A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Things You Should Eat in 2026 ft. Jordan Myrick

Episode Date: January 7, 2026

Today, Josh is joined by Jordan Myrick as the two talk about what is so overrated in 2026 and what you should be adding to your palette instead – food-wise. Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen 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 is mythical. Dubai chocolate is so 2025. 2026 is the year of Beirut Caramel. I've had it and it's actually really good. Oh, sounds nice. 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, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host Josh Sherin. Joining me today is comedian, writer, actor, and host of gastronauts on dropout. Jordan, Myrick, welcome the show.

Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. Jordan, you are sort of the Oracle at Delphi about food trends. Yes. That is what everybody calls you. Yes, here, yeah. That's on my little nameplate here. I know.

I always forget what's on my nameplate, and I have to turn it around and read it and it's always really embarrassing. Yeah. But it never says Oracle at Delphi because today we are talking about food trends in 2026 that everyone's going to be following. 2025 had a lot of different food trends. Yeah. No, no, no. They will just be lost like tears in the rain. I think they will.

I can't remember any 2024 food trends off the top of my head. Nor can I. Well, what do you have on your list of 2025 food trends? What happened this year? That I actively participated in or that I liked or just that I remember existing. I'd like to hear both. Do you actively participate in food trends? You know, I really don't unless it's something that actually looks good to me.

And I feel like I learned this the hard way when I was in college, when I went to smorgas, in New York City. What year was this? Date yourself. Oh, my God. This, I graduated from college in 2015. Okay, I have a college degree. I'm sorry.

And so this was sometime during then. So this must have been like 2013 maybe. And I went to Smorgasburg. I waited a 900-hour line, literally, I'm not being hyperbolic, to get the ramen burger. Oh, my God. Do you remember the ramen burger? Kezo Shimamoto. I peed next to him at a.

a urinal at a barbecue restaurant in San Juan Capistrano, California, and I turned, and I said, you're Kezo Shimamoto, inventor of the ramen burger. And he was very confused. But yeah, no, I distinctly remember that. That, to me, was sort of the height of weird viral food trends. The cronut had come out at around the same time. Yes. Which is what led me on my food blog to create something called the rom-nut, which was a ramen donut. Yes. And that went quite viral. It got me interviewed by the L.A. Times, and CBS Morning News wanted to come to my apartment to shoot, but I said, I can't leave my internship. And a producer at CBS was like, this is the opportunity of a lifetime and you're going to miss it for an internship. And I said, I don't think this is really that much of an opportunity. But yeah, back then, I think with culture more centralized, like those things lasted at least a little bit longer in people's brains than what we're seeing now in the flash dance. a TikTok. Absolutely.

What did you see this year on the tiki-tucky? Oh, okay. So the big things that I feel like I've seen and remembered,

but so this was to say the ramen burger was bad. Oh, yeah, yeah. The ramen burger was extremely bad. It was like two hamburger-shaped

patties made of dry unseasoned ramen, but dry as in not like crunchy, dry as in like you cooked noodles

and then you just let them sit out without any sauce. Yeah. And then I'm just like a burger patty in the middle. It wasn't good. So I got really burned with food trends then. So I've always been hesitant.

But you can kind of tell if something's going to be good or not. That's what always shocks me about food trends is when people are like, oh my God. Like, can you believe this, what was it called, Delgona coffee or whatever? And I'm like, yeah, look at the ingredients. Look at what if it is. Of course it tastes good. It's like coffee and sugar. I don't know.

Like, yum. And so I'm skeptical of, of. things that don't look good, and I think that's healthy for me. But the biggest ones I remember from this year that I've seen a lot are the Turkish pasta. That's a big one I've seen a lot of. What was the Turkish pasta? So I already knew of this, and it's not like a viral food trend la the ramen burger, but it was something that people started posting being like,

I grew up eating this pasta dish, and then it went really viral. People were making it all over, and it became a whole thing. But it's essentially noodles with like a ground meat, tomato sauce, yogurt. It's very good. It's extremely good. Yeah, that sounds just like a normal good dish. It's delicious, yeah. Which is really funny that that is sort of like lumped in with viral trends, but they are.

Like I remember if we like rewind a little bit like Alice in Roman's caramelized shallot pasta. Yes, of course. Right? Everybody was making that. And then she had the stew, which was just. a sort of like vaguely West Indies inspired chickpeed curry called the stew and then there's a whole firestorm that like resulted because of that. But now like on TikTok you're seeing that mashed together with like, I don't know, people making just giant cheese blanketed beateria

casidias with just the cheese folded over. And it's a really weird mixture of foods. Yes, but I think that it's a lot of people making foods from their culture and then adding twists to them. And I also think people are so much better now about crediting sources, cultures, cuisine, specific people that people are getting credit where credits do. So it feels more fun and more genuine and more because it's like, I love Bedia. I grew up eating it. I want to make it blanketed in cheese. And I think that's your God-given right. No, I agree with that. There there does almost seem to be some sort of like

flattening of all culture and I think this is across almost everything in media there's a flattening of everything there's a flattening of genres there's a flattening of style everything is just sort of mashing into this giant

amorphous stew the stew the stew is back regional accents are all flattening you know like everything is sort of just becoming like culturally significant for a short period of time and then flattening into culture

insignificance. Yes. For instance, like the macha thing is probably the best example. Okay. Right? Like, matcha was a huge 20-25 trend. It's also like a thousand-year-old beverage that's been drank in Japan for a long time. And then now you're seeing the shortage, like Japanese Shinto temples can't get their

ceremonial grade match because they're being bought up by like coffee, like many coffee shop chains in the United States, in Western Europe, all this stuff. and those supply lines are getting messed up and then fast forward two years people are going to move on to Ulong or Puir or something or other. Absolutely. Well, globalization has its huge downfalls. You know, there's a lot of benefits of it.

Like, people get to see people from other cultures and experience different things, but also now when you go to most major cities around the world, they all kind of look the same to a certain extent. You walk down a major city and in any country on any continent and you'll see the same chain restaurants

you'll see a Zara you'll see a McDonald's you'll see weirdly to be now a five guys like there are certain places that I'm seeing pop up in other countries where I'm just like that's a random thing to like become so famous but yeah

I think it's it's so hard because anytime I talk about it I want to play my own devil's advocate because there's so much bad around it but then there are also things where it's like yeah, but I also don't think people should just have to be sequestered to what they're born into and only be able to experience that. But like anything else, it's greed, right?

Like, greed is what makes it bad. That's the whole macha thing, right? Like, we can't just have a little, we can't be reasonable. It's like big corporate greed having to be like, oh, this is a trend. Now we need to buy every single macha that exists so no one else can have any. Yeah. Evil. Evil.

Bleak. Disgusting. But bigly hopeful. Hopefully. I love it. That's how I describe myself. All right, we're going to look back at, like, different food trends in 2025. We're going to talk about how much we think that they can survive in 2020-6, or if there's going to be a pivot to something else.

Like, where can this possibly go? First up, Dubai chocolate. Pivot. Pivot. So Dubai chocolate, for people that don't know, it is a combination of pistachio butter, kataifi dough, which is, like, a shredded fried filo, delightful, and chocolate. Yes, I think that it's going to pivot to. I guess I don't even know if it would be a pivot or if it would just be like it's going away forever.

I think that it's going to be gone. People are already over it. People already, when someone posts a Dubai chocolate recipe, so many of the comments on TikTok, YouTube, whatever, or like, oh my God, can we please let Dubai chocolate go? Like, people are done with it. And also, I think there's a lot of things happening in the world that people are like, wait, what is Dubai chocolate?

Where did it come from? What's Dubai about? And there's a lot going on. And people are learning stuff, and not everyone likes what they're learning. That's what I'll say. It is, like, really interesting when you look at what cultures used to be, like, venerated for their food. Sure. America for a long time had a, you can look at the Michelin Guide for how they rewarded stars, like French, Japanese, Italian.

Those were, like, sort of the three big ones that we consider the fancy cultures. And it still really is. Oh, it still really is, 100%. But this, the Dubai chocolate, the reason this was so like, I don't know, such a, it felt so different from so many things that I'd seen was like, oh, taking like a very incredibly wealthy city in the Middle East, you know, how that wealth was gotten or how it's distributed. It doesn't matter to the chocolate. But like, seen as that being equated to wealth and something decadent that you eat, that was like a really new thing. Yeah. And I wonder if we're going to see more of it.

I don't think so. I don't. I don't. I'm sorry. I don't think so. I feel like Salt Bay was also sort of part of that in a way. Interesting. Say more about that. So Salt Bay, God, what is his name? Nusorette was the name of his restaurants.

But anyways, like him being a Turkish chef that went like that viral. You know what I mean? And for a very fine dining restaurant, not a street food. If you look at like, you've watched Chef's Table on Netflix or it was David Gelb, the same producer and I think director of Jiro Dreams of Sushi, right? That very much fit that mold. Eurodreams of sushi, whereas like a Japanese guy, we have a strange sort of Japanophilic relationship in the United States, which followed a lot of Japanophobia, but we view this idea of like the Shokunin, the Japanese master, wow, he's so meditative and it must come from the fact that

he's very different from us. And then pivoted that to chef's table, which mostly focused on Western European chefs. You know, they mixed some people in there that weren't from that background but then they were like now we'll do chef's table street food and then they go to southeast Asia and then they go to the middle east and then and so for me to see like salt bay you know cooking at crazy high-end steakhouses you know bit theatrical sure but that was to me like a big sea change in a way yeah I mean I think oh I have so much to say about this that I simply can't but what I will say is I think that there is a big Push in America right now for intrigue in things relating to coming from and in the Middle East from places in the Middle East that are wealthy.

And a demonization of places in the Middle East that are not wealthy continues. And that's sad to see. And that's what I'll say. How do you feel about that? No, I fully agree. Um, yeah, it's, uh, we have a lot of double standards, uh, that we put on a lot of things. Absolutely. Which I find interesting.

And I think that's anything. I think if you look at like, um, Asia, it's the same way, you know, we love Japan. We kind of love, in terms of food, at least. That's, that's, you know, my expertise in where I can speak on. But we love Japan. We, uh, look down on China. And, but we look more highly at China than at anywhere in Southeast Asia or anything like that. So it's very, it's very interesting where it's kind of just like more, you know, more famously wealthy a place is, the more we're interested in its things.

And wealth does not equate to better taste figuratively or literally, in my personal opinion. And I think now a lot of other places have seen this. A lot of other continents have seen this. And I think a lot of other regions have seen this. And now we're doing it with the Middle East. Yeah. No, it makes sense. I remember for years going on a decade now where,

everyone would put out a think piece that was Filipino food is the next big trend because it's the one country in Asia that we have a lot of Filipino people in America and we haven't written an article about this country yet. Yeah. And then for 10 straight years it's just been people talking about that. You know what I mean? It's kind of this like throw

a dart and see where you can sort of try and make a trend happen. Absolutely. But a lot of these countries, I mean we're still not seeing any of them on Michelin guides or on these, you know, getting these big high accolades. So I think that we're talking them up and I think we're celebrating them in some ways but I also think that we've

created a ceiling where we're like oh yeah Filipino food is great and we can write you know an article about it but it can only go so high and I think that's bullshit yeah yeah I think there's a lot of unseen forces behind this too if you like know the history of Thai food in America and how the like Thai embassy effectively the Thai border tourism like literally was seeding restaurants money so they could open in America to be like hey this is going to be our big investment to sort of like, you know, to proliferate Thai culture. And so I think there's a lot of, like, those forces behind it. And so if you look at, like, Italian food and Croatian food, they basically share

a seaborder, they have access to the same ingredients, obviously very different histories that lead to very different wealth distributions. We ain't exactly view Croatian food like we do Italian food. Of course not. Sorry. Tinned fish. Yeah, staying forever. Staying forever, really?

I think the people who are not really in it in their heart will fall off. But I think those of us who love it, love it. And I think the nice thing about tin fish, I think people want to be like snoddy about it now. They want to be like, I'm like tin fish forever, blah, whatever. Ultimately what it is is a thing that, first of all, I'm always for getting people excited and interesting, excuse me, let me take the back.

I'm always excited to see people get excited about a low-cost product. I think that's so exciting in ways that they can utilize something that is affordable. And yes, we're seeing obviously a lot of expensive tinfish as well. but Fishwife is in Costco now, you know? You have more options. And also a lot of these options that people are looking at, a lot of them are, you know, line-caught tuna and things that are also better for the environment.

So I think that's nice. There's more interest, whatever. At the same time, I think a lot of people don't really like it. They're just phoning it in, but that's fine. And I also think a lot of people who didn't know about it or maybe didn't have the most expanded pallets heard about it. It was so trendy. They were interested.

They tried it. And now they really like it. So I think a lot of people like learned in this trend, which I think is really exciting. Yeah, do you think the tinned fish craze is that all connected to the girl dinner phase? And what does that say about our society? Yes and no in the sense that I think it is kind of connected to girl dinner. And I think women do most of the trend setting in this world.

So I think it's connected to it in that way. But when I think of girl dinner, I don't inherently think of tinned fish. So I think a little bit, yes, a little bit. Yeah. I've always sort of associated it with tin fish, like, little treat culture. Okay. You know a little treat culture? I think. The idea that, like, in unsure economic times, you can buy yourself a little happiness, a little intrigue.

Sure. With the six bucks to get the new Flyby Jing fish wife. What was it? It was like a smoked trout with chili oil. It is smoked salmon with chili oil, and it's still one of my favorite products. It's absolutely delicious. It's really great. Like, you know, you can just spend six bucks and get yourself a fun little treat that makes you feel better about, you know, the world being on fire.

Yeah. And I think that's here to stay. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I also think that with that, it's like a $6.00 nice can of fish is still so much cheaper than a nice fresh piece of fish. So I think it makes a nice product in general more accessible. And I also think it can be a touchstone that a lot of people can relate on. Because, for example, my mom has always eaten sardine sandwiches with, like, sardines from the dollar store on, like, white, right?

what I mean. And so now that we have all these options of fancier tin fish, like my mom's excited about that, so she and I'll do like little tin fish nights. I think for the real lovers it's here to stay, and I think the fakers will be gone, and that's okay. You can try something and realize you don't like it. Looking forward to 2026, I want to bring

canned potted meat back. Okay. I think we can do that. Yeah, why not? I think, I was thinking back to, like, the Halcyon times of 2015, where every restaurant had some sort of chicken liver moose on the menu. A patte. They were making their own little charcutories. I I think we bring that back, but in tinned form, let people have little patte parties at home.

That's my prediction for 2026. I think that's fun. Yeah, a lot of people don't like fish, and I think that that is a logical next step. And the Venn diagram of people who don't like fish, but do like organ meats? But do like cans. I would say, yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense. Yeah, that makes sense. It doesn't have to all be organs.

It can be re-et. It can be a lot of different fish. But, you know, I grew up eating a lot of canned pork liver paté. Delicious. So good. Cottage cheese and everything. This is interesting because this was a trend 35 years ago. boom, came right back around.

Carbphobia's still in. But what I will say is I think we did it justice this time. You think we did it justice? I think that there's fat phobia everywhere, right? 100%. Every single day and every single option of life. So I think that if you Google cottage cheese recipes, the first person you see will be a man

that would punch me in the face if he had the opportunity, right? Like, that's who you will see first, but scroll down a little bit. And then you'll see some actually like really cool, really delicious recipes. And I'm excited about this because I love cottage cheese. You're a cottage cheese lover. I'm a cottage cheese lover. Once again, my mom's a cottage cheese lover, so I came by it honestly.

And I love it. I think it's so good. It's delicious. I love the texture. I'll use it in pastas. You're blending it or you're using cottage cheese straight up? Both. Nice.

I love cottage cheese. I think it's delicious, and so does my wife. So we're big cottage cheese lovers, and I've seen a lot of really good cottage cheese recipes that are really cool, and I love that. So I think we've done it better. I mean, 35 years ago, what? You went out with your friends, and they all got to eat real food, and you had to order a piece of lettuce that had a scoop of cottage cheese on top with a slice of out-of-season

tomato on top of it because you were a size six. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Sad, you know? Very sad. Really sad. And now it's like at least some people are doing cool stuff with it. I feel like this for my, if you look at like, Gen X is cottage cheese.

And then millennials, we were Greek yogurt. Absolutely. And then now Gen Z is like doing everything to forsake their millennial counterparts. and they're looping back around to Gen X, you know, and they're just back on cottage cheese where I'm still stuck on Greek yogurt. I have a tub of Greek yogurt in my fridge all times. It has almost identical macronutrient breakdown to cottage cheese.

And I've been putting a scoop of Greek yogurt and damn near everything I cooked for the last like seven years. And I support that. So I'm looking at the Gen Z be like, why did you forsake the Greek yogurt? We were here all along. Well, because Gen Z, they are boomers. I know.

They like literally are in every single way. It's incredible. I've talked about this before. They're like, they have, I would say Gen Z uses it for good rather than evil, and boomers use it for evil rather than good. But the way that they behave is exactly the same. In what way? Oh, in everything.

They always think they're right. They can't listen to any other opinions other than theirs. There's no patience for anything. And don't get me wrong, millennials have a lot of flaws as well. I believe millennials are deeply cowardly as a group. I think we have a lot of flaws. But I think that, yeah, I think, you know, trend cycles are shortening and shortening and shortening in every single division of this world. And I think that's one of them, the behavior.

Gen Z is kind of like if you don't think like me, you should go to literal hell. McCarthyism. Yeah, they're very into like punishment. They're not really into, do you know what I mean? No, I do. I do. It's very, they're really like, you know, like, they don't believe in spanking, but like it's the same energy. Yeah. You know, they're like, violence is bad, but they want to spank you. Yeah, yeah, I can see it in their eyes. Yeah, absolutely. And their young little eyes. Yeah, but were we not hard and fast in our

opinions as millennials? No, we were sure. You're soft and scared. Yeah, I think some people were. I think you and I have probably been hard in our opinions for our whole lives. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think there are people like that, but I think Gen Z is so much more likely to get up and speak out against injustice or actually do something when something needs to be done. And I think millennials as a group tend to be very

afraid and very worried we're doing something wrong and we're like awkward and like, are you mad at me? Yeah, we still like believed in the system enough to try and appease it. Absolutely. And I think Gen Zee, boomers kind of built the system post-World War II, everything was sort of up in flux. And then

now Gen Z's the first one that's like, oh, this This is so broken, man. We're not working within it. Yeah. Yeah, that heads up. Bulgarian Mountain Yogurt. Speak on it. We need a new fermented, protein-rich, probiotic-rich dairy product that the Gen Zs can call their own.

And you think it's this? Get them off. I think it could be Icelandic Skiar. It could be quark. You don't feel like Icelandic skier has had its moment. No, I think it did. I think it did. Okay, all right.

But I'm looking for, like, something else. I think quark is a great option. Quark is a great option. I think it's technically. skier is technically cheese. Skeer is cheese? Skier, the Icelandic government came out and said that skiers technically cheese under their own definitions. Well, here in America, we're selling it like yogurt.

God damn right, we are. But I feel like the one that we haven't really touched yet is Bulgarian mountain yogurt. All right. You know, also, LeBna, I feel like LeBna, that also had it. I love one of my favorite products of all time. I love LeBna, too. Delicious. I love them.

You know what one of my favorite products ever is? What? Ceylon. It's date syrup. Oh, yes. Delicious. Dude, I think, because the next thing I had in my list is actually Hot Honey. Okay, well, can I tell you

one thing and then we can go to Hot Honey? I would love that. Bulgarian Fedda is my favorite cheese of all time. Hell yeah, man. I think it's the best type of fetta, and if you haven't had it, this is just a PSA for Bulgarian Feta. If you haven't specifically had Bulgarian Feta, go get it. I was in a grocery store in Greece.

Oh, were you? Oh, were you? It was actually, so it was like my best friend's, like, ancestral home island, not a tour of spot at all. Shout it to the island of Samos. But we went to their, like, mass market grocery store. And I was trying to cook for a bunch of people. And I said I needed some feta. And his, like, stepdad was, like, negotiating for lamb parts in Greek and stuff like that.

And then they're, like, lead me to the feta section. And there's, like, 18 different kinds. And they're all from different islands and different regions. Sure. And they were mad at me that I chose an Athenian feta over the samosian feta. I mean, yeah, that makes sense. It was better. It was creamier.

But even if you go to, like, a Lebanese or Armenian grocery store here in L.A., you're going to have four to seven different types of feto. Yeah, man. I love the amounts of more. Tadela, too, at an Armenian grocery store. Yeah. I got everything at the Armenian grocery store. I don't quite know why Mordadella became so big in what I believe is specifically the Soviet

Armenian community or ex-Soviet. Sure. But, man, do I love it? Yeah, I think it's great. Okay, hot honey. Hot honey. Done. Done, we're done.

Because we have to be done. I think that by the end of this year, all of the people that are really into trends, like people who are like very online and find out about a lot of their things through trends, I think their bottle of hot honey that they got in February will have run out by the end of this year and then they're not going to buy a new one.

Yeah, yeah. To me, the hot honey thing, I would trade, this is probably a not incorrect bull here, I would trace it back to the Beasting Pizza at Roberta's. Yes, I think, absolutely, because I did use to work at a food stall directly across from the rubberous food stall. Yes, at Madison Square Eats in New York. But I, I mean, yeah,

I think that obviously they're the first person in my mind as well that was doing it, but that was so long ago. Once again, I was in college when that was happening. You watch it sort of build over time, and then suddenly this year, it takes years of R&D for the, you know, Lays Hot Honey potato chips to finally come out. But I don't know where, kind of what the, like,

initial kind of viral moment of it was. Like, what was the thing that kind of, like, got people who had never heard of it interested in it? I think it's so interesting because I find, I love spicy food. Hot honey can taste so weird and so spicy sometimes. and these people that, I watch these videos only, people seem like they've never had a seasoning in their life, and they love hot honey.

I'm shocked by it. I'm like, you guys got to get in hot sauce. Get yourself some May ploy, Thai sweet chili sauce. Yes. I think anything Honey can do, Mayploie Thai sweet chili sauce. 100%. And it's better.

This one affects you very directly. Oh, my God. Dirty sodas. Oh, it's, once again, it's a mix, you know. It's dead for the people that were just trying it out, but it's going to be alive and well in the Utah community for the rest of time. Yeah, Utah will never let that trend die.

No, unless Mormonism becomes eradicated, it will continue, which I'm not saying should or shouldn't happen. I'm just saying, unless it does, that trend will live on. And this is actually something kind of kooky of me. I don't particularly love a dirty soda, which I know is shocking because I'm a soda goddess. But I think a soda is perfect as is. I don't really need other stuff added to it. That being said, I love the idea of being able to go to a drive-through, get a job,

giant Dr. Pepper with pebble ice, a bignet, you know, a scotcheroo. I think that's really fun. But yeah, I think this trend is, I think people have already forgotten about this trend that are outside of Utah. It's so funny because I remember, like I've known about dirty soda for years. Grew up in a large Mormon community. Shout out to South Orange County. To see it eventually get to Sonic, right? Like Sonic is starting to add the coffee cream or the soda. Meanwhile, I was vilified for years for drinking Pilk. Sure. I grew up drinking Pilk. I've heard you talk about it before. And now you can get it at the AMC movie theater.

That's incredible. That's incredible. What else we got? We got, I did not know this was a thing, but I seemed it written down. A Sleepy Girl Mocktail? Are you familiar with the Sleeper Girl Mocktail? Of course, yes. Do you partake in the Sleper Girl Mocktiles?

I do in a way. Just crush up Ambien into like a... So this is my problem with them is like the first time I heard of it, someone was like, oh, you can make yourself a little like, seltzer, tart cherry juice. squeeze of lime cherry juice makes you tired I was like oh that sounds wonderful with dinner I cook a lot I was like oh that'll be great

so I started doing that but then the more I saw it on my 4U page it was like women being like then you add two packets of magnesium then you add whatever and I was like melatonin do we really know what this is doing to us so I would say I loved the original version that I saw of the Sleepy Girl Mocktail and I think it should be here to stay because I think

a little tart cherry juice and a seltzer and then I'll put a true lime packet in it oh delicious When did the true lime and true lemon come out? Because I had not heard about those little packets of delightfully dehydrated. It's like lime and lemon juice, but also the zest and the essence. It's such a wonderful product. It's unbelievable.

And also they have like little sticks of different flavors of lemonade's and limeades that also taste unbelievable. I think for 2026, I'm going to predict the shaken Nyquilitini. Oh, yeah. So the NyQuil's thick enough where you can get a nice little foamy head on that. You double strain it into a glass chill. Got to chill the glass before you do it. I think that's what we're going to go with.

I think in 2026 people will be kind of a return once again in the trend cycle. I think people will be doing room temperature scissor. Bring it back. Bring back the lean. The NFL playoffs are here. And Heath the Call NFL podcast with Dan Hansus and Mark Sessler is your destination for coverage of every round. From Wild Card weekend to Super Bowl Sunday. Heat the Call covers every game, every story.

line, everything that matters, and we have fun. No fake hot takes, just entertaining football talk from your favorite buds at the bar. Wait, Mark. Which bar? Well, like the typical neighborhood bar. We're the witty sports guys at a place like that. Ah, I like that. Follow and listen to heed the call, wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, Jordan. I've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky eddies are rattling out there in the universe. It's time for the little segment we call. are like casseroles. Got a little bit of John Lovitz in my voice today. Wow, it's so interesting you're doing that. Yeah, I don't know why I'm doing it.

I think it's because the cameras aren't on. Oh, so you're like trying stuff out? A little bit. You know we had to fully re-record the first podcast episode because I was doing too much IRA Glass voice subconsciously. Oh, man. And was that pointed out to you after? No one said anything during?

That's correct, yeah. But none of us knew what to expect when we first started recording the podcast. And I was just naturally like, the thing about pineapple on pizza, if you really look at it throughout the years, we've all been doing it in one way or another. You know, I was doing that. Yeah. And so it took a while to get to the natural place. You had to settle into yourself.

100%. And so I think the pendulum sort of swings from ironglass to John Levitts and then settles somewhere in the natural voice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you're a perfect middle of those two. Let's hear that first opinion, Meggie. Hey, guys, I'm big fan of the Mystical Kitchen. One of the best channels on YouTube. question about bread pudding.

One of my favorite desserts. I recently had it with croissant, and it was fantastic. If you like bread pudding, what is your favorite bread to use in bread pudding? Thank you, guys.

And Josh, you're a fantastic interviewer on Last Meals, one of the best interviewers around. Thank you. Thanks, man. That means a lot. Oh, that's so sweet. It's very sweet. It's my bread and joy.

I can corroborate that person's story because I, too, recently had a bread pudding. made with croissants, and it was delicious. I don't think croissants can soak up enough of the custard for me. Shut up. All right. No, no, I guess I remember, like, there was, like, people were making donut bread pudding.

They're using all kinds of things. But for me, it's like, I want that, like, fatty decadence to come from, like, the eggs and the cream and the custard. I want the bread to be a neutral vehicle. I think something, like, brioche doesn't hold up enough. It doesn't have, like, a chew. I just made a Tris Laceace cake recently. And the interesting thing about Trislete's cake,

if you were to take a normal classic sponge cake mix and soak that in some sort of liquid and all in the three milks, it would just sort of disintegrate and wouldn't hold up. The thing about a Cheselyche's cake is there's no fat in it. And so that's what allows the protein structures to hold up to all of that liquid

is because it's effectively an angel food cake whipped with egg whites. And so for me, like a bread pudding, I want something that has, you know, a little bit of chew to it, like a chala. A chala, to me, is the perfect bread for bread.

bread pudding. I think you need that contrast. Cressant, a little bit too much for me. Okay, I hear you, and I'm not saying you're wrong. I think you're right in a lot of what you just said. But once again, I do have to say, I just hadn't. It was delicious. I don't what to tell you. I'm sorry, it tasted so good. It was so flaky and buttery. I understand conceptually what you're talking about with the proteins and it not absorbing as much and the texture and whatever, but it just really worked and the top gets really crunchy than I think a lot of other bread puddings I've had because of the croissant, because of probably the butter in the croissons and it was really delicious. Science be damned. No, I totally get it. I've

now in my advanced years, I've become a, that's too sweet guy. And I never thought I'd be that. We all age into it. I remember when I was a kid and I'd just be just eating all the candies that I could want and then an adult would be like, that's too sweet for me. And I'd be like, I'm never going to be that person. I ate a single C's candy the other day and I was like, oh, the sugar's burning my throat. Yeah. I was in the wedding singer. I have a podcast. now. I don't seem very into it. Yeah. Well, those are my thoughts on bread pudding. I agree.

Put some, like, some brandy or some rum. Like, I look, God, I am so old. You're so old. You're dating yourself. You're old. Dude, soak some raisins in brandy. Yes. Unironically, yes. You're old, old, old, old old. Fuck. Hi, this is Brian. I'm from the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin.

With my girl from Bethany right now. Hi, Bethany. And we have a argument that we would like you guys to help us solve. We're trying to debate what's the difference between a hot dish and a casserole. Oh, boy. I say that a hot dish has to be basically slop, like gruel, where it's just super wet, and a casserole is like baked cheese crumble on top. However, she feels that a hot dish is just on a stove versus a cassero is baked in the oven.

Whoa, whoa. Please debate. Thank you. To my understanding of Hot Dish, it was, it's regional. That's what I've always known Hot Dish to be is like people from, my friend that is from, it's not Minnesota, he's from Minnesota. My friend from Minnesota makes hot dish. And so I just assumed it was a regional thing because I'd never heard anyone outside of the Midwest talk about it.

What tops your friend's hot dish, your Minnesotan friends? Tater tots. That's what I was going to say is at least the shibble. of a hot dish. That's what I think of. His is like ground beef or ground turkey. There's cheese in there, I'm sure. Maybe a bag of frozen vegetables may be.

But tater tots are on top. So that's what I instinctively think of. I thought that that was called hot dish, and that's what that one dish was called. And then during that phone call, I was like, oh, well, maybe more things are called that. But to me, it's just that and it's regional. Yeah, as far as I know, a hot dish,

I would say hot dish is the regional Minnesotan, probably extends to say the Grand Forks region, et cetera, outside of Minnesota, but that's the regional Minnesotan term for a casserole that is more likely to have tater tots on the top than not. Not all hot dishes need to have tater tots on them, of course. But like, if you look at the term casserole, it is so broad. Oh, yeah. Well, I think... So broad. I think it's like a hot dish is a casserole, but a casserole isn't inherently a hot dish. I think it's a rectangle versus square situation. Absolutely. But the interesting thing about casserole is, one, it's the name of the dish. It's a French term for the actual baking and serving dish. But if you even

look at other cultures, you can go to a Japanese restaurant, and there might be something that is on the menu called like scallop casserole. Sure. And of course, every, any time I see that, I order it just to see what comes out. It's because I'm very curious. And I remember once just getting like scallops that were baked with mayonnaise and cheese. Yes. Which like, yeah. Sure, yeah. You did it. Great job. And it was delightful. I love a baby scallop and I love mayonnaise and cheese. And so the term casserole is so so broad So reckon all hot dishes are casseroles And let's say at least 30 to 35% of hot dishes

Do have tater tots on top And unfortunately that means that we think Both of you are wrong And I'm so sorry Yeah, yeah, that's correct I have a Minnesota friend, Molly Yay Yeah, I know Molly You know Molly? You know Molly? You're friends with Molly too?

I'm not friends with Molly, but I know her Or do you know my friend Levi? Who's Lee? He's my best friend from high school's fiancé No Okay, well he's my friend from Minnesota Okay, gotcha. Gotcha. Do they know each other?

I should ask. Hey, guys, this is Laura from, I'm from Kansas now. I used to be from Florida, but listen, I love you guys so much. I love Mythbusters. I love Mythbusters. I love Mythbusters. Well, Josh says, blah, blah, blah, he's tired of hearing Josh says. But anyhow, my father used to say that if you had some meat that we had some meat that we

was on the verge of turning bad and maybe even had a teeny bit of spank. All you had to do was soak it in vinegar, you know, like marinated. There's some vinegar, some oil, some spices, and the vinegar's going to cook it and kill the bacteria. So what are your thoughts? Can't wait to hear. Okay, guys, love you. Bye. So obviously neither one of us are scientists, and I think the people at home know that,

but I'll just say it as a preface. Listen, I think that there's things that people have been doing for hundreds, thousands, millions of years that I wouldn't recommend. You know, my grandfather almost exclusively ate pickled eggs that he left out on the counter. That was most of his diet. That plus some alcohol. And he lived a long, long time. Would I recommend doing that to someone? No.

So to me, this feels like one of those situations. I'm like, if that's working for your father, go off King. That's what I have to say to him, good for him. Would I recommend it? No. I don't drive a mile per hour above the speed limit. To me, that's the limit. 35 miles per hour.

That's the most you're allowed to go. I'm going 33 to 34 on that, and people get mad at me. But also, I know that if you drive above the speed limit, you can literally see in graphs, the percentage of getting into an accident increases, and then the lethality of that accident also increases. it's the same for food preparation, right? The fact that if you're speeding on the freeway, it doesn't mean you're going to get in an accident and die.

It means your chances increase. You're likely not going to. It's, you know, it happens a lot, but statistically pretty rare. Getting a food-borne illness, it happens a lot, but also statistically pretty rare. I've eaten chicken sashimi, I've eaten pork sashimi, and people like, oh, my God, you didn't die. I'm like, no, but I did assume a certain amount of risk. I ameliorate that by not speeding on the freeway, and I think it averages out. So that is all to say

The vinegar I don't think is actually doing a lot Acid acid can create an inhospitable environment Or bacterial growth Yeah, your father's trying to make saviche out of spoiled meat And unfortunately I just You don't make saviche out of spoiled fish either There's a great, I believe it's a Guatemalan Or generally central American dish called salpicon

That's like this vinegar beef salad Oh, love that. Tell your dad to make some salpicon out of it But mostly what's going to happen is that vinegar Is going to make the meat smell like vinegar instead of bacterial stink, and then it's going to distract you from the fact that it was likely spoiled. But also, though,

the worst food-borne illnesses don't come from your food that smells bad. Of course. It's like botulism, which is like a secret, you know? They're all just either in there or they're not. And the safest thing to do

is cook things to 165 plus degrees, basically past pasteurization temp. And then you're less likely to, you know, that's like E. coli, somonella, instigil temperature. Yeah. You'll be fine, dude. Yeah.

Just don't speed. don't smoke she crying hello oh god oh god it's so breathy oh my god

my unpopular casserole opinion is that you can train yourself to like any food if you don't like it the first time you can find a way to like it

I've done this with so many things that I now love mostly just for fun and because I don't want to be like that picky person. So, yeah, my name is Austin. I live in Asheville, North Carolina, and I hope you guys have a delightful day. I agree.

I think I agree. I'm just like, unless you conceptually have an issue with something in your mind. Like a lifelong vegan maybe wouldn't train themselves to love beef. Yes. Or if you have, like, my father cannot stand the idea. of yogurt for whatever reason. I don't know why.

He's not really like a milk guy. How does he do with mayonnaise? Loves mayonnaise. Interesting. Double standard. 100% double standard. I'm not saying he's a logical guy. But he does, it's not,

when I put yogurt in something and don't tell him, he likes the way it tastes. Of course. But if you tell him it's yogurt, he can't like it. So I think if you can get past any conceptual hangups you have around not liking something,

then I think you can, You can prepare anything in any way. You know what I mean? So, like, I don't particularly like liver. I've had liver in preparations that tasted so much better than others. You can have bad versions of, I love shrimp. Shrimp is my favorite food. I've had bad shrimp.

And I think that through trial and error, you can get yourself to like stuff. Yeah, I'm wondering if there is any actual scientific genetic component to it. The cilantro gene people talk about a lot. And we know that's real. I don't know about it Depending on your epistemological definition of no But like Yeah I think I believe it is real

Harold McGee wrote about it In God it might have just been a New York Times piece Doesn't it feel like only white people have it I'm whispering so they don't hear Sometimes sometimes only white people have Certain genes I guess that's the thing And that is part of like you know

That's part of your jeans That's part of your jeans Part of your Sydney Sweetie jeans You know what I mean She just loves wearing them She just loves wearing those jeans There's nothing different about them. But I don't know.

Harold McGee also wrote this thing about how people with that gene can just train themselves too like it. Because we have trained ourselves to like so many things that taste so bad to us. Alcohol tastes so bad. And I love it. Yeah. It hits my lips and that bad taste is now associated with happy memories of yelling at a police horse. Sure. You know, on Bourbon Street.

And then I enjoy the taste because of that. So now I love cocktails, despite the fact that your body. really registers it as a pure poison. 100%. I think that's true. I mean, even if you think of, you know, cigarettes don't smell good. Weed doesn't smell good. A lot of things like that.

Yeah. But people love them. I won't say who. I won't say who. I love the smell of a cigarette. Oh, I love it's delicious. Doesn't it make your mouthwater just thinking about it?

Truly does. I will intentionally walk in the chem trail of somebody smoking a cigarette in the street. Oh, my God. Man, miss the days. Hi. My name is Carmen. And so my mom watches you on TV and to listen to your podcasts.

So I'm her daughter, and I have a food opinion about steak because my grandpa cooks it, and it feels like having so bad my mouth waters. So if, um, and, um, if my, and if my, and if my grandma says, I'm going to have steak for lunch That I do I'm going to have mouth Water my mouth

And they'll have a wet mouth all day And I can't wait for my lunch tomorrow Okay, bye bye bye bye Thank you so much for calling in Yeah 100% Isn't that the best thing to yarn? No notes But I do have a hot take

What's your hot take? I don't really like steak I'm not a big steak person either. How dare you quash this child's dreams? The fact that you are dreaming of steak is beautiful. And I will say part of the love of food. Maybe 90% of it is the yearning. I'm not saying it's bad. I think it's great that they love steak.

I'm saying it's weird that I don't like steak. No, it's the same. You and I are the same boat. Why are you not a big steak person? Well, I think that it probably originates. My parents don't eat meat. My parents are pescatarians. So I did not grow up eating meat.

But I grew up eating a lot of fake meat. meat. And I grew up eating a lot of fish. So I think that fake meat that has been able to replicate certain things like a hamburger. I could taste a hamburger and go, oh, that tastes good. I've had veggie burgers. I think it approximates it. A steak is kind of the one thing that doesn't have that. So to me, the first time I ever tasted a steak, it tasted like an overcooked ahituna steak to me. Because that's all I had ever had. So I think it kind of comes from that. I don't hate it. I don't think it's bad. Like sometimes people will be like, well, how could I ever trust your food opinion? I'm like, relax. It's just a preference. But yeah, it's just a

like not really, it's, I don't love the texture. I, I always wish it tasted like more. I don't know, I just wish I was eating. It's like, why would I eat a steak when I could eat like fried chicken? No, 100% agree. And the fact that you would even have to, uh, defend your take of not liking steak to me is the reason I don't like steak. Wow, I thought you were going to chastise me big time. No, not at all. And the fact that you think I would chastise you is the reason I don't love steak like that because steak is so heavily mythologized. Yeah. You can be a steak YouTuber. There's a lot of steak YouTubers. There's not a lot of pork YouTubers. Yeah. It's very strange. The two are just animals. And also the idea of a steak is a very, I would say American concept, right, of a steak. Yeah. Not steak, not cooking with beef. But even like, I remember taking my roommate who in college, he was not a very cultural person, we went to the Viarta supermarket, which is the best supermarket in LA, the Burbank one. Unreal. But you walk in there and they, you know, giant butcher counter filled with all different kinds of trees. So all different cuts of steak and pork and, you know, fresh cut livers and it's like a beautiful butchercase and my roommate just goes you know i'm not

getting anything they don't have any steak and i'm like look at the giant collection of beautifully trimmed cow parts yeah what do you think steak is and then he was like yeah but they don't i don't see new york i don't see ribby like the types of stakes that he grew up with was just what somebody decided the puzzle piece of a cow bread for commodity should be cut up into you know it's a very arbitrary idea that we should quote unquote love a steak. And then people will complain when you put flavors on it, which is very strange. You're ruining your good piece of steak. Oh, you put a sauce on it. Oh, you're ruining a good piece of steak. Why? What else do we feel that way about? You put sauce on anything else and people are like, yeah, that's how food is made. You put sauce on top of a thing and then

that's dinner. But with steak, they're like if you put side, if you put dead or whatever, it's very wild. I can't believe you feel this way. I've never respected you more. Wow. God. Hey. Hey. Look at us. Thank you. us. Well, I did feel so inspired by this voicemail. So thank you so much for calling in because I do feel that. I do love, I love feeling excited for lunch the next day. And I would say in general, my mouth waters for, the two things that are coming to my mind are shrimp and grits, which is like one of my favorite foods, because it's so savory and so delicious. And then I can, I'm like, it's getting wet in there right now thinking about a, like a big sandwich, like a hoagie, like a Jersey Mike's sub with lots of cherry pepper relish. And it's above, it's a sub and it's above, tell you what? How do you feel about the jam?

Not me, Jordan Myrick, Jersey Meeks. I love Jordan Myrick's super wet subs. No, I think Jersey Mike easily does the best sandwich. Right? It's not something I typically crave. I am so burrito motivated. Yeah. As I've dialed in my tastes, I get older,

I realize all I want to eat are burritos. And so the thought of just like a bean burrito with a super spicy salsa roha on it, probably some cilantro and onion, that bean burrito, that makes my mouthwater like nobody's business. That's so interesting too because that's also, that would be like a go-to order for me. I get a bean and cheese burrito add onion and cilantro and then do whatever kind of salsa with it. That is probably one of the things that I could eat for every single meal for the rest of my life, like a desert island food and never get tired of it. I think a good bean is unparalleled. One of my favorite foods. 100%.

And I think probably the healthiest food. I think if you were to eat one food for the rest of your life, it should be a bean. And then give me a little flat bread to scoop those beans up with, and that's heaven. Unbelievable.

And then a salsa is like a salad, but 9,000 times more delicious. God dang, I'm so hot. Thank you for that call because you've made me yearn for dinner now. What a wonderful call. And now Josh is going to take me to get a burrito.

On that note, thank you for listening to a hot dog as a sandwich. We got new audio-only episodes every Wednesday and then a video version here on YouTube every Sunday, but not this one. Nope, you just get to listen

to our sultry John Lovett's voices. And if you want to be featured on Opinions July Castrolls, give us a ring. Nicole normally says that part. Oh. And if you want to be featured on Opinions or Like Casseroles, give us a ring and leave a quick message at 833 Dog Pod 1 and make sure you're following Mythical Kitchen over on YouTube. See you all next time. Now, Jordan, you do the final statement that we say every episode.

Of course. And I'll put my own spin on it. Thanks so much, Josh, for having me on the podcast. Jordan, you got anything to plug? Oh, sure. I host a comedy cooking competition show on Dropout called Gastronauts. I also have a podcast of my own for all these little podcast freaks out there with my wife called Happy Wife, Happy Life. It is a comedy dating and relationship podcast.

Then you can follow me on every single form of social media. Have a wife and a college degree. What can't you do? So true. Find a girl who can do both.