Something You Should Know - Have More Impact on the People Around You & Chef Secrets to Make Food Tastier

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

Have you ever been tempted to buy a product (usually electronics) labeled, “refurbished”? The price is typically discounted and often the warranty is excellent - but is it a good deal or are you buying someone else’s headache? This episode begins by looking at what the term refurbished actually means and whether or not it is worth buying that product or leaving alone and going for the brand new one. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/laptops/refurbished-electronics-buying-guide With just about everyone you talk to, you are either trying to persuade or influence them in some way. Whether it’s your boss, your kids, your co-workers or your friends, exerting influence is how you get them to understand you and go along with your ideas. If you would like to up your influence game, listen to my conversation with Shelle Rose Chavret. She is an expert on influence and persuasion and she is author of the book Words That Change Minds (https://amzn.to/2ITFGOt)  Do you know how to make the perfect scrambled egg? Or the perfect grilled cheese sandwich? How can you make home cooked pasta taste as good as it does in a restaurant? These are just a few of the kitchen secrets revealed by my guest Daniel Holzman. Daniel is a chef, food writer and co-author of the book Food IQ https://amzn.to/3JwtdNv. Whether you are an experienced cook or you just dabble a bit in the kitchen, you will find Daniel's advice practical and useful. Many of us cling to our old vinyl LPs. Yet, the fact is many of them are dirty and scratchy and would sound terrible if you actually played them on that old turntable you stored away somewhere. However, there is method you can use to clean up and restore those old records that is going to sound weird but actually seems to work extremely well. https://lifehacker.com/use-wood-glue-to-clean-and-restore-old-lps-5495614 PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! We really like The Jordan Harbinger Show! Check out https://jordanharbinger.com/start OR search for it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen!  Helix Sleep is offering up to $200 off all mattress orders AND two free pillows for our listeners at https://helixsleep.com/sysk.  Truebill is the smartest way to manage your finances. The average person saves $720 per year with Truebill. Get started today at https://Truebill.com/SYSK! Sign up for your FREE Novo business checking account RIGHT NOW at https://Novo.co/Something and you'll get access to over $5,000 in perks and discounts! Discover matches all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! Learn more at https://discover.com/match M1 Finance is a sleek, fully integrated financial platform that lets you manage your cash flow with a few taps and it's free to start. Head to https://m1finance.com/something to get started!  To see the all new Lexus NX and to discover everything it was designed to do for you, visit https://Lexus.com/NX Use SheetzGo on the Sheetz app! Just open the app, scan your snacks, tap your payment method and go!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the kitchen to the laundry room, your home deserves the best. Give it the upgrade it deserves at Best Buy's Ultimate Appliance Event. Save up to $1,000 on two or more major appliances. Shop now, in-store, or online at BestBuy.ca. Exclusions apply. Today on Something You Should Know, what does it mean when a product is discounted because it's been refurbished? Then, ways you can be more influential with everyone in your life.

You know, we've all heard about the golden rule, do unto others as you would have done unto you. I believe in the platinum rule, and the platinum rule is do unto others as they would have done unto them. Also, if you have old vinyl LPs, there's a way to make them sound great again. And food secrets everyone can use, like how to make pasta taste better at home and the magic of a perfect grilled cheese sandwich. If you toast the inside of the bread, the cheese melts faster and more evenly. Some of the, if you do it in a nonstick pan, some of the cheese pours over the edge and crisps up in the pan in a special way. I think toasting both

sides of the bread with butter in the pan is the je ne sais quoi we're looking for. All this today on Something You Should Know. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show. Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest. Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this

issue. It's a great conversation. And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named The Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back, and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed, critical thinker. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show. There's so much for you in this podcast. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something you should know. Fascinating intel.

The world's top experts and practical advice you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. Hi, welcome. Have you ever had the opportunity to buy something refurbished at a discount? Usually it's electronics. Maybe you decided to skip it and buy a new one because you worried that refurbished meant you were buying something that was defective and had to be fixed. Well, not always. Surprisingly, only about 5% of returned electronics are defective, according to a survey.

Some refurbished laptops and other products haven't even been touched by the person who purchased them. They've been returned because a clerk nicked the box during shipping or maybe the buyer just didn't like the color. When there's a true defect, retailers such as Best Buy send the item to an authorized repair center or back to the manufacturer for inspection, repair, and repackaging, and the discounts on those refurbished products can be between 15 and 50 percent. It's probably best to stick to the name brands and reputable retailers like Amazon, Apple, and Best Buy when buying refurbished products.

But at least now you know what refurbished really means, and it may just be a good deal. And that is something you should know. You probably don't think about it all that much, but every day you're required to influence people. Your kids, your co-workers, your boss, your friends. You exert influence to get them to do things or to give you things or behave in a certain way. You have to be influential to be effective. And since we don't necessarily think about it all that much, we don't typically have a plan or a formula to be influential.

But if you did, if you did have a plan, you would probably be more influential. And here to help you be more influential is Shelley Rose Chevret. Shelley is an international expert on influencing and persuasion, and she's author of the book Words That Change Minds. Hi, Shelley. Hi, Mike. Since we're all trying to influence people every day, what is it that you see when you observe people?

What is it that you see people do wrong that makes them less effective and less influential? You know, what people generally do wrong is they focus on getting the thing that they want, and it's almost as if they're the only person in the equation. In fact, there's two people. So although it's important to be clear on what your goal is when you want to persuade and influence someone, it's also important to figure out or to help find out what the other person wants because there's both of you there. And thirdly, going to meet them where they are,

what I call their bus stop. It's very hard to persuade somebody if you are thinking the way you do, feeling the way you do, and kind of trying to get somebody to come over here without you going to get them. So we do need to figure out by listening in a very particular way, what's important to that person, how they

think, how they make decisions. And then we're going to know how to talk to them to be persuasive. So give me an example of how that would work. Let's imagine that Susie wants to convince her husband, Bobby, that there's something wrong with the car. What Susie usually does is she says, Bobby, there's something wrong with the car. And Bobby isn't convinced because Bobby needs to decide for himself whether or not he thinks there's something wrong with the car. So just simply saying, listen, there's something wrong with the car. I heard a noise. We have to take it to the garage.

And then getting annoyed when Bobby doesn't do that, to be able to have an impact with Bobby, knowing that Bobby doesn't want to be told what to do, and that's one of the triggers I talk about, is you then go to where Bobby is thinking and saying, hey, Bobby, I heard a weird noise with the car and I suspect there's something wrong with it. Can you check it out? So the formula is you offer that person information and invite them to decide for themselves. What most of us just do is tell other people what to think. Yeah, we do, don't we? Here's what I think and you should think the same thing. That's right. Here's what you should think and here's what you should do. Now, chances are in couples,

people don't like to be told what to do. You know, partners don't want the other partner to tell them what to do and what to think. And it's so frustrating because one partner will say, well, it's obvious. Why doesn't she just get it? Or why doesn't he understand? And the thing is, the more assertive you are, the more resistance you get. Whereas if you're invitational, the more likely your partner is to actually consider what you want. So I have a problem. I'd like to talk to you about it. Would it be okay if I told you what's going on and get your input? Like, you don't have to sound like you're begging and pleading.

You just need to invite the person to decide for themselves. And so isn't this sort of manipulating people? You know, a lot of people are worried that influence and persuasion is manipulation, but there's a difference between manipulating somebody and influencing them. If you're manipulating them, you don't really care what their goal is or what they want. You just want what you want. When you're trying to have an impact or a positive impact or influence, you have to take the other person's goal in mind, because otherwise it just doesn't work. People have radar. They know when they're being manipulated, sometimes not right at the moment,

but sometimes later, you go, I just don't trust that person. And it's because we have radar for manipulation. It's interesting. I know you say that being enthusiastic can actually hurt your ability to influence people if you're too enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is good in and of itself, but if you sort of put it like a sheet over top of the other person too, then it doesn't work. But if you can be enthusiastic for yourself, you can say, I love this movie, I thought it was the best one all year. And I wonder what you'd think about it. I'm curious as to whether or not you would like it or not. That's an invitation. That's okay for me to be enthusiastic, but I can't decide for you what

you're going to think. So if you say, oh, this is a great book, you're going to love it. Well, unless you have absolutely impeccable credibility with that person and they trust your judgment, they're going to get a bit skeptical and say, well, you know, I'll read it. Maybe I'll read it. Maybe I won't. But it's not just because the other person told you you're going to love it, that you're going to love it. It does seem very often that people, in trying to influence other people, are maybe a little

too subtle. You know, they use body language or they kind of hint at what they want rather than be direct and say what they want. And you say that often doesn't work, often backfires. So talk about that. So there's a group of people who are not very good at noticing or hearing body language or voice tone. So if you say to them something like,

all right, they think you said all right because they didn't hear the frustration in your voice tone. Or if you're looking upset, they don't necessarily pick it up because they're focused on the content. And all of us do this at different times. There are some people who do it more often than others. And if you've tried hinting and it doesn't work, then you need to be a little bit more direct about how you're feeling. Explain the platinum and the golden rules of communication, because that plays

into this whole idea of influence. Well, you know, we've all heard about the golden rule, do unto others as you would have done unto you. I think that fits for a lot of situations. But in terms of interpersonal communication, everybody's kind of different. What works for you doesn't necessarily work for somebody else. So I believe in the platinum rule. And the platinum rule is do unto others as they would have done unto them. So here's an example. Let's say I like to have lots of choices in where we go to a restaurant. So when we're talking about where we're going to a restaurant, I might say, hey, there's this option, there's that restaurant, there's the Italian,

there's the Chinese, there's the Greek restaurant. And my partner may not like to have any options at all. My partner may like to go to the same restaurant over and over again. So if I want to persuade my partner, I'm going to have to use the language that my partner uses. So instead of saying, well, look, there's all these choices. We could go somewhere new. I might need to say, hey, you know, you said you really like spaghetti. I know a place where you can get the spaghetti that you might just like. It might be worthwhile testing out. You don't say, let's go to somewhere new and different when you know a person wants to do more or less the same kind of thing. And that's an example of paying attention to what's important to the other person. Often when we're trying to influence people, we're trying to get

them to make a choice. You know, do you want this one or that one? Do you want to go here or go there? And I know I've read or heard that choice is a problem, that you want this one or that one? Do you want to go here or go there? And I know I've read or heard that choice is a problem, that you would think giving people lots of choices, well, then they're bound to find something they want. But in fact, when you give people too many choices, you improve the likelihood that they choose nothing because you've overwhelmed them with too many choices. That's exactly true. And the traditional research says that it's because there are too many things and a person can't make up their mind. But if we go even deeper into our unconscious mind, if it's not clear what we want, like we have no criteria

for choosing, and B, we have no procedure for choosing, too many options is instant overwhelm. And most people don't think about how they make decisions. They just either decide or they don't decide. And so if you're trying to persuade someone, it's useful for you to think about, A, what's important to them? What do they want? And B, how are they most likely to make a decision? And someone who is looking for something that is similar to what they already have, what's going to help them make a decision is if you can point out how what you're proposing is similar. But isn't it just human nature? When you ask someone what kind of ice cream you want, and you give them 31 different flavors to choose from, it's going to take a lot more work to get them to choose one than if you said, would you like chocolate or vanilla?

Absolutely. Absolutely. And here's the trap, though. Sometimes if you say, would you like chocolate and vanilla, and you have one of those people who doesn't want to be closed into a box where someone else chooses, they'll say, hey, listen, I like strawberry. But at least then you get a decision. Because if we don't have strawberry, then your choice is to not choose, but that's a choice. But it's a choice, and the person will decide. Like, some we don't have strawberry, then your choice is to not choose, but that's a choice. But it's a choice and the person will decide. Like some people don't want to be boxed into that two-choice thing. And in traditional sales technology, there's often these techniques like the alternative clothes, either this or either that, or here's what our most popular flavor is. And if people are what we call internal, that means they like to

decide for themselves based on what's important to them, they don't go with the flow. So it works if somebody is more easily influenced by what other people think, but if they aren't, it doesn't work. So you have to find out in this case what's important to that person and how they would know they made the right decision. So when you're choosing a flavor of ice cream, what do you go for? And a person might say, well, I want something new and different from what I've had before, or I always liked the same thing. You know, you have to listen to those things. And what we don't do is we don't ask enough of the right questions to find out how does somebody decide?

How do they make judgment calls? Are they looking for new and different? Are they looking for same? Are they looking for better? Right, because everybody's different. We are talking about influence and how to influence other people. My guest is Shelley Rose Chavre, and her book is titled Words That Change Minds. Hi, I'm Jennifer, a co-founder of the Go Kid Go Network.

At Go Kid Go, putting kids first is at the heart of every show that we produce. That's why we're so excited to introduce a brand new show to our network called The Search for the Silver Lightning, a fantasy adventure series about a spirited young girl named Isla who time travels to the mythical land of Camelot. During her journey, Isla meets new friends, including King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, and learns valuable life lessons with every quest, sword fight, and dragon ride. Positive and uplifting stories remind us all about the importance of kindness, friendship, honesty, and positivity. Join me and an all-star cast of actors, including Liam Neeson, Emily Blunt, Kristen Bell, Chris Hemsworth, among many others,

in welcoming the Search for the Silver Lining podcast to the Go Kid Go Network by listening today. Look for the Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Go Kid Go Network by listening today. Look for the Search for the Silver Lining on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. People who listen to something you should know

are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started

listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet. Listen in for some great talks on science, tech, politics, creativity, wellness, and a lot more. A couple of recent examples, Mustafa Suleiman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, discussing the future of technology. That's pretty cool. And writer, podcaster, and filmmaker John Ronson, discussing the rise of conspiracies and culture wars.

Intelligence Squared is the kind of podcast that gets you thinking a little more openly about the important conversations going on today. Being curious, you're probably just the type of person Intelligence Squared is meant for. Check out Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts. So Shelly, we're talking about the importance of understanding how people decide and what they prefer. And it made me think, I used to know a guy who would eat dinner at the same restaurant every day. But not only that, because that in itself would drive me crazy, but he ordered the same thing every single time. Every time.

He has what we call a sameness pattern in the context of food. And what we don't realize is that these patterns that I've talked about, sameness and internal and whether somebody wants something new and different, they're not personality patterns. They're contextual. So he may want the same food in the same restaurant when he's at work, but when he's on holiday, he might like to experiment or he might like to have the same thing. We don't know because these tendencies are contextual. We do different things at different times. And that's one of the challenges in human communication. Not only are people different than me, they do different things

at different times. And so trying to stuff somebody like a round peg into a square hole doesn't work. I would imagine that a lot of your ability to influence or to get someone to make a decision or whatever it is you're trying to do has a lot to do with the influencer. I'm much more comfortable when certain people ask me something than when other people who aren't maybe so sure of themselves. There's something about the persona of the influencer that makes decision-making easier, right? That's absolutely true. You wouldn't want to decide to work with somebody if you didn't believe they were credible in the field that they were proposing you should do work with them. If somebody comes across as unsure,

well, they see doubt in the mind of the other person. Or if somebody comes across as arrogant, they see defensiveness in the other person. And so it's really important to think about how do I establish credibility? Secondly, how do I establish trust? Like what is going to enable this person to know that they can count on me? What are the things I need to do? And there's kind of a formula for trust. And it's a longer-term formula, but it's this, it's what I call say do.

If I say I'm going to do something, I do it. And I do it when I said I was going to do it. And if you do that a minimum of three times, and you do it over and over again, you are proving to the other person that you are trustworthy. How many times have somebody said they were going to do something for you and they didn't come through? What did you think of that person as a person? A very important influential moment, I think, that people have trouble with is when they have to deliver bad news. Because how you deliver the bad news can have a big influence on how people receive the bad news, and nobody likes to give bad news. I developed something called the bad news formula, and it's a way of decreasing the emotional upset

on both sides when you have to tell somebody something they really don't want to hear. And the bad news formula starts with the bad news. So you're talking to a person, you know, make sure, you know, you're sitting in a place or you're on the phone and you're both comfortable with each other. And the formula goes like this. I'll do the formula and then I'll do an example. The bad news formula is bad news. And then you use the word, but. The word but's quite important because it tells the person that something different is going to happen. So bad news, but, good news for the other person, and good news, and good news. And of course, the first objection to the bad news formula is, what do you do if you don't

have any good news? Well, you have to find some. So bad news is what I can't do for you, but, and then you propose something that goes some way towards doing something for the other person or another solution. And I was thinking, you know, the bad news formula is very, very effective. And someone used it on me, and I couldn't believe it. I had done a huge contract for a software company on managing customer expectations. I went all over the states and then down to their headquarters in New Zealand. And three months later, I hadn't received my check. So I emailed one of the people in payables who had taken my training. I knew everybody in the company. And I said to him, hey, George, I haven't received my check yet. Can you look into it for me?

And then I got back an email and George said, dear Shelly, I know you haven't gotten your check yet, but I will be seeing the VP of Finance this week and I'll be putting your bill in front of him and I'll let you know just as soon as I hear. And so I went, it was in my office by myself, and went, oh, okay. Wait a minute. Because I realized after what he'd done. So I wrote him back a note and said, I taught you how to do that. And he wrote back with a smiley face. So, I mean, even if you know about this, it still works.

And the idea is you start with the bad news. That creates trust and credibility. You're not hiding stuff from people. And then you talk about and, the bad news but, a piece of good news or what you're going to do or what might be helpful, and another piece of good news and another piece. The reason it works is three to one. Now, what most people are used to doing and hearing is the infamous sandwich where you say something nice and then you stick the bad news in or the criticism in the middle and then you say something nice. And most people feel really manipulated by that. And secondly, the really bad thing that this sandwich has done to everybody, as soon as you hear a compliment, most people start psychologically ducking because

they know a criticism or a piece of bad news is coming right after that. So my suggestion for handing out compliments would be run into somebody's office, give them a compliment, say very quickly why it was helpful, whatever they did, and then leave or hang up the phone. Because if you stay there, because we've been so programmed by the sandwich, they're going to think, oh, you're just buttering me up for some kind of criticism, and they'll be waiting for the other shoe to drop. So I suggest you separate it.

You need to have a compliment or you're really impressed with something that someone has done or said. You say that and leave. So what's left hanging in the air is the compliment. And if you have a critique to make, the best way to do it, in my opinion, would be to use the bad news formula. And that's how you influence better relationships. Here's a question, because I think a lot of times people would like to try to influence certain people, but we can't get a hold of them. We can't get them on the phone. They won't call us back. Do you have a good way to get people to return a phone call? A lot of people have this problem. If they've talked to somebody, maybe it's a potential

customer, or it's somebody you're working with on a project and you've called them and they don't call you back and you've called them a couple times, they still don't call you back. Well, the problem is people are really busy. And so what I suggest is to kind of change the tone a bit. So one way of getting somebody to call you back is to tell them you have an idea that you'd like to run by them about the thing they're working on. So you know that problem we talked about last week? I've got an idea that just might work and I'd like to run it by you. Can you give me a call, please? And you always call when you know they're not going to be there so that you can weave that message. Well, that creates

some curiosity and the person is more likely to call you back. Another technique for getting them to call you back is, this is like bringing out the big solution, I would do it rarely, is that sometimes people are too busy, but you end up thinking, you know, I must have hurt their feelings or I must have insulted them. And again, phone them up when they're not going to be there or when they're unlikely to answer their phone, which is most of the time nowadays, and say, listen, you know, we talked about moving forward on this project, and I called a couple times, and I haven't heard back from you. I'm wondering if I said something or did something that offended you, and I'm not sure what it is. I'm just feeling a little antsy about this, and I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to do anything to

offend you, and while most people will email you back, you can even do that in email and say, no, no, I didn't get back to you. I'm really, really sorry. And then you can continue from there. But getting traction is one of the challenges today because people have got so much to do. They're so overwhelmed with everything they have to do. But sometimes you need to have some mechanisms to get people to get back in touch with you. Well, it's so interesting to hear this because with all the miscommunication that goes on in the world, it's good to get some tools to use to improve our ability to communicate

and influence, and I appreciate you sharing all this. Shelley Rose Chavre has been my guest. She's an expert on influence and persuasion and author of the book Words That Change Minds. You'll find a link to her book in the show notes. Thanks for being here, Shelley. Thanks, Mike. It's been a real pleasure. Do you love Disney?

Then you are going to love our hit podcast, Disney Countdown. I'm Megan, the Magical Millennial. And I'm the Dapper Danielle. On every episode of our fun and family friendly show, we count down our top 10 lists of all things Disney. There is nothing we don't cover. We are famous for rabbit holes, Disney themed games and fun facts you didn't know you needed

but you definitely need in your life. So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney countdown, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, join me, Megan Rinks. dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts. But Am I Wrong?, which is for the listeners that didn't take our advice. Plus, we share our hot takes on current events. Then tune in to see you next Tuesday for our listener poll results from But Am I Wrong? And finally, wrap up your week with Fisting Friday, where we catch up and talk all things pop culture. Listen to Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. You have a very important and somewhat intimate relationship with food.

And I suspect you have questions you've always wondered about food. Like, why does pasta always seem to taste better in a restaurant than it does at home? Or what are the secrets to making a great hamburger? Or are onions all really pretty much the same? Or are purple onions all that different from yellow ones? Well, here with some great answers and insight into the food you love to eat is Daniel Holzman. Daniel is a chef, a food writer, and author of the book Food IQ. Hey Daniel, welcome. Thanks so much for having me, Michael. So let's start with that question

about pasta, because I think a lot of people would say that as good as mom or grandma's pasta is, it often does seem that pasta tastes better in a restaurant. So why is that? When my mom, my mom's a great cook and I love her. But when she would make pasta at home, we would cook the pasta and then you dump the sauce over the top. But in a restaurant, you know, we cook the pasta and then we finish the pasta with the sauce in a pan. So you put the sauce in a pan, you heat it up. And when the pasta is about one minute before it's done, you pull it out of the water and you add you put the sauce in a pan you heat it up and when the pasta is about one minute before it's done you pull it out of the water and you add it to the sauce you cook it together

the pasta absorbs the sauce you can cook it perfectly because you you got that you know last minute of cooking time while you're tasting it to make sure it's exactly where you want it to be and then there's this magic thing that happens where the starch from the pasta helps to emulsify the fats or the oils in the pasta sauce. And it comes together to really perfectly coat the pasta. It's really special to see. And that's the step that's missing at home for folks. Yeah, because that's how my mom used to cook it, too. She would just pile the sauce on top of the pasta and then put a little, you know, Kraft Parmesan cheese on it and say, here you go. That Kraft Parmesan cheese is delicious.

The reality is it's just delicious. Anybody that says it's not delicious is just being pretentious. It's great. Really? Really? You think that that's great Parmesan cheese? I think that, you know, I've eaten, you know, 48 month aged, super fancy D.O.P. Parmigiano Reggiano straight from the source. And I've had everything down to, yeah, that little green top bottle that you shake on top of sauce. I think that all Parmesan cheese ends up being delicious and some of it is a little bit better than others. No question about it. But you don't think that it's objective. Forgetting knowing whether Parmesan cheese is great quality or not, or any of the other kind of like caveats you might put on it.

Just objectively speaking, is or is not Kraft Parmesan cheese when you take a spoonful of it. Delicious. Yeah, delicious. Is salt salt? Does it matter? So, you know, salt is salt and it doesn't matter except for how you use it matters. When people at home, when you're not happy with their home cooking, it's 99% because they didn't season it properly.

And that comes from either being scared of over-seasoning it or not understanding. But what we've seen is, you know, there are a couple of big brands of salt out there. Diamond Crystal and Morton's and, you know, you get a couple of big brands of salt out there, Diamond Crystal and Morton's. And, you know, you get that iodized stuff that you see for table salt. And if you were to weigh the salt and then dissolve it in water, it has the same level of salinity no matter what. So it's like the same saltiness, but some of the grains are bigger. So if you were to take a pinch of that salt and weigh the three different types or four different types of salt pinches, you'd end up realizing that your pinch adds a different amount of salt depending upon what size of salt crystal you're using. I know that's like, was that complicated and convoluted?

Ultimately, what I'm saying is use the same type of salt. Whatever you choose to use, use it, use the same one. And in my opinion, you should use the same type of salt. Whatever you choose to use, use the same one. And in my opinion, you should use the inexpensive one. But it does seem there are so many different kinds of salt now. There's lava salt and pink Himalayan salt, and it looks pretty. That's the thing, is that if you want to finish a sliced fish crudo with pink salt or black lava salt or, you know, it looks cool. And maybe the texture of it gives it a certain crunch. So absolutely use it. But if you're just seasoning pasta water, you're wasting your money putting anything other than kosher salt in there.

Tell me how to make the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. When we were writing this cookbook, I was making a lot of grilled cheese because it was during the pandemic. I was stuck at home a lot. And if you toast the inside of the bread, something special happens. So I take a pat of butter. You put it in the pan. You put the bread, two slices of bread in there, and you toast it until it's golden brown. And then you flip them over, add the cheese.

And what winds up happening is you're toasted on both sides. The cheese melts faster and more evenly. Some of the, if you do it in a nonstick pan, some of the cheese pours over the edge and crisps up in the pan in a special way. So I think toasting both sides of the bread with butter in the pan is the je ne sais quoi we're looking for. Let's talk about onions, because as you know, when you go into the store, there's all kinds of onions. There's Spanish onions, there's red or purple onions, there's sweet onions, there's boiling onions. Does it really matter? Is there really that big a difference in between the different varieties of onions or not?

The short answer is it doesn't make a ton of difference. And I feel like, you know, that's their cooking is intimidating because there are so many choices. The three onions or the four onions that we see commonly in a supermarket can be swapped out, but, you know, they do offer certain advantages. Obviously purple onions are purple. So they, they, they, their color can bleed and it can stain other things, or they can look really beautiful if you're pickling them and putting them in a salad. If you're going to caramelize your onions for a long time, the reality is that all of them have a similar flavor profile. Some of them are labeled sweet, but that's because they taste

apparently sweet. They don't actually have more sugar. They just have less sulfur, which is the kind of biting sharpness that an onion offers. If you're going to cook them for a long time, they have really similar properties. Some of them are a little bit more structurally well put together. So a purple onion might hold up under long caramelization, whereas those sweet Maui onions tend to melt away into a. So you don't you don't really maintain any of the texture for the most part. If you're just starting out, grab any onion and it'll work. The yellow onion, the Spanish onion is kind of my go-to workhorse.

You can choose that and it'll work for everything. When it comes to cooking with oil, certainly olive oil has won the PR contest. You know, olive oil is like the, the premium the premium oil and it can get very expensive. So are you better off cooking in a pan with really expensive olive oil or can you use a cheaper oil? Especially for olive oil and with a lot of ingredients. The most expensive one has unique qualities that don't make it the best for everything. So with olive oil specifically, you know, as the yield of the olive oil, because they press all, you know, the olives under, you know, high pressure and they extract the oil, as the yield goes down, you get more

pungent flavor, can be very, very bitter, very spicy, very fruity. And those olive oils are quite expensive. They're really meant to be finishing oils, you know, like a seasoning that you would pour a little bit on top of the soup. Whereas the higher extraction oils have a much, much lighter flavor. And those are the ones we want to reach for, for sauteing or for salad dressings. A really pungent, highly flavored oil can clash with lemon or acid in a salad dressing, can be very, very bitter, unappealing. And the flavor is really lost when you're sauteing. So it's really just a waste. What about though, there's canola oil, vegetable oil, walnut oil, peanut oil. What's corn oil?

So all of those vegetable oils, peanut, walnut, corn, well, walnut may be a little bit different, but all those of the, the classic ones that you see in the yellow-tinted, clearish-looking liquid in the supermarket that come in big old jugs are interchangeable. Certain ones have specific qualities like they say grapeseed oil specifically has a neutral flavor, but it has a high smoke point, which means that it burns at a higher temperature. So that if you really want to sear something really hot in the pan, it has a quality that might work better for that. But ultimately, all of the neutral flavored olive oils are interchangeable. I think everybody who cooks always feels a little like when they use the microwave, they're kind of cheating. They're like, like, it's not really cooking. It's like nuking. And what's your take on microwaving?

And do people use it correctly? The microwave is an awesome tool. You know, it heats up the water inside food. So it's great for any application where you might steam or gently poach a food. Like poached fish in a microwave works really, really well. It's not just for heating or thawing. Bacon, we all know about cooking bacon in the microwave. It can be really great.

Although if you burn it, it's a disaster. So the microwave is a great tool. It's just a matter of trying to understand what's really going on so we don't use it for the wrong application. Like people are like, oh, I put a piece of pizza in there and it tasted soggy. It's like, well, you know, if you steamed a piece of pizza,

how crispy would you imagine it was going to get? Right. So, you know, for certain things, it's an absolute no go, but for many applications, it can be, I love baking potatoes in the microwave. You know, it takes 15 minutes to bake a perfect potato in a microwave. That's one of my favorite applications because otherwise it's an hour. Who has time for an hour for a baked potato? So tell me how to make the perfect scrambled egg. I think that folks tend to be in a rush when they make their scrambled eggs. When you learn

to make scrambled eggs in a French fantasy kitchen, you cook them very low and very slow. And the difference could be like 20 seconds or one minute. So we're not talking about taking an hour to scramble an egg. We're just talking about using a low flame, little extra butter and very slowly cooking it while mixing it continuously. Rubber spatula works great. And it gives it this really delicious texture. Do you use butter? I'm a big butter guy. And I think, look, there are certain applications where butter is a lubricant. But for the most part, butter is an ingredient that's adding flavor.

And if you're going to use butter, you should use a good quality butter, especially with something like scrambled eggs. I mean, the fewer ingredients you use, the more important the individual ingredients are. So for scrambled eggs, it might just be butter, salt, black pepper, and eggs. So, you know, any of those ingredients are going to matter. And the butter is a big one. So use a good quality butter. So we have an Instapot we got not long ago, and it sat on the counter for a while. And now we use it all the time. My wife loves the Instapot. The results are, it's kind of the anti-microwave. You can cook things in it fast and it crisps things up. And what's your sense of the Instapot? What happened to me was we were writing Food IQ

and Matt brought up, what about the Instapot? And I thought, I just put my nose up to it. I just think, as I'm a chef, the Instant Pot is embarrassment. But I had never actually used one. So I got myself an Instant Pot. And lo and behold, like most things in life, when you actually try to understand them, you gain a great appreciation for them. What an amazing tool. It's a pressure cooker that has the ability to choose the heat more scientifically than just, you know, close the top and stick it on the flame and pray. You can choose your time. It works great as a rice cooker. It works great for, you know, anything, any application of pressure cooker you would use for. You know, the saute function, the idea of keeping the top open and caramelizing before you cook isn't something that I use it for, although I can understand why it is

useful or helpful for other folks. But I think the Instant Pot's a great pressure cooker. I love it. I use it fairly. I love it for cooking beans, you know, something where you got to soak beans, but overnight. So you can't really serve beans on the fly if you just want to whip up dinner in 45 minutes. But if you have a pressure cooker or an Instant Pot in this case, you can. And that's a great advantage. What's your secret if there is one for the best hamburger? This is like the greatest question. The hamburger is undoubtedly the greatest sandwich in the world. Everybody agrees. Even if you don't agree,

it's because you're wrong because you don't agree that a hamburger is a sandwich. But by definition, we could, we could dive really deeply into this. Ultimately, hamburgers are delicious. For me, the most important piece of the puzzle is obviously the quality of the meat and the balance of ingredients. We have a smash burger in this, in this cookbook that it just steals my heart. Every time I make it, it's like a jaw dropper,

no ketchup needed, extremely moist, Oklahoma smash burger. Basically you, you salt the onions, which pulls some moisture out and then throw them on a hot griddle with oil until they're almost completely burnt. Throw the round burger puck on top and then smash it down. So it kind of like crushes into the onions and starts to cook,

flip it with the onions on top, a piece of American cheese just to melt. And this is a double, double burger on a soft bun. It's so spectacular. I crave them. I crave them. That sounds tasty. It's so good. What do you think when you watch other people or see other people cook burgers? What's the big mistake they make? I feel like people don't account for shrinkage in a burger. You make the burger the size you think you want it to be, then you put it on the grill or the griddle or in your pan and it shrinks down. And then all of a sudden you got this bun that's seven inches and you got a five inch burger and it just... Obviously, the other piece of the puzzle is I think people undervalue the quality

of the bun and the other ingredients. It's not just a meat puck, you know? So make your burger 20% bigger than you want it to end up being because it's going to shrink 20%. And then concentrate on what you're putting on there. This is not like a circus plate. It's not a matter of how much stuff I can get on there. It's a matter of picking quality things

that go well together. Stick with the theme. So let's discuss fresh versus frozen whether it's meat or vegetables or whatever what are their pros and cons are there right ways and wrong ways dive into this the frozen vegetables you get in the supermarket today are not your grandmother's frozen vegetables there have been huge scientific advances in the way that the, in the technology that goes into these manufacturing processes, they're picking these vegetables at the height of freshness and often locking in their quality. We made an asparagus risotto that was so crispy and fresh tasting. So would I make frozen asparagus risotto for my friends and family? As a chef guy, I probably might not choose that. But did I think it was very delicious and

would I be ashamed to serve it? Absolutely not. It does seem that there are some vegetables, though, that may be because like frozen broccoli, I can spot it a mile away. Yeah, I wonder whether you spot the frozen broccoli because it's just like the type of person that I don't want to say like lazy, but the type of person that, you know, is as time challenged so that they're reaching for the frozen broccoli that's pre-cut might also be the type of person that isn't going to take the time to roast it really carefully or prepare some. So they just kind of like heat it up and serve it as it is. But I wonder, and this would be a great, you know, you could do the Folgers challenge for yourself, like get some frozen broccoli and dress it up and see if then you can spot it from a mile away. I was shocked. I mean, frozen fish is another one.

So I basically spent an entire year cooking frozen fish from Whole Foods and Costco and picking these frozen fish out of the supermarket. And are they equivalent to fresh fish? No, they're different. They're a different ingredient. But are they a bad ingredient? No, they are great ingredients, but you need to know how to use them. Because if you try to saute a piece of frozen cod, you might be underwhelmed with the results. However, if you poach it and you serve it with the right kind of sauce, it can be extraordinary. As an experienced chef, what is the one piece of kitchen equipment, one piece of gear that probably I don't have in my kitchen that you think would make a difference? If you buy yourself a digital scale, they're like, you know, you can get one for 10 bucks on Amazon or whatever your online retailer is. You'll be doing yourself a great favor. If you can weigh things by gram with a scale, you can season perfectly. So 1% of the weight of something is how much salt basically seasons the thing perfectly.

So, you know, when you say I'm cooking this steak, how much salt should I put on to make it great? The answer is put it on the scale. And if your steak weighs 200 grams, right, you put two grams of salt and it's going to be perfect. So that I think is a really big, that's a big piece of the puzzle that, that if folks followed, they just increase the quality of their food tenfold. What about how to tell meat when you don't have a meat thermometer? How do you tell when it's done? You know what I actually, how, how I really learned to do it was you take a,

you take a skewer, a metal skewer, and you stick it through the meat all the way through the thickest part. And you put your finger right on the skewer where it's touching the meat and you pull it out so you can tell where the center of the meat is. And you hold it to your lower lip. And if it burns, it's overcooked. If you burn, you get an extra punishment for overcooking the meat. If it's cold, it's raw. If it's just barely tepid, it's rare. If it's starting to get warm, it's medium. And if it's a little bit hot, it's medium well. And that is a foolproof cooking meat, meat temperature technique.

You know, the thermometer thing is so challenging because depending upon where you, you know, the tip of the thermometer is what reads the temperature. If you put it in too far, it can look like it's fully cooked. But that's because you've pushed it through the center to the other side, which is hotter. And the center might still be undercooked. And then there's a lot of question about what temperature should it actually be. So, like, you know, you look at the, at the, the guidelines from the FDA and it's like, cook your chicken. And when that little, when that little, that little turkey

popper on your turkey pops out at Thanksgiving, you know, saying your turkey's done, that's like the, the liability police saying, you know, no matter what happens, this thing is so well-cooked that no one's going to sue us for getting sick. Not this is the most delicious, moistest, you know, cooking temperature. So I think there's a lot of over cooking going on because people are following guidelines that are really meant to prevent health issues or really cover people's butts from getting people sick rather than what's the right temperature to cook it. Does that make sense? Yeah, no, I get it. I mean, there's a difference between cooking for taste and flavor versus cooking for safety, food safety.

And in terms of cooking time, it can be a fine line between those two, but I get what you're saying. My guest has been Daniel Holzman. He is co-author, along with Matt Rodbard, of a book called Food IQ. And you'll find a link to his book in the show notes. Appreciate it, Daniel. Thanks for coming on Something You Should Know. I'm a big, big fan and I'm so thankful for your support and having us on. Yeah, sure. My pleasure. I know there are a lot of people who still have old vinyl records laying around the house. And if you're one of those people, there's a very effective way to clean those records and make them sound better.

And you may also make them more valuable as collectibles in the process. And the way you clean them is with wood glue. Yeah, wood glue. You basically make a mask of wood glue to cover the record, then you peel it off after it dries. And when you peel it off, it takes with it all the dirt that's stuck in the grooves. There are a couple of excellent videos on how to do this on YouTube. You just search the terms clean, LP, and wood glue, and those videos will come up in the search.

So how does it work? Well, wood glue and the material that albums are made from are so chemically similar that the glue cannot bind to the record. It can, however, bind to everything else on the record, including oil, dust, dirt, fungus, crayons, cookie crumbs, whatever you spilled on your record. You're essentially giving your record a spa wax and ripping off all the impurities with the glue. You may want to test it out on an old record you don't care about first, but this does seem to be a very effective technique. And that is something you should know. If you like this episode, help us spread the word and tell someone you know to give this podcast a listen. Pretty much everybody now knows how to listen to a podcast, and I know you know somebody who would enjoy it. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening today to Something You Should Know.

Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group. Enter federal agent V.B. Loro, who has been investigating a local church for possible criminal activity.

The pair form an unlikely partnership to catch the killer, unearthing secrets that leave Ruth torn between her duty to the law, her religious convictions, and her very own family. But something more sinister than murder is afoot, and someone is watching Ruth. Chinook.

Starring Kelly Marie Tran and Sanaa Lathan. Listen to Chinook wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, this is Rob Benedict. And I am Richard Spate. We were both on a little show you might know called Supernatural. It had a pretty good run, 15 seasons, 327 episodes. And though we have seen, of course, every episode many times, we figured, hey, now that we're wrapped, let's watch it all again.

And we can't do that alone. So we're inviting the cast and crew that made the show along for the ride. We've got writers, producers, composers, directors, and we'll of course have some actors on as well, including some certain guys that played some certain pretty iconic brothers. It was kind of a little bit of a left field choice in the best way possible.

The note from Kripke was, "'He's great, we love him, but we're looking "'for like a really intelligent Duchovny type.'" With 15 seasons to explore, it's going to be the road trip of several lifetimes, so please join us and subscribe to Supernatural then and now.