I didn't contribute a whole lot to the agenda this episode because like I like pecans. I don't I just don't have any like real like pecan experience to speak of. Except the only thing that came to mind I like okay, I've got to have something for memory lane. This is our most beloved segment. Yes, yeah. Is my one of my first bands capisce lint trap had a song involving pecans. Really rich. Yeah. So this was I usually described as like a country punk band, but we were really just more of an absurdist band. Our singer would start a improvise lyrics. And what one of our songs this was a real song. that we like played live on stage all over Seattle was called no more peanuts in the peanut can and near the end of the SOG Truman are here with throwing this following line so the song would go the wrong way no more peanuts in the peanut can no more peanuts in the peanut can repeat that like 30 times and then at some point you throwing no more peanuts in the peanut can peanuts for sale and I got P can. So that's my memory lane. Oh,
Molly 5:28
wow. Okay, well, cool. Oh, that's pretty great is
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:31
our call like when when the first time Sherman came up with that we all thought it was really funny. Yeah,
Molly 5:36
no, that's pretty great. All right. So I want to I want to get down to to the to like where this thing grows and comes from and stuff because who ate the first PiCon? Well, it was definitely some native peoples in the the North America area. So the pecan is actually a species of hickory and it's native to the southern US and northern Mexico, kind of mostly around the Mississippi River. Okay, so though the word pecan derives from an Algonquin word is that did I pronounce that right? Okay. And Algonquin word that like variously refers to pecans walnuts and hickory nuts Okay, sure. Yeah. It no one seems to agree on how to pronounce this. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:25
like I think like my the way I usually pronounce it like most people would probably say was wrong whether they're like from the south or the north and what
Molly 6:33
how do you say I should say pecan Oh, that's an I feel like that is a really interesting hybrid right not P can
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:40
and not pecan, although like if I'm around like you know, other people I will I will probably like fall into saying pecan because I think that's what most people you'll say
Molly 6:49
pecan. Wow, that that is really a fascinating, so I
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:53
don't say it a lot like mostly if I'm just reminiscing about an old man pecan pecan. You don't you don't do that. Yeah, I mean, like only only like when I'm meditating.
Molly 7:03
Okay. All right. So I did find this little gem from Wikipedia in 1927. The National pecan Growers Association acknowledged variant pronunciations, while designating one as official and correct. And here's what they said. pronounced as though spelled pecan. Is that am I reading that right? Do you think pecan Well, it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:25
doesn't say here like which syllable is accent? That's right. So
Molly 7:29
those in the habit of using any other pronunciation therefore, question henceforth to adopt exclusively the pronunciation above, specified above and be And hereby adopted by the association. Wow,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:44
how did that go for them?
Molly 7:45
There were so many words in that sentence. I don't think it works.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:50
How does it How does it usually go when you try and get people to like, bold their language to your did it really
Molly 7:56
succeeds? Always. Okay, so the pecan is cultivated primarily fruit seed, which is the part we call a nut. But of course, the pecan, like the fruit of all members of the hickory genus is not actually a nut, it's a DREW
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:11
Oh, nothing, nothing turns out to be nuts. Anyway,
Molly 8:15
so once again, I had to remind myself what a drupe is. A droop is a fruit with a single stone or pit surrounded by a husk. So would this be like peaches? Yeah, plums, cherries,
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:30
apples. I think that's not a single seed. Yeah, you're right. No. Yeah, stuff like that. Stuff like that.
Molly 8:37
So the husks so the the outer part, what I think of as the pecan shell is produced from like, the, the outer tissue of the ovary. Yeah. And then the, the
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:50
like how you hesitated as if you weren't sure whether it was appropriate to use the word ovary.
Molly 8:57
And then the part that we call the nut develops from the inner part, the endocarp and it contains the seed. Okay, so the husk starts out green turns brown at maturity, it often has these pretty little kind of flex on it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:13
It's a handsome nut.
Molly 9:14
It's a really handsome nut, it's pretty smooth. Like compared to a walnut for instance, the husk is pretty smooth pointed at one end.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:21
I'm gonna I'm gonna, like, interject here to point out that I, these handsome nuts that we're holding came from a bag of like, seasonal like, you know, around the holidays, the grocery stores will start selling mixed mixed nuts in the shell.
Molly 9:34
I was gonna say, wait a minute, this is a walnut Matthews.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:37
I couldn't find a bag of just pecans in the shell. I can only find a bag of mixed nuts. And like so I bought this big bag that was $10 Probably has four pecans in it. Yeah.
Molly 9:48
And we've got two of them right now. So here's the thing. The history of these is pretty great. And the history goes back pretty darn far. Okay, so pecans from wild pecan trees were why consumed and traded by Native Americans. And apparently pecans were a good thing to forage. Because the like the you know, the husks when they fell on the ground were often still edible. Oh, okay. Yeah. Whereas, you know, like other fruit when it falls on the ground, it's it's fine. Yeah. So actually, I loved reading that because when I was a kid,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:21
you were taking part in this in a centuries old, like, like Selenium old.
Molly 10:25
Exactly. Yeah. No, but I found myself thinking like, oh, well, yeah, it wasn't like we went up and picked the nuts from the trees. They were already on the ground, and they were still perfectly fine. I'm trying
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:35
to think I was I was insane. I'm trying to think of something that fell on the ground, but that'd be the answer. Many times. But like, something that like, fell off a tree onto the ground. Yeah. I think maybe not.
Molly 10:49
Yeah, cuz usually it's it's pretty gnarly by that point. So European
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:54
Union go hang around your old elementary school.
Molly 10:57
Europeans first learned about pecans in the 1500s when Spanish explorers were tromping around and what we now call Louisiana, Texas and Mexico, we now called the trumping that the trumping zone. They call it the pecan, could you try to pronounce this new Ace de la Rouga? Which Wikipedia says means roughly wrinkled nut? Okay. Yeah, like that. This is like very similar to what they called walnuts. The Spanish were familiar with walnuts. So they refer to pecans using the same word basically, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:27
certainly like, you know, used to think they were the same thing because I would only see them shelled and they look very similar. Yeah, they're both wrinkled. They're
Molly 11:35
both wrinkled nuts. The walnut has like a broader, a broader overall shape. You know, the pecan is like, narrower, more oval. I'm talking about like a half of them yet, right? Anyway, the Spanish explorers took it back to Europe with them. And it also made its way into Asia and Africa. Like the Native Americans before them. early colonists to the US enjoyed pecans.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:01
You find you find a tasty looking like a handsome not on the ground, you're gonna eat it.
Molly 12:06
Thomas Jefferson grew pecan trees, and apparently he gave some of the nuts to his pal, George Washington, who grew them at Mount Vernon as well. Okay, sure. Yep. They were training nuts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:17
Hey, did he say Hey, George, how do you like deez? Nuts?
Molly 12:20
No, I don't think so he
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:21
did. But
Molly 12:23
here's the interesting thing. So pecans were actually only domesticated relatively recent, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:29
was going to ask about that. Like, are these are these like the same ones that fall off a tree that that were falling off trees prior to European colonization? No.
Molly 12:36
Well, some of them probably are. But here's the thing. So the commercial growth of pecans didn't really start till the 1880s. And part of it part of what took so long is that a single pecan tree can produce nuts with like a huge variety of characteristics.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:55
Like like what? Well some are spices, like cinnamon sugar,
Molly 12:59
I think that some maybe like Meteor more tender or it's kind of it really might be meaty and tender. Well, me too. Okay. But basically, in order to and also trees take a long time to establish right
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:13
this is this is something I've also noticed.
Molly 13:18
So anyway, to speed up production and make these things like commercially viable and also to select for the parts of the trees that were producing the best characteristics in their fruit. They started grafting, okay, and the first cultivars, apparently actually really hard to graft pecan trees. Apparently, there was a tremendous amount of failure for a while, like, what is grafting failure
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:43
look like?
Molly 13:44
I think just a failure to take. Yeah, so but the first cultivars to be successfully grafted was called the centennial and it was grafted by an enslaved person named Antoine, okay, and 1846 or 1847 at the Oak alley plantation in Louisiana. All right. So so yeah, good job. Antoine. Thank you for helping us get closer to commercial pecans. Yeah, today most of the country's crop is grown still like you know in that same rough area, Georgia New Mexico, Texas. Mexico is actually huge producer gross like half the world's pecans Should we eat these things? Yeah, let's
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:23
crack into some okay and I like my did contribute something to this episode, which is some like other I bought the pecans and like wife the show Laurie made some cookies. Wow, man. Myrtle is that thing you just say? You marked it
Molly 14:42
Oh, yeah, this is I did this I absolutely destroyed this pecan. I think there are some nutcrackers that are better than others. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:51
so this one, this one is brought in Nutcracker. That's like the exact Nutcracker that my parents happened when I was a kid. That looks like To kind of neural metal rods that have like a spring loaded thing at the end, it's
Molly 15:06
always a little bit like kind of loose and wiggly. You know, this just takes me back to the playground man. Wow.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:15
My just exploded like
Molly 15:18
an episode of The Muppets when like the Swedish Chef is just throwing things behind him.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:23
Your pecan just did that. Yep. And then I put some of the shell of my mouth. Oh, yeah, that's
Molly 15:28
really a rite of passage. If you're going to eat pecan straight out of the shell. You're going to eat the shell. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:33
Yeah, that is that is good. Is that good? I will say the shell is much much much more tannic than the Not My, my mouth is kind of inhale now.
Molly 15:46
Wow, that's so good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:47
We're when we when we did persimmon episode, and I've been eating a lot of persimmons lately. I ate some in Japan because it's persimmon season, but there was like some like early explorer who wrote that, like it draws the mouth array with much torment. If you eat an unripe one. That is what just happened to my mouth. Like, have you think about like, like, you know, taking a sip of like, like strong black tea and it's like tannic and astringent. This was like 50 times that. Okay, I've went to I went to the dentist this morning. I felt like like my mouth trauma was over a day, but no, no, your mouth has been drawn her eye. Okay. Yeah, I'm gonna move on to like more sweetened versions. Yeah, that
Molly 16:28
was good. Matthew. I almost wanted to make a quiz. A quiz of pests that plague pecan trees. Okay, but I didn't. And instead, I've just the ones that I like, okay, there's the hickory shuck worm. Wait,
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:44
the hickory shock worm. Okay. Where's right,
Molly 16:49
wouldn't it be a great insult you? Shock worm? What I
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:53
was gonna say is when I inevitably start my professional wrestling career, I want to be known as the hickory chakra, which could be kind of culturally appropriative because I'm not like from the hickory region, but I don't know I'm okay with it. Yeah, yeah. Actually, I don't know what you're gonna say next because I genuinely haven't looked but my wrestling name is going to be the next insect you say?
Molly 17:12
No, you so you should wait a little longer. The next one is the ambrosia beetle. Okay, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:20
like this one out here comes the ambrosia beetle. Okay, no,
Molly 17:23
Twig Gertler
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:29
that I like that better as an insult. I know you a weaker color.
Molly 17:34
And then the pecan nut case bearer.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:39
That sounds like it just takes the shell and walks off.
Molly 17:43
And then of course there's also the I texted Matthew a picture of the filbert weevil.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:48
Oh, I didn't realize that was related to show research. I thought that was just like some like the porn you like, no,
Molly 17:56
no. It was a picture of Filbert weevil. It was really cute and acorn cap. And it was so cute. We talked about maybe making like a new segment in the week like proboscis of the
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:13
guy well that's where I got started. Okay, wait, no, you'd like one of the ones that came out
Molly 18:17
some good ones you had compound or handsome guy or handsome guys with compound eyes or something?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:26
That's better than the thing I said that is it handsome guys with compound I
Molly 18:30
also liked that. I liked the thought of having a segment segment. Yeah. That was that was from Wazza Wazza. Yeah. What about the arthro podcast?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:38
That probably isn't existing podcast. Okay, but like handsome guys with compound eyes like using like, like handsome guys like a non gendered sort of way? Yeah, like any good looking buck.
Molly 18:49
Well, if you want to see that picture of the filbert weevil? Yeah, you definitely do look up Filbert weevil on Wikipedia. And it's the photo that's there. And just part of what I love is the caption Filbert weevil on an acorn cap.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:02
Lizards will probably know that, like masculinity is not a thing I care a lot about in life. And yet the other day and like I remember feeling this way. The last time I got this request. Waiver this year, Laurie discovered a scary bug on her sweater and it was like you come here and deal with this bug. I can't deal with it. Yeah, calmly. Wow, Elliot yeah, I've never felt more manly. What kind of bug was it? It was one of those marmorated stink bugs.
Molly 19:28
Oh, god. What did you do with it? I threw it off the balcony. Oh, that's good. Okay, okay. It's gonna say don't crush it. Oh, it'll draw its friends.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:37
Is that how it works? Yes. Oh,
Molly 19:39
did you read that New Yorker article about the murmur? It was
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:41
like if I read The New Yorker article, I wouldn't be able to calmly deal with them. That's true.
Molly 19:54
Matthew, let's Let's eat some more pecans. While we talk about how many states I have the pecan as the state nut
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:03
Okay, probably not ours. Okay, so first off I need to I until like, look up what the recipe here is that that we're going to eat in just a minute.
Molly 20:11
Okay, I'm gonna open this bag of sweet and spicy pecans from Trader Joe's. Yeah, they're great for snacking.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:18
I feel like there aren't a whole lot of foods that I genuinely consume seasonally, with the exception of Reese's trees, pumpkins and hearts, and eggs, but salted like like sweet and spicy nice not spiced nuts like that says like the holiday season to me, and I will like you know, pound a bunch of those and then forget about them in January.
Molly 20:42
Oh, I mean, homemade spice nuts are always better, but these are pretty darn these are very good. Oh, I like this. I think it's also just the right amount of spice. It's kind of builds up. And they're
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:55
great for salads or snacking. I love Trader Joe's has never sponsored. I
Molly 20:59
love the crunch of a pecan, raw or toasted. It's how would you describe it? It's a very light crunch. Almost like a like a Lay's potato chip.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:09
Yeah. And I think a walnut is a little more dense and buttery. Yeah, I
Molly 21:13
mean, a walnut can have the same crunch. But a walnut also has more more nooks and crannies, which just give it a different feeling.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:22
It's more of a wrinkled nut. Yeah.
Molly 21:24
So the pecan is the state nut of Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana. All right. And California, which it turns out has for state not for state nuts the point of even declaring a state now if you're going to have four of them.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:40
Yeah, the whole point of declaring a state anything is to be like, that's the best one. Right?
Molly 21:44
So anyway, California also has the almond, pistachio and walnut. I feel like they just couldn't choose like it's come on California, narrow it down.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:53
When I was a kid, I assume this must still still be the case unless like lobbyists have gotten involved. The like the state plant of Oregon was Oregon grape, which is kind of a kind of a useless plant that you can't eat and his and his has thorns was true. You can use the roots of the dye plant. Okay. That's probably why they chose it. Yeah, I'm
Molly 22:13
sure it is. Oh, there's all those natural natural dyeing enthusiasts. Okay, the pecan tree is also the state tree of Texas. Yeah, and I believe we've discussed the Oklahoma State meal here before we have Yes, and it's very extensive. It is it is but it includes pecan pie. Sure, of course. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:34
The I mean, the state meal of California includes a pie made with four different nuts. Okay, so what you're opening there is a recipe by a friend of the show, Kristen carousel, which is not your name. But it's Kristen who the Arden hook ardent homesteader who makes carousel our favorite salted caramel sauce. Oh, my knees are up pecan caramel shortbread cookies made with carousel
Molly 23:00
these are incredible. Kristen. Holy cow. Well, you let me know the next time you order some carousel. Yeah. Can we link to this recipe? Oh my god, that's so good. I just an exceptional cooking.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:14
Now, I have had pecan pie. I don't know if I've ever had a particularly good one because I don't really have strong feelings about it. And I feel like if I had a good one I would. I don't dislike it. No. I
Molly 23:26
feel like I can take it or leave it if it's just a pecan pie. I want the chocolate in it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:30
Okay, yeah, I have had that and I really liked that. But like if you put chocolate in anything, I'll like it. Okay, I wonder is pecan pie like a thing you have to grow up with to really
Molly 23:39
appreciate I wouldn't eat it as a kid because I was skeeved out by the goo. So that it's been an adult discovery for me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:47
I loved Gu when I was a kid. Really? So if you didn't you hate Gil. That's true. I mean, it depends on what texture of goo of mayonnaise you
Molly 23:57
hate. I hate mayonnaise, ketchup you hate.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:00
These are very common goos but like the like the pecan pie goo doesn't skeeve me out at all.
Molly 24:06
Really? Yeah. Yucky? Yes, the goofiest goo. No, it's thicker. It is thicker, but I guess it depends on the style of pecan pie that you're into, like, who's your pie has a relatively low amount of almonds, excuse me.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:24
It has a relatively relatively low amount, a relatively
Molly 24:26
low amount of pecans compared to the amount of goo which is called so so there's there's quite a bit of like goo just for goose
whereas some pecan pies are almost like on the dry side because there's so much pecan and like just enough good hold them together. My pie is gooey.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:05
Wow.
Unknown Speaker 25:08
It's really good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:09
This is Hoosier pie. We're still talking about
Molly 25:11
Yeah, but you can't be You can't be like goo averse because it's gooey.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:16
Oh yeah. Well, I laughed too hard. I passed out of the way they came to you said my pie is gooey and I passed out again. What was this episode?
Molly 25:25
Almonds. Right, great. All right, Kathy, what do you do with pecans?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:30
Um, you know, I like I have my friend Molly come over and then we like eat some cookies. Yeah. And then we crack into some pecans and I bite down on the shell and then my mouth goes arrived. Yep. Like nothing pretty much like I enjoy them in a like in a mixed nut assortment like, Yeah, I'd say they're kind of like, the kind of a mid tier not for me and the assortment. Okay. So like, for me, hazelnuts are at the top. But I would put pecans above almonds or peanuts in a mix. Not another assortment. I'm not I'm not a big almond fan. Yeah,
Molly 26:03
yeah. I get tired of almonds. They're almonds everywhere. That's true. Including all over this episode, which is actually not about often I'm walking down the duck down the street and a bunch of them fall out of a tree. Yeah, yep. And you can't pick them up. Maybe you can. I don't know if I can. Okay, what about like butter pecan ice cream? Love it. But yeah, so I think that I've always avoided it because I was afraid that he would have like fake butter flavoring.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:31
I mean, maybe like, and when I say love it, like it's not a flavor of ice cream that I ever like, specifically buy but like, as soon as you said it, I'm like, oh, that stuff's good. Yeah.
Molly 26:41
Butter Pecan was a big favorite of my dad's Sure. He was a butter pecan man.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:46
No pecan Mon.
All right. Good. It was so good. Great. One of the one of the great jokes. Oh, wait, I'm getting a call. It's the Nobel Prize Committee.
Molly 27:10
Okay, what about pre aliens?
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:12
What What are preludes? Exactly, I see I like I
Molly 27:19
like a cooked sugar. To con thing. Okay. I mean, I think of it as like, kind of like toffee. But pecan based.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:32
Okay. I think now there going to be calls for us to do a whole a whole show about primes. I'm pretty sure. I think we're gonna have to after this. Yeah.
Molly 27:39
We've gotten ourselves into deep. Yep. Okay, hold on. So apparently, there's also pecan oil. Okay, which I think I've seen and also pecan butter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:49
pecan butter sounds so expensive. Yes. I imagine going to like PCC and seeing a jar pecan butter. And it's like, $28 That's right. I'm not saying this is a thing that this actually happened but it's not hard to imagine. I think it
Molly 28:03
probably wouldn't even be a PCC. I wonder if it would be at chef shop.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:07
It'd be a chef shop.
Molly 28:08
Maybe even dealer NT. Although I mean, they skew Italian. Yep. Oh, we have failed to mention pecan. Sandies. Yeah. Which I Turkey the previous episode, and I think that so I loved these as a kid. My dad would buy them. Hmm. Wow, they have so little flavor. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:29
was gonna say I think that texture is very good, but they have almost no flavor.
Molly 28:33
There's literally almost no flavor. Literally. I think I just taste a little bit of like rancid fat.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:40
And yet, I appreciate the way they're scrubbing the tannins out of my mouth.
Molly 28:44
Mm hmm. That's disappointing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:47
Sometimes what you need is the opposite of flavor.
Molly 28:49
Okay. Wow. I mean, I think we should we should also mention that probably if you're a furniture maker or someone who is into barbecue. You probably also think about pecans in those capacities because the wood of a pecan tree is used often for making furniture and also for smoking meats.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:10
What if I'm someone who's into barbecue and I'm looking over at my local furniture maker and I'd be like, are you done with that? That credenza because I burn it I could burn it.
Molly 29:20
I love the taste of like old furniture varnish in my my brisket. Oh, yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:27
I just want to burn a credenza burn all the credenza.
Molly 29:33
Matthew, is there anything about pecans that we haven't covered?
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:36
No. I mean, that was that was probably the most comprehensive look at pecans like John McPhee was thinking about writing a piece about pecans. But then he listened to this episode is like now they covered it.
Molly 29:46
That's right. Thanks, John McPhee. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:51
Thanks. Thanks for listening.
Molly 29:52
Thanks for listening to the show. Matthew, do we have any mail?
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:56
We have some spilled mail Oh,
is from a listener Dan who writes Hello Molly and Matthew, I started listening to your podcast and the sportful around the same time over a decade ago. In the final episode of The Year Dan Pashman always chooses a food to eat or cook more of in the coming year. This year I'm vowing to cook more Italian food, focusing on dishes without pasta feel like that's shots fired at Dan Pashman. Wow, do either of you have any food resolutions for 2024? Best Dan from Delaware? PS I totally steal your watch a snack and segment for my monthly wrap up blog posts. Yeah, Damn, that's awesome. That's great, because we hardly ever do it anymore. And joy? Do you have any resolutions for like things, things you want to do more of, like, eat more of or do more of in the kitchen? You know, things you want to do more of in the kitchen?
Molly 30:52
I was gonna say to you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:56
Yeah. Okay. So I would like to cook more Japanese food at home. Because as as you know, because listeners love love it. When I talk about how I'm always going to Japan. We were just in Japan for a couple of weeks on a Japanese food most meals of most days. And I like don't cook Japanese at home that often. But I don't want to stop eating Japanese food that regularly. So I'm going to have to learn. Yeah, and like I always like whenever I want to make something always just go to just one cookbook.com friend of the show, and look up nominees recipe. So I will continue doing that. That's my resolution. Fantastic. And you don't have to have one. I mean, like, I think you're perfect. Just the way you are.
Molly 31:41
Oh, thanks. Thank you. I got I it's gonna take me more time to think about this. I don't think I have anything right. That's the top of my head. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. I'm sorry, Dan from Delaware.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:58
And now it's time for what's your snack in. Hey, watch your snacking. Daddy. Gotta tell me what you snack in. Or I'll release the Kraken. So what's your snack in?
Molly 32:11
Just? We're gonna link to maybe this cookie recipe breeding. Yes. Well, I'm snacking on it right now. Me Joe. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:20
Molly, do you have a now but wow.
Molly 32:30
I do Matthew. And this is one that I've been really enjoying for a few months now. This is a substack newsletter. And it is by a Matey storyteller named Chris le tre lives in Montana is currently the poet laureate of Montana. And I think I might have found him through an Helen Peterson's newsletter culture study, maybe. But anyway, his newsletter is called an irritable, made tea. And he describes it as, quote, thoughts from a crabby, middle aged native guy with plenty of meandering, often contrary, regularly hypocritical and occasionally self contradictory ideas about the world. He writes about all kinds of stuff, he wrote a really wonderful piece about burying an owl that he found. And it was just, I mean, it was it was full of reverence, but also like, just full of like, what it must be like to be in Montana short time of year, he had a really interesting piece that I think was quite controversial about depictions of native people in like hotel decor. Sure, anyway, but it was really thoughtful. And this is like one of the first places where I have been able to sort of really spend time reading Native Voices without like, sort of the filter of an editor. Sure. And I think that's really valuable. I'm also loving his first book, which is called one sentence journal, short poems and essays from the world at large. which won the Montana Book Award in 2018. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:05
I I'm looking forward to I've not read this newsletter, I'm looking forward to it. We've been watching the last season of reservation dogs and like, yeah, he's written quite a bit about it, you know, one thing that I think is so great about that show, and like, you know, that is like, the kind of depiction that we need more of like, every culture is like, you know, the the people on that show and it sounds like the sort of experiences that Chris le tre is writing about, is not primarily symbolic, like you know, that you know, whether positive or negative if the only reason your culture is appear is appearing is to like make some point or serve some particular function in the story, then it's being reduced to like something less than people. And, like, you know, being able to experience like people of every culture as just people is incredibly important.
Molly 34:51
I have also been loving there are few places I can say this about, but I've been loving reading the comments like the discussions that happen in the comment So on his substack, because it's clear that he has a lot of native readers. And from them I'm learning about, like other native authors and you know, people that they're reading or things they're watching. And just, I mean, I haven't interacted a lot there, but I feel like I'm getting to sort of just soak up all this stuff that I haven't found anywhere else. Yeah. So it's been pretty cool. Okay, great. All right. Our producer is Abby, sir. Catella. Molly
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:25
has a newsletter that I really enjoy this also on substack. It's called I've got a feeling and it's available at Molly weisenberg.substack.com. Pete,
Molly 35:32
thanks, Matthew. Matthew makes music. His bands are called early to the airport and Twilight dinars, you can find them everywhere music is available, please
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:42
rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts or there's a new thing that I've noticed some some of our listeners are doing and I really like it is, every time one of our episodes is published on Spotify. Spotify asks, What did you think of this episode? And you can answer that question. And if I like your answer, I can publish it for everyone to see. So if you say something nice or funny about the show in response to that question on Spotify, if you happen to listen to the show there, I always enjoy that. Oh, wow.
Molly 36:08
I had never realized that. I guess I don't listen to podcasts on Spotify.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:12
Yeah, I only like there are a couple of podcasts I listen to on Spotify because they're only on Spotify. This is not like, meant as a dig against Spotify. But no, no, I get it. The Susumu Yachty podcast is only on Spotify, as far as I could tell. And I'm really enjoying that. Right.
Molly 36:27
You can chat with other spilled milk listeners on everything spilled. milk.reddit.com
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:34
Yeah, like what what fell out of a tree and you ate it? Yeah, me.
Molly 36:39
Child. Okay. Well, thanks for listening to the show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:43
I'm shocked. Shocked. Weiler McCracken.
Molly 36:49
Hickory Shaka. No,
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:51
no, I've never been struck while Chuck Wyler. rickrack. Better. I'm
Molly 36:54
what was it a twig, right. diddler something.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:57
Twig waggler twig Gertler, Twig Gertler. All right. Bye. Bye.
I mean, the really the Nutcracker of your is Tchaikovsky.
Molly 37:15
Oh, right. Good one. Okay. All right.