A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Big Mac vs. Whopper

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Today, we're pinning two fast food powerhouses against each other: McDonald's Big Mac vs. Burger King's Whopper. Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@ahotdogisasandwich Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/HOTDOG and get on your way to being your best self To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Two burger behemoths battle it out for ground beef supremacy. In one corner, we have the Mac Daddy itself, the towering terror- Whopper versus Big Mac. What? We're doing Whopper versus Big Mac. Oh. This is A Hot Dog is a Sandwich.

Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal, so what? That makes no sense. A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast, a hot dog is a sandwich a hot dog is a sandwich welcome to our podcast a hot dog is a sandwich the show we break down the world's biggest food debates i'm your host joshua and i'm your host nicole and iity and for those of you listening on spotify or apple podcast wherever you get your podcasts we are officially on video again the entire thing look at our faces clap it up So if you want to see our faces,

go over to YouTube and watch us. If you are currently watching this on YouTube and you hate the way that our faces look, go over to Spotify. Yeah, if we have distractingly beautiful faces, which both of us, we know we do, just listen to it. If you would rather either of us just put brown paper bags

over our heads and do the podcast, we can do that. Oh, no! I don't want to do that. Nicole, I will do that because that's how much I care about not famous remember when shia labeouf used to walk around with that shia labeouf did a lot of things he could come on the show i would love for shia labeouf to be on the show speaking of shia labeouf nicole do you think he would prefer big macs or whoppers um i don't think he would want either actually but he's not one of the hosts of this podcast, but we are. Should I tell you what mine is?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What do you got? It's Big Mac. I knew you were going to say Big Mac. I knew you were going to say Big Mac because I'm going to say Whopper. And this has actually been a big point of contention between us. No, I feel like you should explain why you prefer the Big Mac first. Because I would say the Big Mac is the current burger du jour.

The burger du jour, like you could talk about Shake Shack, In-N-Out, Whataburger, Five Guys, people love all that. But the Big Mac to me is like the most famous burger in world history. I think the Big Mac is what toppled the USSR. It did? Like in a very roundabout way, I suppose. Does this signify capitalism to you? Glasnost and Perestroika.

roundabout way, I suppose. Does this signify capitalism to you? Glasnost and Perestroika. Yeah, they opened McDonald's in Moscow in Pushkin Square. Was that Moscow or St. Petersburg? I don't know. In like 1990. And there was like a line of thousands of Soviets just waiting to get their taste of Americana. So I think McDonald's is more iconic. But please tell me about it. I prefer the Big Mac. Well, because it's delicious. I think the flavors work together really well. The sauce is iconic. The little tiny onions are just delicious. They're kind of perfect. Everything has been made in a lab. And I like that about the Big Mac. It's perfectly engineered for a delicious burger experience. I don't miss the tomato at all because I actually don't get my burgers

with tomato. No way. Wait, hold on. Hold on. Any burger stock, you don't get tomato. I prefer it without tomato if unless the tomato is like thin. Okay. What if I told you that Burger King has scientifically engineered tomatoes to not only be as thin

as possible, Nicole, but to also be completely white and they have no flavor. I don't like my tomatoes. No, which is good. No, see, I like my tomatoes to be red and super thin. Or else I don't need it because it's like a big, wet, squidgy part of the burger that just ruins the experience for me. I love pickles. Pickles are great. I like the sesame seed bun.

It's a good bun. And I just think it's a good bun and i just think it's i just think it's perfect but i will say one thing even it's not without its flaws a lot of the times i remove the middle bun because it takes away what the wait no no no no i'm so sorry nicole i'm sorry i freaked out no let me finish i know i have i'm bad at this. Sometimes, okay, sometimes I have to remove them. Go ahead. It's too much. It's too, it takes, let me speak. It takes away from the burglary experience.

Of course it takes away from the burglary experience. There is a bun where there could have been another piece of meat or nothing. But the fact that that exists, Nicole, that is endemic to the Big Mac. The entire point of the Big Mac is that it has the third bun. If you say you don't like one thing that is endemic to the Big Mac, you do not like Big Macs. Nicole, what do you want? I like the cheese on it. What do you want?

The cheese is good. Is a McDouble with Mac sauce and lettuce. That's what you want. No, I don't. I want it in the Big Mac box. This is iconic, too. Look how beautiful the box is. The sesame seed bun, the way that the lettuce is shredded the sauce the onions

everything about a big mac is iconic yeah even though i can't necessarily enjoy it the way it is doesn't mean it's not beautiful and gorgeous and yum smell it it does smell it smells really nice it feels good in the hand good okay okay i sorry. It's like smelling a cat. What do you mean smelling a Big Mac is like smelling a cat? It's like, come for you. Dude, I got back from South Africa, which I will not shut up about at all. You will not. Josh is like full on. He's like in his like era right now of like, I'm in international travel.

Ask me anything about South Africa. I know about it. Ask me anything about South Africa. Ask me anything about South Africa. I'll tell you about it. So what are the roads like? Oh, my God. So the roads in South Africa I know about it ask me anything about South Africa ask me anything about South Africa I'll tell you about it so what are the roads like oh my god so the roads

in South Africa funny thing is that pedestrians do not have the right of way and so literally cars will just like absolutely mow you down but pedestrians

are legally allowed to just stand in the middle of the road and let cars pass you also there's zigzag lines that mean that pedestrians will be crossing there

and then there's a street sign. It's an S with a strikethrough. And the joke is growing up that that means no sex on the road. But actually, it means like no pedestrian crossing. What does the S stand for? I don't know. Sedestrous. Do you have any other questions?

No, no, not at all. But what were you saying? I was saying when I got back, I missed the cat so much that I immediately just grabbed him, shoved him into my face and breathed in his essence. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm talking about. And it is similar to a Big Mac. I'll give you that. They're both squishy.

I can't do that with a Whopper. The smell and also the girth of a Whopper. It's so, it's so flat and wide. Yes, wait. Okay, okay. Big Mac tall, gorgeous. She looks like Miss America. Let me, let me.

That's Teen USA. Hold on. Let me bring out the Whopper. The Whopper is Teen. That's Teen USA. Hold on. Let me bring out the Whopper. The Whopper is Teen USA. Miss Teen USA. I think the most prescient thing that anyone has ever said in the history of the world is that bigger burgers should not be taller. They should be wider.

And that is one of the reasons I personally love the Whopper. Let's open it right here. Nicole, have you seen a wider fast food burger in your life? Look at how wide this is. It's a Frisbee. You can throw it. That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life look at how wide this is it's a frisbee you could throw it thing i've ever seen in my life okay so the big mac to all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun correct that's a fantastic makeup of a burger it is where

i think it fails is the middle bun and i yes we agree with you i'm an adult and i can admit whenever things don't add up and things need to be changed and things aren't as perfect as they seem. But the third bun, one, okay, so McDonald's, right, founded in 1940 by the McDonald's brothers in San Bernardino, California. And the reason it really blew up was their speedy service system. Super speedy. And so the entire raison d'etre of McDonald's was that they had so few menu items, they could turn them out as fast as possible with high volume and choreography, but their burgers were super, super small, right?

Choreography. Dude, legit, legit, legit. They were like ballet dancers at the original McDonald's. They were like Logan giving you burgers? That's incredible. They were serving at the OG McDonald's. But one of the problems was their burgers are super, super small, right? And they are to this day. So the patties inside the Big Mac are less than two ounces.

I think it's 1.8 ounces. Super tiny. They're super tiny. And so as Americans grew larger. But no, people wanted something more substantial. So 1940, the OG McDonald's is created. Ray Kroc as played by Michael Keaton. Yes. The founder. Never saw it, but yes.'s is created. Yeah. Ray Kroc, as played by Michael Keaton, the founder. Never saw it, but yes.

It's a fine movie. He opens the first franchise location in 1955 in Illinois, and that's the thing that really blew him up. 1968 is when a franchisee in Pittsburgh adds the Big Mac to the menus to feed steel workers who are hungry, right? And so that's why you get McDonald's burgers were so small they couldn't feed the hungry steel workers who are hungry, right? And so that's why you get McDonald's burgers were so small, they couldn't feed the hungry steel workers. But at this point, they're so decentralized due to the franchisee system that they had to start adding new menu items to try and like retrofit the needs of their clientele. So to me, the McDonald's Big Mac is ultimately flawed because it goes against the original McDonald's, you know, ethos of making simple menu items and small petite burgers.

That's why they didn't have burger patties big enough to just like fill out a bun. So they're like, oh, two burgers, three buns. That's the only way we can make this bigger. Whereas the Whopper, Nicole,

look at this big, flat, frying saucer. So ugly. Of a quarter pound. Burger King, I love you. Flame broiled burger. Ugly, ugly, ugly. So for me, the ratios of the Big Mac are already messed up.

I think the flavor profile is incredible. They're a little off. They're a little off, but it's still delicious. I agree with that entirely. Are you eating already? I licked an old piece of lettuce off of my finger and that's it. So I think the flavor profile of the Big Mac, I would say with the special sauce, which is just some combination of mustard,

relish, mayonnaise, and spices. There's no ketchup in McDonald's special sauce. There is no ketchup. A lot of people don't. It's paprika, right? Yeah, it's paprika extractive. Yeah, yeah. I prefer that flavor profile, but to me, the middle bun's messed up, the burger patties are too small. There's only one slice of cheese, which is really

strange. I don't mind. I love cheese. I capital l love cheese i actually think the one slice is perfect really i do if you get an extra if you put extra cheese on it it completely throws it off and you can do it but it doesn't it doesn't do it for me so you think the big mac is perfect because it's like a little bit flawed in the way that like um humans are flawed yeah yeah with cindy crawford like a mole. You didn't like her mole? No, I don't know. I don't know what

Cindy Crawford looks like but that's the thing. She has a mole and that makes her hotter. Yeah. See, that's the same thing you're saying about the Big Mac. The extra bun is the mole?

The extra bun inside the Big Mac is Cindy Crawford's mole. And I respect that. Can I tell you something? Everyone in my family has like a cute mole like over here like around their face

but I didn't get one. Isn't that so funny? Do you draw it on? No, I used to when I was younger with like eyeliner pencil and I'd go out. I respect that. And then it would wipe off in the middle of the night and I'm like, oh man, it's just a smudge now. That was like when I used Glossier Boy Brow to fill out my mustache when it was really red. Did you not know this?

No. Dude, Glossier paid me. Is that why you had a sticker of it on yeah yeah i could glossier paid me 200 that is not a humble brag that is just a brag that's right there right um because i used um andrea my ex's boy brow to fill out my gross ratty mustache and it worked and then i tagged glossier and they were like hey can we post this picture it was like give me 200 dollars in a sticker and then they did it and so I'm now a Glossier Polish bottle.

Shout out Glossier. I come back for more sponsorships. Yeah, I want some. Where are you? Give me some freaking lip gloss. I have two words, Nicole. What? For why the Whopper is way more better than the Big Mac.

Can I guess what it is? Yeah. Char-broiled. No, flame-broiled. Dude, they're flame-broiled. Char-broiled is the habit. Oh, sorry. Thank you.

Maybe Carl's Jr. is a term, char-broiled, too. Shame on me. Shame, shame. But for real, that's the reason I love the Whopper more than the Big Mac. It's because the Big Mac, you get these tiny little beef disc patties that are griddle cooked, right? They're almost like griddle steamed at McDonald's. I think they're thrown in a steamer. Well, yeah.

Are they like griddled and then held in a drawer? They're crap. Yeah, they're crap. They're flavorless gray beef discs, which is like perfectly fine for a fast food hamburger, right? But Burger King, I was about to say it's a fresh beef patty. It's not. No, it's a frozen puck, but it is thrown on live fire. Can I look at it?

I want to look at it. I'm going to smell it and I'm going to look at it. Look for the lines on the burger. It doesn't smell good. So Burger King founded 1955. Only on one side. No, Josh. Josh, look at these. You call this like by the plate? Those are grilled. Smell it. Smell it. You can smell the grill. on one side. No, Josh. Josh, look at these.

You call this- Those are grilled. Smell it. Smell it. You can smell the grill. Look at this. Look at this. There's no line.

Oh, God. It smells so good. Josh, there's no lines on this burger. No, I know, but there's lines. Okay, can I tell you why? No, hold on. Camera. Camera, zoom in.

Camera operator, zoom in. There's no zoom in on the camera. Check this out, though. Okay, so there's lines on one side of the burger, right? So that's from the flame broiled nature of it. it there's no lines on the other side and i'll tell you why because so check out this this little nugget of history 1955 burger king was founded in jacksonville florida it was originally called insta burger king i did not know that and they invented something called like the insta broiler and so what it was is a flame broiler which is to

say a grill like live fire grates and it was supposed to like broil flame broil both sides at the same time so it would get like you know heat on both sides um and they would also toast the buns on that and it was a whole thing that's what they like you know hooked their wagon to sounds good turns out just like didn't work at all and literally like after like two years the franchisees who started expanding it just literally took a hatchet to the machine to kill it. And then they started flame broiling instead, which is to say they like grill it on one side. And then I don't know if the other side is just cooked with ambient heat, but there's not a single grill mark on there.

Not a single. But that's what I love about the Whopper. You do get that little element of flame grilled taste. The beef tastes like something. And then it may not have the special sauce. And I think- Or cheese, or cheese. Or cheese.

You can add cheese for like 49 cents, whatever. You can't, but you- I don't, I don't. You can't. I don't. And I'm not saying that I shouldn't. You shouldn't. I don't.

I don't need cheese on my burger. And that is a controversial statement in and of itself. But Nicole, I am incredibly brave for saying this. You mean to tell me you'd rather eat a burger than a cheeseburger if both of them were in front of you? If one is a Whopper and one's a Big Mac, yeah. Lies. Nicole, look at this. Look at the cross-section of this Whopper. Look at the mouth. It's so disappointing. No, it's beautiful.

It's flat. It should be flat. Are you eating it? I don't know if we were allowed to eat. Yeah. Okay. We have two. Nicole, take a bite of the Whopper. Tell me you don't taste the flame-broiled nature of that beef. I do. But that doesn't mean it's good! Nicole, tell me the flame-broiled nature of that beef i do tell me the flame broiled nature of that beef does not make you feel something inside and does not make you feel something

deeply american hey eat this to be clear i am just hungry i have not eaten lunch i ate some scraps and a pistachio okay okay okay which one tastes better to you? Honestly, honestly, honestly I was gonna grab a napkin, but no Welcome to the good mythical mukbang Oh man, are Big Macs better? Oh my god Okay Very clearly

Okay, let me take another bite of the Whopper Because now I'm starting to realize I'm just a hypocrite. Wait, wait, Josh. God, no, hold on. Which McDonald's did we go to? The closest. I can't give you an exact location. People are going to find out where we were.

No, no, just say closest and second closest because there's two McDonald's. Then there's third closest that's by the Supercuts that I go to. Closest. You know the closest one? The closest one? Do they have new management? Oddly possible. I don't work there.

Because this is a well-constructed big... I know it is. Because the second closest one normally does much better work. And the third closest one is just convenient if you're already getting a haircut at Supercuts. Okay. I'm just shocked that they were able to do that because that is probably one of the best big macs I've ever eaten. This is the one where the guy got stabbed. This Burger King is the one where the guy got stabbed for some reason.

I have a great idea, Josh. While you're munching away over there, I will say the meat tastes better on the Whopper. But as a cohesive burger, it's Big Mac all the way. Now listen, Josh. How about this?

Whenever I order these- Nicole, smell my meat. I've smelled it. I'd like you to smell the meat. You don't have to. I'm holding my breath Okay Go ahead

What if we Let's just say One day you're like I want to go to Burger King I want to go to McDonald's We get both We go to the kitchen We get rid of the patties

From the McDonald's one And then we cut the flame I'm sorry Child Lover ones And then we put them on this Because I think that would taste really good. I agree with you.

What I think we should do right now is break down layer for layer which one wins and keep score. Let's do it. I do agree with you, though, that the sauce McDonald's is definitely best. But no, no, let's go layer by layer. Okay, let's go bun. Which one wins? But three, you admitted that the middle bun shouldn't be there. I have to eat each bun.

I'm just tearing these apart. Which bun tastes better? Whopper bun. Whopper bun's better, right? Yeah. Softer, plusher. It's also wider. I like that.

It's a bigger hamburger. It doesn't build. George likes it wide. I love wide burgers. I don't love thick capital C burgers. I like them flat and wide. Pancake. I like my burgers.

I like mine. Never mind. Okay, so bun goes to the Whopper Yeah Condiment We have a hot mayonnaise and ketchup Nicole they preheat the mayonnaise To exactly 140 degrees in the Whopper

Okay McDonald's for condiments Easily McDonald's wants a condiment Yeah Cheese? No cheese is part of condiment McDonald's already won that No cheese is not a condiment It's a part of the burger

But it's not part of the You need to I think you need to lump cheese in with condiment. McDonald's already won that. No, cheese is not a condiment. It's a part of the burger experience. But it's not part of the, you need to, I think you need to lump cheese in with condiment. Okay. I'll give you that one. Thank you. Okay, so burger. McDonald's is better. McDonald's wins on condiment. Yes.

Produce. Produce. Produce. You got the thick white onion. Horrible. You have the, I mentioned the white tomatoes. Look, this is 80% white. Those are pretty red.

The outside's red, but look at the inside. Wow. Right? Gorgeous. The whitest tomato possible. They got thick, chunky iceberg lettuce. They got the white tomato and they have crinkle cut pickles, very wide. Wow.

I can't believe the Whopper has all of those things on it. Thick white onions. I don't like that. Versus McDonald's does have the best pickles in the game. Great pickles. Love the shreddice. Love the shreddice. I know that the onions are rehydrated.

Correct? So they are minced, they are dehydrated, then rehydrated. Kind of awesome. And they are good. Kind of awesome. What else is on here? That's it. Yeah, I think I would go Big Mac. I would edge Big Mac. I too would go with Big Mac. I prefer Shreddis on a burger.

I do as well. The minced onions I think are better. The raw onion and the flame broilness kind of goes well. It was the first thing I tasted. The onion? The onion was the first thing I tasted. And you loved it. No. Yeah, they're pretty stank. These are smelly onions. Yeah, Burger King,

here's a fun fact about Burger King, they actually genetically modified stank onions. No, this is true. Are you for real? No, I'm kidding. But the onions in a Whopper are so stank though that I told you this a while ago when I was a kid,

I used to take the onions out of my Whopper because they had a 99 cent Whopper deal and I would stuff them into like the center console of the back seat and I hid them there

because I was so afraid of my mom for the normal reasons that I didn't want to be difficult and order no onions and so I thought my way of getting away with it. You put and then they rotted and they brought rats and

then rats in your car yeah and then it like and then it like finally came out that oh i'd been stashing months worth of 99 cent whopper onions in the car and then i got in trouble have you ever thought okay a thing about this you know the the? Why did you just put the onions in the wrapper? Because I didn't want to admit that I was too afraid of my mom to order no onions. To my mom, because if she saw the wrapper, I don't know why kids do the things that they do. She saw the wrapper? She wouldn't see the wrapper? You crinkled the wrapper and threw it away.

I was a child. I was like five years old and I was stupid. And also I was five years old eating whole whoppers for a meal, which makes sense. That's a large hamburger for a child. Where were we? Okay. Bun McDonald's. This guy goes on a tangent.

No, Bun Whopper. Bun Whopper, condiment McDonald's, produce McDonald's. You got mayonnaise on your side? And now I'm covered in mayonnaise and chalim. And then now we're just on meat. I did like the Whopper meat the whopper meat works so this is now two for two yes so they're tied as far as structural things go if you are to order hmm i'm trying to think if i were having a craving for a burger burger yeah

we gotta eat some french i have to eat a french fry to mull this over power cruncher do you think that the flaws of a Big Mac, because I think a Big Mac to me has a higher ceiling, but also a lower floor. I have no idea what that means. What I'm saying is if a Big Mac is constructed

properly with the right amount of sauce, the beef is at the right temperature and stuff like that, and it's not all shaking around the box, I think it is a better burger and a better eating experience

than the Whopper. However, I've had a lot of messed up big macs nicole that are sliding around all willy-nilly out there and i think this is you care too much this is too complicated you care too much you're too invested this is your problem you care too much about you're getting a fast food burger josh what about i care about 11 Park? No, but I'm saying I care deeply about fast food burgers, and I think people really underestimate how much care and time and research and science goes into fast food burgers, right? This stuff doesn't spring up

from a vacuum. You know, Big Macs, by the way, totally plagiarized. It was plagiarized from Big Boy because they had their... Bob's Big Boy? Bob's Big Boy, yeah. They were a hard-charging chain, and the franchisee for McDonald's even admitted that. So, like, one, this is an act of intellectual property theft, and I don't support that.

Excuse me, we steal all the time from other creators on our YouTube channel. No, don't say that. No, we are the only original cooking show. And the fact that there are no less than five high-profile YouTube cooking shows that have a concept called, can I make this faster than delivery, proves that everyone else is also very original, and none of us ever copy each other never never i'm sorry what were you getting i'm starting to think that the big mac's just better here

can i tell you why it's just in it's it's in a better easier enjoyable package it just works better josh this i know i going to eat my Whopper. The Whopper's falling apart. And that's also... Like your theory about it being better. This is too wide of a hamburger. Yeah, it's too wide. Now that I'm looking at it, it's... Here's the thing. You can't hold it without it drooping.

Yeah, see, like, it's... The way that it's... See, like... The Big Mac is... It's perfect. Because one of my arguments was going to be that the third bun makes it sort of, like, too tall. But it's not. It's not too tall. It's a very ergonomic burger. It is not too tall.

I'm so sorry. Josh! We promised we would be, like, 30% less gross in 2023. And I feel like I'm breaking that. I didn't make any promises. And I'm not gross. I think that the Big Mac is deceptively ergonomic. I think some of the ratios don't make sense, but I think if there's enough of that sauce, I think you're really getting a fantastic flavor profile, right?

Really, yeah. And I think even though the beef on the Whopper is a lot better, if you are in – if you are like worried about the quality of your beef, you simply have to pay more than $4 for it, right? How much is a Big Mac? What's a big mac now like 429 oh also you know about the big mac index 29 just for the sandwich just for the sandwich 399 no way i think it's adjusted for um for well it's like regional like it'll be more expensive in high cost of living areas it's not standardized across the u.s what the heck i believe that to be true but also yeah california it's like five dollars in america dude where's the three dollars let me move we've heard about the big mac uh index right i'm sorry how okay so the big mac index it is not

actually scientific it's similar to the waffle house index for how strong a hurricane is oh interesting okay they'll judge how strong a hurricane is by what percentage of waffle houses have closed their doors oh my god because they're like the only thing that doesn't close ever interesting uh so the big mac index is an international economic index signifying the strength of that currency against the u.s dollar so it's basically like how normal how normally is their currency currently acting and so like iceland for instance when they went through their financial crash um there were only like two mcdonald's and a Big Mac was like $40 or something. And people are like, well, Iceland's in for a crash.

I'm not an economist, so like I'm not explaining this properly, but that's the general gist of it. What does that have to do with which burger is better? What that has to do with it is that there's no Whopper index, Nicole. The Big Mac to me, I think there is wisdom in crowds and the Big Mac is iconic for a reason. The funny thing is, right, they both like Whopper, big, Big Mac is iconic for a reason. The funny thing is, right, they both like Whopper, big Big Mac, big.

Even though I think the Big Mac does not atone for the original sin and McDonald's burgers being too small, I think that there's sort of a beautiful, what's that word? What's the body roll? I don't know. Redemption.

There's a beautiful redemption arc for for the franchisee in 1968 in Pittsburgh trying to feed people a bigger burger, trying to compete with the Whoppers of the world that were threatening to pass them by, and just shuffling it like a deck of cards and slapping on a special sauce on there, creating the myth around it. I think it's a really beautiful, well-constructed food. I do. I agree. The Whopper doesn't hold a candle to it. I think it's a really beautiful, well-constructed food. I do. I agree. The Whopper doesn't hold a candle to it. Do I wish that the

beef had more flavor, that maybe it was a little bigger, that you could get some of that chargrill on it? Sure, but... Aye, aye! The person who loves Big Macs, who was vying for Big Macs, doesn't like the middle bun, the middle bread bun in there. I can admit that the Big Mac is flawed, but there's beauty in

flaws, especially in burgers, man. You should draw a little mole on your face. Can you draw a mole on my face? Yeah, but I'm going to do it with special sauce on the Big Mac. No, no, I want to. Oh, you're going to break out. You're going to have such a bad rash.

All right, Nicole, you've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there on the internet. It's time for a segment we call... Opinions are like casseroles! Why didn't you sing with me? Nicole, you are a natural soloist. It's so true.

Okay, let's listen to our first voicemail. Let's do it. I have a bit of the bubble guts from that Whopper that we ate. I know you do. How old was it? I got it 15 minutes before. Oh, that's not bad. Not bad.

Not bad. It tasted wet-aged. Oh, it's raining out. A little bit of moisture gets in the bag and kind of like hydrates it from the outside. That's good. I'm thirsty. Yeah. Hey, Nicole, cheers. Back to YouTube. back to youtube time hey guys uh this is michael i live in new york city

harlem specifically and y'all talked about a lot of burger opinions talked about either smash burgers or those big fat like inch and a half gordon ramsay style burgers uh like which one's the best but the best burger isn't a burger. It's a chopped cheese. I knew he was going to say chopped cheese. Five blocks from the home, the OG chopped cheese house here in Harlem. And it is the best.

It's like flat on a hero. You have the cheese. It's all kind of gooey and melted inside. It's the best burger experience. You got to wrap it in the foil, let it sit there for like a minute because all the like beef crumbles

and American cheese steaming in the bread and then you wrap it up and it's just all kind of like a little wet and steamed and hot inside.

You had me at a little wet and hot inside. Go to Haji's when you come to New York and you'll be amazed. Do you know what a Haji is? Can you guess? I believe I do know what a Haji is a haji is one who has made the pilgrimage to mecca yeah scrabble word baby um sorry i took your thunder out but no no you did it uh the chop cheese is an american institution

and i i'm ashamed to say that i've never had one from the chopped cheese truck in Los Angeles, and the dude is from Brooklyn. So I believe that he makes a proper version, but there's nothing like going to Haji's, which a lot of people claim is the original in New York. So a chopped cheese for people who don't know, it's offensive to say it's like a Philly cheesesteak, but I'm going to say that.

It is. It's like a Philly cheesesteak, but it's made with ground beef. You chop up the ground beef. You add the cheese on top of that and kind of mix it in a little bit so it melts. You put that in a hero roll, a hoagie roll, whatever you want to call it, and then lettuce, tomato,

whatever sauces, condiments you want. Wrap it up, let it steam. It is a bodega staple, and we ain't got bodegas in California. We have what we call liquor stores, and sometimes they got a little hot dog roller, and sometimes there's a deli in them, but mostly not. Sometimes there's delis.

I like going to delis. There's a liquor store in Burbank that has just like a fish and chip shop in it. It's called like Willie's Fish and Chips. Really? Really good. I go to Vendam's. Vendam's has a real good deli. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Vendam's is my favorite. Do you think the chopped cheese could qualify as the best burger? Well, I've never had one, from from the the explanation it sounds perfect does it though okay no no chopped cheese chopped cheese is absolutely great sounds great but again since i've never tasted it i can't really be a good judge of it so the idea sounds great but i can't give an answer i can lie yeah or i can say, no, but I don't have an answer. Even conceptually, like a chopped cheese is a different eating experience than a burger. I wouldn't call a chopped cheese a burger.

A chopped cheese to me, it's a sandwich. It's a hoagie, right? In the same way that a Philly cheesesteak is. To me, they're similar. I know they're their own beasts. I am personally a massive Philly cheesesteak fan. Also, if you want the lettuce tomato, you can get a Philly cheesesteak hoagie. Is what they call it, which I find it delightful.

I probably wouldn't order it in Philly because I don't know the politics of all that. You know what I mean? You go to places... You get beat up! Yeah, I think so, you know? But if I go, go birds! Then they have to respond, go birds. But the chopped cheese, I don't think it qualifies as a burger because it's chopped up. It's not in a round bun.

Etc. And Nicole, do you know in South Africa? I recently went to South Africa, Maggie. Look at me. Everybody knows. Everybody knows. Anything on a round bun is called a burger. Like chicken burger. Yeah, they call it chicken burgers.

They were never part of the Commonwealth, right? Dutch. They're Dutch. No, no, no. They are currently part of the Commonwealth. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. So after the Anglo-Boer War,

in 1910, it was called Reconciliation and the British stepped out, but it was agreed upon. Did you know that I went to South Africa recently? Josh, of course. Everybody knows. Yeah, boy. Next opinion. Oh my gosh, I was not expecting that

voicemail right off the bat. Expect the unexpected. My hot food take is definitely going to be that I love carrots in ketchup. And don't you dare judge my decision right there. Let me tell you why. I'll tell you why. Because as a kid, my parents were always like, you need to eat your vegetables. I'm like, you know what?

I don't like vegetables. I'm a kid. I hate vegetables. And they're like, you know what? You need to eat these carrots. They're good for your eyes. So I'm like you know what you need to eat these carrots they're good for your eyes so i'm like all right i will eat these carrots but i need ketchup because i loved ketchup at the time i put ketchup on everything you know i was one of those kids that you're one of those kids on everything and so i did

and uh when i tried ketchup on carrots i found out it was a very delicious thing and i think you would too if you tried it so go ahead and give it a try and you're welcome for Ketchup with Carrots. That could have been a three second opinion, but it was more like a 45 second opinion. But I loved it. He had such a beautiful sing song. There was a little bit of Mitch Hedberg in there when he was on Uppers.

You can tell what Mitch Hedberg was on based on his delivery. Could you? I could never tell. I mean, you could tell the family of, not the specific substance. That's good. Ketchup and carrots. Well, let me tell you, my favorite way to eat carrots is with lime juice and salt. Oh, you're talking raw carrots, lime juice and salt. Are they talking about cooked?

Well, no, I'm just I was asking you about your own opinion. Yeah, it's raw. Weird. Lime juice, salt. Why? This seems very plain. I don't know. You don't do peanut butter? Plain. It dressing yeah of course i might do ranch but lime so you

totally coat it in like heavy lime juice and then just like handfuls of salt i love that i don't eat a lot of raw carrots if i do i will do a you don't eat baby carrot no, I like a nice herbaceous, creamy dip, a ranch or ranch adjacent, like a green goddess dressing. What if I bring baby carrots? Maybe a pistou or something. Shut up! And you dip it in it. Oh my God, Nicole, I had this great crudité. A pistou with your baby carrots?

I had this lovely baby carrot crudité at a fancy French restaurant. They had a fromage blanc dipping sauce. That's cool. Ugh, yum. I put ketchup on all my vegetables at home because I'm a child. Because if I don't have time to like make a sauce or a devoted like vegetable dish and it's just like a weeknight, you got to steam some vegetables, roast some vegetables. I still want to eat it with some sort of sauce.

And ketchup just gets you there. That's fine. That makes sense to me. But like baby carrots yeah what are you saying baby carrots like that was it a vine is this one of the vines that only you know about and that i don't know about because i didn't have vine i just love baby carrots they're fun they're regular carrots just whittled out i dip everything ketchup ketchup is a very fancy sauce right it's got umami salt acid sweet ketchup's the perfect sauce dip anything and

everything in ketchup it's beautiful i like ketchup i don't like here in south africa they call it tomato sauce i don't care at all next opinion please is everything gonna be related to south africa and south africa they call these they call these chips. Really? But then some people call them fries, and I couldn't get an answer as to why. Hi, Josh and Nicole. So I've been in recovery from an eating disorder for like seven years now. Mazel tov. But I wish I had started listening to your podcast sooner because within the past few months, I've made so much progress just mentally with my relationship with food like hearing you guys

talk about food in such a an open and humorous and like I don't even know how to describe it but like just the other day I ordered french fries from Wendy's for the first time ever I've never ordered food from like a fast food restaurant and I was so proud of myself and I don't think I would have been able to done to do it without you so um yeah thank you so much for just sharing your your silly food opinions and i'm gonna cry licensed medical health professional yet i could be we don't know what i'm capable of um but two like that is it's not an unconscious thing that we talk about food the way that we do right you're right it's not like deliberate and calculated but it is like our shared values that we believe in. Of course.

One, everyone's real messed up in the head, right? And everybody has their cultural differences, their reasons for doing things that they do, which is why we try not to speak about food in the language of shame. Sometimes we do it very jokingly, like yelling at somebody for dipping carrots in ketchup. Yeah. But I don't believe in using the terms shame around food. I don't believe in calling foods weird in that way because everybody has such a deeply personal relationship with it. And it's something that there's all these like food is just fuel for your body, people.

And it's like, no, it's not. Food is something it's about shared connection. It's about joy. It's about love. It's about passing on cultural traditions for thousands upon thousands of years. It's awesome. It should be celebrated. And I understand a lot of people have messed up relationships with food us included we've talked

about this of course of course um but hopefully yeah are the way that we speak about it and trying to sort of take that power that negative power that has a way yeah hopefully it helps some people and that's rad thank you so much for telling us that yeah congratulations and keep up the good work we're very proud of you and call us again we love to hear your voice you went wendy's fries though for the first time hold on no i'm just saying like they hey they've gotten better they're pretty good dipping a peanut butter sandwich and milk is the only way to eat peanut butter sandwiches this is how you leave a voicemail. Short and sweet. I love that.

And I love store-bought commodity bread soaked in milk. You know what I like to do? So when there's just a little bit of milk in the carton left, I just pull out the dead carton and I drink from the spout. Oh, yeah. Because it's just my milk. But you don't do that like with your because you just live with your husband i do you wouldn't drink the carton if he's so the way that my milk is set up

is david drinks whole milk okay and i am a lactose intolerant lady so i have either oat or almond or hemp he hates lactose-free milk doesn't understand the concept of lactose free milk. Even though I love lactose free milk, he's like, no! So I kind of just, you know, pop open the top of my oat milk and I just, you know, go to town. I like lactate. It's sweeter. I love lactate. Lactate's sweeter. Dipping the sandwich in, there is a

child's book series called, not the, yeah, it was the Boxcar Children. If you give a mouse a cookie. You know the Boxcar Children? No, what's that? that okay so you know like the hardy boys right they like solved mysteries um uh the boxcar children was that except they were homeless and they lived in an empty train car and so i really connected with them you know rough upbringing like that and they would solve mysteries but their treat was they would like steal they would like steal stale bread french fries i'm so sorry but like as a, they would like steal stale bread.

French fries, I'm so sorry. But like as a treat, they would like steal stale bread and they would soak it in milk and eat it. And so I started doing that when I was a little poor kid, eating soaked bread and milk. And so one of my comfort foods is, I kind of prefer almond milk now because I'm a coastal elite, but I will make like a nut butter sandwich

on like one of that, like the honey wheat bread for more wheat and i'll dip that in milk and it'll remind me of the boxcar children that's so sad that book was for kids oh there was like hundreds of boxcar children books yeah they would like solve mysteries they'd like take down drug king pins but they were definitely homeless what age yeah like young young but i think they were like led by like young teenagers um but then the youngest i mean must have been seven eight years old the state age did you read it the state didn't step in and save these kids where was the adoption agency where were social services you know but at the same time it's like with how messed up

the social services are it's like were they not better off nicole just like by themselves taking care of each other you know oh okay henry is 14 and then the youngest benny is six yeah they're all siblings they're orphans and they have a box where their were their parents killed were they murdered in the boxcar children if anybody orphans they said they're orphans also how old are they today maggie are they are they real search boxcar children real question mark. I really hope not. The mother is dead. Hardy boys were posh. Anybody could solve a mystery if their parents were alive.

Wait, were their parents murdered in the boxcar children? The mother's dead. Their father was very drunk. He could hardly walk up. Oh, my God. This is the worst book for kids it taught me self-esteem the boxcar children are the reason that i am the way i am 100 every kid should read the book 100 100 you know what i read a lot as a kid amelia bedelia books ah she was

soft amelia bedelia never could have handled the crushing emptiness of homelessness and also solving murders. I'm a million-foot alien. I'm a boxcar. It was like the boxcar children. I was reading like Michael Crichton books, pretending like I understood quantum theory. I'm crying. Not sad crying. I'm like laughing crying. Yeah, boxcar children. Sorry, this is on video now. I know like laughing crying. Yeah.

Sorry, this is on video now. I know. Isn't that the beauty of it? If we could zoom in on Nicole's crying face right now. Because that to me is a testimonial of how delightful we are. You know? Please don't zoom in. I didn't do my eyebrows.

All right. On that note, thank you all for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. If you want to hear more from us in the Mythical Kitchen, we new videos out every wednesday videos i know the videos are out on like a friday and then the audio podcast is out on a wednesday and then i take and then i do my semi weekly chiropractor appointments on mondays just in case anybody was knowing i have a he's like more of like a sports physio but like it's it's from a chiropractic once oh you went to see dr sean yeah oh we love him did you like him he was okay i only went once uh if you want to be featured on opinions or like casseroles you can hit us up on twitter at mythical chef that's this guy or and henry's on it me um on twitter and then um use the hashtag opinion casserole and then also you can call us

why are you moving oh because i was about to say something else but keep going you can call us at 833 dog pod one and leave a really nice opinion did you know that dr sean's cousin started a popular um meme account on instagram can i guess which one it is? Yeah. I know which one it is. Which one? I know which one it is. Say it. I know the one. I don't think you do.

I do. It's called like dog fart or something. It's like not like... It's not memes by Joe? Oh, it might be that one. Okay. Yeah.

I know. I know. For more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on YouTube. We launch new videos every week. We'll see you all next time. And again, if you don't like the video,

keep it to yourself.