A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - What's The Best Regional BBQ Style? ft. Rhett McLaughlin

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

Today, we're joined by Rhett McLaughlin of Good Mythical Morning to discuss: what's the best regional BBQ style ? 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. A-tisket, a-tasket, put that brisket in my basket. We're talking about barbecue today, folks. 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 Ayer. And I'm your host, Nicole Handizadeh. And today's special guest, and perhaps the keeper of the smoking gun for this mystery, actually has a whole smoker in his backyard.

It's fellow McRib man, Rhett Mc... Rhett McLag... McLagavulin. Rhett McLagavulin, welcome. Hey, you know what? You nailed it. I thought so. A lot of people say McLaughlin. A lot of people say McLaughlin. Rhett McLaughlin. Welcome. Hey, you know what? You nailed it. I thought so. A lot of people say McLaughlin. A lot of people say McLaughlin.

I've heard you pronounce it, and I was like, I don't think that's right. Yeah, it's McLaughlinarian. What do you call it? McLaughlin. Actually, I know it's a brand of scotch that I really enjoy. I get Hernandez a lot. Do you? Yeah, I get Nicole Hernandez.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or Henderson. A thing that telemarketers like to call me is Josh Shredder, which is way cooler than Cher, and I think I should keep that. Oh, yeah. Rock and roll. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of shredder, sometimes they shred, like, pork.

Oh, that was a god. What a terrible segue. I'm trying to work on my segues. Anyways, today we are talking about regional barbecue styles, what the best one is. Rhett, you obviously grew up in North Carolina. Nicole, you grew up in what can only be described as the opposite of North Carolina, in Beverly Hills. Correct. So I'm curious, Rhett, we'll start with you.

What do you think the best regional barbecue style is? Oh, we're just going to start? We're just going to start. I feel like we had enough small talk. Do you have any other small talk you want to get out of the way? I just, this is really personal to me. Absolutely. Because my answer is probably a little unexpected, if not sacrilegious,

given the fact that I'm from North Carolina, and I'm kind of from eastern North Carolina, at least in terms of the barbecue. That's the way it was served. It was more that eastern style, basically whole hog, chopped pork with the vinegar sauce. Vinegar, red pepper, that's all that's in the sauce. No ketchup. I really like that.

It's very nostalgic. It is not my number one regional barbecue. We were joking that this was a gotcha interview and we had nothing to gotcha about. This is the gotcha. Gotcha. It is the gotcha. We gotcha.

My favorite of all the different styles is actually Columbia, South Carolina style. Whoa. Pulled pork with a mustard sauce. Interesting. Okay. Very nice. So you were mentioning North Carolina is like the ultimate in Puritan barbecue, right? It is a whole hog.

It is smoked over live fire. It is chopped. And then the over live fire. It is chopped. And then the sauce is literally just vinegar and spices. Can you explain, like, the difference? What drew you to abandon your home state and all the people that loved you, including your own family, and defect to South Carolina? You know what? I actually have never thought about this, you know, introspectively until this moment.

So thank you for giving me this opportunity. Yeah, no, no problem. Gotcha. And I think I'm really good at pulling sort of like just bullshit answers out at the drop of a hat. But I actually believe in the one that I'm about to give you. Which ones don't you believe in? Just a quick note.

Is now the time for this? We have a debate. Oh yeah, we have like a debate every week on this podcast and so many they'll intersect, and then we'll get comments that are like, but you said the opposite thing three weeks ago. And we're like, listen, man, we're not hurt people. We're all evolving. We're all evolving constantly. Sorry, go ahead. My parents are from South Georgia. In Georgia, there is an incredibly sweet, very sweet sauce on their pulled pork. They're actually not as known for a this is barbecue

in Georgia as much as North Carolina is so distinctive. Like you don't hear people talk about Georgia barbecue very often, right? But it is a very sweet sauce, a lot of tomato, a lot of sugar, like probably like brown sugar and maybe there might be some molasses in there. So I kind of grew up eating that very early in childhood. And then if you don't live in North Carolina, you don't grow up in North Carolina.

There's a little bit of a shock with just how this is just pulled pork with like vinegar on it. Yeah. Like it's a little bit shocking. Now, now I really like it and I've grown to love it. It is in my top three because I'm going to give you my top three. Oh, please do. We're here, man. We got nothing else to do. But I think maybe if you think about regionally, like if you go to any point in the southern United States, and North Carolina is the perfect, it is a

barbecue spectrum, right? Because as you move west from the really, really just straight up chopped barbecue that's got the vinegar and spices. As you move west throughout the state of North Carolina, you incorporate more and more tomato sauce into the barbecue sauce. What do they call it? Like Lexington style dip? So once you get to Lexington, you get the Lexington style, which is essentially this, everything is essentially the same except they've added more ketchup into the sauce and also they've transitioned to using pretty much just pork shoulder. So it's not as much of a whole hog state,

part of the state. And then if you keep going, and you cross the mountains, and you get to Tennessee, it gets even more ketchup-y, and there's more sweet, and they start throwing in other stuff, and it gets a little bit spicy. But basically, if you imagine the whole Southern United States, you travel in any direction and the barbecue changes on a spectrum. Yeah. It's gray, right? So I think that as you travel from North Carolina to South Carolina, it gets a little bit sweeter

and then it takes this weird sort of left turn into mustard that is like the only place that that happens. And I think there's something like, I'm getting a little bit closer to that home original palette of the Georgia taste. Ah. And a little bit closer to that home original palette of the Georgia taste. And a little bit, there's a little bit of something squirrely in there with the mustard. I mean, so you've had this before I'm assuming, right?

Because the mustard sauce has gotten pretty popular. Like Trader Joe's has. I've never had mustard sauce. Carolina Gold. So like the Carolina Gold sauce has become something that a lot of people carry in the past like 10 years. But back in the day, you had to like go to this pretty small area, Columbia and like the surrounding area in South Carolina to get this. There's actually

this notorious racist, Maurice. So there's a guy with these restaurants, Maurice's. If you travel through South Carolina, you just, multiple Maurice's locations. He's kinda famous for this sauce. And he's the most racist with the most sauce. He's like a heritage, not hate kinda guy. Oh gosh, yeah. But he's got like the rebel flag on his actual bottle of sauce.

Jesus. Oh well. Walmart ended up taking it off of the shelves. Probably a good decision. When Walmart kicks you out, you know you've got something. You're problematic, right? True that. But his brother also sells barbecue and barbecue sauce. So I can't remember his name, but you can comfortably buy that sauce without having to support Maurice.

Anyway. That is the most, sorry, I've never heard of that. And that is one of the most wild subplots. Yeah. And this has happened a couple times. That is a good tangent. Like there's like the racist owner of Gino's Steaks.

Yeah, I met him. You met the, why have you met so many racist restaurateurs? I haven't met Maurice, but I did meet, there's Gino's and there's,

you know, Pat's. And I met both of the guys. So I guess Gino is the real guy and then Pat is whoever

happened to be there because I think Pat's dead. I don't know, but I've met both of them. Yeah, one of them's less racist. Don't support racist restaurants, folks. That's the takeaway. But sorry, you're talking about the Carolina Goldberg. So anyway, I don't know what it is,

but something about the mustard and the way that it combines with the pork makes it my number one because my number two is actually just a good Texas brisket. Like you're outside of Austin. Tough to be. That's the juggernaut. That's the number one because my number two is actually just a good Texas brisket. Like you're outside of Austin. That's the juggernaut. That's the number one seed.

But I just, I'm a little bit partial to the port probably because of North Carolina, but then that's where it makes its full expression to me. That makes sense. I mean, I've never traveled to any of the Carolinas. Have you? No, I don't go out much, honestly. I don't leave California unless there's like a real reason to leave California. Yeah, I mean, I've had places that call themselves Carolina style.

That's the trouble with a lot of this. Yeah, style. I've been to Kansas City and eaten barbecue. I've been to Memphis and eaten barbecue. I've been to a ton of places in Austin and other central Texas locations. But there's so many different regional styles. And a lot of them, if you really try and find it, you can find a place that advertises like Louisville style ribs in L.A. And you're like, what's the secret to Louisville style?

And they're like, oh, we put a little bit of black pepper in our sauce. Yeah, you never know. And it's like, what? That's the normal ingredient. I very rarely have had something called Carolina style in L.A. that I was like, I don't know what part of North Carolina or South Carolina you got this from. But basically you're just calling it when it's pulled pork. Yeah.

But most of the places in town oversauce their pulled pork. You know, it's just like. Is that an indictment against their actual pulled pork? Like if you go to a spot in eastern North Carolina to get pulled pork fresh in the whole hog, like does it need sauce? Most of the time they're going to, when you're like really down east, they call it like in Kinston, North Carolina, like King's Barbecue, which I passed by and didn't eat at just a few weeks ago when we were in North Carolina. They're going to chop it and mix the sauce in.

And that's the only way you're going to get it. They're going to give you the option to add more sauce yourself and a little bit of slaw. But it's such a light sauce that it does it. Most of the time it's a light touch. You could tell, like still like taste the pork and the smokiness. Yeah. Yeah. And so thin that it kind of just like soaks in and becomes like one with the

pork, right? Yeah. That's a, so much of barbecue is about this like regional specificity, but not only that about purity, right? Yeah. Cause everyone knows like central Texas barbecue, you don't put sauce on the brisket. If you go to central Texas and you put sauce on the brisket, they'll kick you out and, you know, send you among the cows or whatever.

That's like a thing that people leave. They honestly don't. I've been to a lot of these really great spots and they're like, yeah, we got sauce. We don't know who told you about the no sauce thing. And it's best, even the brisket, like, I think it's still best with a little bit of sauce. I agree.

You know, it just compliments it. But, like, one of my, like, barbecue fantasies is to have that Eastern North Carolina, like, I want to go to a whole hog cookout. Me too. You know, it just compliments it. But like one of my like barbecue fantasies is to have that Eastern North Carolina like I want to go to a whole hog pig picking. Me too. A pig picking. A pig picking. So, you know, we legitimately had pig pickings for like momentous times in our lives

like my engagement party to Jesse was a pig picking. Link's engagement party to Christy was a pig picking. Nicole, what was your engagement party to David? Like a bunch of my family members dancing in the living room. Probably not a lot of pig.

We had kebab, not a lot of pig, but you know. And growing up, they would literally, there was a dude in every neighborhood who was the guy who had the giant cooker, he knew how to do it. Maybe he was a pig flipper or maybe he wasn't.

Most of the guys that I knew were pig flippers, which means halfway through they literally got a bunch of people together and they flipped the pig over. Some people don't do that. I don't think it really matters. And we would literally go up to the whole hog when I was a kid that had the head on it and they would basically chop and kind of sauce all the meat while it was still on the pig so they're like dumping the sauce into like

this giant rib cage of the pig and then you just go out there as like a five year old kid and you're just like taking a fork and just taking off of the pig and putting it on your plate. Very primal. It's like a very primal feeling to do that. It's important to like teach kids that this comes from a real animal.

Yeah, right. I agree. I think we need pig pickings in every school in America. I think that's important. There should just be a graduation ceremony. There should just be a pig picking. Yeah, come to the pig picking. Is there like a prize cut on the pig during a pig picking? Like, oh, you know, you're saving this for Johnny because he— The tenderloin is what—I mean, growing up, that's what we thought was if you get that little, you know,

right down on the side of the spine, that was the prime meat. At least that's what, you know, Billy Lee told me. Was he the pig flipper? He was the coach at Campbell University, a really good friend of my dad's, and he was the pig man. He'd be like, get you a little bit of that tenderloin.

I'm like, okay, whatever you say, man. That means he liked you. He was sharing a little piece of knowledge with you. He's like, save it for yourself. That's love. That's love in cooking. Saving of that tenderloin. Okay, whatever you say, man. That means he liked you. He was sharing a little piece of knowledge with you. He's like, save it for yourself. That's love. That's love in cooking. Saving you the tenderloin on pig picking. Yeah, it's like, you know the back of the chicken drumstick, how you get the oyster?

You know what I'm talking about? That's like the tenderloin of the chicken. What about you, Josh? What's your favorite barbecue style? We haven't talked about your favorite. Number one. Oh, man. Okay, I'm going to go complete.

I'm going to go complete Homer pick on this one. I don't care. I'm shameless. What does that mean? I'm going to pick the only regional style of barbecue that is native to California. And I don't know if I can even continue to believe it and justify it, but I'm saying Santa Maria style barbecue. I don't care.

So this is like a tri-tip? You don't have to. This is a tri-tip, yeah. That's great. Well, so I mean, the reason I love Santa Maria style barbecue, I used to travel up the Central Coast with my dad because it was like such a cheap vacation to take. Because you literally just hop in the car, drive,

camp for 10 bucks, hang out at the Pismo Beach Dunes, and then drive back down. And so Santa Maria is this region that is in between like LA and San Francisco, basically. And now it has turned into like a big wine country and there's a lot of commerce there. But before that, it was just straight cattle country. And so the same way that like Texas developed its barbecue style based on the amount of cattle there with all the brisket and the short rib and all that. Santa Maria style also developed that.

And like Ray, you mentioned tri-tip because that's what most people associate with Santa Maria style barbecue. But tri-tip was only invented as a cut in, like, the 1950s. Really? It is so funny to think of. It was added to cows in the 1950s, like genetically engineered. Either God or a Monsanto scientist, depending on what you believe, just threw in another thing. No, I think a lot of people, I remember reading a headline, like, two years ago

that was, like, new steak discovered in cow. And I was like, how? how have we not mapped out the animal but like when you're butchering it is like an art you're breaking this apart like a puzzle so if you cut something lateral and so the choice was made to take a what is it a bottom round sirloin and then normally they would just

cut off the tip in the Jewish tradition with a moil and then there's a little circumcision joke, folks. Hey-oh! No surprise. It's beef barbecue. It's kosher.

And then they would grind it for like ground beef because they figured like why would you sell a triangular cut? It doesn't make any sense. You know, it doesn't cook evenly. And then one guy,

a one-armed butcher from Safeway in Santa Maria was just like, nah, let's leave it. I'm sure it's more complicated than that. Did you say one-armed? That's not a euphemism.

That's a real story. One arm butcher? Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, that's just a real. That's not a euphemism for the, nope. Wow, Jesus. What a crazy metaphor that would be.

But no, and that's how tri-tip was invented. Spending a little time with one arm butcher tonight. Sauce or no sauce. So what I'm saying is like a Santa Maria style barbecue existed for hundreds of years before that happened. And so what they would do is they would typically take like prime rib or just a whole like 20 pound top sirloin roast. And then they would cook that over, I believe it's red oak embers. And then it would be a rub of just garlic, salt and pepper. And they would cook it over like an Argentine style pulley grill.

garlic, salt, and pepper, and they would cook it over an Argentine-style pulley grill. And so you raise it and lower it over the actual live fire until you're getting the right amount of heat on it. And the cool thing about that is it's a great expression of meat that isn't fully cooked, right? Because you get somewhat like brisket. If people think it, it's tough to smoke a proper brisket, but if you want to make a tasty quote-unquote barbecue brisket, you just like pop it in the oven and braise it for nine hours and it gets tender.

Like not to call out Rat's Palate, but there was once an episode of GMM. Uh-oh. No, no, no. It's a great story. And I think it proves my point here. There was an episode of GMM where I think it was like a barbecue sauce taste test or something and we were making ribs for it. And, you know, we don't have a smoker on site, obviously. Thanks, Burbank Fire Marshal.

We talk a lot of crap on the Burbank Fire Marshal with Mythical Kitchen Properties. But so what we did is, you know, we put a little bit of liquid smoke on the ribs, and then we just, like, threw them in the oven for, like, six hours until they would fall off the bone tender. And we splashed barbecue sauce on it. And it's, like, it's really good. You know, it tastes really good. And you said, like, these are some of the best home-cooked ribs ever had yeah you fooled me with the liquid smoke i mean because essentially i mean but it's essentially

getting to the same destination and with a different route right yeah exactly they're just distilling the smoke and then letting it drip down and so you're kind of getting that but the point is most barbecue is just cooked low and slow and if you cook something enough like that it's going to taste pretty good where Whereas Santa Maria barbecue with their prime rib, their top sirloin, and now the tri-tip, you actually have to get that perfect temp cook on it to where it's not all the way through. It's not low and slow. It's this intricate dance between live smoke and fire and a triangular cut of meat from a one-armed butcher. But what you miss in that, which I love tri-tip.

When I first moved here, I thought it was going to be like three different meats on one plate. That would be a much better name for tri-tip. I was very excited about that. But it's very good. And they don't even, at least last time, they don't even have that cut in North Carolina at the grocery store. So you can get like a London broil maybe. They're just not really. Yeah, and they don't even sell like top sirloin in a full roast either.

They're all cut in the steaks. Really? I didn't know that. But what you don't get without the low and slow is you don't get the like event-based. I mean, I know you still gather around and everybody eats, but because it is more precision and it doesn't take as long. Like when you've got to take with a whole hog, I mean, we're talking, they're probably going 24 hours,

right? Yeah. Oh yeah. Like it's just something about having to sit there with this thing for so long that like it created this cultural institution in the South. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That the tri-tip is great, but you just can't have

that translation into like we have to plan our whole weekend around cooking this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah, and I mean the other thing that you don't get from Santa Maria style barbecue is it don't really taste that good. Why is it your favorite? Buddy is my favorite. Hold on, hold on.

Because food is more than just taste. It's about identity and all. But no, it's actually kind of funny because I was reading an interview with a dude who cooks at the Elks Lodge in Santa Maria, which apparently if you want to get the best barbecue, you go to the Elks Lodge, which I've never been to, but I'm very sad about. But he was saying that he really hates tri-tip because it used to be all about prime rib, and cooking a prime rib, smoking it over live fire

is freaking delicious. Sounds delicious. Oh, it's great. And you still don't cook it all the way through, so what Red said completely stands. But that used to be the case. But this is a style that was mainly on like the ranchos in Santa Maria. And then maybe five restaurants opened up.

Prime rib was just too expensive for them to like survive. And so they just like, couldn't do it, you know? So they had to eventually cheapen the prime rib to this top sirloin had to eventually cheapen that to tri-tip. So I want 1930s Santa Maria style barbecue is my official answer. I think my kids prefer it, honestly. Like, I got this nice brisket. I think it was some grade.

I think it was like a Wagyu black grade brisket from Snake River Farms. I was like, I'm going all out. I'm going to really take my time. And the kids are like, they'd rather just have a tri-tip. Weird. Why? They're like, it's just so fatty, Dad.

Oh, tell them to toughen up. Participation trophies. Kids complaining about fat and meat, man. What a world. They just don't get it. I'm the opposite. I'm like, where is it? Which leads me to say my favorite barbecue style is Texas style.

So let me tell you the truth. I'm not going to wax quite about Texas style. I, again, I'm not a very well-traveled person, so I'm a little bit limited in my barbecue types. But I did go to Texas recently, and I had the most amazing time ever. And I had a big ass rib. We're talking about a big beef rib. I love ass ribs. Literally the size of, is this a forearm?

That's a forearm. The size of my forearm. That's pretty much what I had. Let the record show Nicole is pointing to her forearm. And I just looked at it and there was this beautiful smoke ring around it. And it was, again, that primal thing of just picking up a rib and just biting straight into it,

having the beautiful sides, having the greens, having the mac and cheese on the side, the three different kinds of barbecue sauce. It's just so delicious. It's so perfect. It just creates this sense of deliciousness. I can't even explain it. It's just amazing. And I love beef barbecue. I'm not a big pork barbecue person. I think it's probably because of my Jewish upbringing. But I also love brisket. I love fatty brisket. I just like meat. And Texas-style barbecue is just meat, meat, meat. And I love everything about it. While you were explaining that,

Red Knight is uncontrollably grunted in the microphone, and that's endorsement. I'm honestly salivating a little bit just thinking about it. I didn't really, the whole beef rib thing, I didn't really understand that until recently. Is that new? It's essentially like a brisket sitting on top of a bone. Like a dinosaur bone.

When you do it right, yeah. Yeah. And I did those recently, too. I got basically the three ribs. I got two sections of three ribs. I did the same thing, and the meat draws up, and if you just do it right, you just kind of twist the bones at the end, and it just comes out,

and you've got this nice slab of meat. And again, it took me, like, I loved it. The kids were like, it's pretty fatty, Dad. I'm like, God, I've been out there all freaking weekend. And I'm doing the typical dad thing where I'm telling them how much I paid for it. Every time I find myself doing that, I'm like, don't be this dad. It's like, Dad, just those three ribs were $165. That's right.

And they're like, dad, why do we care? We have no concept of money. But then when I took it and I made Shepard a grilled cheese sandwich with a layer of that rib meat, he was like, dad, this is really good. So it took me basically masking the expensive brisket or ribs into a grilled cheese sandwich to get my child to like. Tough endorsement. Tell us other things about you kids you don't like. They just don't appreciate

meat, you know? Makes sense. New generation, man. Taste for taste, Texas barbecue, it's one of the best single bites of food I've ever put in my mouth. If I'm not trying to wax poetic about wanting to believe in the California dream or whatever, I don't know what that was about. No, Texas barbecue

is the absolute best. And I feel like I remember when beef ribs like came into my consciousness. I had had them before at the Claim Jumper. Do you know the Claim Jumper? The one on Burbank like next to the Walt Disney one? It's like a mini chain. Yeah, I thought it was

Clam Jumper. You mean I thought it was Clam Jumper. You mean I thought it was Clam Jumper. For like seven years until I read the sign a little bit more closely. No, no, no. Right now I just find out it was Clam Jumper. You thought it was Clam Jumper? Yes. I was like, look at this seafood restaurant. Yeah, because what's a Clam Jumper? I don't know. Do you still not know what a Clam Jumper is? I don't know. Does it have to do with a gold rush or something?

Yeah. Okay. Look at Nicole. She took fifth grade education in California. Yes, I did. Well, it's bad marketing because everyone has just, most people, I mean, I think, you know, me and Nicole both, you're smarter than the average person, right? I think so, yeah. That's right. And both of us thought it was a seafood restaurant that specialized first and foremost in clams. We weren't excited about that.

They've got a marketing problem. Why weren't you excited about clams, though? Because in my mind, there's like, I can imagine a clam jumping. I don't know. That's where I went. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is the jumping clams. Yeah, I know they were like, I know they're sedentary and like grow on rocks or whatever,

but I was like convinced like- You two are smart. I thought the clam jumper was someone who had to move their feet really quickly to not like sink into the sand when they're pulling clams out. Two different trains of thought, but still to the same area. You both put so much thought into this and did not put the three seconds into required reading. Yeah, right.

The I is too small. It needs to be a different font. No, a claim jumper, one is a mini chain that is themed to the gold rush, and a claim jumper during the gold rush was somebody who would steal another person's claim of land for gold. And so they are a Gold Rush themed restaurant.

That was the first place that I had beef ribs. And I remember vomiting right after. So I don't know what the deal was. I'm sorry. But that tainted my mind. Also, for the kids menu, they made you pay by how much the child weighed. What? No, they still do that.

Like gold. No, just like gold. Yeah, yeah. It makes sense. So you'd hop on a gold scale. And then they'd be like, well, sir, this child is very large. He's going to have to pay an adult price. That is draconian.

Amazing that that was ever a thing. That's amazing. I cannot imagine that happening now. Go to your local claim trooper. See if they still do that. But anyways, that was the only time I'd have beef ribs until I saw a video that went mega viral on Instagram of the beef rib at Law Barbecue in Austin, Texas. Is that where you went? No, I went to Terry Black's.

But I've heard Law Barbecue's amazeballs. But yeah, it was like everything up until then was Franklin Brisket, Franklin Brisket. It still is. I went there recently and I was worried that it wouldn't hold up in my mind. And the first bite I had, I was like, oh, yeah. Oh, there it is. But then the beef ribs seem to really take over as like one of the dominant things well they're harder to get too

i mean you know i uh i follow the the meat church instagram nice uh i can't remember matt something is his is uh this guy he's in texas and uh every time he cooks beef ribs he just talks about these are hard to get these are hard to get like you got to know the supplier like it it's very difficult you're not gonna get them in a grocery store most of the time so I think it might be a little bit of the supply and demand making them seem like they're that much but I don't but I don't know if you had like a cube of rib meat next to a brisket, you would be like, yeah, this is definitive. You're saying the artificial scarcity contributes to its mystique. I think so.

Is there anything else? Is there anything else in barbecue that does that? Like the McRib? What a segway. Full circle, baby. I told you I was working on the segways. Wow. What if the person who came up with the McRib,

or at least the marketing strategy for the McRib was thinking about this exact principle that we're talking about right now? They were like, man, these beef, of course, this would have to happen a long time ago. I don't know what year the McRib came out. What year was it? I don't know. I don't know everything. I can see why you thought I'd know that. I would say probably late seventies, early eighties. Yeah. But they were like, oh yeah, these beef ribs are going to be a lot more in demand because they're scarce. Let's do that. What if that was the genesis of the whole idea of the limited menu item?

And it's that guy. It's the guy who invented the McRib who's just seeking out new limited time only parts on a cow. You know? Like this cow's ear. This cow's ear, Nicole, it's only available for one month out of the year. This cow's ear, Nicole, it's only available for one month out of the year. And some hipster with glasses in Brooklyn is making it at a Louisville-style smokehouse where they put black pepper in the sauce. You know what I hate?

What's that? I hate fruit-based barbecue sauces. Oh, we're talking about that. I don't like peaches in my barbecue sauce. I don't like boysenberries in my barbecue sauce. Don't put blueberries in my barbecue sauce. Just give me the good sauce. Where does that happen?

On the internet, right? Yeah. No, but also like fancy restaurants. Whenever you go to a restaurant, they put like peach and like cognac barbecue sauce. I'm like, what are you doing? Why are you doing, why are you bastardizing barbecue like this? It pisses me off. I just had to get out of the sauce.

When I was like a restaurant reviewer person, when that was my job, I went to someplace that shall remain nameless, but they did like a barbecue reviewer person, when that was my job, I went to someplace that shall remain nameless. But they did like a barbecue quail, which like immediately is not a great thing to barbecue. And they put like a raspberry Pedro Jimenez cherry vinegar barbecue sauce on it. But they didn't strain it. And so it was literally just like a kind of savory smoothie on top of this like burnt quail. No offense. And yeah, I think I said in the review that it was like a Jamba Juice raspberry

razzmatazz that you left on the concrete on a hot day. Yeah. And it tastes like that. So I'm with you on that. I want barbecue sauce. I had to get that off of my chest. I'm very sorry. I'm very sorry.

Thank you for opening up. Please continue talking more about original barbecue sauce. You know who does a really good South Carolina style pulled pork? I think it's, is it Sl slab that you guys got the sandwich from? Yes, slab is phenomenal. And they have, I don't typically like it when they pre-sauce the meat, but they pre-sauce the meat on that sandwich. But that was one of the best barbecue sandwiches I've ever had.

The texture of their pork is like gorgeous. And that's the exact sauce. The bun on that sandwich is perfect. It's a well-architected sandwich and they do things really well. And I'm glad there is like a sort of

barbecue renaissance coming to LA. Blood So's. Blood So's. Blood So's is great. It's always fantastic. Dude moved out from Texas to Compton

and now he's open. That dude opened up a barbecue restaurant at like a casino in Sydney, Australia. Shut up. Yeah, he's a mogul. Good for him. It's good to see a hometown in Sydney, Australia. Shut up. Yeah, he's a mogul. Good for him.

It's good to see a hometown dude out there. That's dope. Any closing sentiments? Anybody want to wax poetic about regional barbecue? Well, I mean, all I can think about now is the McRib. And I think we're all on the same page. We know pound for pound, if we're just talking about taste, a McRib, it's not good. No, correct.

It's definitively not good compared to actual real barbecue. But it's the spirit of it. Now that I know that the guy who came up with it did it because of the scarcity of beef ribs, I'm going to try to find one today. Rhett McLaughlin's official answer, the McRib is the greatest barbecue on the history of plant-based ribs, and he hates his family from North Carolina and has abandoned them for McDonald's.

That was my takeaway from it all. All right, Nicole and Rhett, we've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky ideas are rattling out there in the Twitterverse. It's time for a segment we call Opinions Are Like Casseroles. Right, you're like real good at singing. You've done music before?

That wasn't singing. Well, no, that's, okay, well, hold on. Before I say, I wasn't going to ask you about that. I mean, that was just talking in unison.

It's a jingle. It's a jingle. Because we tried singing and there was no melody for that jingle There was no melody for that Opinions are like Casseroles That was kind of a hybrid Should we sing our full song?

You know the lyrics? I don't want to Opinions are like Casseroles Everyone's got one And they smell like onions. You can't be good at everything. You can try, though.

All right, first up, we got at Lady Bird 2223. Actual grapes are good, but purple-flavored things are gross. Purple-flavored things. They put purple in all caps to indicate that they don't even recognize it as grape flavored things. It's just purple. Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, not to be that guy,

but purple isn't a flavor. It's a color. I don't know. And color can influence your, you know, I think we did an episode of GMM. Of course we did

an episode of GMM about this. Does color influence the taste of something? I think we said that it does, but not truly. When you're blind to it, you don't taste a difference. So I just think this is just somebody not trusting their own taste buds.

I like purple popsicles. Yeah, I like the purple. Purple is the best flavor. It's not the best flavor at all, not even a little bit. But if there's a purple popsicle, I'd probably take the purple popsicle. I agree. That's what I go to. It's what I'm attracted to. What fruit actually matches up to its artificial counterpart like in candy like a jolly rancher they're they're called all kind of watermelon

watermelon tastes nothing like i was gonna say pink that's a really good question have we done that gmm episode yet uh we probably like approached it tangentially. You know what I mean? Yes, we did. Yeah. Because I know, yeah, watermelon doesn't work. Grape doesn't work. Because grape, a grape flavor, I think maybe grape might be the one that's the furthest away from what, because grapes don't really have much of a taste.

You know what I'm saying? Concord grapes. Are very strong. Are strong. And that might be what they're, like, the taste of, like, grape juice. You have to, like, distill it down into something. And once you concentrate it, maybe might be what they're like like the taste of like grape juice you have to like distill it down into something and once you concentrate it maybe that's what they're trying to emulate yeah manischewitz is made for his concord grape wine i think that's why we're familiar with it yeah you ever had manischewitz only uh because

stevie wanted it for something on the show and then explain the whole history of it and i was like okay now i understand yeah i've always wanted to do like Kraft-Manischewitz cocktails. Do it. For a barbecue pop-up. We'll do it. We'll do it. Okay. Cam Wacca says,

barbecue sauce and mac and cheese is better than hot sauce and mac and cheese. There's something about the fat and the sweet together. I mean, it works in cheesecake. I mean, it comes to a perfect union in cheesecake, but I don't know.

I think the liquid smoke with the cheese together, the hot sauce is the perfect balance. So this opinion is wrong. If there's a protein with it, I think it works. So if you're putting pulled pork with barbecue sauce and mac and cheese, that's good. Or if it's like chicken and barbecue sauce. But my goat forever is always hot sauce and mac and cheese. Yeah, you run a couple of hot dogs through a cheese grater and then mix that with barbecue sauce and mac and cheese, that's good. Or if it's like chicken and barbecue sauce, but my goat forever is always hot sauce and mac and cheese. Yeah, you run a couple

hot dogs through a cheese grater and then mix that with barbecue sauce, put that on top. Now that, get a couple of some pulled hot dogs on there. That sounds horrific.

Pulled hot dog. Ew. I don't know, I put ketchup on my mac and cheese for nostalgia purposes. If I'm really analyzing it, I mean barbecue sauce,

a lot of it's mostly ketchup. If I'm really analyzing it, it's kind sauce, a lot of it's mostly ketchup. If I'm really analyzing it it's kind of like not a great flavor combination with just the squishiness and then you get that kind of velvety coating from the cheese and then just this hot vinegar rush. I think it's fun. But if you're putting ketchup on mac and cheese, you're not

analyzing much. It's just like you're not really in analytic mode at that point. I'm here for pure comfiness, baby. I'm in my sweatpants. I'm ready to go. Alright, we got at Fat Barnett. It's just like you're not really in analytic mode at that point. I'm here for pure comfiness, baby. I'm in my sweatpants. I'm ready to go. All right, we got at Fat Barnett. That's a PH.

Was it an acronym or something? What does fat mean with a PH? It means cool. No, but I thought it was like an acronym. Pretty hot and tempting. See, isn't that it? What? Yeah. Is it really?

That's what we thought. I learned something new today. That's what we thought like in the 90s. I learned that bae was an anachronism from Nicole. Like baby fat? Like the clothing line? Started by Kimora Lee Simmons? I don't know about that.

I'm going to go ahead and pass on that one. Wrong group of people to talk to about this. Anyways, sometimes I crave barbecue chips. If I don't have any, I'll dip saltine crackers in barbecue sauce. Why are these all barbecue sauce related? I don't know. That is a coincidence. Saltine crackers?

Saltine crackers all barbecue sauce related? I don't know. That is a coincidence. Saltine crackers? Saltine crackers and barbecue sauce. I mean, is it really that hard to get hold of barbecue chips? I mean, this just feels like there's got to be something else. Sometimes you don't want to leave the house, man. I can't do that. Sometimes you just got... You can't do it? I can't do that.

You both are going to leave me hanging as the only one who would do this. Yes, exactly. You didn't grow up eating ketchup sandwiches and it shows. A little bit of ketchup on white bread, that'll satisfy a craving for a burger if you ain't got nothing in the house. And I stand by that. You saw me just eating ranch bread the other day in the kitchen, Nicole. Yeah, but that was supposed to be a bit.

Ranch bread? Yeah, yeah. It's like an untoasted saltine cracker in barbecue sauce. You know what? If we're ever in a situation where things have gotten to the point where we're dipping saltine crackers in barbecue sauce, which will probably be like a life and death apocalyptic situation, at that point I'll try it.

I found out that Sweet Baby Ray's does last. There's so much sugar in it that it— Preserve it. Honestly, it lasts forever. We've had some bottles that I think are like three years aged in the fridge. No way. They've all gotten better. Nicole, are like three years aged in the fridge. No way. And I do. They've all gotten better.

Nicole, how long have you worked here? Almost two and a half years. Mazel tov. Have you ever thrown away a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's? Not personally, no. They've just been in there. It's like that can of black beans on the other side that's been here since I started like four years ago. Oh, yeah, you told me about that.

Yeah, I was like, don't eat the botulism beans. You told me not to. Okay, I don't know how to say this, but Danielle Hunt Quelle says, soup is drastically better the next day. Also, why is that? Well, I mean, I think they're right about this, right? I mean, I think most things, most things that are a combination of things are better the next day, right? Yeah. I think liquid, yeah, combination of things and liquid, I think of things are better the next day right yeah i think liquid yeah combination of things in liquid i think do become better the next day but that said this is one of those like food network chef things that everybody heard growing up of like leave it

in the fridge the flavors have time to marry and combine blah blah blah and the next day it's even better and i've never done like a side-by-side test but like anecdotally i believe this well there's another episode that we just came up with. All right, somebody email the writers. I'll tell them right now. Is this day old thing better? I mean, that's a good experiment. That's a really good experiment.

Because I know the thing that really tastes better the next day for me is a well-made cake. Oh. Interesting. And that's something that like, there's this sort of rule in my wife's family, right? Like there's a few recipes, there's a big carrot cake and there's a strawberry cake that like are passed down from the grandmother.

It's just, everyone is like, you gotta wait the next day to eat this thing, or at least we have to save enough for tomorrow. And I don't know, it's just because I'm kind of living this out with all them. They're all like, doesn't it taste better? I'm like, yeah, but in my know, it's just because I'm kind of living this out with all them. They're all like, doesn't it taste better? I'm like, yeah,

but in my mind, it tastes a lot better. Something has happened. It's like aged in some way. Yeah. The soup thing makes sense, right? Yeah, totally. I was just thinking about like dinners whenever my mom would make dinners

and the stews are so much better the next day. And that's literally just like aromatics. You leave onions sit in broth for longer. You get more onion flavor in the broth and all that. The cake thing is interesting though. I mean, I could be wrong. Well, we got to find out. I like old

I like counter-aged cake. I like my cake counter-aged in the open air for about four hours. Oh, and I guess that like weird, like the crumb kind of gets a little bit solidified. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. And then the frosting gets crusty. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. So I feel that. But the next day thing, interesting. I got at Jessica Zink Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. So I feel that. But the next day thing, interesting.

I got add Jessica Zinko. I dip hot Cheetos in sour cream. I don't think it's controversial, but my fiance thinks it's unique. This sounds good. I mean, you're taking the edge off a little bit with the sour cream. Yeah. I can think of nothing that doesn't taste better with sour cream, though. That's fair. Name one thing that, I mean, because you can put it on desserts.

Canned fruit cocktail. I feel like- I think it could be good on fruit cocktail. That sounds like preternaturally great. That sounds like one of the better applications of sour cream. The syrup mixing with the sour cream sounds horrific. No, but I would take a piece of the fruit cocktail out and then dip it into the sour cream.

Okay, yeah, but I'm talking about just pouring the whole thing in there. It's like Ambrosia with the Cool Whip. You mix the Cool Whip with the canned fruit. I can't think of one thing that wouldn't be better with sour cream. I'm going to be thinking about this the rest of the day. Yeah, but I'm in my mind. I'm like, I want to dip a whole stem full

of grapes into sour cream and just kind of lick it off. It sounds great. Like fruit, meat, cheese. It's halfway to Alabama white barbecue sauce. Yeah, which we didn't even talk about. Coca-Cola. I'm trying to think. Coca fruit, meat, cheese. It's halfway to Alabama white barbecue sauce. Yeah, which we didn't even talk about. Didn't even talk about. Coca-Cola. It's just mayonnaise.

I'm trying to think. Coca-Cola and sour cream. I used to make Pepsi milk growing up. Look at me in my eyes and tell me Coca-Cola and sour cream. I would drink Pepsi milk growing up. We called it pea milk. Okay. Gross.

It would curdle after 10 minutes, but you got to drink it fast. Pepsi milk. As a hot Cheeto and cream cheese girl, I totally understand this opinion and I respect it very much so. Yeah, yeah. Agreed. I'm worried about their relationship with their fiance. You're right. Yeah. As a hot Cheeto and cream cheese girl, I totally understand this opinion and I respect it very much. Yeah, agreed. I'm worried about their relationship with their fiance. You're right. Yeah.

You know? Like, that was like, you're like, I don't think this, like, you know, they want to tell you something. Like, man, let them say it. You know? Okay, let me see. Don't speak for themselves. Damn. Chef Magoo94 says, lettuce buns for burgers are sinful. The lettuce either breaks apart or gets wilted.

Why bother? I don't disagree with this. Being married to someone who dabbles in the low-carb lifestyle, not necessarily for an extended period of time, but Jessie will kind of dip into the keto thing. I just think that just put a burger on a plate. Maybe there's some lettuce there. Fork and knife it. You don't have to make it

seem like you're also eating a sandwich. I agree. We're not going to judge you because you're not holding your food like we are. You know what I'm saying? I agree with you 100%. I think it's like this communal thing when everyone is eating a burger though you don't want to be the one doing it alone. Like you need to put it down on a plate alone.

It's like the psychology of holding a thing and stuffing it in your face. I do hate lettuce, like, protein-style burgers, though. Yeah. Oh, they're bad. I don't think. I hate it. You know they started doing tomato-wrapped ones on the internet? Oh.

It's a lot of juice. I don't get it. It's a lot of juice. What do you mean tomato-wrapped? So, you, instead of, like, lettuce on the outside, it's two of like lettuce on the outside it's two pieces of tomato on the outside and those are your buns I know it sounds that feels like a joke

fat burgers no no this is a real thing at In-N-Out I believe you can request tomato wraps and there are pictures of people doing it fat burger do you know what fat burgers are doing oh my god please what they started doing the burger wrap burger where it was just two beef patties. And then in between them were your burger accoutrements.

So it's like a double down. Yeah. It's a double down. Yeah, exactly. That makes more sense, I feel like. I think that's maybe the better way to do. But then you're also getting, you know, like 900 grams of fat or whatever. I don't know what your dietary needs are.

But yeah, no. Anyway, it's just kind of sad. At the Habit Burger Grill, they just make a cheeseburger salad. And if you really want to do the low carb thing and still enjoy a cheeseburger, pretty great way to do it. That sounds good.

Delightful. All right. At StrongBeard75, frozen candy is better than room temp. Candy freezer on our hands, eh? Again, I think that, I always have to reference my memory bank of like, haven't I done this? This sounds like a Good Mythical More situation, right?

Let's just eat some frozen candy bars. I love that you're like, let's not give away content on this platform. But I mean, I think from just like a molecular level, isn't something being warmer whatever makes the taste transferred to your taste buds is more active

if it's warmer right yes that's absolutely true so you're just not gonna taste it as much but I gotta say a frozen Reese's peanut butter cup fire

the texture is does some really good things for you and maybe it just heats up in your mouth and then you begin to taste it anyway. Yeah, you get to enjoy it longer. I think that's like part of it. And also you get like you know, the chewier, harder texture. It's just fun. It's a novel. Cats love novel temperatures in their mouths.

I did this. Oh, you can't be giving cats like, because. I was like, where's this going? Can cats eat chocolate or is it No, no, no. Sorry, don't feed your cat chocolate. I was thinking about this because we did this episode where I tried to make my cat Pippin a gourmet meal, and I was reading about what you shouldn't feed cats, which apparently is like literally everything because everyone's a vet online. But there was someone who was saying how their cat loves to like eat ice cream, and then

a vet responded and was like, that's because cats, they prefer their food at prey temp, which is, you know, roughly body temp. But they're such curious animals that they're like attracted to novel textures and temperatures of food. Because they're just like, what is this? And I think humans are that way with frozen candy. They're just like, I've never had a frozen chocolate. Let's do it. My mom keeps Dove chocolates in the freezer. Oh, Julius or Julia, they're so hard.

They're so hard and they're so good. They're thick. They're so great. I love chocolate. You gotta just scrape at it with your teeth. Yeah, well, you have weak teeth. I have such weak teeth. That's a real thing. Yeah, I don't know about a lemon head. Like, the idea of a lemon head in the freezer, like, makes my teeth hurt. But chocolate, because, you know,

it melts nicely. Nicer than, like, solid hard candy. Do you suck on the chocolate? You kind of just pop it in like? I do a little bit of both. It depends on my mood. Sometimes I crunch on it. Sometimes I suck it. But at the end of the day, I prefer chocolate more than anything else. Fair enough, fair enough.

Frozen York peppermint patties. You get double the cooling sensation. That sounds good. That could be nice. I'd like to see what would happen to the peppermint inside. Oh, it's a wild ride for the one-armed butcher. I don't know why I affected that. I still get that joke.

Oh, man, we'll tell you when you're older. And on that note, thank you for listening to A Hot Dog is a Sandwich. If you want to hear more from us here in the Mythical Kitchen, we got new episodes for you every Wednesday.

If you want to be featured on Opinions or Like Casseroles, you can hit us up on Twitter at MythicalChef or at AndyZada with the hashtag OpinionCasserole. For more Mythical Kitchen, check us out on YouTube

where we launch new videos every week. And thank you so much to our guest, Rhett McLaughlin. I'm just kidding, Rhett McLaughlin. Thank you so much for stopping by. Where can the people find you? You know, in this building. In this building, you know. Just search Mythical.

Yeah, exactly. And of course, if you want to share pictures of your Mythical dishes, hit us up on Instagram at Mythical Kitchen. See you all next time. Bye, Rhett. Yeah. Exactly. And of course, if you want to share pictures of your mythical dishes, hit us up on Instagram at mythicalkitchen. See y'all next time. Bye, Rhett. Bye.