Today we use fiery rants and invisible sidekicks to tackle these challenges filled with savory fillings. We're enriched and decidedly NOT rustic as we tell snobby buns to "sit down and shut up!" Finally, Molly remembers something important and Matthew recommends silent eating.
Beautiful Burger Buns King Arthur Flour
Sabai: 100 Simple Thai Recipes for Any Day of the Week by Pailin Chongchitnant
Matthew's Now but Wow: Japan Carefree Solo Travel
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:00
Hi I'm Matt.
Molly 0:04
And I'm Molly and
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:06
this is spilled milk. This year where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have today
Molly 0:10
we are talking about burger buns.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:14
And we just ate it all and you can't have we did we?
Molly 0:17
We just together shared three hamburgers. How much meat was in each patty? 2.5
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:23
ounces. Okay, so we'd like it amounted to like one quarter pounder each and total Okay, yeah,
Molly 0:30
no, it didn't feel crazy to have three halves, but it felt great. It did feel really good. I'm feeling great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:36
This says here this episode was not going to do the same bit again. It says here this episode was suggested by host Molly host. Molly, why did you want to talk about burger buns today?
Molly 0:45
Well, I have no recollection of suggesting this. I think that I wanted to talk about it because burger buns are one of those things where when they are doing their job correctly, you don't even notice they're they're so true. But when? Right top when they're not doing their job correctly. It is a nightmare.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:08
Yeah, no, it's like a bread that has to serve a very specific function.
Molly 1:13
That's right and and doing its job correctly to me means not calling too much attention to itself not taking up too much space in my mouth. And also not falling apart.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:24
Yeah. Which which is maybe the most important except we'll get it Okay. Okay. Okay, let's go down memory lane.
Molly 1:31
I just don't have big Memory Lane energy around hamburger bow mean
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:37
either. And that like that ties in with what you just said like it the whole point is that they're they're there to be like a sidekick.
Molly 1:43
That's right. That's right. And, and well, it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:46
kind of a sidekick. Like,
Molly 1:47
it's kind of like good restaurant service. Like if it's if it's done. Well. You really don't notice it. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:54
exactly. It's like a, like a like a stage. Like if you go to a show that then like the stage does its job really well. Or like no, I was gonna say
Molly 2:03
like, sound so bad is horrendous. Perfect. That's
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:09
exactly it. Yeah. Yeah. But if the sound is good, like you don't think about the sound at all.
Molly 2:13
That's right. So you know, for me, there's like the fast food button. Yep. Which ideally, I think fast food buns are often really well suited to the job. For sure, they're, they're nothing special. They're squishy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:30
They are squishy.
Molly 2:31
They'll probably have sesame seeds on top. What to me is much worse than a bun that like falls apart or maybe squishes too much if such a thing as possible. Is a bun that is like and this is this is often made by like a fancy way to say a bun. That is too much bread. Uh huh. And has too much cheese that you're going to use the word rustic? No, I don't want it to have no any sort of crust. No, I don't want it to have a lot of chew. I do not want it to stay tall when I bite through it. Right? I want it to squish down. Alright. I have a lot to say about Bernie to
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:11
like I was realizing this morning. Like all kinds of things I didn't put on the agenda but that I have feelings about and it sounds like we couldn't be more on the same page.
Molly 3:18
But we are we were made to host this podcast together. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:21
yeah. So like, I remember when I think about bonds, I think of Franz bread, which we've talked about many times on the show before and one one listener recently wrote in to say that they thought we were talking about France fra N apostrophe s.
Molly 3:33
I know I mean, totally makes sense to me. Like I always thought it was spelled France, because it it looks like the like, I mean, it is spelled frog. He thought it was pronounced. It was pronounced front. Yeah, it looks like the like Anglo Saxon name.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:46
Oh, for sure. Yeah, no, like, like first. You know, Hans left the business. That's right.
Molly 3:52
Yeah, so wait a minute. Why? Why isn't isn't truly France.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:56
It's really France. I know. Because I grew up I grew up with the TV ads. Oh, because brands bread is good bread. There's a lot of life in every loaf.
Molly 4:05
Wow. Does that mean people are making it like?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:10
Is this a jungle? It's the it's the jungle to get Soylent Green? Yes. Okay. Okay. So do you remember and please say you do I just. I recently, like a few months ago, I sent Molly and Abby a fiery rant via text about a burger bun that wasn't doing its job.
Molly 4:29
Yeah, I remember this. I would not have remembered it. reminded me about it. But now that you remind me I remember it and I think that the bun was it falling apart?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:40
disintegrated. Like I took one bite and the bun like today like shattered like glass. Where was it melted? Like like ice cream on pavement. This was at a place in Ballard. I don't even remember the name. I know the name of it. I won't. I won't say because I had to pick out a look business but there been socked? Yeah,
Molly 5:01
no, I know. I remember the place that it was. And I'm not going to name it either, right? Because it's independently owned and I just don't feel like oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:09
no, of course. Of course not. And then maybe maybe there been has shaped up since then. Maybe. But like, yeah, so this was like, one this was not the rustic problem. This was the opposite end where the bun is too mushy and doesn't hold together. And I think I think I have a theory about like, why that happens. Okay. I mean, it could it could be like to the fillings or to wet but but I think it can happen even regardless of that.
Molly 5:30
Okay, so Matthew, you did the research for this. This episode. Educate me. Oh, but
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:36
at the time did you feel like my rant was really fiery. Were you like, wow, Matthews really mad about this bond?
Molly 5:42
You? You were more mad than I would have been? Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:45
And the thing I was trying to eat this burger at a bus stop while I was waiting. Oh, that would be it was just like, and like, there were other people there. And I just know they were looking at me like this guy's a maniac. Like, like, this is the worst thing I've ever seen at the bus stop. Close. I think I managed not to but like, I think my hands had like, like burger guts on them. Like while I was on the bus. Like I just done a murder and was taking the bus home from the murder scene. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, I did the research. And there is no Wikipedia article for hamburger bun. Oh, can you believe that? Oh, no, there is so so it's just like, I felt like I was left on my own in the wilderness. Like that show left in the wilderness. They get an afraid loss.
Molly 6:31
Survivor Yeah, that song in frozen or frozen to let it go? Nope. That's another one. lost
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:41
people. So yeah, so it was just me, me and my reindeer and a snowman lost in the wilderness trying to learn about burger buns. There is a Wikipedia article for been. It's been singular. It's been singular and it's very short. It basically just says, A bun is a type of bread roll typically filled with savory fillings. For example, hamburger.
Molly 7:03
Oh, wait a minute. Hold up, lad. This phrasing is because he is very weird radically filled with savory fillings. Now I don't think of like what's inside a burger or a sandwich to be it's filling? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:16
is it like, like, for example, hamburger? Like it sounds like they're using hamburger to refer to like ground meat and like somebody's kind of stuffing some ground meat in? I think we have a spilled mail possibly today about loose meat sandwiches. And that's kind of what I'm talking about. Do you
Molly 7:31
remember how like having pizza at like a slumber party or like school? Growing up? It was always the choices were cheese pepperoni or hamburger? Yes. salutely That reminds me of this. For example, hamburger?
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:48
Yep. So that's what a bun is? I guess. So I had to I had to go to other sources. And here's what I was able to to piece together. Hamburgers became popular in the US around the turn of the 20th century. Part of this comes from Josh Ozersky book hamburger and apart from a Huffington Post article that will link to hamburgers became popular before burger buns so like they were like hamburger sandwiches served on other like on toast. Prior to burger buns becoming the standard. Wow, people were messing around with different kinds of bread. Okay, buns entered the picture like slightly later like in like, the teens or 20s. Okay, as you might expect, I'm sure we talked about this on the hamburger episode, like lots of people claim to have invented the hamburger or like claim to be the first to put it on a bun. Like, you know, I think our show has been around long enough at this point that we should claim to have invented nerds or something. Oh,
Molly 8:42
I mean, almost.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:43
I like I had on that nerds episode. Like that's, that's the most recent time that I actually like felt sick after an episode. So many nerds.
Molly 8:51
I felt fine. But I loved when you texted later. And you were like, my insides are rattling around. I sound like a maraca
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:00
nerd. Yeah,
Molly 9:01
the best part was Matthew. I was so over the nerds by that point. Like I had forgotten when I received the text. I was like, What is he talking? I was so Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:12
so by the 1920s round enriched burger buns were considered the standard thing to serve. What is this enriched? Oh, well, for sure. Talk about Okay, great. Sesame seed buns didn't emerge until the 1950s and were like an occasional like, like rare variation. So like in 1964. In the New York Times, Craig Claiborne's, like reviewed a burger place and and called out the sesame seed bun as being like a luxurious unusual feature. Ooh, so everyone agrees the Big Mac made the sesame seed banana thing. 1968 Okay. Have you ever had a Big Mac? I have no I've never had a Big Mac I think because when I was a kid, I was afraid of the saw. I
Molly 9:53
was afraid of the sauce too.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:54
I think I would try one now.
Molly 9:56
We should do a Big Mac. Mac episode. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:59
this sounds fun. Oh, Okay, we also get a blizzard. I met him MC flurry.
Molly 10:03
Yes. Okay, so let's go over like types of burger bun.
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:08
Okay, so maybe like I think I left something out because like before we get into types of burger bun, like burger buns are always and enrich dough. What does that mean? So unless unless you get like a ciabatta bun or something else that we don't like, it just means that there's fat added to the dough. Okay, and often, often sugar as well. But like so the ones I made some burger buns today that we'll talk about, I put butter in them often like like shortening or vegetable oil will be an ingredient, okay? And it just gives, it makes it an enriched bread. So it's not, it's not like highly enriched like brioche, although we'll talk about brioche buns which I also hate, but it gives it a tighter crumb and a more tender texture than an enriched. Got it.
Molly 10:50
That makes sense. Okay. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:52
so types of buttons. So we have three burgers today, on three types of fun one of which I would I would describe as like the basic supermarket slash fast food bundle. That was sesame seed.
Molly 11:03
Yeah, but it was not huge. I would say it was
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:09
three, four inches, maybe
Molly 11:11
maybe four inches, it was not very tall. You could squish it,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:16
you could squish it.
Molly 11:17
If I sat on it, for instance, I could totally flatten which you have done before and it would not bounce back. Okay. Yeah. Which is important.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:26
It is important that when you sit on food, it doesn't. And it's more important than that. What
Molly 11:31
else should we say about it? Well, golden in color, golden color
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:35
and like it fuses to the burger in a very satisfying way. That's
Molly 11:39
right. So when we were eating these burgers, one thing that I noticed when when I had what we're going to call the basic or the sesame see basic bun is that I became more aware of the there was no literally no textural difference between the bun and the burger. Yes. And I became more aware of like the wonderful juicy fattiness of the beef. Yeah, somehow. Maybe because it absorbed or soaked into the bread morning. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:13
but but also, yeah, just because like there's nothing competing with it.
Molly 12:17
That's right. That's right. And it becomes very flat. And I think that this is something that people who I think that there and we need to talk about, I don't know what the name is not married so long that I know exactly what strain of food person. Yep, who doesn't like fast food doesn't like food that you know, might be labeled, like junk, or industrial food or whatever. And they would look at this bun and say, Oh, this bun is no good. Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:49
and the other thing is, it doesn't Instagram because it's just like, that's what it looks like. Someone's sad.
Molly 12:54
It does. It absolutely looks like obviously
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:56
I follow a lot of Instagrams of people sitting
Molly 13:01
here guarantee he knows what he's talking about. Know when when you take a photo of a burger and food styling I mean, you you're looking for you want to be able to see the bread,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:10
not be able to see the bread you want to like maybe maybe like there's a cross section and you want to like see all the layers and you want that top bun to have some roundness to like, like a voluptuous, body
Molly 13:23
actually eat it. If you're looking for something that tastes
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:27
good. Yes. Which often is what I'm looking for. I don't want
Molly 13:32
all those things you don't want like a bun with loft. Exactly. Yeah. And so this is where it's tricky because people who like those of us who are into foods, so to speak, usually we want to have like it like it sounds like a good idea to have good tasting high quality bread with your burger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:53
This is this is such a great fiery rant, but it's not a good idea. I completely agree. No, that the like, yeah, the the button is supposed to play a supporting role. Like yeah, it's the it's the sound. It's the it's the audio at the at the event, like, you know, you don't want to go to the event and come away being like, well, I don't remember what they talked about. But the audio share was good. And certainly don't want to say the audio was bad. But like, yeah, like no, you want like good meat for your burger. You want to season it right? You want to cook it right? And then you want to serve it with a bun that doesn't call attention to itself. I think
Molly 14:26
it's interesting. I'm trying to think about quote unquote, fancy buns.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:31
I've got a list here. The pretzel bun. Well, no, no, but
Molly 14:34
I'm thinking about like, Have you ever had the burger at Zuni cafe?
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:38
I've never been to Zuni Cafe Okay. Food person license about to be revoked
Molly 14:42
is it is cut. You know, it's been so long since I had the burger there. But I feel like it's maybe on focaccia. Yeah, and, and it's too much of a brand. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:53
love the culture.
Molly 14:54
I may I may be getting this wrong. I'm gonna have my food card revoked for half Begin there with
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:00
Judy Rodgers is gonna haunt you tonight.
Molly 15:03
I think it's on focaccia, but it's it's definitely not on the kind of bun we're talking about as like a basic bun. It's really tasty, but it is still a whole other beast. It's like not a burger. It's like a fancy burger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:19
This is so interesting. Because, yeah, I think like if you're if you're like a nice restaurant, and you want to serve a burger, like the bun presents a real challenge, because
Molly 15:28
if you want your burger to be, you know, if you also want to be able to price it in a way that allows you to get good meat or pay people fairly, you're gonna feel like you need to have a fancy looking bun. Yeah. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:43
so I think what you want, like, obviously, if you are that kind of restaurant, you are going to make your own bun, but you need to like bake it with humility. I think like you have to make your version of like a fast not not even a fast food bun, but like a soft bun. Yeah. And like, take the risk that maybe it won't photograph as well as you would like. I don't know, we're telling restaurants what to do on this show. We are we're we're professionals. Okay, and like part of what makes a good button work. I think like and the reason why the industrial buttons work so well is dough conditioners. I didn't even put this on the show because I was talking about it with with Watson this morning. That like you want like enough gluten development that it doesn't fall apart, but not so much that it eats like bread, kind of
Molly 16:30
That's right. I mean, once again, when you bite into it, you you want it to easily yield unto your teeth.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:35
Yeah, so you want it to hold together and yet be extremely tender. And that's where modern science comes in.
Molly 16:42
So what do I know? We've talked about dough conditioners before but what do dough conditioners do? Exactly?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:47
I don't know. So some of them are like, like, you know, make yeast do like yeast more, but, but like the things I'm thinking about, I don't know the mechanism of action, but it's that they give the dough like a like a resiliency without making it tough. And like fat does that as well. But like fat can easily make a dough that falls apart. And so so it like somehow, like helps balance the testes toughness and tenderness
Molly 17:19
this. This absolutely makes sense to me. I mean, when I think about my brief forays into making like homemade sandwich bread, you can't make right sandwich bread that actually like a holds up. I mean, it just starts to fall apart all over the place. Because in order for it to have the right sort of crumb, it's not resilient.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:41
Yeah, like if you think about wonderbread and how like stretchy it is how you can like squish it into a ball like that is loaded with dough conditioners. That's what that's what it does. Okay. Okay. This gives it the right kind of really interesting and cohesion. Yeah, yeah.
Molly 18:03
I want to talk about brioche rolls, please. Because in theory, a brioche roll could be soft enough.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:10
Definitely soft, but it can easily be too soft. Like because because brioche is like highly enriched. That's like a 50% like I'd like a full brioche like a 50% Fat dough. Okay, so So that's going to be super rich and tender. But like that's going to like like the richness and flavor is gonna compete with the burger and it's easily it's too easy for it to be too tender.
Molly 18:34
Yeah, I have a hard time picturing the to tender would that be falling apart? falling apart? Okay. And I do think that too brittle. Maybe when we're looking for richness in a burger. I'm looking for it from the meat. Yeah, for sure. Okay, then we've got something like a pretzel bun, which is something that that you see the cow one at
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:56
Wendy's or Dairy Queen within the last couple of years.
Molly 19:00
The I was fine. The idea is nice in terms of flavor, but I don't really want pretzel flavor with my burger. And also pretzels, like by nature are chewy. What
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:11
if What if there was a pretzel bun that had the texture of like a Snyder's pet pretzel at a bag? So crunchy, so crunchy.
Molly 19:21
Can you imagine the burger guts that would go everywhere? As you're crunching through this like shingle of pretzel
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:30
when I've had a fast food pretzel bun, which I think is the only place have had it. It was really just kind of like a regular bun that was shiny and brown on top, which is fine.
Molly 19:39
Okay, but what about like a pretzel roll, like on a sandwich or something?
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:43
Like if you actually got pretzel texture, that's way too chewy, right?
Molly 19:48
I think it's way too chewy. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:51
I don't know.
Molly 19:52
I mean, unless it was so you know how sometimes like pretzel cart pretzels or like hotdog cart pretzels. can be very like the ones that are you know previously frozen.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:03
Sure, right super pretzel.
Molly 20:04
Those can be quite light and fluffy. Yeah. Now, how about you just cut it in half like on a bagel slice? Yeah. You make your pretzel shaped burger. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:17
I bet you're gonna say regular burger burger. So you get to touch the meat, like through the pretzel holes.
Molly 20:22
So our cinch was sent shoe
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:28
I never know. Like, sorry. Yeah. You know, like, like, great, great album by Kate Bush. The sensory world. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. They probably serve that at like, wetzels pretzels. We had a potato bun today. I didn't care about it. I was oh, yeah, but not as good as the regular I think I think the idea with a potato bun is that it? Like it brings moistness. I
Molly 20:57
felt like, you know, the one that we had was a highly industrial product. Yeah. Which found really nicely. Yeah. But it just felt like it was trying to call attention to itself in a way that wasn't succeeding.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:12
Yeah, like that's, that's the thing. Like you don't want a bun to call attention to itself. Sorry, bun. Yeah. should sit down and shut up on. How about a Hawaiian roll?
Molly 21:22
I don't think I want that kind of sweetness. Exactly. Too sweet. Yeah, I mean, if you handed me a little slider on like a King's Hawaiian roll, not gonna refuse it, but I wouldn't choose it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:35
wouldn't refuse it but choose it. That's right. Have you ever made homemade buttons? Absolutely not. I made homemade buns today. I know I really liked your but it was it was to it called attention to itself too much. Not too much personality, but it was not bad. Well,
Molly 21:51
it was the first one that I ate. So I went I went homemade then I went basic. Then I went potato. I loved the flavor of your homemade banana flavors really good. And I did not feel that it competed with the burger. It also had just the right amount of loft and and softness.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:11
Yeah, I thought it was a little too rounded a little bit too thick and like a little too firm textured but but it was good at it. As far as homemade buns go it was excellent. Yeah, and I may take it a word these were these are a recipe these is. This is a recipe that I started making in 2020. Back when we got our hands on some flour. The recipe is called Beautiful burger buns from King Arthur Flour. It's on the website. I will link to it. It's a really simple recipe like the dough is super easy to make super easy to handle. You can make it in different sizes for if you want a bigger burger or a slider or this I made like the medium size. And they're
Molly 22:50
fun to make. And so what is in the dough in the dough,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:53
you got flour, water, salt, sugar, yeast, butter, okay. Okay, so just just a little bit of butter to give it that tenderness and denser crumb,
Molly 23:06
how long does it take start to finish?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:08
That's a good question. I want to say I started this morning at like 815 and they were done at 1130 Oh, that's fast, maybe even before 1130 Okay, so look at you know, it's a it's a home baking recipe. It's got its you're not trying to develop flavor, like over a long time, but by using a little bit of yeast. So it's got lots of yeast. And so it rises fast. And you can get it done in a couple hours. Awesome. Okay. Yeah. Like I would would I recommend that you make them instead of buying France or your local equivalent? Probably not. I think if you want to project sure it's a fun project. Would
Molly 23:45
you do it again? In non pandemic times, probably not or at least not in the locked downtime, right
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:52
i would i would you there there are other like homemade like I've been I made homemade Philly cheesesteak rolls a couple times recently, like the ones Philly cheesesteak rolls that I can make at home are way better than anything I can buy easily in Seattle. So yeah, I would make those burger buns that it's only only if I feel like I don't have enough to do. Okay, okay. Or if I'm doing a podcast if you feel like you don't have enough to do you just let me know. Okay, do you have some chores?
Molly 24:18
I can find you something to do. Okay. Yeah. Okay, Matthew, I noticed that the buns you served us today. Were beautifully toasted. Oh, thank you. Like, they were on the toasted side. They were the same color as like the top of a regular Yeah. Okay, so how did you do that?
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:35
I have strong feelings about toasting bonds. Okay. I think it's mandatory. First of all, like I don't I don't want a burger on an untoasted bond. Like what have I had a burger on an untoasted bun anytime recently? I don't think so. But you know what, it's sort of like a backyard barbecue thing where like someone just puts out like a bag of buns. And like grilled some Costco patties.
Molly 24:56
I'm guilty of this. I mean, when when I when I make burgers As I tend to, like run them through the toaster ones, the buttons, Oh, I'm fine with that, but they're not. You know, sometimes they barely even have any color. They're just lightly crisp.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:12
Okay, well, you know, you can leave them in the toaster longer and they continue to stay times I'm
Molly 25:17
too lazy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:18
I know when I'm making like one burger for myself, which I'll probably do tomorrow with some meat leftover from today. I will just drop the bun tube as to the fun into my slot toaster and go to town.
Molly 25:28
What about burgers and fast food places? Do those have toasted buns? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:33
they sure do. Yeah, like I think they either put them on a flat top or through like a conveyor belt toaster. So I think put a little melted butter, press a little melted butter on and toast them on a hot pan is the way to go. It's also like if you need to toast more than like three buns that way then it becomes kind of a production. So also like under under the broiler is fine too. And then I would like brush it with a little butter after broiling.
Molly 26:00
Okay, so today, did you toast all the buns in the pan that you then like later cooked the meat in?
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:07
No, I use a separate pan. That's a good question. Why
Molly 26:09
did you use a separate path? So
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:11
I could I guess I could have been going at the same time. But I didn't really have them going at the same time. So it's just because I like to waste pans.
Molly 26:19
Great. Perfect.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:20
It's like it's because nothing Nothing makes me feel like I've done something that's a giant pile of dishes in the sink. Yeah,
Molly 26:26
yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:28
know the feeling every time like after we finished recording Molly. Molly asked me like so what are your plans for the rest of the day? And usually my first thought is well, I have to do like, like a 700 dishes.
Molly 26:39
Yeah, yeah, we should do like I get the great privilege of coming over here and sitting down to lunch and not doing the dishes. The only thing is I have to allot 30 minutes on either end. Yeah, that child care to get myself here. Anyway. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:58
So I mean, do you want to do the dishes? Is that what you're saying? Will
Molly 27:01
you go home and take care of the child? surance that Oh, okay. Okay, cool. I should have brought my computer with. You
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:09
don't ask me babysit often enough. I love doing it. And I'm so good at it. Okay,
Molly 27:13
okay, cool. Okay, well, now that he's down to one nap, okay, now that he's down to one nap. Alone? No, I'm up to two naps. There's a long stretch in the afternoon generally, either 1pm or 2pm. until like, either six or seven. Wow, when the baby's awake, and you just gotta figure out what to do with them. All right. And so Matthew, come on over. All right, listeners. Hey, come on over. Would you like to pay me to hang out with my baby? He's so cute.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:41
That's a good business. Yeah, yeah. Yes. So
Molly 27:44
Jun actually came up with that idea. She was like, Do you think we can get people to pay money to hang out with him? Just because he's really cute. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:51
think the answer that question is yes. Now if the follow up question is could we get like normal people that you would want near the baby to do that? Maybe not? Probably
Molly 28:00
not. Okay. Okay, Matthew. Hey, we've got some spilled mail we shared yet.
Today's spilled mail is from listener Jeff. Hi, Matthew and Molly. I listened to the steamed food episode and to misquote Bobby Hill. A loose meat sandwich is all Joe and no sloppy low. I make them with black pepper and garlic powder. But I have heard of a restaurant that supposedly added coffee ground that's a wild idea around here. They are usually called steamed burgers or made writes after a chain of loose meat sandwich restaurants made right Corporation home of the loose meat sandwich restaurant franchise. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:42
that was a link that I copied in. But yeah, oh, no, no, I didn't know. I didn't realize they did that till now. Like you were you weren't expected to know that. Okay.
Molly 28:50
This is back to the listener. Jeff. I also have a question to either of you have a standard introductory cookbook that you would give to young people just starting out in cooking or perhaps to newlyweds? Thanks again for the podcast, Jeff.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:04
Okay, this is a great question, Jeff. I think I feel like my answer to this has changed so much than if you'd asked me even like 10 or 15 years ago.
Molly 29:12
Me too. Me too. And, you know, Matthew, I think we should take turns because we have very similar answers. Okay. Yeah. So we both felt really strongly that you should make a recipe binder. Yeah. Do you have a recipe binder?
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:25
No, I've I've been a recipe wiki. Okay, where we put things into on our website. Okay.
Molly 29:30
I have a recipe binder ring binder that we talked about it recently on the show. I think it's one of the like two inch wide ones. Sure. And I friggin love it and Jun loves it. She loves to just take it off the shelf and look at it. And recently she asked me if I would make her one one day Oh, and your binder kid but I think I mean, what an incredible gift. I have some friends who've made binders like to give as like wedding favors or things is like that. And it's so, so wonderful to see the recipes that are in other people's repertoires.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:07
Yeah. So and like put up put a nice title on it like, here's, here's the shit. I think you should cook. Yeah, I think I think that, you know, gives a nice personal touch. Obviously, like cooks illustrated slash America's Test Kitchen has published dozens and dozens of books that would be good intro books I think like don't get like the giant one like thing, you know, figure out like one kind of thing that you think they're into and get one that's a little bit more focused, I think. But it could be like, you know, the cooking for two or like the, you know, everything in one cast iron skillet and give it to them with a cast iron skillet. Oh, that's such a good idea. I just came up with that on the fly.
Molly 30:46
That's a really good idea. I second that. And the other thing that I think would make a great gift is one of Julia tertians. Cook. Sure. So she has written three her first or she's written three that have her name. She's co written a whole bunch. But anyway, her first one is called Small victories. Her second one is called now and again. And the third one is called simply Julia. I cook out of simply Julia all the time, I would say there are four to five recipes that I can think of right now that are constants in our house. And part of what's really wonderful about her her recipes are not only are they really well explained, and well formatted, but they teach you a little bit as you're going along without being overly like teachery. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:38
And I have one more pick is the book. So by by a friend of the show pi Lin. It's her second cookbook and it's like hers or weeknight Thai cooking cookbook. Everything I have made from that book is fantastically delicious, easy, full of flavor. Like you know, new family favorite. It is such a great book, the the fact that it's a Thai cookbook, like who doesn't like Thai food, like, you know, I think I think is likely to get more use than a, you know, here's like a bunch of casseroles from cooks illustrated, even though I like cooks illustrated. Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, we're not like if there was like a question there about are we going to do a loose meat sandwich episode? Probably not. But maybe we should do sloppy joes.
Molly 32:24
I mean, it one. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:25
I haven't had a sloppy job in a really long time.
Molly 32:28
I think I've only maybe had one in my whole life.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:30
I think I think maybe I had one like at a restaurant like, you know, like we do kind of like an upscale Sloppy Joe, like as an adult. Uh huh. And that as a kid, I had it all the time.
Molly 32:41
I remember my high school cafeteria. There you know, sloppy joes were one of the things in the motion. I was introduced to all kinds of like very, like normal middle American things in my high school cafeteria. sure that that my snobby parents would never have cooked it. Oh, yeah. Molly, what's your snack in?
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:01
Hey, watch your snacking. Daddy. Gotta tell me what you snack in. Or I'll release the Kraken. So what's your snack in cheese?
Molly 33:14
Okay, Matthew. So I kind of forgot about Hamas. You forgot about Hamas? Well, and I think that Hamas is one of those things that like just isn't very sexy. Like I never think you know what? I want some hum what if someone was slathered with it? But anyway, I was recently invited over to a friend's house and she loves her little Hamas salon. Well, she she invited us over for like happy hour and she had some some white wine, and some salami and some crackers. And she had made hummus. Wow, it was so freakin delicious. Yeah, of course. And I know that millions of people around the world eat it every day. But I'm just here to say hey, remember hummus? Yeah, no, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:57
forget. All the time. It's tasty. Yep. Okay, good pick.
Molly 34:02
Matthew. Do you have an apple? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:03
do I ever
I finished binging this entire YouTube channel yesterday. It was about 35 hours of content. And luckily he says still making more. When do you watch this stuff? Like instead of doing things I'm supposed to do like what else you're gonna binge YouTube. Okay, so this is called Japan carefree solo travel. It's a no talking restaurant and travel channel based in Japan, obviously by an anonymous businessman with an incredible appetite. Sometimes he will go to 10 restaurants in one day and eat a meal at each one of them. As far as I can tell, it seems absolutely genuine and not like he's I don't think he's like cutting it together to make it seem like he's eating more than he is. He has he has like catchphrases that show Up in the in the closed captioned like, let's go to the next store. Because store and restaurant are the same word in Japanese, or MISA. The closed captioning is machine translated is he filming or to somebody filming so he's got he's got like a little like some sort of little tripod that he sets on the on the counter when he's eating. And sometimes he'll be like walking and filming. Like he's really good at video in a very kind of understated way. Like you just don't think about the video quality doesn't do anything flashy, which is super competent hamburger bun of videos, I was thinking it's kind of a hamburger bought a video production. Like I never think about the quality of the video, I just think about the incredible food. So an example episode like he'll be like, I'm taking a business trip to Kyoto. I'm gonna be there for three days and two nights. Okay, I've just arrived in Kyoto, it's, it's 7pm. Let's go to the first restaurant, and he'll go and eat like a whole Okonomiyaki let's go to another restaurant. I heard there was a Kyoto ramen place around here. They want to try, then he'll eat a whole bowl of ramen. And then he's like, Okay, I think I'm gonna go back to the hotel. Oh, wait, that yakitori restaurant looks good. I think I'm gonna stop in there and get like a beer and a few skewers, which turns into like eight skewers. And then he's like, I could use from dessert. I find it so compelling. Like, the food the, like, range of food he eats is amazing. Like, he's such a delightful character, even though like, you know, he doesn't really insert his personality into it. There's no talking, there's no talking. So there's closed captions where he adds Yes, title cards, okay, like describing what's going on. But there's no talking at all. Okay, you know, it's a great way to get introduced to like the range of restaurant food in Japan. But it's also just like, a wonderful way to spend your time and think I realized, like, you know, I can't eat like that at all. Often, I can eat like three quarters of one dinner, and then I'm done. So I've often wished when I was traveling, that I could eat this way. And it almost just feels good enough to watch this guy do it. And it's like watching a professional athlete like performing at a high level. And like, you know, just realizing, okay, like, you know, there are people who can run way more than four times faster than me. This guy can eat four times as much as me and it is just thrilling to watch.
Molly 37:16
Is the thrill about, like watching this guy eat or is it about the food? It's
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:22
both? It's, I mean, it's not a state. It's not like the act of eating itself is not interesting. It's the idea of like, oh, like, you know, there's so much more good food, you know, within a one block of where of where I'm standing, even though I just finished this Okonomiyaki wouldn't it be great if I could go into that next place? It's, you know, it's a wish fulfillment like, you know, I got to get to watch someone pull off the thing that I wish I could do and get to enjoy it.
Molly 37:51
vicariously. Tell us the name again. Oh, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:54
that is Japan carefree solo travel on YouTube, and we'll link to it. I would say overall, my favorite episodes have been the Nago ya episodes, but just jump in on any one. Amazing. Okay, it's my favorite YouTube channel of all time. Our producer is Abby circuit tele. Molly has a newsletter, where sometimes sometimes she'll eat several meals over the course of one newsletter. It's
Molly 38:16
called Japan carefree solo travel, and it's on YouTube. No, just kidding. No, my newsletter is Molly weisenberg.substack.com. And it's called I've got a feeling.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:26
I'm a music man. And that means I show up to your town and sell your kids trombones that they don't. But I also have a band called early to the airport. And we're putting the finishing touches on our new EP, which we're kind of we're like ahead on recording episodes. It could be out by the time you hear this. It's called arrivals. And it will be available on every platform. But if it's not, then you can listen to our previous EP called departures. I sing pretty good on it.
Molly 38:51
Great. You can rate and review us wherever you get your
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:55
podcasts and check in with other Spielberg listeners at everything spilled. milk.reddit.com And what's what's your take on burger buns? Yeah, like No Did Did we get it? Right? Are they are they? Sure? So we got it. We got it. Right. Yeah. Tell us tell us how much we got it right. Yeah, we don't we don't allow any sort of discussion on the Reddit, which also we don't control. I'm Molly Weissenberg. And I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Hello, everybody. Hello.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai