August 18, 2025 • 21 mins
Fiber-maxxing. It's the latest social-media craze among food and fitness influencers. What is it? Why is it absurd? But also, why does it touch on something very important?
We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of over three dozen cookbooks (plus Bruce's knitting books and Mark's memoir). Food and cooking are our passions. We're so happy to be able to share that with you.
If you'd like to see our latest cookbook, COLD CANNING, please check it out at this link.
Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:
[01:19] Our one-minute cooking tip: how to make better chimichurri!
[03:33] The latest social-media craze: fiber-maxxing. What is it? And why is fiber important?
[17:55] What’s making us happy in food this week? Summer corn and Bruce's wild take on chili crisp.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
bruce (00:01):
Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein, and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce
mark (00:04):
and Mark.
And I'm Mark s Scarborough.
And together with my husband Bruce,we've written 37 cookbooks, including the
latest cold canning, which is all aboutmaking small batch, no pressure cooker,
no steam pressure, canning, needed batchesof, oh, I don't know, jams, jellies,
conserved, chutney, dessert, sauces.
Mm-hmm.
(00:24):
We have a big infused
bruce (00:25):
oils infused vinegars, ketchups mustard, barbecue sauce,
mark (00:29):
a quart jar of the homemade sham board that's out that
book, homemade raspberry lacoin our refrigerator right now.
bruce (00:35):
Drank some mixed in champagne last night.
mark (00:37):
And you did.
We have kiwi Jam.
We've got.
All kinds of recipes in that book.
Check it out.
If you wanna make two to three jarsof something, one for yourself and
maybe one to give away to a friend.
You don't need to put up enoughfor an apocalypse, but that's
not what we're talking aboutin this episode of our podcast.
Instead, we've got a one minute,very specific cooking tip.
Crazy that arises actually outtasomething Bruce recently did.
(00:59):
We wanna talk about the latestsocial media trend, which is fiber
maxing and what that all involves.
It is.
Crazy.
If you're on TikTok right now, everyoneis fiber maxing and we'll tell you
what's making us happy in food this week.
So let's get started.
bruce (01:19):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Here's how to improveyour chimi chili sauce.
Okay, stop.
First, let me explain whata chimi chili sauce is.
Stop.
So chimi cherry is aSouth American condiment.
It is parsley and some chilies,usually chili flakes, salt, pureed up
with vinegar and lots of olive oil.
It's often served with steaks orroasted vegetables, steak, I think
(01:42):
of it in Argentina, as always served.
With the steak, and every time I makea Chimi chew, someone at the table will
tell me How come your Chimi chew isbetter than any chimi chew I've ever had.
mark (01:51):
This
bruce (01:52):
actually just
mark (01:52):
happened to us.
bruce (01:53):
Okay, go ahead.
It's because I don't just use parsley.
I think Chi Cherry is better whenyou throw in one or two other herbs,
and I try and pick herbs that matchwhat's happening around the table.
So we had this big mixed fish grillthe other night, and in the marinades
with the different fish, there wereItalian flavors going on and lots of
(02:14):
attempt Middle Eastern flavors goingon and Mediterranean flavors going on.
So I took my parsley, put it in thefood processor along with fresh oregano.
Fresh Marum, a little bit of fennel seeds.
And some chili flakes.
mark (02:30):
So what is telling you is to add another herb, at least one other, mm-hmm.
Herb, to make a decent chimi cherry.
Right.
And
bruce (02:38):
then I word that up, putting olive oil in through the opening of
the top of the food processor until Igot a beautiful consistency I liked.
And then I added some wine vinegar,red wine vinegar to add the acidity up.
It keeps it fresh green.
It also gives it a brightness.
And that is how I makebetter Chi and Chew.
mark (02:57):
Okay, so that's a hardly one minute cooking tip, but it was very
specific to a specific kind of sauce.
And there we go.
So before we get to the next and majorpart of this podcast, lemme see, it would
be great if you could join the Facebookgroup cooking with Bruce and Mark, or
if you could check us out on TikTok.
We have a wonderful TikTok channel.
May I say you Bruce and Mark?
(03:17):
Is the same as what happens on Instagramunder cooking with Bruce and Mark.
But the TikTok channel seems tobe the one that's hot right now.
So check 'em out.
Mm-hmm.
And you can see videos of usmaking food for each other.
All right?
Mm-hmm.
On that note, sweet.
bruce (03:31):
We're very sweet.
mark (03:32):
Oh, we are.
But on that note, we're gonna goto the latest social media trend.
Fiber maxing.
bruce (03:42):
I'm gonna start this by having you explain what the hell is
fiber maxing, because you told meabout this yesterday and I'm like,
I don't know what you're talking
mark (03:50):
about.
Okay, so if you know anything abouthow these trends have gone over the
past maybe two years, there has been acraze for what is called protein Maxine.
Okay.
I want
bruce (04:00):
that.
I like that.
And these are
mark (04:01):
people who just.
Absolutely up their protein.
Take their whole influencer feed isabout how to get more protein in your
diet to put more whe eat more steak.
Yeah.
But I mean, they're even puttingwhey protein in scrambled eggs.
Sure.
They're doing all kinds of things to just.
Up, up up the protein content.
And of course, a lot of thesepeople are fitness influencers,
(04:23):
but they've influenced theentire space on social media.
And now I find even Bakers onlineare talking about how to add
more protein to their cakes.
I see this cake.
You know what,
bruce (04:34):
if I'm gonna eat cake, I wouldn't mind it having some more protein in it.
I get,
mark (04:37):
I see this Check Boy on Instagram and on, uh, TikTok, and he, he always.
Begs with his shirt completely unbuttonedbecause of course he's beautiful at 23
and um, uh, you know, he's, half hisstuff is about how to get more protein
into a brownie, which is just, tome sounds insane, but it is a trend.
(04:58):
So after all of this about protein maxing,and maybe because of what happens when
you eat too much protein like this, thecurrent crazed trend is fiber maxing.
And what happens here is thatpeople are actually trying to eat.
Eight to 10 times the amount ofdaily fiber requirement once a week.
(05:21):
I don't quite understand whyyou wanna do this to yourself.
bruce (05:25):
Wait, so they're taking 10 times the fiber you need in a week
and they're eating it in a day?
In a
mark (05:30):
day.
And the whole idea is that oneday a week you do fiber maxing.
So you know you protein max all week long.
And then I guess.
You wanna, sorry, this is gonna get gross.
Blow it out of yourself.
So one day you fiber max.
So I
bruce (05:44):
wanna figure this out.
So let's say, the way I liketo do extra fiber for one thing
is to put some wheat germ Okay.
Onto my oatmeal.
Okay.
In the morning.
Okay.
And if I do that every morning,that's seven tablespoons.
Right.
A week.
So now you're telling me a week.
So that one of the things I'm gonnado on fiber maxing day is put seven
tablespoons of wheat German one day.
mark (06:03):
Yeah.
You might even put 10, youmight even put half a cup.
Mm.
Have a week.
bruce (06:07):
That's
mark (06:07):
a not
bruce (06:07):
to leave the house day shit.
mark (06:08):
That's what I'm telling you about.
I don't quite understand why people wannado this themselves, but I think it has
to do with the fact that they may blockedafter so much protein maxing and maybe.
The kids are just absolutely recognizingthat this doesn't totally work.
So this is the trend.
It's all about how to getfiber into what you eat.
You can find all kinds of bakerson social media, on Instagram,
(06:29):
on TikTok, on Facebook reels.
You can find them all adding.
All kinds of fiber.
Suddenly as if this is a new thing,suddenly all kinds of whole wheat
and whole grain products are becomingincredibly, uh, influential in the space.
And this is all part of thisoverall fiber maxing trend.
Okay, let's start with the facts.
Only 7% of US adults get thefiber they need, as it is, which.
(06:56):
Is part of perhaps thetrend toward fiber maxing.
Most US adults do not eat enough fiberto develop a healthy gut microbiome, and
bruce (07:08):
the gut biome is connected to.
Everything about your health.
It is not just your digestion,your healthy gut microbiome
is about your health overall.
So if fiber will help you improveyour gut biome, it's gonna
help your health in general.
And I wanna start with what isthe easiest, absolute easiest,
(07:30):
and most delicious way toget more fiber in your diet?
Eat more fruit.
I wanna start with that.
Just eat.
More fruit.
Fruit is sweet.
Fruit is delicious, right?
We're recording this in the summer.
The peaches are amazing.
The cherries are amazing, but evenin the winter, grapes are available.
Pineapples available.
Oranges and and tangerines are available.
(07:53):
Eat them.
They're delicious.
So, so
mark (07:54):
here's the facts.
On average, a US citizen eats abouta cup of fruit or vegetables a day.
And let me tell you that when I'msaying vegetables, I'm not counting
french fries, poor Mac and cheese Mac,and if you're from the South as I am,
mac and cheese, which is supposedly avegetable at the Luby's cafeteria line.
(08:16):
Well, it's a, it's a side dish.
bruce (08:16):
It's a side dish.
My mother always told me I
mark (08:18):
had to get a vegetable, so I got mac and cheese anyway.
Uh, uh, most US adults eat one cupof fruit or vegetables a day, and
according to the USDA, you shouldbe eating two and a half cups.
So let me give you a tip here.
Mm-hmm.
From MD Anderson, the cancer Center inHouston, Texas, MD Anderson suggests.
Roasting on the weekend, abatch of small sweet potatoes.
(08:41):
So, you know, on a Saturday all youhave to do is easily roast them right
to like, like how does that work?
How do you roast?
You take
bruce (08:47):
your sweet potatoes, you put them on a tray and you put them in your oven.
You put the oven on three 50 and withinan hour, depending on the size of them,
they're tender and they're done andthey're sweet and they're delicious.
mark (08:56):
Okay, so that's, that's what you do.
Now you take 'em out, let 'em cool theroom temperature, wrap 'em up 'cause you
don't want 'em to desiccate and dry up.
They're cool to room temperature.
Stick them in your fridge.
This is MD Anderson's idea, and thenfor breakfast over the next week or two,
have one every other day for breakfast.
They do make a really nicebreakfast called, I can tell
(09:17):
you I live with somebody.
Who eats cold, sweet potatoesright outta the refrigerator.
Oh, I
bruce (09:22):
love them that way.
But they are so soft and sweet.
You could spread them on toast, right?
You could.
You could take your sweet potatoand spread it on toast instead of
mark (09:30):
jam.
You do.
You do want to eat the skinfor the full fiber bottle.
Okay.
But I've watched you sit there in a chairand eat a sweet potato, like a hand fruit.
bruce (09:39):
But to be honest, even the insides of a sweet potato has fiber.
It does.
It does.
So go ahead.
And, and eat your sweetpotatoes for breakfast.
That's a great way, and I'm gonnajust continue to say, eat more fruit.
Eat an apple, eat an orange, eat a peach.
Yeah.
Eat a nectarine.
Yep.
Yep.
We eat tomato.
Tomatoes are fruits.
mark (09:58):
I, I mean, we have a huge cookbook group as you know.
We eat a lot of rich food and we.
Always have bowls of fruit in the winter.
It's citrus.
In the summer it's melons and stonefruits like plums and peaches.
We always have berries.
Um, we've talked to you about thisbefore, that at the big box stores like
Costco and BJ's, the fruit is actuallybetter because it sells so quickly.
(10:20):
They have to buy it closerto rightness and cheaper.
We went to Costco
bruce (10:25):
yesterday and we got three melons.
We've got four pounds of peaches.
We got six pounds of APRs.
We got.
Boxes of blackberries and raspberries.
Yep.
I will be eating these all weekbecause they're delicious and end
mark (10:39):
next week.
Mm.
And I, it's absolutely what you do.
Okay.
That's the first thing.
Eat more fruits and vegetables too.
When possible.
Choose the whole grain option.
So let's say you go to Panera Breadand you get a sandwich when they tell
you what kind of bread do you want it?
Ask for the whole grainbread, whatever that is.
The seven seed, the 10 seed,the whole wheat doesn't matter.
Just always make that your default.
(11:00):
I'm gonna go with thewhole grain option, and
bruce (11:02):
I know a lot of people say, I don't like whole grain breads.
I just don't like them.
You're probably thinking aboutin the morning plain bread with.
Has toast and maybe with butter.
Yeah, but now you are gonnabe throwing Turkey, bacon,
lettuce, and tomato on there.
You're gonna be adding mayonnaise, right?
That right?
You're gonna be adding, also, youmay be having a pastrami sandwich.
Yes, that's a high fat thing.
So why not have the whole grain bread?
(11:23):
You're not even gonna taste it.
mark (11:24):
And think about brown rice.
If you eat, let's say Chinesetakeout, let's have brown rice.
Occasionally.
You don't always have to haveit, but occasionally with it.
Let's talk about wholegrain pastas, right?
There are plenty of wholegrain pastas, quite honestly.
bruce (11:38):
Whole wheat pasta.
To me, there's no differencein texture at at all.
And honestly, to me, I
mark (11:44):
love chickpea pasta.
Oh yeah.
That's really good too.
I, and it's a very high fiber pasta.
Mm-hmm.
Just choose the whole grainoption whenever you can.
You don't have to make this a rule in yourlife, but kind of set it as the default.
Do I eat white rice?
Yes, of course.
I sometimes have white rice whenBruce makes Sichuan food because
the sweetness of the rice is perfectagainst the super spicy food.
(12:05):
But I prefer.
If we would have brown rice.
Okay, that's two.
Here's three.
Just eat legumes and beans.
Mm-hmm.
Particularly, these are the big ones.
Lentils, black beans, and chickpeas.
So, you know, listen, I see themall the time at Whole Foods.
I see chickpea salads, I see blackbeans, salads in the prepared food case.
(12:29):
Choose it for lunch once a week,
bruce (12:30):
and it doesn't mean you have to cook black beans
and lentils and chickpeas.
All this stuff comesavailable pre-cooked in cans.
They are fantastic andone of the best legumes.
People forget peanuts.
Yeah, eat peanuts.
They are legumes.
Peanut butter is so high in fiber
mark (12:47):
and.
Let me say about lentils.
Bruce often makes a pot of lentilsand then puts it in the fridge
and covers it with plastic wrap.
Once it's at room temperature, puts it inthe fridge, puts the plastic wrap right
down on it so it doesn't dry out, andthen he throws lentils into things we eat.
Into salads, into chops, salads.
bruce (13:04):
Mix it into some hamburger too.
You can stretch the hamburgers.
You need less beef.
You're still getting the fiber.
It's fabulous.
Put it in tuna salad.
mark (13:11):
And you can even buy cooked lentils, right?
Mm-hmm.
You don't have to cook your own.
bruce (13:15):
You don't have to cook your own.
And here's a tip too.
Do you make smoothies in the morning?
You will not notice that you'veput a tablespoon of lentils
in your smoothie, right?
Okay, that's three.
Here's four.
mark (13:26):
Just eat more nuts and seeds.
Jerry, just like thefruit, they're delicious.
They are, and they're high in fiber.
In fact, an easy tip is if you add atablespoon of flax seed to just about
anything you eat, you will have as.
Essentially met your daily requirement.
Mm-hmm.
Not quite, but you'll get close to it.
And Bruce said to me before we startedrecording this mix that flaxseed
(13:47):
into ground beef to make hamburgers.
Yeah.
You don't even know it's there.
No, you
bruce (13:50):
wouldn't know it's there.
And to be honest, nuts have so muchfiber that if you need something sweet,
you really want to crave somethingsweet instead of a piece of chocolate.
Get chocolate with nuts in it, oreven a handful of candied walnuts
or candied cashews are better foryou than just a piece of candy.
'cause at least you're getting the fiber.
That's right.
mark (14:10):
Okay.
And here's something that youshould know of course, about
all this discussion of fiber.
And you don't have to fiber maxthe way the kids are doing it.
Mm-hmm.
But try to get your fiberfrom more than one source.
So important.
Yeah.
I know This is actuallyharder to accomplish.
Because you think, well, okay,fine, I'm just going to eat
two apples and be done with it.
No, really, actually, you needa variety of different kinds of
(14:31):
fiber for a proper gut biome.
So you need a variety of fiber.
So for example, if you're gonna makeoatmeal in the morning, that's great.
Now add some nuts to it or fiber,and then take a pair and cut it
in half and put pear chunks in it.
Now you have.
Three different sources of fiber,the nuts, the pears, and the oatmeal.
Now you're really cooking with fiber
bruce (14:51):
and it doesn't even have to be all in one meal, right?
Right.
You can have an apple with breakfast.
You can have some nuts inyour chicken salad for lunch.
Right?
You can have a whole grain pasta fordinner that you should be getting this.
Different kind of fiber.
Some of it is soluble, some of itis insoluble, and you should be
getting it throughout your day.
mark (15:10):
I can tell you, okay, I, this is the honest gosh truth.
This is what I'm gonna do today.
What I've already done is I hada piece of whole grain toast
when I woke up with my coffee.
We're gonna finish recording here, and I'mgonna have a vegetable salad for lunch.
You know, lots of fresh vegetables init, and I'm sure sometime during the
afternoon I'll eat a peach or a plum.
(15:31):
That over the course of the day is, infact, my, my fiber intake requirement.
It makes for health.
bruce (15:37):
It does.
mark (15:38):
And what's the last tip?
bruce (15:39):
Well, the last tip is really important because fiber
needs water to work, right?
It does if you just eat thefiber without the water.
Now, the nice thing about fruit is you'regetting a lot of fluid with fruit, but
let's say you're getting other formsof fiber that don't come with the
built-in water, drink water fiber goesthrough you, and it can only do that.
Properly with water.
(16:00):
This,
mark (16:00):
this always kills me.
I'm back to my check boy withhis open shirt who's baking it?
Adding, please tell
bruce (16:04):
me his chest is shaved.
It's, we're not gettingchest hair in the food's.
No, it's not shave.
Oh.
I think that's
mark (16:08):
part of his sexiness.
So it's not shaved.
But, um, here's part of what cracksme up is he always makes this really
fancy Austrian or Hungarian or Czechpastry and then, you know, he serves
it with a little tiny cup of espresso.
And I always think, really,you added all this fiber to it.
You really need to have thatpiece of cake with a glass of
water because the fiber eats.
(16:29):
To pass through you.
And the only way it can do that is water.
And by the way, in case you wannaknow your grandmother was right.
Mm-hmm.
Prune juice is a great way to, infact, get fiber and get things moving.
Prune juice is actually hydrophilic,meaning it attracts water to it.
It causes an OS asthmatic reactioninside of you, and it does in
fact get everything moving.
(16:49):
But I will tell you that Iam not a fan of prune juice.
I do love prunes.
I love prunes.
We always have a carton of prunes inthe back pantry, and I often go in there
for a snack and grab two or three prunes
bruce (17:00):
and almost any dried fruit will work.
In this instance, prunes are spectacularlygood, but raisins work, dried apricots,
dried apples because you're dried apples.
Yeah,
mark (17:09):
I love dried apples
bruce (17:10):
because then you're getting all that fiber and
it's kind of concentrated down.
But again, if you're doing it that way.
Drink
mark (17:17):
water.
Drink water.
Okay.
So you don't have to fiber max the waythe kids are doing it, but you can in
fact increase the fiber in your diet andyou can catch onto what they're saying.
'cause what they're saying is right.
People do need to eat more fiber.
Mm-hmm.
Especially if they're upping theirprotein content, but in fact, at any time.
So there's some easy ways toget more fiber into your diet.
(17:38):
Before we get to the lastsegment of this podcast, let
me say that it would be great.
If you could subscribe to thispodcast so you don't miss an episode,
and if you can rate it and evenwrite a review, that's even better.
Thanks for doing that.
It really helps us stayfresh in the analytics.
Okay, up next, the finaltraditional end of the podcast.
What's making us happy in food this week?
bruce (18:00):
Local corn.
It is in.
It is delicious.
And the only way, now wait,
mark (18:05):
I have to say we record.
Before you say anything else, I haveto interrupt you and say, we live
in rural New England and there aremany parts of the United States where
corn has been in and gone already.
So for us it's just, it's mid August,
bruce (18:17):
we're just getting corn.
Right?
And the only way I'm doing it, thisis so delicious, I husk it, I take the
silks off, I wrap two or three ears.
Foil.
I put them over a high flame on mystove for about two minutes aside.
They get a little charred, they steam alittle bit, and then I cut the charred
corn off the cob and mix it in a chopped
mark (18:37):
salad.
That's right.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it's really kind of amazing.
And uh, by the way, corn isan incredibly high fiber.
There you go.
Food.
There you go.
Uh, it's really high fiber, whole grain.
It is a whole grain.
It is a whole, it's the only.
Grain that humans consume, that youcan eat the husk because that, that
outer tough, it's not tough, butthat outer coating on each is edible.
(19:00):
Each uh, little seed, eachlittle bit is in fact edible.
It's
bruce (19:04):
not digestible as we all know.
No, but it's edible.
Okay?
We're not gonna have
mark (19:07):
that discussion.
But it is at a seal, only wholegrain that humans consume,
that we eat the husk of it too.
So, okay, that's a very high fiber thing.
So what's making me happy in.
Food this week is Chili Crisp out of ourbook called Canning, and Bruce recently
made it, and it's not a traditionalchili crisp, but I'm gonna get him
to explain it to you in a minute.
Well, first of all, you explainwhat a traditional chili crisp is.
bruce (19:27):
So traditional chili Crisp is an Asian condiment in which you use Asian
chilies and other typically Asian spices.
Typically ginger, scallions,garlic, shallots, I mean,
you're saying Star Anis, Asian.
mark (19:39):
Truly S one originally.
S one.
Yeah.
bruce (19:42):
Originally S one.
And there'll be dried tangerinepeel, and there'll be, uh, like
five spice powder spices, whichinclude fennel seeds and star anis.
And you mix those together.
You pour boiling oil over it,it sizzles up and you end up.
With the crunchy chili stuff on thebottom, the oil on the top, you could
mix it up and put it on anything.
(20:02):
And so that's a traditional chili crisp.
mark (20:05):
So yeah.
So now I'm gonna talk about mine.
So Bruce recently made one fromthe book, which is that technique,
but now sieved through Syrian andLebanese and Middle Eastern food.
So pull all of those Chinese.
Flavors out of it and keep thecinnamon, but then use Aleppo pepper.
Mm-hmm.
And use preserved lemon cuminand preserved lemon and sumac and
(20:28):
dried sumac, which is super sour.
And now you do that same thing of mixingall it together, pouring the hot oil over
it, and letting it steep for about a week.
And you come out with this wildlyweird Middle Eastern chili crisp.
And I have to tell you, theway I ate it recently is Mm.
This is such a fabulous thing.
I took a little bit of the hot, hot stuff,the granulated stuff in there, and I mixed
(20:52):
it into melted butter and put it on apiece of fish, and it was so delicious.
It's
bruce (20:56):
such a strange thing.
You look at this jar and youthink, this should be Asian, right?
This looks like it should be Asian.
And then you open it and yousmell it, and you're like.
It's Middle Eastern.
What is going on here?
mark (21:06):
Right?
It's delicious.
So that's what's making me happy infood this week and that recipe just
to be completely self-promotionalis in our book, cold Canning.
So that's the podcast for this week.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks for being part of our journey.
We're glad you're here, and we hopethat our podcast has helped you.
Eat more fiber.
Maybe not fiber max, but at least eat
bruce (21:25):
more fiber.
And one promise we will always maketo you here at cooking with Bruce
and Mark is you will not get ai, youwill not get fake, you will not get
anything generated by a computer.
It's always going to be the real.
Bruce and Mark here atcooking with Bruce and Mark.
Hey, I am Bruce Weinstein, and this is the Podcast Cooking with Bruce
mark (00:04):
and Mark.
And I'm Mark s Scarborough.
And together with my husband Bruce,we've written 37 cookbooks, including the
latest cold canning, which is all aboutmaking small batch, no pressure cooker,
no steam pressure, canning, needed batchesof, oh, I don't know, jams, jellies,
conserved, chutney, dessert, sauces.
Mm-hmm.
(00:24):
We have a big infused
bruce (00:25):
oils infused vinegars, ketchups mustard, barbecue sauce,
mark (00:29):
a quart jar of the homemade sham board that's out that
book, homemade raspberry lacoin our refrigerator right now.
bruce (00:35):
Drank some mixed in champagne last night.
mark (00:37):
And you did.
We have kiwi Jam.
We've got.
All kinds of recipes in that book.
Check it out.
If you wanna make two to three jarsof something, one for yourself and
maybe one to give away to a friend.
You don't need to put up enoughfor an apocalypse, but that's
not what we're talking aboutin this episode of our podcast.
Instead, we've got a one minute,very specific cooking tip.
Crazy that arises actually outtasomething Bruce recently did.
(00:59):
We wanna talk about the latestsocial media trend, which is fiber
maxing and what that all involves.
It is.
Crazy.
If you're on TikTok right now, everyoneis fiber maxing and we'll tell you
what's making us happy in food this week.
So let's get started.
bruce (01:19):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Here's how to improveyour chimi chili sauce.
Okay, stop.
First, let me explain whata chimi chili sauce is.
Stop.
So chimi cherry is aSouth American condiment.
It is parsley and some chilies,usually chili flakes, salt, pureed up
with vinegar and lots of olive oil.
It's often served with steaks orroasted vegetables, steak, I think
(01:42):
of it in Argentina, as always served.
With the steak, and every time I makea Chimi chew, someone at the table will
tell me How come your Chimi chew isbetter than any chimi chew I've ever had.
mark (01:51):
This
bruce (01:52):
actually just
mark (01:52):
happened to us.
bruce (01:53):
Okay, go ahead.
It's because I don't just use parsley.
I think Chi Cherry is better whenyou throw in one or two other herbs,
and I try and pick herbs that matchwhat's happening around the table.
So we had this big mixed fish grillthe other night, and in the marinades
with the different fish, there wereItalian flavors going on and lots of
(02:14):
attempt Middle Eastern flavors goingon and Mediterranean flavors going on.
So I took my parsley, put it in thefood processor along with fresh oregano.
Fresh Marum, a little bit of fennel seeds.
And some chili flakes.
mark (02:30):
So what is telling you is to add another herb, at least one other, mm-hmm.
Herb, to make a decent chimi cherry.
Right.
And
bruce (02:38):
then I word that up, putting olive oil in through the opening of
the top of the food processor until Igot a beautiful consistency I liked.
And then I added some wine vinegar,red wine vinegar to add the acidity up.
It keeps it fresh green.
It also gives it a brightness.
And that is how I makebetter Chi and Chew.
mark (02:57):
Okay, so that's a hardly one minute cooking tip, but it was very
specific to a specific kind of sauce.
And there we go.
So before we get to the next and majorpart of this podcast, lemme see, it would
be great if you could join the Facebookgroup cooking with Bruce and Mark, or
if you could check us out on TikTok.
We have a wonderful TikTok channel.
May I say you Bruce and Mark?
(03:17):
Is the same as what happens on Instagramunder cooking with Bruce and Mark.
But the TikTok channel seems tobe the one that's hot right now.
So check 'em out.
Mm-hmm.
And you can see videos of usmaking food for each other.
All right?
Mm-hmm.
On that note, sweet.
bruce (03:31):
We're very sweet.
mark (03:32):
Oh, we are.
But on that note, we're gonna goto the latest social media trend.
Fiber maxing.
bruce (03:42):
I'm gonna start this by having you explain what the hell is
fiber maxing, because you told meabout this yesterday and I'm like,
I don't know what you're talking
mark (03:50):
about.
Okay, so if you know anything abouthow these trends have gone over the
past maybe two years, there has been acraze for what is called protein Maxine.
Okay.
I want
bruce (04:00):
that.
I like that.
And these are
mark (04:01):
people who just.
Absolutely up their protein.
Take their whole influencer feed isabout how to get more protein in your
diet to put more whe eat more steak.
Yeah.
But I mean, they're even puttingwhey protein in scrambled eggs.
Sure.
They're doing all kinds of things to just.
Up, up up the protein content.
And of course, a lot of thesepeople are fitness influencers,
(04:23):
but they've influenced theentire space on social media.
And now I find even Bakers onlineare talking about how to add
more protein to their cakes.
I see this cake.
You know what,
bruce (04:34):
if I'm gonna eat cake, I wouldn't mind it having some more protein in it.
I get,
mark (04:37):
I see this Check Boy on Instagram and on, uh, TikTok, and he, he always.
Begs with his shirt completely unbuttonedbecause of course he's beautiful at 23
and um, uh, you know, he's, half hisstuff is about how to get more protein
into a brownie, which is just, tome sounds insane, but it is a trend.
(04:58):
So after all of this about protein maxing,and maybe because of what happens when
you eat too much protein like this, thecurrent crazed trend is fiber maxing.
And what happens here is thatpeople are actually trying to eat.
Eight to 10 times the amount ofdaily fiber requirement once a week.
(05:21):
I don't quite understand whyyou wanna do this to yourself.
bruce (05:25):
Wait, so they're taking 10 times the fiber you need in a week
and they're eating it in a day?
In a
mark (05:30):
day.
And the whole idea is that oneday a week you do fiber maxing.
So you know you protein max all week long.
And then I guess.
You wanna, sorry, this is gonna get gross.
Blow it out of yourself.
So one day you fiber max.
So I
bruce (05:44):
wanna figure this out.
So let's say, the way I liketo do extra fiber for one thing
is to put some wheat germ Okay.
Onto my oatmeal.
Okay.
In the morning.
Okay.
And if I do that every morning,that's seven tablespoons.
Right.
A week.
So now you're telling me a week.
So that one of the things I'm gonnado on fiber maxing day is put seven
tablespoons of wheat German one day.
mark (06:03):
Yeah.
You might even put 10, youmight even put half a cup.
Mm.
Have a week.
bruce (06:07):
That's
mark (06:07):
a not
bruce (06:07):
to leave the house day shit.
mark (06:08):
That's what I'm telling you about.
I don't quite understand why people wannado this themselves, but I think it has
to do with the fact that they may blockedafter so much protein maxing and maybe.
The kids are just absolutely recognizingthat this doesn't totally work.
So this is the trend.
It's all about how to getfiber into what you eat.
You can find all kinds of bakerson social media, on Instagram,
(06:29):
on TikTok, on Facebook reels.
You can find them all adding.
All kinds of fiber.
Suddenly as if this is a new thing,suddenly all kinds of whole wheat
and whole grain products are becomingincredibly, uh, influential in the space.
And this is all part of thisoverall fiber maxing trend.
Okay, let's start with the facts.
Only 7% of US adults get thefiber they need, as it is, which.
(06:56):
Is part of perhaps thetrend toward fiber maxing.
Most US adults do not eat enough fiberto develop a healthy gut microbiome, and
bruce (07:08):
the gut biome is connected to.
Everything about your health.
It is not just your digestion,your healthy gut microbiome
is about your health overall.
So if fiber will help you improveyour gut biome, it's gonna
help your health in general.
And I wanna start with what isthe easiest, absolute easiest,
(07:30):
and most delicious way toget more fiber in your diet?
Eat more fruit.
I wanna start with that.
Just eat.
More fruit.
Fruit is sweet.
Fruit is delicious, right?
We're recording this in the summer.
The peaches are amazing.
The cherries are amazing, but evenin the winter, grapes are available.
Pineapples available.
Oranges and and tangerines are available.
(07:53):
Eat them.
They're delicious.
So, so
mark (07:54):
here's the facts.
On average, a US citizen eats abouta cup of fruit or vegetables a day.
And let me tell you that when I'msaying vegetables, I'm not counting
french fries, poor Mac and cheese Mac,and if you're from the South as I am,
mac and cheese, which is supposedly avegetable at the Luby's cafeteria line.
(08:16):
Well, it's a, it's a side dish.
bruce (08:16):
It's a side dish.
My mother always told me I
mark (08:18):
had to get a vegetable, so I got mac and cheese anyway.
Uh, uh, most US adults eat one cupof fruit or vegetables a day, and
according to the USDA, you shouldbe eating two and a half cups.
So let me give you a tip here.
Mm-hmm.
From MD Anderson, the cancer Center inHouston, Texas, MD Anderson suggests.
Roasting on the weekend, abatch of small sweet potatoes.
(08:41):
So, you know, on a Saturday all youhave to do is easily roast them right
to like, like how does that work?
How do you roast?
You take
bruce (08:47):
your sweet potatoes, you put them on a tray and you put them in your oven.
You put the oven on three 50 and withinan hour, depending on the size of them,
they're tender and they're done andthey're sweet and they're delicious.
mark (08:56):
Okay, so that's, that's what you do.
Now you take 'em out, let 'em cool theroom temperature, wrap 'em up 'cause you
don't want 'em to desiccate and dry up.
They're cool to room temperature.
Stick them in your fridge.
This is MD Anderson's idea, and thenfor breakfast over the next week or two,
have one every other day for breakfast.
They do make a really nicebreakfast called, I can tell
(09:17):
you I live with somebody.
Who eats cold, sweet potatoesright outta the refrigerator.
Oh, I
bruce (09:22):
love them that way.
But they are so soft and sweet.
You could spread them on toast, right?
You could.
You could take your sweet potatoand spread it on toast instead of
mark (09:30):
jam.
You do.
You do want to eat the skinfor the full fiber bottle.
Okay.
But I've watched you sit there in a chairand eat a sweet potato, like a hand fruit.
bruce (09:39):
But to be honest, even the insides of a sweet potato has fiber.
It does.
It does.
So go ahead.
And, and eat your sweetpotatoes for breakfast.
That's a great way, and I'm gonnajust continue to say, eat more fruit.
Eat an apple, eat an orange, eat a peach.
Yeah.
Eat a nectarine.
Yep.
Yep.
We eat tomato.
Tomatoes are fruits.
mark (09:58):
I, I mean, we have a huge cookbook group as you know.
We eat a lot of rich food and we.
Always have bowls of fruit in the winter.
It's citrus.
In the summer it's melons and stonefruits like plums and peaches.
We always have berries.
Um, we've talked to you about thisbefore, that at the big box stores like
Costco and BJ's, the fruit is actuallybetter because it sells so quickly.
(10:20):
They have to buy it closerto rightness and cheaper.
We went to Costco
bruce (10:25):
yesterday and we got three melons.
We've got four pounds of peaches.
We got six pounds of APRs.
We got.
Boxes of blackberries and raspberries.
Yep.
I will be eating these all weekbecause they're delicious and end
mark (10:39):
next week.
Mm.
And I, it's absolutely what you do.
Okay.
That's the first thing.
Eat more fruits and vegetables too.
When possible.
Choose the whole grain option.
So let's say you go to Panera Breadand you get a sandwich when they tell
you what kind of bread do you want it?
Ask for the whole grainbread, whatever that is.
The seven seed, the 10 seed,the whole wheat doesn't matter.
Just always make that your default.
(11:00):
I'm gonna go with thewhole grain option, and
bruce (11:02):
I know a lot of people say, I don't like whole grain breads.
I just don't like them.
You're probably thinking aboutin the morning plain bread with.
Has toast and maybe with butter.
Yeah, but now you are gonnabe throwing Turkey, bacon,
lettuce, and tomato on there.
You're gonna be adding mayonnaise, right?
That right?
You're gonna be adding, also, youmay be having a pastrami sandwich.
Yes, that's a high fat thing.
So why not have the whole grain bread?
(11:23):
You're not even gonna taste it.
mark (11:24):
And think about brown rice.
If you eat, let's say Chinesetakeout, let's have brown rice.
Occasionally.
You don't always have to haveit, but occasionally with it.
Let's talk about wholegrain pastas, right?
There are plenty of wholegrain pastas, quite honestly.
bruce (11:38):
Whole wheat pasta.
To me, there's no differencein texture at at all.
And honestly, to me, I
mark (11:44):
love chickpea pasta.
Oh yeah.
That's really good too.
I, and it's a very high fiber pasta.
Mm-hmm.
Just choose the whole grainoption whenever you can.
You don't have to make this a rule in yourlife, but kind of set it as the default.
Do I eat white rice?
Yes, of course.
I sometimes have white rice whenBruce makes Sichuan food because
the sweetness of the rice is perfectagainst the super spicy food.
(12:05):
But I prefer.
If we would have brown rice.
Okay, that's two.
Here's three.
Just eat legumes and beans.
Mm-hmm.
Particularly, these are the big ones.
Lentils, black beans, and chickpeas.
So, you know, listen, I see themall the time at Whole Foods.
I see chickpea salads, I see blackbeans, salads in the prepared food case.
(12:29):
Choose it for lunch once a week,
bruce (12:30):
and it doesn't mean you have to cook black beans
and lentils and chickpeas.
All this stuff comesavailable pre-cooked in cans.
They are fantastic andone of the best legumes.
People forget peanuts.
Yeah, eat peanuts.
They are legumes.
Peanut butter is so high in fiber
mark (12:47):
and.
Let me say about lentils.
Bruce often makes a pot of lentilsand then puts it in the fridge
and covers it with plastic wrap.
Once it's at room temperature, puts it inthe fridge, puts the plastic wrap right
down on it so it doesn't dry out, andthen he throws lentils into things we eat.
Into salads, into chops, salads.
bruce (13:04):
Mix it into some hamburger too.
You can stretch the hamburgers.
You need less beef.
You're still getting the fiber.
It's fabulous.
Put it in tuna salad.
mark (13:11):
And you can even buy cooked lentils, right?
Mm-hmm.
You don't have to cook your own.
bruce (13:15):
You don't have to cook your own.
And here's a tip too.
Do you make smoothies in the morning?
You will not notice that you'veput a tablespoon of lentils
in your smoothie, right?
Okay, that's three.
Here's four.
mark (13:26):
Just eat more nuts and seeds.
Jerry, just like thefruit, they're delicious.
They are, and they're high in fiber.
In fact, an easy tip is if you add atablespoon of flax seed to just about
anything you eat, you will have as.
Essentially met your daily requirement.
Mm-hmm.
Not quite, but you'll get close to it.
And Bruce said to me before we startedrecording this mix that flaxseed
(13:47):
into ground beef to make hamburgers.
Yeah.
You don't even know it's there.
No, you
bruce (13:50):
wouldn't know it's there.
And to be honest, nuts have so muchfiber that if you need something sweet,
you really want to crave somethingsweet instead of a piece of chocolate.
Get chocolate with nuts in it, oreven a handful of candied walnuts
or candied cashews are better foryou than just a piece of candy.
'cause at least you're getting the fiber.
That's right.
mark (14:10):
Okay.
And here's something that youshould know of course, about
all this discussion of fiber.
And you don't have to fiber maxthe way the kids are doing it.
Mm-hmm.
But try to get your fiberfrom more than one source.
So important.
Yeah.
I know This is actuallyharder to accomplish.
Because you think, well, okay,fine, I'm just going to eat
two apples and be done with it.
No, really, actually, you needa variety of different kinds of
(14:31):
fiber for a proper gut biome.
So you need a variety of fiber.
So for example, if you're gonna makeoatmeal in the morning, that's great.
Now add some nuts to it or fiber,and then take a pair and cut it
in half and put pear chunks in it.
Now you have.
Three different sources of fiber,the nuts, the pears, and the oatmeal.
Now you're really cooking with fiber
bruce (14:51):
and it doesn't even have to be all in one meal, right?
Right.
You can have an apple with breakfast.
You can have some nuts inyour chicken salad for lunch.
Right?
You can have a whole grain pasta fordinner that you should be getting this.
Different kind of fiber.
Some of it is soluble, some of itis insoluble, and you should be
getting it throughout your day.
mark (15:10):
I can tell you, okay, I, this is the honest gosh truth.
This is what I'm gonna do today.
What I've already done is I hada piece of whole grain toast
when I woke up with my coffee.
We're gonna finish recording here, and I'mgonna have a vegetable salad for lunch.
You know, lots of fresh vegetables init, and I'm sure sometime during the
afternoon I'll eat a peach or a plum.
(15:31):
That over the course of the day is, infact, my, my fiber intake requirement.
It makes for health.
bruce (15:37):
It does.
mark (15:38):
And what's the last tip?
bruce (15:39):
Well, the last tip is really important because fiber
needs water to work, right?
It does if you just eat thefiber without the water.
Now, the nice thing about fruit is you'regetting a lot of fluid with fruit, but
let's say you're getting other formsof fiber that don't come with the
built-in water, drink water fiber goesthrough you, and it can only do that.
Properly with water.
(16:00):
This,
mark (16:00):
this always kills me.
I'm back to my check boy withhis open shirt who's baking it?
Adding, please tell
bruce (16:04):
me his chest is shaved.
It's, we're not gettingchest hair in the food's.
No, it's not shave.
Oh.
I think that's
mark (16:08):
part of his sexiness.
So it's not shaved.
But, um, here's part of what cracksme up is he always makes this really
fancy Austrian or Hungarian or Czechpastry and then, you know, he serves
it with a little tiny cup of espresso.
And I always think, really,you added all this fiber to it.
You really need to have thatpiece of cake with a glass of
water because the fiber eats.
(16:29):
To pass through you.
And the only way it can do that is water.
And by the way, in case you wannaknow your grandmother was right.
Mm-hmm.
Prune juice is a great way to, infact, get fiber and get things moving.
Prune juice is actually hydrophilic,meaning it attracts water to it.
It causes an OS asthmatic reactioninside of you, and it does in
fact get everything moving.
(16:49):
But I will tell you that Iam not a fan of prune juice.
I do love prunes.
I love prunes.
We always have a carton of prunes inthe back pantry, and I often go in there
for a snack and grab two or three prunes
bruce (17:00):
and almost any dried fruit will work.
In this instance, prunes are spectacularlygood, but raisins work, dried apricots,
dried apples because you're dried apples.
Yeah,
mark (17:09):
I love dried apples
bruce (17:10):
because then you're getting all that fiber and
it's kind of concentrated down.
But again, if you're doing it that way.
Drink
mark (17:17):
water.
Drink water.
Okay.
So you don't have to fiber max the waythe kids are doing it, but you can in
fact increase the fiber in your diet andyou can catch onto what they're saying.
'cause what they're saying is right.
People do need to eat more fiber.
Mm-hmm.
Especially if they're upping theirprotein content, but in fact, at any time.
So there's some easy ways toget more fiber into your diet.
(17:38):
Before we get to the lastsegment of this podcast, let
me say that it would be great.
If you could subscribe to thispodcast so you don't miss an episode,
and if you can rate it and evenwrite a review, that's even better.
Thanks for doing that.
It really helps us stayfresh in the analytics.
Okay, up next, the finaltraditional end of the podcast.
What's making us happy in food this week?
bruce (18:00):
Local corn.
It is in.
It is delicious.
And the only way, now wait,
mark (18:05):
I have to say we record.
Before you say anything else, I haveto interrupt you and say, we live
in rural New England and there aremany parts of the United States where
corn has been in and gone already.
So for us it's just, it's mid August,
bruce (18:17):
we're just getting corn.
Right?
And the only way I'm doing it, thisis so delicious, I husk it, I take the
silks off, I wrap two or three ears.
Foil.
I put them over a high flame on mystove for about two minutes aside.
They get a little charred, they steam alittle bit, and then I cut the charred
corn off the cob and mix it in a chopped
mark (18:37):
salad.
That's right.
Mm-hmm.
Um, it's really kind of amazing.
And uh, by the way, corn isan incredibly high fiber.
There you go.
Food.
There you go.
Uh, it's really high fiber, whole grain.
It is a whole grain.
It is a whole, it's the only.
Grain that humans consume, that youcan eat the husk because that, that
outer tough, it's not tough, butthat outer coating on each is edible.
(19:00):
Each uh, little seed, eachlittle bit is in fact edible.
It's
bruce (19:04):
not digestible as we all know.
No, but it's edible.
Okay?
We're not gonna have
mark (19:07):
that discussion.
But it is at a seal, only wholegrain that humans consume,
that we eat the husk of it too.
So, okay, that's a very high fiber thing.
So what's making me happy in.
Food this week is Chili Crisp out of ourbook called Canning, and Bruce recently
made it, and it's not a traditionalchili crisp, but I'm gonna get him
to explain it to you in a minute.
Well, first of all, you explainwhat a traditional chili crisp is.
bruce (19:27):
So traditional chili Crisp is an Asian condiment in which you use Asian
chilies and other typically Asian spices.
Typically ginger, scallions,garlic, shallots, I mean,
you're saying Star Anis, Asian.
mark (19:39):
Truly S one originally.
S one.
Yeah.
bruce (19:42):
Originally S one.
And there'll be dried tangerinepeel, and there'll be, uh, like
five spice powder spices, whichinclude fennel seeds and star anis.
And you mix those together.
You pour boiling oil over it,it sizzles up and you end up.
With the crunchy chili stuff on thebottom, the oil on the top, you could
mix it up and put it on anything.
(20:02):
And so that's a traditional chili crisp.
mark (20:05):
So yeah.
So now I'm gonna talk about mine.
So Bruce recently made one fromthe book, which is that technique,
but now sieved through Syrian andLebanese and Middle Eastern food.
So pull all of those Chinese.
Flavors out of it and keep thecinnamon, but then use Aleppo pepper.
Mm-hmm.
And use preserved lemon cuminand preserved lemon and sumac and
(20:28):
dried sumac, which is super sour.
And now you do that same thing of mixingall it together, pouring the hot oil over
it, and letting it steep for about a week.
And you come out with this wildlyweird Middle Eastern chili crisp.
And I have to tell you, theway I ate it recently is Mm.
This is such a fabulous thing.
I took a little bit of the hot, hot stuff,the granulated stuff in there, and I mixed
(20:52):
it into melted butter and put it on apiece of fish, and it was so delicious.
It's
bruce (20:56):
such a strange thing.
You look at this jar and youthink, this should be Asian, right?
This looks like it should be Asian.
And then you open it and yousmell it, and you're like.
It's Middle Eastern.
What is going on here?
mark (21:06):
Right?
It's delicious.
So that's what's making me happy infood this week and that recipe just
to be completely self-promotionalis in our book, cold Canning.
So that's the podcast for this week.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks for being part of our journey.
We're glad you're here, and we hopethat our podcast has helped you.
Eat more fiber.
Maybe not fiber max, but at least eat
bruce (21:25):
more fiber.
And one promise we will always maketo you here at cooking with Bruce
and Mark is you will not get ai, youwill not get fake, you will not get
anything generated by a computer.
It's always going to be the real.
Bruce and Mark here atcooking with Bruce and Mark.
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