A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - What Your Favorite Struggle Meal Says About You

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

Some of the greatest meals of all time have been invented through struggle. Today, Josh and Nicole are discussing: what does your favorite struggle meal say about you? Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: http://youtube.com/@ahotdogisasandwich To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Cassoulet, pain perdu, chile quiles, some of the greatest foods of all time have been invented through struggle. I make meat slop. 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 where we break down the world's biggest food debates. I'm your host, Josh Scherr. And I'm your host, Nicole Inayati. And Nicole, it is a new year. It is the same old us. That's right. People don't actually change, right?

I don't think so. No, it's like you, through your developmental years, you kind of develop your personality. You become the pick-me kid in class. You were in the gifted classes, and so you think you're special, and then you kind of... I went to one gifted and talented education class, but I was in like honors choir. Okay, honors choir, that's why you crave attention all the time. Super! The point is, you are the same person, that means the struggle is the same, that means you will need struggle meals.

Yes. And today we're going to analyze what your favorite struggle meal says about you. First up, we should probably define what a struggle meal is. I have the definition up here on UrbanDictionary.com, which is my Oxford dictionary. So a struggle meal is defined as a cheap meal slash snack bought at the store, usually eaten by broke college students. Examples include ramen, chips and dip, and microwavable meals. Hey, Kyle, want to grab some McDonald's later tonight? I'm running low on money, man. That's Kyle.

I think I'm just going to eat a struggle meal back in my dorm room. This has 80 thumbs up and six thumbs down. That's a pretty common sentence I would have said back in the day and also still say now, like, nah, I'm just going to go eat a struggle meal. And as the king of we have food at home are you that guy really i'm i'm so hard that guy especially because every time we order postmates grubhub whatever it seems to be like 80 for two people no matter what you get i do not ever ever never once in my life have i ordered grubhub or postmates to my own personal house. Good. Never. Peeing money away. I know.

Peeing money. Nicole, you're urinating money. You're shoshing money down the tube when you order Postmates. Postmates, sponsor us. I love your work. It's just a little bit exorbitant and I'm trying to buy a house one day. Same. So I don't think me I'm all about simulating

the economy or whatever but spending 30 on like on like a driving fee and like tip and i can just go and get a pick it up with my husband and we have like a little you know fun time in the car and we chat but whatever see i do that except i'm just cooking struggle meals at home taking whatever grains whatever meat whatever flavorings i have schlopping it together in a pot and to me that's the struggle meal right yeah i think my struggle meal has a little bit of a different definition because i must say i've never lived on my own i always had my i i've never my definition of a struggle meal is a little bit different than other people's so i would say my struggle meal comes more of like from a place where i've disassociated the whole day and i come

home and i'm like okay i need to feed myself so my struggle meal comes more of like I want to turn on a single flame or press a single button. And that's where my struggle meal comes from. So that's like a struggling to cope meal. This is the mental struggle meal. That's my struggling to cope mental health meal, I guess you could say. And that's a big struggle meal for a lot of people. A lot of people talk about their depression meals, you know, things where you can't bring yourself to cook a lavish thing

or you can't even bring yourself to go out and get food. So it's like, you got to make do with what you got at home. Totally, totally. You want to know what mine was when I lived with my parents?

Heck yeah, I do. A quesadilla. Quesadilla, great struggle meal. Best struggle meal in my opinion. I think it toes the line between struggle meal

and like nice little treat for yourself, you know, and that's what's beautiful about the quesadilla. Yeah. But tell me about your go-to quesadilla so i would of course use mission flour tortillas and um i i graduated i would initially only use one tortilla and fold it over but when i went to culinary school i learned that you can use two tortillas and it was like the

biggest trip of all time and i would and i learned that like uh you don't need to use the microwave the microwave is actually the worst way what do you mean you don't need to use them? Was that what you were doing before? I used to take a single tortilla and I would fill it with any sort of cheese that was in my house. It was typically a reduced fat three cheese blend from Trader Joe's with a little bit of that Mexican spice or whatever the heck that means. And then I would fold it over the top. I would microwave it for 16 seconds, remove it. And because my dad is allergic to pepper, did you know that?

No. I have very limited hot sauces in my fridge. I would have my designated hot sauce and like my brother's designated hot sauce. So my brother's was Red Rooster and mine was Tapatio. So I would have Red Rooster, Tapatio, and then a little bit of ketchup for a little bit of sustenance. So that's what it used to be. And then I like matured and I realized, oh, I can just cook this on a low flame in a skillet on one side. But you truly didn't know that before culinary school? Were you starting at that low of a – this is no shame.

Yes, yes. This is no shame. We're all in the same struggle. Well, I didn't start taking food or cooking seriously until I was 18, 19 years old. Until then, I was just like, oh, this food is magically in front of me. Cool. Awesome. I didn't understand the way to cook. I really didn't. And I learned how to hold a knife

properly my first day of culinary school. And I actually chopped the nail off of my opposing ring finger. That happens. So like, so I didn't know what I was doing half of the time. And I was like, oh, I can use a skillet and I can make it like crispy. Oh, my God. And it can melt. Oh, my God. So that's my struggle. Can I tell you what that says about you? What? Okay. So this is when you were living with your parents, right?

Yes. Yes, I was. And I was on auto and I would come home. I was like, so I was like so intensely like drained from school because I was on my feet. I was cooking. I was, I was being a menace to society. I was, I was 19 years old, Nicole. Like it was different.

This to me says that you have dreams of nurturing others one day. For real. was 19 years old, Nicole. Like, it was different. This to me says that you have dreams of nurturing others one day. For real. Shut up. No, no, no. Can I say this? I don't...

From a microwave quesadilla and ketchup? Not the microwave quesadilla. This is you graduating from the microwave because the microwave was always just the start, right? That was the stepping stone.

Every journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. The microwave was your first step. It was my first step. But then you were like, I deserve better. You graduated your struggle meal because I used to do when I was a kid, but we're talking like six years old, microwaving the tortilla with the cheese in it, dipping it in sour cream, whatever. But you graduating to the stove, realizing there's something better to me was like, I want to one day get out of my parents' house.

Right. Like, like it was an aspirational struggle meal. I want to one day care for myself better on my own. I want to one day care for a partner. I want to one day care for children, you know, if that's in the cards for you. Like you don't talk about babies all the time. Is that really what you think or are you just saying that for the podcast? No, I'm dead serious. If I'm analyzing what you were doing with that, right? That's to me what it was.

You were sort of practicing. You were almost playing house because you had that with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? That's, to me, what it was. You were sort of practicing. You were almost playing house because you had that bit of arrested development living with your parents for so long, Nicole. So long. You know?

And that's not your fault. It's really not. It was the societal pressures of being a Persian Jewish girl in Los Angeles. And I think it's beautiful that you were then able to, you know,

graduate up to that nice pan-fried quesadilla. So pan-fried. And you were always looking for ways to improve it, right? You didn't settle for the struggle. You know, you went from one tortilla to two tortillas. graduate up to that nice pan-fried quesadilla. So pan-fried. You were always looking for ways to improve it, right? You didn't settle for the struggle. You know, you went from

one tortilla to two tortillas. Do I think that makes a worse quesadilla? Yeah. I'm very ethically against the two. You do? I need the hinge.

The hinge, to me, provides structure within the quesadilla because if the cheese is too melty, Not if the tortilla is properly griddled and crispy and delicious.

But if the cheese is too melty and it's slipping and slopping around, you know, you try and cut it, it shifts off, you pick it up. I think the tortilla to me needs to have that hinge. Well, thank you for totally discounting my struggle meal

after building it up so high. What the hell was that, man? Okay, tell me about your struggle. I have more, but let's ping pong it. Let's ping pong it. It's funny because you see a lot of my struggle meals at work. And we're talking like.

So your struggle meal is defined by how much protein you can shove into your body. Am I wrong? Kind of. No. Okay. If we're talking about the mental struggle meal, right? One thing that I do, I used to really binge eat on like garbage foods. Yeah.

When I was, yeah, when I was like struggling mentally, right? That was a way that I would bring myself back to some sort of happiness it's just like bingey chips doritos whatever's around and then some point in my life the modality flipped and i was like okay now when i'm struggling mentally i go to super super clean eating which is bad like this is bad this is not an endorsement it could be it's a form of, like, asserting control. Sure, I get it. Like, all these things in my life feel out of control right now. You know what I mean?

Trying to plan a wedding, dealing with family issues, job. We have thousands of pieces of content floating out there at any given point. It's an absolute trip. And so sometimes when it gets really overwhelming, I make what I call meat slop. Yes, you do. And I made, do you know what's in the fridge right now do you know i'm gonna have for lunch today is it turkey no okay so it was chicken because it was on sale for cheaper but i took chicken thighs and i removed all the skin because that's got extra fat in it i don't need that right

now and also that's gonna make the braise tough and i took a whole jar of erda salsa verde it costs like 279 for the whole jar yeah right ounces. And I poured that over the chicken thighs. I put it with salt in an oven covered for like four hours, forgot about it. Let it just sit out at room temp for another three hours and then shredded it. Is that part of the recipe? Yeah, you just like, because there's no, it's not even set it and forget it. It's like set it, forget it, do a million other things, come back, realize it's there. It's absolutely foolproof. Just put it in a low oven, just chicken, jarred salsa,

shred it, put that in some sort of a tortilla with Greek yogurt. And that's just pure whole grains, protein, probiotics. And for me, that's like, I am asserting control over my own life.

Whereas before I was struggling, this will now rise me like a Phoenix out of the struggle ashes into being a competent human being again. Does it work? No, absolutely not. Yeah. So you're all about all about controlling the struggle.

Yeah. About controlling the struggle. So instead of just being like, hey man, I just got this ramen, I'm gonna eat it because I don't have money and I don't have time. You're just like, I have enough time to do this and this is what I need to do to feel like I'm in control. And total amount of work, probably the same as ramen.

I literally just dumped chicken thighs into a thing, dumped salsa, threw it in the oven, walked away. Active time, it's about the same as ramen if you really break it down. It's not that immediate gratification, but for me, there's something in that little amount of process where I'm like, I am getting my life

back on track with this. Do you feel like your life is on track after you eat it? No, man! Are you kidding? Not even a little your life is on track after you eat it? No, man. Not at all? Are you kidding? No. Not even a little bit? I don't know. Then why do you keep doing it?

Because I don't know. You know what they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, right? I'm like a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do. That is an impression of Chet Hanks

doing an impression of Heath Ledger as the Joker. If you've seen that video, that's a fun video. I like Chet. That's my like as a probably when I turned 27 and I was like, oh, you got to be an adult now. That's a new struggle meal. Wow. Right.

So what were your former struggle meals looking like? Former struggle meals. Ramen was a huge, huge, huge part of that. Yeah. Right. But I would generally, I'm a big fan of dry noodles. I don't need this. I don't like the soup.

I don't like the soup. Oh, you drain out the soup? I drain the soup. Well, I never made the soup. What? I like boil the noodles and then. In a little bit of water? In, yeah, well, like in whatever water. Okay, okay, okay I like boil the noodles and then- In a little bit of water? And yeah, well, like in whatever water,

I boil the noodles and then I strain that and then I add it to a hot saute pan with like soy sauce. So I'll do like a pan fried noodle. Really go the extra mile. And so to me, like you get soy sauce, you get ramen noodles and you get an egg and I just fry the egg in there and kind of like really stir fry

it and burn the soy into the ramen. And that was a huge part of my diet. And that's, that's a huge struggle, struggle meal success for me. I think everybody has that meal. Like everyone's done some, some kind of like crazy stuff with ramen. I used to, I used to remember like blogs and stuff. He was like, how to make your ramen taste better. And some fool was like peanut butter. I tried it like four times. Cause like, like, I don't like this. Let me try it again. And I tried it again. I'm like, I really don't like this.

And I'm like, let me add a squeeze of lime to make it some sort of like Thai crap. You didn't like the peanut butter ramen hack? It's not for me. What are the ramen hacks that really spoke to you? Because Roy Choi had his famous one. I love to just crack an egg in it. Yeah. That's my ramen.

Eggs, eggs, eggs are a huge part of the struggle meal. Eggs, if eggs were not in the conversation, would it be a struggle meal? No, correct. You need extra protein. You need extra fat. And like eggs to me are, it was funny, Danny Palumbo, formerly of Spork.com. Yes, yes. He came to me about an article that he was writing. Go to Spork.com.

It's a great website. But he came to me about an article that he was writing about the anti-ketchup on egg sentiment and he was like i have this theory that eggs are such a highbrow dish because people associate them with like french cookery and blah blah blah and so i think people don't like you soiling this highbrow french cookery thing with ketchup and i was like eggs are the opposite of highbrow. I understand certain, the French chef's hat, right? They say there's one,

there's one pleat on the toque for every method they can cook an egg. You make shirred eggs, you make coddled eggs. It's not true. Oh, okay. I was like so excited.

Eggs, some people associate it with the French, but around the freaking world. Eggs are everywhere. Eggs are everywhere. They are the food. They are the protein that makes the world go round.

Totally. From Pakistani egg curries to Chinese egg foo young delicious fried omelets. Everywhere in the world eats eggs. Yeah, totally. And they're fantastic. And they're part of my favorite personal struggle. I eat a lot of breakfast for dinner, which I think could be read as a struggle meal. I think so.

I think it's one of those internal struggles. Yeah. It's like, oh, this is comforting. This is going to jumpstart my day. But even though you're eating it at nighttime. Yeah. I totally get it. But can I tell you what your struggle meal says about you?

Oh, absolutely. The first one? Control freak. Do you think I'm a control freak in real life, though? No, not with us. Not with like the Mythical Kitchen, like the people of Mythical Kitchen mythical kitchen no but i'm sure behind the scenes you're like what have you know you've spent more time with me than like my fiance than my brother yeah right in the last five years oh okay yeah yeah the last five years probably no not lifetime

but anyways point is do you do you think that my struggle meal showing that I'm a control freak is exhibited anywhere else in my life? Like, have you noticed that just from me interacting with the world? Not at work, because I try at work to deliberately not be. I think you're a different person at work than you are in, like, real life. Yeah. I do think Josh outside of work is a different person. Yeah, I'd say so. I think you try, but, like, it doesn't always work out, you know?

That's what I think. I think you're like you're desperate for control and like you're like stretching for control. But I think it's because it doesn't come naturally to me. Oh, really? You know, I feel like my life, it's very easy for me to spiral out. So I need to grasp at the things and food is one of those things that people, you know, do grasp at for control. Sure. And I think your old struggle meal was just like, man, I'm struggling in so many different ways.

And like you were just trying to find comfort. I think struggle meals a lot of the time, especially with college students, is trying to find comfort and trying to find home in a bowl of ramen or like finding home in like chips and hummus or whatever it is. I think it's finding like it's finding humanity to me. Sure. Yeah. You ever flown on an airplane? Yeah, I have. One of the most.

I like airplanes. I'm into airplanes. Really? I love going on airplanes. To me. So, okay. So I just came back from South Africa. I don't know if you all know this.

That's a joke because they're giving me crap because I won't shut up about it. But point is. You will not shut up. Point is 16 hour flights, right? flights from the East Coast to South Africa, being on a plane to me is one of the most dehumanizing experiences. Really? You're just like shuttled in there like cattle. Okay, so on the flight taking off to the East Coast before we made the big flight,

we had to sit there for two and a half hours because they forgot to bring the catering on board. And when they say the catering, you fly cross country, five and a half hour flight in America. They don't serve you a meal, right? They literally come by and what do they say? They say pretzels or Biscoff? Yeah. Pretzels or Biscoff?

Depends, isn't that Delta? We were United. I don't know, United has them. They can't do peanuts anymore because they got the allergies, right? Food allergies are real and whatever. Some people get mad when I talk crap on peanut allergies um but anyways like you're there for five and a half hours and they delayed us for two and a half hours i almost missed a flight just because the pretzels or

biscoff were not there and then if you want to buy anything else you get like a little pack of overly acidulated hummus for ten dollars to, it is utterly like dehumanizing. And to me, a lot of that is because of like the food. I bring food on an airplane. Do you cook it at home? No, I get it from the airport. But like what are you like go to the Wolfgang Puck Express and you get like a lentil soup? I get a sandwich.

I get some chips. I get some a water bottle and a nanner. And I just prepare for the worst. Because I agree that airplanes can be dehumanizing and pretty crappy. But at the same time, if you're prepared, you're prepared. That makes sense. Also, I had a really bad flight experience recently. And it just like totally made me like hate my life.

And I'm like, I need to be a prepared person whenever I go on airplanes. Yeah. So, I mean, like I was just stuck there overnight and it was horrific. So it's just, it's just, I go on airplanes. Yeah. So I mean, like I was just stuck there overnight and it was horrific. So it's just it's just I don't know, like airplanes suck, but it's fun. You get to go somewhere new. You get. Oh, I like getting there. It's fun. But I don't think I don't think that like constitutes a struggle meal. No, no, no. But I'm just saying the idea of food being an act of like humanization or dehumanization, I think struggle meals. I, I see, I see. I'm saying, do you have a meal for you that like when you're not feeling like a human,

when you've been so busy beating down, something that is gonna like bring you back to feeling accomplished, right? I've never, I mean, well, let me think about that. I don't think I've ever felt unhuman before. I've always felt like a human. Really? I've never felt like a robot or like a dog. Oh my god!

How? What's wrong with you? Or like a tree. I feel like a monkey all the time. Do you really? Yeah, well, how many times has our director Ben just yelled, you're a monkey, Derek, at me? Like, all the time. To be clear, it's an inside joke, but it's a Zoolander reference. But I don't take it to heart if someone calls me

a monkey. What do you mean? People call me the B-word all the time. That doesn't mean I am a B- or am i um i'm a bitch i'm a love i will say when i'm feeling really like like poopy like i'm feeling poopy probably pho specifically oxtail pho well i know why because i get my hands in the oxtail you make it or you i don't know how to make pho well. Yeah, it's hard. I've done it. It's just not as good.

That is an artisanal dish. But whenever I'm like, I'm like not feeling human, I like to get oxtail pho and then I like to just absolutely ravage it with my hands. The bone, like suck it on bones when you're struggling.

This is the best. That's the best. But I'd say that's mine what about yours uh classic classic californian very non-mexican breakfast burrito and i say non-mexican simply because it's like tater tots uh some sort of american cheese yeah american cheese and uh bacon yeah in it along with scrambled eggs. To me, that might be the single most comforting food for me. And it's eggs. And I think it's why. And it's eggs.

It's eggs, right? And it's eggs for a reason. Breakfast to me is like a passport to comfort. Also, a big old stack of pancakes. That hits that as well. I think pancakes take too much effort. Not to make. No, no, no.

Really? Well, I'll make pancakes sometimes. Yeah, I can't make pancakes. My dad makes really good pancakes. But I personally, the act of me pouring in the Bisquick with the milk is too much. It's too much for me. It's too much for me. I can't do that.

But you know those little Trader Joe's? God bless Trader Joe's. Can I just say that? God bless Trader Joe's. The frozen little pucks of hash brown? Yeah. The frozen little pucks of hash brown. Yeah. Oh, when I have no time, no energy, no nothing.

Those save the day with a single egg, a single egg. That's what I need. That's a good struggle meal for me. Those little Trader Joe's little, they're like little hash browns. They can like sleep on like a little pillow. If you had advice for other people, right? Like let's talk financial struggle meals let's talk like cheap like you ain't you got no money in the bank account i mean both of us beat poverty bingo i mean i wasn't like poor poor yeah okay i'd be party you know yeah yeah

i mean i had like my parents i was like middle middle class a little bit low sometimes like your parents are probably like you know frugal on the food well yeah a child of immigrants but of course they're dumb asses moved to beverly hills of all places i'm so mad about that like you couldn't go to santa monica this is nicole's struggle you couldn't go to santa monica uh you're like a clueless character that escaped from the tv and like like ageless yeah like the dorian gray of the clueless character that escaped from the TV. Like ageless. Like the Dorian Gray of the clueless universe.

That's me. I'm the one. You know they actually have the Persian Mafia in that movie. Really? Did you know that? I haven't seen it in so long. Every single person was like, bro, look at this. And then they would back it up with Persian Mafia. You see that?

You see that? BMWs. You see that? Okay, sorry. Poor people. Like if somebody does not have a lot of money, they don't have a lot of time, they're struggling, you as a chef, what would you say they should make and what do you think that says about them? Peanut butter and jelly.

Honestly. Yeah. Honestly, you get the big old Costco jar of peanut butter. You know, you get the big old, everything's going to come from Costco here because they sell the or wheat bread in the double pack. Yes. You freeze the one. Yeah. Correct. You freeze the one you everything's going to come from Costco here because they sell the Oro Wheat Bread in the double pack. In two packs, yes. In the double pack. You freeze the one.

Yeah, correct, correct. You freeze the one you're not going to use and then, yeah, uh-huh. Frozen bread, it literally microwaves to fresh in 12 seconds. That's right, that's right. It's great. I think peanut butter and jellies are the, I mean, I grew up whenever we would have like a, like, what's that thing called? Like brown bag days? Yeah, like school lunch?

No, no, when you would, no, we would make them for like underprivileged kids. Oh, okay, okay, yeah. And it was always PB&Js because they were the easiest thing to make. And they're delicious and they have a lot of sustenance and they have a little bit of sugar from the jam. And it just gives you energy. That is actually a huge struggle meal of mine that I kind of forgot. I feel like I haven't made one in a long time, which is maybe good for my mental health or bad because I've made a lot of meat slop. You should make one.

I think it'll make you feel really good. Yeah. I think after this podcast, you should have a PB&J. PB&J is so, so, so comforting. Oh, so good. And another thing is, especially if you're freezing the bread, because I think you have to plan for struggle meals. A little bit.

You need to like stock your house. Yeah. And that's the thing. Cheese can go bad. Of course. Tortillas can go bad. You can freeze them. Sure.

Yeah. But to me, something like I'm a big fan of the struggle fried rice. Oh, yeah. Oh, huge. And not even when I was really struggling. So when I went through a breakup a couple of years ago, right? And this is the time. Sorry about that.

Oh, my God. It was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I mean, she's doing great out there, too, as well. It was great for all of us. You know, no. Thank you for breaking up. No happy relationship, you know, ended in a breakup, right? But point is, I was going to Craigslist apartment, lived with some cool dudes, but was really struggling mentally with my place in the world and all that.

Of course, yeah. This is when I used Tony Sashry's exclusively. Oh, because you couldn't travel with a bunch of spices, right? Yeah, and I felt like I was in a stranger's apartment. It was kind of dirty, and literally the old dude's stuff was still in the pantry but they were like uh don't throw it out he might be coming back i'm like what do you mean i live in his room why would he be coming back this doesn't make sense that's weird that's weird that's a weird living arrangement i was in a weird mental struggle place uh and so tony sachery's huge savior of mine the

other one is minute race oh well i grew up with Rice-A-Roni. Rice-A-Roni sounds great, but those prepackaged things. So Minute Race. The mini ones? The mini cup ones? No, not the mini ones. The big old thing. Okay, okay.

So I was also trying to save and scrimp money because I had to buy a car because I was using my ex's car because we shared it, but really, I drove it, and so then I didn't know what to do, and I bought a car. And I was in an emotionally vulnerable place, so I got upsold by the Nissan salesman and now I have this beautiful Altima. It's a very beautiful It's nice and safe. 2017 certified pre-owned.

Point is point is minute rice and you take that you have to boil it for like literally a minute. A minute. Holy crap.

And then you just heat a frying pan you throw an egg in there and then you Tony Sash reads it up you take whatever scraps that you have in the fridge. You take the Taco Bell sauce and the soy sauces that you collect from takeout straight up yeah

anything any you put ketchup in there right uh you put soy sauce you throw some peanut butter on it if you have any odds and ends of vegetables to me like making the scrap fried rice and we have a video on mythical kitchen that was shot during quarantine where i went through my scrap fried rice process it's nothing that would pass muster with the Uncle Rogers of the world, right? It is not a traditional wok fried, you know, egg fried rice, but it is something that is nourishing.

It is hot. It is cheap and it doesn't go bad because the minute rice just, oh, it just stays there forever. Rice and beans. I mean, the classic combination. It's like a complex carb, right? It's like when you eat that, your body like processes it as like really good for you or something like that.

Maybe, man. I don't know. I took like a nutrition class in culinary school and like that's the only thing I remember. She said, rice and beans are good for you. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, beans are to me like the greatest. And if you are eating brothy beans as a struggle meal. You're a sexy girl. You're a sexy girl. Hot girls eating brothy beans as a struggle meal you're a sexy girl you're a sexy girl hot girls eat brothy beans hot girls love

brothy beans but they don't know what to struggle with no they don't and that's what makes it hot yeah yeah yeah and if you're a boy out there this isn't gendered

no it's not obviously it's not if you're a guy girl non-binary you can be a hot girl eating brothy beans as well that's right but the key is

brothy beans they have to be brothy gotta be brothy and the reason why they're brothy I'm asking you oh I don't know i don't know why that became a thing it just it just did hot girls started eating brothy beans i think i think they would wilt kale in it oh that makes sense and the broth would wilt the kale homemade stock oh my god some no no homemade oh no they wouldn't you go to you go to arowan yeah bone broth for 28 dollars and that's my

personal struggle meal 28 $28 broth. Some other things that are struggle meals. Cereal, big bowl of cereal with whipped cream on it. I did that last night. Asserting control over my diet. Are you for real? Yeah, big old bowl of cinnamon toast crunch, you know, got the Sunday Scaries. Cinnamon toast crunch, low-fat milk, whipped cream on top.

Is it better than cereal without whipped cream? No. Is that a good struggle meal hell yes you know i wasn't what oh i'm sorry did i say something offensive no i just really wasn't expecting that um chicken soup that you make from a rotisserie chicken that you picked up all the meat from that's good rotisserie chicken in general is a good is a great struggle yeah five dollars at the costco yeah big fan of it i'm telling you that's it you pick it apart you put that in a tortilla all my struggle meals are also all my normal meals yes i've realized so it's a constant struggle and it's just meat and salsa and a tortilla and that's all i want to eat josh i respect what does that say

about me is that what that you like tortillas chicken and salsa and salsa? Yeah. You're a cool guy. Honestly, I don't know. I think you just have an elevated palate, and those things taste good to you, and they're cheap, and you can make it better by mixing however you want. I'll give you all a fun little hack. So you got to buy a jar of salsa that has a mouth wide enough for a whole chicken drumstick to fit in.

That way you take the chicken drumstick, and you can just fully submerge it. And then you're and you suck it right off the bone. And that's my struggle. Okay. All right, Nicole, we've heard you and I have to say now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the world. This is how they rattle. It's time for a segment we call...

Opinions are like casseroles! Opinions. Is that the Seinfeld bass line? No. That's crazy. And Jerry Seinfeld, you cannot sue us. Larry David, you either. Larry David can sue me. He's a sue me daddy.

He's already got the FTX lawsuit to worry about. It's fine. He's so tied up in litigation that he can't touch us. All right. Ready to hit that first voicemail? Hey, guys. Love the show. Been listening to it since day one.

I love you um i have a way that i make my ramen that disturbs a lot of people but spicy every time that i make it and someone tries it they spread it on and it kind of continues you know it creates a contagion. And then it has come back to me from someone I didn't know. What I do is I take the ramen. I make it with all the regular stuff. And then I put the seasoning pack in about halfway through cooking it. And then I drain off almost all of the liquid. I crack an egg in it and spin it around, give it the egg drop soup treatment.

And then I drop in two slices of American cheese, a tablespoon of butter, and just a scoop of cream cheese. And mix that up. And boom. It's absolutely fantastic. I call it my Rotter's Ramen Cheese When people hear about it They're often disgusted Until they try it and they're like oh my god

I think you might be onto something So anyway that is my Opinion casserole Take care First of all there's a lot of ramen discourse In this group of friends which I think is so cute I don't talk about that kind of stuff with my friends. Oh, I talk about ramen with my friends all the time.

Do you really? I wish I did. It used to be hacks like that, but now it's like, ooh, we all have jobs. What's the best fancy ramen? We're all on the Shin Ramyun train. Oh, nice. Shin Ramyun, baby. Shin Ramyun black.

I had $30 ramen the other day. Where? At this place called Kazan Ramen. It was good. Oh, they're great. It was good. It was $30. Yeah, they have the Sichuan lamb ramen. I haven't tried that.

Spicy, spicy, spicy. That's the opposite of sharp. Well, that is a treat ramen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cream cheese and ramen. You already know that I love adding cream cheese to like potatoes and pasta bakes and everything. So I love it. I'm going to do it.

American cheese is literally a government-funded struggle meal ingredient, right? I grew up on the government cheese. Yeah, we have the- Brick cheese, right? Yeah, brick cheese, commode cheese, they call it. It's the commodity government cheese that literally everybody's got like a three-pound brick of in the food stamp welfare basket. They were all the food banks

because we have so much of it and it's very shelf stable. So American cheese, a huge part of me growing up and still love it to this damn day. You can't recreate the quality of government cheese though. Craft American singles

don't quite do it. That's true. American cheese and ramen with egg. That was a Roy Choi hack as well. Was it? Vaunted chef Roy Choi published a recipe for that in the New York Times. It was brothier and kind of based off the Korean purée chigae. Sure.

Which is a struggle meal in itself. The Korean army stew? The Korean army stew, yeah. It's like literally from the struggles of war and neocolonization. Yep, yep, yep. So I think there's culinary merit in this. 100%. And then the cream cheese of it it all very much the BuzzFeed

tastification of food put cream cheese in all your pastas that's half their damn videos they could launch an empire off cream cheese and noodles were they ever sponsored

by Philadelphia no they sure big mistake they didn't need to be sponsored because they were giving them all the free money Josh who am I why would you buy the cow

when you get the milk for free Josh who am I big mistake huge oh no I don't know i'm sorry julia roberts are pretty woman oh yeah i'm holding my bag no i just that man when jason when jason alexander started roughing her up in that movie oh i almost cried dude that was that's a tough scene for me it's good movie tough scene you're nothing but oh and then he says he

you know does a little anti anti-woman slur there. Big mistake. All right, next opinion. Oh, that dish needs scallions. The ramen? You put some scallions in there? That's good. That's good stuff. Oh, man.

Hey. Hey. My hot take on food is that Cheerios smell like pee. Yes! Chirios, Monos, Monos thinks they're the same thing. And my husband agrees and my sister thinks

I'm crazy. Please, please, please validate me. Regular Cheerios smell like pee. I like how you repeated it as if like you. Regular Cheerios smell like pee. I like how you repeated it as if we could possibly forget Cheerios smell like pee. Nicole. Okay, I just Googled Cheerios smell like pee and 153,000 people. There are results.

There are results. I think they smell like pee too, but it smells like good pee, not bad pee. There's good pee and there's bad pee. We can all on that there's like hydrated pee there's tea hydrated pee there's asparagus pee there's coffee pee coffee pee is good pee to me it smells like coffee my pee smells like coffee most of the time um so that doesn't bother me about cheerios the pee smell right what bothers me is that if you burp after eating cheerios it it smells like egg farts. And seriously, I could not tell you what's going on with Cheerios, but there are some weird bodily aromas associated with and produced by them. Yeah. To the point where I would never choose Cheerios as a main cereal, which, as we discussed, is a struggle food.

It's for kids. No, I— Little kids love Cheerios because they're easy to grab. Are you kidding me? Cheerios are for children. are for old people. Because they're easy to grab. Are you kidding me? Cheerios are for children. They, they. And for old people. It's not, but it's not for people.

It is either for a four-year-old child. Like, they had Cheerios at the Sizzler Kids Buffet. Well, yeah, because they're for kids. They feed little children Cheerios. No, but, but, but, Cheerios. They have the big old heart on the Honey Nut Cheerios thing going, this is good for heart health. Josh, old people and babies are close together in the circle of life. You're correct.

See, see, this is us. We're here. We're 30. We're like here. But like babies, old adults, they're like the same. They wear diapers. And neither of them are bothered by the smell of pee. Dude, I visited my grandma the other day and like her old phone.

It's like basically a convalescent home. God bless her. You know, she's lived a good full life, 100 old but everywhere just smelled like pee man the whole place was just pee because you know at that age you're peeing everywhere when you're not everywhere so the cheerios they don't smell like pee they smell like humans they smell like you and so you eat them we're never getting the cheerio sponsorship we're never i love cheerios honey nut cheerios were my jam that was my dessert as a child really Really? I wasn't. My house was locked down. I was allowed the 100 calorie snack wells. Maybe a spoonful of Nutella like a dog. Or Honey Nut Cheerios. Those were my three desserts as a child.

I'm imagining your mom just throwing a spoon of Nutella in the corner and you scampering over. I go, Mom, I got an A on my vocab test. Good job, spoon of Nutella in the corner and you scampering over. I go, mom, I got an A on my vocab test. Good job spoon of Nutella. Every time you got an A back in school, did you start tasting chocolate like Pavlov's dog? No, no, no, but it was close. Next opinion, please.

Hi, my name is Alicia, a long time listener. I love your podcast so much. Thanks, Alicia. My unpopular opinion is chocolate covered pretzels with mustard. I think are delicious. Bombshell.

And pineapple do on pizza. Thank you. Have a good day. Hey, you too. Thank you so much. Pineapples on pizza. 100%. Chocolate breadcrumbs and mustard. What's going on? I don't know Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Let's take a look at this right now. I'm re-watching it right now, actually. Such a good show. I'm on season six and it's really funny. Milk steak hard-boiled with jelly beans. I don't even understand pretzels and mustard. That's never been a thing that I've enjoyed particularly. Soft pretzels and mustard make sense. I went to Oktoberfest and i was in munich oh you're

talking about you it's cool if you talk about your international travels i can't talk about my international travels all the time you know it's your whole yeah it's exciting to me i know i'm happy for you you need to get out more that's not mad lecker bro josh you need to get out more go to more countries please for the love of god um So I went to Berlin. No, not Berlin. I went to Munich, Germany, and I had a soft pretzel, and I dipped it in deli mustard or whatever. What color is the mustard? Oh, there? Yeah.

There was yellowish. There was brownish. What did you dip it in? A whole grain mustard. Whole grain mustard. You got all three with one pretzel? Yeah, they give you three different kinds of mustard. Wow, must be nice being in Germany.

Well, when I was in this specific tent with which I was in, yes, they gave me three different kinds of mustard. Is that okay? Which one do you enjoy more, Winnickel? I like them. Because you had a bevy of mustards. Yeah, you must have explored them all, huh? Is he trying to hurt my feelings? I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I'm not receiving the information well. Chocolate-covered pretzels like flips? I think they're referencing flips. I don't like that at all. I can see chocolate-covered pretzels, like flips? I think they're referencing flips. I don't like that at all. I can see chocolate covered pretzels in ketchup. No, I can't see that either.

I can see that. I can see mayonnaise. I can see mayonnaise, you know, a little bit of acidity, a little bit of creaminess, kind of, you know, with that chocolate. But to me, mustard and chocolate are maybe the two opposite foods in the world, right? As someone who worked at a chocolate store that was all about opposing flavors, we did wasabi and chocolate, which is similar to mustard and chocolate.

I could see that. I could see that horseradish-y chocolate and it's going well, but to me, it's the astringency and the acidity that crushes you.

I'm interested in trying it, though. You know what it probably tastes like? Because everybody's thrown up Yogurtland after a night of drinking, right? I think that's just you.

What? I think that's both. No, come on. You're throwing up Yogurtland? What is with you? This is not a common experience. Is Yogurtland your, like, drunk meal of choice?

Yeah, man. Ew. Especially the day drinking, you know, you get through, you, like, eat a bunch of sushi or something, and then you go to- Ew, the creaminess? Yeah.

Oh, no, you need to, like- And you get the Dutch chocolate flavor. It's the best. They have, like, four chocolate flavors at Yogurtland. Dutch chocolate's always the best. No. It's great, but then you throw it up

and you get the stomach acid. That's what the flips covered in mustard would taste like. All right, next opinion. I'm going to gag. Hey, Josh. Hey, Nicole. This is Ben. Hey, Ben.

I'm up here in Silverdale, Washington. Where's that? I just wanted to say, so people trash on pilk all the time. Thank you. But honestly, if they do it, you know, use just some rum chata and mix that with Coke, it's just like a Coke float, and you're getting a little drunk. Or you could use Pepsi, too. I guess that works.

Also, apparently, people don't know what Coke floats are and have only ever heard of root beer floats. So, try it out. The Coke float is superior to the root beer float. The Coke float is absolutely superior. I disagree. I prefer the aromatics of Coca-Cola to root beer when it comes to ice cream. I disagree. I prefer the aromatics of Coca-Cola Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola to root beer when it comes to ice cream. I love root beer. So which which makes sense that I would enjoy Pilk. Pilk for people who don't know

about a two to one milk to Pepsi drink in the country of South Africa, Nicole. They call it a brown cow which is why I drank it growing up because my mom's South African and she would make it for me

as a little treat. That's very nice. Yeah, yeah. I believe alcohol is a great equalizer. So whenever you add a little bit of spirit in the cup, it helps. It helps. I let it go down easy, especially from Chata. That's crazy.

Nicole, are you familiar with the great nation of South Africa? Constitution ratified in 1996? Yes. Nicole, are you familiar with the great nation of South Africa? Constitution ratified in 1996? Yes. Yes, indeed. They have a cream liqueur down there. What's it called? A cream liqueur called Amarula. Ooh.

Is it similar to Amaretto? No, it is not. What the hell, man? Thank you for trying. So Amarula comes from the marula tree, which grow wild all over the bush in the bushville. Okay, yes. Side note, my body wash is a marula oil really and i smell it really i smell like an am delicious amber kissed woman well they make a

cream liqueur out of it and they're not allowed to farm the marula fruit sometimes elephants nicole they get drunk off of the fermented marula fruit on the ground wow they make this cream liqueur and you will put some elephants and i will put it in will put it in Coca-Cola similar to rum chata. What does this have to do with elephants again? Oh, because the marula tree, I don't know why we're holding the mics like this,

but the marula tree, it grows wild in the bush, right? Out in the bush. And the fruits, they're not allowed to farm the marula. And so people just pick up

the marula fruit and bring it to the amarula factory and sell it. But the point is, it's a tall tree so elephants eat it and they'll eat the fruit off the ground and when the fruit hits the

ground it ferments really quickly. And so the elephants eat it and they get all messed up and they just start wandering around and they're just like hey man, you wanna experiment with each other, you know? And that's what the elephants do in South Africa. What does that have to do with the ramchata? Oh, I put amarula in coke instead of rumchata? Oh I put Amarula in

Coke instead of rumchata. Got it. Got it. Got it. Got it. And it's nice. I think he's right.

Well on that note thank you so much for stopping by. A hot dog is a sandwich. We got a new episode Wednesdays on Wednesdays on the

audio and then Fridays on the video. If you are not watching us right now you're full. You are a fool. Huge opportunity to not get more FaceTime. Josh and I have so

much synergy that is so digestible via video. It's crazy. It's palpable on screen. Like, my gosh, we just jump off of the page. So you should really go check that out. But if you're currently watching me say this and you go, I hate what's happening, you can go over to Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

And if you want to be featured on Opinions on the Casseroles, I'm not's happening, you can go over to Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to be featured on Opinions on the Casseroles, I'm not really into you writing them in anymore. Just call. Our number is 833-DOGPOD1. The number again is 833-DOGPOD1. Yeah, that old email that you were sending could have been a call the whole time.

I'd prefer a call. Yeah. And if you hate both watching and listening to us, go outside. up a grass we got mythical kitchen over on youtube check that out it's a whole different channel we'll see y'all next time put it between your fingers finger the grass