Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast - Should You Wash a Cast Iron Skillet? From A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich

Episode Date: April 25, 2025

Sharing an episode of A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich. On the show, Mythical Chefs Josh Scherer and Nicole Enayati discuss, debate, and dissect the web’s most hilariously controversial culinary quandaries. In this episode, Josh and Nicole debate whether a cast iron skillet needs to be washed every time you use it. Listen to more “A Hot Dog is a Sandwich” episodes at https://link.chtbl.com/AHDIASYMKFD Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast is brought to you by Alloy Health. out every Tuesday with guests like Julie Bowen, Ted Danson, Tig Notara, Will Arnett, Phoebe Bridgers, and more. You can also tune in for my weekly Andy Richter call-in show episodes, where me and a special guest invite callers to weigh in on topics like dating disasters, bad teachers, and lots more. Listen to The Three Questions with Andy Richter wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, it's Michelle Norris, host of Your Mama's Kitchen. It's the podcast where we explore how we're shaped as adults by the kitchens we grew up

in as kids. And we have a little treat for you in the feed today. It's a podcast that I think you're going to love from our friends at Mythical Kitchen, all about food culture on the internet. Every week on A Hot Dog is a Sandwich, Mythical chefs Josh Scherer and Nicole Aniatti discuss, debate and dissect the world's most hilariously controversial culinary quandaries like, should you wash your chicken? What the heck actually is gluten? I've always wanted to know that. And are expensive eggs actually worth it? And one topic that I have opinions on, should you wash your cast

iron skillet? Absolutely not. But here's Josh and Nicole with their episode. Josh and Nicole, I did the unthinkable last night. What did you do? Did you invest in some weird influencer cryptocurrency or something? Worse Nicole? Oh, no, I watched my cast iron This is a hot dog is a sandwich Yeah, I put ice in my cereal so what that makes no sense hot dog is a sandwich Welcome to our podcast a hot dog is a, the show we break down the world's biggest food debates.

I'm your host, Josh Scherr. And I'm your host, Nicole Inayati. And today, we are here to sell you on, it's an incredible partnership that we just signed. It is with AJ and Big Justice. We're calling it Bafuma Coin, and that's five big booms for our new Ethereum-backed cryptocurrency. I don't know anything about crypto, I don't wanna learn right now. I, at some point I plan on learning about Hawk2a coin and what happened with Hayley Welch.

I do, everything I've learned about her is against my will. But also I love her decline. I guess you could say her fall from grace. It's maybe the fastest rise and fall of any person. Milkshake Duck. She got Milkshake Duck. She was the most clear case of Milkshake Duck to have ever happened. I shook her hand at a Spotify event once.

She seemed nice. But there's a part of me that, you know, I don't mean to be like the dad bootstrap, you know, you got to have personal accountability guy. But if you paid for Huck to a coin, I don't believe that you were ever going to do anything good with that money You know what I mean if there's the story of like a single mother of three squid games to you No, actually, okay They need to watch squid games if there is like a nurse single mother of three who lost her life savings in Hawk to a coin I would feel really badly, but I I would hope to God that that was not the case. That's not we're talking

No, we're not talking about that at all, but for some reason it's been a tangent for almost 45 seconds. I could spend so much more time talking about it, but we're talking about another controversy on the internet. Should you wash your cast-iron skillet? Should you wash your cast-iron skillet? Well, I was always raised by the internet, you know, to not wash your cast-iron skillet. That washing your cast-iron skillet. Well, I was always raised by the internet, you know, to not wash your cast iron skillet. That washing your cast iron skillet is a shanda. You should never, ever, ever, water should never touch your cast iron skillet. If it ever gets dirty or if it gets crusty, you just got to use a paper towel or something just to pick up all the schmutz

and all of the stuff and the gristle that's stuck there, empty out the oil and you reuse it again. That's how I was always taught. But ever since I watched that one Buzzfeed video, the hands and pans one, remember? During Buzzfeed Renaissance when they were making the best overhead videos of all time. Oh my gosh, so many crescent rolls stuffed with so many things.

I watched it today. This video came out eight years ago and it has 25 million views on YouTube alone. I can only imagine how many other views it has in like other places. The details of this person and how they explained how to wash a cast iron was so like enigmatic and attractive and cool that I washed my cast iron skillet.

I have not seen this video. I think your Buzzfeed video is my serious eats article by Kenji Lopez-All. Okay, I think so, I think so. But those are the things that change our minds on it. Does it talk about flaxseed oil in the Kenji Lopez-All? They might talk about it. I more took the broad strokes away from it.

It's a polymerization and how it talks about in very nerdy terms. I read that too, and I skimmed it, I should say. Before, I guess I grew up with the same knowledge that there would be memes where they'd show, it was like, girlfriend, wash the dishes tonight, and there'd be a cast iron and a dishwasher, which you shouldn't do that.

You should never do that. But also I accidentally wash pants that I'm not supposed to wash all the time, and now my nice banana republic pants are ruined What do you mean? I put them in the in the dish a dishwasher. I'm at washing machine I don't know what you do anyways dry clean your dry clean on the pants and don't put your cast iron as a dishwasher But there was I've always been fascinated with the weird gender component of it You see a gender component. Yes cast iron is boy

I know it's not but really because to me that was like The memes right was like I'm a dude and I cook with cast iron and my stupid girlfriend put in the dishwasher Those are the memes that I grew up consuming. It's messed up and I don't agree with it Nicole I think it's trad wife adjacent. You use trad wife adjacent I think the rise of the content creating trad wife is Newer than my thoughts on cast irons because my thoughts on cast irons have been solidified for maybe six years. Before that it was entirely different. I think it's shifted a little bit because everyone's like,

don't use Teflon anymore! So it's all cast iron this, cast iron that, stainless steel this. So that's what I'm picking up from the gender breakdown of cookware. Yeah, we, gosh, I don't know about the the cancer risks of Teflon. Probably don't scratch it up though probably I don't know I cook with non-stick I really enjoy it. I also cook a lot with cast iron. I think we should just get into like why you maybe would buy a cast iron pan and what you would use it for. When was the first time you got a cast iron pan? Gosh the first time I bought a cast iron was one year out of culinary school.

I got a Lodge one from like Amazon and I loved it because it was already seasoned and I could just use it and whatever. You didn't season it extra yourself. I didn't season it extra but that was a mistake because I will always now season a pre-seasoned Lodge or whatever brand cast iron skillet. Season your damn food, season your damn pans. And then I basically used it, and because I'm dumb, I like, I washed it and it was rusted. And I was like, oh no.

I was like, oh no, I ruined it. I rusted my first cast iron too. I mean, everybody rusts their first one, I feel like. Unless like you're raised by someone who... Because my family never ever used cast iron. We're just a non-stick Teflon family. We always have been always really, probably why I have hormone issues.

But, but, but, This is not a medical advice podcast. No, it's really not. I have naturally low testosterone. Go ahead, you were saying. I have naturally high testosterone. Hey! Nice to meet you.

Strong handshake. Thank you. It's all the testosterone. It's all the T in my body. But like I was saying, the first time I got one, I completely screwed it up. I rusted it because dumb old me, I did not know that like cast iron was so porous and the water,

you have to get your cast iron bone dry, not only by like a towel or like a handkerchief, making sure it's dry. You literally have to put it on like a flame, an open flame to dry it out, to make sure that there's absolutely you literally have to put it on like a flame, an open flame to dry it out to make sure that there's absolutely no water in there so it cannot rust. So my first experience was like everyone else, it was a little bit clumsy, you know, a learning experience. First time's all is a little bit clumsy. It is a little bit clumsy, you know what I mean? Teeth knocking together. I'm glad I had the experience, right? Of course, otherwise, how would you know how to please your next cast iron?

I'm glad I had the experience, right? Of course. Otherwise, how would you know how to please your next cast iron? I think everybody goes through roughly that same journey with their cast irons, same thing. It would have been like probably junior of college. I moved into a new apartment and like I went to Target and I got the 2999 Lodge pre-season cast iron.

Didn't season it, did the same thing, cooked with it. I knew not to put soap on it at that point. We'll get to the soap thing later. I didn't soap mine either. Yeah, but so you thought you were safe? Yes, because I'm like, oh, there's no- yeah, just water. Same, and then I put it in the dish rack, like a normal person, and then it rusted. Or I just put it back on the stove, but didn't need it.

And so then, you know, that one rusted, I probably just ate a lot of rust. You ate rust? Is that why you're orange? I think so. No, I'm actually very curious why I tan so orange Lee. Maybe I eat a lot of beta carotene But then then then then I the next cast iron I got I was like I'm going to season this myself And that was a game changer. So when you talk about seasoning a cast iron, what does that mean? You take some sort of neutral oil and you super heat it onto your cast iron. You can do it on a stove. I get nervous on that ever since I, do you remember that time I spontaneously ignited oil in the mythical kitchen? I do. I think about it all the time.

Never have me. So oil, right? There's a smoke point, which is like 400 degrees for some. You want it to go over the smoke point. Generally between 320 and 400. However, there's also an ignition point or a combustion point to oil. And I believe for like a neutral oil, like 1,500. How did you get it that hot? Well you see like grease fire like just like a grease fire right a pot of oil can just catch on fire it's like if you're in a restaurant and you put a pot of oil on you forget about it. Oh yeah. It takes a long ass time for it to get up to 1,500 degrees. How did you do that in the mythical kitchen? I don't know and people were warning me about it I was gonna sear a steak. I was yelling at you. I said turn it off and be like yeah it's fine.

Anyway so to season a cast iron you don't even need to super heat the oil on the stove And people were warning me about it. I was going to sear a steak. I remember. I was yelling at you. I said, turn it off. You're like, yeah, it's fine. Anyway, so to season a cast iron, you don't even need to superheat the oil on the stove. You can do it in an oven. You can put it in a 400 degree oven for an hour. And then you can pour that oil out, wipe it around with a paper towel, repeat that process five, six times. Make a day of it.

Wait until the next NFL regular season. And then on a Sunday when you're just parked on the couch for like nine hours straight watching football Repeat the seasoning process five times with your cast iron pan and then if somebody's like hey, do you want to leave the house? Go no, no, I'm not just a bum watching football. I'm seasoning my cast iron. I'm investing in our future What happens when you do that? That's more a note for me. What happens when you do that? The oil creates a polymer right right which is like a coating on it Yeah, but it's not just a coating of oil right the oil the chemical structure of it changes and this is important to understand when you talk about washing as well so the

chemical structure Meggie you're a science person right computer science not cast iron science oh they got polymers on computers they have polymers on computers right because it gets so hot probs a polymer is okay from what I understand, made up of many monomers. I'm going to Google.

Hey, Maggie, can you go ahead and Google? Google Polymer. And then I'll explain it, and we'll see how close I get. OK, cool. So a polymer. This is almost mansplaining. Thank you. This is Dunning-Kruger Effective.

A polymer, I believe, and this is coming from my D-minus in AP Chem, is when you have multiple singular parts called monomers, and you induce some sort of chemical change in them to make them bond to each other to create one larger unified structure that tends to, I believe, have stronger chemical bonds. And that's the heat. And the heat is what's allowing that chemical change to happen.

It's allowing the bonding and the chemical change to happen. Stronger's the heat. And the heat is what's allowing the chemical change to happen. Yeah. It's allowing the bonding and the chemical change stronger bond stat to form. Maggie, can we go ahead and get a review on that? Okay, can you can you make it bigger? Because yeah. Okay, polymer, a substance that has a molecular structure consisting chiefly of or entirely of large number of similar units bonded together. Josh, I think you did it. Yeah, so like a lot of plastics are poly... Plastics are polymers, right? And that's why they're like strong. Polymer clay. Polymer clay.

That's all. Is that a thing? I have a question. Did you ever rust a cast iron past the point of no return that you threw it in the garbage? I will not perjure myself on this stand. I ref- Yeah, I have. Yeah, I'm not a good person. I threw it away too. I feel really bad about it. Wait, did you also though then YouTube search how to restore cast iron?

And then you watched a video and you went, Oh. I ain't doing all that. I'm sorry. Oh really? No, I took mine out of the trash and I tried but then I've tried to yeah But then I was like I don't wanna I don't have the elbow grease for this but now that I know How to treat and take care of a cast iron skillet. I've had one for like seven years same Yeah, and I take really good care of it to this day. I haven't used it in like six months though really I should probably use it

Yeah What do you mostly use a cast iron for because I I'm still not at the point where the seasoning on mine is pretty good But I've seen some people I got really jealous of their super slick cast irons I was thinking goes the other way around like you were like disgusted by what they I've also seen that where it's just like dude The iron is physically chipping off into your food because this isn't seasoned properly You know, there's like they're trying to fry eggs and they're scraping at it, and then there's little black chips on the eggs. Anyways, but no, people who have like really worn seasoned cast irons to where they're

cooking like fried eggs in there. It's like non-stick. It's better than non-stick at some point, right? Yeah, yeah. Because non-stick degrades over time. And so if you get that perfect cast iron, but I'm still not at the point where I'm like, oh, I'm going to make a fried egg, I'm going to bust out the cast iron cast iron for me or for like, I'm making cornbread, mac and cheese. I'm like, I want to see her a steak. Like I see,

I see her my stakes in cast iron skillets. Yeah. Always have and always will. What are, what are the advantages to cast iron? Like if somebody out there, one of y'all has never bought a cast iron pan has never cooked with it. Maybe you're intimidated because there are so many rules about it. That's what stopped me when people were talking about how it's a cardinal sin and you're a bad person to wash a cast iron soap.

But what is your advice to people who are trying to buy a cast iron, why they should use it? Well, I was always told that the iron goes into the food more. That is, I believe, true. Which I do believe is true, which is fine. But for me, it gets this beautiful heat. It's not an even heat.

It's not even. Is it even when you do it? I think so. I wouldn't say it's an even heat, but it is a- More even than my other pans, yeah. More even than your non-stick pans? Yeah. Really?

I disagree with you. Maybe mine's just not that great, but it retains so much heat that I think it can sear things really, really well. So like if you're the kind of person that like loves a really well seared chicken, if you're a person that really wants a well seared piece of steak or a protein like that,

I think it does a great job. Also whenever cooking vegetables, it makes this beautiful caramelization that I think is very unique to cast iron cooking. I mean, it's very easy to bake into. Like I've made like, like you said, cornbread. I've done's very easy to bake into like I've made like like you said cornbread I've done like upside like apple upside down like an apple crumble situation and I just think the edges get so crispy and delightful that

you just can't really get with any other tool. I mean you could potentially like you could take a casserole dish and you could oil it and you could butter it and you could but there's something about that like latent extreme heat that's just held in the cast iron that I don't think you can get elsewhere. I think held is the operative point there. Hot. It stays hot. The handle's hot.

You gotta use a little towel or a little, do you use that little silicone thing that it comes with? Never, never, never throw it away. That goes in the bottom drawer that I never open. But then I'm like, where's the cooking twine? And then I finally find it in the drawer with all my tiny little things that I never use. Right, right, right.

No, the cast iron retaining heat is really interesting. Like I cook on electric burners at home, which isn't ideal. I would love a gas burner. Thanks Cal, thanks Gavin Newsome. You can dine at the French Laundry, but I can't have a gas stove. He took away gas stoves? I don't know. California passed some law, but I think most places... I have a gas stove. He took away gas stoves? I don't know, California passed some law, but I think most places- I have a gas stove, I'm a little bit- I think places can get grandfathered in. I think most of America is banning gas stoves,

and also I think they probably really do cause negative health effects, but whatever. Electric sucks to cook on. It does. But I can't have like a wok, right? And I love to make little stir fries. The key to a wok is that it gets really, really hot because you have it on a big burner, and there's a lot of surface area and you keep the food moving so it never steams

Is it typically as a wok typically made out of stainless steel? Yeah, carbon steel, stainless steel. I don't really know what that means But I would I can basically use my cast iron like I would a wok because of the heat retention So basically if you keep things moving consistently in a wok and it's hot enough, they kind of don't steam. So everything stays nice, fresh, crispy. A lot of Chinese cookery is based off of that. You know what I mean? You pre-blanch your vegetables

so it can all get wok cooked in 30 seconds. If I try and make like a stir fry at home in a non-stick pan and I'm putting in, you know, a pound and a half of chicken and then all the veggies, whatever. How big is your pan if you're adding a pound and a half of chicken? Okay, all the veggies, whatever. How big is your pan if you're adding a pound and a half of chicken? Okay, so if I'm cooking a dinner for two,

I budget a pound of chicken. Per person? No, no, no, half a pound of chicken per person, because to me that gets you, if it's chicken breast, that's about 60 grams of protein, so I'll actually go six ounces on breast. Okay, that's what I was thinking. But if it's thigh, I go eight ounces,

because that's about 45 grams of protein. And then I do another portion of Julia, for Julia for lunch. Oh, that's so sweet. thinking. If it's thigh, I go eight ounces, because that's about 45 grams of protein. And then I do another portion of Julia, for Julia for lunch. Oh, that's so sweet. So if I'm cooking at home, I'm doing a pound and a half of chicken. You do that in a nonstick pan. It sizzles really, really hot when you put it in, but the pan isn't going to be as thick

and retain as much heat as a cast iron. Right, right, right. So eventually that sizzle dies and it starts steaming. And then you just have the steamed, overcooked, wet veg in your Kung Pao chicken. Totally. Right? Cast iron. Been there. Cast iron is so unique in that it holds the heat so well Mm-hmm. That you can just keep it moving and it keeps sizzling in uniform. Right, right. So like cast iron, it is really versatile and I would recommend that, yeah, I think everyone have one. Everyone should have one.

How do you feel about the people that are like die-hards, that are like, I am never gonna wash this, I'm gonna make fried fish one day, and then I'm gonna make a strawberry rhubarb crumble the next, like how do you feel about that kind of, that kind of cast iron cookery? Because for me, I don't want my cast iron when I'm making like a dessert to taste like fried fish. I just don't, like that doesn't appeal to me. It doesn't. You don't want the fried fish

flavored cobbler? No, I don't. Why'd you order it? No, so like you said cast iron is also porous. So, so porous. People will say a restaurant might have a cast iron pan or even a cast iron griddle top that they've cooked the burgers on for a hundred years and they say that this is the reason our burgers taste so good. It's because all that burger flavor is soaked up into the pores, which is a little bit true. Their burgers are probably good because they use a lot of butter and lard. But you know, for your home cast iron, the flavors are going to stay in there a little bit similar with like a Molcajete made out of volcanic rock, right?

You grind one spice in there, no matter how much you sort of wipe it out and clean it out, you're still going to taste that. but you cook other things and it changes over time I've never personally had an issue with that. I've had issues. Have you really what's the last thing? Not personal issues, but I've been to people's houses. Well have one sweet cast iron and one savory cast iron. I was going to say no. I mean like who's gonna do that though? Who's gonna do that? This is the fish cast iron. No people don't do that I mean there's cookbooks dedicated to cast iron cookery and there's a dessert section.

You think people are gonna go and get a separate cast iron for that? No, and I, yeah. No, it pisses me off because it's like, the people that do that and then they take care of their cast iron, that's one thing. If it's properly seasoned and it has that nonstick,

that really beautiful sheen that you're talking about. Yeah, the polymer won't sit, yeah. If the polymer has been made, if the, what is it? What's patina? Patina. If the patina has been constructed, sure. But do you think that Average Joe is out there building a patina?

No, they're not out there. Average Joe, the construction worker who is on the reality show trying to woo women because they think he's a millionaire. Oh, I loved Joe Millionaire? Joe Millionaire, that was that, yeah. Hey, Joe Millionaire, come on the podcast. Just call, I just want to know.

What's his name, Evan? I don't know, he was so hot. Can you go go who Joe Millionaire is? He probably cooks cast iron food. He seems like a cast iron guy. Joe Millionaire was a babe. I think his name was like Evan something or other. His name isn't Joe Millionaire?

No, that was a good name for each other Evan Mary on how do you say he was the Marriott? Funny and no, I don't think so. I think they changed his name to Joe millionaire I'm sure and they said Joe millionaire. He's the inventor of millionaires. Your name is mythical chef, Josh, correct What are you getting that legally changed by the pretty soon man? Julie is gonna's gonna be Mrs. Julia Chef Josh. Mrs. Josh. Mrs. Josh. Okay, so if you're talking about the hardos who insist on never putting water or soap

in their cast iron, because these are two different things. We should eventually tell people they should wash their damn cast irons, because that's the biggest debate. But washing means two different things. One is should you ever put water in it. I've always been a sure water it. Just dry it. Yeah, and then make sure it's dry. Yeah. But there are people who go no, you should only one you can superheat it until it turns to sort

of carbon. Then scrape it off, scrape it off and then wipe it down with oil again. There's people like that. You're probably going to get a lot more aromas in your cast iron that way. However, I look at those people like a romantic, right? Like I look at them as like, oh, this is a bygone time where life was simpler. And I love that your cornbread tastes like fish. You know, I think that's really sweet that they're so proud of their pans. They want to leave all the history in it. Okay. I don't personally do that myself. It freaks me out a little little bit despite knowing that all bacteria is killed if you super heat That pan especially to 1500 degrees that stuff's turned to straight carbon. What about the hardos that use salt?

The hardos that use salt. What does the salt do? I don't I think it's because it's an abrasive Oh, so you're yeah pick up all this stuff Yeah, but I've seen like people use like kosher salt with like oil and then they Gather it all up and then they get rid of it. Does that? Okay, so when you, I feel like I season more molcajete's than I have cast iron pans, but you use salt in the molcajete too? Well, what I do first is I submerge it for like a day and then I remove it, then I use rice first. Yeah, you grind the rice into it. I use grind the rice, like I do multiple passes until it's no longer gray and then I do salt

And then I do like garlic. Yeah, is that normal? I think that's what I do That's how I was thinking with cast iron the biggest debate though in cast iron The thing that gets people the most worked up is when soap touches it. I Want to use soap Why do you want to use so I don't know soap equals clean to me? I want to use soap! Why do you want to use soap? I don't know, soap equals clean to me. Soap equates clean.

I, maybe this is disgusting, I don't use soap, like, kind of for a lot of my pans sometimes. What do you mean? If there's schmutz on the outside, if I'm- Do you ever put it in the dishwasher? Do you ever put it in the pans? No. Never? No, be serious. No, I don't. I don't like to use dishwashers in general.

Like, I would never use a dishwasher if it wasn't for Julia insisting that we do it, because she's like, sometimes you clean dishes and they're not clean and I'm like you're correct. Yeah sometimes I put him in the dishwasher and then I don't take all this stuff off and then David goes he just looks and he touches it he doesn't even verbalize it he just touches the the like bowl and I'm like speak boy speak what is it and he's like dirty I'm like sorry what do you want me to do? I love that me and you have similar roles in our house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so funny. I know, we're the same person. We just got that. That said, the Lodge cast iron CEO has said before. What has he said? That he washes his cast irons with a little bit of soap. It's like, don't soak it, don't scrub it too, too hard,

but gently washing it with soap will not do anything to degrade the polymerization on that pan. What is this person's name? What is their name? Can we go to Lodge? Lodge. Lodge. Cast iron. Cast iron. CEO.

Mike Onerman. Don't come after him, Luigi. This might have been before, that might have been an old CEO. Mike Onerman, wash, cast iron with soap. You made a really funny joke, I think. It was funny, I said, I said, I said, don't come after him, Luigi.

Oh, you're making a joke about murder. Do you want me to stop? No, I think it's funny. I can like- You think murder's funny? Oh my God. In the right context, I think it's funny. You think murder's funny? In the right context, yeah, it's so funny. Okay, so here's what Mike Otterman has had to say about his cast iron usage. Okay, tell us what the CEO says.

Cast iron CEO Lodge. After dinner, I'll scrape it out in hot water. I will use soap and rub it down in the interior, particularly if I do salmon or something like that. Fish! Then I put it back on the burner particularly if I do salmon or something like that Fish! Then I put it back on the burner on low straighten up the rest of the kitchen when it gets to a nice warm temperature I spray it with oil turn off the burner wipe it down with a paper towel Leave it on the burner until it cools And then I obviously never put it away it looks better when I'm done cooking with it than when I started it

Cute! Cute! Also, I love having a cast-iron sitting on the stove at all times Me too until my mom came over and she said, what are you doing? Your house is a mess. So I had to put it away. I always keep, wait, this is the thing. I always keep a frying pan on the stove. I generally use my Ninja Neverstick. I cook with Ninja Neverstick pans at home.

They are very, very affordable. They heat to a very, very high degree. I can get up to 1,500 degrees without degrading the nonstick, which is really unique. Listen, as nonstick technology continues to progress, it will get safer. It will get better. This is all to say, I'm never sticking this. I'm never going to stainless steel. I, you know, I think I will reach self-actualization when I do use all

clad stainless steel, I think as, as a a person once I have that set I need let me tell you I need it it doesn't be all clad But I need a stainless steel set and then I need a lay crusette set And once I get those two lay crusettes, huh? Is it like you say look rosé? Am I saying it wrong? Rosé I've been like crusading it the whole crusading? I don't know it's like La Croix, you know, La Croix. I feel stupid. How do you pronounce it? I don't know but let me tell you my let me tell you. So I need to have my stainless steel pots and pans and then one cast iron skillet or two and then um for Josh oh it's like you say okay look so it's a la crusade la crusade my la crusade set all the red ones though I only want red ones don't give me any other color than the red ones okay and then I'm gonna have a red bite I already have a red Vitamix and then a red a red KitchenAid and I feel

like I'll reach self actualization don't you feel that way no and I feel like I'll reach self-actualization. Don't you feel that way? Do I feel if you get all of your red cookware appliances and pans that you will reach self-actualization? And the stainless steel. I know what you mean, it's like that can fix me, all my personality flaws will suddenly go away if I have the right cooking tools. It's like me when I finally get my meat grinder and ice cream maker, I'm like, that will fix me. Yeah, but it won't, huh?

It won't, no, you have to do the internal work. I don't wanna. It's a very restauranty chef thing to only cook in stainless steel, right? Yeah. A lot of restaurants operate on stainless steel. My problem with stainless steel is you do have to use a lot of oil in it.

That's true, that's true. Right, and my dietary goals, my fitness goals, right, I'm eating, I'm already getting so much fat from eating a half a pound of chicken thighs, you know, that I'm like, I don't want that extra oil just to fry an egg. I'm fine just eating this egg and I'd like a quick fried egg. Give me a nonstick pan. I'm down to do that. Fine. I would love to be a pure cast iron boy. Oh. You know what I mean? One of those people who bust out his cast iron just to fry an egg.

I guess that to me is self-actualization. Okay, I was going to ask. That's gender affirming for me. That's what I want. It's just to cook everything in a cast iron. Gosh. You know, steak, egg, salmon, cobbler. Cobbler.

Yeah. Okay. You ever see the hot wilderness guys? Yes. They're cooking out and there's like a frozen river bank. I do know those wilderness guys. They just brought a sack of like jalapenos and onions and cilantro out into the snowy woods

and they're cutting a steak with their buoy knife. They're probably in like Azerbaijan or something doing it. They're throwing a cast iron onto a fire. So hot. That's hot, I wanna be that hot. I'm not, I'm a city boy at the heart. Cooking on my little electric stove. Have you ever thought about just like moving to like a compound?

It's almost all I think about these days. Are you serious? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you ever thought about just like leaving Los Angeles and then like getting like a little compound and inviting like five of your friends? I don't need to be one of the five if you don't want me to, but I think it'd be cool if I was. I don't think we should be in separate compounds. You don't want to be in a compound? No, it's not that I don't want to., but I think it'd be cool if I was. I don't think we should be separate compounds. You don't want to be in a compound? No, it's not that I don't want to, I just think we both have.

Separate friends. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, did you, no, now I feel terrible. Did you think that we would be compound friends? I can't say, look, Ruzai, I don't want to be in the same compound as you. What's going on? What happened to what we've built the past five and a half

years? So you don't want me to come on your compound, but whatever but Josh tell the people should you wash your cast-iron skillet? You should do whatever the heck you want with your cast-iron skillet You can wash your cast-iron skillet with soap the lodge cast-iron CEO literally says that he does that it won't reduce the polymerization On your seasoning that you have however if you don't want to wash your cast iron that is also perfectly fine if you want to use Water or soap or just wipe it out with a paper towel. That's all cool The most important thing you can do for a cast iron is in the preparation is in the actual seasoning of it Like anything in life with knives the best knife is a sharp knife with cars, right?

The car that runs the longest is the one that's been the most well maintained. I literally need to get an oil change right now, but that's totally fine. I follow my advice on cast irons. The biggest thing people shouldn't like freak out a cast iron pan is just a pan. If you see somebody putting a cast iron into soapy water, don't freak out. It's similar with washing chicken. It's fine. You can wash chicken safely. You don't have to wash your chicken. You can wash a cast iron efficaciously. You don't have to wash cast iron. It's a pan and it's a good pan and I think everyone should have one. Wash it, don't wash it. As long as you maintain it and cook delicious food in it, that's all that matters. Nicole, what do you think? Should you wash your cast iron pan?

I think you should wash your cast iron pans. There's been all of this hullabaloo about not doing it, doing it. I think having a clean dish that will allow you to do whatever you want with it, as long as you maintain it the right way, you could do whatever you want. But I'm gonna wash mine, and I hope you're gonna wash yours. Clean pan, clean mind, clean soul. That's what they say. I'm still not washing my legs The soap drips down you really need to scrub your legs. It's upsetting how little parts of my body

I truly wash when I shower you need to scrub you. I don't I almost don't wash anything Do you have a loofah? I'm buying you a frickin loofah. What am I gonna bring the loofah to the gym? Yes, absolutely not Yes, I could use it. What do you need? Well, I could use one eh. What do you need? Well, I could use one of their small towels that you use to wipe down equipment as a wash rack. The eucalyptus ones? Yeah.

Don't put that in your... Oh no, in my hoo-ha. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. All righty, Nicole. We've heard what you and I have to say. Now it's time to find out what other wacky opinions are rattling out there in the universe. It's time for the segment

we call... Opinions are like casseroles! Josh, you have given me so many abandonment issues today. You don't want me on your compound. You didn't sing with me. Oh, I'm sorry. I was trying to like drum a beat while you sang. I was trying to support your rhythm section. Well, you're supposed to tell me you can't just do it.

You were a David Letterman and I was the bald guy with glasses. What was his name? Phil? Filsey? You know what I mean? I'm sorry. I'm trying to support you. I just, well, listen to an opinion.

Don't support me in a way that is unsupportive. No, no, that's a real life lesson for people out there. Trying to support you. I just will listen to it. Don't support me in a way that is unsupportive That's a real life lesson Hi, I'm Ryan. I've never done this before But you're doing great. I think that if you put bananas near bread any kind of bread it tastes really gross It tastes like bananas. No one I've ever met has ever felt this way before except me, but I feel really strongly about it. Thank you, I love your podcast. Thanks, Ryan. Wow.

Polyethylene, tell me, talk to me about polyethylene. Is it polyethylene or just ethylene? I don't know, something, what does poly mean, multiple? Poly is when you have multiple. Poly equals multi, so poly, lots of ethylenes. Well, yeah, I don't know anyways, I just know the one ethylene, but there's the ethylene that bananas emit, which is maybe what you're talking about. So bananas, I don't know if there's a way to quantify this, but I think they like

emit a lot more ethylene, which is the gas that naturally ripens fruit, right? So I believe if you put other fruits next to bananas, they are literally absorbing the ethylene, they'll ripen faster. Yeah. Like you put avocado next to, in a bag with a banana. There's like graphs out there that'll tell you like, put this with that for ripening. Don't put that with that

to make sure everything stays nice and neutral. So yeah. But you know what they say, you don't like the ripeness of your banana? Wait 10 minutes. Bananas ripen really fast is what I'm saying. And so it would make sense that if you put some sort of food next to a banana, especially something as porous as bread that absorbs so many odors,

like if you have exposed bread next to a banana, yeah, it's probably going to absorb the ethylene. I wonder if anybody's done a what's that thing called a research paper on this? Of bread near nanners? Yeah. What do you mean? Nanner adjacent breads? Yeah. I wonder if anyone's done like, I don't know, like a, what's that, a thesis? I'll do a home experiment tonight. I got a, I have the perfect crappy bread heel that I was already like dreading using, you

know what I mean? The thing is, the heel probably won't collect as much. No, it's got a good enough face. I'm sorry, it's got a good enough face though. It does? Okay. It's got a good enough face. But it's not, okay, okay. It's not just, cause yeah, the crust might, yeah, but I have like three bananas one crappy bread He'll I'll let you know, but you're not you're not crazy I believe you I think I think you're right here And I think ethylene does kind of smell like bananas because that's you know bananas omit so much of it that I think we Associate that smell like I smell gasoline. I smell bananas. I smell gasoline. I think ooh

What's gasoline made out of? I'm gonna get a good opinion. Oh Google. Yeah, but there's other things in it. I'll Google a gasoline but also the smell Oh gasoline is odorless gasoline ingredients gasoline is odorless, right and they add a smell they add a There's a term for it and need to let people know if there's a gasoline If I could just like stand like next to a gas station and just breathe in the fumes, I think I'd reach self-actualization. It's Benzie. Hello, this is Kat from Raleigh, North Carolina, but I'm originally from Vermont.

Go Katamounts. And I want more savory granola bars. Now you don't. Like cajun, nuts and seeds and things like that. Okay. I don't know why it has to be sugary when last time I did that salt was also a preservative. Oh, I'll tell you I mean oh Tell him tell him Josh not the preservation that you need the sugar for It's to turn it into a bar The sugar is what holds the bar together you ever wonder why like chewy granola bars are just like so kind of wet It's cuz the sugar is providing a structure and I'm sure there's a way to make like a savory nut Oh bar or whatever without that much sugar. But I will tell you, this is a product

that now exists on the market. I've had it before. Savory granola bars? Kind, savory, roasted nut and grain bars or whatever. So Kind bars, which I think did a great job of like, we grew up on chewy granola bars or Kudos bars or whatever. Quaker.

Nature Valley, Quaker. Yeah, yeah. 100%. And they're sugary, they're basically candy. And Kine comes in and they're like, hey, this is dark chocolate. There's whole nuts on there that you can see. I have a lot of respect for what Kine did in the industry and now they're making savory. I had their rosemary nuts and sea salt and it's good.

They taste the rosemary, love a good salty, herby nut. The problem for me with them is there's so much sugar because that's what's holding, or I think they use brown rice syrup or invert sugar. Yes. That's what's holding the bar together. You are right. And so I was eating this thing and I was kinda like,

this is just so sweet and so savory at the same time. And I was like, why the sweet? And then I noticed the kind of caramelly pull for my teeth. And so I think that's an actual chemical reason why it can't be purely savory. Well, you could do a savory sweet one. Well, yeah, that's exactly what Kine did. And it's a pretty good product.

It's just not something that I... Have you ever heard of a handful of nuts? Hear me out. What you do is you buy nuts and you grab them with a handful and you go... You're so passive aggressive. And you just go... And you go...

And you just slam a handful of nuts.... You're so passive aggressive. And you just go... And you go... And you just slam a handful on that. The CEO of Kine, Mexican Jew. Big fan of him. Why did I not expect you to say Mexican Jew? I don't know, I don't know. I've seen a whole truck thing. I just thought you were gonna say Persian.

Oh, no. And I thought you were gonna say, I went to school with his daughter. I know everybody. Her sweet sixteen, crazy. I do know everybody. Hi, Hot Take is a sandwich. My name is Sophia and I'm from Northern California. My question for you is, does the Tarascaria count as a buffet? Oh, well, I have another question.

I have another question. Can I ask it? I love that they love Tarascarias. Go ahead. Are you eating the buffet option as well as just going to the churrascarias? Because whenever you go to churrascarias, you get the option. You either get the buffet, you could get the buffet and the meat, or you can just get the meat. So that's my question to you, Sophia. Well, well, talking about me being bad, Sophia,

have you ever been to a place called the Sizzler? Because I will say The Sizzler has a similar structure to most chohascarias. Yes, I'm using the Brazilian pronunciation of chohasco. Chohasco? At most chohascarias, they will have the meat portion where they're generally going table to table. I don't know if that's all chohascarias, but it's like- That's the one that I like. Yeah, the ones that we go to.

That's not true. I like the ones where, no, I like, no. They come around the meat are on giant swords, and they slice them off directly on your table And then there's like a separate buffet set up that you go you get your salad your hearts a palm Sometimes I'll have beef stroganoff. Yeah, they do Yeah, fun little treats like that is a shohasqueria More akin to a steakhouse or a buffet to you? It's the perfect medium. It's the perfect medium, but if you had to put it into a category, because I think this

is an astute question. Well, whenever you go, what is it called on the door? It's a Brazilian steakhouse, right? They say steakhouse. They say steakhouse. But in terms of like the American steakhouse concept, right, you wouldn't go to Korean barbecue and say like, I'm going to a steakhouse, despite the fact that you're probably there for cuts of steak that are cooked. That's true. Well, you're doing the cooking yourself. So it's a completely different action than a steakhouse.

But I'd say steakhouse is also like pretty different from a churrasqueria where they're coming around tableside. Churrasqueria is dim sum. Yeah. Tableside carts, you're just choosing. And is dim sum a buffet? No. I would, okay, here's my official take here. I do love this question. Me too, I really, really do. I think a shuhaskaria is its own separate experience. They do have a buffet inside a shuhaskaria, but that's like calling a McDonald's with a ball pit a playground. Don't trust anybody if they go to McDonald's and say I'm going to the playground. That's a weird thing. It has a playground. It's not a playground.

I was that kid. But I would say once chujasquerias get more popular, which I hope they do because God, I love them. South American grilled meats are incredible. I think it's going to be more recognized as its own thing. Like KBBQ. Like Korean barbecue. Fair. Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and lean more so towards that.

It is a type of steakhouse instead of a type of buffet or a type of anything else. I'm going to say that a Brazilian barbecue experience is a steakhouse experience. It is a different experience, but it is a steakhouse nonetheless. I think it's the funnest steakhouse you can go to. Sophia, I dream of a future where you don't have to put these things into categories. That's the future that I dream of.

Great question, great opinion. A decentralized, talking about cryptocurrency. Decentralized steakhouses. Meat Emporium. Hi, this is Noreena from Ohio and I just have a complaint. Every time somebody talks about difficulty swallowing, Nicole is quick to jump in and say, oh, phagia. No, phagia is just swallowing in general.

I'm sorry. This phagia is difficulty swallowing. A phagia is absent of swallowing, so inability to swallow. All right, thank you for letting me rant. I'm so sorry. Wait, what did you do? I don't know, I did something where I said aphasia was dysphasia and aphasia.

I've been talking for a long time on this thing. They just put a microphone in front of me and they said speak and I said, okay okay mistakes are gonna be made and I'm so Hey what if you're wrong? How many podcasts do you have? Don't you talk crap with my friend Nicole she's a nice lady Am I being supportive in the way that you feel supported? Yeah yeah Don't you ever call in again

No you can call back Ohio sucks Hey hey hey I like Ohio Go Buckeyes I found Columbus a little underwhelming in the city. Buckeyes? I've had great times in Cleveland.

Buckeyes. That's the name of, yeah. A dessert from Ohio. And a team. A dessert, it's actually a tree. It's a tree with a lot of roots in indigenous medicine. Isn't it also a team? It is also the name of the Ohio State football team.

And it's peanut butter balls. It's also peanut butter balls that look like the nut on the tree. I'm gonna tell you right now, I will make mistakes and I will never stop making mistakes because I'm a human being and I appreciate you for calling me out because sometimes it feels good to get called out a little bit. Do it again. If you ever hear me do anything wrong again, just call and say Nicole did this wrong.

I love it. Maggie, can you Google, I'm not looking this up, can you Google what the seventh track on Lamb of God's self-titled first album is? I think it's self-titled, but Lamb of God's first studio album's seventh track. Dang. Wait, scroll down, ninth track. What are you doing? Dang. Look up Lamb of God, Buckeye. Damn, I thought I had this right. Lamb of God up Lamb of God Buckeye. Damn, I thought I had this right. Lamb of God has a song called Buckeye as well. What album is this on? That's not important anymore, but wait, no, scroll down, scroll down. Maggie? What album? Oh my god, this was, ugh!

It wasn't Lamb of God. It was on Burn the Priest when they were going by the name Burn the Priest. So this is before they were even Lamb of God. Well, I feel stupid now. I apparently said the wrong word for the wrong problem. You've ruined Nicole's day. No, actually I feel so much more invigorated to make more mistakes and get called out again. I don't wanna draw any conclusions from that. Hey guys, this is Ethan from Chicago. I don't want to draw any conclusions from that. Hey guys, this is Ethan from Chicago.

I don't believe you. I'm here with my daughter making homemade munchie mix. And I had an opinion that Fritos make a better ingredient than they do chips. You know, like Fritos, like just on the side of the sandwich kind of sucks. But if you add to like it the chili Yep, I see If you had the chili great burrito amazing just a chip kind of fuck. What do you think?

I want to make a burrito and put fritos in it I'm curious. Okay, so let's bring this down fritos Right plain plain flavored fritos intense corn flavor great crunch Uh-huh. But why do you think it would fail as a standalone chip? I kind of agree with them. Instinctively, I agree with them. I will always, always stan corn flavor. I think just pure corny corn flavor's really good. But would you say the same thing about like a ruffle plain chip?

Because I would never eat a plain flavored potato chip over like a barbecue or a flaming hot or a honey mustard. Plain chips I have no, unless I'm dipping it in something. What about salt and pepper chips? No. Oh my God, I love. I would straight pass them. Oh my God, oh my God, I love plain chips. No, give me more black pepper on there maybe,

but like they're never peppery enough. What? You know. I love plain, I love a plain chip. I love a pure chip. I like the corniness of Fritos, I like the potatoiness of Lay's and saltiness. So I don't really necessarily agree with this

because I love corn a lot. I think the interesting thing with that is the flavor of a Frito is so strong, but the flavor is ultimately something that comes from nature, which is interesting. And I like that. Right, whereas like a Flamin' Hot Taki is also a strongly flavored chip. Not in nature.

Don't find that in nature. None of those things are found in nature. So I think that's interesting. I think that's maybe why it might play really well with other foods, especially, talk about chili and burritos, like especially with Mexican foods. Right. Getting it's a punch of very strongly toasted corn flavor. And if you have the best corn tortilla you ever have,

should have a strong corn flavor. Correct. But, oh, there's one mega corporation that owns like 89% of the world's tortilla productions called Gruma. The Gruma Group, they own like Guerrero and all those brands. Mission. Yeah, I think they own Mission. No, Mission might be an American company.

But anyways, like all their corn tortillas, they're very processed. They don't taste that much like corn. You know what I mean? So you're adding a Frito to that You're like getting this big corn punch I think it's both I think I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna be in the middle for this I'm just gonna go ahead and say it's a good standalone chip and I disagree with you How does that feel? Huh? Now I'm craving a side of plain Fritos with just like a ham mayonnaise and American cheese sandwich.

Right, right. Can we do that? You can do whatever you want. Yeah, free will, buddy. I already ate a big fistful of ham for breakfast. Oh yeah, fistfuls of ham. It's my new metal band. Well on that note, thank you so much for stopping by the podcast. If you liked it, that's great.

That's what we shoot for every time. Yeah, if you want to leave an opinion, call us at 833-DOG-POD-1. The number again is 833-DOG-POD-1. New audio episodes out every Wednesday. New videos out on Sunday over YouTube. And we make a lot of other YouTube videos on Mythical Kitchen.

You should watch that. See you next time. Bye. For more hilarious conversations with Josh and Nicole, find A Hot Dog is a Sandwich on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast. You ever been there when an uncomfortable question about race comes up, but you don't know how to answer? That's where Code Switch lives.

Each week we're talking about race and how it intersects with every other aspect of your life, from politics and pop culture to history and food. Listen now to the Code Switch podcast from NPR.