May 31, 2025 • 38 mins
I'll be honest, for years my knowledge of Mexican cuisine consisted of Tortilla chips, salsa and If I really wanted to live on the edge, some queso, too! It wasn't until I went to Mexico my Senior year of high school that I experienced REAL authentic cuisine and the flavors that quickly showed me what I was missing! Today's guest Freddsters shares how his families recipes can give you these very flavors at home...with ease!
Freddsters worked as a private chef for MLB players before turning his culinary talents to social media during the pandemic. What began as casual posting evolved into a full-fledged career after landing his first brand partnership.
The conversation turns to his cookbook, which brilliantly bridges traditional Mexican recipes with incredible fusion dishes like Mexican chicken parmesan and street corn potato salad.
Discover the story behind Fredddsters' signature product, Salsa Macha (a Mexican-style chili crisp), and learn why this versatile condiment works splendidly on everything from traditional Mexican dishes to pasta, pizza, and fried chicken. Ready to add some new recipes to your weekly recipe line up? You won't want to miss this conversation!
This Episode is Sponsored by:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey guys, welcome back to Making Room.
I am so glad you're here.
This is a really, really funconversation, especially if
you're a foodie.
So listen, growing up, myunderstanding of Mexican food
was like tortilla chips and redsalsa.
It kind of ended there and thenChipotle entered the scene and
then it was tortilla chips,salsa and maybe a burrito.
(00:22):
It was tortilla chips, salsaand maybe a burrito, you know.
But it wasn't until I went toMexico in high school actually,
and tasted the real deal that Iknew that there was so much more
in Mexican cuisine than what Iwas experiencing.
And it was since then that I'vegotten really curious and
gotten super bored with Chipotleand wanted to learn more,
especially as we expose Wesleyto new foods, as he's eating
(00:44):
more.
So today we have Fredsters onthe show and he is going to be
talking about his new book,which I can't wait for you to
hear more about.
His product line to elevateyour everyday Mexican eating at
home and goodness, so much morein the mix.
Well, alfredo Garcia has been afull-time content creator since
2021.
(01:04):
And before that, he was aprivate chef for multiple mlb
players, which is so interestingto me.
His love of cooking is inspiredby the strong women in his
family, especially his mother,grandmother and aunts.
He'd watch them as they'd make.
Oh my gosh, how do you say it?
Fred?
You're on the screen with me.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Pretty much everything.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, pretty much everything, easily.
His all-time favorite meal andcuisine tacos and every kind of
salsa you can imagine.
His first product, salsa Matcha, is available for sale at
Fredsterscom and in the shownotes he resides in the Rio
Grande Valley of Texas.
Show notes he resides in theRio Grande Valley of Texas.
Well, summer is finally hereofficially.
(01:48):
I am recording this afterMemorial Day and I'm wearing all
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You know, and planning onspending the whole season
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(02:09):
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(02:30):
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(02:51):
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And, jess, she has so muchresearch that she's able to give
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That saves you so much time.
So this season, if you arelooking to plan your own trips,
I cannot encourage you enough toreach out to her.
I will link all of herinformation in the show notes,
but you can find her onInstagram at Travel With
(03:14):
Stephanie, and she spells hername S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I.
She is the most genuine, thesweetest, loves all things
vacation and family and wouldlove to make your summer or
really anytime you're traveling,so much more memorable.
With that, there's a reallyunique offer.
Stephanie and I are actuallyheaded to I think I'm going to
(03:36):
say it right Antigua inSeptember, the 11th to the 15th,
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If you are looking to get awaywith a group of girls, here's
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(03:57):
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(04:18):
I am so excited to get awaywith a bunch of girls and just
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We all need that right.
So you could reach out to mefor more information on the trip
or directly to travel withStephanie, but be sure to let
her know that you heard aboutthe trip through Making Room by
Gather.
And guys, how fun, how funwould it be to hang out all
(04:42):
together in person, eat ourhearts out and for all of us
that love hosting so so much,take a break from doing all the
things and just be served.
Oh my gosh, that sounds likeheaven.
Will I see you there?
Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitalityeducator and the host of Making
Room by Gather podcast.
I am set to see our communitiesget back to the table through
hospitality, but it wasn'talways this way.
(05:05):
My husband and I moved toThailand and through it I
experienced some loneliness andwith it I was given a choice to
sit back and accept it or to dosomething about it.
And for me, that meant twothings that I needed the healing
to learn how to accept aninvitation, and the confidence
to know how to extend one.
Through this process, Ideveloped some of the richest
(05:27):
and deepest relationships of mylife.
Through Making Room by Gather,you will hear conversations from
myself and experts in the areasof food, design and
relationships.
You see there are countlessthings trying to keep us from
the table.
But can I tell you something?
Take a seat because you areready, you are capable, you are
(05:48):
a good host.
Let's dive in.
I want to start by talkingabout the cooking for MLB
players.
We've never had anyone, I mean,even remotely close to that
kind of background.
So what do you wish people knewabout it?
What's, what's the behind thescenes is maybe not told.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, I mean it was kind of like like a connection
based thing that I got it.
My cousin he was in the minorleagues at the time but he was
close with, he knew one of themajor league players, that um
for the St Louis Cardinals andhe was a starting pitcher and
this guy he always had apersonal chef for him to like do
(06:31):
breakfast or dinner or whatever.
So he needed one at the timeand it was my spring break
coming up so it was like mytrial run to work for him.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And I did that.
I ended up extending my triplike by like two days, so like I
had to like miss a test or twoand then like retake it when I
got back to school.
But immediately after college Istarted working for him and it
was kind of cool, pretty muchjust like did all the shopping,
(07:05):
shopping, did all the cooking.
Um, it was very simple.
Like I made like maybe four orfive things.
Like he had a very strict diet,so like I made the same thing
pretty much all the time.
I haven't made fajitas eversince, because that's what I
made all the time.
Um, it was like some type ofprotein, like a bunch of like
(07:27):
veggies, and then like that wasbasically it.
But it was fun.
I loved it.
It taught me a lot aboutcooking, because some things
that I would make for it werelike things I had never cooked
before.
So like there I was like onYouTube, like how do you cook a
(07:47):
lobster tail and things likethat.
Wow, every now and then hewould request like some nicer
things, but it all worked out.
So I loved it.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
What a fun gig.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
It's always.
It's always fun I mean you hearthis all the time to monetize
doing something you love, and Ialso love that you shared that
you do YouTube things sometimes.
You know, because sometimes youlike jump into opportunity
what's in front of you butyou're not fully ready, right,
like you learn learn as you go.
Yeah, there is like so muchroom to do that, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, but I loved it.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Cool, really cool.
Well, there are a lot of peopleespecially 2025, like right now
in culture entertaining thethought of becoming a content
creator and, depending on whoyou talk to, some people saying
it's harder to enter the scenenow, other people saying there's
more opportunity than ever.
But at what point did yourealize that you could make this
(08:42):
a next step?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
that like, you could make this a next step.
So I started like in 2020during COVID, like pretty much
everyone else, but at first Iwasn't taking it serious.
I would just like post like two, three videos every week, and
like not all of them werecooking videos, like.
So I just kept on doing thatand for like, it took me a whole
(09:03):
year to even hit 10,000followers, but then when I got
my first email from apartnership to do, it was a
Philadelphia cream cheese.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Good for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Wanted three videos for like $2,000.
And I was like, holy crap, likeI could actually make money
doing this.
So immediately after that, likeI could actually make money
doing this so immediately afterthat, like I started taking it
more serious.
I started posting two videos aday, every day for like almost
(09:39):
two years.
My following like quicklystarted growing and that's when
I started taking it serious.
And like two years into doingit is when I like left my
full-time job and now I've beendoing it full-time for about
three years now.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What was your um so like that sponsorship with
Philadelphia cream cheese?
What platform was that TikTok?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It was TikTok yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, I, I love me some time on social media.
I I knew that when TikTok firstentered the scene I was like I
don't need something to suckmore of my time, so I never got
on it.
But the more people I talk to,like you, I'm like dang it, I
missed.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I like pushed off downloading it, like everyone at
work at the time, like duringthe early stages of COVID.
It was like nonstop scrollingon TikTok.
They're like you should get it.
I'm like no, like I don't thinkI need another app, like I
already do.
The internet too much.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
And then I was just sucked in.
Well, it worked for you, itpaid off, man.
So Cracksters is what you'reknown as, yes, and so talk to us
about the name.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So my name's Alfredo, like the sauce.
Growing up my nickname wasFreddy, so everyone always
called me Freddy.
And then sometime I don't evenknow how old I was I was
probably like my early teens andlike my cousins, they would
just like screw around with meand they would call me Fredsters
(11:09):
or just Fredster, and like Ikind of hated it.
So like they would do it moreand more and more and then
eventually it just kind of likegrew on me.
So when I started the wholelike cooking thing I figured
like it's kind of like different, it's a unique name, like it
stands out a bit, so I just kindof went with it.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, I love a good nickname.
I I have a food maiden name.
My maiden name is shrimp,shrimp, shrimp, like the seafood
.
How, how do you like Alfredo?
Did you get made fun of?
I love it.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
How do you like Alfredo?
Did you get made fun of?
I love it.
I never got made fun of it.
I love the name.
I felt it was kind of likemeant to be because, like I love
food so much and it's likeAlfredo and like Alfredo sauce
and everything.
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
My music teacher in middle school was Mr Horn.
That was his last name.
I was like you know, it wasmeant to be oh gosh, okay, well,
all of this led to a book, okay.
So let's, let's talk this for asecond Cause I you know, I feel
like there's not enough healthyexpectations set with content
(12:20):
creation and some of theseopportunities.
Right, people think overnightsuccess, they think like instant
, easy all that.
So, actually, before we talkabout the book, how long from
starting the TikTok page to bookdeal, how long was that?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I started my TikTok account probably like April or
May 2020.
Fun fact I had actually likestarted Fredsterscom initially,
probably in like 2017, 2018, aslike a food blog, like old
(12:55):
school, like long story, likepictures and like the recipe at
the end.
But I only kept that up forlike a year because I felt like
it wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And then COVID hit Fredsters on Instagram, TikTok
and everything.
I got the initial email forthis cookbook.
Towards the end it was likeJune, July of 2023.
Okay, the contract wasofficially signed towards the
(13:30):
end of 2023.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And then pretty much all of 2024 was like working on
the book man, that's relativelyquick, I'm sure you know.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I think like from 2023 until now, it's like about
two years usually.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
But even like start of your,your platform to book deal, like
that says a lot about thecontent and the need for it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's great I think so.
I had had other opportunitiesbefore that, but they weren't
like the opportunity where it'slike a full-blown, like
hardcover book.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So I kept on pushing it off until the right one came
along that's another reallyhealthy reminder too, because I
feel like sometimes contentcreators, especially when you're
waiting for, like, thebreakthrough or the check or
whatever you're like, you canget a little desperate and it's
(14:32):
so.
You consider your cuisine right.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, mostly.
Yeah, it's Mexican and like,but I like to do a little bit of
everything and that's kind ofwhat the book is.
But I like people know me formy Mexican food yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So depending on where you live in the States, of
course, I'm in Connecticut, soreally, it's like chips and
salsa is probably consideredlike authentic.
This is like all people inMexico eat.
It's like that is not true.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So Mexican food is like you just get chips and
salsa at every, at mostly everyMexican restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, is that so?
I remember learning that, likeall Italians, don't eat Italian
bread at like meals in Italy,you know.
So in Mexico they do eat a lotof tortilla chips, or they don't
.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Not really.
I mean we do, but not like that, Not religiously, like for like
family gatherings or like acarne asada or a party or
whatever.
Like you have the salsas, youhave the dips and you have the
tortilla chips, but not like.
It's not something like oh it's5 pm, Let me have a snack, and
(15:43):
it's chips and salsa.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
That makes sense.
That makes sense.
Um, but to someone who'shearing this or just like
wanting to expand on their likechipotle order and learn more
about mexican cuisine, um, whatrecipes from your book or like,
what flavors in like mexicancuisine do you think that they
should explore?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
so for like someone like kind of starting um,
there's like obviously likemexican food.
It's like either spicy or notspicy.
Most people say it should bespicy.
I love spicy.
So like a lot of the recipes inthe book are kind of spicy, but
there's like a warning at thebeginning like this is how you
can make it less spicy.
But there's like a good mix ofeverything from like rice beans,
(16:31):
how to make your own tortillas,and then like there's some
traditional soups like fideoalbondigas, which is like a
mexican meatball and like asuper brothy thing with like
vegetables.
It's delicious.
And there's obviously like abunch of tacos and salsas and
like the salsas you can usethose as like a building block
(16:51):
for other recipes.
So there's a lot of simplethings in here that like pretty
much the everyday home cook canattack.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's incredible.
Yeah, I love all of that.
And there's a Mexicanrestaurant that opened up near
us and they are advertising thissalsa flight.
Have you ever seen that?
Yeah, oh my gosh, so that's thefirst time we don't have like
um, like in texas you have a lotof like tex-mex and stuff.
Right, like that's prettycommon.
Yeah, we just don't have a lotof like options, and so that
(17:26):
offer came to our area andeveryone's like what is this?
You know like amazingness,yeahness, yeah, it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And a lot of taquerias, like legit taquerias,
like they'll have a bunch ofsauces for you to try for your
taco.
Really, they bring it straightto your table and it's just like
the.
We like to mix and match a lotof them.
Usually, like usually, I'll dolike a salsa roja and a salsa
verde and like on the same taco,or like a salsa matcha and a
(17:56):
salsa roja together.
So, um, yeah, it's like we.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Just we don't like to pick just one oh, okay, that's
kind of helpful for people thatare wanting to, like I don't
know, get a real authentic tasteand actually you said that and
I kind of helpful for peoplethat are wanting to, like I
don't know, get a real authentictaste.
And actually you said that andI kind of did like a little hair
flip.
That's what I do.
When I do, I do a red and agreen together almost every time
(18:21):
.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, no, totally.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I was like oh, look at me, I know what I'm doing.
There's that type of taco.
I am 100% percent gonna butcherthe name.
Okay, it's spelt likeb-i-r-r-i-a.
Is that it?
Yeah, yeah, okay, say it again.
Uh-huh, that is like all thecraze right now.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, yeah, and it's funny because, like I never grew
up having birria like that orlike a lot of, a lot of like
Mexicans didn't Like thetortilla, like dipped in the
juices with the cheese and likebasically making a quesadilla.
Like the more traditional wayto have birria is like you have
it like in a big old plate withlike the broth and then you have
(19:06):
like your tortillas and you'rebasically just like making your
own taco, like without thecheese.
So I think, like tiktok is whatreally blew up the whole.
Like quesa, birria tacos thatlike everyone has nowadays.
They're delicious, they'redelicious they are it's just
like the more, the moremodernized way of having BVF for
(19:30):
, like the everyday person.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Here's a question for you.
So I buy, just say, I pick upcorn.
I have to get like straightcorn tortillas because I'm
gluten-free, and so I get corntortillas from the store, make
them at home, heat them up inthe microwave.
Why do they always break?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So are you just heating them up in the microwave
or?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, what should I be doing?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You should get like a nonstick skillet or like a big
griddle or something Like theway I heat them up and like we
grew up, heating them up is like, if you want it to like hold up
a little bit better we'll everespecially for tacos we'll spray
it with like some like anyspray oil and just heat it up
like 30 seconds on each side andlike it gets slightly crisp,
(20:16):
but it's still pliable for likewhatever it is you're gonna make
with it okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I remember being in mexico and they I mean they
would make the tortilla right infront of us for the meal, you
know, know, and they were sosoft.
I was like I want that.
How about those?
Like, they're like bags.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
It's like a sleeping bag for tortillas that you put
you know a little pouch and youlike put them in there.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, and you put it in the microwave.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Do those work.
So usually you don't put themin the microwave, like usually
for like cooking the tortilla,you put it in there and it
creates the steam to like keepthem warm and soft.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Very cool.
There's so many gadgetsavailable.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I'm sure people put them in the microwave.
I've never done them like that,but usually it's like meant to
trap in the steam in there afteryou cook it to keep them warm.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Okay, there's so many gadgets on the market it's hard
to know, like, what's worthbuying and, yeah, what works,
but very fun.
So you developed an incrediblecondiment and it's so funny I've
referenced this a few times onthe show my husband and I are
polar opposites.
He eats a plain hot dog and abun with nothing on it.
(21:33):
Okay, nothing, and I like sayit again.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
That's a red flag.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It's very yeah.
Yeah, there's some kind ofspecial word for that kind of
person, but no, he's the best.
Meanwhile, my plate is like50-50.
Like my food is drowning inwhatever condiment it's served
with.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's how it has to be.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I want every condiment on everything I eat.
Yeah, so tell us about what youcreated.
I want to hear more about it,my salsa matcha.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It mainly came from being I had shared a recipe for
it forever ago and like it didreally good.
A lot of people loved it andpeople always wanted to be able
to like buy my product or myfood, to be able to have it at
home without them having to makeit.
And obviously I've never I'venever made my own product that
people could buy and it's likesuch a niffy thing to do with
like food because like you don'twant to get people sick, you
(22:39):
don't want it to go bad orwhatever.
So like salsa macho is like theeasiest way to do that because
it's kind of it's basically theMexican chili crisp compared to
like the Asian version yeah andbecause it's like fried in oil,
cooked in oil, and like it'soil-based.
It's basically the oil is itsown preservative, so it doesn't
(23:00):
go bad as fast as like a salsaverde or salsa roja would, and
it's just like the perfect, likesalsa for pretty much anything
I love it on, like, obviously,on my breakfast, my chilaquiles,
tacos, anything like that.
But it's also delicious onpastas.
(23:20):
We've put it on pizzas.
It's really good on friedchicken, but you can pretty much
use it for like whatever youwant to do.
Add a little bit of spice to.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So we were eating it the other day cause you sent us
some and obviously I'm crazyabout it.
But my husband and I werewondering do you usually
recommend that you just put theoil on, or do you try to get a
scoop of all like the seasoningsand stuff too with it?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I do a little like I usually I'll mix it up like
finely so, like everything'slike well combined, and I do
like a happy medium, like 50 50,because then I like I like the
oil, like it's very heavilyseasoned and the oil like drips
onto everything else, but thenyou get the little crunch and
spice from, like, the actualpeppers that are in there.
(24:08):
So I'm like a happy medium typeof person, but i've've also, if
you want to, you can like usethe oil to fry up your tortillas
.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You'll have to try that.
Yeah, I definitely use theAsian variety, you know.
So yours was like easy, likeeasy to fall in love with.
Yeah, I loved it.
And for anyone listening who'slike, okay, I want to buy as I
finish listening.
Where do they get it?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, so it has its own website.
It's shopfretsterscom, but myregular website, fretsterscom
like, links it to it.
If you're on there, but it's onmy website, you can get it
there.
Yeah, on there, but it's on mywebsite, you can get it there.
Um, yeah, and maybe at somepoint we'll be in like actual
grocery stores like everywhere,amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that's really exciting.
Yeah, I'm all about it.
Um, I just had another questionabout Mexican cuisine that
totally escaped me, no surprise.
How about tamale?
Is that like authentic,traditional, because that is one
(25:19):
of my favorite foods in theworld.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Totally.
I actually still have some inmy freezer from Christmas time
and I was just like moving stuffaround, I'm like I need to take
some of these out this weekbecause I've kind of been
craving them just seeing them inmy freezer.
But yeah, totally authentic.
Usually we only make themaround like Thanksgiving,
christmas, like New Year's time,but here in South Texas, where
(25:43):
I live in McAllen, there's avery big chain restaurant that
like only sells tamales likeyear round.
Wow, but yeah, it's a very,very traditional thing.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
So, like polenta is one of my favorite foods, tamale
is one of my favorite, likeanything that, like corn base,
oh man.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Oh, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Yeah, it's pretty incredible.
Oh, I've never made them.
There's certain foods that I'mjust like I want this to be my
takeout food, so are they hardto make?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's.
I wouldn't say it's hard tomake.
They're just very labor andlike they're very time, like
what's the word?
I'm looking for Consuming.
It's very time consuming to makethem.
So usually, like the way that Ilike to do it is I break it
down by like the day before I'llmake the meat filling that's
going to go in it, and then Iset that aside, refrigerate it,
(26:37):
and then the next day I'll makethe masa and then assemble them
and cook them, and that justkind of like makes us process go
a lot smoother, because thenyou're not making everything at
once.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Cool, yeah, yeah, that's, that's helpful.
I got to try.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Man I was joking.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Say it again.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
You'll be glad.
If you ever do make them,you'll be glad you did it.
That's why we make them in bigbatches, because it's such a
time consuming thing to do.
So it's like we'll make ahundred tamales and then you
just freeze them and then you'retaking them out as you need
them.
You're not always making thembecause it is time consuming.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I do.
I mean, this is not really asurprise to anybody, but I um, I
love, I love Trader Joe's man Ilove Trader Joe's, but their
tamales are not my favorite.
Have you had them?
Probably not.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I've never tried them and I last time I was in cause
here we don't have Trader Joe's,oh wow.
Last time I was in Chicago Itold my brother like I kind of
want to try them and like film avideo trying them, just to see
what they're like.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
We'll have to try them next time I'm somewhere
with a Trader Joe's.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, Film.
Oh my gosh, I would do a tamaletasting with you.
That would be so fun.
But here's I'm curious wheneveryou do try them, if you think
this, I find them way too sweet.
Okay, yeah, Are yours.
How would you describe yourfamily Sweet?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
No, they're not sweet at all.
Like obviously there is like asweet them on, like with like
raisins or pineapple orstrawberries or whatever, but
like they shouldn't be sweet.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
The first thing that hits your palate is sweetness.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
And so, yeah, I was Colby.
So funny he, he's not thefoodie in the relationship, and
if I eat something that I don'tlike for dinner, it like puts
you in a bad mood, you know.
And so I had the tamales fromTrader Joe's.
I'm like, oh, that was terrible, that's not good.
(28:43):
I know gotten a bad mood.
Never buying those again.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
You definitely need to try them.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, Well, okay, we're referencing the book.
What about it?
Are you excited?
I guess most for people toexperience about it.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
What I'm excited for.
So like there's a hundredrecipes in the book it's 50 that
are roughly 50, that are moretraditional everyday Mexican
recipes, and then the other 50,they're a little bit more and I
don't like to say Tex-Mexbecause they're not Tex-Mex, but
it's like Mexican-Americanfusion type recipes where and
(29:23):
you've seen the book there'slike the Mexican chicken
Parmesan where it's like kind ofthe traditional chicken
Parmesan but the sauce is whatmakes it mexican.
Like the.
The big craze right now is alsostreet corn and like doing
anything street corn.
So like I I love street corn,like I love a corn in a cup, um.
(29:46):
So there's like a bunch ofthose recipes, like the street
corn potato salad Everyone I'vemade it for they absolutely
devour it, and there's also likea street corn ravioli.
So it's like I think thoserecipes is what I'm most excited
for people to try, because mostof the Mexican recipes people
(30:07):
have already tried for me.
So this is like a little likestep up.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
it's like it's what I'm hoping is what sets the book
apart from like your everydaymexican cookbook, because it's
like mexican flavors with notnot so not prepared the
traditional way I would say,yeah, I love the chapters too
where um like carne asada, likeright, and you did like the
matri, like you like give therecipe for the meat right and
then you get like a bunch ofdifferent ways to use it.
(30:38):
Yeah, so helpful.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I love that we did that because I I live alone but
I I have the mentality that Ilive with like 10 other people.
Yes, yeah cook a lot of foodand I make big portions, just
because, and what I usually dothat with it's stuff that can
freeze easily, like notnecessarily the carne asada, but
like I did that for the birria,I did that for the mole.
(31:03):
It's like things you couldeasily freeze in like little
deli containers or sip onbaggies and just take them out
of the freezer whenever you wanta quick meal, and like there's
those different ideas of whatyou can do with it.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, so good, so, so good yeah what you can do with
it.
Yeah, so good.
So so good.
Yeah, um, so we well, I'mtrying to think um other things
about the book.
The photography was beautiful.
Oh, probably my favorite thingabout the PR box that you sent
over is I posted just like avery quick picture of it.
It is my son's favorite book.
He's 18 months old and he ohwait, I put it on the bookshelf
(31:40):
goes over.
He has all his books.
He has his baby shark book, hehas his Easter books.
They're all there he gets yourbook, he opens the cover and on
repeat he'll say it 50 timesit's a baby, because there's all
the pictures of you kind oflike as a kid leading up to this
part of your story and it'sjust so funny it's a baby.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I know.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
When I was in Chicago visiting my parents, I was
going through all the pictures.
I'm like I need all of these incase they may get into the book
in some way shape or form.
Wow, and then my editor waslike we can make them the end
pages.
So I was like that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
It tells the story.
Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That's kind of a secret.
It's why I didn't share yourpost when you did it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh sorry, oh man.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Like people don't really know.
So I already shared thepictures, like I shared the
actual spread, but like peopledon't know that it's the actual
end pages of the book, sothat'll be like a little
surprise for like when everyoneactually starts getting it.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
You should have yelled at me, I could, I could
take it.
Okay.
Um, that's really special.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
You guys did a good job.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Thank you, thank you special.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, you guys did a good job, thank you, thank you.
Well, we are going to link toall of this in the show notes,
the salsa, the, the book, hiswebsite, instagram, all of that,
all of that good stuff.
But we end each of ourconversations with the same
three questions and hear youranswers as well.
Uh, the first is somethingyou've eaten recently and loved
something I ate.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Recently and you're going to love this, I was in LA
doing book stuff and I went tothis higher end Mexican
restaurant, but it wasabsolutely incredible.
Everything I had was delicious,and there's two things from
that that really stood stood outmaybe three, but one of the two
(33:39):
were like it was a ricottatamale with a creamed corn type
of sauce, oh and it just like Idug into it and like it
immediately, like melted in mymouth.
It was incredible.
So I think like I've beenthinking about that ever since I
had it.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
It was delicious ricotta, that's of like.
That's a rare like combinationright.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, I had never seen it.
So when I saw it on the menuI'm like I definitely need to
try it, and I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Oh yeah, that's blending my two worlds.
Yeah, there you go.
Yum man, so good.
Um, I've been mixing up some ofthese questions a little bit.
Which one do I want to ask you?
You know it's the beginning ofspring.
I'm finding a lot of thingsbeautiful.
What's something that you foundto be beautiful lately?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
That's a hard one Because I'm like traveling all
the time, so it's like differentweathers for me everywhere.
I think right now, like justgot home from traveling and it's
actually raining and it doesn'train a lot, so just like it
feels good when it rains wow.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yeah, that's a very rare perspective, but that's a
good one.
Usually it rains and people arelike this is the worst.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Here in Texas it gets so hot Like it's always like
unbearably hot and like the rainjust like makes it feel a
little fresher.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay, okay, I could stand behind that.
That's fine, that's good.
How about something you'vediscovered recently that you
think everyone should know about?
A netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like that?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
okay netflix show or anything that I discovered
recently.
Um, okay, I I was watching thepit on hbo max.
It's um, it's a medical drama.
It's new.
I think they're about to airthe last episode in a week or
two, but basically the concept,it's like it's 15 episodes but
(35:51):
each episode is one hour of theshift.
It's like a shift.
It goes very in-depth ofeverything that's happening to
these people and it's very good.
And I'm glad I'm not binging itbecause the episodes some of
them are a little heavy withlike they're very precise with
like the actual like medicalstuff that's going on.
(36:14):
Wow, it's very good.
It's very good.
A lot of people are, and Istarted watching it because
people kept on saying that it'sreally good and you need to
watch it, and I'm glad I didbecause it's a good one, and
they just renewed it for seasontwo, so I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
We're really big into shows right now and my husband
loves 24.
Did you watch 24?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I never watched it.
I need to.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
It's the same.
It sounds similar in the waythat it's like hour by hour.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, I've heard about it.
I need to watch it.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
So he might like this .
Speaker 2 (36:47):
I probably won't, he might like it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Okay, I'll tell him about it.
I'm so squeamish with medical.
I can't do medical anything.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
There was one part that like it wasn't really
medical, but like some homelessguy walks into the, into the
emergency room, and a wholebunch of rats pop out of his
jacket.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
No.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I hate rats.
That's my biggest fear.
So like that part was like oh,man.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
We joke that Wesley's going to grow up to be a
surgeon, Cause both of those hispoor parents are painters and
like thrower uppers.
Well, on that note, we are soexcited for you.
You said you're headed on abook tour, so people can keep an
(37:37):
eye out for those dates.
Right, they're open to thepublic.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
We'll be announcing it soon.
It'll be on my website,Fredsterscom once we do, and my
Instagram and everything.
But we're going to like all themajor cities pretty much like
LA, Chicago, Seattle, everywherein Texas, pretty much.
So I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Do you know where in New York you're going to be?
If you could say Not yet.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
That's one of the ones that's still not finalized
and we're in between a couple ofdifferent locations, but
hopefully we know soon.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Okay, cause we're headed to see Asma.
I interviewed her a few weeksago.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Asma Khan from London .
No, I'm headed to New York forher book signing, so it's pretty
close.
It's not far so yeah we'rearound, I can head there.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Definitely I'll be there for a whole week, so we'll
see.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
You can head there with.
I'll head there with yourlittle mascot, wesley Hill.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Biggest fan.
Okay, guys, well, thank you somuch.
Thanks, okay, guys.
Well, thank you so much.
Thanks for being on the show.
I'm glad this worked out.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Good, good, well, guys, you know the drill Share
the episode if you loved it,leave a review, head on over by
the book and follow Fredsterswherever you're on socials, and
we will see you next week.
Hey guys, welcome back to Making Room.
I am so glad you're here.
This is a really, really funconversation, especially if
you're a foodie.
So listen, growing up, myunderstanding of Mexican food
was like tortilla chips and redsalsa.
It kind of ended there and thenChipotle entered the scene and
then it was tortilla chips,salsa and maybe a burrito.
(00:22):
It was tortilla chips, salsaand maybe a burrito, you know.
But it wasn't until I went toMexico in high school actually,
and tasted the real deal that Iknew that there was so much more
in Mexican cuisine than what Iwas experiencing.
And it was since then that I'vegotten really curious and
gotten super bored with Chipotleand wanted to learn more,
especially as we expose Wesleyto new foods, as he's eating
(00:44):
more.
So today we have Fredsters onthe show and he is going to be
talking about his new book,which I can't wait for you to
hear more about.
His product line to elevateyour everyday Mexican eating at
home and goodness, so much morein the mix.
Well, alfredo Garcia has been afull-time content creator since
2021.
(01:04):
And before that, he was aprivate chef for multiple mlb
players, which is so interestingto me.
His love of cooking is inspiredby the strong women in his
family, especially his mother,grandmother and aunts.
He'd watch them as they'd make.
Oh my gosh, how do you say it?
Fred?
You're on the screen with me.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Pretty much everything.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah, pretty much everything, easily.
His all-time favorite meal andcuisine tacos and every kind of
salsa you can imagine.
His first product, salsa Matcha, is available for sale at
Fredsterscom and in the shownotes he resides in the Rio
Grande Valley of Texas.
Show notes he resides in theRio Grande Valley of Texas.
Well, summer is finally hereofficially.
(01:48):
I am recording this afterMemorial Day and I'm wearing all
things white, if you know.
You know, and planning onspending the whole season
outside and hopefully a littlebit of travel too.
Well, I am going to sharesomething with you guys that I
think everyone should know aboutand you are going to be so
excited to learn about, and thatis my friend Stephanie from
(02:09):
Travel with Stephanie.
She is an agent of Adventure USTravel and, oh my gosh, before
you think, why in the worldwould I work with a travel agent
?
I have the internet at myfingertips.
You have to know about this.
It is totally free to work withher.
Totally free, no cost at all,no commitment.
She's just here to make yourlife easier, and don't we all
(02:30):
want a little taste of that?
She is a memory makingspecialist and she specializes
in destinations like sandals andbeaches, resorts, the Caribbean
and all things Disney.
I have referred her to some ofmy personal friends.
They've already worked with herand raved about her personally,
to me and all over their socialmedias, because she got them
(02:51):
access to things that theywouldn't have been able to on
their own at rates that theywouldn't have been able to.
And, jess, she has so muchresearch that she's able to give
to you.
That saves you so much time.
So this season, if you arelooking to plan your own trips,
I cannot encourage you enough toreach out to her.
I will link all of herinformation in the show notes,
but you can find her onInstagram at Travel With
(03:14):
Stephanie, and she spells hername S-T-E-P-H-A-N-I.
She is the most genuine, thesweetest, loves all things
vacation and family and wouldlove to make your summer or
really anytime you're traveling,so much more memorable.
With that, there's a reallyunique offer.
Stephanie and I are actuallyheaded to I think I'm going to
(03:36):
say it right Antigua inSeptember, the 11th to the 15th,
for a girls trip.
If you are looking to get awaywith a group of girls, here's
the deal you could join us andfollow along in the activities,
or you could totally make ityour own and avoid all of us and
just hang out by the pool.
And guys, you will not believethe price.
(03:57):
It is an all-inclusive, paid,all-inclusive trip All of your
meals, your airfare, yourtransportation, even down to the
tips, and the prices start atroughly $1,500 a person.
You heard that right, that'sthe rate for if you share a room
with someone, but it isabsolutely so affordable.
(04:18):
I am so excited to get awaywith a bunch of girls and just
rest.
We all need that right.
So you could reach out to mefor more information on the trip
or directly to travel withStephanie, but be sure to let
her know that you heard aboutthe trip through Making Room by
Gather.
And guys, how fun, how funwould it be to hang out all
(04:42):
together in person, eat ourhearts out and for all of us
that love hosting so so much,take a break from doing all the
things and just be served.
Oh my gosh, that sounds likeheaven.
Will I see you there?
Hi, I'm Katie, a hospitalityeducator and the host of Making
Room by Gather podcast.
I am set to see our communitiesget back to the table through
hospitality, but it wasn'talways this way.
(05:05):
My husband and I moved toThailand and through it I
experienced some loneliness andwith it I was given a choice to
sit back and accept it or to dosomething about it.
And for me, that meant twothings that I needed the healing
to learn how to accept aninvitation, and the confidence
to know how to extend one.
Through this process, Ideveloped some of the richest
(05:27):
and deepest relationships of mylife.
Through Making Room by Gather,you will hear conversations from
myself and experts in the areasof food, design and
relationships.
You see there are countlessthings trying to keep us from
the table.
But can I tell you something?
Take a seat because you areready, you are capable, you are
(05:48):
a good host.
Let's dive in.
I want to start by talkingabout the cooking for MLB
players.
We've never had anyone, I mean,even remotely close to that
kind of background.
So what do you wish people knewabout it?
What's, what's the behind thescenes is maybe not told.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Yeah, I mean it was kind of like like a connection
based thing that I got it.
My cousin he was in the minorleagues at the time but he was
close with, he knew one of themajor league players, that um
for the St Louis Cardinals andhe was a starting pitcher and
this guy he always had apersonal chef for him to like do
(06:31):
breakfast or dinner or whatever.
So he needed one at the timeand it was my spring break
coming up so it was like mytrial run to work for him.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
And I did that.
I ended up extending my triplike by like two days, so like I
had to like miss a test or twoand then like retake it when I
got back to school.
But immediately after college Istarted working for him and it
was kind of cool, pretty muchjust like did all the shopping,
(07:05):
shopping, did all the cooking.
Um, it was very simple.
Like I made like maybe four orfive things.
Like he had a very strict diet,so like I made the same thing
pretty much all the time.
I haven't made fajitas eversince, because that's what I
made all the time.
Um, it was like some type ofprotein, like a bunch of like
(07:27):
veggies, and then like that wasbasically it.
But it was fun.
I loved it.
It taught me a lot aboutcooking, because some things
that I would make for it werelike things I had never cooked
before.
So like there I was like onYouTube, like how do you cook a
(07:47):
lobster tail and things likethat.
Wow, every now and then hewould request like some nicer
things, but it all worked out.
So I loved it.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
What a fun gig.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
It's always.
It's always fun I mean you hearthis all the time to monetize
doing something you love, and Ialso love that you shared that
you do YouTube things sometimes.
You know, because sometimes youlike jump into opportunity
what's in front of you butyou're not fully ready, right,
like you learn learn as you go.
Yeah, there is like so muchroom to do that, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, but I loved it.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Cool, really cool.
Well, there are a lot of peopleespecially 2025, like right now
in culture entertaining thethought of becoming a content
creator and, depending on whoyou talk to, some people saying
it's harder to enter the scenenow, other people saying there's
more opportunity than ever.
But at what point did yourealize that you could make this
(08:42):
a next step?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
that like, you could make this a next step.
So I started like in 2020during COVID, like pretty much
everyone else, but at first Iwasn't taking it serious.
I would just like post like two, three videos every week, and
like not all of them werecooking videos, like.
So I just kept on doing thatand for like, it took me a whole
(09:03):
year to even hit 10,000followers, but then when I got
my first email from apartnership to do, it was a
Philadelphia cream cheese.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Good for you, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Wanted three videos for like $2,000.
And I was like, holy crap, likeI could actually make money
doing this.
So immediately after that, likeI could actually make money
doing this so immediately afterthat, like I started taking it
more serious.
I started posting two videos aday, every day for like almost
(09:39):
two years.
My following like quicklystarted growing and that's when
I started taking it serious.
And like two years into doingit is when I like left my
full-time job and now I've beendoing it full-time for about
three years now.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
What was your um so like that sponsorship with
Philadelphia cream cheese?
What platform was that TikTok?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It was TikTok yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Okay, I, I love me some time on social media.
I I knew that when TikTok firstentered the scene I was like I
don't need something to suckmore of my time, so I never got
on it.
But the more people I talk to,like you, I'm like dang it, I
missed.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I like pushed off downloading it, like everyone at
work at the time, like duringthe early stages of COVID.
It was like nonstop scrollingon TikTok.
They're like you should get it.
I'm like no, like I don't thinkI need another app, like I
already do.
The internet too much.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
And then I was just sucked in.
Well, it worked for you, itpaid off, man.
So Cracksters is what you'reknown as, yes, and so talk to us
about the name.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So my name's Alfredo, like the sauce.
Growing up my nickname wasFreddy, so everyone always
called me Freddy.
And then sometime I don't evenknow how old I was I was
probably like my early teens andlike my cousins, they would
just like screw around with meand they would call me Fredsters
(11:09):
or just Fredster, and like Ikind of hated it.
So like they would do it moreand more and more and then
eventually it just kind of likegrew on me.
So when I started the wholelike cooking thing I figured
like it's kind of like different, it's a unique name, like it
stands out a bit, so I just kindof went with it.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, I love a good nickname.
I I have a food maiden name.
My maiden name is shrimp,shrimp, shrimp, like the seafood
.
How, how do you like Alfredo?
Did you get made fun of?
I love it.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
How do you like Alfredo?
Did you get made fun of?
I love it.
I never got made fun of it.
I love the name.
I felt it was kind of likemeant to be because, like I love
food so much and it's likeAlfredo and like Alfredo sauce
and everything.
It's the best.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
My music teacher in middle school was Mr Horn.
That was his last name.
I was like you know, it wasmeant to be oh gosh, okay, well,
all of this led to a book, okay.
So let's, let's talk this for asecond Cause I you know, I feel
like there's not enough healthyexpectations set with content
(12:20):
creation and some of theseopportunities.
Right, people think overnightsuccess, they think like instant
, easy all that.
So, actually, before we talkabout the book, how long from
starting the TikTok page to bookdeal, how long was that?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I started my TikTok account probably like April or
May 2020.
Fun fact I had actually likestarted Fredsterscom initially,
probably in like 2017, 2018, aslike a food blog, like old
(12:55):
school, like long story, likepictures and like the recipe at
the end.
But I only kept that up forlike a year because I felt like
it wasn't going anywhere.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And then COVID hit Fredsters on Instagram, TikTok
and everything.
I got the initial email forthis cookbook.
Towards the end it was likeJune, July of 2023.
Okay, the contract wasofficially signed towards the
(13:30):
end of 2023.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
And then pretty much all of 2024 was like working on
the book man, that's relativelyquick, I'm sure you know.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
I think like from 2023 until now, it's like about
two years usually.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Okay, yeah, yeah.
But even like start of your,your platform to book deal, like
that says a lot about thecontent and the need for it.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's great I think so.
I had had other opportunitiesbefore that, but they weren't
like the opportunity where it'slike a full-blown, like
hardcover book.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
So I kept on pushing it off until the right one came
along that's another reallyhealthy reminder too, because I
feel like sometimes contentcreators, especially when you're
waiting for, like, thebreakthrough or the check or
whatever you're like, you canget a little desperate and it's
(14:32):
so.
You consider your cuisine right.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, mostly.
Yeah, it's Mexican and like,but I like to do a little bit of
everything and that's kind ofwhat the book is.
But I like people know me formy Mexican food yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
So depending on where you live in the States, of
course, I'm in Connecticut, soreally, it's like chips and
salsa is probably consideredlike authentic.
This is like all people inMexico eat.
It's like that is not true.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
So Mexican food is like you just get chips and
salsa at every, at mostly everyMexican restaurant.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, is that so?
I remember learning that, likeall Italians, don't eat Italian
bread at like meals in Italy,you know.
So in Mexico they do eat a lotof tortilla chips, or they don't
.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Not really.
I mean we do, but not like that, Not religiously, like for like
family gatherings or like acarne asada or a party or
whatever.
Like you have the salsas, youhave the dips and you have the
tortilla chips, but not like.
It's not something like oh it's5 pm, Let me have a snack, and
(15:43):
it's chips and salsa.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
That makes sense.
That makes sense.
Um, but to someone who'shearing this or just like
wanting to expand on their likechipotle order and learn more
about mexican cuisine, um, whatrecipes from your book or like,
what flavors in like mexicancuisine do you think that they
should explore?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
so for like someone like kind of starting um,
there's like obviously likemexican food.
It's like either spicy or notspicy.
Most people say it should bespicy.
I love spicy.
So like a lot of the recipes inthe book are kind of spicy, but
there's like a warning at thebeginning like this is how you
can make it less spicy.
But there's like a good mix ofeverything from like rice beans,
(16:31):
how to make your own tortillas,and then like there's some
traditional soups like fideoalbondigas, which is like a
mexican meatball and like asuper brothy thing with like
vegetables.
It's delicious.
And there's obviously like abunch of tacos and salsas and
like the salsas you can usethose as like a building block
(16:51):
for other recipes.
So there's a lot of simplethings in here that like pretty
much the everyday home cook canattack.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's incredible.
Yeah, I love all of that.
And there's a Mexicanrestaurant that opened up near
us and they are advertising thissalsa flight.
Have you ever seen that?
Yeah, oh my gosh, so that's thefirst time we don't have like
um, like in texas you have a lotof like tex-mex and stuff.
Right, like that's prettycommon.
Yeah, we just don't have a lotof like options, and so that
(17:26):
offer came to our area andeveryone's like what is this?
You know like amazingness,yeahness, yeah, it's so
beautiful.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And a lot of taquerias, like legit taquerias,
like they'll have a bunch ofsauces for you to try for your
taco.
Really, they bring it straightto your table and it's just like
the.
We like to mix and match a lotof them.
Usually, like usually, I'll dolike a salsa roja and a salsa
verde and like on the same taco,or like a salsa matcha and a
(17:56):
salsa roja together.
So, um, yeah, it's like we.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
Just we don't like to pick just one oh, okay, that's
kind of helpful for people thatare wanting to, like I don't
know, get a real authentic tasteand actually you said that and
I kind of helpful for peoplethat are wanting to, like I
don't know, get a real authentictaste.
And actually you said that andI kind of did like a little hair
flip.
That's what I do.
When I do, I do a red and agreen together almost every time
(18:21):
.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, no, totally.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I was like oh, look at me, I know what I'm doing.
There's that type of taco.
I am 100% percent gonna butcherthe name.
Okay, it's spelt likeb-i-r-r-i-a.
Is that it?
Yeah, yeah, okay, say it again.
Uh-huh, that is like all thecraze right now.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah, yeah, and it's funny because, like I never grew
up having birria like that orlike a lot of, a lot of like
Mexicans didn't Like thetortilla, like dipped in the
juices with the cheese and likebasically making a quesadilla.
Like the more traditional wayto have birria is like you have
it like in a big old plate withlike the broth and then you have
(19:06):
like your tortillas and you'rebasically just like making your
own taco, like without thecheese.
So I think, like tiktok is whatreally blew up the whole.
Like quesa, birria tacos thatlike everyone has nowadays.
They're delicious, they'redelicious they are it's just
like the more, the moremodernized way of having BVF for
(19:30):
, like the everyday person.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Here's a question for you.
So I buy, just say, I pick upcorn.
I have to get like straightcorn tortillas because I'm
gluten-free, and so I get corntortillas from the store, make
them at home, heat them up inthe microwave.
Why do they always break?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So are you just heating them up in the microwave
or?
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Yeah, what should I be doing?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You should get like a nonstick skillet or like a big
griddle or something Like theway I heat them up and like we
grew up, heating them up is like, if you want it to like hold up
a little bit better we'll everespecially for tacos we'll spray
it with like some like anyspray oil and just heat it up
like 30 seconds on each side andlike it gets slightly crisp,
(20:16):
but it's still pliable for likewhatever it is you're gonna make
with it okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I remember being in mexico and they I mean they
would make the tortilla right infront of us for the meal, you
know, know, and they were sosoft.
I was like I want that.
How about those?
Like, they're like bags.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
It's like a sleeping bag for tortillas that you put
you know a little pouch and youlike put them in there.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, and you put it in the microwave.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Do those work.
So usually you don't put themin the microwave, like usually
for like cooking the tortilla,you put it in there and it
creates the steam to like keepthem warm and soft.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Very cool.
There's so many gadgetsavailable.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I'm sure people put them in the microwave.
I've never done them like that,but usually it's like meant to
trap in the steam in there afteryou cook it to keep them warm.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Okay, there's so many gadgets on the market it's hard
to know, like, what's worthbuying and, yeah, what works,
but very fun.
So you developed an incrediblecondiment and it's so funny I've
referenced this a few times onthe show my husband and I are
polar opposites.
He eats a plain hot dog and abun with nothing on it.
(21:33):
Okay, nothing, and I like sayit again.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
That's a red flag.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
It's very yeah.
Yeah, there's some kind ofspecial word for that kind of
person, but no, he's the best.
Meanwhile, my plate is like50-50.
Like my food is drowning inwhatever condiment it's served
with.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
That's how it has to be.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
I want every condiment on everything I eat.
Yeah, so tell us about what youcreated.
I want to hear more about it,my salsa matcha.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
It mainly came from being I had shared a recipe for
it forever ago and like it didreally good.
A lot of people loved it andpeople always wanted to be able
to like buy my product or myfood, to be able to have it at
home without them having to makeit.
And obviously I've never I'venever made my own product that
people could buy and it's likesuch a niffy thing to do with
like food because like you don'twant to get people sick, you
(22:39):
don't want it to go bad orwhatever.
So like salsa macho is like theeasiest way to do that because
it's kind of it's basically theMexican chili crisp compared to
like the Asian version yeah andbecause it's like fried in oil,
cooked in oil, and like it'soil-based.
It's basically the oil is itsown preservative, so it doesn't
(23:00):
go bad as fast as like a salsaverde or salsa roja would, and
it's just like the perfect, likesalsa for pretty much anything
I love it on, like, obviously,on my breakfast, my chilaquiles,
tacos, anything like that.
But it's also delicious onpastas.
(23:20):
We've put it on pizzas.
It's really good on friedchicken, but you can pretty much
use it for like whatever youwant to do.
Add a little bit of spice to.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
So we were eating it the other day cause you sent us
some and obviously I'm crazyabout it.
But my husband and I werewondering do you usually
recommend that you just put theoil on, or do you try to get a
scoop of all like the seasoningsand stuff too with it?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I do a little like I usually I'll mix it up like
finely so, like everything'slike well combined, and I do
like a happy medium, like 50 50,because then I like I like the
oil, like it's very heavilyseasoned and the oil like drips
onto everything else, but thenyou get the little crunch and
spice from, like, the actualpeppers that are in there.
(24:08):
So I'm like a happy medium typeof person, but i've've also, if
you want to, you can like usethe oil to fry up your tortillas
.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
You'll have to try that.
Yeah, I definitely use theAsian variety, you know.
So yours was like easy, likeeasy to fall in love with.
Yeah, I loved it.
And for anyone listening who'slike, okay, I want to buy as I
finish listening.
Where do they get it?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Yeah, so it has its own website.
It's shopfretsterscom, but myregular website, fretsterscom
like, links it to it.
If you're on there, but it's onmy website, you can get it
there.
Yeah, on there, but it's on mywebsite, you can get it there.
Um, yeah, and maybe at somepoint we'll be in like actual
grocery stores like everywhere,amazing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that's really exciting.
Yeah, I'm all about it.
Um, I just had another questionabout Mexican cuisine that
totally escaped me, no surprise.
How about tamale?
Is that like authentic,traditional, because that is one
(25:19):
of my favorite foods in theworld.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Totally.
I actually still have some inmy freezer from Christmas time
and I was just like moving stuffaround, I'm like I need to take
some of these out this weekbecause I've kind of been
craving them just seeing them inmy freezer.
But yeah, totally authentic.
Usually we only make themaround like Thanksgiving,
christmas, like New Year's time,but here in South Texas, where
(25:43):
I live in McAllen, there's avery big chain restaurant that
like only sells tamales likeyear round.
Wow, but yeah, it's a very,very traditional thing.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
So, like polenta is one of my favorite foods, tamale
is one of my favorite, likeanything that, like corn base,
oh man.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Oh, it's delicious.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Yeah, it's pretty incredible.
Oh, I've never made them.
There's certain foods that I'mjust like I want this to be my
takeout food, so are they hardto make?
Speaker 2 (26:14):
It's.
I wouldn't say it's hard tomake.
They're just very labor andlike they're very time, like
what's the word?
I'm looking for Consuming.
It's very time consuming to makethem.
So usually, like the way that Ilike to do it is I break it
down by like the day before I'llmake the meat filling that's
going to go in it, and then Iset that aside, refrigerate it,
(26:37):
and then the next day I'll makethe masa and then assemble them
and cook them, and that justkind of like makes us process go
a lot smoother, because thenyou're not making everything at
once.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Cool, yeah, yeah, that's, that's helpful.
I got to try.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Man I was joking.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Say it again.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
You'll be glad.
If you ever do make them,you'll be glad you did it.
That's why we make them in bigbatches, because it's such a
time consuming thing to do.
So it's like we'll make ahundred tamales and then you
just freeze them and then you'retaking them out as you need
them.
You're not always making thembecause it is time consuming.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I do.
I mean, this is not really asurprise to anybody, but I um, I
love, I love Trader Joe's man Ilove Trader Joe's, but their
tamales are not my favorite.
Have you had them?
Probably not.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
I've never tried them and I last time I was in cause
here we don't have Trader Joe's,oh wow.
Last time I was in Chicago Itold my brother like I kind of
want to try them and like film avideo trying them, just to see
what they're like.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
We'll have to try them next time I'm somewhere
with a Trader Joe's.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, Film.
Oh my gosh, I would do a tamaletasting with you.
That would be so fun.
But here's I'm curious wheneveryou do try them, if you think
this, I find them way too sweet.
Okay, yeah, Are yours.
How would you describe yourfamily Sweet?
Speaker 2 (28:12):
No, they're not sweet at all.
Like obviously there is like asweet them on, like with like
raisins or pineapple orstrawberries or whatever, but
like they shouldn't be sweet.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
The first thing that hits your palate is sweetness.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
And so, yeah, I was Colby.
So funny he, he's not thefoodie in the relationship, and
if I eat something that I don'tlike for dinner, it like puts
you in a bad mood, you know.
And so I had the tamales fromTrader Joe's.
I'm like, oh, that was terrible, that's not good.
(28:43):
I know gotten a bad mood.
Never buying those again.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
You definitely need to try them.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, Well, okay, we're referencing the book.
What about it?
Are you excited?
I guess most for people toexperience about it.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
What I'm excited for.
So like there's a hundredrecipes in the book it's 50 that
are roughly 50, that are moretraditional everyday Mexican
recipes, and then the other 50,they're a little bit more and I
don't like to say Tex-Mexbecause they're not Tex-Mex, but
it's like Mexican-Americanfusion type recipes where and
(29:23):
you've seen the book there'slike the Mexican chicken
Parmesan where it's like kind ofthe traditional chicken
Parmesan but the sauce is whatmakes it mexican.
Like the.
The big craze right now is alsostreet corn and like doing
anything street corn.
So like I I love street corn,like I love a corn in a cup, um.
(29:46):
So there's like a bunch ofthose recipes, like the street
corn potato salad Everyone I'vemade it for they absolutely
devour it, and there's also likea street corn ravioli.
So it's like I think thoserecipes is what I'm most excited
for people to try, because mostof the Mexican recipes people
(30:07):
have already tried for me.
So this is like a little likestep up.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
it's like it's what I'm hoping is what sets the book
apart from like your everydaymexican cookbook, because it's
like mexican flavors with notnot so not prepared the
traditional way I would say,yeah, I love the chapters too
where um like carne asada, likeright, and you did like the
matri, like you like give therecipe for the meat right and
then you get like a bunch ofdifferent ways to use it.
(30:38):
Yeah, so helpful.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
I love that we did that because I I live alone but
I I have the mentality that Ilive with like 10 other people.
Yes, yeah cook a lot of foodand I make big portions, just
because, and what I usually dothat with it's stuff that can
freeze easily, like notnecessarily the carne asada, but
like I did that for the birria,I did that for the mole.
(31:03):
It's like things you couldeasily freeze in like little
deli containers or sip onbaggies and just take them out
of the freezer whenever you wanta quick meal, and like there's
those different ideas of whatyou can do with it.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Yeah, so good, so, so good yeah what you can do with
it.
Yeah, so good.
So so good.
Yeah, um, so we well, I'mtrying to think um other things
about the book.
The photography was beautiful.
Oh, probably my favorite thingabout the PR box that you sent
over is I posted just like avery quick picture of it.
It is my son's favorite book.
He's 18 months old and he ohwait, I put it on the bookshelf
(31:40):
goes over.
He has all his books.
He has his baby shark book, hehas his Easter books.
They're all there he gets yourbook, he opens the cover and on
repeat he'll say it 50 timesit's a baby, because there's all
the pictures of you kind oflike as a kid leading up to this
part of your story and it'sjust so funny it's a baby.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
I know.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
When I was in Chicago visiting my parents, I was
going through all the pictures.
I'm like I need all of these incase they may get into the book
in some way shape or form.
Wow, and then my editor waslike we can make them the end
pages.
So I was like that's perfect.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
It tells the story.
Yeah, it's really good.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
That's kind of a secret.
It's why I didn't share yourpost when you did it.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Oh sorry, oh man.
Speaker 2 (32:33):
Like people don't really know.
So I already shared thepictures, like I shared the
actual spread, but like peopledon't know that it's the actual
end pages of the book, sothat'll be like a little
surprise for like when everyoneactually starts getting it.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
You should have yelled at me, I could, I could
take it.
Okay.
Um, that's really special.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
You guys did a good job.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Thank you, thank you special.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Yeah, you guys did a good job, thank you, thank you.
Well, we are going to link toall of this in the show notes,
the salsa, the, the book, hiswebsite, instagram, all of that,
all of that good stuff.
But we end each of ourconversations with the same
three questions and hear youranswers as well.
Uh, the first is somethingyou've eaten recently and loved
something I ate.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Recently and you're going to love this, I was in LA
doing book stuff and I went tothis higher end Mexican
restaurant, but it wasabsolutely incredible.
Everything I had was delicious,and there's two things from
that that really stood stood outmaybe three, but one of the two
(33:39):
were like it was a ricottatamale with a creamed corn type
of sauce, oh and it just like Idug into it and like it
immediately, like melted in mymouth.
It was incredible.
So I think like I've beenthinking about that ever since I
had it.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
It was delicious ricotta, that's of like.
That's a rare like combinationright.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Yeah, I had never seen it.
So when I saw it on the menuI'm like I definitely need to
try it, and I'm so glad I did.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
Oh yeah, that's blending my two worlds.
Yeah, there you go.
Yum man, so good.
Um, I've been mixing up some ofthese questions a little bit.
Which one do I want to ask you?
You know it's the beginning ofspring.
I'm finding a lot of thingsbeautiful.
What's something that you foundto be beautiful lately?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
That's a hard one Because I'm like traveling all
the time, so it's like differentweathers for me everywhere.
I think right now, like justgot home from traveling and it's
actually raining and it doesn'train a lot, so just like it
feels good when it rains wow.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yeah, that's a very rare perspective, but that's a
good one.
Usually it rains and people arelike this is the worst.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Here in Texas it gets so hot Like it's always like
unbearably hot and like the rainjust like makes it feel a
little fresher.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
Okay, okay, I could stand behind that.
That's fine, that's good.
How about something you'vediscovered recently that you
think everyone should know about?
A netflix show, amazon purchase, anything like that?
Speaker 2 (35:24):
okay netflix show or anything that I discovered
recently.
Um, okay, I I was watching thepit on hbo max.
It's um, it's a medical drama.
It's new.
I think they're about to airthe last episode in a week or
two, but basically the concept,it's like it's 15 episodes but
(35:51):
each episode is one hour of theshift.
It's like a shift.
It goes very in-depth ofeverything that's happening to
these people and it's very good.
And I'm glad I'm not binging itbecause the episodes some of
them are a little heavy withlike they're very precise with
like the actual like medicalstuff that's going on.
(36:14):
Wow, it's very good.
It's very good.
A lot of people are, and Istarted watching it because
people kept on saying that it'sreally good and you need to
watch it, and I'm glad I didbecause it's a good one, and
they just renewed it for seasontwo, so I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
We're really big into shows right now and my husband
loves 24.
Did you watch 24?
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I never watched it.
I need to.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
It's the same.
It sounds similar in the waythat it's like hour by hour.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, I've heard about it.
I need to watch it.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
So he might like this .
Speaker 2 (36:47):
I probably won't, he might like it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
Okay, I'll tell him about it.
I'm so squeamish with medical.
I can't do medical anything.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
There was one part that like it wasn't really
medical, but like some homelessguy walks into the, into the
emergency room, and a wholebunch of rats pop out of his
jacket.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
No.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
I hate rats.
That's my biggest fear.
So like that part was like oh,man.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
We joke that Wesley's going to grow up to be a
surgeon, Cause both of those hispoor parents are painters and
like thrower uppers.
Well, on that note, we are soexcited for you.
You said you're headed on abook tour, so people can keep an
(37:37):
eye out for those dates.
Right, they're open to thepublic.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
We'll be announcing it soon.
It'll be on my website,Fredsterscom once we do, and my
Instagram and everything.
But we're going to like all themajor cities pretty much like
LA, Chicago, Seattle, everywherein Texas, pretty much.
So I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
Do you know where in New York you're going to be?
If you could say Not yet.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
That's one of the ones that's still not finalized
and we're in between a couple ofdifferent locations, but
hopefully we know soon.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Okay, cause we're headed to see Asma.
I interviewed her a few weeksago.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Do you know?
Speaker 1 (38:14):
Asma Khan from London .
No, I'm headed to New York forher book signing, so it's pretty
close.
It's not far so yeah we'rearound, I can head there.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
Definitely I'll be there for a whole week, so we'll
see.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
You can head there with.
I'll head there with yourlittle mascot, wesley Hill.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
Biggest fan.
Okay, guys, well, thank you somuch.
Thanks, okay, guys.
Well, thank you so much.
Thanks for being on the show.
I'm glad this worked out.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
It was fun.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
Good, good, well, guys, you know the drill Share
the episode if you loved it,leave a review, head on over by
the book and follow Fredsterswherever you're on socials, and
we will see you next week.
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