A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Stop Bringing These Things to Potlucks ft. Brie Larson & Courtney McBroom

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Today, Josh is joined by actress and filmmaker Brie Larson and chef, food writer, and founder of The Ruined Table Courtney McBroom – co-authors of the Party People cookbook to talk about all things potlucks – from the good, to the bad to the what in the heck? Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen **This was shot after Nicole went on maternity leave, but don't worry! She's still in a few future episodes.** 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

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Okay, so I have the fondue pot. I just need an outlet, an hour for the chocolate to melt, a serving spoon. And do you guys have those big stick things? We just asked you to bring napkins. He does this every time. This is a hot dog as 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, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host Josh Cher, and today we have award-winning actress and filmmaker Brie Larson and chef food writer and the founder of Ruin Table Courtney McBroom, their co-authors of party

people, a cookbook for creative celebrations, and also amateur hot dog ontologists. So we need to address the elephant in the room here that we have all not only debated whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich and I know you two are still very divided on that but we've also participated in a democratic exercise um free around a pool on whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich where do you two stand I firmly believe that a hot dog is

its own thing and I know hot dog is a sandwich by definition a hot dog is a sandwich so I don't even know why what definition are even having this conversation are you talking about it's like the definition of the sandwich is something that is in between two slices of can someone pull up a dictionary and tell me if that's true hold on hold on now we're we're getting we everyone paused take a deep breath you two love each other you're creating collaborators

you friends you know today we're going to make it in a fight but like we're like honestly sweating and I'm like not I'm taking off the jacket I'm taking off the jacket reveal the official a hot dog is a sandwich political slogan T-shirt because I'm also on this side. But if we're talking about dictionaries, we get into what's called prescriptivism versus descriptivism. Does a dictionary define what something is

or does a dictionary describe what a mass populace has already decided something is? The term literally is a great example of descriptivism versus prescriptivism. The definition of the word literally has actually changed because people use the term literally so figuratively so often.

So now, well, is it wrong or is it just a changing definition? So the term sandwich, I think we have there. I think you both have great points. I've ultimately decided that the question comes down to are humans' animals. Right. What do you think? Are humans animals? Yes.

Well, here's my question to you. What's an animal? The dictionary. No, but I mean, you have to sort of ask yourself, like, why do we define something? you know that's the true that is that is true why do we need to define something

I mean I think that you're fair enough you know and fair enough but here's what I would say about why we need to define something because it's great fun because what the hell what's going to do with our time

but we would constantly just be like can you hand me that thing in a jig yeah we would know what that do you want you're a sandwich and you'd be like yes the sandwich and then I would hand you a hot dog there's also legal reasons like

animals, I think humans are a type of animal, much in the same way that I believe that a hot dog is a type of a sandwich, even though a hot dog is also very much its own thing. And I would argue humans are their own things too. I 100% agree. But then there are people? Okay, I have a question for you both. Do you think a hot dog has consciousness? Wow. Are hot dogs conscious? Because many people would say that's what kind of divides humans and animals. It's like we have consciousness. et cetera, et cetera. So I was sorry, is the question evolved from, is a hot dog a sandwich, is a hot dog human? We're drawing a weird triangle right now. Basically what I would like to introduce to all today is the theory that perhaps hot dogs are actually. The snap of the casing is actually the hot dog screaming in pain as it goes into your mouth. Wait, Josh, tell me, what brought you to this conclusion that a hot dog is a sandwich? What was the turning point for you?

Like, this is like, I feel like we're getting, like, it's like, when did you become a creationist? Well, no, a little bit. And I think you can build a sort of creationist lens out of this all. But to me, I think it's almost anti-creationism. I think a hot dog being a sandwich is actually like more pure Darwinian evolution. And it goes into the animals or humans thing. A hot dog was simply called a sandwich when it came out. They called it a Frankfurt or sandwich or even a Coney Island sandwich. Because at least in American English, we use. the term sandwich to describe a food that is portable and that is generally held in bread that you can likely eat on the go. And then there's actually legal reason to define things as such. If you say have an anti, if you have like a non-compete clause with vendors that are moving

into a mall, this happened in Minnesota, where a Panera bread moved in and said, you're not allowed to bring in any sandwich competitors. And then a Kudoba moved in and they were serving burritos and Panera sued the mall, saying a burrito is a sandwich because it functions the same as a quick serve item. Wow. So if you're deciding... They decided that a burrito is not a sandwich in that case. And I agree with that.

I agree with that, too. And here's where my other issue is. Is Panera a sandwich shop? Well, no, but true. Only within zero answers, I'm just curious. But if I can get to the creationism thing really quick. Yeah, Panera mostly sells soup and lemonade that kills people. Yeah.

But the creationism thing. I've since softened on my stand. about a hot dog being a sandwich, in the same way that I've softened on being that really ardent atheist who was really mad about people who believed in God when I was 15 because I was a scared teenager who needed to be right. So now I think when people talk about a hot dog being its own thing as opposed to a sandwich, I think it's the same way people talk about humans being their own thing aside from the animal kingdom. Because there is something special about being human that separates us from animals. If somebody sees me at the hometown Defei, they say, Josh, stop

eating like an animal, despite the fact that we are part of the kingdom animalia, you know, and if you look at this especially through maybe even a creationistic lens, if you look at the book of Genesis, God granted man dominion over animal, you know, so I think... God created being, God created hot dog, God created safe. Like, yes, and I think humans want to feel special because otherwise it's a tremendously frightening existence in this universe, and I think we want hot dogs to feel special as well because we have so many emotions tied to them. And they are hot.

Listen, I think you guys both know how special I think hot dogs are. Yeah. I do not think it serves them as a sandwich makes them any less special. I know that they're special. I know that they deserve their own place in this world, this separate place. But again, I think of it almost like genus and species, like hot dogs are hot dogs of sandwich species. Or maybe it's genus. I don't remember which one's bigger.

Venus is this little, like, the top, right? The pyramid. Does evolution make us more special or does it make us less special? You know, the fact that we weren't divinely created or the fact that against all odds, we did evolve from apes to create consciousness. Both are beautiful in their own ways. Guys, I thought we were talking about whether or not like a cousin to the club sandwich, and now it's like it's actually turned into the bolder thing.

It's like, now you're making me think that hot dogs are just like sandwich tadpoles. Like, hot dogs are the apples that become the club sandwich frog. and I'm confused and I'm delighted you've also you created a whole other thing where they you don't want them to be their own thing because they're part of like a big family and I'm like and I'm like isolating the hot dog and I part of like this hot dogs are like sad because if they're conscious then they're sad that they're not part of like an entire sandwich family and I think who am I to keep them from their people I think we can all agree that hot dogs are conscious though right 100% yeah that's the thing listen if we if life is a simulation then hot dog

can certainly be conscious. Thank you for letting me get that off my chest, because I genuinely have been waiting to say that for years to sort of update my own beliefs. No, it was really beautiful. It's a good philosophy. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. It's really open my eyes. Seriously. It's been a longer than I've been educated like that. I appreciate that. If you have anything to educate me on, please. No, I certainly don't. I've grandstanded long enough. I think there actually is a thing you can educate me on. Good segue, Josh. Boom. You two just published a cookbook. party people, and you are expert party thrower. So the thing we're talking about today is,

one, how to throw a good party, but then two, if you are a guest and you are bringing food to a party, how do you not ruin it? And you have already seen my style of what I bring to a party because you consumed it. If you can tell people what I brought to the annual hot dog fest, I think that would be illustrative at the point. It was a hot dog martini. It was a hot, yeah, a hot dog washed vodka, I believe he did a vodka martini. That's correct, yes. Yeah, it was a hot dog washed vodka, chilled glass, served up with an olive twist. It was in a pickle, right? It was a pickle twist.

So it was a pickle, a pickled chili, an actual hot dog round, and then a cherry tomato, dusted in celery salt. Right. How can I forget? Yeah, there was an actual hot. Yeah, there was a tiny... It was good. It tasted like a hot dog. Yeah, it was delicious.

I wouldn't have thought of it, but it was incredibly delicious. And that's what you brought to our... That was the fourth annual... What will you bring to the fifth annual? We're really going to do it up next year, just FYI. Are you already thinking about it? Well, now I certainly am, but I don't know if I can keep one-upping myself. So I think maybe next year I'm just going to bring cans of hormal chili.

You know, I think that might be... That's fine. Yeah, no, that's great. If you can bring a bag of ice while you're at it, we'd love that. And maybe some next to a potluck. Absolutely. But no, like, for real, if you are showing up to a potluck, what is your general strategy? And also, how would you grade my strategy of bringing maybe the most insane drink that has never existed in the history of this planet? I loved your strategy. Yeah. A plus. Yeah. Because you leaned into the theme, and this is something we've been talking to people about a lot on this tour, is like, people. are really afraid of a theme or a dress code. And hot dog guests has become its own dress code because people dress in like hot dog paraphernalia. But also the theme is rallying around hot dogs. So there's lots of conversation. It gives people it's a big bucket of people from all kinds of different walks of life. Some of my friends, some of my parents' friends, my sister's friends,

some friends of friends of and so it creates this bond where people have a container to say if you're like randomly standing next to somebody that you don't know, you go like, oh, well, what was your first top dog you know i don't know you could just say it's your favorite type of you were walking into a party where you like we were walking into a party where you knew us but there was at least 50 other people you didn't know and you came in with basically a neon sign being like i got something to talk about yeah you basically brought fire to the party yeah and so it was i think an incredible and as you know you were it was our first time ever voting on MVP of the party and you did receive that award. Thank you so much. Yeah, it was a strong entrance and I think that's an incredible way

to be a guest especially. It's like, okay, I don't know anybody I can like try and fade in the background or I can really just be like, I'm here, you want to know me. And everyone did. You made hot dog martinis and then you laid in the pool. Yeah, and also that was like the only one in the pool just floating around. If there's a pool, I'm laying in it. And also, I'm a big fan of eating pool water-soaked chips, not like fully soaked like chilequiles, but a little bit of pool water on the hand. And so I did, yeah, have a bowl of chips to myself that I was eating with deliberately wet pool hands. So I don't know if I don't know if the details of the performance completely went noticed. What is it about the pool water that you like? Is it the chlorine flavor?

Take them right back. Just take them back to be in any case. In talking about, you know, food and memories and conversation and connection, it takes me back to like, like throwing, you know, I grew up in like a rent controlled apartment complex where the biggest perk that especially if any friends with more means came over was we had like a big pool that had a clubhouse, you know, that we'd occasionally get kicked out by the apartment complex security because we were a rowdy little kids. But that like feeling of eating chips with pool hands, to me, it just creates a lot of memories. You know what I mean? Makes perfect sense to me. Makes perfect sense to me.

Same. I feel like, wait, did we answer your question before? It was what to, what, to, what not to bring to a potluck? Yeah, what would have been the worst thing to bring to, except for a closed off, had a tat, yeah, to a hot dog party. I think like any,

any, like, raw fish. Like, I'm not trying to bring, like, too much of a part of a potluck. I was literally about to be like,

a bad attitude. Yeah, imagine both of them. Yeah, like anything that, like, you know me, I always bring my raw fish and a bad attitude.

but like specifically a potluck because if you think about potlucks it's like okay you're bringing a dish and it's like sitting out more it looks don't just don't bring like like a sashimi plate I don't think unless you're like can back it up with like enough eyes to keep it cool you know because that's my thoughts I like where you're going with this that you're thinking that like a potluck is like everyone's doing a self-sustained thing and it's kind of like the bit that you did we were like oh I need this I need this I need that is like that is not my fave. I am supportive of people who show up like we've all been there where you're like trying to go the extra

amount for the party. You definitely want to go to the party but boys and girls it's falling apart. The wheels are coming right off of this wagon and so you show up and you're like oh my God the thing's filled in the car and this and need that and you another container for it like that happens however do your

best to have your shit together in the Pop-pot, I mean. Everywhere else in life, I'm like, let's just be free. But, like, if this is a potluck, the idea is that we're alleviating that everything is on the host and on the house to handle and that everybody's bringing something that's part of the larger hole. Yeah, at some point, you are then adding a burden to the person throwing the party, right? He literally said, help me relieve this burden.

I'm having a potluck. Which is why what you brought was so good, too, because it was entirely self-contained. you know what I mean you didn't yeah until you drank it and then you weren't oh no not self-contained at all I don't know if you remember the other thing that I brought I don't mean to keep talking about myself but I think this is a really interesting snapshot of like how I treat potlucks because I brought the dirty hot dog water martini but then I also made a backup batch cocktail because I was so afraid that people were like yes what the hell is wrong with you what did you make a jungle bird I did make a jungle bird yeah because that's like one of my favorite I didn't get to

taste that. I don't think I knew you brought it. Yeah. No, I remember it exactly that you were like scared that you went, came out too strong with your hot dog martini at a hot dog festival. And so you also were like, if this doesn't work out, I have something to fall back on.

Which, you know, that's nice. I appreciated it because I love a jungle bird. You didn't need to fall back on it. And the jungle bird was very much appreciated by me. My biggest regret in life is I didn't get to taste that jungle bird. Oh, shoot. Guess we're going to have to have a party again. It's going to be my backup cocktail exclusively for the rest of my life.

Anything I make, I'm like, and at least here's liquor that I know taste good, that you can enjoy. Hey, can you tell me what's in a jungle bird, actually? Because I don't even know. I mean, it's rum. Yeah, so it's typically like a dark rum, like a black strap rum, and then it's pineapple juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and Kampari is the thing that really makes it a jungle bird. That's what I was wondering. I was like, what is the red part? That's not too far off from our party people punch.

No, really? It's not. I mean, there's a little bit, there's some more ingredients in the party people punch. But, you know, again, they're of the same family. Yeah. Oh, and I've drank plenty of the party people punch, which is the homemade fruit punch with added fruit punch to increase the amount of fruit punch per fruit punch. It's true. I've never thought of it that way. It's like you make a fruit punch and then you add fruit punch. It's almost like adding condensed milk to your milk, which is delicious. And then you get like a Trace Lake Chase cake. At the Nissan All-In Clearout, there's nothing more chill than financing an award-winning Nissan for just 0%.

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You know, Mel Street Radio travels the world in search of the very best food stories. You'll hear about smuggling eels on the black market, the secret intelligence of plants, and insider tips to eating in Paris. In every week, listeners call in with our toughest culinary mysteries. Discover a world of food stories by, searching your podcast app for Mill Street Radio. In all of your years of hosting parties, and I love how much you sort of like almost write about academic theory

behind like partying in the importance of community and gathering in the book, have you ever had any just like horrible disasters at a party? Yes. Yes. It's a good one, though. I used to host a dinner party every month at my house. house when I was like in my early 20s and I remember going to a liquor store and being like I need to get a bottle of something having people over and the guy at the liquor store was like I know what

you can get but I don't know if you can handle it and I was like what do you need it was like if you buy this bottle it's going to get weird tonight and I was like was it for looka it was it was straga have you ever heard of straga no it's a high Highlighter, yellow, like, liqueur. It's like lemoncello for a loco, basically. It's like super sugary and super high alcohol content. And boy, oh boy, did that party get crazy. It was like multiple people puking into the same toilet.

No. It was like a best guy friend of mine, like basically professing his love for me and being like, oh no, it's all getting weird. Everything's getting weird. And the guy at the liquor store told me that it would. And you know what? I had another party like many months later and I opened a bottle of it and it also got weird. Because I was like, surely that was just a coincidence.

So I will say that one of my hot party tips specifically for your podcast is, unless you wanted to get really weird and real, don't have strega at the party. Or maybe definitely. Yeah, it's your choice. But I'm just saying it will be weird. It will be weird. It will be weird. I think my biggest party fail is actually.

the book is the one time it was my friend Leslie's it was her bachelor's party we all went to Ohio and we were like grilling and doing stuff this was years and years and years ago and we were getting hammered and I put a bunch of zucchini down on the grill and then we proceeded

to just get shit face and the next morning I wake up and I'm like yeah and I think we're going to grill burgers for lunch too I opened the grill and like there were the zucchini just like on the grill they'd been there all night They had returned into, like, charcoal briquettes.

And thank God, like, we didn't burn the house down. I was like, wow, I shouldn't be grilling after having that much alcohol that I would just, we all just forgot. Yeah, don't cook and drink that much alcohol. No. It's kind of my biggest passion and hobby, though, is cooking. And now, Bree, now that I know I can introduce Strega into my life and make that really weird. Oh, boy, oh, boy. I can't wait.

Bring it to the next hot dog fest. Yeah, Strega next hot dog fest, let's do it. Oh, we're going to do, like, a mustard-based Strega cocktail, and it's going to be good. Isn't Strega? Like, so when you said Strega, I thought of Strega Nona, the children's book. And doesn't that mean? It's not. It's like the witch, I think.

Yeah, the witch. So is the bottle, like, the means like the witch? Yeah. Whoa. We should drink that for Halloween. It's wild. Oh, I'm scared, but I'll try. I think I was kind of thinking back to, like, my own.

weird drinking, cooking disasters, but I think they all end up being a story, which is the thing that, like, you kind of want out of a party. But I recently did, me and all my best friends from college, we keep in touch basically through a fantasy football league. And so every year we do a fantasy football draft party where we get an Airbnb in some kind of inclusively not fancy location.

So instead of going to Vegas, we'll go to Reno, Nevada. We do that. And so we went to Pizmo Beach up on the Central Coast, and we got an Airbnb. And, you know, typically it kind of falls on me to cook. we'll just get, you know, 12 pounds of pork roast and ribs and figure it out. But my buddy Nico showed up with 10 pounds of rabbit meat that he fabricated himself. Wow.

Wait, what do you mean? Fabricated. So he raises rabbits. And he, rabbits are very, they're very environmentally friendly, and they breed. And if we all ate rabbit meat instead of beef and pork, the world would be better off. I'm wearing bunnies. my dress. I know. Which gets me to my next point. Know your audience and don't upset people. But no, rabbit tastes great, but it makes me sad to eat it. But it does taste good. And also he had

100 quail eggs because he raises quails as well. And so for a lot of people, quail eggs are tremendously difficult to actually cook with because they're so tiny. You got to peel them. But instead, we had a sort of idea that I was going to make a Vietnamese braised quail egg and pork belly dish. And then make a... pre-Hispanic rabbit dish called Michote de Conejo. And then all of, we all got, as we do, we all, you know, 10 dudes got drunk by about 11 a.m. and we created an assembly line of people hard boiling and peeling quail eggs and then people deboning rabbit meat. And we all had a great time. So it's like one person's burden of

bringing 100 quail eggs, know your audience, because we had the best time. I really like that a lot. I mean, this is like not as interesting as what you just said, but we have. friends that do like a lopka party every year and it's like a tamalee party too yeah but the lodka party is the tamalee they make the tamales we just arrive and enjoy tamales like the lotta party is big buckets everywhere and you peel potatoes oh that's fun and it's just a all day party where people come through and they're constantly making lakas and you're constantly like everyone's helping cook and it's just like this group activity and it's so fun and that's just a great example of like the thing that you think is like not what you're supposed to do as the host which is like you have everything perfect is really stopping a lot of people from having fun and just like enjoying there's something the lot of party really like hits for me because if something feels very ancient about like just peeling potatoes with like people and like just talking talking and drinking and peeling potatoes feels like so part of like deep in our culture and like maybe somewhere deep down too like dudes were

like boiling and peeling quail eggs like I don't know and deboning rabbits like deboning rabbits makes more sense but I'm like maybe there were like you know the men of your that were peeling quail eggs the men of yours for

for sport yeah no sport peeling quillags I've read about that you know what else I love as an interactive party is like getting a bag of oysters throwing them down like on ice on a table and like throwing a bunch of shuckers around and people are just like shucking their own oysters

Oh, that's cool. It's fun. You're inventing new parties on the daily, but it kind of goes back to what you said of people are afraid to have a theme for their party, and they're afraid to, like, have a dress code. But I think you're so right that people crave direction. They crave an activity. They crave, you know, like restriction. If somebody asked me just like, hey, make a good dish or make a good drink, I wouldn't know what to make. I would just be stuck.

But if somebody says, hey, it has to be like hot dog themed and asked, you know, that is then like really fun because then you can play with that. I completely agree. Yeah, having a box to work within creates the best stuff. Like people always say think outside of the box, but I say create a big box and make someone who generally thinks outside of the box, think inside the box.

Oh, bring them into your box. And then you'll have a cool box of things. Oh, that's so. Totally. I always say that. She's always saying. Yeah. You have merch that says that. I've seen your T-shirt that says all of that.

He says it to me all the time. Yeah. It's in very small print on the t-shirt. It's almost like the optometrist test where, like, you can't read the lines, but you do say that. That's what the host is. You know, we think it's like that the host is the one in charge of everything. But really what they are is they're setting that the table. Like, they are creating the container for people to enjoy the bouncing around in.

The box. Of course, the box, as Courtney has been talking about the box and it has always been talking about. that and so that can be anything that doesn't that can be a potluck um we talk a lot in the book about like asking for help or um making like i really believe in like making a budget and like let the box let the box be the budget let the budget be the box yeah whatever it is like there's so many different ways to think about like okay what's the container for all of this and then like it helps you make all of your decisions and when it's the two of us for example but it also helps us with our own decision tree of how we're doing this party together

is like we have the same goal in mind and like we know we know what we're doing like we know what kind of party we're having and that helps you so much because you also know how to create that environment so that when the guest comes in they can just immediately participate in that like you didn't have to walk into hot dog fest to know how to participate at hot dog fest yeah no you're absolutely right it's very clear it's clear this is like you two and party people has genuinely been so inspirational to me for hosting parties because me and my wife loved to entertain. But we're also coming out of that era in our lives where a party was just like we're all going to get hammered and just, you know, people are going to talk shit about each other.

That's the main, you know, the main activity. And like, that sucks. And now I'm at the point where I'm like, I want fun and whimsy and I want direction. I want people to feel like they're part of a specific world. So that rules. Thank you. We think so too. Yeah. And I think that's part of what the book is too is it's like there's so many different ways like a party could just be you and your wife watching a show or like going on a date night

or like you and a friend or you dance party by yourself or like it's four people it's a sit down dinner it's enjoying a show together like it doesn't all have to be like the fanciest thing or the biggest lift in the world it's just about gathering

ultimately it's about making phones away and you hang out yeah and that kind of that intention right That's, like, what drives it. Yeah. We're coming up on holiday season, big, entertaining opportunities for people. If you two are invited to a friend's giving, say that doesn't necessarily have a theme. What are you going to bring?

What's your dish? Well, I know what I'm going to do. Oh, go for it. Go ahead. I almost always, every year, make lasagna. Like, my special, like, making the pasta from scratch. It's, like, 20 layers of, like, really thin, bechamel. The Lessons and Chemistry lasagna is based on this lasagna.

And so that's for sure what I'm bringing. And you slice it and then you kind of sear it on one side and you can like see all the layers. The lasagna is heavenly. I wish I had Thanksgiving. So you make that for me because I don't eat that. I'm going to make a family recipe, which is my grandma's potato casserole. And I got to talk with her about what it is, what's in it because I haven't actually made it. I've just enjoyed it, but it's, I definitely know that it's frozen, frozen hash browns are the potato.

And then it's like, I'm sure there's like a cream of mushroom soup in there and like cheese. And then there's like the French onions on top. It's so good. It's so good. I love a casserole. Yeah. I leave it to us to both pick like casserole-y things because that's the best. That's the height.

That's the height of food, in my opinion. I agree. I'm bringing napkins. Oh, as you should. You know what, I like that. Thank you. You cook a lot for learning. Finally, we've been asking for napkins for so long.

Finally brought him. Yo, who don't love food? Idiots. David, so we are foodies. Oh, foodies to the max. But guess what? We start talking about food and we start talking about relationships. And religion?

And uncircumcised situations. But that's why we got the best food slash everything podcast that you need to check out. Dues Behind the Foods, I'm Tim Chon Taransoo. And I'm David So. You got to see me on Wild and Out. You might have seen me on the YouTubes. Or you might have seen us doing our food show together, send foods, which is hilarious. We travel around all over the United States where we eat and try everything.

We go to food festivals. And guess what? When we do that, we have a lot of fun stories to talk about. There's a lot of other podcasts out there to talk about foods, but they don't have us, too. and they suck so bad. Unless they're also part of the same platform that we're a part of. They're great. That's why y'all should check out Dews Behind the Foods.

And remember, you can subscribe for free on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Speaking of casseroles, now it's time to find out what other wacky it is rattling out there in the universe. It's time for a segment we call Opinions are like casseroles.

Everyone's got one, and they smell like onion. Now for the chorus. Onions are like casseroles and casseroles are like onions and onions are like your opinions. But why does everyone have a casserole? We will never know. And why do people smell like, why do opinions smell like onions? That's kind of a silly thing to say.

This is what happens when you don't have adequate rehearsal time. You know, we're all different time signatures, different keys. We'll get there with practice. It's jazz, maybe it's jazz. Coss rolls are like jazz. Let's get to that first opinion. Hey, Josh and Nicole. Recently, I went to, it's Graham from Georgia,

and recently I went to a family reunion and one of the, like, food options there was some canned pear with some mayonnaise, cheese, and one of them little red sherrys on top of it. And I was wondering, what the hell is that and why would anyone want to do that? eat that. I was wondering what the hell is that.

I've heard of this. This is an actual dish. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a thing. It's a thing that people make a lot. But I'm shocked because this to me feels like this, everything he said, I was like, yes, and it's encased in jello, but he didn't say that. This is a jello situation.

It is, but this time there's no jello. So which came first? Did someone remove the jello from this? No, there was never jello in it. I think this predates jelly I'm saying this just first

and then someone jellified it oh yes yeah correct and I noticed Courtney you and I like both perked up when we heard it

because we're as like long time career food sickos this is a thing it's called southern pear salad

don't know what's southern about it except for the mayonnaise and the and the cheese but yeah this was like the fact

that we have so many fruits available to eat right now is like so new in modern history And so any time that, like, say, canned fruit company came out with a new product, that was like, hey, we canned pears now when it's 1928, here's how to eat a canned pear,

put mayonnaise cheese and cherries on it and put it on lettuce. Yeah. But of all the things to do with a canned pair, you know, of all the things. Like, why? Because people loved mayonnaise. Remember when we went to London and we ordered to talk about it, and they sent us mayonnaise instead of, hot sauce. No, that's true. That's true. That's awesome. Yeah. Those are the mayonnaise. Maybe the mayonnaise is like the jello. It's like the base of it. So are we saying in the what the

hell is that? I just want to clarify to this man. I think this is a salad. Yeah. Yes. I think it's classified as a salad. It's like a tuna salad salad kind of thing. But it's a pear salad. Like a Waldorf. Think of it as a Waldorf salad. But instead of Apple, it's canned pear. It's also kind of a wedge in architecture. It's kind of a wedge in that you have to slice it and you get to choose your own bites of, you know, how much mayonnaise and cheese do you want on that bite of pear, which is never a sentence, I've said.

You know what? I said this man was here to, we could have a conversation, it wasn't his voicebook because I want to know, like, if you went eat it, did you try it? You know what? I bet it's good. I bet there's a reason why it's found and it's still being made. I bet it's good.

I bet it's awesome. I wouldn't have a bite. I'd leave that one. See all. All right. Next voicemail, Jamie. Hi, Josh Muggy, Nicole. This is Amber from Buffalo, New York.

My food opinion is that potatoes are overrated. I've never liked potatoes, and everybody always seems to really like them. But I'm just not a fan, like, in any form. And secondly, I always think this, every time I listen to your guys' podcast, Nicole found just like the girl from the B-movie and I cannot get a friend

All right Thanks guys in the podcast Bye Nicole is currently on maternity leave But we can call her She has a sweet newborn baby But we can call her to get her To make sure she sounds like the B-Movie

Yeah I want to make sure I understand The B-movie voice But it's okay I gotta go back and watch B-movie so I can figure this out for certain I am really taken aback by this take I am concerned for this woman what do you mean

in all of your travels in all of your life you never found a single potato preparation that worked for you I feel that the world has failed them and I'm scared yeah and details are my favorite food yeah potatoes and Bree says this like I've heard Bree say this many times

he's not just saying that potatoes of all kinds every form of potato that's Bree's favorite food so So if that's like when people go like, oh, you only can have one food, I'm like potato, like just potato category potato. So I don't, I'm just really confused. Maybe I'm not the right person to speak on this hot cake because I'm like so deeply in like in met in the potato culture that like I actually can't, I can't look in this direction.

No, I agree with, but I agree with you though. Like how can you not like any form of potato unless you have a potato allergy? Right. But, like, how do you not like a single, there's like not, like, potatoes are one of the most versatile foods in the world that can be made into so many different things with so many different other ingredients added to them. How do you, how, like, I want to know what this person likes then. Like, what is, what is her favorite? Yeah. Yeah. I'm not doing this just to be devil's advocate.

it, I think I may understand where she's coming from a little bit in this sense. I know, no, hear me out. This is crazy. I feel like, please do not rescind my hot dog. I feel like as MVP, I have like an automatic admission to the next one, no matter what Harrison is about to say, 100%. But, like, I think we are over exposed to a lot of potato preparations when we're young. Like, I grew up eating so much bad mashed potatoes and bad tater tots from a school lunch line.

And so I think when you're kind of over-exposed and especially as you try and find, like, quote-unquote, more interesting foods, like for me, I almost never cook with potatoes at home, which is crazy, unless I'm making a dish that, you know, like, what's the Peruvian walk-tost? Why am I blanking on this right now? Or like Papa Sala one game or something. But for me, like, I would rather have like a polenta than a mashed potato in almost any, and almost any. form. I don't love Palenta. You don't like Palenta. Palenta's oatmeal.

I like grits. I don't like grits and polenta are basically the same thing, but for some reason, I think grits, polenta always seems too thick and, like, for some reason, grits are like a fried polenta. But we're getting too far away from the potato.

And like, I hear you, and I do get that because potatoes are culturally, like, just like a sustenance food like they are for like keeping us alive and not necessarily being the best the bestly prepared

the most best food so I hear you on that I just find it like really hard to believe that like never in your life in all the French fries in the world of all the different ways you could have a fry for example that that's where I want to press a little harder because I feel like the French fry there is like

you didn't try like a crisscross fry you even tried a curly fry thick, like steak fry. What about a twice-baked potato? What about, like, I mean, a baked, just a once-baked potato? Yeah, just a simply one-baked potato. I don't know. I'm just, like, it feels hard to just be like,

I think they're overrated is, like, just. I almost see, we need to go to another one because this one's, like, too. That one's like, I need to hear any person talk about something because I'm like, that broke my brain. And, like, I want to send, like, my condolences and, like, the whole potato. community, like my heart goes out to that woman and like, please, like, we're here for you

and we'd love to welcome you in, like, I wish that this was not a just like a two-week conversation. Yeah, can we reach out to us, DM us on party people? And that's like, can we have a conversation? We'll make you a potato. Yeah, can we like figure this out? That was the most threatening we'll make you a potato I've ever heard. We'll make you a potato. Next opinion, they're upset.

They're upset. I'm set. Rizotto is porridge for snobbs. Damn straight. Damn straight. Yeah. You know what? And from the girl who just said,

Palentza's oatmeal, I hear you. And it doesn't mean I like risotto. I like risotto, too. I like porridge. I can be a snob sometimes. What if you think about kanji, though, which is kind of like,

and I think of as a, it's definitely a porridge, but I also think of as like a Chinese rice. It is, but I think if you were, I think we're, especially with like David Chang in the 2010s and Roy Choi in L.A. I think we're sort of shifting a lot of this narrative. But like risotto is seen as like a very fancy dish with a lot of mythology behind it, right? Anyone makes risotto on top chef? People go, oh, they can't make risotto. Oh my God. They're not going to do it in the whole time. Whereas country is not seen that way. Exactly. But what I'm saying is that they are basically the same. And so

I agree that risotto is porridge, but I don't think it's necessarily I think people think it's snobby, but I don't think it should be. I think it's a simple, easy food, and it should be seen as... I think people who make risotto well are snobs. Yeah, I think they think they should try to do something. Honestly, like, the entire rice cooking community, like, I'm like, you know something I don't understand.

Like, I'm like, I'm making rice and rolling the dice. I'm making rice. I'm praying. like there are people out there who are like rice no problem got it you know and i appreciate them and i also feel like there's like a little like hoity toady and being good at that well i think that um i disagree wow i think that people who really know how to cook rice know how actually easy it is to do especially like a rice porridge type of thing so do you think i well no no no no i think no i just like a really good steamed rice is so hard to make it.

But when you're talking about a rice porridge, like a risotto or a condi or something like that, it's actually really easy to make. And I think people who don't know. Well, I think people who make it and they're being snobby about it are being fake and weird and like trying to get by with something that's not. People think this is hard, but I just made it. I know it's not. But I can be like, I can be a big guy on campus. Yeah, yeah. The resume.

Exactly. Yeah. No, I like that. And I agree. That man was right. With the result, there's been like a historic overvaluation of a lot of Western European foods, you know? Yes. And so I think like where they're coming from might be shaded in that.

And as far as rice cookery goes, so many rice is the most commonly eaten food around the entire world. Like they've been growing it and eating it natively in the southern United States for a long time. They've been growing it eating it natively in West Africa. I grew up around a lot of Persian food. Persian rice cookery with like the long grain basmati rice is really interesting because you basically cook it until like 85% done in a giant pot of water like pasta and then you strain it and then you put it back into a pot to kind of half finish steaming and that's what makes Persian rice like so fluffy and the grains don't cling together and so there's just so many

different ways if you look at like aros compoio or something like where it's like you know a dish that's effectively kind of like finished in the oven or almost halfway to kind of a paella there's so many ways to cook rice and I think people get hung up on what the perfect rice is as opposed to what a delicious rice is. Yeah, and green. Again, bringing the people together. We really are. Yeah.

All right, we got time. Not geek eating the rice. Let's just enjoy it. We got time for one more? Let's do it. Last one. It's got to be a good one. If either Breer or Courtney get upset, we have to go to another one.

Hello, mythical friends. I wanted to give you guys my opinion. Sorry, this is Kat from Orange County. I get it. I wanted to give you guys my food opinion. So I know you have discussed at length the musical, I'm sorry, culinary masterpieces of Mormon cuisine, such as funeral potatoes and the dirty soda, but have you ever heard of the Mormon embrosia salad? So essentially what it is, it's going to be a container of your cool chrips, a container of cottage cheese, obviously the small curd, the better. and then a package of green jello powder, and then you mix it up, and then you're going to drain a can of pineapple chunks, and you're going to throw the pineapple chunks in your goopy, cottage, cheesy, wippy, green salad, and that is the most quintessential Mormon salad out there.

it's their version of the Ambrosia salad and it's amazing a childhood. Anyways, enjoy. Enjoy. Enjoy. Well, I come from a lineage of Mormons and I can attest

to this. The Ambrosia salad is alive and well. And I would like to add to this if she's listening and I hope that she is, is she aware of the candlestick salad? That is something to see.

Oh, I am not. Briat, now I'm upset. I kind of ruined my whole day. You thumb... It's just a banana dessert. It's just a banana dessert with a cherry on top. You thumbed your nose.

I saw you thumb your nose at the pear salad from earlier than you. And you show me this? You show me this? That is such a good point. That is such a good. This is its own thing, guys. It is. It is. Is this a Mormon?

Do you? Unclear. Yeah, I think it's more Mennonite, actually. But anyway, yes, the Ambrosia salad is for real. Did either of you know about the Ambrosia Salad? Is that, like, more into culture? I didn't know about that version. My grandma made a version that she called Five Cup Salad, which is a cup of marshmallows, a cup of coconut, a cup of sour cream, a cup of mandarin canned mandarin oranges, and a cup of light brown sugar.

That would also some, which is called five in five cup salad. Five cup salad. That's cute. And it's good. And it's very much similar, I think similar vibes. Yeah. I grew up on Ambrosia because my family is from the kind of like Mennonite region of like Lancaster County, Lehigh Valley area. And so I grew up eating Ambrosia salad just kind of thinking it as like white vaguely Midwestern Sylvan people cooking, like church cookbook type stuff.

Yeah. What's crazy though is I was talking to a Filipino friend. and they were like I was actually a potluck of theirs and they had Ambrosia and they're like oh this is my favorite Filipino dish

and I'm like Interesting Was it different in any way or was it like the exact same ingredients? I mean everybody Ambrosia salad everybody kind of makes it a little bit differently

with different canned fruits and marshmallows and sour creams and whatever but it was like very I recognized it as Ambrosia salad and so I think the Mormon like the Mormon kind of

claiming of Ambrosia the kind of Midwest Presbyterian church cookbook, the Filipino. It's all just sort of like gathered around this idea of like a bunch of pre-packaged ingredients, which would have been popular in any of those, you know, kind of cultures combined with a love of gathering. And I think that's sort of beautiful. Yeah, I think you're so onto something there. And it's like everyone kind of takes it as their own because you, at some point, you've just grown up with it. It's not like Ambrosia salad.

There's a starting point to Ambrosia salad. You know, it's not the same thing as like a boiled potato, which it's like a back could go back much more than an ambrosia salad. But I love that different cultures have taken it as being like their own thing. And part of why it's survived is it like it is kind of like church food. It's the thing where it's like you have a gathering and it like sits out all day and it can. It can hold because it's not really perishable in any way. Yeah. It's kind of interesting too because I just thought of this like no one's making Ambrosia salad for themselves.

Like, they're not just, like, making and broke a dog dinner for two hours. Like, you make that, you make that to bring to a potluck. You make that for big, large gatherings. No one's just, like, putting that on a Thursday dinner table. It really reminds me of, like, school gathering, church gathering, like, you know, watching football even. Like, there's something about, like, it's, like, getting together for something. You all need to throw an old school, like, 1920s, slightly pre-depression era, church cook book party. I think that's where we're going.

Trust me. These are things we talk about and consider all the time. You're like, do we want to do a whole book of recipes that's like, and then you open this can and dump it in and then you open another can and dump it. Maybe. I like, not no, but these are things we think about. Yeah. I mean,

I'll do full cosplay too. I'll be like the kind of out of town sexy preacher who's coming in with like new, slightly more liberal ideas. Still incredibly regressive as seemed to a modern life. I'll be like, women should be able to wear pants only on Fridays, you know? Yeah.

Ooh, and we're whispering. Bree, Courtney, y'all are incredibly awesome. The book is awesome. Congrats on finally being Pub Day. You got anything else to plug? No, please buy our book. Yeah, just please buy our book. Just please buy our book.

We worked really hard on it. We're incredibly proud of it. And really excited to have people experience it and to hear about the gatherings that they're throwing and hopefully get some party ideas. Yeah. Maybe you can open up the hotline.

Yeah, for some party ideas. We come back on and be like good party or bad party. Yes, we'd throw that or no, we wouldn't. Can-pair salad party. I think we're doing it. I'm in. Peer salad party. I was thinking, and you would be the perfect person to invite over for this

of doing like a chopped party. Oh, that'd be fun. And a canned pair would be a fun one in a chopped basket. Give me 100 quail eggs and I'm down. That's what I did. You got a deal. Deal. Okay, it was great talking with you.

Likewise, likewise. I'll see you. Bye. Bye. And on that note, thank you for listening to a hot dog as a sandwich. We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday and a video version here on YouTube on Sunday. If you're going to be featured on opinions or like castroles, give us a ring and leave a quick message at 1833 Dog Pod 1. And for more mythical catch-in, check out our other videos.

We launch them. Heck, man, every week all the time. Go check it out over on YouTube. We'll see y'all next time. Bless you. It's a good exclamation point on it.