May 20, 2021 • 37 mins
These small, simple, shell-shaped cakes are the result (and subject) of a lot of complex work. Anney and Lauren explore the science and history behind the madeleine and its perfect hump.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Although I'm alcome to Saber protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Any Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we're
talking about Madeleine's. Yes, or perhaps there was, there's a
lot of tension and concern about pronunciation in this episode. Yeah,
any any time that you get into French anything, we
(00:31):
tend to raise a fist to the sky and go
French um. And also, as we were saying right before
we started recording, like I get really anxious about pronunciations
when it comes to pastry type terminology because people are
very particular in the field of pastry and I just
(00:52):
want to eat pastry. I don't want to I don't
want to make anyone mad. We're not here to make
anyone mad, even though it happens am I regularly, but
a good kind of mad. You know, our listeners do
have opinions, and we do. Yeah, oh yeah, getting fired
up is great, Yes, unless you're trying to make a
(01:14):
pastry and that's not what you're going for sure. So
I don't really have much experience with Madeleine's or Madaline um.
At one point, though, when I was in college, there
was a really cute French cafe that opened up in
the small town I grew up in, and I went
home one weekend and I met one of my best
(01:37):
friends there for lunch. And at the end, you've got
a madeleine, And I think the restaurant may have even
been called Madeleine. Okay, that's cute. It was really really cute.
I felt so fancy because I hesitated earlier because I
was trying to I guess that the town I grew
up in, there was a lot of shifting in restaurants,
(01:58):
like a lot of things opened and closed. Um, So
I don't think that restaurant was there for very long. Yeah,
but I did really enjoy my experience. We get to
sit outside and and I dunked the Madaline and t
and it was very nice. Even though I can't really
have to you, but I liked the experience and time there. Uh. Yeah,
(02:20):
I can't remember when I went through a Madeline phase
at some point when I was just like, this is
the perfect carke. How do I make it? What is
it made of? Um? And uh, but I can't for
the life of me remember when exactly. It was sometime
post college and I was like deep into a baking
phase and it seemed it's it's one of those like
(02:41):
really simple seeming baked goods that is very difficult to
get exactly right. Yes, yes, and you have a lot
on that that you were alluding to you before we
started recording, I could. I couldn't find um the exact
date for this, but I know, to this chagrin and
(03:02):
a lot of people who do know a lot about madaline's.
A lot of Americans are introduced to them through Starbucks. Yeah, yeah,
that's definitely a thing. They sell these little uh. I
think like two or three packs are right up by
the cash register. Yes, and so I thought, even though
I had had this mattaline that was a cake. I
think the one at Starbucks, at least at one point
(03:23):
was much more cookie like. So I thought it was
a cookie. And this is a real awakening. Oh it's
a it's it's cookies. Okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Okay,
let's just go ahead and do the question. All right, Yes,
I m madaline's. What are they? Well? The madaline is
(03:51):
a type of yes, small cake about the size of
a cookie though, and yes, about which people have opinions.
Madalines are typically baked in molds that are shaped like
a like oblong scallop shells. And yeah, they are deceptively
straightforward cakes, just lightly flavored with a butter that's browned
so that's kind of warm tasting and nutty, and then
(04:13):
usually some kind of um citrus zestuff. Floral and bright
and often served plain, although they can be fancied up
with a with vanilla or spices or cocoa or other
flavorings or glazes like apricot jam or chocolate, or toppings
like coconut or slivered almonds. They're made of this type
of tender and just slightly crumbly sponge cake called genoise.
(04:37):
Am I saying that right? I'm I'm not. I think
it's genoas I think so, I'm with you. Fresh and
the cakes get this thin crisp crust on on the
shell shaped side in contact with the pan, and they
raise up into a little hump on on the flip
side in the oven. Um and the result is just
(04:57):
simple and delightful. Yes, often served with tea or coffee,
although some people say that coffee ruins the experience. Oh
I don't. I am only reporting what I have read.
Um And yeah, yeah, as as with many baked goods
(05:18):
and pastry kind of things like the kind like that
kind of simplicity really belies the precision with which you
have to work to make it happen. And this is
where the opinions come in, like how dry or moist
should the cake be, What type of sugar is best,
Which should you rest the batter, and if so for
(05:41):
how long? What type of pan material is appropriate? What's
the best way to mitigate the temperature of the batter
and the pan and the oven. How much of a
hump is correct? Should it be a finger above the
surface of the cake or should it vie near obscenely?
For the heavens, is it okay a to use chemical
leveners to achieve this hump? Oh my gosh, I'm getting
(06:07):
more and more upset and worried. It's okay, it's okay,
Everything will be fine. There's cakes at the end. The
cake is a live oh gosh. Yeah. So so there's
(06:27):
a lot going on in these tiny little cakes. Um,
you have a few things going on when you're leavening
a cake like a madaline Um. Traditional recipes which would
have been developed before modern chemical leveners like baking powder,
were invented are going to use other both chemical and
physical kind of tricks to get the desired texture and
(06:47):
rise out of the sponge. So uh, first, when you
make the batter, you want all the ingredients to be
right around room temperature. Unlike some baked goods where you're
using the structure of colder butter to um to work
air into the batter, you're working with melted and browned
butter here um, and that means that you've cooked the
(07:09):
butter until the fats and milk solids have separated, and
you've toasted those solids a little bit in the pan.
And this is really rad because um, well a ADUs
flavor um, which is so nice um. But be when
you mix the liquid butter with flour, the oils will
coat the gluten proteins and prevent them from locking up
(07:29):
into a two firm of a network, thus keeping the
resulting sponge a little bit softer. However, if you've got
this nice room temperature butter flour stuff and there's cold
eggs in there as well, that could shock the fats
of the butter into clumping up again, and that is
(07:49):
no boio. Also, having the exit room temperature means that
the proteins in them are looser and more willing to
unravel or d nature and and help form up into
a foam when you beat them. UM, capturing and holding air.
This also means though, that you don't want to work
the batter too hard after you beat the eggs, because
(08:10):
that collapse all of those little delicate structures that you've created.
And he's just shaking her head. We'll make a cake.
Oh wait, there's more. Um. Okay, once you've made that batter,
you want to let it rest so that the flower
(08:31):
hydrates properly. Um. You know you've you've added it so gently,
and you want the crumb to be soft. So yeah,
you want to make sure the flower hydrates. And it's
ideal to rest it in the fridge so that when
you do pop it into a hot oven. UM, there
will be an extra bit of temperature difference between the
batter and the air in the oven, and this can
(08:53):
help create more rise. And I could not find a
good explanation of why on the internet. Maybe was looking
in the wrong places, But what I suspect is that
UM that in the case of madelines, especially UM, the
shape of the molds and the temperature difference help induce
a purposefully uneven steam evaporation within the cakes, with the
(09:16):
middles having longer to heat and expand with air bubbles
than the sides do. This is what I suspect. If
anyone knows the answer, please right in. If I'm totally wrong,
that's chill goodness. But but folks really espouse this concept.
UM even will recommend freezing the pan before you spoon
(09:38):
the batter into the pan. UH. Different types of pans
matter too. Non stick and silicone UM will release more easily,
but don't give you the best crust. I personally recommend
buttering and flowering UM any pan for the best crust
and release in in just about any baked good. UM
non non stick are my favorites, but the metal tends
(10:01):
to be a little bit thicker holds heat a little
bit better anyway. UM pastry chefs will recommend all sorts
of ovenge shenanigans to UM. Many involved baking initially at
a high heat and then turning the temperature down or
even off, and then on again. If you want to
look up a recipe or several, they are out there
(10:22):
and they are firmly worded, very stern talking to you know.
In in the end, In the end, it all comes
down to personal preferences, um, And if you're making them
at home, you know, like what works for you in
terms of fussiness level and time commitment, and like the
(10:43):
specific like wonkiness or availability of equipment. Like look, if
it makes you happy, mix up a gen was and
spoon it into like many muffin tins or freestanding muffin papers,
and then just bake it at a single temperature until
it's set. And then eat your cake. No one can
tell you not to, not us, well not certainly not me.
(11:11):
Eat your dank cake. Yeah, do it? I love it.
I mean again, I know I've talked about this before,
but my oven, the walkiness is a good term, Laura.
I would have to really really be careful this. Yeah
yeah yeah mine. Mine is also not the most dependable
(11:36):
all the time. Yeah. Mine's slow to start, but then
once it gets going, it's you say three and it's
at four. Goodness, Okay, it's an adventure every day. It's enthusiastic.
That's great. Yeah. I like to put a positive spin
(11:57):
on it too, after so many bakings. Um, but all right,
let's say I've succeeded. What about the nutrition, Yeah, that's
a treat. Treats are nice. Uh, it's it tends to
be a little bit heavier on the butter and a
little bit lighter on the sugar than some other desserts. Um,
(12:18):
so treat treats. Yeah, have them treats over here. I do.
I definitely want to try. I've never tried one like
coated and chocolate or all these other flavors. I've only had, yeah,
you know, normal baseline flavor. So I really want to
experiment out. Yes, okay, into it. Yes, we do have
(12:42):
some numbers for you, just a few, just a few, okay.
So the Madeline is highly associated with France, if that
hasn't been clear already. According to a few sources on
Europe Day in two thousand and six, they were chosen
to represent France. I really could not nail that down,
but I would believe it. It would not surprise me.
(13:04):
One of the biggest commercial Madeline sellers in France, alacoch Lorn,
tells about eighty million made lines a year and employees
about eighty people. And I did look it up just
to see the pandemic that is still open and it
is still open, but I don't know about the numbers.
They're still the same. A New York Times article claims
(13:26):
that the Madeleine has been called the cookie with the
greatest literary cloud, although yes, it's really more of a cake, Oh,
New York Times, even though I've been making that same
mistake for pretty much my whole life. I will turn
it around for sure. UM. And there's some really interesting
(13:47):
history as to why that is absolutely um, And we
will get into that. But first we've got a quick
break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you so. Rudiment street cookies,
(14:11):
biscuits or cakes similar to Madeleine's, go back to ancient times.
I know we've talked about some of those in past episodes.
It's escaping me now, but I know that it's happened. Yeah,
maybe maybe something about scones or muffins or all of
the above. Birthday cake. We did talk about chocolate chip cookies.
(14:36):
Maybe we discussed in there. We've done a lot of episodes, y'all.
We have. We were supposed to. We were getting near
a milestone. We were totally forgot, and I forgot entirely well,
I think we could make it up and no one
would really know. Well, or at least you know, why
(14:56):
why not? Why not celebrate an off number, like I
don't think that it all has to be even numbers. Yeah,
we're probably creeping up on four fifty right now. Oh,
we definitely blew right past four day. Well, keep an
eye an ear out for that. I don't know what
(15:17):
we'll do, but maybe we'll do something for some random
number going up. Um. But anyway, In terms of more
modern history, Madeline's are thought to have originated in France,
where there are a lot of fun stories about how
they were created. One of the most popularly told versions
associates them particularly with Comercy, which is a small town
(15:41):
in France, and the story sounds like the stuff of
baking legend. It goes that during the eighteenth century, or
perhaps an unspecified some time ago before the eighteenth century,
but that was when these bait goods starts showing up
in records, so that's often with the time people go
with bakers, and Comercy paid a quote very large sum
(16:03):
for the recipe for these Magdalins, which um were sold
in these unique oval boxes as a specialty of the area,
and nuns in that region at this time may have
made a living selling these cakes. After monasteries and convents
were dissolved during the French Revolution, historians think the nuns
(16:24):
sold the recipe to bakers, and the name it is
the French form of Magdalene, as in the Bible's Mary Magdalene,
one of Jesus's disciples. At one time, Commercy had a
convent dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. I'm sure if I
dug into this, there's multiple, multiple examples are ideas about
(16:48):
where this name came from, but that is one, and
I guess we are going to talk about some others. Yeah, yeah,
that's that is one that goes well with that version
of history. I feel like this is yet again one
of these historical outlines. It's like the end of the
Clue movie where it's just like or it could have
been like this. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
(17:12):
I would love to play a baked version game Clue. Okay,
all right, I'm not. I want I want to design
this game, and I want to do it right now.
I want to like toss my microphone out the window
and go work on that. I'm not gonna. I'm containing myself. Yes,
because you were professional. I almost am sure. Let's go
(17:35):
with let's go with that. I'll take it. Yes, let's okay.
But yeah, that's not the only origin story often passed
around about the Madeline. Another has several of the same details,
comis France during the eighteenth century. Uh. This one involved
a young servant girl who was trying to cheer up
the king of Poland Santis Slaus. That's the French pronunciation,
(17:59):
but I would have too it's Polish, in which case
I think it's Santislav. But anyway, Yeah, lots of high
jinks about pronunciation in this episode. Yeah, but okay, Stanislaus
Chinska who had been exiled to the region Lavine, where
he served as the Duke of Laurent. And what better
way to cheer someone up than with baked goods? I
(18:23):
don't know too many, now that's about it. Yeah. The
girl's name is Madeleine, and the recipe in this version
of the story had been passed down to her from
her grandmother. That New York Times article we mentioned earlier
goes into more detail, placing at this specifically at a
luncheon the Duke had that he was hosting in seventeen
fifty five. After the chef left our quit. In some
(18:46):
versions of the story, before making dessert, the assistant Madeleine
stepped in and saved the day, and the resulting cakes
were so popular among the Duke and his guest they
named them after her. In this version of the story,
the king's daughter Marie helped make them popular EMBARRASSI when
she married King Louis. Okay, but yes, there's another way
(19:14):
this could have played out. Um. Sometimes it's told that
King Louis introduced them to Marie after her visit to
the French region Laurent, where Comercy is, and she loved
them so much she shared them with the French court.
This was suggest to me that the story of her
father eating them naming them isn't true. But I suppose
(19:35):
it's possible that King Louis saw her father more than
she did once they were married, or that somehow the
father was left out of this whole loop of getting
of his daughter getting introduced to them. Mysteries history. Yet
another choice on this tale suggests that Marie actually came
(19:55):
up with the recipe with the help of her cook, Madeleine. UM.
Saschinsky often gets credit for the invention of the rumbapa
cake too, so future episode all right, mm hmm. And
in some versions of this story, the cake is actually
associated with another woman named Madeleine, who gave these cakes
(20:17):
to those making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in
Spain cap uh and the pilgrims allegedly wore the symbol
of Saint James, which was a shell. Okay, okay. And
there's another story suggests that the madaline was invented a
(20:38):
bit later in the nineteenth century in France, a creation
of pastry cheft Jean Avise. He used aspic molds for
the shape. Molds and recipes for madaline started appearing around
this time. And I couldn't easily corroborate this um, but
I'm pretty sure it's reported and none less than the
(20:59):
Larus Gastronomique, that a Vice took on Antoine in Karem
as an apprentice at some point, and that the two
of them perfected shoe pastry dough. In addition to this
possible connection to the medal in mm hmm. Lots of
(21:20):
threads going on here, Yes, Yes, With industrialization, the production
of Madaline's went commercial, and several of these commercial brands
still operate in comerc One of the biggest, Alekochlran, which
we mentioned earlier Circa, sells their product packaged in wooden
(21:41):
oval boxes at specialty shops in the area. I couldn't
find any exact history on the metal in pan, but
I think it's safe to assume there were molds of
this shape in the century. We've talked about this in
similar episodes like Aspects Marshmallows and Candy Hearts. I also
(22:04):
tried to get to the bottom of the shape, but
I couldn't find anything really solid. A lot of those
origin stories claim it was there from the get go, though. Yeah,
and there is a historical evidence of um some of
those aforementioned candies and stuff being made in um actual
(22:24):
uh cockle or scallop shells um, and that that's perhaps
how these cakes were originally baked using actual shells um.
But but it's yeah, it's kind of lost to lost
of time. Yeah, and her um our good friend Julia,
who's been on the show a couple times. One time
she gave us those because she makes candies using old
(22:47):
recipes like with the methods and everything. She gave us
those candies that were in She has some little hard
candies that were using shells, right, Okay, whatever the history,
one name repeatedly comes up when discussing the madaline. Marcel
Proust his book Remembrance of Things Past, Volume one, Swan's
(23:11):
Way in particular, yes, sometimes also called in Search of
Lost Time. After Prust died, his brothers compiled this book
or is a series of several books, but this one
in particular, and published it in nineteen So here's the
relevant quote she sent for one of those squat plumps
(23:31):
little cakes called petite madeleine, which looks as though they
had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell.
I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea
in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake.
No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs
touched my palate than a shutter ran through me, and
I stopped intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening
(23:53):
to me. An exquisite pleasure invaded my senses, and suddenly
the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the
little piece of Madaline, which on Sunday mornings at Cambray,
when I went to say good morning to her in
her bedroom, my aunt Leone used to give me dipping
it first in her own cup of tear to sin,
and the whole of Cambre and its surroundings taking shape
(24:14):
and solidity sprang into being town and garden alike from
my cup of tea. Well, that is lovely. It is lovely,
and a surprise to no one, probably that people have
tried painstakingly to create this recipe from his description and
what recipes and techniques were available at the time. Here's
(24:38):
the quote from Slate, a Slate article where author Edmund
Levin tried to do this very thing, and it's a
little long, but I love it. Confounded, I decided to
confer with leading Proust authorities. I discovered a major obstacle,
the imminent professor William Carter, author of Marcel Proust A Life,
who had supervised the recreation of the famous scene for
(24:59):
a PBS documentary. The professor was skeptical. He was turned
off by my notion that Marcel had quote dissolved pieces
of Madeline floating around in his teacup, calling it quote
not likely, and to my surprise, he asserted that Marcel
does dunk and bite the Madeline, which would mean there's
no crumb production mystery to be explained. The professor insisted
(25:23):
that the crumbs are simply created in the narrator's mouth
after he bites off a morsel and schmooshes it around.
I objected that no biting are schmooshing is mentioned in
the text. The professor insisted it is quote implied, But
in my view Prust was simply too obsessed with detail
to let something as significant as biting, let alone smooshing
(25:45):
go unnoted, if that's what he had in mind. Much
to my relief, I found firm support from MacArthur Genius
grantwinner Lydia Davis, the translator of the widely praised new
edition of Prust Swan's Way, in which the famed passage.
As she finds no quote implied biting in the text
and calls me or dunking out of the question, she
(26:06):
concurs that the grumbling Madeline material is already in the
spoon as it approaches Marcel's mouth. The tiebreaker was Stanford
professor Joshua Landy, a pruce scholar who declares himself firmly
in my crumbs in the spoon camp, I've given Prus
a more than fair shot. His failure to account for
(26:27):
extraordinary crumb production was manifest. Case closed. Then Prus, Madeline
did not, does not, and never could have existed. To
put it bluntly, Prus didn't know from Madaline's it's so fantastic.
That's okay, okay, Indeed, I told you people have opinions
(26:50):
about all of this. They do, they do. I'm trying
to think if there's any food where I'd be reading
something and think that's egregious based on chrome texture or something.
I'm sure there is. Yeah, I've never done it before,
(27:11):
but I suppose that doesn't mean I wouldn't. No, I
don't think it does. I don't think it does at all. Um.
And you can see our actual episode on nostalgia because
this definitely reminds me of a certain scene in a
certain movie. We still need to watch, Lauren ra I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know we and
(27:33):
and and watch it. We shall. Absolutely, Yes, I've I've
read the opinion that Prust's Madaline's were not fresh baked,
but rather factory made, because when he was writing the
real hotel that his semi autobiographical protagonist is staying in.
(27:55):
UM was buying its Madaline's from UM from a cookie
factory a few miles along the coast, or a patisseary
a few miles along the coast, now known as UM Jeanette.
Uh so they are supposed to have been very good
quality originally. UM, I don't know it's gonna hands up
(28:17):
backing away yep, yep. Uh there so so so at
the time they might have been quite tasty and you know,
evoking of nostalgia. Uh that that factory, by the way,
was meant to shut down when UM, the last in
this long chain of increasingly disinterested owners, decided to just
(28:41):
cut their losses and sell the brand. But apparently a
group of the women bakers who worked there like occupied
the factory for a whole year, petitioning the government to
help them find a buyer. And eventually this Portuguese industrial
troubleshooter UM like like saw their story and took it
(29:02):
to heart and raised enough money from crowdfunding to buy
and reopen the business. And as often they were making
twenty four thousand Madaline's a day. Wow, that's a story.
I want to see a right, where's our movie about that?
(29:22):
That sounds charming? Is all? Heck? I know, but I
want a really dramatic, intense trailer for it. Oh yeah, yeah,
maybe with like an implied ghost among the pastry stacks.
M hm, oh definitely. Ghost is always implied in my book.
Absolutely Um. In nineteen Madaline's featured in the Great British
(29:53):
Baking Show or a Great British Pickoff, however you want
to say it, um in a signature challenge during the
semifinals um during during which everyone giggled a lot about
the perfect hump and finding finding one search for the
perfect hump, you know, ah search we must all embark on,
(30:18):
I guess, in our own way, at our own pace.
Exactly we're talking about bakers here. Absolutely nothing else could
possibly be implied. I'm glad that we're not the only
ones that giggle though. That feel better if not my myself.
(30:45):
Oh well, listeners, I'm looking to expand my horizons when
it comes to the matal and so if you've got
any recipes or pictures, please send them our way. Oh yes, um, speaking,
have we do have some listener mail for you? We do,
But first we have one more gup break for word
(31:06):
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
thank you. We're back with listen listener, A Lovely Time
(31:31):
with a lovely baked Good Excellent. I really lost where
you were going in the middle of that one and
just kind of leaned away from the microphone. I love
it when you do that when it becomes clear that
I'm on my own with this one. Sham or blame that.
(31:56):
That's just how the cookie couples sometimes. Yeah, high quality
professional cookie crumbles yemm mmmmmmm are in this case cake? Yes? Yes,
So we have another letter from Bob. I was really
surprised by the Bubble Tea episode. Surprised because I didn't
(32:18):
know that this had become a thing back in the States.
As you know, I'm on my third decade living in China,
and here it is everywhere. I was a bit of
an elite joiner, but thanks to my son who introduced
me to it, I'm a fan too. Seems it is
catching on in Europe as well. My son was thrilled
to find Bubble Tea in the UK, even in the
smaller cities, when he went off to college there, and
(32:41):
again in Amsterdam as well. Chinese soft power is what
it's called winning friends through happy timmis now the real
reason I just had to chime in exploding foods. Oh no.
I remember once being at a grocery store back home.
At the checkout, just when I was about to pay,
I heard a up and a shout, and apparently someone
(33:01):
dropped a large bottle of what must have been very
well shaken Coca cola, because a second later, what goes
flying by? That bottle of coke? No joke, It was
flying by in an arc that reached about six ft
I and crossed at least five or six checkout lines
that spring everyone and everything I'm lucky enough to be near.
(33:23):
I got a little wet myself. Another time, I was
at home back when I was still living with my folks.
The evening before we had gone out for Chinese food.
There were some leftovers, and I decided to reheat the
chicken fingers in the microwave. These chicken fingers were the
type that they heavily coat and batter and deep fry. Anyway,
I took them out when they were done, and I
remember the next part as if it was yesterday. I
(33:45):
put one in my mouth. As soon as my teeth
bit down, the other end of it just exploded. The
bang was as loud as a firecracker, and the end
of the chicken finger flared out like you'd see from
an exploding cigar of cartoon. I'm pretty sure that I
had the same days. Look at my face too. My
mom came out when she heard the boom from the
(34:06):
other room. She asked me what happened. At first, she
didn't believe me and thought I'd lit a firecracker off,
but I showed her the rest of the chicken. She
believed me then, as she started to pick up bits
of chicken out of my hair and off the kitchen curtains.
Ever since then, I warned people to pierce their leftover
chicken fingers before nuking them. I advised the same for
(34:27):
reheating egg rolls. To imagine the carnage an egg roll
my calls, I shudder to think of it. I do too.
I think you're right. Wow, jeez, this this world of
exploding food, I've one reheaited chicken fingers when I had
(34:47):
never heard of that. I am impressed. Yes, I am
also impressed, and I'm going to try to remember to
pierce my chicken fingers from now one. Yeah, I gosh.
Caroline wrote, I had to write in after the Bubble
Tea episode because it was so close to the Pokemon episode.
(35:10):
The tea shop by my house Tea Talk has an
entire separate Pokemon themed menu. Talk about the perfect mash
up blows a link to the menu. Uh, you can
see all the flavor and bubble combos. They are delightful. Yes,
I love it so so so much, Tea Talk, check
it out. Yes um related, Rachel wrote, I've been a
(35:34):
long time listener of Saver, but I've never written in before.
Your episode on Boba tea, and in particular, your reference
to the Star Wars holiday special is what inspired me
to say Hi Hi. I live in Orlando and Boba
te is extremely popular here. It's so popular that a
local artist created a map of all of the tea
shops in the area. Back. A friend and I even
(35:56):
made it a goal to try every boba shop we
could find, but so many kept popping up. No pun
intended that we couldn't keep up. Going back to Star Wars,
two shops have incorporated the series into their menus. Chewy
Boba uses Chewbacca and Boba Fett as their mascots, while
Lucky Straws Boba, one of my favorites, did a limited
(36:17):
Mandalorian themed menu when the new season dropped on Disney Plugs.
My favorite drink on their Mandalorian menu was the Way,
which was a spiced ginger and orange tea with boba.
Once it's safe to travel, I would absolutely recommend venturing
outside of the theme parks to try any of the
local tea shops. Yes, yes, I love this so so much,
(36:40):
so nerdy and so delightful. Yes. Um yeah. The Lucky
Straws Mandalorian Mini by the way, it's called the Pandalorian
and the Boba is called Kaiber. Excellent. Yes, I I've
got to check these out next time we're in Orlando.
(37:03):
It's safe to be there, Lauren. We have got into it, absolutely. Yes,
thank you so much for all of those listeners for
writing in. If you would like to write to us,
you can Our email is hello at savor pod dot com.
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at sabre pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
(37:25):
of I Heart Radio For more podcasts my Heart Radio,
you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Although I'm alcome to Saber protection of I Heart Radio.
I'm Any Reese and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we're
talking about Madeleine's. Yes, or perhaps there was, there's a
lot of tension and concern about pronunciation in this episode. Yeah,
any any time that you get into French anything, we
(00:31):
tend to raise a fist to the sky and go
French um. And also, as we were saying right before
we started recording, like I get really anxious about pronunciations
when it comes to pastry type terminology because people are
very particular in the field of pastry and I just
(00:52):
want to eat pastry. I don't want to I don't
want to make anyone mad. We're not here to make
anyone mad, even though it happens am I regularly, but
a good kind of mad. You know, our listeners do
have opinions, and we do. Yeah, oh yeah, getting fired
up is great, Yes, unless you're trying to make a
(01:14):
pastry and that's not what you're going for sure. So
I don't really have much experience with Madeleine's or Madaline um.
At one point, though, when I was in college, there
was a really cute French cafe that opened up in
the small town I grew up in, and I went
home one weekend and I met one of my best
(01:37):
friends there for lunch. And at the end, you've got
a madeleine, And I think the restaurant may have even
been called Madeleine. Okay, that's cute. It was really really cute.
I felt so fancy because I hesitated earlier because I
was trying to I guess that the town I grew
up in, there was a lot of shifting in restaurants,
(01:58):
like a lot of things opened and closed. Um, So
I don't think that restaurant was there for very long. Yeah,
but I did really enjoy my experience. We get to
sit outside and and I dunked the Madaline and t
and it was very nice. Even though I can't really
have to you, but I liked the experience and time there. Uh. Yeah,
(02:20):
I can't remember when I went through a Madeline phase
at some point when I was just like, this is
the perfect carke. How do I make it? What is
it made of? Um? And uh, but I can't for
the life of me remember when exactly. It was sometime
post college and I was like deep into a baking
phase and it seemed it's it's one of those like
(02:41):
really simple seeming baked goods that is very difficult to
get exactly right. Yes, yes, and you have a lot
on that that you were alluding to you before we
started recording, I could. I couldn't find um the exact
date for this, but I know, to this chagrin and
(03:02):
a lot of people who do know a lot about madaline's.
A lot of Americans are introduced to them through Starbucks. Yeah, yeah,
that's definitely a thing. They sell these little uh. I
think like two or three packs are right up by
the cash register. Yes, and so I thought, even though
I had had this mattaline that was a cake. I
think the one at Starbucks, at least at one point
(03:23):
was much more cookie like. So I thought it was
a cookie. And this is a real awakening. Oh it's
a it's it's cookies. Okay, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Okay,
let's just go ahead and do the question. All right, Yes,
I m madaline's. What are they? Well? The madaline is
(03:51):
a type of yes, small cake about the size of
a cookie though, and yes, about which people have opinions.
Madalines are typically baked in molds that are shaped like
a like oblong scallop shells. And yeah, they are deceptively
straightforward cakes, just lightly flavored with a butter that's browned
so that's kind of warm tasting and nutty, and then
(04:13):
usually some kind of um citrus zestuff. Floral and bright
and often served plain, although they can be fancied up
with a with vanilla or spices or cocoa or other
flavorings or glazes like apricot jam or chocolate, or toppings
like coconut or slivered almonds. They're made of this type
of tender and just slightly crumbly sponge cake called genoise.
(04:37):
Am I saying that right? I'm I'm not. I think
it's genoas I think so, I'm with you. Fresh and
the cakes get this thin crisp crust on on the
shell shaped side in contact with the pan, and they
raise up into a little hump on on the flip
side in the oven. Um and the result is just
(04:57):
simple and delightful. Yes, often served with tea or coffee,
although some people say that coffee ruins the experience. Oh
I don't. I am only reporting what I have read.
Um And yeah, yeah, as as with many baked goods
(05:18):
and pastry kind of things like the kind like that
kind of simplicity really belies the precision with which you
have to work to make it happen. And this is
where the opinions come in, like how dry or moist
should the cake be, What type of sugar is best,
Which should you rest the batter, and if so for
(05:41):
how long? What type of pan material is appropriate? What's
the best way to mitigate the temperature of the batter
and the pan and the oven. How much of a
hump is correct? Should it be a finger above the
surface of the cake or should it vie near obscenely?
For the heavens, is it okay a to use chemical
leveners to achieve this hump? Oh my gosh, I'm getting
(06:07):
more and more upset and worried. It's okay, it's okay,
Everything will be fine. There's cakes at the end. The
cake is a live oh gosh. Yeah. So so there's
(06:27):
a lot going on in these tiny little cakes. Um,
you have a few things going on when you're leavening
a cake like a madaline Um. Traditional recipes which would
have been developed before modern chemical leveners like baking powder,
were invented are going to use other both chemical and
physical kind of tricks to get the desired texture and
(06:47):
rise out of the sponge. So uh, first, when you
make the batter, you want all the ingredients to be
right around room temperature. Unlike some baked goods where you're
using the structure of colder butter to um to work
air into the batter, you're working with melted and browned
butter here um, and that means that you've cooked the
(07:09):
butter until the fats and milk solids have separated, and
you've toasted those solids a little bit in the pan.
And this is really rad because um, well a ADUs
flavor um, which is so nice um. But be when
you mix the liquid butter with flour, the oils will
coat the gluten proteins and prevent them from locking up
(07:29):
into a two firm of a network, thus keeping the
resulting sponge a little bit softer. However, if you've got
this nice room temperature butter flour stuff and there's cold
eggs in there as well, that could shock the fats
of the butter into clumping up again, and that is
(07:49):
no boio. Also, having the exit room temperature means that
the proteins in them are looser and more willing to
unravel or d nature and and help form up into
a foam when you beat them. UM, capturing and holding air.
This also means though, that you don't want to work
the batter too hard after you beat the eggs, because
(08:10):
that collapse all of those little delicate structures that you've created.
And he's just shaking her head. We'll make a cake.
Oh wait, there's more. Um. Okay, once you've made that batter,
you want to let it rest so that the flower
(08:31):
hydrates properly. Um. You know you've you've added it so gently,
and you want the crumb to be soft. So yeah,
you want to make sure the flower hydrates. And it's
ideal to rest it in the fridge so that when
you do pop it into a hot oven. UM, there
will be an extra bit of temperature difference between the
batter and the air in the oven, and this can
(08:53):
help create more rise. And I could not find a
good explanation of why on the internet. Maybe was looking
in the wrong places, But what I suspect is that
UM that in the case of madelines, especially UM, the
shape of the molds and the temperature difference help induce
a purposefully uneven steam evaporation within the cakes, with the
(09:16):
middles having longer to heat and expand with air bubbles
than the sides do. This is what I suspect. If
anyone knows the answer, please right in. If I'm totally wrong,
that's chill goodness. But but folks really espouse this concept.
UM even will recommend freezing the pan before you spoon
(09:38):
the batter into the pan. UH. Different types of pans
matter too. Non stick and silicone UM will release more easily,
but don't give you the best crust. I personally recommend
buttering and flowering UM any pan for the best crust
and release in in just about any baked good. UM
non non stick are my favorites, but the metal tends
(10:01):
to be a little bit thicker holds heat a little
bit better anyway. UM pastry chefs will recommend all sorts
of ovenge shenanigans to UM. Many involved baking initially at
a high heat and then turning the temperature down or
even off, and then on again. If you want to
look up a recipe or several, they are out there
(10:22):
and they are firmly worded, very stern talking to you know.
In in the end, In the end, it all comes
down to personal preferences, um, And if you're making them
at home, you know, like what works for you in
terms of fussiness level and time commitment, and like the
(10:43):
specific like wonkiness or availability of equipment. Like look, if
it makes you happy, mix up a gen was and
spoon it into like many muffin tins or freestanding muffin papers,
and then just bake it at a single temperature until
it's set. And then eat your cake. No one can
tell you not to, not us, well not certainly not me.
(11:11):
Eat your dank cake. Yeah, do it? I love it.
I mean again, I know I've talked about this before,
but my oven, the walkiness is a good term, Laura.
I would have to really really be careful this. Yeah
yeah yeah mine. Mine is also not the most dependable
(11:36):
all the time. Yeah. Mine's slow to start, but then
once it gets going, it's you say three and it's
at four. Goodness, Okay, it's an adventure every day. It's enthusiastic.
That's great. Yeah. I like to put a positive spin
(11:57):
on it too, after so many bakings. Um, but all right,
let's say I've succeeded. What about the nutrition, Yeah, that's
a treat. Treats are nice. Uh, it's it tends to
be a little bit heavier on the butter and a
little bit lighter on the sugar than some other desserts. Um,
(12:18):
so treat treats. Yeah, have them treats over here. I do.
I definitely want to try. I've never tried one like
coated and chocolate or all these other flavors. I've only had, yeah,
you know, normal baseline flavor. So I really want to
experiment out. Yes, okay, into it. Yes, we do have
(12:42):
some numbers for you, just a few, just a few, okay.
So the Madeline is highly associated with France, if that
hasn't been clear already. According to a few sources on
Europe Day in two thousand and six, they were chosen
to represent France. I really could not nail that down,
but I would believe it. It would not surprise me.
(13:04):
One of the biggest commercial Madeline sellers in France, alacoch Lorn,
tells about eighty million made lines a year and employees
about eighty people. And I did look it up just
to see the pandemic that is still open and it
is still open, but I don't know about the numbers.
They're still the same. A New York Times article claims
(13:26):
that the Madeleine has been called the cookie with the
greatest literary cloud, although yes, it's really more of a cake, Oh,
New York Times, even though I've been making that same
mistake for pretty much my whole life. I will turn
it around for sure. UM. And there's some really interesting
(13:47):
history as to why that is absolutely um, And we
will get into that. But first we've got a quick
break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back.
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you so. Rudiment street cookies,
(14:11):
biscuits or cakes similar to Madeleine's, go back to ancient times.
I know we've talked about some of those in past episodes.
It's escaping me now, but I know that it's happened. Yeah,
maybe maybe something about scones or muffins or all of
the above. Birthday cake. We did talk about chocolate chip cookies.
(14:36):
Maybe we discussed in there. We've done a lot of episodes, y'all.
We have. We were supposed to. We were getting near
a milestone. We were totally forgot, and I forgot entirely well,
I think we could make it up and no one
would really know. Well, or at least you know, why
(14:56):
why not? Why not celebrate an off number, like I
don't think that it all has to be even numbers. Yeah,
we're probably creeping up on four fifty right now. Oh,
we definitely blew right past four day. Well, keep an
eye an ear out for that. I don't know what
(15:17):
we'll do, but maybe we'll do something for some random
number going up. Um. But anyway, In terms of more
modern history, Madeline's are thought to have originated in France,
where there are a lot of fun stories about how
they were created. One of the most popularly told versions
associates them particularly with Comercy, which is a small town
(15:41):
in France, and the story sounds like the stuff of
baking legend. It goes that during the eighteenth century, or
perhaps an unspecified some time ago before the eighteenth century,
but that was when these bait goods starts showing up
in records, so that's often with the time people go
with bakers, and Comercy paid a quote very large sum
(16:03):
for the recipe for these Magdalins, which um were sold
in these unique oval boxes as a specialty of the area,
and nuns in that region at this time may have
made a living selling these cakes. After monasteries and convents
were dissolved during the French Revolution, historians think the nuns
(16:24):
sold the recipe to bakers, and the name it is
the French form of Magdalene, as in the Bible's Mary Magdalene,
one of Jesus's disciples. At one time, Commercy had a
convent dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene. I'm sure if I
dug into this, there's multiple, multiple examples are ideas about
(16:48):
where this name came from, but that is one, and
I guess we are going to talk about some others. Yeah, yeah,
that's that is one that goes well with that version
of history. I feel like this is yet again one
of these historical outlines. It's like the end of the
Clue movie where it's just like or it could have
been like this. Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
(17:12):
I would love to play a baked version game Clue. Okay,
all right, I'm not. I want I want to design
this game, and I want to do it right now.
I want to like toss my microphone out the window
and go work on that. I'm not gonna. I'm containing myself. Yes,
because you were professional. I almost am sure. Let's go
(17:35):
with let's go with that. I'll take it. Yes, let's okay.
But yeah, that's not the only origin story often passed
around about the Madeline. Another has several of the same details,
comis France during the eighteenth century. Uh. This one involved
a young servant girl who was trying to cheer up
the king of Poland Santis Slaus. That's the French pronunciation,
(17:59):
but I would have too it's Polish, in which case
I think it's Santislav. But anyway, Yeah, lots of high
jinks about pronunciation in this episode. Yeah, but okay, Stanislaus
Chinska who had been exiled to the region Lavine, where
he served as the Duke of Laurent. And what better
way to cheer someone up than with baked goods? I
(18:23):
don't know too many, now that's about it. Yeah. The
girl's name is Madeleine, and the recipe in this version
of the story had been passed down to her from
her grandmother. That New York Times article we mentioned earlier
goes into more detail, placing at this specifically at a
luncheon the Duke had that he was hosting in seventeen
fifty five. After the chef left our quit. In some
(18:46):
versions of the story, before making dessert, the assistant Madeleine
stepped in and saved the day, and the resulting cakes
were so popular among the Duke and his guest they
named them after her. In this version of the story,
the king's daughter Marie helped make them popular EMBARRASSI when
she married King Louis. Okay, but yes, there's another way
(19:14):
this could have played out. Um. Sometimes it's told that
King Louis introduced them to Marie after her visit to
the French region Laurent, where Comercy is, and she loved
them so much she shared them with the French court.
This was suggest to me that the story of her
father eating them naming them isn't true. But I suppose
(19:35):
it's possible that King Louis saw her father more than
she did once they were married, or that somehow the
father was left out of this whole loop of getting
of his daughter getting introduced to them. Mysteries history. Yet
another choice on this tale suggests that Marie actually came
(19:55):
up with the recipe with the help of her cook, Madeleine. UM.
Saschinsky often gets credit for the invention of the rumbapa
cake too, so future episode all right, mm hmm. And
in some versions of this story, the cake is actually
associated with another woman named Madeleine, who gave these cakes
(20:17):
to those making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in
Spain cap uh and the pilgrims allegedly wore the symbol
of Saint James, which was a shell. Okay, okay. And
there's another story suggests that the madaline was invented a
(20:38):
bit later in the nineteenth century in France, a creation
of pastry cheft Jean Avise. He used aspic molds for
the shape. Molds and recipes for madaline started appearing around
this time. And I couldn't easily corroborate this um, but
I'm pretty sure it's reported and none less than the
(20:59):
Larus Gastronomique, that a Vice took on Antoine in Karem
as an apprentice at some point, and that the two
of them perfected shoe pastry dough. In addition to this
possible connection to the medal in mm hmm. Lots of
(21:20):
threads going on here, Yes, Yes, With industrialization, the production
of Madaline's went commercial, and several of these commercial brands
still operate in comerc One of the biggest, Alekochlran, which
we mentioned earlier Circa, sells their product packaged in wooden
(21:41):
oval boxes at specialty shops in the area. I couldn't
find any exact history on the metal in pan, but
I think it's safe to assume there were molds of
this shape in the century. We've talked about this in
similar episodes like Aspects Marshmallows and Candy Hearts. I also
(22:04):
tried to get to the bottom of the shape, but
I couldn't find anything really solid. A lot of those
origin stories claim it was there from the get go, though. Yeah,
and there is a historical evidence of um some of
those aforementioned candies and stuff being made in um actual
(22:24):
uh cockle or scallop shells um, and that that's perhaps
how these cakes were originally baked using actual shells um.
But but it's yeah, it's kind of lost to lost
of time. Yeah, and her um our good friend Julia,
who's been on the show a couple times. One time
she gave us those because she makes candies using old
(22:47):
recipes like with the methods and everything. She gave us
those candies that were in She has some little hard
candies that were using shells, right, Okay, whatever the history,
one name repeatedly comes up when discussing the madaline. Marcel
Proust his book Remembrance of Things Past, Volume one, Swan's
(23:11):
Way in particular, yes, sometimes also called in Search of
Lost Time. After Prust died, his brothers compiled this book
or is a series of several books, but this one
in particular, and published it in nineteen So here's the
relevant quote she sent for one of those squat plumps
(23:31):
little cakes called petite madeleine, which looks as though they
had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell.
I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea
in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake.
No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs
touched my palate than a shutter ran through me, and
I stopped intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening
(23:53):
to me. An exquisite pleasure invaded my senses, and suddenly
the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the
little piece of Madaline, which on Sunday mornings at Cambray,
when I went to say good morning to her in
her bedroom, my aunt Leone used to give me dipping
it first in her own cup of tear to sin,
and the whole of Cambre and its surroundings taking shape
(24:14):
and solidity sprang into being town and garden alike from
my cup of tea. Well, that is lovely. It is lovely,
and a surprise to no one, probably that people have
tried painstakingly to create this recipe from his description and
what recipes and techniques were available at the time. Here's
(24:38):
the quote from Slate, a Slate article where author Edmund
Levin tried to do this very thing, and it's a
little long, but I love it. Confounded, I decided to
confer with leading Proust authorities. I discovered a major obstacle,
the imminent professor William Carter, author of Marcel Proust A Life,
who had supervised the recreation of the famous scene for
(24:59):
a PBS documentary. The professor was skeptical. He was turned
off by my notion that Marcel had quote dissolved pieces
of Madeline floating around in his teacup, calling it quote
not likely, and to my surprise, he asserted that Marcel
does dunk and bite the Madeline, which would mean there's
no crumb production mystery to be explained. The professor insisted
(25:23):
that the crumbs are simply created in the narrator's mouth
after he bites off a morsel and schmooshes it around.
I objected that no biting are schmooshing is mentioned in
the text. The professor insisted it is quote implied, But
in my view Prust was simply too obsessed with detail
to let something as significant as biting, let alone smooshing
(25:45):
go unnoted, if that's what he had in mind. Much
to my relief, I found firm support from MacArthur Genius
grantwinner Lydia Davis, the translator of the widely praised new
edition of Prust Swan's Way, in which the famed passage.
As she finds no quote implied biting in the text
and calls me or dunking out of the question, she
(26:06):
concurs that the grumbling Madeline material is already in the
spoon as it approaches Marcel's mouth. The tiebreaker was Stanford
professor Joshua Landy, a pruce scholar who declares himself firmly
in my crumbs in the spoon camp, I've given Prus
a more than fair shot. His failure to account for
(26:27):
extraordinary crumb production was manifest. Case closed. Then Prus, Madeline
did not, does not, and never could have existed. To
put it bluntly, Prus didn't know from Madaline's it's so fantastic.
That's okay, okay, Indeed, I told you people have opinions
(26:50):
about all of this. They do, they do. I'm trying
to think if there's any food where I'd be reading
something and think that's egregious based on chrome texture or something.
I'm sure there is. Yeah, I've never done it before,
(27:11):
but I suppose that doesn't mean I wouldn't. No, I
don't think it does. I don't think it does at all. Um.
And you can see our actual episode on nostalgia because
this definitely reminds me of a certain scene in a
certain movie. We still need to watch, Lauren ra I know,
I know, I know, I know, I know we and
(27:33):
and and watch it. We shall. Absolutely, Yes, I've I've
read the opinion that Prust's Madaline's were not fresh baked,
but rather factory made, because when he was writing the
real hotel that his semi autobiographical protagonist is staying in.
(27:55):
UM was buying its Madaline's from UM from a cookie
factory a few miles along the coast, or a patisseary
a few miles along the coast, now known as UM Jeanette.
Uh so they are supposed to have been very good
quality originally. UM, I don't know it's gonna hands up
(28:17):
backing away yep, yep. Uh there so so so at
the time they might have been quite tasty and you know,
evoking of nostalgia. Uh that that factory, by the way,
was meant to shut down when UM, the last in
this long chain of increasingly disinterested owners, decided to just
(28:41):
cut their losses and sell the brand. But apparently a
group of the women bakers who worked there like occupied
the factory for a whole year, petitioning the government to
help them find a buyer. And eventually this Portuguese industrial
troubleshooter UM like like saw their story and took it
(29:02):
to heart and raised enough money from crowdfunding to buy
and reopen the business. And as often they were making
twenty four thousand Madaline's a day. Wow, that's a story.
I want to see a right, where's our movie about that?
(29:22):
That sounds charming? Is all? Heck? I know, but I
want a really dramatic, intense trailer for it. Oh yeah, yeah,
maybe with like an implied ghost among the pastry stacks.
M hm, oh definitely. Ghost is always implied in my book.
Absolutely Um. In nineteen Madaline's featured in the Great British
(29:53):
Baking Show or a Great British Pickoff, however you want
to say it, um in a signature challenge during the
semifinals um during during which everyone giggled a lot about
the perfect hump and finding finding one search for the
perfect hump, you know, ah search we must all embark on,
(30:18):
I guess, in our own way, at our own pace.
Exactly we're talking about bakers here. Absolutely nothing else could
possibly be implied. I'm glad that we're not the only
ones that giggle though. That feel better if not my myself.
(30:45):
Oh well, listeners, I'm looking to expand my horizons when
it comes to the matal and so if you've got
any recipes or pictures, please send them our way. Oh yes, um, speaking,
have we do have some listener mail for you? We do,
But first we have one more gup break for word
(31:06):
from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes,
thank you. We're back with listen listener, A Lovely Time
(31:31):
with a lovely baked Good Excellent. I really lost where
you were going in the middle of that one and
just kind of leaned away from the microphone. I love
it when you do that when it becomes clear that
I'm on my own with this one. Sham or blame that.
(31:56):
That's just how the cookie couples sometimes. Yeah, high quality
professional cookie crumbles yemm mmmmmmm are in this case cake? Yes? Yes,
So we have another letter from Bob. I was really
surprised by the Bubble Tea episode. Surprised because I didn't
(32:18):
know that this had become a thing back in the States.
As you know, I'm on my third decade living in China,
and here it is everywhere. I was a bit of
an elite joiner, but thanks to my son who introduced
me to it, I'm a fan too. Seems it is
catching on in Europe as well. My son was thrilled
to find Bubble Tea in the UK, even in the
smaller cities, when he went off to college there, and
(32:41):
again in Amsterdam as well. Chinese soft power is what
it's called winning friends through happy timmis now the real
reason I just had to chime in exploding foods. Oh no.
I remember once being at a grocery store back home.
At the checkout, just when I was about to pay,
I heard a up and a shout, and apparently someone
(33:01):
dropped a large bottle of what must have been very
well shaken Coca cola, because a second later, what goes
flying by? That bottle of coke? No joke, It was
flying by in an arc that reached about six ft
I and crossed at least five or six checkout lines
that spring everyone and everything I'm lucky enough to be near.
(33:23):
I got a little wet myself. Another time, I was
at home back when I was still living with my folks.
The evening before we had gone out for Chinese food.
There were some leftovers, and I decided to reheat the
chicken fingers in the microwave. These chicken fingers were the
type that they heavily coat and batter and deep fry. Anyway,
I took them out when they were done, and I
remember the next part as if it was yesterday. I
(33:45):
put one in my mouth. As soon as my teeth
bit down, the other end of it just exploded. The
bang was as loud as a firecracker, and the end
of the chicken finger flared out like you'd see from
an exploding cigar of cartoon. I'm pretty sure that I
had the same days. Look at my face too. My
mom came out when she heard the boom from the
(34:06):
other room. She asked me what happened. At first, she
didn't believe me and thought I'd lit a firecracker off,
but I showed her the rest of the chicken. She
believed me then, as she started to pick up bits
of chicken out of my hair and off the kitchen curtains.
Ever since then, I warned people to pierce their leftover
chicken fingers before nuking them. I advised the same for
(34:27):
reheating egg rolls. To imagine the carnage an egg roll
my calls, I shudder to think of it. I do too.
I think you're right. Wow, jeez, this this world of
exploding food, I've one reheaited chicken fingers when I had
(34:47):
never heard of that. I am impressed. Yes, I am
also impressed, and I'm going to try to remember to
pierce my chicken fingers from now one. Yeah, I gosh.
Caroline wrote, I had to write in after the Bubble
Tea episode because it was so close to the Pokemon episode.
(35:10):
The tea shop by my house Tea Talk has an
entire separate Pokemon themed menu. Talk about the perfect mash
up blows a link to the menu. Uh, you can
see all the flavor and bubble combos. They are delightful. Yes,
I love it so so so much, Tea Talk, check
it out. Yes um related, Rachel wrote, I've been a
(35:34):
long time listener of Saver, but I've never written in before.
Your episode on Boba tea, and in particular, your reference
to the Star Wars holiday special is what inspired me
to say Hi Hi. I live in Orlando and Boba
te is extremely popular here. It's so popular that a
local artist created a map of all of the tea
shops in the area. Back. A friend and I even
(35:56):
made it a goal to try every boba shop we
could find, but so many kept popping up. No pun
intended that we couldn't keep up. Going back to Star Wars,
two shops have incorporated the series into their menus. Chewy
Boba uses Chewbacca and Boba Fett as their mascots, while
Lucky Straws Boba, one of my favorites, did a limited
(36:17):
Mandalorian themed menu when the new season dropped on Disney Plugs.
My favorite drink on their Mandalorian menu was the Way,
which was a spiced ginger and orange tea with boba.
Once it's safe to travel, I would absolutely recommend venturing
outside of the theme parks to try any of the
local tea shops. Yes, yes, I love this so so much,
(36:40):
so nerdy and so delightful. Yes. Um yeah. The Lucky
Straws Mandalorian Mini by the way, it's called the Pandalorian
and the Boba is called Kaiber. Excellent. Yes, I I've
got to check these out next time we're in Orlando.
(37:03):
It's safe to be there, Lauren. We have got into it, absolutely. Yes,
thank you so much for all of those listeners for
writing in. If you would like to write to us,
you can Our email is hello at savor pod dot com.
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at sabre pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Savor is a production
(37:25):
of I Heart Radio For more podcasts my Heart Radio,
you can visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as
always to our super producers Dylan Bagan and Andrew Howard.
Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots
more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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