Hey there Salmon Cakes! Today our snobbery entitles us to forgo Wikipedia and declare that we are a serious outfit. We promote spouse and recipe swaps, learn what the deadliest catch really is and visit Matthew's vivid imagination. We hope this leaves listeners with an aftershow afterglow.
Julia Turshen’s recipe from Simply Julia
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Molly 0:00
Hi. I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:05
And I'm Matthew.
Molly 0:06
And this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:11
And today we're talking about salmon cakes.
Molly 0:13
That's right. We came upon this episode topic because both of us like to make salmon cakes. But then in the time between us deciding to do this topic and me sitting down to work on the agenda yesterday, I was kind of like, Wait salmon cakes. That's like, oddly specific, like not fish cakes, fish steak. salmon cakes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:33
I haven't looked at what you came up with. So like, I'm curious if there's gonna be like a lot of interesting history about about fishcakes.
Molly 0:40
Oh, no. This particular this was one of the rare episode research experiences I had where I decided not to even go look at Wikipedia. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yeah, I decided to just just use my personal knowledge.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:54
Oh, okay. I like it. Yeah. Yeah, like my experience. Like, I know, we haven't even started Memory Lane yet. But salmon cakes, like I feel like is more more of like a term of endearment to me than a food. Oh,
Molly 1:05
do you? Is it one of your is it in your repertoire of personal Like Terms of Endearment?
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:11
Yeah, like, hey, there salmon cakes. Like, you know, sweetie cakes,
Molly 1:15
but really prior to this episode. Did you use it? No.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:18
I made that up. Sorry. I just really feel free to take it. No, no, it's good. Okay, I wonder why
Molly 1:25
it is that certain food names become Terms of Endearment and other ones don't.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:30
That's a good point. Because like, and it's not always the ones you would expect. Yeah, like pumpkin. But like, like, you know, more petite shoe.
Molly 1:36
I know my cabbage. Right. Brandon and I went through a period of calling each other mustard. strikes me is really weird, but we were both on board for it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:48
Weird. Why'd you break up?
Yeah, let's see doo, doo doo my spouse and I have any any food nicknames for each other? I don't think so. except to the extent that I will like turn anything into a nickname for a brief time and then move on to something else. Yeah, a brief time meaning like minutes.
Molly 2:09
Oh, I've witnessed this. When you come to hang out with our baby. You've spun an entire like constellation of related nicknames out of the ether. And then you drop it like 10 minutes later. Yeah, I love okay. Anyway. So today's episode is salmon cakes. And I would like to start selling memories. Each episode
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:29
is brought to you by salmon cakes.
Molly 2:32
Well, I'm a little sad. Actually. We're taping remotely and you were gonna make salmon cakes. Yeah. And I was gonna get to eat one this morning. But now I can't
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:43
know now. Like I didn't even I mean, I'm glad you told me that. That you had a cold before I went out and bought the stuff. Yeah, that's good. Because otherwise I would have had to eat all the salmon cakes myself.
Molly 2:53
Oh, that would have been terrible. Okay, so let's kind of swap back and forth with memory. My old spouse because I calling him mustard. Alright,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:08
let's let's bring mustard onto the call. Get all mustard? Hey, yeah. Anyway, so I normally think spouse swapping is like you can have my old spouse I think it's something different.
Molly 3:21
I think it's something different to you know what I feel really conflicted about, have you. You watch?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:27
No, I don't but I can't wait.
Molly 3:30
Okay, but Wait, have you ever watched the documentary on George Harrison made by Martin Scorsese? No, I need to living in the material world.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:39
I never do what I'm told. But I would do it. No, of course.
Molly 3:43
Well, so in it. The filmmaker interviews Eric Clapton a number of times because Eric Clapton and George last asshole. Yep, that's right. Spousal abuser, Eric Clapton. Is that right? Probably
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:56
like COVID denier races that that guy anyway. Oh, that
Molly 4:01
guy. Okay. Well, so I don't know how to feel about this. So you know, George Harrison's first wife, Patty, right. Maybe you don't know this. They were together for like 10 years or something. And then we'll anyway, at a certain point, George Harrison, you know, became really good friends with Eric Clapton. And then Eric Clapton and Patti like, developed their own like love affair. And at a certain point, Eric Clapton came to George Harrison and was like, Listen, man, I'm in love with your wife. And George Harrison was like, Okay, take her. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:31
it seems like there is there is so someone else who should have some say in this transaction.
Molly 4:36
i Yes. So that's how like Eric Clapton describes it. And I'm like, but but, but we're gonna ask Patty
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:46
Raz, we've established Eric Clapton, such a nice guy otherwise, right? This is this is surprising that that he also has a misogynistic way of framing this.
Molly 4:57
Yeah. Anyway, but on the one hand, I'm like If this is I don't know how to think about this like I do appreciate that. It does seem like Patty was in love with Eric Clapton. We're gonna get to the bottom of this. So Patty, you know, wanted this with Eric Clapton. Right. Okay. And I do appreciate that George Harrison was like, Okay, go forth you too. Okay. Yeah, but I fucking hate the way that Eric Clapton talks about it. Like, they straight up did a Wife Swap row?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:29
Yeah, no like, really or Eric Clapton should never open his mouth. Okay, fair enough even even to sing a song. I'm not sure that's a tough question
Molly 5:38
Who else is interviewed quite a bit in that documentary who should never open his mouth and Oh, who Phil Spector?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:45
Oh, Laurie Watson, I were just talking about Phil Spector, a guy who like literally murdered a woman. Yes. And also was responsible for some of the greatest songs ever recorded. Like what do you make of this?
Molly 5:58
I don't know. But seriously, every time he comes on the screen in this documentary, it does give me some pleasure. And I know this is really like, immature of me, but he looks so his physical like aesthetic choices are so bonkers. Oh, for sure. Looks so not okay. That I do take great pleasure in just laughing a lot. Every time he comes on the screen, and I feel okay about it. Oh, yeah. But anyway, yeah, George Harrison. I mean, not not a perfect man. Not even a good man in some ways. But wow, Were there a lot of like bunker pants people making incredible music at that time?
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:41
Is this just what the 60s and early 70s had, like through through the 70s? I think we're like,
Molly 6:47
I think so. I think so. I mean, you know, I don't mean to imply that George Harrison is a bad man. But he did right tax man, which I think is a real whiny ass.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:56
Yes, absolutely. Like,
Molly 6:58
I'm sorry, dude. No, you need to pay all that. Wow,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:03
I only have x millions left.
Molly 7:05
Yeah, no, I'm like, yeah, no, I'm a big George Harrison fan, but tax man super catchy and I fucking hate the premise behind it. Yeah, totally. Okay. Anyway, this has been my Phil Spector, Eric Clapton, little jaunt. And I'd like to talk about salmon cakes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:22
Yes. All right. But in the in the movie, like everyone, everyone is like calling each other salmon cakes. Right? That's
Molly 7:28
exactly right. Okay, that that is in fact what Eric Clapton called Patti Harrison.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:34
And that's why she was like, Well, I mean, sorry. Sorry, George. Yep, yep. Eric Now I need I need I need someone who looks at me the way you look at a salmon cake. Something like that. Do you have any member salmon cake memory lane? Or was that your salmon cake memory lane?
Molly 7:50
That was really I don't remember having these as a child or any other kind of fish cake or Patty like fish sticks were not in my my childhood. Yeah, what about you? Well, let's let's stick to childhood here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:06
Let's stick to childhood. Okay, so as a as a young whippersnapper, I definitely had like, like, you know, frozen fish sticks, but salmon cakes. I didn't like salmon as a kid, which is like, just another reason like why what you know, like when you go on your other podcast and talk about how why I'm a bad person. That's definitely going into the mix. Okay, I yeah, I hated salmon as a kid like I do. Don't think I came around to salmon until I moved to Seattle in the mid 90s. And then I was like, oh, okay, like I get it. This stuff. This stuff is good. And then I think I don't think I ever had a salmon cake until the first time I made a salmon cake from the cooks illustrated recipe.
Molly 8:46
Okay, so So I'm in a similar trajectory, except I didn't dislike salmon as a child. So as I think I've discussed on the show before, my dad was an Altoids, man. Yep, no, he was the inventor of Altoids. He was an end dive man. He was also a occasional salmon fisherman with Fretwell and
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:04
Bobby stayed his Wikipedia right now. When Ed Fretwell went went fishing did he refer to like the lake or ocean as like the original Ed Fretwell soup?
Molly 9:16
You would hope so? Yeah, no. So my dad, you know, like some dads like to hang out with other dads and like, play. Some dads like hang out with other dads and like play basketball. Some dads like to hang out with other dads and watch games. My dad liked to once a year get together with other dads and fly to Alaska, that I'm aware of the privilege involved in this and go salmon fishing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:43
Oh, this sounds great. Are you riding? Yeah, right.
Molly 9:47
So he would come back home with all of this salmon that had been you know, like flash frozen or however they quickly froze it at that time, and he would store it in our freezer. or I as a child's liked salmon, I don't think I loved it. But my parents I think we're sort of have the like French and Italian cooking persuasion, which was that like, if you've got something that's really good to start with, like, why would you add a bunch of stuff to it? Right? So we have this really good salmon. I mean really good for people who lived in Oklahoma, right? Who probably otherwise didn't have access to salmon that was that fresh? And I remember my parents, like only doing things like baking a big side of it or smoking it or something like that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:35
Did they ever make Grace blocks? Yes.
Molly 10:37
My dad was a grab locks man. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:41
so I've I've a question that I don't know if you can answer but this is a real question. Like you say he brought it back flash frozen. Like did was there like a freezing facility on the boat? Did he like go out on a boat with like other people? And it was like a fishing expedition. Was it was it the Deadliest Catch?
Molly 10:56
It was the deadliest catch? I told you about about my love for the Deadliest Catch. No, I don't think so. Like ash and I have just started watching it since the baby was born.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:05
I've never seen it.
Molly 11:06
Oh my god, Ash and I literally started watching it one Saturday afternoon when we were like, We need something to watch where like if we doze off, like we probably can catch back up when it's over.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:18
But if you're off how do you know whether the fish or the human wins on this episode?
Molly 11:23
Oh, you know, like, they recap it heavily after after each little commercial.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:28
Like, there's like a, what do they call the show? Like at the end after show? Is that where they talk about the show? Or is that the wrong term?
Molly 11:37
Sure. Do you mean factor glow?
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:39
Yeah. Is there an after like, you catch you catch it? And then afterwards, you like you lie. You lie back on the deck and smoke a cigarette, and you just feel really good?
Molly 11:48
They're also not fish. They're crabs. Okay, it's always crabs. Yes, the Deadliest Catch is crab. Okay. And as far as like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:56
multiple seasons of this show, it sounds like a one episode thing.
Molly 12:00
18 seasons Matthew and we we are still in season one and we are like eight or nine episodes in.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:09
Okay. And it's called the Deadliest Catch because you like you pull up the crab and the crab pot and the crab like pinches you in a deadly manner with its deadly sharp claws. That's right. I wish I wish you listener could have seen the crab.
Molly 12:23
Okay, Matthew, I'm gonna finish this sentence.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:26
Okay, that remains to be seen.
Molly 12:30
Okay, but anyway, so I don't know what arrangement my dad and his friends had when they would go to Alaska. But I have to imagine that they probably contracted with some sort of outfit. Yeah. Remember when people used to call like companies outfits?
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:47
Yes. And not just Outfitters.
Molly 12:50
That's right. Anyway, I'm sure they contracted with some sort of company that took like, you know, hobby fishermen and took them out at sea and then froze their salmon for them. Okay, so I don't remember ever encountering the idea of putting salmon into a cake form with like flavorings and things. Until I think it was probably when I was working at Whole Foods in college, because I remember that we sold salmon cakes, like already cooked and ready to roll. In the prepared foods case at the whole foods in Mill Valley. This would have been
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:25
like I often see them like at the fish counter at QFC. But like those are not appealing to me like it? No, I don't know how long they've been sitting there or what's in them. And it looks like maybe they've been sitting there a while I'm sure they're I'm sure they're totally fine. I'm sure they're not as good as homemade.
Molly 13:40
Yeah, so the ones that at Whole Foods were you know, they were ready to be like taken out of the case and either eaten cold or like microwaved or warmed up in some other way. I've also seen them at microwave sounds bad that does sound bad, but hold on. I've also seen them at Ballard market in more of like, they look a little fresher. Like they're intended to be warm to like over a grill or something. But all this to say I never bought them or tasted them. And I remember thinking like why, especially for those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest. Why would we take this product that we can get really high quality? And why would we fuck with it? So I was snobby about it. And I did not understand the appeal of this until Julia tertians book simply Julia came out and this episode is basically dedicated to Julia tertian. Okay, past guest friend of the show past guest friend of the show Julia tertian. Because her headnote in simply Julia made me reconsider what I thought about salmon cakes and that is where my that's where my relationship to salmon cakes began with this book, which came out in I suppose I should look and remember or remind myself when this book came out,
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:59
does So, let me let me see if I can guess how the headnote begins. You snobby? fuckwad.
Molly 15:07
That's right. Molly, you
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:11
are Nabil uses your name.
Molly 15:14
Yeah. Which makes me all the more an asshole that I would that I would even make a joke that it begins with my name. Okay, hold on now here's how it begins. Okay. And I want to talk about this interestingly enough, Julia tertian does not call her recipe salmon cakes but the only thing she calls for and it is salmon. She doesn't get the option of other fish. But the rest What does she called it? She calls it ricotta and potato chip fish cakes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:41
Interesting. Okay,
Molly 15:42
doesn't that sound interesting? It does so she says no maj to the salmon patties I got to enjoy one morning at Nairobi as grits and gravy in Savannah, Georgia. That sounds good. These fish cakes rely on canned salmon, one of the most convenient and reliable things to keep in your cupboard. And then she goes on to talk about you know the other ingredients. instead of the typical eggs and bread crumbs. I use a mixture of ricotta cheese which gives you a sort of lox and cream cheese effect and crushed potato chips, which give you a sort of fish and chips effect.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:20
Oh, this is so different from the salmon cakes that I make.
Molly 16:23
So yeah, basically you know the binder in these is fresh ricotta and crushed potato chips. Is there. There is no egg. Wow. So basically yeah, these are potato chips and I would add that she recommends sour cream and onion flavored potato chips.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:42
Bless. I love this. So smart. I know
Molly 16:45
Julie tertian is brilliant. So salmon and I want to talk more in a minute about the candy versus fresh. Yes, she uses crushed potato chips, preferably sour cream and onion flavored a cup of whole milk ricotta, Old Bay seasoning. Lemon zest, and then that's your patty and you cook it in butter.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:06
Wow. Okay, so this is like different from the one I make in every way I would now I want I wish we were together having having like a cake off like because I'm gonna taste I'm gonna taste these side by side we could do a cake swap. Classics cake swap we'll put we'll put some salmon cakes in a in a fishbowl
these are getting
Molly 17:33
okay. Okay, Matthew. So okay, hold on. Let's talk about so we both first encountered salmon cakes like in the actual eating them sense when we made them at home. What is it that made you make salmon cakes? I mean, you can now hear why I made Julia tertian salmon cakes first like why I was like, Oh, I gotta try these. What was it about the recipe you make that made you try them?
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:56
I don't have a good answer for this. I think it was just that like I was on like a major cooks illustrated America's Test Kitchen kick. And that we were it was probably salmon season and it was like God and the pitch for this this recipe was like make your salmon cakes with fresh salmon like fresh raw salmon. And like you know that these ones really like emphasize like the salmon flavor and put that at the top of your speed dial. Okay, and that there were then panko crusted which, which I was really into at the time and still am. And so I'm like, Okay, I'll give these a try. Even though they have mayonnaise in them. They are really really good. So I kept making them.
Molly 18:33
So are they designed to be a little bit like crab cakes and like I think of some crab cakes being panko breaded Of course having mayonnaise in them. Do you feel like let me it's meant to be like a cousin of a crab cake. Sorta Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:46
Can I can I like like walk through how you make them because it's kind of fiddly. Really. Okay, but yeah, yeah, I want to hear I think yours are probably simpler. Firstly, you take a fresh salmon filet. You remove the skin and bones if it's got bones, and you like chop it up, like finely diced.
Molly 19:05
Oh, that sounds that sounds challenging because I find cutting through raw fish to be hard.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:11
I mean, but it's pretty tender. It's like of all of the challenging things that I've had to face in my life. I wouldn't put that in the top 10 But maybe the top 15 Just go on. You take some like white sandwich bread, remove the crust and chop that up to then you throw in some mayo, grated onion, which always makes me cry, chop parsley, lemon juice, and salt. And you you mix that all up. You know what I thought there was egg in mind if the egg is in the coating, there's no egg in mind either. So you stir that up, you form it into cakes, and then you put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to like dry them a little and firm them up a little bit. And then you do a three part breading with them. So you dip them in flour and then egg and then panko and they're like threatening to disintegrate the whole time. Oh yeah, it's just a bunch of fish chunks. Yeah. and stressful. Yeah. And then and then you, you pan fry them in like shallow oil, like just two minutes on the side. So like the salmon just cooks through. And so they're very like moist.
Molly 20:11
Oh, this is such relate. That was such a different beast. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:17
The same beast, the mighty salmon,
Molly 20:19
and how do you serve them?
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:21
Just squeeze of lemon and hot sauce.
Molly 20:24
Oh, that sounds fabulous. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:26
don't I don't like put them on a bun. Or like, I mean, like, I'll serve other things with them. But like they're, they're just like a main course all by themselves.
Molly 20:33
Well, yeah, so this recipe that I make could not be more different in that it starts with cooked fish. I have to say and here's where I'm still an asshole. The this recipe is not redeemed me in any way. I'm still an asshole.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:50
Oh, God, I take you out of the head. No,
Molly 20:53
I She's put me on blast. I have never made this recipe actually with canned salmon, as it's called for. Because you can so often get really good fresh salmon here that is even like a bit on sale. So it seems to me like well, like, why would I get canned salmon when I can get even better salmon? Well, one thing I've done
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:15
is like, you know, they're like salmon fishers who sell at the farmers market. And I will sell like a variety of different types of frozen salmon including down to chum salmon, which is generally considered the least preferable for like, you know, eating straight and but it makes great salmon cakes is
Molly 21:32
chum on the lower fat end of the spectrum. Is that why it's less delicious? Okay. But then of course you're fixing that by adding mayonnaise and deliciously crispy panko and yeah, yeah. Well, so I have used I would say that like coho of the three salmon that we can frequently get in grocery stores here. Of course, there's king or Shinnok, sockeye and coho. Yeah, you know, each sort of has its own season. I have used either Sockeye if it's on sale or coho for this. And what I generally do is I buy the same amount in weight that she calls for in the recipe and then I just roast it kind of smeared with olive oil sprinkled with salt, I roasted it 400 for like eight to 10 minutes per inch of thickness and then it comes very easily off the skin. The bones are really easy to pick out and then you just mash it up. In the meantime, while this has been going on, or you can even do that like a day or so ahead of time. Then you take your potato chips, you put them in a bag and you mash them or you know you crush them with a rolling pin or like an ice cream scoop or whatever okay and and then you mix your salmon which you've kind of flaked with the potato chips, the ricotta Old Bay, you grate in the zest of a lemon and you form them into cakes and the ricotta here is holding them together.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:01
Nice. I feel like if I made a recipe where sour cream and onion potato chips were one of the ingredients I would eat so many while cooking, like more than half the bag
Molly 23:11
will she calls for like a like a small like two ounce bag is the amount you use for the recipe but we always buy like the full five ounce bag so that then you know which I highly recommend. So then you have extra to eat while you're cooking. You then cook them in butter, browning them on each side. And of course they're already cooked all the way through right so you're just like looking to get color on them. And then to turn it into sort of a whole dish. What she has you do is after you've cooked the fish cakes in the skillet with butter, then you add a bag of frozen peas, some half and half and a bit of salt and you just like warm the peas in this whole half to kind of make like creamed peas, no. And so you serve the salmon cakes with a squeeze of lemon and either on a bed of creamed peas or next to these creamed peas. And in my household what we usually do is we do all of that, but we also toast some burger buns. And so those of us who want to have the salmon cake on a burger bun can do that Ash and I both like it with mayo on the bun. a squeeze of sriracha which I think is really nice with the sour cream and onion vibe and a squeeze of lemon juice and a bit of lettuce and that is so good. And then you can have like forkfuls of these creamy peas too. I mean I think this is like a brilliant recipe and what I will say is while yours sounds to me like I totally get why Cook's Illustrated would would build this as the one to to make if you really want to taste the salmon right? Yeah, at the same time. Oh my god. This recipe is so simple. Yeah, especially for the way that Ash and I are cooking. We're have been cooking in the past couple of years
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:58
which which is to save Huge three day project recipes.
Molly 25:02
Exactly. That's what we're into. I will also say this was one of the first recipes that Ash made like on their own, and ash did not grow up cooking, so they've had to really learn how. Anyway, I just think this is a brilliant recipe and I don't know, maybe it's extravagant of me to go ahead and use fresh salmon in it. But God is so good. No more extravagant than me. That's true. That's true. Although I'm then you know, covering mine up with sour cream and onion. Potato chips. Okay. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:31
no, I'm excited to try. Let's Yeah, let's recipe swap. And we'll report back at some point
Molly 25:46
can you ever imagine making fish cakes of any kind with a different sort of fish? I mean, maybe not the recipe you make that sounds like it's designed to be served like medium rare, maybe?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:57
No, no. I mean, it's like cooked cooked through but just barely. Okay, could I imagine making making a fish cake with another fish? Like, I have a pretty vivid imagination, as you know, and you can't? Oh, no, I can. Like I think I would need, like a recipe would need to come to me that calls out and says like, you know, try me instead of your regular salmon cake recipe. I'm something special, right? Like a cod cod. Like a cod cake or, you know, a macro cake,
Molly 26:25
a macro cake?
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:28
Because those are the two other fish.
Molly 26:30
Okay, the only two other fish in the sea? I have a question. So do you. I forgot my other question.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:38
I have a question. But I was also just gonna look at it. Oh, go ahead.
Molly 26:41
Am I remember my question, Matthew, do you ever order salmon cakes in restaurants? Now that you've sort of like broken the seal on salmon cakes? I never have. I haven't either. Can you imagine ever doing it?
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:54
Well, as you know, I have a pretty big fascination. So let me close my eyes and go into my mind palace here. Okay, so I'm in a restaurant. And I'm looking at the menu. And and right there it says salmon cakes. Yeah, I can imagine if I haven't done it. I probably won't. But I can but as like just as pure like unadulterated fantasy. Yes. No, let's adulterate it as adulterated fancy.
Molly 27:20
Okay. Great. Anything else we want to say about salmon cakes?
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:24
I was going to ask like it whether Julia tertians recipe is online but I just can confirm that it is we will link to both of these recipes and you the listener can can that duke it out with yourself? I guess.
Molly 27:36
Yeah. Yeah. With your whoever it is that you like to fish cake swap with. Exactly. Or yeah, like totally cool. I mean, fish kick swapping with yourself can be hot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:47
Absolutely. Or Or like like taking a trip to Alaska and fishcakes swapping there. Yeah. With with your bus with your bros
Molly 27:55
with your buds. Yeah. Okay. Well, Matthew, any anything we haven't mentioned about salmon cakes this morning?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:01
No, I think I think like when when archaeologists look back, they will say this is the definitive word on salmon cakes.
Molly 28:08
I think so too. Okay, cool. Matthew,
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:11
Mark, you know, you just dig up our pot.
Molly 28:17
Okay, Matthew, a couple of weeks ago, you introduced a new segment called beak of the week. Yes. Do you have one this time around? I have we do we have a song for Geek of the week.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:29
We should probably we should probably compose one. I'm going to be too lazy to like to like put musical accompaniment with it. But let's let's come up with an acapella peak of the week song.
Molly 28:38
Okay, go for it. Hey, it's the beak of the week.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:45
Hey, hey, if you've got a beak you can be on peak of the week.
Molly 28:50
peak of the week. All right. Good
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:52
song. All right. The beak of the week this week is the Eastern great Ygritte which is die soggy and Japanese and Ardea Alba Modesta in Latin it is a big white bird with a stupid long neck that stands in the water and says Look at me I'm so awesome. Ygritte is a white heron. So if you know what a heron looks like, it's a bird that like stands in the water and is large
Molly 29:15
hold on when you saw this bird in Tokyo presumably Did you see it like catch any fish with its its stupid long neck and I saw
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:23
the previous week of the week the Kingfisher catch fish I did not see the Ygritte catch fish but I saw a lot of people pointing zoom lenses at it which is which was satisfying and yeah, so it likes to like like, stupid long neck. Yeah, you'd like to hang out. It's him who could you park in Tokyo? It's also called the Kotaku in Maori and is on the $2 coin of New Zealand. Yes, uh huh. Okay, and and unless you think you're gonna have a bird next week. I think this is going to do it for the week of the week segment. Thanks for being with us.
Molly 29:55
I mean, I you know, I have a little bit of an idea, but I do Oh no if I put it in the agenda.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:01
All right, so So the beak of the week may be held over until next week, we'll see maybe
Molly 30:05
maybe given a stay of its execution. Right. Okay. All right, Matthew, what's our spilled mail this week?
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:20
Our spilled mail this week comes from listener Clora. Who writes thank you for your show. It is made my life a bit better when I'm folding laundry. Storage a bit. Yeah, that seems about right. Right. the honesty of this Okay, go on. Okay. When I'm folding laundry, making porridge highway driving and on anxious Sunday afternoons, it turns out you're also my favorite podcast when I'm home alone after watching the horror movie of the week in the podcast random number generator horror podcast number nine. Unfortunately, our NG HP number nine usually makes me lose my appetite. Although I love the show. Spilled Milk thankfully has the opposite effect. So I often listen to spilled milk episodes during dinner. What are your personal comfort foods of the past and present? And for what context? Do you notice if your family members have similar comfort food tastes to you?
Molly 31:08
Hmm. Okay, I love this question. Yeah. Okay. So in general, I would say my personal comfort foods are homemade baked goods and like homemade as in made by me. Yeah, my spouse has a really different comfort food vocabulary. My spouse lives and breathes cold cereal like loves cold cereal, constant comfort food, cold cereal for my spouse. June's comfort food. Gosh, you know, I would have to ask them I think there's probably a number of things they would list but for me, homemade baked goods and I'm thinking of things like banana breads, brownies. Yesterday, I made a recipe from Alison Roman's first cookbook, her salted butter and chocolate chunk shortbreads. Sure, which are kind of like the world's best chocolate chip cookie. And then I would say when they're when it comes to like a whole meal, like a comfort meal. For me it would be eggs in some form. Particularly scrambled maybe with a little bit of cheddar cheese, some bread and a glass of wine. Yeah, this is good stuff. Bread with with salted butter on it. Okay, what about you, Matthew?
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:20
Okay, so like I had a phase many years ago. And I don't know why this happened. Or like, why it ended not long after it began where my comfort food was peperonata the like, Italian pepper stew.
Molly 32:31
That is the weirdest thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:34
But I remember this vividly, like, and I would make it like, you know, like, if I was sick, like, you know, if I had a cold, I would want to eat a bunch of it. If I was like, you know, sick to my stomach. It was the first thing I wanted to eat after I felt better. But like, I don't think I've had it in over 10 years. Yes. Was there a particular recipe that you liked? So there was this recipe from the New York Times food section called Sweet and spicy pepper stew, but I like which I think you would call a pepper nada. But also like, you know, I think I would just kind of improvise and like throw a bunch of bell peppers and and maybe a hot pepper and some canned tomatoes in a pot. Olive oil. Lots of olive oil. I would never have expected like, eat it with with like toasted bread.
Molly 33:17
I mean, that sounds fantastic. And I would have never expected this. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:21
don't know how it started ended a long time ago. So now now I would say peanut m&ms Like I've got some in the in the root cellar right now. It just makes me happy knowing that they're there. And ramen. Definitely. But also like, you know, when I was thinking about it, like rice with like a bunch of sauce on it of some kind, like, you know, I've eaten all the stuff off the top of the dome, but even now I've got this like saucy flavorful rice. That is a big one for me. And I would say teenager tots D teenager the show December has very similar comfort foods to me. And Watson does not and she gravitates toward like the mashed potato side of the spectrum.
Molly 33:58
Okay, great. I have a question. So I think of my comfort foods as being things that I can just grab, like when I want to comfort food. I don't want to have to cook something. Yeah. And I'm noticing that your comfort foods require cooking. Like if Watson wants to mashed potatoes, that's the beginning of like, a process to get to the comfort. That's true. But I think like how do you deal with that?
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:24
It's more comforting if someone else has made this for you. And like, you know, you didn't have to expend any effort on it. But yeah, but like, you know, I think there for me, like there's a there's got to be like a warming aspect, you know, if we're not talking about an m&m, and so so it's gonna require some some kind of some kind of prep and some kind of love when I said ramen, like I'm imagining like a, you know, a small like ramen place in Tokyo where I can like sit at the counter, you know, by myself or with one favorite person, and the noodles are gonna be like too hot to eat when they arrive and I'm gonna like, you know, start slurping anyway and burn My mouth and like the whole place has like, you know, a nice a nice bustle to it.
Molly 35:04
Can you imagine, like, being able to just walk out of your house at any time and just get some sort of delicious hot noodle? Like maybe you can do that in the part of the city that you live in? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:16
like Dami is one of the best ramen places in town. And it's like, you know, 10 minute walk from me,
Molly 35:22
but it's probably open like conventional, like American restaurant hours, right? It's probably not open, the more like night hourly hours that parts of Tokyo would be Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:33
I think it's probably open to like 11pm would be my guess.
Molly 35:36
Okay. I also remember you talking about, you know, like, breakfast Udaan is it breakfast on like, an Udaan stand? Like, what I'm thinking about? Like, like the ability to get some sort of comforting hot noodle at any time of day. Do you know what I mean? Like we can't do in most American cities that I'm thinking of.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:57
That's true. You can I mean, you could like make a pretty good instant ramen. That's true or something. Like especially like, you know, the, when we did the like, the frozen ones are very good. I know. It's, I know, it's not the same as being able to go up to a place and like, have someone else do it for you. And maybe like, like, drop it like crispy. Tempura khaki or gay cake on top.
Molly 36:17
Yeah, okay. Okay. Wow. Okay, this was a fantastic question. Thank you so much listener,
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:23
Klara. Yeah. And Molly, I have a question for you. Hey, watch your snacking. Gotta tell me what you snack in. Or I'll release the Kraken. So what you snack in.
Molly 36:39
Okay, so let's see here at the time that this episode airs we're probably going to be coming to the end of citrus season. But I'm going to talk about citrus season anyway, which is upon us right now and has been for some time. There are so many good kinds of mandarins out there these days. And not every grocery store has an incredible supply a variety of mandarins. But this season, I have encountered a new one new to me called the T D E Mandarin Top Dawg Entertainment. No, I don't know what it stands for. Wow. Interesting. It's delicious. Seedless, perfectly bright, perfectly sweet. Not too terribly difficult to peel. I feel like there's a real sweet spot for me in eating like small citrus fruits. I want them to be seedless. I want them to be relatively easy to peel. And yeah, I don't want them to err too far on the side of sweetness. I want to still have a lot of like, a bit of sourness.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:43
Yeah. Are you ready to learn why they're called TD mandarins? I am yeah, so they're sometimes called triple cross mandarins and TD which is a combination of the first letter of each of the fruits parent cultivars, which are temple Tang Gore's, Don C or dancey mandarins and encore Mandrin. So temple dancey encore TDE.
Molly 38:04
Wow. Okay, well, it's a really good triple cross. And and I'm into it, so that's what I'm snacking right now. I mean, in addition to all my comfort food items I've ever had a triple cross d e Mandrin. Um, have you ever had a
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:19
hot hot cross? Like a hug Ross buns? Oh, yes.
Molly 38:23
It's almost Hot Cross Buns season?
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:25
Yeah, like Easter right? Yes. Yes. Great.
Molly 38:30
Matthew, what's your snack? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:32
okay, I have snack and KitKat movie no Megumi no Xin new food biscuit thought. Let's just leave it at that.
Molly 38:39
Perfect. Sounds good.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:41
It's a Japanese KitKat I have seen them at a watch Amaya. So I think they are they're going to be available where you get your Japanese kid cats outside of Japan. And it is I was going to sit call it a white chocolate coated KitKat but I think actually like if it is a white chocolate coating it is flavored with whole wheat flour. Like really toasty whole wheat flour at the coating is and then inside. It's like a whole wheat crack like a very like light and crispy whole wheat cracker. So it's not very sweet. It's got tons of whole grain flavor. I mean, they put whole wheat in the coating and in the in the cookie. So it's it's good for you and you should eat it for breakfast.
Molly 39:20
Okay, okay. I can't wait to try that. I've
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:23
no idea what you would call this like, I guess like whole wheat biscuit KitKat in English.
Molly 39:28
How would so is it written in English on the label? So Matthew, like some of the things that you are snacking? Historically, if I were to go looking for them and watch them, I would not be able to find them because I can't read Kanji.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:44
Okay, let's let's post a photo in the show notes. I think we can do that. Okay,
Molly 39:49
because I would like to be able to purchase these but I know that unless I go to the store with you. It's going to be hopeless. So thank you for helping.
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:55
Yes, you can find these. Well, we'll figure I'll post a link to where you can order them. them online or just a picture of the package. Okay, really tasty.
Molly 40:03
Awesome. Well, this has been a real a real show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:10
This has been a real show produced by a real producer named Abby served Atella.
Molly 40:15
That's right. And you can rate and review it wherever you get your podcasts
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:20
and you can hang out with other people who listen to spilled milk at everything spilled. milk.reddit.com If you go over there now people will be saying that was a real show. Spilled Milk is a real podcast. Molly and Matthew are real people
Molly 40:35
of real people. Thank you for listening to spilled milk,
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:39
the show that I mean, obviously tell you about how it makes your life a little bit better. But I don't want to just repeat what listener Clara said.
Molly 40:48
But isn't it like a real honor to get to make the closing joke? I mean, maybe listener Klara would be thrilled and
Matthew Amster-Burton 40:55
oh yeah. Okay, so we're turning the closing joke responsibility over to listener Clark. Okay. listener, Klara, take it away.
Molly 41:01
The show that needs to be put in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up a little bit.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:07
I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. I'm Molly
Molly 41:09
Weissenberg.
Hold on, I'm not done. Okay, Abby. This is a three day old biscuit. revived in the total.
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:27
Today's and today's topic is three day old biscuits. Like a like a three day old like like like fluffy or flaky biscuit and I like an English cookie there, huh? Yeah, that sounds pretty sad. That buttermilk dropped biscuit. I don't even want a one day old biscuit.
Molly 41:41
I think June would agree with you June made these biscuits on Saturday morning, when you're filling out
Matthew Amster-Burton 41:46
a form and it says to be that stands for day old biscuit. Right?
Molly 41:49
Dale biscuit? Yeah. And if there's like a number before it, it's the number of days or the number of days. Yeah. Have you ever noticed that? Anything that you say that involves a biscuit sounds like a euphemism? Like oh, yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:01
absolutely. But it seems like it could be a euphemism for like a variety of different things.
Molly 42:07
I got to turn the heat down. It's getting hot in here. I'm gonna have to take off on my clothes. Like the song. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 42:14
It's hot in here. Yeah. Shall we do this?
Molly 42:17
Yes. God, Abby. Isn't this episode. Great.