October 23, 2025 • 33 mins
This week, Andrew and Lauren dive into a viral article on ultra-processed foods and parenting guilt when it comes to your kid’s diet…and Andrew breaks down what “ultra-processed” really means.
PLUS…they discuss America’s protein obsession, the death of MTV, and the most over-the-top pumpkin trend yet.
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back, everybody. We're here with another episode of American Gravy.
What a week.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am hungry, I am starving. I'm always hungry.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Actually that is true. I'm also always hungry. I get
a lot more hungry later in the day. I don't
know why you'm not a eating guy.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
He doesn't eat during the day.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And then before I go to bed at night, I'll
eat like six thousand calories.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, Well, anyway, I'm Lauren Girl and.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I'm Andrew Grew and welcome back to another episode of
American Gravy, where food meets fun, flavor meets the absurd.
I guess i'd be the absurd here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes, we are going to dive into some of the funniest, strangest,
and most mouthwatering food stories making the rounds.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Because, let's face it, food news these days have gone
officially off the rails. We're here to bring it back
on the rails. I love that. Yeah, it's good. You know,
we're trying some new material out here. But thank you
all who have kind of stuck around yeah and are
continuing to listen to these episodes. This is fun and
we love all of your feedback. You can always give
us feedback at Chef Gruel.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
On x at Lauren Girl on x or at Louren
underscore rule on Instagram. All right, so, Andrew, yes, we
have kids. We have four kids.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We're unaware. Okay, sometimes I just think they're my friends.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah, Okay, we'll get into that later.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So, is avoiding ultra processed foods with our kids unrealistic,
like totally avoiding them?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, and that's the yes, it is unrealistic. It is
unrealistic to assume that overnight somebody's just going to wipe
out ultra processed foods from a kid's diet. But I
think we need to define ultra processed foods. Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, there was an article in the Atlantic by Olga Kazan.
Oh she's doing all right, you know, she has a
good bors.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah. The heck is that it's a period chill beetroot soup.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Ooh, can't wait to try it. Okay, So she makes
a pretty good point. So this I'm going to read
a quote from her article.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So, nevertheless, like many working parents, I find that feeding
my family a diet free of ultra processed foods is impossible.
After a long day of fighting with my eighteen month
old over whether he can touch the trash, No, and
whether he can eat the trash also No. Sometimes all
I can do is throw some ultra process mac and
cheese at him and drown my own sorrows and some
(02:17):
trader DRO's white Kesso dip. The efforts to get parents
to give up these types of comforts in favor of
home roasted vegetables are frustrating and unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, and this is the thing though, is by the way,
and I appreciate that sentiment, And the entire theme of
this article was a bit pro processed foods, and she
was taking some jabs at like RFK Junior and the
Maha movement and the Maha movement, right So like, I
don't like the overall theme of this article. However, she
does make a good point that I think that we
shouldn't ignore. And in this Maha movement, we've talked about
(02:51):
alternatives and different ways you can cook and you can
eat and spend more time around the kitchen table and
understanding where your food is coming from. Right Like, it's
a very broad movement when it comes to the ultra
processed food piece. Because people want advice in a sound bite.
So it's like, don'tat processed food. Well, people need to understand.
So processed food is any I mean, if you cut potatoes,
(03:12):
that's processed foods, right, So I think the ultra is important.
Ultra Processed food is food that's been processed or used
cut as the analogy in your mind, or cooked or
you know, poached or blanched and then treated with a
significant amount of See I would say chemicals, but then
everyone would be like, well if theod is a chemical, right,
Like everyone's always trying to play like wordsmith, you to
(03:34):
attack your point treated with something that I can't find
in nature, like hanging on a tree or coming off
of a cow, or coming up from the soil, right, Like,
you're not gonna find xantham gum like on the side
of the road. I'm not going to go forage for
xantham gum or soy lesse thin or artificial food dies
or any of the other numerous chemicals that we read
on the ingredients lists. And the reason there's so many
(03:57):
chemicals in our food, more and more and more as
time goes on, is because they want to have longer
shelf life. They want to manipulate and change the flavors
of the food to make it more addictive. That's a fact.
That's what the food manufacturing companies do. And then what
they've also done is they've used chemicals in the form
of pesticides and different types of fertilizers and as well
as through the food manufacturing and processing techniques to actually
(04:21):
remove a lot of the nutrients from the food. But
then they enrich them. And enriching is like when you
see enriched flour.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, that's what they did with which I thought was
kind of interesting. Remember they put in all to corn tortillas.
I believe they put threw in what was it? Was
it thigh I mean or no, it was like folic acid.
Folic acid that they were That was the most racist
bill by the way.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
They said that. They said that tortillas have to have
folic acid because specifically Latino women are lacking in folic
acid through the.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's for the when they're pregnant, right, it's supposed to.
But I'm like, okay, that's a little racist.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So they put them into tortilla. Them get them in tortilla.
First of all, I would suggest that like middle aged
white women are the highest purchasers of tortillas in California.
But that's just a case of DA movement. So I
think the enriching piece is important because they're im going
to come back full circle here is is that so
then you strip all the nutrients, you strip all the
quality out of the food, but then you add it
(05:17):
back in like supplements and vitamins, right like enriched grain
where they add vitamin A, vitamin D like etc. Back
to it. You know, same thing with orange juice right
like they'll strip all that out and then they'll add vitamin.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
C back to the orange juice, which is so weird
yeap is it because it's not like shelf stable, like
it doesn't last that long.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So well, it's because when you like a lot of
the vitamins that come in like the pit and come
through the whole orange. So when you want to do
pull free orange juice, you're losing a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well also I know from what I heard actually is
if like you're if you were to you know, juice,
say your own orange juice, Like the quicker you drink it,
the more the nutritional value holds up. So if you
let it sit out for a long periods of time,
it kind of depletes, is that true.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, food that sits for a while does lose their
nutritional value. And then also food the more you cook it,
the more nutrient to lose. That's why you've got a
lot of people in the carnivore movement that are like,
eat it only rare or even raw, because that's how
you're getting the full benefits of the meat. Yeah, that's
steak tartar. I love steak tartar. Yeah, exactly. I've I
think I got her to marry me on steak tartar.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
It was that or or or sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Do we have steak tartar like Wolfgang Puck in Vegas?
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I we had. I woke you up one morning with
steak tartar on your bedside table. It wasn't steak based.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
This is before we were married.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So what so my, so kind of my, my, my.
My final punctuation on this story is this, we're obfuscating
the issue by talking about, well, maybe ultra processed foods
aren't that bad, right and trust the science, or we're
all so busy, you see, that's not the problem. The
real problem here is that there's not many options in
(06:48):
the market for less less processed foods or healthier foods
which are also quote processed not ultra processed, because the
only options that you have to buy foods are from
one of the few food manufacturers. Now there's sub brands
like Trader Joe's. She mentions Trader Joe's in this article.
The Trader Joe's mac and cheese is no different than
(07:09):
the Craft mac and cheese. It just comes in a
cool box with a cooler label, and it's kind of
fun and quirky. It's the same junk. So what I've
said is, Okay, we get it. We're tight on time,
we're tight on money. We need to change the incentive
structure for the businesses that are producing these foods. There
is enough chefs out there and Maha folk who are
(07:29):
willing to produce seatial free chicken tenders that are lightly
processed as opposed to the junk that we're getting from
Tyson or the Dino nuggets. There's enough independent food manufacturers
out there who can produce this good food for working parents,
but the market has pushed them out. There's too many
barriers of entry for them to get into the market,
and those barriers come from the USDA, the FDA, local
(07:51):
health departments, local cities even and in furthermore, access to capital.
So that's why these big guys end up taking all
of the market share and forcing all this ultra processed
food down our throats. So I think in conclusion on
this article, yeah, we get it. It's not going to
be an overnight fix. However, we can change the market,
and by virtue of changing the market, we can fix
our behaviors.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Right, And I'll just touch on this, you know, is
it is hard, right, especially when we're short on time
and our kids are in a million sports and activities,
it is easier to just throw them a bag of
goldfish or whatever it is. I'm not saying we give
them goldfish, but it is easier. So I agree with
her on that because sometimes it is impossible, seems at
the time impossible to make something you know, that's super
(08:32):
nutrient dense and what have you.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, and that's why we've worked to do things like
get our kids addicted to real foods. Right, So you
want the goldfish because you're getting that cheddar flavor in
the youmami, etc. And the crunch like we give our
like our kids eat cheese as if they're there's no tomorrow.
They love cheese, yep, so like we'll have we'll always
introduce them to different flavors of cheese, grate cheese, age cheese,
raw cheese, you name it. And then the crunch element
(08:55):
is really just like some sort of a cracker, so
you can get like also toasting, like we've gotten our
kids to like if they're gonna want to eat the carbs, like,
let's get a good bread product and then they toasted themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And moms, if all you can give your kids is
that ultra process stuff, you're still doing a good job.
I know it's hard.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I'm not like one meal a week.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, let's not you know, crap on everybody who's unable
to do this, of course.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And that's that's what I want to avoid because I
think that's turned a lot of people off to the
movement because there's this all or nothing approach, this perfecting.
It is unrealistic.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Start with one meal a week, one meal a week
around the table. And what I will tell you anecdotally
is that when you get your kids to help you
cook the food, they will eat the food.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, you made like tomato and bean soup the other day,
and James thought it was the best thing in the.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Because he helped us make it. So, like, we cut
all the ingredients and this is a recent episode on
our American Gravy Show. We cut all the ingredients, but
then we built it in a soup pot and we
let him put it in and stir it and add
it and stir it and add olive oil and salt,
et cetera. He ate like six. He was like, that
is the best thing. El Yeah, it was like zucchini
and squash. I mean, yeah, this kid was like two
steps away. It's involved frog legsky.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, exactly. Get your kids involved at least one meal
a week where you guys are sitting around the table.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
There's enough food education and information out there from YouTube
across like Rumble, you name it, like all these platforms
where you can pick up a couple tips here and there,
but getting your kids involved is a key to that.
So I don't want to poopoo the story too much.
I think the angle was a little bit political. I
don't like that, although I do think we should lend
credence to some of the feelings that people feel as
(10:27):
if the perfect is ruining good.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Speaking of ultra processed food protein powders.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What about protein? They can chain a lot of stuff
they do, can I'm full on protein right now, including
lead like from a number two pencil.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So you can smudge a protein powder all over a
scantron and get an A on the test.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And possibly so. Over the past fifteen years, Americans obsession
with protein has transformed.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Would you agree, Oh my gosh, well no, I agree,
but I see I think that's a positive. You and
I were talking on the way up here and you
were like, oh my god, the obsession has gotten like overboard,
which I do. Well, think it's gone overboard.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Because I mean, even if you go on you know, Instagram,
for instance, everything is about protein and getting this much protein.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I was trying to get enough protein.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
It was it was bad.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well, I think that. I think that it's it's created
like micro industries for protein powders and supplements and co packers,
et cetera. And you don't know like what you're getting
in those protein powders because a lot of them do
have other junk in there to make them sweet, and
it's like sugary. What right?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I mean? I just saw the other day. There's protein popcorn.
They're just throwing away, is protein popcorn? Apparently this popcorn
has protein in it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Well, I'm see, and this is where the food marketing
machine comes in and is it?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But then I'm thinking, is is there protein? And popcorn
in general?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I don't know. I never look at like, yeah, there's
a little protein in there, okay, and especially if you
do the cheese dust, you might get zero point three
grams of protein. It's the food marketing machine. The same
thing happened with sustainability. The same thing was going on
in the nineties with like the carb count and like
simple carbs, right, like there's always that a fiber or
all natural. What happens is there's a movement and in
(12:07):
the big food marketing machines, the food manufacturers, they pick
up on this kind of marketing buzz term movement and
they put it on everything. And then you lose you
lose focus and definition on the original movement or the
original word, right, because now you're seeing on packaging they'll
be like nine grams of protein and it's marketing on
(12:27):
the xterior of the package. It's the same trisk it
or it's the same productor exact same.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They just have the grams of protein on the front. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, like, let's just say that artificial food dies suddenly
were a good thing, and people are like, oh, we
love artificials food. Does it'd be like thirty two grams
of artificial food dies right, Like, in fact, they're just
highlighting and remarketing something within their product. They're not changing
the formula. And we've talked about that in previous episodes. So, like,
proteins are good, but what I would say about the
(12:55):
proteins is, don't get obsessed with the protein powders. By
the time you We know this because we make a
lot of shakes in our house.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Can I just part sorry, I don't want to catch you. So,
can anyone point us in the right direction of a
good protein powder that's not gonna make us poop our pants?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We've tried whoa, whoa, We have tried them all this
protein does a lot of these protein powders hurt my stomach.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, I mean there's a few that are okay for me,
but I cannot for whatever reason I me and why
protein do not work?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
No way, yes, way it bus away. Okay, Yeah, it's
the way, but like that's a great protein. But I've
really just relegated myself. I'll just eat steak, chicken. I'll
just eat meat all day.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well, I did see something the other day. This lady
was like, stop going for the protein bar, just make
a chicken cutlet.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, because if you're getting like nineteen grams of protein
and a full protein shake with all that other stuff
in there, you could cook a piece of mahi which
is like packed with protein.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Or mahi has eight ounces of mahi is like forty
two grams of protein.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I would much rather just like eat a piece of
mahi while I'm walking down the street. Yeah, let's let's
start that trying chicken brass. Yeah, just like walking around.
I did that the other day. I remember I cooked
all that steak on Sunday and then I just left
the house with like a cold New York strip stake.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
But we went on a walk and he's just walking
around the block eating piece of steak.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
It is true, once again, another reason why the neighbors
don't talk to us.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Actually, speaking of neighbors, somebody let their dog poop all
over our driveway.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I am livid. First of all, let me say this,
there is a secret like sidewalk pooper in our neighborhood.
So what what? Laura and I have been going on
a lot of walks lately. We're I feel like we're
like a ninety year old couple. We got on TV
that's closed caption. I can't hear anything, so I'm always saying.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What I'm falling for the AI videos.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Now I'm talking about eating oatmeal before I go to bed.
And now when we're we're taking leisurely walks while holding hands.
It's very romantic. But we walk and we're walking down
the street the other day and I'm like, oh, look out,
there's like a little it was like a trail of poop.
Well there was just like one.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It was like the dogs still on a walk and
the poop is just coming out.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yep, we go five feet, another little poop, five feet
another one. This one was was shmered.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah. But then this morning, on our way to take
taking the kids to school, I go Andrew will never
believe this, there's poo in our driveway. He's like, no way,
there's I'm not kidding. They're pooh.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So a dog had to walk up. It was either
a dog or a human. It might have been a gorilla.
It was pretty big, so the dog had to walk
up into our driveway and drop a deuce and it
was fresh. There was like a little steam on there.
But what I'm going to do is I am now
going to start measuring. I'm going to get the exact size,
and I'm going to find it like finger printing, but
(15:34):
like matching the poop with the dog, matching fingerprints to
the to the criminal.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But also, it's not the dog's faut, it's the owner's fault.
Why is the owner just letting its everywhere?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I don't care. Dog's in on it. Dogs should know better.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Okay, well it should have at least done it in
the grass. Why would do it on our driveway?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That way, at least you can wipe it off the
driveway easier, spray it down. If it's in the grass,
the kids jump on it and then the next thing
you know, it ends up in their bed. So if
you listening, if you're the secret of Cooper, just get out.
We're coming after you. I'm going to get involved with
city council on this one. Get the forends, you know what.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We got to pull up our cameras and find out
who this was.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, well, unfortunately we're not going to talk about that.
But all right, good times. What's our next story today? MTV?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
That was the thing growing up MTV, Remember TRL Total
Crest Live.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I would run home at Carson Dally.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes, I would sprint home from school to see the
latest music video drop right, And that was the thing.
It was like all the excitement in the world. You
would call your friends everyone to talk about the new
song that dropped. Oh my god, did you see so
and so in the music video? It was the thing.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You know, MTV is closing, MTV shutting down.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But this leads me to I guess the topic of
this is celebrity relevance.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Are they relevant any longer? Well, like MTV celebrities not
going to be relevant.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
But I don't know, I'm saying. But even back then,
it was like you had to watch all the award
shows and you wanted to see what people were wearing.
And I actually spoke with our daughter the other day
and there was a picture of Hillary Duff she posted
on her Instagram and I said, and she was young,
and I said, I was there. It was at her
album signing, because I have a picture of it, and
you know. She was like, why were you there? And
(17:16):
I was like, that's the only way you interacted with celebrities.
You didn't have this access to them at all times
on social media and their updates on their lives, like
every you know what I mean as.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Social media killed the celebrity. Ooh, that could be our
next article.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, possibly because because you know everything about them now
before they were kind of mysterious.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
They that's a great point, they were mysterious. I don't
want to know everything about you. I don't want to
hear you, I think about you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It has turned me off to so many people I
once looked up to, well.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Especially because you find out that their brains are made
of cabbage. A lot of them just don't have the
like thought and intellect that you assume they did by
way of like their lyrics.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You used the thing they were like the coolest, they
must be the coolest people in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And now I'm like, gosh, you're a moron. But now
every celebrity has also become political.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, I think it is also annoying, which is also annoying.
I mean, they are people, they have, you know, the
right to their own opinion, but sometimes it's like, come.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
On, well, you're right. I find the ones I find
annoying are the ones that are just like kind of
reciting the tropes. Yeah, the political tropes that they're being told.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
By do as I say, not as I do type
of people.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, there's a lot of those. Well, to me, politician
and hypocrite are synonymous with one another, so if they
try and become politicians, then that ultimately taints who they are. Yeah.
You know what I loved about MTV? I will say
this is that what was the show where the popcorn
came down? Oh? Remote Control? Remember they would sit in
(18:38):
the chairs. I'm pretty sure Adam Carolla was on that
Remote Control. Yeah, Remote Control was the show where the
popcorn came down. Okay, I had a remote Control. That
was a cool show because they ate popcorn and I
like food.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Okay, wait, I need to I need to see this. Oh,
adamah Sailor was on Remote Control. Cool, Jay, I remember
all of this. Oh, so these do what year was this?
Because maybe I.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Nteen eighty nine, nineteen I was one year old. Yeah,
all right, what else you got going for us Todaylauren?
What do you have for breakfast?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Half of a macro bar and a coffee.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
See once again, the bars strip it all away, swush
it back up together. I know. I think I'm gonna
cook twenty steaks and we're just gonna walk around with steaks.
That's what we're gonna do, all right, next episode, we're
coming in here with cold steak. What the fork? WTF?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Oh that's my one of my favorite segments.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, these are crazy food stories.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Well this is not really a food story. But okay,
So California speeding ticket prices will be based on your income.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What. Yeah, that's equity, Lauren, that's equity.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Okay, okay, so if you but is there like a limit, Like,
is there a cap on it?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So? I don't know what I read. When I read this,
I saw it was gonna be like you could have
a speeding ticket up to five thousand dollars based on
your income. So if you're one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
This is This is classic Califor. There's absolutely They say
it's in the name of equity, but there's nothing equitable
about it. If you're you're punishing somebody for being successful.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Okay, So say you are an individual who you know
is on food stamps, et cetera. Like maybe I don't know,
not even working, who knows. So then you get a
speeding ticket and like.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
What do you pay?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Like nothing box? Maybe that is so wrong.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
But then if you're rich and you get the speeding ticket,
you pay five million dollars. Five million dollars for speeding.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
That would be horrible. That's really that's really weird.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Well, I think I don't like that. Look, you know,
I would say that if anything Like cities, I think
if somebody gets a speeding ticket and they don't have
the money to pay it, they need to communicate with
the cities and they need to say, look, I really
don't have the money, work out some sort of a
reasonable payment plan, because there needs to be some sort
of punishment. I think even getting a speeding ticket if
you are rich, like the punishment of having to go
(20:52):
in and like send it in and what have you.
Maybe there's a knock on your record and you got
to pay more money on your car insurance. But like
rules are rule, everybody's subject to the same rules, right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So I guess it's a more of a pilot program,
and one has rolled out in San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Of course already the land is crazy. But what happens
in San Francisco happens everywhere. It's the epicenter, it's the
test case, it's the beta.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, it's Several state level proposals have been made to
adjust traffic finds based on income to make them fairer.
For example, Governor Newsom has supported plans to reduce citation
costs for lower income drivers.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
And once again I will say this, I do think like,
if I think that there should be the scale should
still be the same. It shouldn't be a sliding scale
based on income. I think there should be programs available
for lower income individuals or they have to take a.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Class or something.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, you know, well, I mean have you ever taken
a speeding class and been like, okay, I had.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
To take some I forget I had to take something.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
You probably did have to take something like nos caption.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
No, I remember I got a ticket and I had
to do a class.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Don't you think it's funny that you get a speeding
ticket now for holding your phone in your hand, but
not holding a huge double double from in and out?
What do you think about eating eating ticket for holding
your phone? Do you think about eating and driving. I
think eating and driving is more dangerous.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Than it's pretty dangerous.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
If you ever tried to, like eat a big sandwich
while you're driving.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Well, yeah I have, actually one, it gets everywhere. And two,
I mean you're not really paying attention. You're trying to, like,
you know, for me at least if it isn't in
and out burger. I'm like trying to like squeeze the
spread on them on the burger.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Squeeze the spreads out of euphemism, you squeeze the spread.
I feel like we're gonna this is a gambling show
now grudooking. So Lauren doesn't let anybody eat in the car,
in her car, in my car like you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Can have there, No, they can have They can have
snacks that aren't going to make a big mess.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Ultra processed.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
This is why we have steak. This is why all
we're going after this show. I'm gonna let the kids
eat a steak and chicken, and they're gonna be walking
around with a roasted chicken because that's easy to clean up.
They're gonna be ripped, and I always have to suffer
the consequences because the kids aren't allowed to eat in
the car. I'm not allowed to eat in a car.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That is not First of all, if you go into
my car right now, there's definitely evidence of people eating in.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
The car because I take the car sometimes. It's a minivan.
I love it, Little Vanny. I love the minivan. You know,
we were not a minivan family. When we got married.
Lorne was like, I never I would have a minivan,
and I just I was.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
We wanted the minivan even when we only had like
two kids. You like, were so into it, and I
was like, I don't need. I had my dream car
when we had two kids. Then I got pregnant with
a third and I had.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
To quickly it happened.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, then I had to quickly change out to an suv,
which was fine. I still liked it was still cute.
Then we had the fourth.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Because the doors don't open, which I will say, our
kids are so rambunctious with doors. Every time I go over, the.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Little boys they are they just oh my gosh, they
just throw those doors open so quickly. But anyway, the
sliding doors are a game changer.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Sliding doors, the built in vacuum cleaner, the TVSD.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
We have to give her up soon.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, we do. But I'm a minivan guy because it
was funny when the guy took us on a like
a spin what a little test drive, and I was like,
oh my gosh, I said, look at you behind this minivan.
You look like it's the hottest soccer mama. Look great
when kids don't even play soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, they play baseball.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Yeah, well, so minivans go for it. I think that
there's been much movement in the minivan technology, so I'm
excited about that. I think it's time to sharpen our skill.
So I'm gonna give you guys a quick cooking tip
here that you can take away. That is the essence
of the wire rack. Okay, I have been one to
make this mistake in our cooking videos where I will
(24:37):
cook the steak and I talk about resting the steak,
which is one of the most important parts of cooking
the steak, because if you cut into it too quickly,
the molecules are still moving around at the speed of
what the heat was. Right, They're trying to reach the
temperature of the heat, so they're moving very quickly the
heat in the oven or the cooking vessel, and so
when you cut into it. It pushes a lot of
that moisture out of the meat. You let it rest,
you let all those flavors come together, you let the
(24:59):
protein set within the meat. But if you're leaving it
on a plate, it's still going to run a little bit.
And if you let the hot steaks sit on the plate,
what's happening on the underside of the steak is that
that steam it's actually steaming the underside of the steak
and taking it from beautiful and browned to kind of soggy.
So you get that nice caramelization or that mallur'd browning
(25:20):
on top of the steak, but the underside is a
little bit soggy and it sits in its own juice.
So we do this in the commercial food setting. In
the restaurants all the time is we have wire racks,
and you always rest your meat on the wire rack
because then it's there's airflow underneath it. It's not gonna steam
that heat and that moisture is going to kind of
evaporate quicker. But we can do this in the home
setting as well. After you cook your steaks, just go
(25:42):
buy a little wire rack from Ikia anywhere there like
one or two dollars or even improvise one and just
put it on a plate and then rest your meat
on those wire racks. Number one, it's gonna cool quicker.
And by cool, I don't mean cool so that you
can't eat it. I mean like it's gonna let the
meat settle quicker. And it's also going to allow for
a crispy or exterior on the bottom side of the
(26:04):
steak as well. So resting your meat, do it on
a wire rack. That's the way to go. That's my practical,
kind of valuable takeaway for this audience today on my
Sharpen your Skill segment.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I love that, and I'm so surprised we have not
been doing that in our videos.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I know, well, there's a lot to cover in the
videos because we're really targeting people who just want to
get more comfortable with their cooking and developed that muscle memory.
So I'm not trying to hit them with the overly
intellectual stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
M all right, moving on.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Eighty six It eighty six it get rid of it? Yeah,
what do we want? What do you want to get
rid of?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
So hear me out, guys. I love pumpkin I do.
I think it's great, but Oh my gosh, what the heck?
It's pumpkin is in everything. We just saw a cup
of noodles, A pumpkin cup of noodle.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, flavor, pumpkin ramen. What Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
What the heck?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I don't like pumpkins, so I'm not on the same.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Okay, but I do love I make a good pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Oh gosh, I hate pumpkin pie. Oh my gosh. I
don't like pie. Period.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
He doesn't like pie. I love pie.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
There's not a single pie like if you all I made.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
You a pie and that was fabulous, you wouldn't like it.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Let me say this, though, I don't not like pie
because of flavor. It's because of form and function, right.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Why because it's like crumbly or like.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
It falls apart? So like I want to eat something
and I want to even bite. It's it's pizza, right,
I want an even bite on every single slice. I
want to be able to eat the crust and the filling,
top and bottom. But with a pie, with a pie,
it all falls apart. That's not true.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
How are you cutting this pie?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
An apple pie pie? Yes? Because the apple pieces fall
so fine. The pumpkin pie, the pumpkin pie holds up fine,
but it's just like gelatinous pumpkin with some I cannot
believe you hate my pumpkin pie. I don't hate your
pumpkin pie. I don't like cheesecake either. They call it
a cake, but it's not. It's not a cake.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Cheesecake is definitely not a cake.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, well, it's called cheesecake. I'm not making up the
name here, but you understand it's form and function. Right, So,
strawberry rhubarb pie.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wait, but you like the blueberry cheesecake ice cream?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
That's ice cream.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
There's chunks of cheesecake in it.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well, yeah, because that just adds flair. That's a garnish,
that's studded garnish.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, anyway, my eighty six is pumpkin in everything.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I think. I think the cup of noodle really threw
me for a loop. I made a pumpkin cheesecake back
when I was running a restaurant like ten or twenty
years ago, and it was really popular. That was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Of course, his is really good, and he'll eat his pumpkin. Actually,
pumpkin and cheesecake the two things he hates.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Let me rephrase that. It sold really well. So I
was happy about it. I never ate it disgusting. It
was disgusting. Do you like pumpkin pie message es? Let
us know. I hope I didn't offend anybody. So my
eighty six is it today? Well, I'll tell you where
I came with the came up with my eighty six
it So I was reading a story about how Chick
fil A is expanding into organ. I think they're opening
six or eight locations in Organ. And Chick fil A
(28:47):
has penetrated California pretty hard as well. Well, that got
weird penetrated and it there's Chick fil As everywhere, and
look of all the brands like Chick fil A solid.
I love their customer service. I think their chicken is okay.
I don't think it's great. I don't like it. When
you order the original Chick fil A sandwich, you get
like one or two pickles on there, and once again
back to the evenness of the bite, you bite it
(29:09):
and you get the pickle in there, and you're looking
for the pickle on the next bite and the picks
on the other side. Two pickles in there. It's very weird. Yeah,
they should they.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Should at least like like at least.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Six generally speaking with the mechanics of making sandwiches, like
if every single bite isn't even, then you've failed at
making sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yes, I agree, because then one end you're getting all bread,
the middle is like filled with all the stuff, and
then the other end is bread.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
One of the first tips I give to young cooks
is that if you're making a sandwich end to end,
end to end on the bread, you always got to
have sauce end to end. But that's I digress on
that one. So Chick fil A expanding everywhere, and that
brings me back to the Chicken Wars, and that was
like four or five years ago. You had the Popeye's
chicken sandwich, you had the McDonald's sucking sandwiche, Wendy's a
spicy crispy chicken sandwich. You had all these chicken sandwich
(29:53):
and then you had all the hot chicken. See. I
can't get so excited here. I get more excited about
these podcasts and those of you out there listening. I
was very apprehensive about the Chicken Wars because I started
to see these hot chicken sandwich concepts pop up all
over the place, and because it was a craze, and
(30:13):
it was as most crazes are, they're like blips in time.
I knew that their sales were going to be depressed
over two or three months. So you open up and you're,
you know, you're selling chicken sandwiches crazy, and then suddenly
you're going under. Actually, what was that, Mike? Was it
Mike's Dave's Hot Chicken? They just sold. They just sold out.
I think they sold for like a billion dollars too.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Like Arby, So this is a good thing. They didn't close.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I don't know. I didn't see the economics of the deal,
but I would imagine that they that there. It wasn't
a capital raise. I think was a sale. That's never
like a great sign unless you're real young and emerging
brand who's just looking to grow further and faster. Yeah,
chicken sandwich wars. I just think that the chicken sandwich
craze is becoming a little bit overdone. I'd like to
(30:59):
see less of the hot chicken sandwiches because I think
people do them wrong.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I don't think do you want to see a cold
chicken sandwich?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I just want to see it well chicken salad. I
would love to see a chicken salad sandwich.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Warch chicken salad sandwich.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Get a good There used to be the concept here
in la called like chicken salad chick that was that
was a chain and it was like chicken salad, chicken
salad sandwiches. Jones on Third does good chicken salad. Yeah,
I would love it. Maybe we open up a chicken
salad sandwich concept.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Let's think about it.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
See this is how these When we sold our sold slappish,
our last restaurant group, Lauren goes Or. I said to Lauren,
we both agreed, we're never going to open another restaurant ever.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
We're like, we are out. Oh my gosh, it's been
ten years of crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yes. I was six foot eight at the beginning, like
four five four, moving on to five to three. But
I uh, forty eight hours later we signed a lease
on a new restaurant. We did. And I'll also say
in there we had two birds chicken. We had a
chicken sandwich concept and.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It was a good chicken sandwich.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
We did not do the hot fried chicken sandwich that.
We just did a good old home style fried chicken sandwich.
It was done right. It was over the top, double
hander less than eight dollars a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
It was delicious. Bob's your own, and you had a
grilled chicken option. It was great you did have a.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Grilled chicken option. They're all fried chicken sandwiches and they
fry and junk and there's too much breading on there.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
All right, so our quick tip and our sizzle it
are you know, should be? Why are you laughing? Why
are you laughing at me?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I don't know, you're funny.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Okay, I am pretty hilarious to her and the kids.
We're gonna talk chicken sandwiches. Who We covered a lot there.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
We went through so many things, chicken sandwiches, protein powders,
speeding tickets, We've done it all.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
That's because people are getting so many speeding tickets because
of the protein powders.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, well, because they're rushing home.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Pooh, you keep saying that word late you say you
slow down before you say it, and then you come
at it so hard. It's very aggressive. Nope, don't do
it again. Don't need to be Mike. Okay, okay, okay,
you don't need to be Mike. But we're gonna lose
audience in that one all right, we want to know
what your eighty six HiT's are. Obviously, we also want
to understand what you want to see. If you've seen
any cool WTF stories, what the fork send those? Over Look,
(33:14):
this is You're part of the show here, everybody, so
we want we want your feedback. You can find me
on X at Chef Groul.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
And you can find me at Lauren Gruel. La Oh,
Lauren Lauren, she's French now Laura on Instagram Lauren Underscore
Rule and.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I'm on Instagram at Andrew Groul, so the real name
on Instagram and Chef Gruel. I play the character on X.
And that's another episode of American Gravy in the books.
We can't wait to put up the next one. Yeah,
all right, guys.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Bye,
Welcome back, everybody. We're here with another episode of American Gravy.
What a week.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
I am hungry, I am starving. I'm always hungry.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Actually that is true. I'm also always hungry. I get
a lot more hungry later in the day. I don't
know why you'm not a eating guy.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
He doesn't eat during the day.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
And then before I go to bed at night, I'll
eat like six thousand calories.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
All right, Well, anyway, I'm Lauren Girl and.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I'm Andrew Grew and welcome back to another episode of
American Gravy, where food meets fun, flavor meets the absurd.
I guess i'd be the absurd here.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yes, we are going to dive into some of the funniest, strangest,
and most mouthwatering food stories making the rounds.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Because, let's face it, food news these days have gone
officially off the rails. We're here to bring it back
on the rails. I love that. Yeah, it's good. You know,
we're trying some new material out here. But thank you
all who have kind of stuck around yeah and are
continuing to listen to these episodes. This is fun and
we love all of your feedback. You can always give
us feedback at Chef Gruel.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
On x at Lauren Girl on x or at Louren
underscore rule on Instagram. All right, so, Andrew, yes, we
have kids. We have four kids.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
We're unaware. Okay, sometimes I just think they're my friends.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah, Okay, we'll get into that later.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
So, is avoiding ultra processed foods with our kids unrealistic,
like totally avoiding them?
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, and that's the yes, it is unrealistic. It is
unrealistic to assume that overnight somebody's just going to wipe
out ultra processed foods from a kid's diet. But I
think we need to define ultra processed foods. Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Well, there was an article in the Atlantic by Olga Kazan.
Oh she's doing all right, you know, she has a
good bors.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah. The heck is that it's a period chill beetroot soup.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Ooh, can't wait to try it. Okay, So she makes
a pretty good point. So this I'm going to read
a quote from her article.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
So, nevertheless, like many working parents, I find that feeding
my family a diet free of ultra processed foods is impossible.
After a long day of fighting with my eighteen month
old over whether he can touch the trash, No, and
whether he can eat the trash also No. Sometimes all
I can do is throw some ultra process mac and
cheese at him and drown my own sorrows and some
(02:17):
trader DRO's white Kesso dip. The efforts to get parents
to give up these types of comforts in favor of
home roasted vegetables are frustrating and unrealistic.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Well, and this is the thing though, is by the way,
and I appreciate that sentiment, And the entire theme of
this article was a bit pro processed foods, and she
was taking some jabs at like RFK Junior and the
Maha movement and the Maha movement, right So like, I
don't like the overall theme of this article. However, she
does make a good point that I think that we
shouldn't ignore. And in this Maha movement, we've talked about
(02:51):
alternatives and different ways you can cook and you can
eat and spend more time around the kitchen table and
understanding where your food is coming from. Right Like, it's
a very broad movement when it comes to the ultra
processed food piece. Because people want advice in a sound bite.
So it's like, don'tat processed food. Well, people need to understand.
So processed food is any I mean, if you cut potatoes,
(03:12):
that's processed foods, right, So I think the ultra is important.
Ultra Processed food is food that's been processed or used
cut as the analogy in your mind, or cooked or
you know, poached or blanched and then treated with a
significant amount of See I would say chemicals, but then
everyone would be like, well if theod is a chemical, right,
Like everyone's always trying to play like wordsmith, you to
(03:34):
attack your point treated with something that I can't find
in nature, like hanging on a tree or coming off
of a cow, or coming up from the soil, right, Like,
you're not gonna find xantham gum like on the side
of the road. I'm not going to go forage for
xantham gum or soy lesse thin or artificial food dies
or any of the other numerous chemicals that we read
on the ingredients lists. And the reason there's so many
(03:57):
chemicals in our food, more and more and more as
time goes on, is because they want to have longer
shelf life. They want to manipulate and change the flavors
of the food to make it more addictive. That's a fact.
That's what the food manufacturing companies do. And then what
they've also done is they've used chemicals in the form
of pesticides and different types of fertilizers and as well
as through the food manufacturing and processing techniques to actually
(04:21):
remove a lot of the nutrients from the food. But
then they enrich them. And enriching is like when you
see enriched flour.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, that's what they did with which I thought was
kind of interesting. Remember they put in all to corn tortillas.
I believe they put threw in what was it? Was
it thigh I mean or no, it was like folic acid.
Folic acid that they were That was the most racist
bill by the way.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
They said that. They said that tortillas have to have
folic acid because specifically Latino women are lacking in folic
acid through the.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It's for the when they're pregnant, right, it's supposed to.
But I'm like, okay, that's a little racist.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
So they put them into tortilla. Them get them in tortilla.
First of all, I would suggest that like middle aged
white women are the highest purchasers of tortillas in California.
But that's just a case of DA movement. So I
think the enriching piece is important because they're im going
to come back full circle here is is that so
then you strip all the nutrients, you strip all the
quality out of the food, but then you add it
(05:17):
back in like supplements and vitamins, right like enriched grain
where they add vitamin A, vitamin D like etc. Back
to it. You know, same thing with orange juice right
like they'll strip all that out and then they'll add vitamin.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
C back to the orange juice, which is so weird
yeap is it because it's not like shelf stable, like
it doesn't last that long.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So well, it's because when you like a lot of
the vitamins that come in like the pit and come
through the whole orange. So when you want to do
pull free orange juice, you're losing a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well also I know from what I heard actually is
if like you're if you were to you know, juice,
say your own orange juice, Like the quicker you drink it,
the more the nutritional value holds up. So if you
let it sit out for a long periods of time,
it kind of depletes, is that true.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yeah, food that sits for a while does lose their
nutritional value. And then also food the more you cook it,
the more nutrient to lose. That's why you've got a
lot of people in the carnivore movement that are like,
eat it only rare or even raw, because that's how
you're getting the full benefits of the meat. Yeah, that's
steak tartar. I love steak tartar. Yeah, exactly. I've I
think I got her to marry me on steak tartar.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
It was that or or or sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Do we have steak tartar like Wolfgang Puck in Vegas?
Speaker 1 (06:19):
I we had. I woke you up one morning with
steak tartar on your bedside table. It wasn't steak based.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
This is before we were married.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
So what so my, so kind of my, my, my.
My final punctuation on this story is this, we're obfuscating
the issue by talking about, well, maybe ultra processed foods
aren't that bad, right and trust the science, or we're
all so busy, you see, that's not the problem. The
real problem here is that there's not many options in
(06:48):
the market for less less processed foods or healthier foods
which are also quote processed not ultra processed, because the
only options that you have to buy foods are from
one of the few food manufacturers. Now there's sub brands
like Trader Joe's. She mentions Trader Joe's in this article.
The Trader Joe's mac and cheese is no different than
(07:09):
the Craft mac and cheese. It just comes in a
cool box with a cooler label, and it's kind of
fun and quirky. It's the same junk. So what I've
said is, Okay, we get it. We're tight on time,
we're tight on money. We need to change the incentive
structure for the businesses that are producing these foods. There
is enough chefs out there and Maha folk who are
(07:29):
willing to produce seatial free chicken tenders that are lightly
processed as opposed to the junk that we're getting from
Tyson or the Dino nuggets. There's enough independent food manufacturers
out there who can produce this good food for working parents,
but the market has pushed them out. There's too many
barriers of entry for them to get into the market,
and those barriers come from the USDA, the FDA, local
(07:51):
health departments, local cities even and in furthermore, access to capital.
So that's why these big guys end up taking all
of the market share and forcing all this ultra processed
food down our throats. So I think in conclusion on
this article, yeah, we get it. It's not going to
be an overnight fix. However, we can change the market,
and by virtue of changing the market, we can fix
our behaviors.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Right, And I'll just touch on this, you know, is
it is hard, right, especially when we're short on time
and our kids are in a million sports and activities,
it is easier to just throw them a bag of
goldfish or whatever it is. I'm not saying we give
them goldfish, but it is easier. So I agree with
her on that because sometimes it is impossible, seems at
the time impossible to make something you know, that's super
(08:32):
nutrient dense and what have you.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Yeah, and that's why we've worked to do things like
get our kids addicted to real foods. Right, So you
want the goldfish because you're getting that cheddar flavor in
the youmami, etc. And the crunch like we give our
like our kids eat cheese as if they're there's no tomorrow.
They love cheese, yep, so like we'll have we'll always
introduce them to different flavors of cheese, grate cheese, age cheese,
raw cheese, you name it. And then the crunch element
(08:55):
is really just like some sort of a cracker, so
you can get like also toasting, like we've gotten our
kids to like if they're gonna want to eat the carbs, like,
let's get a good bread product and then they toasted themselves.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
And moms, if all you can give your kids is
that ultra process stuff, you're still doing a good job.
I know it's hard.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I'm not like one meal a week.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, let's not you know, crap on everybody who's unable
to do this, of course.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And that's that's what I want to avoid because I
think that's turned a lot of people off to the
movement because there's this all or nothing approach, this perfecting.
It is unrealistic.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Start with one meal a week, one meal a week
around the table. And what I will tell you anecdotally
is that when you get your kids to help you
cook the food, they will eat the food.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, you made like tomato and bean soup the other day,
and James thought it was the best thing in the.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Because he helped us make it. So, like, we cut
all the ingredients and this is a recent episode on
our American Gravy Show. We cut all the ingredients, but
then we built it in a soup pot and we
let him put it in and stir it and add
it and stir it and add olive oil and salt,
et cetera. He ate like six. He was like, that
is the best thing. El Yeah, it was like zucchini
and squash. I mean, yeah, this kid was like two
steps away. It's involved frog legsky.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Yeah, exactly. Get your kids involved at least one meal
a week where you guys are sitting around the table.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
There's enough food education and information out there from YouTube
across like Rumble, you name it, like all these platforms
where you can pick up a couple tips here and there,
but getting your kids involved is a key to that.
So I don't want to poopoo the story too much.
I think the angle was a little bit political. I
don't like that, although I do think we should lend
credence to some of the feelings that people feel as
(10:27):
if the perfect is ruining good.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Speaking of ultra processed food protein powders.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
What about protein? They can chain a lot of stuff
they do, can I'm full on protein right now, including
lead like from a number two pencil.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
So you can smudge a protein powder all over a
scantron and get an A on the test.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
And possibly so. Over the past fifteen years, Americans obsession
with protein has transformed.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Would you agree, Oh my gosh, well no, I agree,
but I see I think that's a positive. You and
I were talking on the way up here and you
were like, oh my god, the obsession has gotten like overboard,
which I do. Well, think it's gone overboard.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Because I mean, even if you go on you know, Instagram,
for instance, everything is about protein and getting this much protein.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I was trying to get enough protein.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
It was it was bad.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well, I think that. I think that it's it's created
like micro industries for protein powders and supplements and co packers,
et cetera. And you don't know like what you're getting
in those protein powders because a lot of them do
have other junk in there to make them sweet, and
it's like sugary. What right?
Speaker 2 (11:31):
I mean? I just saw the other day. There's protein popcorn.
They're just throwing away, is protein popcorn? Apparently this popcorn
has protein in it.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Well, I'm see, and this is where the food marketing
machine comes in and is it?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
But then I'm thinking, is is there protein? And popcorn
in general?
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I don't know. I never look at like, yeah, there's
a little protein in there, okay, and especially if you
do the cheese dust, you might get zero point three
grams of protein. It's the food marketing machine. The same
thing happened with sustainability. The same thing was going on
in the nineties with like the carb count and like
simple carbs, right, like there's always that a fiber or
all natural. What happens is there's a movement and in
(12:07):
the big food marketing machines, the food manufacturers, they pick
up on this kind of marketing buzz term movement and
they put it on everything. And then you lose you
lose focus and definition on the original movement or the
original word, right, because now you're seeing on packaging they'll
be like nine grams of protein and it's marketing on
(12:27):
the xterior of the package. It's the same trisk it
or it's the same productor exact same.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
They just have the grams of protein on the front. Now.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Yeah, like, let's just say that artificial food dies suddenly
were a good thing, and people are like, oh, we
love artificials food. Does it'd be like thirty two grams
of artificial food dies right, Like, in fact, they're just
highlighting and remarketing something within their product. They're not changing
the formula. And we've talked about that in previous episodes. So, like,
proteins are good, but what I would say about the
(12:55):
proteins is, don't get obsessed with the protein powders. By
the time you We know this because we make a
lot of shakes in our house.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Can I just part sorry, I don't want to catch you. So,
can anyone point us in the right direction of a
good protein powder that's not gonna make us poop our pants?
Speaker 1 (13:10):
We've tried whoa, whoa, We have tried them all this
protein does a lot of these protein powders hurt my stomach.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah, I mean there's a few that are okay for me,
but I cannot for whatever reason I me and why
protein do not work?
Speaker 1 (13:24):
No way, yes, way it bus away. Okay, Yeah, it's
the way, but like that's a great protein. But I've
really just relegated myself. I'll just eat steak, chicken. I'll
just eat meat all day.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Well, I did see something the other day. This lady
was like, stop going for the protein bar, just make
a chicken cutlet.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, because if you're getting like nineteen grams of protein
and a full protein shake with all that other stuff
in there, you could cook a piece of mahi which
is like packed with protein.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Or mahi has eight ounces of mahi is like forty
two grams of protein.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I would much rather just like eat a piece of
mahi while I'm walking down the street. Yeah, let's let's
start that trying chicken brass. Yeah, just like walking around.
I did that the other day. I remember I cooked
all that steak on Sunday and then I just left
the house with like a cold New York strip stake.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
But we went on a walk and he's just walking
around the block eating piece of steak.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
It is true, once again, another reason why the neighbors
don't talk to us.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Actually, speaking of neighbors, somebody let their dog poop all
over our driveway.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I am livid. First of all, let me say this,
there is a secret like sidewalk pooper in our neighborhood.
So what what? Laura and I have been going on
a lot of walks lately. We're I feel like we're
like a ninety year old couple. We got on TV
that's closed caption. I can't hear anything, so I'm always saying.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
What I'm falling for the AI videos.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Now I'm talking about eating oatmeal before I go to bed.
And now when we're we're taking leisurely walks while holding hands.
It's very romantic. But we walk and we're walking down
the street the other day and I'm like, oh, look out,
there's like a little it was like a trail of poop.
Well there was just like one.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
It was like the dogs still on a walk and
the poop is just coming out.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yep, we go five feet, another little poop, five feet
another one. This one was was shmered.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah. But then this morning, on our way to take
taking the kids to school, I go Andrew will never
believe this, there's poo in our driveway. He's like, no way,
there's I'm not kidding. They're pooh.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So a dog had to walk up. It was either
a dog or a human. It might have been a gorilla.
It was pretty big, so the dog had to walk
up into our driveway and drop a deuce and it
was fresh. There was like a little steam on there.
But what I'm going to do is I am now
going to start measuring. I'm going to get the exact size,
and I'm going to find it like finger printing, but
(15:34):
like matching the poop with the dog, matching fingerprints to
the to the criminal.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But also, it's not the dog's faut, it's the owner's fault.
Why is the owner just letting its everywhere?
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I don't care. Dog's in on it. Dogs should know better.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Okay, well it should have at least done it in
the grass. Why would do it on our driveway?
Speaker 1 (15:50):
That way, at least you can wipe it off the
driveway easier, spray it down. If it's in the grass,
the kids jump on it and then the next thing
you know, it ends up in their bed. So if
you listening, if you're the secret of Cooper, just get out.
We're coming after you. I'm going to get involved with
city council on this one. Get the forends, you know what.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We got to pull up our cameras and find out
who this was.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
Yeah, well, unfortunately we're not going to talk about that.
But all right, good times. What's our next story today? MTV?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
That was the thing growing up MTV, Remember TRL Total
Crest Live.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
I would run home at Carson Dally.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Yes, I would sprint home from school to see the
latest music video drop right, And that was the thing.
It was like all the excitement in the world. You
would call your friends everyone to talk about the new
song that dropped. Oh my god, did you see so
and so in the music video? It was the thing.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
You know, MTV is closing, MTV shutting down.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
But this leads me to I guess the topic of
this is celebrity relevance.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Are they relevant any longer? Well, like MTV celebrities not
going to be relevant.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
But I don't know, I'm saying. But even back then,
it was like you had to watch all the award
shows and you wanted to see what people were wearing.
And I actually spoke with our daughter the other day
and there was a picture of Hillary Duff she posted
on her Instagram and I said, and she was young,
and I said, I was there. It was at her
album signing, because I have a picture of it, and
you know. She was like, why were you there? And
(17:16):
I was like, that's the only way you interacted with celebrities.
You didn't have this access to them at all times
on social media and their updates on their lives, like
every you know what I mean as.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Social media killed the celebrity. Ooh, that could be our
next article.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Yes, possibly because because you know everything about them now
before they were kind of mysterious.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
They that's a great point, they were mysterious. I don't
want to know everything about you. I don't want to
hear you, I think about you.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
It has turned me off to so many people I
once looked up to, well.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Especially because you find out that their brains are made
of cabbage. A lot of them just don't have the
like thought and intellect that you assume they did by
way of like their lyrics.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You used the thing they were like the coolest, they
must be the coolest people in the world.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
And now I'm like, gosh, you're a moron. But now
every celebrity has also become political.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, I think it is also annoying, which is also annoying.
I mean, they are people, they have, you know, the
right to their own opinion, but sometimes it's like, come.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
On, well, you're right. I find the ones I find
annoying are the ones that are just like kind of
reciting the tropes. Yeah, the political tropes that they're being told.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
By do as I say, not as I do type
of people.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Yeah, there's a lot of those. Well, to me, politician
and hypocrite are synonymous with one another, so if they
try and become politicians, then that ultimately taints who they are. Yeah.
You know what I loved about MTV? I will say
this is that what was the show where the popcorn
came down? Oh? Remote Control? Remember they would sit in
(18:38):
the chairs. I'm pretty sure Adam Carolla was on that
Remote Control. Yeah, Remote Control was the show where the
popcorn came down. Okay, I had a remote Control. That
was a cool show because they ate popcorn and I
like food.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Okay, wait, I need to I need to see this. Oh,
adamah Sailor was on Remote Control. Cool, Jay, I remember
all of this. Oh, so these do what year was this?
Because maybe I.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Nteen eighty nine, nineteen I was one year old. Yeah,
all right, what else you got going for us Todaylauren?
What do you have for breakfast?
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Half of a macro bar and a coffee.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
See once again, the bars strip it all away, swush
it back up together. I know. I think I'm gonna
cook twenty steaks and we're just gonna walk around with steaks.
That's what we're gonna do, all right, next episode, we're
coming in here with cold steak. What the fork? WTF?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Oh that's my one of my favorite segments.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Yeah, these are crazy food stories.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Well this is not really a food story. But okay,
So California speeding ticket prices will be based on your income.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
What. Yeah, that's equity, Lauren, that's equity.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Okay, okay, so if you but is there like a limit, Like,
is there a cap on it?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
So? I don't know what I read. When I read this,
I saw it was gonna be like you could have
a speeding ticket up to five thousand dollars based on
your income. So if you're one hundred million dollars.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
Yeah, five thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
This is This is classic Califor. There's absolutely They say
it's in the name of equity, but there's nothing equitable
about it. If you're you're punishing somebody for being successful.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Okay, So say you are an individual who you know
is on food stamps, et cetera. Like maybe I don't know,
not even working, who knows. So then you get a
speeding ticket and like.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
What do you pay?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Like nothing box? Maybe that is so wrong.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
But then if you're rich and you get the speeding ticket,
you pay five million dollars. Five million dollars for speeding.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
That would be horrible. That's really that's really weird.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Well, I think I don't like that. Look, you know,
I would say that if anything Like cities, I think
if somebody gets a speeding ticket and they don't have
the money to pay it, they need to communicate with
the cities and they need to say, look, I really
don't have the money, work out some sort of a
reasonable payment plan, because there needs to be some sort
of punishment. I think even getting a speeding ticket if
you are rich, like the punishment of having to go
(20:52):
in and like send it in and what have you.
Maybe there's a knock on your record and you got
to pay more money on your car insurance. But like
rules are rule, everybody's subject to the same rules, right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
So I guess it's a more of a pilot program,
and one has rolled out in San Francisco.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Of course already the land is crazy. But what happens
in San Francisco happens everywhere. It's the epicenter, it's the
test case, it's the beta.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Yeah, it's Several state level proposals have been made to
adjust traffic finds based on income to make them fairer.
For example, Governor Newsom has supported plans to reduce citation
costs for lower income drivers.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
And once again I will say this, I do think like,
if I think that there should be the scale should
still be the same. It shouldn't be a sliding scale
based on income. I think there should be programs available
for lower income individuals or they have to take a.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Class or something.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, you know, well, I mean have you ever taken
a speeding class and been like, okay, I had.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
To take some I forget I had to take something.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
You probably did have to take something like nos caption.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
No, I remember I got a ticket and I had
to do a class.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Don't you think it's funny that you get a speeding
ticket now for holding your phone in your hand, but
not holding a huge double double from in and out?
What do you think about eating eating ticket for holding
your phone? Do you think about eating and driving. I
think eating and driving is more dangerous.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Than it's pretty dangerous.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
If you ever tried to, like eat a big sandwich
while you're driving.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Well, yeah I have, actually one, it gets everywhere. And two,
I mean you're not really paying attention. You're trying to, like,
you know, for me at least if it isn't in
and out burger. I'm like trying to like squeeze the
spread on them on the burger.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Squeeze the spreads out of euphemism, you squeeze the spread.
I feel like we're gonna this is a gambling show
now grudooking. So Lauren doesn't let anybody eat in the car,
in her car, in my car like you.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Can have there, No, they can have They can have
snacks that aren't going to make a big mess.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Ultra processed.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Probably.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
This is why we have steak. This is why all
we're going after this show. I'm gonna let the kids
eat a steak and chicken, and they're gonna be walking
around with a roasted chicken because that's easy to clean up.
They're gonna be ripped, and I always have to suffer
the consequences because the kids aren't allowed to eat in
the car. I'm not allowed to eat in a car.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That is not First of all, if you go into
my car right now, there's definitely evidence of people eating in.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
The car because I take the car sometimes. It's a minivan.
I love it, Little Vanny. I love the minivan. You know,
we were not a minivan family. When we got married.
Lorne was like, I never I would have a minivan,
and I just I was.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
We wanted the minivan even when we only had like
two kids. You like, were so into it, and I
was like, I don't need. I had my dream car
when we had two kids. Then I got pregnant with
a third and I had.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
To quickly it happened.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, then I had to quickly change out to an suv,
which was fine. I still liked it was still cute.
Then we had the fourth.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Because the doors don't open, which I will say, our
kids are so rambunctious with doors. Every time I go over, the.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
Little boys they are they just oh my gosh, they
just throw those doors open so quickly. But anyway, the
sliding doors are a game changer.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Sliding doors, the built in vacuum cleaner, the TVSD.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
We have to give her up soon.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Yeah, we do. But I'm a minivan guy because it
was funny when the guy took us on a like
a spin what a little test drive, and I was like,
oh my gosh, I said, look at you behind this minivan.
You look like it's the hottest soccer mama. Look great
when kids don't even play soccer.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, they play baseball.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Yeah, well, so minivans go for it. I think that
there's been much movement in the minivan technology, so I'm
excited about that. I think it's time to sharpen our skill.
So I'm gonna give you guys a quick cooking tip
here that you can take away. That is the essence
of the wire rack. Okay, I have been one to
make this mistake in our cooking videos where I will
(24:37):
cook the steak and I talk about resting the steak,
which is one of the most important parts of cooking
the steak, because if you cut into it too quickly,
the molecules are still moving around at the speed of
what the heat was. Right, They're trying to reach the
temperature of the heat, so they're moving very quickly the
heat in the oven or the cooking vessel, and so
when you cut into it. It pushes a lot of
that moisture out of the meat. You let it rest,
you let all those flavors come together, you let the
(24:59):
protein set within the meat. But if you're leaving it
on a plate, it's still going to run a little bit.
And if you let the hot steaks sit on the plate,
what's happening on the underside of the steak is that
that steam it's actually steaming the underside of the steak
and taking it from beautiful and browned to kind of soggy.
So you get that nice caramelization or that mallur'd browning
(25:20):
on top of the steak, but the underside is a
little bit soggy and it sits in its own juice.
So we do this in the commercial food setting. In
the restaurants all the time is we have wire racks,
and you always rest your meat on the wire rack
because then it's there's airflow underneath it. It's not gonna steam
that heat and that moisture is going to kind of
evaporate quicker. But we can do this in the home
setting as well. After you cook your steaks, just go
(25:42):
buy a little wire rack from Ikia anywhere there like
one or two dollars or even improvise one and just
put it on a plate and then rest your meat
on those wire racks. Number one, it's gonna cool quicker.
And by cool, I don't mean cool so that you
can't eat it. I mean like it's gonna let the
meat settle quicker. And it's also going to allow for
a crispy or exterior on the bottom side of the
(26:04):
steak as well. So resting your meat, do it on
a wire rack. That's the way to go. That's my practical,
kind of valuable takeaway for this audience today on my
Sharpen your Skill segment.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
I love that, and I'm so surprised we have not
been doing that in our videos.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I know, well, there's a lot to cover in the
videos because we're really targeting people who just want to
get more comfortable with their cooking and developed that muscle memory.
So I'm not trying to hit them with the overly
intellectual stuff.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
M all right, moving on.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Eighty six It eighty six it get rid of it? Yeah,
what do we want? What do you want to get
rid of?
Speaker 2 (26:35):
So hear me out, guys. I love pumpkin I do.
I think it's great, but Oh my gosh, what the heck?
It's pumpkin is in everything. We just saw a cup
of noodles, A pumpkin cup of noodle.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Yeah, flavor, pumpkin ramen. What Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
What the heck?
Speaker 1 (26:51):
I don't like pumpkins, so I'm not on the same.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Okay, but I do love I make a good pumpkin pie.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Oh gosh, I hate pumpkin pie. Oh my gosh. I
don't like pie. Period.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
He doesn't like pie. I love pie.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
There's not a single pie like if you all I made.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
You a pie and that was fabulous, you wouldn't like it.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Let me say this, though, I don't not like pie
because of flavor. It's because of form and function, right.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Why because it's like crumbly or like.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
It falls apart? So like I want to eat something
and I want to even bite. It's it's pizza, right,
I want an even bite on every single slice. I
want to be able to eat the crust and the filling,
top and bottom. But with a pie, with a pie,
it all falls apart. That's not true.
Speaker 2 (27:32):
How are you cutting this pie?
Speaker 1 (27:33):
An apple pie pie? Yes? Because the apple pieces fall
so fine. The pumpkin pie, the pumpkin pie holds up fine,
but it's just like gelatinous pumpkin with some I cannot
believe you hate my pumpkin pie. I don't hate your
pumpkin pie. I don't like cheesecake either. They call it
a cake, but it's not. It's not a cake.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Cheesecake is definitely not a cake.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Yeah, well, it's called cheesecake. I'm not making up the
name here, but you understand it's form and function. Right, So,
strawberry rhubarb pie.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Wait, but you like the blueberry cheesecake ice cream?
Speaker 1 (28:03):
That's ice cream.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
There's chunks of cheesecake in it.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well, yeah, because that just adds flair. That's a garnish,
that's studded garnish.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Well, anyway, my eighty six is pumpkin in everything.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
I think. I think the cup of noodle really threw
me for a loop. I made a pumpkin cheesecake back
when I was running a restaurant like ten or twenty
years ago, and it was really popular. That was pretty good.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Of course, his is really good, and he'll eat his pumpkin. Actually,
pumpkin and cheesecake the two things he hates.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Let me rephrase that. It sold really well. So I
was happy about it. I never ate it disgusting. It
was disgusting. Do you like pumpkin pie message es? Let
us know. I hope I didn't offend anybody. So my
eighty six is it today? Well, I'll tell you where
I came with the came up with my eighty six
it So I was reading a story about how Chick
fil A is expanding into organ. I think they're opening
six or eight locations in Organ. And Chick fil A
(28:47):
has penetrated California pretty hard as well. Well, that got
weird penetrated and it there's Chick fil As everywhere, and
look of all the brands like Chick fil A solid.
I love their customer service. I think their chicken is okay.
I don't think it's great. I don't like it. When
you order the original Chick fil A sandwich, you get
like one or two pickles on there, and once again
back to the evenness of the bite, you bite it
(29:09):
and you get the pickle in there, and you're looking
for the pickle on the next bite and the picks
on the other side. Two pickles in there. It's very weird. Yeah,
they should they.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Should at least like like at least.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Six generally speaking with the mechanics of making sandwiches, like
if every single bite isn't even, then you've failed at
making sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yes, I agree, because then one end you're getting all bread,
the middle is like filled with all the stuff, and
then the other end is bread.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
One of the first tips I give to young cooks
is that if you're making a sandwich end to end,
end to end on the bread, you always got to
have sauce end to end. But that's I digress on
that one. So Chick fil A expanding everywhere, and that
brings me back to the Chicken Wars, and that was
like four or five years ago. You had the Popeye's
chicken sandwich, you had the McDonald's sucking sandwiche, Wendy's a
spicy crispy chicken sandwich. You had all these chicken sandwich
(29:53):
and then you had all the hot chicken. See. I
can't get so excited here. I get more excited about
these podcasts and those of you out there listening. I
was very apprehensive about the Chicken Wars because I started
to see these hot chicken sandwich concepts pop up all
over the place, and because it was a craze, and
(30:13):
it was as most crazes are, they're like blips in time.
I knew that their sales were going to be depressed
over two or three months. So you open up and you're,
you know, you're selling chicken sandwiches crazy, and then suddenly
you're going under. Actually, what was that, Mike? Was it
Mike's Dave's Hot Chicken? They just sold. They just sold out.
I think they sold for like a billion dollars too.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
Like Arby, So this is a good thing. They didn't close.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I don't know. I didn't see the economics of the deal,
but I would imagine that they that there. It wasn't
a capital raise. I think was a sale. That's never
like a great sign unless you're real young and emerging
brand who's just looking to grow further and faster. Yeah,
chicken sandwich wars. I just think that the chicken sandwich
craze is becoming a little bit overdone. I'd like to
(30:59):
see less of the hot chicken sandwiches because I think
people do them wrong.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
I don't think do you want to see a cold
chicken sandwich?
Speaker 1 (31:05):
I just want to see it well chicken salad. I
would love to see a chicken salad sandwich.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
Warch chicken salad sandwich.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
Get a good There used to be the concept here
in la called like chicken salad chick that was that
was a chain and it was like chicken salad, chicken
salad sandwiches. Jones on Third does good chicken salad. Yeah,
I would love it. Maybe we open up a chicken
salad sandwich concept.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Let's think about it.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
See this is how these When we sold our sold slappish,
our last restaurant group, Lauren goes Or. I said to Lauren,
we both agreed, we're never going to open another restaurant ever.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
We're like, we are out. Oh my gosh, it's been
ten years of crazy.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Yes. I was six foot eight at the beginning, like
four five four, moving on to five to three. But
I uh, forty eight hours later we signed a lease
on a new restaurant. We did. And I'll also say
in there we had two birds chicken. We had a
chicken sandwich concept and.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It was a good chicken sandwich.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
We did not do the hot fried chicken sandwich that.
We just did a good old home style fried chicken sandwich.
It was done right. It was over the top, double
hander less than eight dollars a sandwich.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
It was delicious. Bob's your own, and you had a
grilled chicken option. It was great you did have a.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Grilled chicken option. They're all fried chicken sandwiches and they
fry and junk and there's too much breading on there.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
All right, so our quick tip and our sizzle it
are you know, should be? Why are you laughing? Why
are you laughing at me?
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I don't know, you're funny.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Okay, I am pretty hilarious to her and the kids.
We're gonna talk chicken sandwiches. Who We covered a lot there.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
We went through so many things, chicken sandwiches, protein powders,
speeding tickets, We've done it all.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
That's because people are getting so many speeding tickets because
of the protein powders.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, well, because they're rushing home.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Pooh, you keep saying that word late you say you
slow down before you say it, and then you come
at it so hard. It's very aggressive. Nope, don't do
it again. Don't need to be Mike. Okay, okay, okay,
you don't need to be Mike. But we're gonna lose
audience in that one all right, we want to know
what your eighty six HiT's are. Obviously, we also want
to understand what you want to see. If you've seen
any cool WTF stories, what the fork send those? Over Look,
(33:14):
this is You're part of the show here, everybody, so
we want we want your feedback. You can find me
on X at Chef Groul.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
And you can find me at Lauren Gruel. La Oh,
Lauren Lauren, she's French now Laura on Instagram Lauren Underscore
Rule and.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
I'm on Instagram at Andrew Groul, so the real name
on Instagram and Chef Gruel. I play the character on X.
And that's another episode of American Gravy in the books.
We can't wait to put up the next one. Yeah,
all right, guys.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Bye,
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.