Get ready for some greasy entertainment. We begin with a disclaimer and a chance to experience Memory Lane in real time before chunking out and re-christening ourselves. We discover some silver linings to 2020 before Molly forgets information she should have remembered. Oh Crumbdigger!
Driving Tour Philadelphia's Passyunk Square Hood
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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 0:10
any. Today we are talking about everybody's favorite thing to eat in December Philly cheese steak
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:15
for breakfast.
Molly 0:16
Yeah, actually, so we're recording this episode in early October, guys. I mean, we really have been on top of it this fall. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:25
that's because we're gonna we're gonna be falling off of it at some point. Oh, we are probably like coasting on bone and not bonus episodes, like pre recorded episodes for a while.
Molly 0:34
Yeah, well, you know, it's uh, yeah, we're just we're getting ready for the holidays.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:39
Right? Exactly. Yeah. In our usual holiday prep. I've been trimming a tree trimming a lot of things.
Molly 0:45
I mean, do you mean like, you know, pulling out the the dead herbs that are on your balcony, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:50
I mean, pulling out the dead herbs. I've been I've been like trimming various like nose hairs and stuff. Oh,
Molly 0:56
yeah. That's important. Anyway, no, all this to say, we are recording this in early October. And Matthew just served me a Philly cheesesteak at 9:48am on a Monday morning. And it was so good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:10
Have you had a Philly cheesesteak before? Was that your first one
Molly 1:14
Matthew, that was my first day cheese sick. It was so good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:18
I'm so glad you're
Molly 1:19
and I am not. In fact, just yesterday, I was saying to ash and June as we were sitting like we had stopped somewhere to get like we'd stopped at like PCC or something to all get lunch for ourselves great
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:32
place for a Philly cheesesteak anyway, but in it Co Op, but
Molly 1:36
both of them had gotten hot sandwiches. I am like not a hot sandwich person. And I was just saying to them like, would not occur to me to get a hot sandwich. Now, if I could get a Philly cheesesteak just you know, as easily as like rolling up to your apartment.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:53
If you lived in Philadelphia, you could get a Philly cheesesteak anywhere. But are they always that good? No, but some are some are better and some are not as good. Oh,
Molly 2:02
god, that was great. Okay, so that was my first Philly cheesesteak everybody.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:05
This makes me so happy. Yeah. Like, I'm not gonna get deeply into this because this is the Philly cheesesteak episode, but it's not really even the best kind of sandwich you can get in Philadelphia. The best sandwich is the roast pork sandwich at their Reading Terminal Market.
Molly 2:18
Okay, is this is this, like a widely known fact?
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:22
Well, I think everyone would agree with that. But I think many people would say that's definitely like a world class sandwich. Not that a good Philly cheesesteak isn't okay, so we should do memory lane. Disclaimer upfront, even before we get to memory lane like we're not from Philadelphia. We don't know anything about cheese steaks. I don't. I'm pretty sure they never call them Philly cheese steaks and Philadelphia. I don't think they say Philly much in Philadelphia.
Molly 2:44
Yeah, it's kind of like how San Francisco residents absolutely never call it Frisco did not do that
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:53
they called San Fran Not that I'm aware of. Yeah, so so we don't know what we're talking about each one of those episodes, but I do like cheese steaks a lot.
Molly 3:02
I like cheese steaks a lot, too.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:03
Okay. Well tell us about your memory lane.
Molly 3:07
I just had one. It was really good. I can't wait to have it again. I'm kind of sad that so I think you were trying to be sensible Matthew and you made one and we split it. Yeah. I think I could eat a whole one.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:19
You're always thinking about like, what am I you know, every time you come over and I serve you something I do it wrong in some way. Like not in the preparation of the food but like, you know, I cut it weird or like I give you don't give you any silverware or something. And this time I just didn't give you enough sandwich. I didn't give you the the length of sandwich that you deserve.
Molly 3:35
The other thing is that I think I regularly can eat more at a sitting than you can. That's true. So yeah, so I think that you gave me a Matthew size portion.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:46
I guess so. I mean, I've definitely would eat a whole one of those like a dinner. Oh,
Molly 3:49
I would eat a whole one for breakfast. Okay, okay, go on. Alright,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:53
so my memory lane probably starts with the steak escape chain restaurant at Pioneer place mall in downtown Portland when I was a kid. And they they made like, they didn't call it a cheesesteak. They call it like the steak sandwich. But it was a cheesesteak. It was not good. But I was a teenager and would eat anything and could get like a footlong steak sandwich for $6 or whatever. Like that didn't really even like kind of give me a hint of what cheese steaks were all about. There were a couple of restaurants one of which still exists. I think the other one doesn't in Seattle, like when I was like early 2000s I guess there was that Philadelphia fever, which was owned by Rene LeFevre, which was really like, you know, they've like we import the bread from Philadelphia, that kind of place and it was really, really greasy and good. And then the one that's still around is Tatts deli, which is a really good cheesesteak place in Pioneer Square in Seattle. So like, that's a real treat. Like as much as as much as I think my homemade cheesesteak is good. Like I would definitely go to tats deli sometime because like getting a cheesesteak at a cheesesteak place is part of the experience. Okay? They'll make a big sandwich for Yeah, okay,
Molly 5:00
great. What about actual cheese steaks in Philadelphia?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:04
Been there done that? Okay. I didn't. So I've been to Philadelphia a couple of times. It's really nice town. I have not had a ton of cheese steaks there. I have walked past the famous places and not gone, which we'll talk about what the famous places are. I've had like a couple from just kind of like a neighborhood, you know, no name deli kind of place, which are pretty darn good. And kind of exactly the same way that like a, you know, anonymous New York pizza slice is good. Like, you know, is it going to be the best pizza you've ever had? No. Is it going to totally do the job every time? Yeah. Okay. And then we did like look in like, you know, the, whatever the equivalent of like timeout, Philadelphia is and went to a special place that was they called, like, you know, one of the best in town, and it was better and it was really good. Like, do I do I like Remember, it is like one of the best things ever compared to like a regular Cheesesteak. No, it's still just like a sandwich with a bunch of thin sliced steak and cheese. Speaking of
Molly 5:59
which, could you define what Philly cheesesteak is? Because this did not look like what I expected. Okay, I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:05
glad I'm glad you first of all, I want to know what what you expected it to look
Molly 6:09
like. Okay, so I think I I'm not even sure if I really knew that it was thin slice steak. I mean, I knew that we were not talking here about like, a New York Strip on it on a roll. Okay, just just
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:23
yeah, just like a one inch thick. Yeah, T bone steak when the bone in autobahn.
Molly 6:30
Anyway, I think that I thought it would have strips of meat that were a bit thicker. Maybe more like a quarter inch, maybe the kind of thing you would get on like a steak salad or something like that. And I think that I expected something more like Cheez Whiz. We'll talk about the kind of like I almost said drizzled but more like poured over the top.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:53
So you were not really wrong about that. Okay, that is probably the most common way to cheese, a Philly Cheesesteak.
Molly 7:00
Okay, but yeah, I did not expect the meat to be as thin as it was. In this version. I did not expect the role to be I think I didn't think about what the role would be. I knew it would be an oblong role. Yeah, but it Okay, so take it away.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:14
Okay, so a Philly cheesesteak is a hot sandwich made from very thin sliced steak. So like, so thin that it has to be like frozen and shaved.
Molly 7:23
Okay, so wait when you order when you order the meat or when you go buy the meat? What do you ask for?
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:28
Oh, we'll talk about that. Okay, the meat is chopped and sauteed almost always with onions and there are other other fillings that are popular, especially bell peppers. And then it's topped with some kind of melty processed cheese like American cheese or provolone or, or especially Cheez Whiz, and then served on a hoagie roll.
Molly 7:48
Yes, total delicious gut bomb.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:51
Yes. And the thin slice adness of the of the beat, I think is so important because it is really not a steak sandwich. It's like a bunch of like meat that's kind of fused into a cheesy mast and super tender. Yeah, I
Molly 8:05
did not expect the way that the cheese would have become one with this with the meat right. So that it became kind of almost like a hash kind of thing. Yeah, bow together like cheese.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:18
I do enjoy like a steak sandwich. But when I when you say steak sandwich, I think like this is going to have like some chew to it and
Molly 8:24
cheese to kind of like, come really come chunking out when you eat. Whereas I had very few pieces come out of the cheesesteak as I was eating it. So what what is this thing? Where does it come from? Okay, does it come from Philadelphia? It does.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:39
Yeah, I've attempted to put together a little history of the Philly Cheesesteak. And if you're from Philadelphia, if you're from Philadelphia, like call in to our our hotline, because we want to hear your Philadelphia accent like complaining about the things we got wrong about cheese steaks, we don't actually have a phone number, but you know, send us up, send us a voicemail, or you can send us a voicemail contact, it's built out podcast.com All right, so the Philadelphia steak sandwich was probably invented by Pat and Harry Olivary at their hotdog stand in South Philly in the 1930s. I think that's like why it uses like, you know, this is this is pretty inexpensive meat as far as things go. It could be it could be ribeye, which is more expensive or top round. And it's, you know, but it's, it doesn't need to kind of bring its own tenderness because it's cut. It's, it's sliced so thin that it's going to be tender. Okay. All right. And so the fact that it came from a hotdog stand also sort of makes sense. And the original did not have cheese and cheese didn't enter the equation until like a decade later.
Molly 9:41
So this was just a steak sandwich. It was just a steak sandwich steak sandwich instead of like a sliced beef sandwich.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:47
That's a good question. I think like there are a lot of like regional meat sandwiches they just like had like some catchy name that stuck like a beef on whack which I don't even know what that is or like Italian beef and like just the That's what you call it.
Molly 10:01
Okay. Okay, so what what about the the cheese came in at some point?
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:05
Yeah. And I was looking I was like looking at photos of like cheesesteak restaurant menus in Philadelphia and like, oh, you can still get a cheeseless steak at most of these. I bet they don't sell a lot of those. Like, you know, if you have like a dairy allergy that's great if you're kosher if you're kosher, like I don't think it would like if you're if you're kind of kosher, because like, I think the cheese is still like lingering nearby. Okay. Okay, so according to Wikipedia, quote, The sandwich was originally prepared without cheese. Olivary said provolone cheese was first added by Joe kaki Joe Lorenza, a manager at the ridge Avenue Avenue location in the 40s Do you
Molly 10:43
think that he became cocky Joe for like adding the cheese like like wow, what a ballsy thing to do like I'm gonna add cheese to this steak sandwich conflict Joe
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:53
sorry no Joe That's too cocky like will uhnwi allow onions maybe but but cheese
Molly 10:57
I have Joe always thinks he knows what's best for the steak sandwich.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:01
I want to know what other things cocky Joe tried to add that didn't take
Molly 11:05
if you were gonna name like this. Oh. Matthew Amster-Burton And you were gonna have a little nickname that went in quotation marks within your name like Joe kaki Joe Lorenza.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:18
My name is too long as it is, okay, well come up with one for me. Okay, no, no, we need to come up with one for each of us before we can proceed. Okay, so, so I'm gonna Matthew. Just like random words are coming to mind. I'm like, what does that mean? Blue Bird. I came up with blue bird, but I don't. It doesn't mean anything. I don't have any explanation. You
Molly 11:40
know your glasses right now. I have blue frames. Okay. Yeah, like
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:43
I like like blue clothes. Okay, so I'm gonna be Matthew Blue Bird. Amster-Burton. Okay, and what's yours?
Molly 11:50
Well, as we're sitting here right now, I'm wearing this kind of ridiculous dress it is. Yeah, that's great. It's like cheetah print. And it's pink and purple cheetah print. So I don't know. Like I'm I used to be a fast runner. Like in grade school. Like a cheetah. Like I took third place in the 50 yard dash once.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:10
I think cheetah Weisenberg That's a good name. Watson.
Molly 12:15
This is like a variation on like, the stripper name thing.
Unknown Speaker 12:18
Yeah, heard.
Molly 12:18
Amster-Burton. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:20
right. Okay, come to our strip show. It's gonna be great. Like we've got, I mean, Bali sort of does have like dance moves. I don't. So that's but the contrast is really what makes it Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Molly 12:32
Okay, all right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:33
I'm gonna be eating cheese steaks during the show. Like the dripping.
Molly 12:39
Yeah, you gotta pay money. You gotta pay money to lick the grease off
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:42
of us. Oh, wow. That just like, escalated. It's like we're up to a level. Okay, people like, people would pay that. Okay, so Pat and Harry Olivary the opera. They opened Pat's King of Steaks on Passyunk Avenue in 1940. And it still operates 24/7 at the original location.
Molly 13:01
I love it when people really understand that their product needs to be available 24 hours a day. Like that says something to me, like we're here for you. We care for you. We will always be here for you.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:16
Yeah. And so far they have and so in 1966 pats arch rival Geno's Steaks open across the street. So, I think you're right to boot Geno's Steaks because what I recall from from walking by them in Philadelphia is that Geno's Steaks had like a big display about how much they love cops. So, yeah, like the arch robbery, like I think I think it feels felt like the conventional wisdom by the time we got to Philadelphia, like in the 2010s Is that like, you know, both of these places like they're fine, but you will pay extra because they're the famous places and they're not going to be the best cheesesteak in town. I mean, if you're a partisan and one of those and you want to like come like you know, deliver me some like street justice. I understand. And you're not going to call the cops. I guess not, not after what I just said like or they won't even respond.
Molly 14:07
Okay. Okay, so what about the ingredients here? Like I want to know more about this meat? What how? How did you get it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:16
Okay, here's how I started making cheese steaks at home I don't remember like when I first did this it like definitely escalated during the pandemic but it started before that. Wow, it escalated during the pit Yeah, it escalated the way the way you escalated like our strip show to like grease licking. Okay, so I was at a watch Amaya. I was buying some sukiyaki meat for making sukiyaki which is a Japanese hot pot dish and the meat is they take like I don't even know what kind of meat they're using like you know it's it's pretty well marbled so probably like a chuck steak something like
Molly 14:48
I find it so overwhelming in a good way to stand in front of the sliced meat. Yeah case. Watch Amaya I don't know where to begin I mean because there it'll it's labeled like for Sookie yaki yeah whatever. But still, there are many options within each category totally. So someday I would love for you to explain to me how you choose these.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:09
The one I get is always just a watcher. Maya's own sukiyaki meat and it's always like $10 a pound. They don't say what cut it is, I think it's probably Chuck. And it's just very thinly sliced like shaved marbled beef. I was getting for sukiyaki. And I was thinking like, I got I think, probably I got like the family pack and it was way more than we needed for like one dinners worth of sukiyaki I'm like, What do I do with the rest of this thin sliced wheat? Could I like saute it? And I didn't even know if it was my idea. It could have been like teenager that showed December was like, could you make a cheesesteak with it? And I was like, huh, so I think like when they make cheese steaks and Philadelphia, I think they like put the meat onto the griddle and kind of break it up very efficiently with us with a couple of spatulas I just kind of chopped it up like raw and then threw it in the pan and it made a really good cheesesteak like the flavor is good the you know it stays super tender. So this is not a product you will find in most supermarkets. I did find there was like shaved beef in the in the meat section at QFC that I noticed it kind of didn't look super promising like it would probably be fine but if you can get to a Korean or Japanese supermarket and get some like things like sliced beef for hotpot, that's the way to go. I
Molly 16:25
do ever get it an M to M.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:27
I haven't, but I certainly could. Okay,
Molly 16:30
do they have as broad an array of thinly sliced,
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:33
not eat as broad and raised as a wider mind, but they have a lot? Yeah.
Molly 16:37
Okay. So what about the bread? Because if you said to me, hoagie roll, I don't think that would mean anything to me. Usually.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:44
I don't honestly know if I'm really using the right bread. So like everyone agrees in Philadelphia that the bridge should be an Amur amoroso hoagie roll. It's like in particular, like old school bakery and they produce Jillian's of these cheesesteak rolls and like there are places in Seattle that import them but you can't buy them here in like non commercial quantities. So I just got like, like gapes, Seattle International Baking Company, French hoagie roll, and it was fine. Like, I don't think the bread is really supposed to do a lot of Cheesesteak.
Molly 17:14
Well, I didn't notice that, you know, kind of like a hamburger bun, like, you want a hamburger bun that's going to be squishy and absorb the juices but not fall apart. And that is what this role did pretty perfectly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:26
Yeah, there's the so there's the kind of role that sort of like, like a big hot dog bun, that's like a super soft hot dog bun texture. That doesn't work so great, because it's gonna fall apart. So you want like the next thing up from that, but not like a real crusty like artists and roll. Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, so like, if it's oblong as an oblong sandwich roll, it's going to be fine. Now, during 2020 I was baking my own cheesesteak rolls.
Molly 17:50
Wow, Matthew. Wow, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:53
like googled it up. And I found this recipe from rock recipes.com, which seems like it's like a popular Canadian cooking site, maybe. And, like, it was they're really easy to make, like, if you ever bake bread, you can make these and it really was good. Like, have I made them in the last year? No. Okay. All right.
Molly 18:15
I love what 2020 brought out of so
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:18
I was I was making my own burger buns from the
Molly 18:21
recipe like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:22
I don't know. Maybe we should go back to 2020 It was great. Is there?
Molly 18:26
Well, I mean, I think a lot of us are feeling like life slowed down. In a way that was really nice.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:34
Yeah, I liked making the big pickup orders like curbside pickup order from a watch Amaya and knowing like, you know, I could like you know, throw in like more than a like a week's worth of food and I never shopped that way. I know most people do.
Molly 18:46
Yesterday, we happened to go to the grocery store and buy like a week's worth of food. And it truly felt like I was thrown back to like mid 2020 When you would drop like so much money on groceries. But then you'd have this wonderful feeling like we never have to leave the house again. We
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:03
got to know all of the people at the curbside pickup. Chris the other ones? Yep.
Molly 19:09
Okay. So what about the cheese? Okay, we got the we got the meat, we got the
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:13
bread. All right, you got three choices, provolone, American or Cheez Whiz. And I am partial to American because I feel like it doesn't have much flavor. And it just sort of works as like a sauce slash binding agent and that's what I
Molly 19:28
want. And it also hasn't I saltiness. Yeah, I feel like it contributed a decent amount of salt
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:33
the I've done provolone. And it's delicious, but like that really becomes like, you know, sort of like a balance between the steak flavor and like the sharpness of the cheese flavor. Yeah, I don't want that. Like it's good, but it's just different. Okay. And then the most popular by far in Philadelphia is Cheez Whiz, which I've had there, but have not like bought at home and I'm a little bit scared of in a way that I shouldn't be because like I eat like, you know, garbage all the time, but I'd so Cheez Whiz is a jarred processed cheese spread and it just you know it melts perfectly and it has I think it has like a little bit more tang to it than like an American cheese
Molly 20:10
Do you so when you have had cheese steaks in Philadelphia Do they add the Cheez Whiz when the meat is still on? I'm presuming it's on a griddle or in Philadelphia Do they add the cheese was on the griddle or Once the meat is on the roll?
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:26
I want to say on the griddle but I'm not totally sure I should have watched some cheese steak videos.
Molly 20:31
Because I when I pictured cheese steaks prior to eating one this morning, I definitely pictured being able to see like visible Cheez Whiz on the top of
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:40
it. Yeah. And like that. That is something I've seen, but I like I like this cheese to kind of like melt all the way through.
Molly 20:45
I mean, I you know, I feel that I've been spoiled by having such a delicious cheesesteak right off the bat. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:51
kind of want to get some Cheez Whiz and do that next time I make them at home. I think I will. Okay, I'd like to come over. Speaking of cheesesteak videos I forgot to mention earlier this is not a cheesesteak video. But in order to learn how to pronounce Passyunk Avenue and I'm not still not sure if it got totally right. I like looked up like videos of like tours of Philadelphia and there's this guy who does like driving tours of Philadelphia just narrating from his car. It was so gratifying to just sit and watch the most wonderful voice and I don't remember the name of his channel but we will link to it in the in the show notes. Like he'll do like an hour long video just like talking through like a Philadelphia neighborhood. And it's so soothing to listen to like I just kind of want to be his friend or or like fall asleep listening to this.
Molly 21:33
No, it was great.
Well, so when I walked into your apartment this morning, it smelled so good. And what it smelled like with onions and bell peppers, and that's all it was so far. Okay. And so did you saute them together?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:54
I did. Yeah. So I just sliced up green green bell pepper and half an onion and threw them in the pan with some oil and just cooked them until they were a little brown.
Molly 22:03
And then did you cook the meat in that same skillet with the vegetables? You know, the vegetables out?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:09
I took the vegetables out and actually cook the meat in a different skillet for no reason. Wow. To do extra dishes to do extra dishes. Yeah, I don't know. Like I just that's that's my workout. Yeah.
Molly 22:23
That lifted Matthew. I can see it in your biceps. Right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:26
That's right. Yeah, I've been lifting guy those those heavy aluminum.
Molly 22:30
Our, our listeners are going to be pumped to see our strip show your ripped BOD at our strip show. Yeah. And my Ripped Bodice? Yes. Yes. Will you be reading aloud from your latest romance novels?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:42
I will Yeah, that I wrote or that I read? No, I
Molly 22:45
Well, actually, I know you haven't. You haven't written a romance? Have you?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:49
Not Not that I've admitted publicly? No, wait, you haven't told me here? I did. I have I published a romance under a pseudonym. I think you read it. I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna say it.
Molly 23:02
I feel that like a whole part of our friendship has just been a lie.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:07
I just I 100% told you about this. When I show you the book cover, you're gonna be like, oh, yeah, I remember that. I wonder
Molly 23:13
if romance novels just didn't mean the same thing to me then. Like if I had no idea what that would even be like?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:20
Yeah, I mean. Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll talk about this Off mic and like, leave it as an exercise to the listeners to try to track down what's the romance novel that I wrote. Wait, hold on. I had just had one question. I go by the name Julia Quinn. You do
Molly 23:33
know So how far into the novel? Did you wait before you like let them have some action? Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:48
I've trying to remember. This was a while ago. I want to say like halfway
Molly 23:54
okay. I feel like that's that's pretty forward. Yeah. And like it was fairly steamy. Oh, God, I do not remember this because the sex scene of yours that I have read I remember being
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:08
the opposite of steamy Well, yeah, I
Molly 24:10
remember being frozen Matthew. I don't believe that this happened. And I then I took it out. Oh, you took it out. But then and then I think you made a kissing scene that was better. No, maybe this is what the the book we're talking about now is Matthews YA novel our secret better lives? Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:29
Yeah. I mean, she she sleeps with the guy you don't want her to but not the guy you do want her to and that book which I was kind of proud of? Yeah, no, that was great. That was great. Okay, so other things like bell peppers or don't always go into a cheesesteak, but they're very popular edition and I like him very much. If I have any jalapenos or Serrano peppers in the fridge, I will usually throw that in. You didn't throw in one I didn't throw in one today because I like that's that's a bit a bit non standard. I think I wanted to give you like a more basic cheesesteak
Molly 24:58
do cheesesteak So that that obviously would make it a little bit spicy our cheese steaks ever spicy. Is there usually a spicy option?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:06
That's a good question. I didn't really notice that when I was in Philadelphia. I would be surprised if that wasn't an option, at least at some places like hot sauce is definitely available. What kind of hot sauce? Oh, like what's Philadelphia's favorite hot sauce? I don't know the answer. I know. Like, I'm gonna I'm gonna guess it's like it's like a Tabasco or topping to or like it's gonna be like a like one of the more popular brands I think, unless, unless there's some like specific Philly hot sauce that I don't know about, again, not from Philadelphia. I am
Molly 25:37
still just over here processing the fact that you have published a romance novel under a pseudonym. And I didn't know it. I mean, maybe I didn't know it. I don't what kind of cave was I living in?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:47
There's no way I didn't tell you at the time. There's no way.
Molly 25:50
I'm sure I'm sure. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:54
okay, let's talk about how to make a stick. All right. So here it's very simple. So I like saute the onions and peppers and set them aside. I hit it up a pan with a little oil I put in my chopped meat. I do like about a third of a pound of meat per sandwich. I don't know that. I think like, I've had some that were kind of overstuffed, which looks good, but it's like kind of frustrating to eat. So I think about a third of a pound works. Well,
Molly 26:17
this was a perfect ratio of meat to bread. Good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:21
So like saute the meat over, over medium high until light is no longer pink. Generally, like when you're using like froze pre frozen, like thin sliced meat. It's good to exude quite a lot of liquid. And so often I will like Drain the meat like in a strainer when most of the way through cooking. Okay, hit it with a lot of salt. And this is really important. Yeah, way more than you
Molly 26:47
was very well seasoned and I want like but I feel like that takes some skill what you did because it was quite a bit of salt but it was not in any way over the right I think
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:57
so like because you're going to be using like, like the bread is gonna is kind of going to offset that a little bit what my my strategy is usually like salted and like tasted salted and tasted until it is a little too salty, but just a little and then it's going to be perfect once it's in the sandwich.
Molly 27:12
And did you hit it with pepper too?
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:14
Yeah, quite a bit. Oh, black pepper. Okay. Yeah, cuz like when I have like under season a Philly cheesesteak that is not a good sandwich.
Molly 27:21
That sounds very bland. Yep.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:23
I usually crisp up the roll briefly in the oven. That's that's optional. Like, I just feel like it gives it a little more sturdiness.
Molly 27:31
You also dug the middle out of the roll.
Unknown Speaker 27:33
I did dig that. I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:34
glad you remember. I forgot to mention that. Yeah, like I think I have no idea if anyone does that in Philadelphia I think it gives a better bread to meat ratio.
Molly 27:43
I love the idea of there being someone in a Philly cheese shake Philly cheese stay right. No chance right who whose job it is to like use their fingers to dig the
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:56
walk walk down the street Philadelphia like there'll be like a help wanted sign. Yeah, Chrome digger
Molly 28:07
or, like an exclamation? Oh, crumbs?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:10
This fucking crumbs.
Molly 28:14
Okay, all right. So you've cooked your meat and then do you add the peppers and onions in once you've cooked the meat?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:20
Yep, like does it does it really matter? Like would it be fine if you put them in earlier? Yeah. And then I kind of formed the beat into sort of a sandwich shaped blog. Okay, and I put a couple slices of my American cheese on top and I put a cover on the pan briefly so the cheese melts that's how I do cheeseburgers. Yep, and then I put the roll over the top of that like open it onto there and put the cover back on let it steam just a little bit
Molly 28:43
oh wow really? Yeah. Wow. But the bun didn't get at all sobbed
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:49
Yeah, it would like that you have to be a little careful like like one minute at the most because like you can absolutely saag the roll okay and then and then kind of slide a spatula underneath and and try and like pick this up which like it's not going to work on the first try.
Molly 29:04
I'm so interested in the fact that you you've formed this like sandwich shaped blog put the bread over it and then scoop the whole thing out
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:12
as Yeah and one thing I like is like you know it takes like a few minutes for the for the cheese to melt and the and the bread to steam and during that time the meat part that's in contact with the pan is getting really like brown and a little crispy. Very satisfied. What
Molly 29:25
heat do you put it on medium high? Okay, cool. Oh man.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:30
And yeah, it's a messy sandwich and like often like making making like one of them like I did this morning is very easy. Making two sandwiches is a little more involved and making like three for my for my once. Back when I had a family like making three sandwiches kind of a pain in the ass but worth it. Oh, you
Molly 29:48
know, for any listeners who haven't been listening for a while. What Matthew means is just the teenager the show December went off to college, right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:56
Ya know, like,
Molly 29:58
with the Matthews family,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:59
right? So imagine I'm living like a, like a sad bachelor lifestyle like, like you saw when we went to Japan together like how messy my room got, like that would be my whole place if I was if I was a bachelor.
Molly 30:10
God, it's so interesting bachelor because I don't picture you as a messy person. But no, I don't make a habit of like hanging out in your bedroom.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:19
No. And when I was just when I was in Palm Springs, and like, had my own hotel room for a few days, I was I was thinking about that and being like, I don't want to be like, messy hotel room guy. Like, like, there would be like, you know, code for like, sad, sad man on a TV show. So like, I'm gonna, like, gotta keep things I'm gonna put the clothes in the drawer. I'm not going to like let stuff accumulate on the table.
Molly 30:40
being sad, sad, man. I'm just going to be like, occasionally depressive man.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:45
Yeah, that's right. Like, like all of us. Yeah, that's okay. So that's it. That's that's Philly cheese steaks. Oh, that was that was delightful. So happy. I was able to serve you won.
Molly 30:54
I loved being served your crumb digger you? And
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:58
yeah, like, well, we'll just like keep, we'll keep digging. I mean, our whole show at this point is kind of like dig and dig and crumbs of like, like, what I don't know, what are we going to talk about next week?
Molly 31:08
I know what we're talking about next week. Oh, okay. Should I announce it? Alright, let's do it. We're talking about oat milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:14
Okay. Wow. We don't usually like like, lift the beans out of the bag like that.
Molly 31:19
Bag. Alright, Matthew, we have spilled mail this week.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:30
Our spilled mail comes from listener bridon. The listener who once wrote us a letter with a fountain pen brush and retell this story for anyone who missed it show. Listener Brian, we were at some point we were talking about I'm sure like doing a bit about how like we wish someone would write us a letter with a fountain pen listener Bryden did write us a letter with a fountain pen did not mail it to us took a photo of it and emailed it to us, which is the best thing.
Molly 31:55
Okay, so listener Bryden, says, Matthew, what the heck is bringing you to Calgary if you grab a beer and poutine at the shipping anchor? Can you apologize for me as I stole a book from that pub once? Listener bridon. Also, most
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:10
of our listeners are thieves. Also Mali
Molly 32:13
we have the exact same coffee grinder rancilio Rocky, however, I am not brave enough to disassemble it. It's never been cleaned. And I hope that's okay. I have smashed a French press once not using it but packing for a camping trip. I do own a Chemex and somehow miraculously, it's still in one piece. Keep up the good work on the pod. PS the fountain pen is at the office. I don't always have the patience to write by hand. Oh, thanks for these updates listener Bryden.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:42
Oh, and the answer is what's bringing me to Calgary is vacation I will be back by the time you hear this. I had a wonderful time in Canada. And thank you for thank you for sharing your poutine and other delicacies with me. Matthew, I probably stole a book from the ship and anchor pub. I can announce I can announce my crimes like like in advance because I will have already committed them by the time you hear this. You can't you can't punish someone for a crime they already committed.
Molly 33:08
No, that's definitely not done. Only crimes they haven't committed. No
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:12
this is that's what I learned from from that documentary Minority Report. Yes.
Molly 33:17
Okay. Matthew, what just Anakin.
Unknown Speaker 33:20
Hey, watch your snacking. Ad gotta tell me what your snack in or I'll release the Kraken so what's your snack in cheese? Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:32
I added such an exciting experience I went down to target to buy chocolate chips and as I was making my way toward the toward the register I noticed that they had a big display of targets good and gather brand granolas and the target is making some like pretty fancy ass granolas like competing with like the Bob's Red Mill and like you know whatever whatever like fancy
Molly 33:57
doing like a maple syrup olive oil situation
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:00
so so the ones I bought were peanut butter which which was great. I already finished it and cashew butter chocolate chip real good. There was one like all chocolate one that was candy but I'm definitely gonna buy it there were like 12 to choose from like the peanut butter one was so good. I'm very excited to try them.
Molly 34:18
Did you eat it with milk or did you just snack it like by the hand for both okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:25
And then retry handed it like a classic crumb digger move.
Molly 34:28
It was like a Frito chili pie move but eating with your hands. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:32
target granola. That's my that's what I'm snacking. What do you snack in?
Molly 34:36
So I've been snacking. So my friend Leisha, who is a wonderful cook introduced me to these cookies that a lot of our listeners have probably heard of, okay, they're called cowboy cookies. And the recipe comes originally from Laura Bush. Okay, former first lady or so back in the day. God I hope this kind of thing isn't happening anymore but some magazine maybe Southern Living or good housekeeping or something Did one of those competitions where the two like presidential candidates wives submitted cookie recipes? Yeah. And like the American populace voted on, which was the better cookie, and Laura Bush's cowboy cookies one?
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:13
Uh, yeah, I have heard of this recipe.
Molly 35:15
It's very good. So basically it is an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. But what makes it unique is that it also has pecans, shredded coconut, and cinnamon. Okay in it. So imagine it's kind of like a, like an, like a chocolate chip cookie crossed with a really good granola bar.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:35
Yeah, that sounds good.
Molly 35:36
It's so good. The recipe makes a massive amount. So actually, when I have made them, I've halved the recipe and you still get like a full dozen and a half huge cookies. Fantastic. Love it. And we'll link to the recipe in the show
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:51
notes. Ya know, I've always said that spouses of war criminals are some of the best best bakers.
Molly 36:00
Matthew, do you have an album wow, I do.
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:11
I reading a white book that I'm really enjoying. I feel like I've recommended this genre of book before like I it's called, I guess I live here now by Claire on. And it is a book about an American kid, Melody who has to go live with her family in in Seoul. And she and her mom live in a tiny apartment in New York. And suddenly her mom announces we're going to live with your dad who has been living and working in Seoul and supporting the family. And it turns out, their dad is totally loaded. And so is having to navigate like living in Korea for the first time like wondering like, where did her dad get all of this money and like what is going on? And of course, there's some romance. And of course there's food and it's just really like lively and fun, and I'm really enjoying it a lot.
Molly 36:59
Do you ever find out where the dad's money comes from?
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:01
I am only about a third of the way in the book into the book. So not yet. Okay, one thing I really liked about this book is that I like the title, because I feel like I've read a lot of good YA books with extremely forgettable interchangeable titles. And this one sort of has kind of the cadence of that but because it's like a known phrase, like I guess I live here now. Like I find it memorable and it's fun to say. So that's I guess I live here now by Claire on ah N. Our producers Abbey circuit tele you should subscribe to Molly's newsletter called I've got a feeling it's at Molly Weisenberg did don't go to cheetah Weisenberg Todd substack.com. That's a totally different newsletter, Molly weisenberg.substack.com.
Molly 37:42
You can also rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:46
and you can talk to other people who listen to the show at reddit.com/are/everything spelled out as we've established our listeners are mostly thieves and via talking about like what you're stealing,
Molly 37:59
or like, you know which war criminals wives recipes do you like?
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:03
Yeah, like like, you know, this is Mrs. Milosevic brown he's
Unknown Speaker 38:12
is this is
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:12
this whole thing and foretaste is Vladimir Putin have a wife. I was thinking about that. And I do not know the answer. I
Molly 38:20
only ever I feel like the only things I've read about his personal life involve him like lifting weights or women to things like that. Interesting. He's just a body who does bad things. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:33
Wow. I want there to be a song but the lyric I'm just a body who does bad things. You're gonna write that. So I'm gonna write that song and I'm gonna credit you as a co writer. Thank you. That's an amazing phrase. Thank
Molly 38:44
you. Yeah, and
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:45
until next time, I'm bluebird Amster-Burton
Molly 38:48
And I'm Cheeto Weissenberg
god it's Oh, my favorite thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:01
Right exactly. Like you know, of course I love duck hunting. I go I go every every duck season, which is some time of the year.
Molly 39:09
Oh, the reason why you pay so much attention to the new batches of ducklings at the volunteer Park duck pond is because you're gonna hunt them
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:18
I'm gonna hunt them later. Yes, like you just you wait little buddy.