December 19, 2025 • 33 mins
This festive dessert is carefully crafted to look like a fallen log. Anney and Lauren roll with the science and history behind yule logs.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Anne Res and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about eule logs.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, well, I think I know the answer to this question,
but I ask it anyway. Sure, was there any particular
reason this was on your mind? Gloren?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, yes, as we record this episode, it is towards
the end of December, Yule is upon us. Eule Logs
are a kind of winter Solstice slash Christmas type of tradition,
both the burning of a literal log and also the
(00:48):
making of these log shaped cakes. And yeah, yeah, it's
something that I have a like recent fondness for because
it's like, it's all it's all nice, it's all nice
and sweet and adorable.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Do you have any yulelog experience?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Nope. I actually only knew this was a food thing
because of you. I think that we had mentioned doing
this episode before and we didn't, So I knew before
you mentioned it this particular time.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, maybe maybe last year or the year before. I
got it into my head that we should do a
yulelog episode. But then, as frequently happens, the end of
the year kind of gets away from us.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yes, so I was aware it was a food thing
since then, but that was like news to me. Oh
oh fun.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Oh man, you've looked at so many interesting pictures today.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes I have. I really love it. I love the branches.
I love like the branches and the little berries on
top or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, but I haven't had one,
but it looks like something that I've had a relative of.
I've had something similar to.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That, sure, Yeah, yeah, I mean anything anything from like
a jelly roll to a po Ho. You're basically talking
about the same thing.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, they are cute and listeners, you know, we love
sending pictures of these kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, if you've made one, if you've had like a
real fancy one somewhere, Oh, I would love to hear.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We would love to hear about it. Not just me,
all of us, yes, everyone everyone involved. For past episodes,
I would say any of our like pastry esque type
of so I would actually also say lamb cakes just because.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh sure, the holiday tie in. I weirdly like any
of our food fairy tale episodes that have to do
with like the Brothers Grim, particularly as we get into
like Germanic mythologies.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But yeah, yes, which we will get into a little bit.
But I guess that brings us to our question. Sure
youle lugs, what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Ayule lug is a type of cake that is meant
to look like a log in a festive winter holiday way. Yeah,
because like like look like there are several interrelated cultures
with traditions around winter holidays where you know, we bring
trees inside our houses. We decorate with garlands that are
(03:39):
made of branches and sometimes poisonous berries, So this is
not that strange overall.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Variation on like a Swiss roll or a sweet roulade.
The cake is typically constructed from a sheet of fluffy,
flexible sponge cake that's spread with some kind of light
creamy fill and then rolled up into a cylindrical log
shape and frosted on the outside with a texture drawn
(04:08):
on or maybe applied with like edible decorations, like maybe
curls of chocolate in order to look like bark. The
cake and or the outer frosting are often chocolate to
lend like a woody color to the creation, with a
contrasting lighter color for that filling, so that like in
a cross section. Those dual spirals will look a little
(04:29):
bit like the growth rings in a log.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Further decorations often edible ones uh to like set the
log scene might include things like small mushrooms made of
meringue or mars of pan maybe like a dusting of
powdered sugar to resemble a sprinkle of snowfall on there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Frequently these are These are arranged as like a fallen
log in a forest kind of concept. It's served by
slight sing off like coins from the logs ends as
a dessert or maybe a snack and yeah, Yule Logs
can be anywhere from fairly simple to very fancy, depending
on your commitment to and or budget for the bit. Typically,
(05:17):
the whole cake is like soft and fluffy in texture,
with rich sweet to bitter sweet like chocolate and vanilla,
and creamy or nutty flavorings. It's it's meant to be
a centerpiece at a family or a friend gathering. It's
like half decor half dessert.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
All log.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's like it's like being bundled up all cozy during
just the very softest of snowfalls.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, some of them have kind of.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Fall right, but Okay, let's let's break down these literal
layers a little bit. So. Sponge cake is a type
of cake typically made from eggs, sugar, and flour. No
other fat like like butter or oil, goes into a
traditional sponge. It becomes tender and fluffy through manually whipping
(06:19):
air into the eggs and sugar, and then keeping that
fluff by folding in the flour very gently. Modern recipes
for sponge, especially for specific things like a yule log,
do often incorporate flavorings like vanilla and or cocoa you know,
I don't know, maybe some espresso powder, maybe a flavored
liquore or something like that. They might even call for
(06:42):
a fat like vegetable oil and or like a ganache,
which is a melted chocolate plus some kind of dairy
and or buttermilk or another.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Non chocolate related dairy.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
At that point, they might call for like baking powder
for extra leavening. Oomph, But yeah, four uel log and
other types of Swiss rolls sometimes called jelly rolls when
they're filled with you know, jelly. A sponge cake will
be baked in a shallow layer in a large pan,
yielding a finished cake that's only an inch or so tall,
(07:13):
maybe around like three centimeters at the correct thickness. And
if everything has gone well here and I feel like
this is the kind of thing that on for example,
Great British Bakeoff, it frequently does not go well.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It just made me nervous, Lauren. Everyone's like, how could
you be nervous watching Great British Breakup? But I like, listen,
listen that just go wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is stressful. They are, I will say, on that show.
They're so nice to each other. They're also so heck
and sweet. But okay, but if everything goes well, a
sponge cake will be really spongy and forgiving about being manipulated.
It's not very likely to split a crack if you
(08:00):
roll it gently around a filling into that spiral. However,
treats like ulugs do have the benefit of being decorated
with like fairly thick layers of frosting that will cover
up any mechanical errors that occur. The filling is often
something semi sweet and airy, like a flavored whipped cream,
(08:22):
maybe a whipped ricotta or marscapone, or cream cheese, maybe
like a light butter cream frosting. You can go as
fancy or as simple as you like with blended additions,
or maybe an extra layer of like a fruit puree
or jam, maybe like a raspberry or apricot, something nice
that goes with chocolate, you know, maybe some ground nuts
(08:43):
like hazel nut or pistachio, maybe some marsapan. The filling
will help keep the relatively dry sponge moist and tasty.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Then for the.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Topping, you're often looking at something a little thicker in
texture so that you can etch the bark texture onto
it and have it wholed form. You know, maybe a
gnash or a buttered cream. Then decorations, Yeah, meringue mushrooms,
which will be made with egg whites, beaten fluffy with
sugar and then piped into mushroomy shapes and baked ferm
(09:15):
Those are a pretty classic go to addition, but maybe
some like fresh or sugar cranberries, maybe some frosting flowers
or leaves or pine needles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You can put inedible figures on there if you want to.
I'm not sure what you're up to. There are also
versions that are like you know, cylinder shaped and contain
some kind of layers, but aren't like literally log themed
you know, they might have printed rice paper or airbrushed
(09:47):
chocolate or something like that instead of a log texture.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Folks to all kinds of things. I looked at this one.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I was just kind of googling around and I looked
at this one from a UK chocolate and pastry shop.
That is a cashew and schiso sponge cake with a
coconut mouse yuzu cream and a layer of black sesame
preleine crunch. And the surface on that guy is totally
smooth with a pattern of like deco style fans.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I was like, all right, this it looks like a
sushi roll. It looks like a fancy, fancy sushi roll. Okay,
it's lovely. Yeah mmmmmm well what about the nutrition. Oh,
treats are nice. Yes, treats are so nice.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
They are. And we do have some numbers for you.
Speaking of nice treats.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, if you are looking to purchase a yule log,
one might run you anywhere from like sixteen bucks from
a chain grocery store bakery to like ninety bucks for
the Williams Sonoma version for absolutely no good reason. We
do have some yule log records for you. The longest
yule Log was achieved in Lebanon in December of twenty eighteen.
(11:11):
It measured three thousand, seven hundred and twenty eight feet
that's one thousand, one hundred and thirty six meters, and
it was kind of just like snaking along a series
of tables in this like football field link tent.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Oh No, a good anxiety strike.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It was a lot of cake. It was a lot
of cake. If you are wondering what goes into a
cake that size. A previous record holder from Shanghai from
twenty eleven that was only a little bit shorter. Yeah,
I mean little bit being relative in these kind of scales.
Involved two thousand, three hundred pounds of flour. It's about
a thousand kilos, eight hundred and thirty six pounds of
(11:59):
powdered sugar, which is three hundred and seventy nine kilos.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And nine hundred and four eggs.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Apparently one hundred and fifty workers and eighty chefs assembled
it over a twenty four hour period.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That's a serious business.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I gotta say, yep, yep. That is a true team effort. Meanwhile,
the largest mule log was achieved back in the year
two thousand. No one's done it better since then, also
in December in Canada. It weighed two point four to
(12:40):
nine metric tons, which is just over five thousand, five
hundred pounds. The cake was seventy two feet in length,
but just over a foot and a half wide and
a little over a foot high in metric that's like
twenty two meters long by half a meter wide and
(13:02):
like a third of a meter high. And apparently after
some three thousand, five hundred guests at the event had
a piece, the remainder, because there was remainder went to
like local food banks and shelters and other charity groups.
Oh wow, yep, most of them are like a foot long, y'all.
(13:31):
Like most of them are not that big? Like most
of them are yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Oh, all right, Well, we do have quite a history
for you, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sons, yes, thank you. Okay. So,
the yule log, or in French, the bouche denoille, traces
back to the European tradition of lighting a thick, heavy
(14:10):
log on fire on Christmas Eve and rekindling it until
the twelfth Night or January fifth. And this practice lasted
for hundreds of years in parts of Europe at least
up until the seventeenth century, and has roots in pre
Christian winter solstice traditions.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, and I want to say here that it is
very difficult to track down what Germanic Ish traditions are
apocryphal and were made up in the eighteen hundreds or
so versus what like actually happened. This is annoying for
historians and podcasters alike. And that's why I mentioned the
(14:51):
Brothers Grim stuff at the top of the episode. But anyway, Yeah, yes,
So there were allegedly a lot of superstitions about the
Yule log, including that keeping a charred piece of the
log and the house over the following year would ward
off any lightning strikes.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
To the property. Some speculate that this traces back to
the pagan belief of keeping part of the log to
avoid Thor's lightning strikes. Okay, yeah, the burning of the
yule log was meant to ward off the cold and
the dark while also welcoming new beginnings. Burning a yulog
all but faded away. The practice did by the eighteenth century.
(15:35):
Because it was kind of a pain. These logs were
typically pretty large, like maybe even a whole tree trunk. Yeah,
so they like it was carrying it inside and doing
the whole thing. You had to have it that big
though to burn it for multiple days.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, but just getting it to light is kind of
a pain at that point. And so yeah, yes, the
word yule itself is believed to come the old English
word yole and or the old Norse word yole, both
referring to a pagan midwinter festival around the winter solstice.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
The Norse festival may have called for burning of log
in honor of Thor, a practice that was spread across
Europe through the vikings. Again, a lot of this is
very difficult to pin down if it's how true it is,
but yep, that is what a lot of sources say. However, Okay,
so this practice is fading away of actually burning the
(16:32):
yule log, but chefs and bakers in France wanted to
ensure that it wasn't completely forgotten, so they created a
pastry version of the yule log. The first known recipe
was printed in eighteen ninety and the memorial Historique di
Giographique de la Patiiciri by Pierre lencam. It detailed layers
(16:55):
of sponge cake with coffee or chocolate buttercream, shaped like
a with little branches of sponge cake and bark made
out of butter cream. And again, if you haven't seen
pictures of this, go look them up. The branches are
like pieces of sponge cake that are attached with butter
cream to the main structure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Frequently you either take like a single log and split
it and kind of have it like so that it
looks a little bit like the the crook of a branch,
or like maybe you have smaller roles attached or yeah. Yeah,
people do all kinds of things to make it look
real dynamic.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yes, yes. Luckcom went on later to claim that the
yule log was the creation of one Antoine Cheribou at
la Maison Cuiller out of Paris, and Paris was the
hub of this dessert, especially in the early days, where
it was well known and popular by eighteen eighty six,
perhaps particularly amongst the middle class. You know, dessert, Having
(17:59):
this kind of nice dessert was a signifier of sorts share. Yeah.
Beginning in eighteen seventy, this cake spread across Europe to
French colonies like Vietnam as well, and spawned a few
variations in those places.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Meanwhile, there are recipes going back to the sixteen hundreds
for baked goods that are similar ish to sponge cake,
though often those would have been baked until crisp, more
like cookies, and they featured in a range of layered
desserts like trifles through the seventeen hundreds. At the same time,
(18:37):
rolled dishes like spiral rolled dishes both sweet and savory,
involving layers of things like pastry and jam or meat
and veg were developing around Europe, often called a roue
laude or some variation on that word. Beginning in the
early eighteen hundreds, more cake like desserts featuring bonge developed
(19:01):
around Europe. And we're fairly fairly posh. We're not sure
who first thought to roll sponge up with soft fillings,
but it seems to have happened, yeah, like in the
early to mid eighteen hundreds, right in time for this
concept to be picked up for emulelogs. Simultaneously to all
(19:21):
of this, throughout the eighteen hundreds, there were a couple
of esthetic and like symbolistic movements happening, particularly around like
the British Empire and former colonies like the US, but
also throughout the rest of Europe. But I think had
to have influenced the popularity of yulelog cakes. You know,
certainly by the end of that century, the Industrial Revolution
(19:43):
was in full swing, and there was some pushback against
that in things like the Arts and Crafts movement and
the American rustic style. These focused on like naturalistic imagery
and materials like for example, there was this huge tre
and around the United States in cemeteries of creating headstones
(20:04):
in the shape of rough hewn logs, and all of
this is probably the subject of a different podcast, but
I really think there has to be a connection here,
like a common nostalgic, back to nature kind of vibe
that was going on in the creation of all of
these log shaped decorative items.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
I love that log shaped decorative Yes. Yes. In nineteen
twenty eight, A ghost Scoffier included Bouche de Noel as
part of his recommended Christmas menu in his publication Special
Velian or Christmas Eve Special, essentially m H and recipes
(20:49):
for yule logs started popping up more and more in
recipe books starting in the twentieth century. At first, a
lot of cooks avoided making them because of the concern
and that it was tricky, specifically when it came to
rolling it up to create the log that crack. Sure, yeah, yes,
although I do appreciate your point earlier, Lauren, that you
(21:09):
can just cover it up. You're putting frosting on it. Man,
It's going to be okay. Yes, Well, these concerns were
addressed by British food writer Fanny Kraddock in the nineteen sixties.
She was like, it's okay, here's my tip, You're going
to be fine.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, there is a lot of advice out there for
how to properly construct a sponge for this type of purpose,
even if you are including ingredients like cocoa powder that
are going to really throw off your like protein and
fat content that would normally make like a straightforward sponge
operational if you are interested in all of this. As always,
(21:48):
Serious Eats has a great breakdown, but there are a
number of other websites around the internet that, yeah, do
a bang up job.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yes, and in our but we're a food show. But
also we had to address this. I think the first
Yule log video which I'm sure you probably know, but
those are the looping videos of a fire and a fireplace,
usually with soft crackling sounds and music. The first edition
(22:17):
of that allegedly debuted in nineteen sixty six on WPIXTV
Channel eleven in New York City. The manager of the station,
Fred Thrower, had an idea for something special, what he
called a wpix Christmas Card. So on Christmas Eve they
canceled all their programming and all their commercials and instead
(22:40):
aired a three hour continuous loop of a fireplace, which
they filmed by themselves. By the way, this video with
festive music in the background. It was a ratings hit.
So for the next twenty years they did it every
Christmas Eve. They even refilmed new footage when their original
film deteriorate.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah, and every year it won its time slot and
it was nice because it meant the employees didn't have
to work on Christmas. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there was
some They did cancel it for a second in the
nineties because the advertisers was like, you're making no money.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you're winning your time slot, but there's
no money occurring because we don't have ads on this.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So yeah, sure, yes, but it was so popular there
were like petitions to bring it back. Oh yeah. But nowadays, yeah,
you can find these videos everywhere from Netflix to YouTube.
And there is of course a yule log based horror movie,
which we've discussed before. Yeah, I still have not watched it.
I have seen it, of course, of course you have,
(23:51):
of course I have. There's actually a lot more if
we were a different podcast we could talk about with
the yule log videos. But that for a food that's
a good summary. Yeah, that's a good summary. And in
our modern times, when it comes back to the cake,
there are all kinds of experimentation with flavors and textures.
(24:11):
There are plenty of high end options, and as you said, Lauren,
some of them aren't log shaped at all anymore. They
do all kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, and good on them, you know, do make
of that log what you will.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Also, I will say that there are like modern Pagany
winter solstice practices that have brought back the burning of
a yule log. I've been to a number of like
midwinter celebrations, like solstice celebrations that involve lighting up a
yule log, and various traditions around that you know, maybe
(24:47):
like every person at the party lights a candle in
the log to try to get.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It to catch stuff like that. Yeah, it's just real nice. Yeah.
I was struck by my mom and I have a
thing I do when I go home during the holidays
where we light a huge like tree trunk thing. Yeah,
and we just sit outside and talk while while it
(25:14):
is burning. And I was like, that's kind of eulogues.
It is absolutely yeah, and it is great. It's really nice. Well, listeners.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Please, oh yes, I strongly believe that some of you
have fantastic photographs.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yes, and you have recipes and you have stories. Oh yeah,
we need them please please write in. But I think
that is what we have to say about Eulogus for now.
It is.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break forward
from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, And
we're back with a listener Mayes Snowfall and a fire. Yeah. Okay,
so Desiree wrote, my dudes, I absolutely played Chex's quest
(26:28):
as a kid. My childhood was extremely strict and When
home computer games first became a thing, we were only
allowed to play wholesome, educational ones, and somehow this one
snuck in, maybe because it was about a mostly sugarless
breakfast cereal. Being technically non violent was also a plus,
(26:49):
although the sound the flamoids the bad guys made as
you transported them away with spooky enough to be thrilling
to my grade school cell. Particularly of note when I
think back, is that when you ran out of power
in your teleporting weapon and could no longer use it,
your final defense was a spork, and that worked about
(27:09):
as well as it would in a regular fight. When
they started offering it on Steam, my brother couldn't wait
to invite me to play it, even though we're both
in our thirties now. The graphics definitely got an upgrade,
but it's still a fantastic blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh my goodness, this is fantastic cool.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I'm so glad you wrote it. Yeah, that's so cool.
Oh man, I'm so I love that. A spork, Yeah,
it comes. I read nothing about the spork. That's so cool?
Are the flamoids?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Did I did read about the flemoids, but but I didn't.
I didn't really know again, like like we're a food show.
I wasn't Yeah, I wasn't sure exactly how far to
go into the chex Quest store line.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It's difficult to pull ourselves away sometimes. Yeah. I also
appreciate that you snuck it in to your your good
educational video games.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
It was like Carmen San Diego and this one, like
yeah yeah, yes, like Number Crunchers and Chex's Quest.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, love it. I'm sure you learned some things, yeah, sure,
what how valuable they were? You know, you know, stuff
was learned. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, And it sounds like you and your brother had
some bonding over it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's always good.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, Kelsey wrote, loved the spaghetti episode Vintage BBC and
the spaghetti tree incident is hilarious and delightful. One a
very few pranks I like, just harmless silliness. As for
spaghetti itself, my family and especially my kid love noodles.
(29:08):
Spaghetti bolonaise is a big favorite. I love it because
I can put vege, carrot, celery, mushroom zucchini through my
food processor, add to the browned ground protein, then simmer
in tomato e well seasoned sauce until everything's enmeshed. In
a savory team up of flavor perfect veggie camouflage kid
(29:28):
who usually bulks at any veg aside from salad or cucumber,
gobbles it up, wins all around. My post spaghetti supper
guilty pleasure is to get up in the middle of
the night and eat multiple bites of cold leftover noodles
and sauce. It has to be mixed prior to storage,
straight from the container standing in the kitchen. It should
(29:48):
be gross, but it is perfect. The Flying Spaghetti Monster
salutes you with their many noodlely appendages. PS Holiday Aside Edition.
If you ever get a chance over the holidays and
you've not read it yet or have do yourself a
favor and grab a copy of Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
It is hands down my favorite holiday book, so fun,
(30:11):
full of Pratchety goodness, features quote the raven and death
of rats, multiple footnotes that spill over two pages. It's
just the best. There's also a movie slash mini series
version from the BBC question Mark that's just perfect holiday entertainment.
A quote inspired one of my holiday cards this year.
Photo attached PPS for my fellow Harry Potter fans. If
(30:34):
you are grossed out by she who must not be named.
Check out the Discworld books. You can read from book
one on or start anywhere and bounce around more. Equal
rights in which is Abroad are standout faves for me.
Oh and yes, attached is a photo of this year's
(30:54):
of one of the cards this year, which is a
very festive holiday raven with a little Santa hat standing
on a holly branch with a little candy cane over
the branch.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, really good, Yes, excellent, excellent. Oh
and we love book recommendations. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Oh and Terry Pratchett. Yeah, what a what an amazing author?
Mm hmmm y beautiful human person all around.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, and I do I agree with you that
I think you can sneak in some veggies if you
need to, in a sauce, add some noodles. Yeah, yeah,
it's fine, it's fine. It tastes delicious, it does. Sometimes
I'm like, how much of it is in your head
(31:45):
when you're a kid, But like, I hate that thing,
do you really?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
I mean I feel like you might, but like I
feel like most of the time it's it's a texture
more than a flavor, necessarily, and you get an you
get it into your head that this one texture is bad.
But at a certain point you can't texture that, you
can't detect that texture.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
So yes, yeah, yes, Also I have been there. I
do enjoy late night cold bites and kissing. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So it's an important part of the process, man, That
is it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It's it's you know, if you cooked it, I think,
oh yeah, that's fair game, you know what. Even even
if not, I sometimes you just need that look nice.
Leftovers are there for a reason. Yes, and some leftovers
are really good cold they are oh they are oh
(32:48):
so much to think about. Well. Thank you to both
of these listeners writing and if you would like to
write to us, you can our email as hello at
saberpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
We're also on social media. You can find this on
Instagram and blue Sky at saver pod and we do
hope to hear from you. Savor is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts in my heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(33:18):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Anne Res and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we
have an episode for you about eule logs.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Yes, well, I think I know the answer to this question,
but I ask it anyway. Sure, was there any particular
reason this was on your mind? Gloren?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yes, yes, as we record this episode, it is towards
the end of December, Yule is upon us. Eule Logs
are a kind of winter Solstice slash Christmas type of tradition,
both the burning of a literal log and also the
(00:48):
making of these log shaped cakes. And yeah, yeah, it's
something that I have a like recent fondness for because
it's like, it's all it's all nice, it's all nice
and sweet and adorable.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Do you have any yulelog experience?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Nope. I actually only knew this was a food thing
because of you. I think that we had mentioned doing
this episode before and we didn't, So I knew before
you mentioned it this particular time.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yeah, maybe maybe last year or the year before. I
got it into my head that we should do a
yulelog episode. But then, as frequently happens, the end of
the year kind of gets away from us.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yes, so I was aware it was a food thing
since then, but that was like news to me. Oh
oh fun.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Oh man, you've looked at so many interesting pictures today.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yes I have. I really love it. I love the branches.
I love like the branches and the little berries on
top or whatever. Yeah. Yeah, but I haven't had one,
but it looks like something that I've had a relative of.
I've had something similar to.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
That, sure, Yeah, yeah, I mean anything anything from like
a jelly roll to a po Ho. You're basically talking
about the same thing.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah, they are cute and listeners, you know, we love
sending pictures of these kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Oh, if you've made one, if you've had like a
real fancy one somewhere, Oh, I would love to hear.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
We would love to hear about it. Not just me,
all of us, yes, everyone everyone involved. For past episodes,
I would say any of our like pastry esque type
of so I would actually also say lamb cakes just because.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Oh sure, the holiday tie in. I weirdly like any
of our food fairy tale episodes that have to do
with like the Brothers Grim, particularly as we get into
like Germanic mythologies.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But yeah, yes, which we will get into a little bit.
But I guess that brings us to our question. Sure
youle lugs, what are they? Well?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Ayule lug is a type of cake that is meant
to look like a log in a festive winter holiday way. Yeah,
because like like look like there are several interrelated cultures
with traditions around winter holidays where you know, we bring
trees inside our houses. We decorate with garlands that are
(03:39):
made of branches and sometimes poisonous berries, So this is
not that strange overall.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
This is a.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Variation on like a Swiss roll or a sweet roulade.
The cake is typically constructed from a sheet of fluffy,
flexible sponge cake that's spread with some kind of light
creamy fill and then rolled up into a cylindrical log
shape and frosted on the outside with a texture drawn
(04:08):
on or maybe applied with like edible decorations, like maybe
curls of chocolate in order to look like bark. The
cake and or the outer frosting are often chocolate to
lend like a woody color to the creation, with a
contrasting lighter color for that filling, so that like in
a cross section. Those dual spirals will look a little
(04:29):
bit like the growth rings in a log.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Further decorations often edible ones uh to like set the
log scene might include things like small mushrooms made of
meringue or mars of pan maybe like a dusting of
powdered sugar to resemble a sprinkle of snowfall on there.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Frequently these are These are arranged as like a fallen
log in a forest kind of concept. It's served by
slight sing off like coins from the logs ends as
a dessert or maybe a snack and yeah, Yule Logs
can be anywhere from fairly simple to very fancy, depending
on your commitment to and or budget for the bit. Typically,
(05:17):
the whole cake is like soft and fluffy in texture,
with rich sweet to bitter sweet like chocolate and vanilla,
and creamy or nutty flavorings. It's it's meant to be
a centerpiece at a family or a friend gathering. It's
like half decor half dessert.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
All log.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
It's like it's like being bundled up all cozy during
just the very softest of snowfalls.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, some of them have kind of.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Fall right, but Okay, let's let's break down these literal
layers a little bit. So. Sponge cake is a type
of cake typically made from eggs, sugar, and flour. No
other fat like like butter or oil, goes into a
traditional sponge. It becomes tender and fluffy through manually whipping
(06:19):
air into the eggs and sugar, and then keeping that
fluff by folding in the flour very gently. Modern recipes
for sponge, especially for specific things like a yule log,
do often incorporate flavorings like vanilla and or cocoa you know,
I don't know, maybe some espresso powder, maybe a flavored
liquore or something like that. They might even call for
(06:42):
a fat like vegetable oil and or like a ganache,
which is a melted chocolate plus some kind of dairy
and or buttermilk or another.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Non chocolate related dairy.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
At that point, they might call for like baking powder
for extra leavening. Oomph, But yeah, four uel log and
other types of Swiss rolls sometimes called jelly rolls when
they're filled with you know, jelly. A sponge cake will
be baked in a shallow layer in a large pan,
yielding a finished cake that's only an inch or so tall,
(07:13):
maybe around like three centimeters at the correct thickness. And
if everything has gone well here and I feel like
this is the kind of thing that on for example,
Great British Bakeoff, it frequently does not go well.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
It just made me nervous, Lauren. Everyone's like, how could
you be nervous watching Great British Breakup? But I like, listen,
listen that just go wrong.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
That is stressful. They are, I will say, on that show.
They're so nice to each other. They're also so heck
and sweet. But okay, but if everything goes well, a
sponge cake will be really spongy and forgiving about being manipulated.
It's not very likely to split a crack if you
(08:00):
roll it gently around a filling into that spiral. However,
treats like ulugs do have the benefit of being decorated
with like fairly thick layers of frosting that will cover
up any mechanical errors that occur. The filling is often
something semi sweet and airy, like a flavored whipped cream,
(08:22):
maybe a whipped ricotta or marscapone, or cream cheese, maybe
like a light butter cream frosting. You can go as
fancy or as simple as you like with blended additions,
or maybe an extra layer of like a fruit puree
or jam, maybe like a raspberry or apricot, something nice
that goes with chocolate, you know, maybe some ground nuts
(08:43):
like hazel nut or pistachio, maybe some marsapan. The filling
will help keep the relatively dry sponge moist and tasty.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Then for the.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Topping, you're often looking at something a little thicker in
texture so that you can etch the bark texture onto
it and have it wholed form. You know, maybe a
gnash or a buttered cream. Then decorations, Yeah, meringue mushrooms,
which will be made with egg whites, beaten fluffy with
sugar and then piped into mushroomy shapes and baked ferm
(09:15):
Those are a pretty classic go to addition, but maybe
some like fresh or sugar cranberries, maybe some frosting flowers
or leaves or pine needles.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
You can put inedible figures on there if you want to.
I'm not sure what you're up to. There are also
versions that are like you know, cylinder shaped and contain
some kind of layers, but aren't like literally log themed
you know, they might have printed rice paper or airbrushed
(09:47):
chocolate or something like that instead of a log texture.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Folks to all kinds of things. I looked at this one.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I was just kind of googling around and I looked
at this one from a UK chocolate and pastry shop.
That is a cashew and schiso sponge cake with a
coconut mouse yuzu cream and a layer of black sesame
preleine crunch. And the surface on that guy is totally
smooth with a pattern of like deco style fans.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I was like, all right, this it looks like a
sushi roll. It looks like a fancy, fancy sushi roll. Okay,
it's lovely. Yeah mmmmmm well what about the nutrition. Oh,
treats are nice. Yes, treats are so nice.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
They are. And we do have some numbers for you.
Speaking of nice treats.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, if you are looking to purchase a yule log,
one might run you anywhere from like sixteen bucks from
a chain grocery store bakery to like ninety bucks for
the Williams Sonoma version for absolutely no good reason. We
do have some yule log records for you. The longest
yule Log was achieved in Lebanon in December of twenty eighteen.
(11:11):
It measured three thousand, seven hundred and twenty eight feet
that's one thousand, one hundred and thirty six meters, and
it was kind of just like snaking along a series
of tables in this like football field link tent.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Oh No, a good anxiety strike.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
It was a lot of cake. It was a lot
of cake. If you are wondering what goes into a
cake that size. A previous record holder from Shanghai from
twenty eleven that was only a little bit shorter. Yeah,
I mean little bit being relative in these kind of scales.
Involved two thousand, three hundred pounds of flour. It's about
a thousand kilos, eight hundred and thirty six pounds of
(11:59):
powdered sugar, which is three hundred and seventy nine kilos.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And nine hundred and four eggs.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Apparently one hundred and fifty workers and eighty chefs assembled
it over a twenty four hour period.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
That's a serious business.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I gotta say, yep, yep. That is a true team effort. Meanwhile,
the largest mule log was achieved back in the year
two thousand. No one's done it better since then, also
in December in Canada. It weighed two point four to
(12:40):
nine metric tons, which is just over five thousand, five
hundred pounds. The cake was seventy two feet in length,
but just over a foot and a half wide and
a little over a foot high in metric that's like
twenty two meters long by half a meter wide and
(13:02):
like a third of a meter high. And apparently after
some three thousand, five hundred guests at the event had
a piece, the remainder, because there was remainder went to
like local food banks and shelters and other charity groups.
Oh wow, yep, most of them are like a foot long, y'all.
(13:31):
Like most of them are not that big? Like most
of them are yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Oh, all right, Well, we do have quite a history
for you, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Sponsors, and we're back. Thank you, sons, yes, thank you. Okay. So,
the yule log, or in French, the bouche denoille, traces
back to the European tradition of lighting a thick, heavy
(14:10):
log on fire on Christmas Eve and rekindling it until
the twelfth Night or January fifth. And this practice lasted
for hundreds of years in parts of Europe at least
up until the seventeenth century, and has roots in pre
Christian winter solstice traditions.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yeah, and I want to say here that it is
very difficult to track down what Germanic Ish traditions are
apocryphal and were made up in the eighteen hundreds or
so versus what like actually happened. This is annoying for
historians and podcasters alike. And that's why I mentioned the
(14:51):
Brothers Grim stuff at the top of the episode. But anyway, Yeah, yes,
So there were allegedly a lot of superstitions about the
Yule log, including that keeping a charred piece of the
log and the house over the following year would ward
off any lightning strikes.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
To the property. Some speculate that this traces back to
the pagan belief of keeping part of the log to
avoid Thor's lightning strikes. Okay, yeah, the burning of the
yule log was meant to ward off the cold and
the dark while also welcoming new beginnings. Burning a yulog
all but faded away. The practice did by the eighteenth century.
(15:35):
Because it was kind of a pain. These logs were
typically pretty large, like maybe even a whole tree trunk. Yeah,
so they like it was carrying it inside and doing
the whole thing. You had to have it that big
though to burn it for multiple days.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Yeah, but just getting it to light is kind of
a pain at that point. And so yeah, yes, the
word yule itself is believed to come the old English
word yole and or the old Norse word yole, both
referring to a pagan midwinter festival around the winter solstice.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
The Norse festival may have called for burning of log
in honor of Thor, a practice that was spread across
Europe through the vikings. Again, a lot of this is
very difficult to pin down if it's how true it is,
but yep, that is what a lot of sources say. However, Okay,
so this practice is fading away of actually burning the
(16:32):
yule log, but chefs and bakers in France wanted to
ensure that it wasn't completely forgotten, so they created a
pastry version of the yule log. The first known recipe
was printed in eighteen ninety and the memorial Historique di
Giographique de la Patiiciri by Pierre lencam. It detailed layers
(16:55):
of sponge cake with coffee or chocolate buttercream, shaped like
a with little branches of sponge cake and bark made
out of butter cream. And again, if you haven't seen
pictures of this, go look them up. The branches are
like pieces of sponge cake that are attached with butter
cream to the main structure. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Frequently you either take like a single log and split
it and kind of have it like so that it
looks a little bit like the the crook of a branch,
or like maybe you have smaller roles attached or yeah. Yeah,
people do all kinds of things to make it look
real dynamic.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yes, yes. Luckcom went on later to claim that the
yule log was the creation of one Antoine Cheribou at
la Maison Cuiller out of Paris, and Paris was the
hub of this dessert, especially in the early days, where
it was well known and popular by eighteen eighty six,
perhaps particularly amongst the middle class. You know, dessert, Having
(17:59):
this kind of nice dessert was a signifier of sorts share. Yeah.
Beginning in eighteen seventy, this cake spread across Europe to
French colonies like Vietnam as well, and spawned a few
variations in those places.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Meanwhile, there are recipes going back to the sixteen hundreds
for baked goods that are similar ish to sponge cake,
though often those would have been baked until crisp, more
like cookies, and they featured in a range of layered
desserts like trifles through the seventeen hundreds. At the same time,
(18:37):
rolled dishes like spiral rolled dishes both sweet and savory,
involving layers of things like pastry and jam or meat
and veg were developing around Europe, often called a roue
laude or some variation on that word. Beginning in the
early eighteen hundreds, more cake like desserts featuring bonge developed
(19:01):
around Europe. And we're fairly fairly posh. We're not sure
who first thought to roll sponge up with soft fillings,
but it seems to have happened, yeah, like in the
early to mid eighteen hundreds, right in time for this
concept to be picked up for emulelogs. Simultaneously to all
(19:21):
of this, throughout the eighteen hundreds, there were a couple
of esthetic and like symbolistic movements happening, particularly around like
the British Empire and former colonies like the US, but
also throughout the rest of Europe. But I think had
to have influenced the popularity of yulelog cakes. You know,
certainly by the end of that century, the Industrial Revolution
(19:43):
was in full swing, and there was some pushback against
that in things like the Arts and Crafts movement and
the American rustic style. These focused on like naturalistic imagery
and materials like for example, there was this huge tre
and around the United States in cemeteries of creating headstones
(20:04):
in the shape of rough hewn logs, and all of
this is probably the subject of a different podcast, but
I really think there has to be a connection here,
like a common nostalgic, back to nature kind of vibe
that was going on in the creation of all of
these log shaped decorative items.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
I love that log shaped decorative Yes. Yes. In nineteen
twenty eight, A ghost Scoffier included Bouche de Noel as
part of his recommended Christmas menu in his publication Special
Velian or Christmas Eve Special, essentially m H and recipes
(20:49):
for yule logs started popping up more and more in
recipe books starting in the twentieth century. At first, a
lot of cooks avoided making them because of the concern
and that it was tricky, specifically when it came to
rolling it up to create the log that crack. Sure, yeah, yes,
although I do appreciate your point earlier, Lauren, that you
(21:09):
can just cover it up. You're putting frosting on it. Man,
It's going to be okay. Yes, Well, these concerns were
addressed by British food writer Fanny Kraddock in the nineteen sixties.
She was like, it's okay, here's my tip, You're going
to be fine.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Yeah, there is a lot of advice out there for
how to properly construct a sponge for this type of purpose,
even if you are including ingredients like cocoa powder that
are going to really throw off your like protein and
fat content that would normally make like a straightforward sponge
operational if you are interested in all of this. As always,
(21:48):
Serious Eats has a great breakdown, but there are a
number of other websites around the internet that, yeah, do
a bang up job.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yes, and in our but we're a food show. But
also we had to address this. I think the first
Yule log video which I'm sure you probably know, but
those are the looping videos of a fire and a fireplace,
usually with soft crackling sounds and music. The first edition
(22:17):
of that allegedly debuted in nineteen sixty six on WPIXTV
Channel eleven in New York City. The manager of the station,
Fred Thrower, had an idea for something special, what he
called a wpix Christmas Card. So on Christmas Eve they
canceled all their programming and all their commercials and instead
(22:40):
aired a three hour continuous loop of a fireplace, which
they filmed by themselves. By the way, this video with
festive music in the background. It was a ratings hit.
So for the next twenty years they did it every
Christmas Eve. They even refilmed new footage when their original
film deteriorate.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah, and every year it won its time slot and
it was nice because it meant the employees didn't have
to work on Christmas. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there was
some They did cancel it for a second in the
nineties because the advertisers was like, you're making no money.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you're winning your time slot, but there's
no money occurring because we don't have ads on this.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
So yeah, sure, yes, but it was so popular there
were like petitions to bring it back. Oh yeah. But nowadays, yeah,
you can find these videos everywhere from Netflix to YouTube.
And there is of course a yule log based horror movie,
which we've discussed before. Yeah, I still have not watched it.
I have seen it, of course, of course you have,
(23:51):
of course I have. There's actually a lot more if
we were a different podcast we could talk about with
the yule log videos. But that for a food that's
a good summary. Yeah, that's a good summary. And in
our modern times, when it comes back to the cake,
there are all kinds of experimentation with flavors and textures.
(24:11):
There are plenty of high end options, and as you said, Lauren,
some of them aren't log shaped at all anymore. They
do all kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Yeah, yeah, and good on them, you know, do make
of that log what you will.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Also, I will say that there are like modern Pagany
winter solstice practices that have brought back the burning of
a yule log. I've been to a number of like
midwinter celebrations, like solstice celebrations that involve lighting up a
yule log, and various traditions around that you know, maybe
(24:47):
like every person at the party lights a candle in
the log to try to get.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
It to catch stuff like that. Yeah, it's just real nice. Yeah.
I was struck by my mom and I have a
thing I do when I go home during the holidays
where we light a huge like tree trunk thing. Yeah,
and we just sit outside and talk while while it
(25:14):
is burning. And I was like, that's kind of eulogues.
It is absolutely yeah, and it is great. It's really nice. Well, listeners.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Please, oh yes, I strongly believe that some of you
have fantastic photographs.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yes, and you have recipes and you have stories. Oh yeah,
we need them please please write in. But I think
that is what we have to say about Eulogus for now.
It is.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break forward
from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, And
we're back with a listener Mayes Snowfall and a fire. Yeah. Okay,
so Desiree wrote, my dudes, I absolutely played Chex's quest
(26:28):
as a kid. My childhood was extremely strict and When
home computer games first became a thing, we were only
allowed to play wholesome, educational ones, and somehow this one
snuck in, maybe because it was about a mostly sugarless
breakfast cereal. Being technically non violent was also a plus,
(26:49):
although the sound the flamoids the bad guys made as
you transported them away with spooky enough to be thrilling
to my grade school cell. Particularly of note when I
think back, is that when you ran out of power
in your teleporting weapon and could no longer use it,
your final defense was a spork, and that worked about
(27:09):
as well as it would in a regular fight. When
they started offering it on Steam, my brother couldn't wait
to invite me to play it, even though we're both
in our thirties now. The graphics definitely got an upgrade,
but it's still a fantastic blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Oh my goodness, this is fantastic cool.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
I'm so glad you wrote it. Yeah, that's so cool.
Oh man, I'm so I love that. A spork, Yeah,
it comes. I read nothing about the spork. That's so cool?
Are the flamoids?
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Did I did read about the flemoids, but but I didn't.
I didn't really know again, like like we're a food show.
I wasn't Yeah, I wasn't sure exactly how far to
go into the chex Quest store line.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
It's difficult to pull ourselves away sometimes. Yeah. I also
appreciate that you snuck it in to your your good
educational video games.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
It was like Carmen San Diego and this one, like
yeah yeah, yes, like Number Crunchers and Chex's Quest.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, love it. I'm sure you learned some things, yeah, sure,
what how valuable they were? You know, you know, stuff
was learned. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Yeah, And it sounds like you and your brother had
some bonding over it.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's always good.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
Yeah, Kelsey wrote, loved the spaghetti episode Vintage BBC and
the spaghetti tree incident is hilarious and delightful. One a
very few pranks I like, just harmless silliness. As for
spaghetti itself, my family and especially my kid love noodles.
(29:08):
Spaghetti bolonaise is a big favorite. I love it because
I can put vege, carrot, celery, mushroom zucchini through my
food processor, add to the browned ground protein, then simmer
in tomato e well seasoned sauce until everything's enmeshed. In
a savory team up of flavor perfect veggie camouflage kid
(29:28):
who usually bulks at any veg aside from salad or cucumber,
gobbles it up, wins all around. My post spaghetti supper
guilty pleasure is to get up in the middle of
the night and eat multiple bites of cold leftover noodles
and sauce. It has to be mixed prior to storage,
straight from the container standing in the kitchen. It should
(29:48):
be gross, but it is perfect. The Flying Spaghetti Monster
salutes you with their many noodlely appendages. PS Holiday Aside Edition.
If you ever get a chance over the holidays and
you've not read it yet or have do yourself a
favor and grab a copy of Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.
It is hands down my favorite holiday book, so fun,
(30:11):
full of Pratchety goodness, features quote the raven and death
of rats, multiple footnotes that spill over two pages. It's
just the best. There's also a movie slash mini series
version from the BBC question Mark that's just perfect holiday entertainment.
A quote inspired one of my holiday cards this year.
Photo attached PPS for my fellow Harry Potter fans. If
(30:34):
you are grossed out by she who must not be named.
Check out the Discworld books. You can read from book
one on or start anywhere and bounce around more. Equal
rights in which is Abroad are standout faves for me.
Oh and yes, attached is a photo of this year's
(30:54):
of one of the cards this year, which is a
very festive holiday raven with a little Santa hat standing
on a holly branch with a little candy cane over
the branch.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's fantastic. Yeah, yeah, really good, Yes, excellent, excellent. Oh
and we love book recommendations. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Oh and Terry Pratchett. Yeah, what a what an amazing author?
Mm hmmm y beautiful human person all around.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Yes, yes, and I do I agree with you that
I think you can sneak in some veggies if you
need to, in a sauce, add some noodles. Yeah, yeah,
it's fine, it's fine. It tastes delicious, it does. Sometimes
I'm like, how much of it is in your head
(31:45):
when you're a kid, But like, I hate that thing,
do you really?
Speaker 2 (31:50):
I mean I feel like you might, but like I
feel like most of the time it's it's a texture
more than a flavor, necessarily, and you get an you
get it into your head that this one texture is bad.
But at a certain point you can't texture that, you
can't detect that texture.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
So yes, yeah, yes, Also I have been there. I
do enjoy late night cold bites and kissing. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
So it's an important part of the process, man, That
is it.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
It's it's you know, if you cooked it, I think,
oh yeah, that's fair game, you know what. Even even
if not, I sometimes you just need that look nice.
Leftovers are there for a reason. Yes, and some leftovers
are really good cold they are oh they are oh
(32:48):
so much to think about. Well. Thank you to both
of these listeners writing and if you would like to
write to us, you can our email as hello at
saberpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
We're also on social media. You can find this on
Instagram and blue Sky at saver pod and we do
hope to hear from you. Savor is a production of iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts in my heart Radio, you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
(33:18):
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
your way.
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Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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