A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Is Pork Red Meat?

Episode Date: May 31, 2023

Today, Josh and Nicole are discussing another culinary quandary --is pork red meat? Is the USDA wrong? Are we right?! This is A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich! Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 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. Hey Josh, is pork red meat or white meat? Neither. Pork is red, white, and blue meat, baby. Pork's as American as Lady Liberty eating a jaloupe and watching NASCAR. 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. What? Welcome to our podcast, A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. I'm your host, Josh Scherer. And I'm your host, Nicole Inayati. And when we're not, the internet chefs over on Good Mythical Morning and Mythical Kitchen occasionally doing sponsored posts brought to you by the National Pork Board,

but this has nothing to do with that. That was a long time ago. And also, we did a lovely campaign and made some delightful food with them. Pork! We're breaking down the world's biggest internet debates over on this here podcast. That's right, Josh. And we got a doozy of a question today, Nicole. This is a question rooted in practicality that a lot of people have asked us.

A lot of people? A lot of people have been asking about my skincare routine. So I'm going to show you guys today. I start with an oatmeal bath. No, enough people have asked this question to where I feel like we should probably answer it using our expertise. Interesting. As chefs and podcasters. Do you have any initial thoughts?

Like, have you thought about whether or not pork is red or white meat before? Never thought about it. Not even once. Why? It's unimportant to me. Fair enough. Fair enough. And I think it should maybe be, I was going to say less important to a lot of people, but I don't know if I believe that.

It's just not, it's not a staple that I grew up with. It's not a staple in my house. The only time I've only been really introduced to the many, many lives of pork and what pork can do is in school and here. You've heard of the secret life of bees. This is the secret life of pork. Yeah. of bees this is the secret life of pork yeah it makes sense if you didn't grow up eating it but like as somebody who grew up eating pork alternatives like turkey bacon also i just bought a thing of turkey bacon and made a big old turkey bacon sandwich it's so good it's nostalgic for me but i was eating that not just because being raised by a jewish mother and grandmother for a time but also because it was quote unquote healthier sure and so that is where a lot of the stuff with red meat versus white meat comes into play.

It's seen as like a health issue. Yeah, I think it's because the intramuscular fat isn't as apparent. Is that what it is? Is that the difference between red meat and white meat? Remember when we did the, is tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable podcast? Sure, like what, eons ago?

Eons ago. But we got into this whole idea of like fruit and vegetable not being a very scientific category. Uh-huh. I do remember that. And these different classes of people, like in a role-playing game, like dwarves and elves, you have botanists and chefs and grocery suppliers all on different pages because they have different reasons for categorizing things. Right?

Is money one of them? Money is one of them. The one. And money is the thing behind the pork is it red meat or white meat question as well. So scientific organization, like the World Health Organization considers any red meat to be like

mammalian meat. Mammalian meat. Mammalian. I am a mammal. I have nipples, Nicole. You could milk me. I don't think I want to. I don't think I want to. I was trying to pull like a robert de niro are cats mammals are you serious what do you mean well robert de niro said a jinx yeah no cats are definitely mad do you what do you think a mammal is i know what a mammal is i was just double

checking i know but what's the matter furry animal who um it's an animal we're mammals okay we're i'm hairy so are you so is david i saw his bare chest the other day he's got nice he's got a coat he's got a pelt so embarrassing he's not embarrassing i have a lot too i'm getting more he does not have a lot since i turned 30 years old i've gotten more chest hair a mammal is an animal that um it births its young and it breastfeeds its children hey she got it so yeah cat does. I had a moment where I didn't think cats were, I think it's because I have a pet cat and I didn't want to categorize it as like,

you know what I mean? I have two cats, sorry. Especially since we're talking about eating mammals. I get it, I get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So red meat is technically defined as any meat from a mammal, right? Sure.

And most of the time, it does refer to the actual color of flesh. They consider white meat to be poultry, any sort of bird meat, fish meat, etc. So wait, wait, wait, wait. So white meat is also fish? Yes. I've never heard of that before.

Yes, yes, yes. Wow. But then there's obviously and some of this is categorized by how much like myoglobin is actually in the meat that turns it red, etc. But there are so many exemptions to this rule. Okay. Right. So ahi tuna, right, is a very red meat, but it's actually white meat because it's fish. that turns it red, et cetera. But there are so many exemptions to this rule. Okay. Right? So ahi tuna, right, is a very red meat, but it's technically white meat because it's fish.

That's what happens. Pork is where we get into the tricky subject of a red meat that looks very white. Very white. And many people, where all of this confusion comes from, there is one singular issue of confusion. That is in 1986, the National Pork Board hired a consulting firm,

$12 million campaign. No way. Called Pork, the other white meat. I remember those advertisements. I like grew up kind of with that statement in the back of my head always. Same, same, same. In Austin Powers, he says, I ate a baby, baby, the other, other white meat. That fat bastard? That fat bastard. Nice. Played by Mike Myers. What a delight. But the point is the National Pork Board comes out with this advertising slogan.

Okay. Not only that, over the 20 years prior, right, we're in the middle of the 80s, the like fat is bad for you phase. Sure. You know, eating snack wells, devil's food cakes, all that stuff. Memories. snack wells, devils, food cakes, all that stuff. Memories. So they literally bred the pigs to have what they claimed was 50% less fat than the pigs 20 years before.

And is that true? Not necessarily. So somebody posed the question, is it pigs that have gotten less fat or is it pork that has gotten less fat? And when I initially read that, I was like, what the hell is the difference? Yeah, I don't get that. So they were getting a lot of the numbers that their pigs were healthier and less fat by the amount of back fat so literally just like got it the meat that or the the fat they would use for lard sure yeah so not the actual intramuscular fat content of the meat oh that's

crazy which is really interesting so just the whole animal as a total how fat that animal was correct correct okay but then there were other studies that were like, no, no, no, the intramuscular fat has decreased, but only in the loin of the pork, which is only 3% of pork consumption. Interesting. Okay. So point is the National Pork Board literally bred their pigs to be leaner and also lighter in color to more mimic the nutritional content and taste and versatility of chicken. But wouldn't it make more sense for the pork to have more fat because it's yummier? Well, no, but back then they were all about health, right?

I know, but like now, what about now? Well, now, though, it's not just to be yummier. It's also like how much pig meat can they yield from one single animal? That makes sense. Right. And so they started feeding pigs a very high protein diet with soybeans. Nice. Just pump them up, just getting all these super jacked pigs with super light flesh.

Okay. And then they even started coming out with recipe content in the 80s and 90s, pushing recipes like pork au vin, pork cacciatore straight up shameless trying to convince people that pork was in fact a chicken white meat and just and they literally said any recipe you could use chicken for you could also use pork for no way that's crazy to me and so there were a lot of like spokespeople for the national pork board were out there just like dogging on chicken you know uh being like well chicken cuts all across the border of like various you know fat to lean ratios so you okay the standardization is off correct what they were saying okay but then they got criticized for only using pork loin as

their like barometer correct that makes sense yeah so uh it's a really crazy story um and we all got tricked because of it i'm tricked yeah but that said like they are 100 correct that pork tenderloin and pork loin which is most of my pork consumption got it does have almost identical macronutrient breakdowns to chicken breast god is this the most wait hold on is this the most boring podcast you've ever done i don't think it's boring at all if you're asking me i'm asking them but i'm i'm like thoroughly intrigued by this yeah just just from from like a marketing perspective how they tricked americans but they ended up being right at the same time great it's like tricking them to what end and also uh pork consumption did increase immediately after by like five percent well there you go in america in america yeah so

it went from like 46 pounds per person um to like 49 and a half pounds per person per year the thought of that in front of a human being is like hey this is how much you eat in a year is crazy to me i just i just thought about it and it's upsetting how much animal meat i eat per year it's a lot it's a lot i eat a lot of beef and chicken too so i get it i mean i think i eat over 150 pounds no i think i eat 400 pounds of meat a year. I know, Maggie's sick. Isn't that like double your body weight?

Yeah, but it's per year. So I eat about a pound and a half of animal flesh every day. Because I'm trying to eat 240 grams of protein every day. So 365 times 1.5? Is that the math? Roughly. I'd say probably like maybe like 1.3. Maggie, do the math! Yeah, Maggie, if you could'd say probably like maybe like 1.3. Maggie, do the math. Yeah, Maggie, if you could do this, do 365 times 1.3.

474.5. Yeah, I eat about 475 pounds of animal flesh per year. A vast majority of it is chicken and fish. But here, and here's the crux. Josh, is this your intervention? ¿Quién es más fuerte? Josue. Josue es más fuerte.

Sí, sí, sí. Is Jose you? Yeah, yeah, Josue is Joshua in Spanishanish oh yeah yeah that was what that was um so i'm slightly shameful about that my doctor told me i should stop and i say and i told her i looks at her i says dr liashevsky i says to her i says doc i don't eat very much red meat. And she goes, it doesn't matter. It's all meat. That's bad for you. And I was like, what the hell? Don't you get kidney stones from eating so much meat?

Listen, I don't know. I have no idea. I eat a lot of prunes to balance it out. I'm always eating apples. You all see me eating apples, right? So kidney is pee. Prunes are poop, Josh. I don't know why I have to explain that to you.

I drink like Diet Coke. Does that help with kidneys? Absolutely not. Just poisoning me further? Yep. Well, let me tell you something. Here's a little outlier, a little ball from left field. What about veal?

Veal's pretty pink. Yeah, veal's certainly red meat. It's a cow, dude. That's just cow meat. I know, but why is it so pink? Is it because it's just the muscles? They don't let them move. Yeah, so like, okay, think about this.

Think about this. Let's think about birds that look like red meat. Duck, for instance, right? Goose. Goose. Deep, dark red flesh. Grouse. Squab.

Grouse. They're all very red. Is it because they're using? They're using them? Correct. Correct. Correct. They're doing this.

They're going. They kind of look like a bird right now. Look at this white sash. Yeah. So a lot of that has to do with blood flow throughout the muscles. That's why chicken breasts are so, so, so light because our chickens are so fat. They don't move. They can't move, right?

This isn't boring. This is depressing. Okay, no, no, no. But I want to get to the issue of why do we care? I think it's because doctors have been peddling that red meat is bad. Red meat is bad. It gives you heart disease. It makes your heart whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever.

Correct. Then why is this my doc? She's telling me she's going, Josh. It doesn't matter. And I says, what's up, doc? And she says, Josh. She looks me in the eye. She says, Josh, stop eating all meat.

And I said, I thought it was only red meat that was bad. She says, no. It's all meat, you idiot. I don't know. And I don't know. Why as human beings do we care? It's because we just want to. Let me tell you.

Let me tell you what my dad says all the time he goes nicole eat two eggs every day he's been saying this to me since i was maybe like 15 years old and then every now and then we send each other articles about egg consumption he goes he sends me like an italian study that says two eggs a day is good for your health it's good for bones it's good for your hair whatever whatever. And then two months later, I send him one saying, doctors in Canada said it has an increase of cholesterol, this and that and that. And he goes, no, no, no. And then he sends me an article about Estonian eggs.

And it's just, it's very true. If you look at our WhatsApps, that's all our conversations are. So I think it's because why we care, why you and I care, why a massive majority of Americans here is because we just want to be our best selves and we want to like eat what's good for us and what makes us better human beings to work efficiently and to be quote-unquote healthier but there's constantly

contradicting advice like what you're getting is contradictory right yeah kind of 100 dr litswitzki lyoshevsky dr lyoshevsky you know to be clear, I believe her to be right over me. Yeah, of course. I think her intentions for you to be healthier are valid. But what happens whenever you see a study next week that says, don't eat vegetables, they're full of hormones. And then another study says beef is full of hormones. And then it says pork is full of hormones.

Then what do you have to eat? Air? Swallow air? So a buddy of mine, freshman year of college right he read a study that said that eating broccoli and black olives could increase your testosterone naturally and so every day this dude sat down at the salad bar at the dining hall and just had a giant bowl of raw broccoli and black olives smelly and let me tell you what boy did that not work did he smell um yeah he kind of smelled all the time but coincidentally and the black olives and

broccoli did not help before the olives and broccoli yes yes yes but the point is like there is so much scientific information out there that makes it so tough to actually parse and it seems like nutritional science especially totally is constantly shifting in such a maddening way right yeah it's crazy like like you were saying like devil's food snack well packs that was healthy back then but now people are eating one of those things they're like they're like packets of like peanut butter infused with beef tallow and coconut oil. It's crazy to me. The whiplash. They're literally advertising

things in health food stores as high fat. Like they literally call them fat bombs. Fat bombs. That's what they're called. They're like keto fat bombs. Like buy it at the Whole Foods aisle. It's crazy. If my mom went to a GMC or is it called GNC? GNC, yeah. If she walked into a GMC

and saw fat bombs, she would have a heart attack. Exactly. And it wouldn't be because of the fat. It would be because of the shock of how much nutritional science has changed in culture. It's so crazy.

But calling it white meat, I think, introduces like a level of calmness from a consumer point. 100%. Like, oh, it's white. White is good.

White is better than red. You know what I mean? Yeah, it does. I think moms, busy moms that just want to, you know, throw something in the oven and call it a day, they're going to reach for the other white meat instead of. It's true. They think they're doing something good for their family. And like, again, as we said, if you get the right cut of pork, it actually is just as lean as chicken breast. Yeah. The trade-off though, which I think is crazy, and if you have delved into heritage pig farming, Nicole. You've got,

you actually taught me about heritage pig farming and I think it's really interesting. Korbuta pork, would that be considered heritage? Exactly, yeah. The, Korbuta. Sorry, my phone fell.

I'm just going to leave it. Korbuta is the same as Berkshire pork. Berkshire? Berkshire? I say Berkshire. I don't know if same as Berkshire pork Berkshire Berkshire Berserker pork But even if you look at Even if you look at like a Berkshire pig Which that's something that has been domesticated for a long time But it does still have like a long lineage breed

Are they hairy? I don't think they're particularly hairy Mangalitsa is the hairiest of the pigs You're gonna laugh at me but are porks mammals? Porks is mammals. I just wanted to make sure. Porks got little teats. Oh, yeah.

I've never seen a pregnant pig before. Oh, you've never seen just a gross pregnant sow? Oh, my God. They're frightening, Maggie. Look up like giant pregnant sow. It is disgusting, dude. I've never seen a pregnant pig before. I mean, they're like 9,000 pounds. They're just like,

oh, and they're like aggressive and gross. Just look at that. Yeah. It's like looking into a mirror into the future. Uh, look up, Maggie, can you look up pregnant mangalitsa sow? That's M-A-N-G-A-L-I-T-S-A. They're kind of cute. No, look at the mangalitsa.

Ah! I think these are the pigs that in Hannibal. Oh, look at this. Oh, yeah. Oh, don't get me started. I know exactly what you're talking about. The point is, if you was to cut into a Mangalitsa pig, you would see bright red flesh. Wow, really? Because a lot of these pig breeds.

Is that where Iberico ham comes from? No, no, no. Iberico, that's, I forgot the breed that, it's a black-footed pig. But no, that's an entirely different pig that, it's a black-footed pig. But no, that's an entirely different pig breed. Mangalitzas are from Hungary. That's why they're woolly is because they're from Northern Europe. Very cute. And then in China, they have the Michon hog, which is also a very fat one. But what we give up by making

pork so lean and even being able to confuse it with white meat is flavor. Yeah. Right? Because one, fat is flavor. Sure. Two, I associate red with more flavor too. More muscle activity, more myoglobin, right? More blood flow going through there. Do I think beef is more flavorful than chicken?

No. You don't think beef is more flavorful than chicken? No. Really? I think they have their own flavors. That's interesting. I feel like you could, but do you think any meat is, quote, more flavorful than another? Or do you just think they are different?

No, I think they're all neutral and different. Okay, but think about a grass-fed steak versus non-grass-fed. Okay, there's a difference there. That's what I'm saying. And I'd say it's more. But again, comparing the two, like comparing pork and chicken and beef, they're just so different. I feel like it's not fair to pit them against each other. But you also can't compare, like, you can compare pork to pork.

Sure I can. Right? Like a Yorkshire pig. Yes, you can. You can compare Yorkshire pig to whatever pig. That's fine. Right? I agree with you on that.

Because like Yorkshire is like the main breed that has been the most popular in the U.S. when you see like babe pig in the city. That's a Yorkshire-esque pig. The pink ones? Trouncing around. Yeah, yeah. The weird pink ones? Very hairless. Yeah, yeah. The weird pink ones? Very hairless.

And those are the ones that they bred to just be like muscle mommies, right? Oh. Like not as much fat. That's so depressing. And so to me, their flesh like has a lot less flavor. So we're sort of like trading in, you know, supposed health benefits, which again, we don't actually know. We don't do anything for that actual lack of flavor.

Hmm. Interesting. Now what do you want to talk about? But then, Nicole. Yeah? So you got the scientists who were classifying this to be like, no, it's a mammal. It's meat.

You got marketers trying to classify it going, no, it's healthy, so it's white meat. Can't believe that. And then you have chefs. Yes. Who are actually trying to us. Kind of. Being like, how do you cook this thing?

So like Culinary Institute of America, for instance instance considers pork and veal to be white meat okay see that's why i said what about veal because i too agree with them but like is there any it looks white is there any cooking difference like between how you would cook quote a white meat and a red meat no i know there's like stupid french rules about like what color pepper you can put on what color things. That's very silly. That's very silly. That's very silly.

You only use white pepper in a, what's that one sauce? Velouté. Oh, that's so silly. Right. But like, so they have it in their, in like their manual instruction book,

whatever, under white meat. But I don't know. You can cook any meat any kind of way right why would you need to lump it in no need to love i think it's fine to categorize some things at sometimes but i think i think poultry being its own thing i think white meat being its own thing and then red meat being its own thing is fine i'm fine doing that. I lose no sleep. You know China eats more pork than the U.S.? Who?

China. Yeah, I figured that. So when I said that the U.S., that pork is red, white, and blue meat. So it's more Chinese. It's more Chinese meat. Are we Chinese? Roughly.

We're going to be. I do love Chinese pork. I'm learning Mandarin. I'm going to learn Cantonese. Not to like hit xenophobia, but like, you know what I mean? I'm just saying like, hey, it couldn't hurt me. Well, it's good that culinary schools kind of have a little bit of understanding. At least they're trying to crack the code from like a non-financial way.

I think they're trying to like literally understand it from a cookery standpoint. Yeah. And I respect that. Here's something. Here's something I just thought about, Nicole. Just right now. Check this out. I just thought of this right now.

Okay, what? Pork. Yeah? Tastes like chicken. Does it? Well, I don't know. But I cook pork like chicken is what I just thought about. When you close your eyes, could you tell the difference?

I don't think so. I don't think with like pork loin and like a chicken breast. You couldn't. I know I could. It has a different texture. It's a much different texture. It's totally different. But the flavor, like pork loin really ain't tastes like that much.

If you're getting just like a normal store-bought, which again, isn't bad. No. And the macros are great on it. So I often cook a lot of pork loin. I've been doing this thing where I'll take a whole pork loin and I'll just salt and sugar cure it and I'll leave it for like two days

just out in the open so it loses some moisture. And then I roast it to like a perfect like 135, let it rest, get to like 140, 145. They say you have to let pork get to 145. I'm a bit of a daredevil. A nice blush color.

A nice rosy blush. And then I slice it really thin. I gently warm it. That's how I was doing my Philly roast pork sandwiches. I'm happy bit of a daredevil a nice blush color a nice rosy blush and then I slice it really thin I gently warm it that's how I was doing my Philly roast pork sandwiches I'm happy for you but I brine pork and chicken

hell I'll brine fish sometimes I never brine beef why? because when you brine beef it gets it turns into corned beef right? like it turns

just a little bit yeah but like I guess you're eating salted you're eating salted beef constantly because it's kosher. So you're the wrong person to talk to. Yeah, I am.

But there are more similarities to me cooking pork and chicken than there is pork and beef. Or pork and lamb, right? But why is that? What about lamb? Lamb's red. Lamb's the reddest of meats. Lamb's a redder meat than beef, I'd say. Also, lamb is my favorite animal to eat.

Is it? Number one. I've just decided, dude. I had lamb yesterday and it was so good. Where? Papa Cristo's. Papa Cristo's, man. Yeah, their lamb game is whoo, good lamb.

I had lamb chop scottadito. I'm sorry? Scottadito. It means scorched digits where you pick it up by the bone and it's just like, oh, man. Is it funky? Not funky. What's his mother wolf? Whatever. Shout out Chef Evan Funky. He made really good lamb. Digits, where you pick it up by the bone, and it's just like, oh, man, is it funky? Not funky. What's his mother wolf?

Whatever. Shout out, Chef Evan Funky made really good lamb. But no, like lamb and beef, I would cook roughly the same, right? And also, you generally take both of those to like 125 degrees if you want mid-rare. Chicken and pork, you're taking to like 150. Why? Well, so a lot of this and a lot of the- Bacteria? A lot of the implications um from the

pork other white meat thing they needed a stimulus because there's a big trichinosis outbreak and that's the reason that we don't cook pork to like 130 degrees trichinosis i don't really know what it means but it's a bad foodborne illness that kills some people oh sis at the end of, so you know it's bad. But chicken's the same thing. Chicken's the same thing, Nicole. Chicken, you got a bunch of salmonella in there. E. coli. E. coli's beef. E. coli's beef. E. coli's beef.

You just never know when the E. coli's gonna come. Maggie, do you believe this? More E. coli outbreaks, don't quote me on this, because I haven't looked it up, but I'm saying as if it's true. More E. coli outbreaks. Don't quote me on this because I haven't looked it up. But I'm saying it as if it's true. More E. coli outbreaks due to unwashed lettuce than beef in the last 10 years. Can we look that up?

Maggie, can we look that up? And here's the way the demand has gone on pork, Nicole. Josh, how do you feel about bacon? It's aight. What? It's aight. I like bacon. Did you say it's aight? It's aight. What? It's aight. I like bacon. Did you say it's aight?

It's aight. Bacon is white meat too, right? But I don't consider it white meat at all. I just consider it yummy. But bacon's red meat. All this is red meat. Bacon is red. Pig is red meat.

Okay, okay, let's talk about this. Did we not discuss that? Did I ever answer this? Pig is red meat. You know what we never talked about? You know, you never said that. What? That pork is red meat. You're saying that now? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, what's talk about this. Did we not discuss that? Did I ever answer this? Pig is red meat. You know what we never talked about? You never said that. What? That pork is red meat.

You're saying that now? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, what's your answer? My answer is that pork contains multitudes. Wow. Like, you know how chickens have white meat and dark meat? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We should do that for pigs.

Oh, shoot. Wait. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah, but chicken doesn't have like Red meat and white meat Chicken has light and dark Oh that's interesting We should do that with pork

Pork loin is just the white meat Of the pork Belly is the red meat Belly is the bad part for you Loin is the good part for you Do you want to do that? That's it what an easy solve Pork board one the new slogan is Pork Be Inspired.

And you've inspired Nicole and us today. Is it Be Inspired? That is actually their new slogan. And it's really interesting. So they dropped the Pork Be Inspired slogan in 2011. Shady. Maggie, can I face this way? So they dropped the Pork Be Inspired campaign in 2011 when they like officially made pork,

the other white meat, a legacy. Yeah. and their whole thing was that like well people at home they now want to use pork in creative manners which if you follow culinary trends nicole i mean that 2011 was exactly the era where people were like yo pork is a really versatile animal we're gonna do a bunch of crazy shirt curry seven restaurants you know does the back of my hair look straightened and so so okay now okay so what do we so what do we learn so bacon's really interesting nicole because like the bacon demand one the yorkshire pig used to be considered a bacon breed of pig uh-huh big old fat bellies high belly meat yield

but then during this like low fat era they had to be like yeah we need to breed for just bulk and muscle and and loin and all that but the bacon thing that was for i was another marketing campaign 1920s how long does it take to breed a pig apparently not as long as i thought because they literally they cut the amount of fat in pigs in half in 20 years that's crazy that is crazy to me according to punnares, it needs to take at least longer. Carl Linnaeus doing this whole thing? Yeah. We have forsaken God. Nay, we are God, Nicole.

I know we're God. It's beautiful. It's Jurassic Pork out here. We're recreating animals from the DNAs. Jurassic Pork, nice. I know a guy that did that, dude. I know a guy. He took the DNA of one pig, DNA of another pig from like old German records.

It was called the Schwabian Hall pig. World championship winning pig in the 1800s, right? But then they got like murdered by like, you know, the Kaiser or whatever. The pigs got murdered? The pigs and the family. And so they killed this lineage of pigs. But this dude, IBM engineer, recreates the exact breeding products to create this pig again. And I ate it and it was dank.

You've lived so many lives, Josh Aaron. This one body. So many lives. So the 1920s, right? Like they got doctors to just say that bacon was healthy for people because people started working in factories more. Really? Actually, yeah.

This is a fascinating story of how bacon became. Can we turn back around again? I really like that. Yeah, I like it. This is a new thing I'm bacon became. Can we turn back around again? I really like that. Yeah, yeah, I like it. This is a new thing we're doing. Less stress, you know? It's like looking at the beautiful view. Look at this.

Look at the movie we built. Look at this. It's beautiful, because here's the thing. We didn't use the cameras here. I hate the cameras. I hate the cameras, right? We all agree with that. You guys aren't watching this.

Yeah, I don't like the cameras. Can we stop doing the cameras thing? Yeah, we'll turn the cameras. But we can keep the video going, just no cameras. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Still make videos, no cameras. But Josh, I need you to look this way. Look at what we've created.

The hot dog is a sandwich. Yeah. And look how many episodes have we done, huh? I'm making like 250? Do you think? 150. 150. Okay, 150.

Are you trying to talk to the sign? Do you think there's pork in the hot dog? I always thought it was a Hebrew national. Yeah, yeah. That'd be good. Nicole, what did we learn today? I think we learned that pork is not red meat, not white meat, but a little bit of both. Sometimes good, sometimes healthy, sometimes fat, sometimes nasty.

Free will is a myth. No decision you've ever made has actually been yours. It has been a conglomerate of marketing corporations, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, that are all trying to convince you to eat more pork meat so you can be more docile. I'm kidding. So pork is neither.

Pork is all. Pork is everything. Pork is all. Pork is everything. Pork is nothing. That's that. Pork is love. Pork is life. Pork is me. The sisterhood of the traveling pants.

Pork is you. All right, Nicole. We heard what you and I have have to say now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the universe it's time for a segment we call opinions are like casseroles you've been letting me cook too long. You need to start saying it too. Fine. I can't be the only chef up in here. Fine, fine, fine.

Nicole, we have a couple stat corrections to make. Okay. This is mostly my fault, so I made a very bold claim. I even said don't quote me, but Maggie went and she quoted me that there are more E. coli outbreaks from unwashed raw produce than there are beef. Turns out ground beef accounted for like 41% of outbreaks and produce only about 21%.

So what's wrong on that one? Also, massive trichinosis outbreak in the 1970s in America. Crazy numbers on that. And then we have almost eradicated all trichinosis outbreaks, which is probably why the pork board's like, hey, start undercooking your pork a little bit. Not undercooking, perfectly cooking, but stop overcooking the hell out of your pork.

Thank you for those edits. I respect them. You as a journalist. Thank you so much. It's nice to see. First opinion. I used to be a journalist. I kind of still do. I ask people questions. Hi. My opinion

about restaurants in general is I've made a restaurant based on the ranch. I have a ranch. Yes. And the ranch theory is essentially the thinner and runnier that the ranch is, the better the better the restaurant is. If you get tenders and you get ranch that is barely holding together, it's barely holding together and it is just water. That's how you know it's a good restaurant and if you get the thick clumpy 85 dill ranch you know it's a bad restaurant thank you well i respect ranch theory i feel like i'm the um it's not the ranch theory

it's the ranch complex yeah yeah the ranch industrial complex i will not expand any further i i understand where she's coming from a little bit in the sense that you're not saying necessarily that the watery ranch is better but that a better restaurant is more likely to serve watery ranch i understand that but i disagree my favorite former pizza place no longer open foolproof in uh west los angeles they had the thinnest ranch i ever had on purpose on purpose My favorite former pizza place, no longer open, Full Proof in West Los Angeles. They had the thinnest ranch I ever had. On purpose. On purpose.

That was to their taste. I happened to very, I'm sorry, Orin Alex. I happen to really dislike their ranch. But best pizza I ever done eat. Okay. So I guess her theory holds up with you. Her theory holds up. However. You ever had Cisco Ranch?

The best. It's so white that when you take a picture of it, it like flashes back. It's like how you get sunburn from the snow off the reflection. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Outback Steakhouse Ranch is the perfect consistency of ranch. And somebody said they made it in house, but I don't know if that was verified.

I would have a feeling they don't. I like Wingstop Ranch too. Wingstop Ranch is incredible. Quite thick. I like it thick. Which is great. You can thin out your ranch. house but i don't know if that was verified i would have a feeling they don't too wing stop ranch is incredible quite thick i like it thick which is great you can thin out your ranch however much you want put it take take a scoop of your water you can't thick it up but you can thin it out you can't pick it up um is that a song like a hook from a song you can pick it up creative creative methodology but i do disagree with your findings. But I love the hypotheosis. You can think it up.

Hypotheosis. Don't you think it down, but you can think it up. Next opinion. I got hypothesis and apotheosis mixed up. Hi, Josh and Nicole and guests. Hi. I know you guys talked about circle meals recently, but I feel like we should also be talking about comfort meals. but I feel like we should also be talking about comfort meals.

Anyways, my food opinion is that the most comforting food in the world is lentils cooked in the microwave with nothing but a little bit of salt to make a real simple dal, with boiled and mashed potatoes, with raw chopped onions, green chilies, mustard oil, raw, not cooked, anything, and lightly jammy eggs all mixed up with really piping hot rice. It's just a little bit overcooked and mushy and steamy. And then when you plop in a little bit of ghee right on top, it melts right in. And then you just mix it all together into this like really delicious slop.

And it just tastes the best when you're coming back home after a really long road trip or any kind of trip. And I just highly recommend it. And I think you guys should try it. Love you guys. Have a great day. Love you too, babes. That sounded delicious.

Delicious. I believe they're referring to a dish that is commonly known as kitchdi. Never heard of it. Which has actually transposed itself across multiple cultures. People call it kedgeree as well. Kedgeree is like a very popular thing in canada with a big british um you know colonization history and indian diaspora as

well uh but kichdi yeah it's a mixture of i believe lentils and rice and then certain aromatics but it's typically not meant to be like a very very heavily flavored dish like she said it's it's a little bit bland you still still have, you know, chilies and onions and mustard oil and stuff like that. I read about this in Padma Lakshmi's memoir where she actually talks about how it's very important in at least her, she's from Tamil Nadu, right?

Important in their like South Indian culture to make sure that the first thing your baby eats is like something that is going to be representative of the rest of her life and I believe it was Kitchdi. That's what she ate? No that's what her kid Krishna. Okay she fed Krishna that. Yeah and it's a whole ceremony

and she talks about the process of her family sort of arguing about like well do we like do we drop a peppercorn in there? Because like what if she's picky? Like if there's not a peppercorn she don't get exposed to spice early on. And talking about the ratio of lentils to rice and all this. Oh my gosh, that's so interesting. And it makes sense to me, too.

What were you first fed? Spaghetti. I was first fed a mixture of avocado and mashed potatoes with salt. Okay, look at you. You love avocado now. And salt and potatoes. Look at you. You love avocado now. And salt and potatoes. I love spaghetti.

This sounds really good. And I love, you know what? The older I've gotten, the more I realize slop is good. Slop. Slop is lovely. Slop is the best food. You know what I had last night for dinner? Slop.

I had Hong Kong creamed corn chicken rice, which is incredible. It's chicken. It's chicken it's chicken yeah and then you add creamed corn salt white pepper a little bit of curry powder soy sauce sautéing wine and then you and then and then it it doesn't look like much but when you pair it with a bowl of white white rice it is one of the most delicious things i've ever had in my whole life and it was slop it was food slop but it was the best slop i've had in like months the world does not run on dunkin it runs on slop runs on slop the world runs on slop the world runs on slop especially hong kong slop it was good slop yeah dal makni i love Dalmakni or actually so Deep's family they believe they call it

Dar Dar in the Gujarati dialect I think so I think I'm not making this up because I used to think it was just called Dar cool

but yeah man eating a lot of like Dar at his place gotta eat more lentils I have like four different kinds of lentils in my house and they're just like little packets of like

each one I need to like cook them you make a little like Tarka with like hot oil spices and you splash that on the bowl of lentils at the end get the hell out of here it makes it so good uh indian cookery man i love indian food great hi my name is sarah and i have this opinion that uh you don't need to dip Oreos in milk. Okay. No one's forcing you to.

Like, really, mostly what you're seeking is, like, a wet cookie, right? Correct. If you dip it in water... Oh, my gosh. ...it's just fine. She's right. As a person who doesn't buy milk often,

dip it in water, dude. Like, it's great. I'll do you one better. I'll do you one tastes great I'll do you one better I'll do you one better wrap it in a wet paper towel microwave it for 12 seconds she's right all you want are soft cookies um I kind of like the way milk and Oreos

taste together so no no I don't want to hear you out it doesn't sound good anything you can do with milk you can do with water and protein powder. Yeah, that's so true. You want to make a bechamel? Ew.

Boom. Ew. No, but like if I, I'm in the same boat. Sometimes I don't have milk, especially when Julia's out of town. You don't have almond milk? No, no. You don't have spare milk? I have whole milk for cooking and I'll only kind of buy it.

You buy whole milk? For cooking. Are you a billionaire? I don't drink. What do you mean a billionaire? Whole milk is the same price. Anyways, so I'll take water and protein powder and make a little bowl of cereal with that and dip Oreos in it. I don't believe you.

Why would I lie about that? You like to lie about things. I lie about a lot of things. I wouldn't lie about that. You dip your Oreos into protein milk? The last time I dipped Oreos into something was protein water, not protein milk. You're lying to Maggie. You're lying to my Maggie.

You think I would lie about an opportunity to add more protein to my diet, Nicole? Protein. You know what? Every day, I eat 100 grams of protein before I get to work. Yeah, you told us at the beginning of the podcast. Before I get to work every day. That is so crazy to me. Well, you look fabulous, so. Thank you. I'm trying. I eat 100 grams of protein before I get to work. Yeah, you told us at the beginning of the podcast. Before I get to work every day. That is so crazy to me. Well, you look fabulous. Thank you. I'm trying. I feel like crap. You look great.

I feel just bulky. I feel like a sausage stuffed too tightly in its own skin right now. You should go get a massage. None of my shirts fit anymore. You should go get a massage. Why would that help? Go dip in a pool of water. A pool of warm water. I gotta stop the bulking though. It's negatively affecting my life. Next, please. Hey pool of warm water. I gotta stop the bulking, though. It's negatively affecting my life. Next, please.

Hey, Josh and Nicole. So, I just cooked a chicken breast from frozen and somehow my boneless, skinless chicken breast developed a skin. Is that normal? Should I eat that? Hopefully, I hear back from you.

I think I'm gonna eat it Oh my gosh Maybe Okay do you think the skin grew back? Nicole you gotta go fast Because he's about to eat it When did we get this? How long ago Maggie?

How long ago? Maggie we have to know how long ago this conversation was Do we get these people's numbers? Yeah she's numbers? Yeah. Yeah, she's calling back. Yeah. Nicole, this man is staring at his chicken breast right now, wondering if he should eat it.

You got to tell him. No. Why? Because it's cooked from frozen. It's still edible. There's nothing wrong about it. I know, but it's not good. It's not good.

Throw it away. You need to defrost things properly. Put it in the sink and then let the water go over it and then it won't be frozen anymore. Assuming this is a 12-ounce pretty average chicken breast, which is still quite large. Chicken breasts are 12 ounces? I've literally had chicken breasts that are,

one, thinking of like a full chicken breast is technically two breasts, right? It's a half breast is only one. No. No, that's like what it's, like we wouldn't typically call it that but it's like how a half sheet pan is actually the most common size of sheet pan sure so we just call it a sheet pan okay it's actually a half sheet i see your side of the situation anyways 12 ounces that's

like 95 ish grams of protein you're not going to want to throw that away what you're going to want to do so when you say it developed a skin i'm guessing that's because you had to just cook it for such a long time that the outside literally like a crust of bread the outside got a lot darker than the inside. Just throw it away. Slice it up, dump it in a jar of salsa, shake it up, eat it.

Throw it away. It's going to be pretty good. But it shouldn't be. It's not unsafe. Throw it away. It's just probably not great. It's probably frozen in the middle. Well, if you cook it long enough, it'll stop being frozen. Especially if you cook it long enough to develop a second skin, like a burn. I hate you. Next.

Hi. Yeah, my food opinion is that yeast donuts are trash. Whoa. I don't want something that is light and fluffy. When I have a donut, I want something with meat on its bones. Basically like a fried piece of cake. She wants a cake donut. Cake donuts all the way.

That's why I'm a Dunkin' fan, not a Krispy Kreme fan. I don't want my donut to melt in my mouth and be gone in two seconds. I want to be viscerally aware of every last crumb. That's all. Love the pod. So all. Love the pod. So many people like the pod. I've never been more assaulted by an opinion than this before. I've never been more blown away.

People will be like, I like dipping Pringles in my own blood. And I'm like, well, I can see how the salinity of the blood really play off it. But I've just yeast donuts are trash. Okay. Let me tell you.

Let me tell you. I understand because I don't love donuts. Like I don't like crave donuts, but I do crave cake. And cake tastes better than donuts to me. Very interesting. And I like the mouthfeel of a cakey, dense, delicious situation in my mouth. She's right. They evaporate.

But I kind of like the fact that yeast donuts evaporate in my mouth more than a a cake does so i understand where they're coming from but i do think it's a garbage don't you dare make crispy cream a victim of its own success oh wow they made they figured out a way to make dough melt in your mouth and you find that a bad thing no no that is universally considered good that'd be like if you're like oh oh, I hate this tender steak. It's like, well, I don't know. I hate this water. It's so watery. That's what I'm saying. Like, hold on, man. I am flummoxed right now.

I'm kind of back on my heels. I'm on the defensive. I understand where you're coming from. I don't think it's the best opinion, but I think you're a good person and you are valid and you're loved by us. Cake donut?

You just want a deep fried piece of cake. You don't want a donut. You don't even deep fry. You don't want a donut. You don't even deep fry the cake donuts. You cook them in a pan, bro. No, I think cake donuts are still... I don't think so. Deep fried? I don't want a donut you don't even you don't want a donut you don't even deep fry the cake donuts you cook them in a pan bro no i think cake donuts are still i don't think so deep fried i don't think so they're definitely deep fried are you sure no like not like all i just burped bless you how are cake donuts made have we ever made a cake donut i've made cake

donuts before they're made in a pan no no way you deep fry them. Maggie? Maggie, how are cake donuts made? This is the thing that as chefs you'd think. I've made cake donuts before. I just, for people who don't know, the difference between a yeast donut and a cake donut, anything that has a sort of bread-like chew to it. So glazed donuts are, you know, classically yeast donuts. And then something like a pink frosting sprinkled donut is likely going to be a cake donut.

And one is made using sodium bicarbonate, aka baking powder, the other using yeast. But like, how do you deep fry them? Now, Maggie, video, video, video. You don't deep fry cake donuts. Are cake donuts deep fried? Josh, no. They have to be.

I think it's a batter extruder that just goes plop, plop, plop. Maybe, maybe. Maybe you're right. Oh, here we go. Cake donuts are both baked and fried. They're first baked in the oven, then fried in oil. There it goes.

So we're both wrong. I was right! You were also wrong. I was also right and also wrong. We are both simultaneously right and wrong. We are Schrodinger's Crappy Podcast hosts. Speak for yourself. Great opinion, though.

I just love getting worked up and I just want to feel something and you have made me feel something. You have pathos. Well, on that note, thank you for stopping by Hot Dog is a Sandwich. We got new audio-only episodes

every Wednesday, new video versions of the podcast right here, wherever you are. If you're in Tempe, Arizona, then right here every Wednesday. New video versions of the podcast right here wherever you are. If you're in Tempe, Arizona then right here every Friday. If you want to be featured on Opinions on a Castro, you can hit us up at 833-DOG-POD1.

The number again is 833-DOG-POD1. If you're in Tucson, Arizona, still on Fridays, that's when the video version comes out. Phoenix? Video version's gonna be on Fridays as well. I've never been to arizona scottsdale have you ever been to arizona been to flagstaff oh cool what was in flagstaff northern arizona university you went to university there i competed in an indoor track oh gross i got third i was

proud of my effort see y'all next time