December 13, 2025 • 41 mins
Tanner and Jerry celebrate the season with a Christmas episode full of traditions, tips, and a little holiday mischief. They start by revisiting the Thanksgiving discussion on how to be a great guest, answering new questions listeners raised after the episode aired. Then they share one of their favorite traditions—Drink of the Day—where each person creates a featured cocktail all Christmas week.
Next, they dive into “Christmas Crap,” the gadgets and gimmicks companies try to sell you this time of year—and why you don’t need them. In contrast, the Gourmand Gift Guide highlights gifts food lovers will truly appreciate. Finally, the show wraps with a holiday edition of Short Order Cooking, but with a twist: this time Tanner puts Jerry on the spot with rapid-fire Christmas questions.
Amuse Booze: Coquito, Puerto Rico’s Coconut Eggnog
Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com.
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Next, they dive into “Christmas Crap,” the gadgets and gimmicks companies try to sell you this time of year—and why you don’t need them. In contrast, the Gourmand Gift Guide highlights gifts food lovers will truly appreciate. Finally, the show wraps with a holiday edition of Short Order Cooking, but with a twist: this time Tanner puts Jerry on the spot with rapid-fire Christmas questions.
Amuse Booze: Coquito, Puerto Rico’s Coconut Eggnog
Thank you for listening! Join us again every weekend for more food inspired fun. Have questions you want answered, comments to make the show better, do you want to join our growing list of radio stations partners, or just keep in touch? Let us know at Flavorphiles.com.
Follow on Instagram:
Flavorphiles: https://www.instagram.com/flavorphilespod/
Tanner: https://www.instagram.com/tagaragar/
Follow on Tik Tok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@flavorphiles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Christmas episode of Flavor Files. I'm Jerry Yegar.
He's Tannaregar, chef, bartender, restauranteur. I feel like this is
a week early.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It is a little bit early, but we are a
food show. We're supposed to be telling you what you
should be eating. We're supposed to be telling you how
to celebrate. And if we tell you three days before Christmas,
you've probably made all your plans already.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Okay, Well, actually, then similarly, next week we're going to
the New Year's Show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So we're kind of a prep show. That's what we're doing.
But you always like to start with the amuse booze,
the drink of the day.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So you and I are actually about to head to
Puerto Rico for Christmas. I'm sure all the people listening
up in Canada are going to be very envious of that.
But we're headed out to Puerto Rico. And so there's
a cocktail that we have made at Rye for years
and people start asking me about it in November is
it going to come back? Can I buy a few batches?
And it's a drink that comes from Puerto Rico. It
(00:52):
is called the Coquito it is like an eggnog, but
it's made with coconuts.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Okay, so you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Get this really tropical but still like creamy and rich.
So it's a lot like eggnog. You're still gonna use
the eggs, We're gonna use some sweet and condensed milk,
but we're gonna use rum alongside things like cinnamon and nutmeg.
So lots of times American eggnogs, we like to make
them out of whiskey, but of course if you're in
Puerto Rico, it can be a little tough to come
(01:18):
by whiskey. So it's made out of rum. And I
always like coconuts. And it also helps set me in
the mood because in Texas we don't get a lot
of snow. It's really not that cold. I'm still wearing
a T shirt outside, So for me have something a
little bit more tropical when I'm on the patio, feels
really nice.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
All right, Well, go ahead and make one.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, Well, so that fun. Unfortunately, I can't really walk
you through how you make eggnog because that happens in advance,
but I will give you a funny tip on eggnog.
Eggnog you can actually age, so you have to make
sure you've cooked it properly, that it's not gonna spoil.
You want to store it in your fridge properly. But
eggnogs are actually able to age. I've got a friend
who every year brings around two bars where he's friends
(02:02):
with people eggnog from last year, so I can confirm
you can do this safely, okay. And it's interesting how
the flavor changes over time and it just sort of
sort of gets rich and deep, and it's pretty good.
If you want to look that up and look into
making it this year, it could be a fun little
treat for yourself in twenty six.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Now, when we did the Thanksgiving episode for Canadian Thanksgiving,
we gave a number of tips if you're hosting, you're
trying to be the perfect guest, all of that. We
don't want to redo that for Christmas. You could listen
to the Thanksgiving episode at flavor files dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But you've got some follow up.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
At least we do have some follow up. We had
a few people right in they went to the website,
they wrote us and sort of wanted to clarify. So
I wanted to clarify a couple things that we said
in that episode. One of them is I said, don't
bring anything if you were an ass too. Yeah, Christmas
works the same way. If Christmas has always been at
(02:58):
this person's house and they love being the person who
hosts it, don't bring unsolicited sides. Don't imply that they
don't have it covered. But one of the things that
people asked was is it really not okay? They are
the kind of person who appreciates it but says no,
And this you're really gonna have to read the person.
(03:18):
There are people who say, no, you don't have to
bring anything. I have it covered, And what they mean is,
do not bring something. Don't mess up my table. I've
been planning this for weeks. Those are the people I'm saying,
don't bring something to you might have the people who
are a little more relaxed, No, don't worry about it.
You don't need to bring anything. If you're not sure
which person that is, it's probably best.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Not to bring something, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But there's also the fact somebody, more than one person
asked this and they said, well, I feel strange not
bringing something, and I feel this way. I don't like
to show up to a party where I know you've
put in the work, and I know you'll have work
after I leave with the cleanup, and I'm not going
to bring anything at all. So if you feel like
you should bring something, but I just told you not to,
(04:03):
then the right thing to bring would be something that's
non food related, or at least non food on that
night related. Don't bring a pie, don't bring mashed potatoes.
Bring something you can give to them that they can
enjoy when the party's over. Flowers are really a classic example.
I really love it if flowers are brought in a vase,
(04:23):
because you're not then starting the party with everybody shuffling
around trying to find something to do with the flowers.
Flowers cut in the vase already look great. You can
sort of just drop them on a coffee table. People
love them. If you do like to bring food, something
that I think is awesome is food that people can
enjoy in the morning. Maybe you want to make a granola.
You take the granola, you pack, you put it in
(04:45):
a little bag for them, and in the morning they
can enjoy the granola after the party, sort of their
party hangover. Meal candle is also a really good option.
Fancy matches to go with the candle. Some people have
more candles than they do have useful them, So sort
of a way to help encourage that can always be
nice or just little bard gifts, you know, give them
(05:06):
here's some bidders, or here's a special little book that
I found, or here's some really fancy olive oil, something
that somebody who likes to cook and likes to host
can use and enjoy.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well. I think the book is a really good idea.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
If you know the person well enough to know the
book that they would like, you've come with a gift.
You can wrap it for Christmas, and you can even
say to them, really appreciate being here today. Just put
this under your tree and we'll think of each other
on Christmas morning. And that way you haven't interfered in
any way, but you've also shown up. It's hard for
(05:39):
Tanner people. I heard from people when we did the
Thanksgiving episode. My mama taught me to show up not
empty handed.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Absolutely, and I totally get that, and I wish I
had thought of it when we were recorded, but that
was our first episode, so hopefully we can get a
little grace on that. But yeah, I love the idea
of actually wrapping it up wrapping up, making it a
little present, and they can think, oh, that's nice, and
this doesn't have to be something crazy. This can be
something that would be twenty dollars that just says thanks
(06:07):
so much for having me, and you can get something
great that way, because at the end of the day,
the holidays are all about hospitality. It's about being together
and you showing some of that hospitality back, I think
is always welcome. Who doesn't like presents, Who doesn't like
all the presence underneath the tree or in our case
a palm tree.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Ha ha, Okay, don't rub that in for people. Let's
talk about an element of going to a party. You
talk about how we arrive, what we bring with us,
how do you leave gracefully?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
There's always, of course, the classic Irish exit. I don't
know how it got that name, but that's where you
just say nothing to anyone and you just leave.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
And people go where is he? And oh, you must
have left?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh I guess he must have left. That's probably the easiest,
you know. I think maybe the modified Irish exit is
maybe the perfect one. You don't have to say bye
to everybody, you have to shake everyone's hand. You can
just say to the thank you so much. I've got
to go, and then you leave.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I absolutely believe in that you have to say goodbye
because you have to say thank you to the host.
It's rude for the host to look around and wonder
which you went. Maybe he wasn't having a good time,
maybe she didn't enjoy the meal. Whatever the thing is,
you do a gracious thank you. You don't, Yeah, that's right.
If it's a whole house full of people, you don't
have to do the rounds. And some of them don't
(07:23):
care that you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Some of them are happier.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Let's talk about something that we do as a family,
and I think it's a cool thing. And this is
not when there's a Christmas party. This is where you're
together with a bunch of people and this is almost
invariably going to be family where you're going to be
together for an extended time two three, four, five days.
And it's something we've done a few times that I've
(07:48):
always thought was cool, and it's called Drink of the Day.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I love this little tradition we've created, and it's where
every person who's going to be there is responsible for
one cocktail that they're going to make per day. So
it's almost like an advent calendar of drinking, which is
of course the very best kind of advent calendar in
my opinion. But yeah, so the way it would work is, Okay,
Christmas Eve, that's Tanner's Day or Tanner and Grace's Day,
(08:13):
and we're going to have this cocktail. So we'll go
to the store and we'll buy all the supplies and
we'll do a little bit of prep and then we'll
make that. And on Christmas it's Jerry's day, and so
Jerry's going to buy some things and Jerry's going to
make a cocktail. And there's several things that I really
love about this and would love to see it be
a tradition for other families. Number One, Combining drinking and
(08:33):
family is generally a good idea. Not for everybody, but
generally I find that sometimes you don't like everybody, or
maybe sometimes you've kind of run out of things to
talk about with a cousin you only see three days
a year, and alcohol always helps lubricate that. I mean,
I am in the bar business. But another thing I
like about it is it takes the imposition of cost
(08:56):
and new ideas off of one individual. Hosting a holiday
is so expensive. If you've got people at your house,
you're buying food and they flew in, and so you
feel like you should but all the food, all the
cooking at such an imposition, and asking people to make
a cocktail really isn't much of one, and it sort
of helps spread all of that alcohol cost around and
(09:20):
every day, or as you might recall, when we've had
a lot of family in town, we have a morning
person and an afternoon person.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I would like to point something out, and that is
if you're one of those people who does not drink,
or you have a large number of people within your
group that don't drink, mocktails have become very popular. You
have them in your bar, or there's various punches and
things you can make. You might have little kids around,
(09:47):
so you need that this doesn't have to be an
alcohol thing.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, it doesn't have to be. It's drink of the day.
You can choose what you're going to drink, but the
idea that you've got a fun drink to sort of
look forward to. It allows everybody to be involved sort
of in that creative process. They get to make something.
So the person who's really passionate about eggnog, they get
to have it. And the person who hates eggnog and
thinks we should all be drinking hot chocolate, they get
(10:11):
to have that too. It's absolutely something kids can get
involved in. It can be super fun. And just so
you know, the cocktail community prefers the word non alcoholic cocktail.
We're moving away from the word mocktail because it does
two things. One, it sort of says that you're not
taking it seriously, that it's not a composed drink that
(10:32):
required effort and prep and thought. And two, it allows
us to make sure we're still charging as much as
we like to.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I see.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And by the way, you get into one of these things,
don't be the uncle who shows up and says, yeah,
I'm supplying drink of the day today.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's diet coke, everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
If you're gonna do that, it better be diet coke
plus at least something right, diet coke plus. I bought
espressol rum and I bought some fresh lines. Okay, fine,
that'll pass.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Here's one of the things that happens, and especially around
Christmas time, and that is companies that are trying to
force weird kitchen gadgets onto us. Oh, I know that
she likes to cook. I'll get her this. And Tanner
believes that a lot of those gadgets are just a
number one thing to avoid.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Every year around this time, people love to do Christmas
gift guides. This is what you should buy. But also
what happens is companies try to advertise to you absolute garbage,
and I like to put out a pretty positive vibe.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I want to promote people to cook. I want to
promote people to host and to enjoy themselves when dining.
But something that makes me angry is Christmas crap, kitchen crap,
junk that you do not need, that you do not want,
and someone is just taking it from you. So this
is probably about to be the angriest Christmas segment on
the air this season. But it is all stuff you
(11:56):
should not buy. You'll have to put up with my frustration.
But the trade off is I'm gonna save you money,
I'm gonna save you time, and I'm gonna declutter your
kitchen from crap.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We had Mark McEwan, chef and former boss of yours,
on the show, and I asked him one time about
kitchen gadget, and he looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
It was what do you want kitchen gadgets for? Learn
how to use a knife, learn how to cook.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
In fact, learn how to use a knife is gonna
come up more than one time. So let's get started though,
with probably the thing that I hate the most. It
is the Williams Sonoma Pancake Pen. The william Cinoma pancake pen.
So what you do is you put your pancake batter
into the pen and then it allows you to draw
shapes onto the griddle, so you can make designs, happy faces,
(12:38):
little dinosaurs, maybe a bone shape for your dog. Whatever
you're into, you can make the shape. And it's a
cute idea except for the fact that it's just a
plastic squeeze bottle that you can get anywhere it is.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
But it gets worse, like that's thirty bucks or something
like that. And I'm looking here on Williams Sonoma Dot cas.
I'm looking at Canadian prices, but they ramp it up
with the Williams Sonoma Ultimate Breakfast Set. Okay, And it's
the pancake pen. And it has two nozzles. One is
just the basic circular hole and another was kind of
an oblong I guess to get different shapes, you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Need fine lines, those fine pancake lines that define a
real breakfast.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Okay, a whisk, a pair of tongs. They look plastic,
all this stuff and something that is I don't know.
It looks like a cross between a spatula and a
butter knife.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And that's it. One hundred and twenty five bucks.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
For plastic tools and a squeeze bottle.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And you've got all of this stuff in you're ketchen. Anyway,
it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can just go on the internet and google squeeze bottles.
You can get like a six pack for four dollars
or something like that.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Well, you can go to the dollar store.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Coming in really okay, what else something that wouldn't seem
as obviously a bad idea, the kinds of things that
people actually do buy.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So one of them that comes up is there's this device.
It's called the avocado slicer. It's a three to one tool.
It'll cut into your avocado. It'll remove the pit, and
then you can use the other side to get perfectly
sized slices. So this is also called a knife. A
knife can open up an avocado, use the heel of
(14:18):
the knife and that takes out the pit and then
you use the knife to slice it into the proper shape.
A knife is not that difficult to use. Nora is
an avocado that difficult to work with, and yet this
device I see it pop up on Instagram and TikTok,
is this wonderful thing. You don't need this, just use
a knife. And in the world of things that are
(14:38):
like the avocado slicer, this would also count the cherry pitter,
which is some little device you push through a cherry
because cutting it in half was very difficult for you.
This would also include the strawberry top remover. Take a
little pary knife. Okay, hold the strawberry in one hand,
take the little pary knife, go in at an angle,
move around in a circle, and pop it out. This
(14:59):
takes two two seconds. It would take me longer to
clean a strawberry top remover than to just use a knife.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
What about the banana cutter.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well, obviously you have to get the banana cutter. I
mean it's banana shape. There's no way that you could
reorient your hand and knife for that curve in the banana.
It's absolutely essential to buy the banana cutter.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
All right, So that's on Tenner's list of don't haves
just Christmas.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, my top list of must not haves is basically,
if it works for one ingredient, do not buy it,
which also goes into did you see this video I
sent you the tuna strainer? No, so it's a strainer.
It's like a colander, but it's the size of a
can of tuna, so you can open your tuna and
then pour the can straight into the strainer so it
(15:46):
can perfectly strain your tuna.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You can't do this with your calander you already have
it home, or just don't completely remove the lid yet,
tip it over into the sink, strain it out, then
remove the lid.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh my god, it's almost like we've had a solution
for this since we invented canning food. This is such
a worthless it's it's worthless. Also, it's the size of
a can of tuna, so it's not big as in
it can't do literally anything else but strain tuna.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
All right, now, somebody might be tempted to buy this
if they realize they've got a friend, you know, and
this could especially happen maybe in Canada. More than in
Texas where you are so here in Canada where I am,
oh so, and so you know they went to Mexico
and they've just gotten so into Mexican cooking. Let's get
them the case of dia maker.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So the case of dia maker, if you haven't seen
one of these, it's basically a hot plate on the
bottom and it's a hot plate on top, and you
put a case, you put a tortilla down, you fill it,
You put a tortilla on top, and you sort of
press it almost like a panini press, Okay, And the
idea is it toasts it and then it sort of
pre molds some triangle shapes for that perfect tortilla.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Look. Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So I've never seen a caseada maker anywhere in Mexico,
nor have I seen one in Texas. So I think
I can confidently say that a pan is the perfect
place to make a cacda. The way that I prefer
to do it is I put one tortilla down in
the pan. Get like a big round pan. Put one
tortilla down, put it all of my cheese, get that
melting and toasting. Put in my meat. If I'm gonna
(17:17):
add anything else, and then I'm sure what you're thinking is,
but if I put a tortilla on top, how while
I flip it. That's the magic of the cacda, baby.
You don't flip it. You take one side and you'll
fold it over on the other side, and then both
sides are toasted, they'll melt together. You pull it out,
and you cut it into three segments. A good pan
is already a cacydia maker. I just saved you thirty
(17:40):
nine to ninety five.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Here's something I hadn't heard of.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You're telling people not to buy the Bacon Wizard microwave
bacon cooker.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
This thing is so disgusting to me. Imagine a wagon wheel.
It's a mini wagon wheel, and you drape your raw
bacon over the spokes of the wagon wheel, and then
it stands up in a little stand so that the
bacon's hanging over but not touching anything, and then you
just cook it in the microwave while the bacon fat
drips into a little bowl below and has all of
(18:09):
the life zapped out of it. Disgusting. Nobody wants you
shaped bacon. You need the bacon taste better when it's
in a nice straight shape.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
All right. What about the cold brew coffee maker.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Cold brew coffee maker, This one drives me nuts. Here's
what you need to make cold brew container water coffee.
End of list.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Your sister loves it. You put it in the fridge overnight.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Absolutely when you make it, you need a coffee maker,
you want hot water, you need some way to strain
all the coffee grands, so that's important. But cold brew,
you just put it in the fridge. You just let
it sit overnight and then put it through a strainer.
You have the materials in your kitchen to make cold brew.
I don't mean you personally. I mean if you're listening
(18:55):
to this show and you have a kitchen, you have
the materials to make cold brew. So you do not
need to shell out forty five dollars for this cold
brew coffee maker. That's just a glass jar.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, and if you happen to be a person who
does French press coffee, that's perfect because you just put
it in there and then you don't plunge until the
morning when you have your cold coffee.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
My god, I just had an idea. If you visit
the Flavor Files website, we are going to have a
two in one hot and cold brew coffee maker.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Head. Yeah, it's the French well you maker.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Okay, I have a pepper grinder I use every literal day,
but you don't like the salt grinder.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Grinding your salt fresh doesn't do anything, so pepper you
want to grind fresh. It's got oils in their essential
oils that create the flavor, and when they're exposed to air,
they break down. That's not how salt works. So grinding
your salt fresh, I guess if you like it, if
you like the aesthetic, I suppose, but it's actually not
creating any value for you. It's not making your food
(19:57):
any better.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Well.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Coincidentally, since we're talking useful items in the kitchen, this
episode of Flavor Files is brought to you by the
Willy Sonora Soupholder. The round and concave shape carefully coddles
your soup with superior heat retention, portion control, and spillage prevention.
The Willy Sonora Soupholder now with lids set a four
(20:20):
fifty two ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Is this a bowl? Are you selling a bowl? I
suppose quickly right, because I know we're about to have
time expire. Two things that I also hate one. A
glass cutting board, horrible, horrible idea. Wood cutting boards are perfect,
they're easy to clean. People who tell you they have
bacteria don't know what they're talking about. Are you a
(20:43):
dirty person? If you're not, then your word cutting board
is fine. And lastly is an egg separator. There are
these devices where you put an egg in and the
yoke gets held one way, the white goes the other way.
I seen one where it looks like a guy with
a giant nose and you put it in and the
yolks drip out of the nose like he's just got
a giant mucus filled cesspool. So that's disgusting just to
(21:07):
begin with. But also, you own an egg separator and
it is your left hand and your right hand. Just
crack an egg into your hand. The white'll fall through
the yolk you put in a bowl. This problem has
been solved by God. If it does one thing, avoid it.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
It's cheap junk. Dump it by the person. A good knife.
That's what they need coming up though, you'll flip the coin.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Here.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Let's talk about things you actually can get for somebody
who loves to cook, or put on your own list
for that person who never buys you what you actually want.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
We've taken a breath for Tanner to calm down. You
put all of the foolish things that are foisted on
people as supposedly helpful in the kitchen, and they're just
a waste of money. But we do want to get
something for the person who likes to cook, and so
let's talk about the positive side here, what food lovers
(21:56):
actually want and can use.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
There are so many wonderful things to give somebody who
loves food. One of the easiest is probably a cookbook.
I have how many cook I really literally don't know
how many cookbooks I have, and every single time I
get a new one, I'm excited bout it. I love
to look through the pictures. I love to get the
inspiration that comes out of the book, especially if the
(22:19):
book connects to a person or a place. If you
know somebody really loves a restaurant, or they really love
a country, or maybe they just came back from a
fantastic trip, a book for that region is such an
easy buy to get somebody that you know they're going
to love.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Okay, well, let's give a couple of suggestions here. If
you are getting into cocktails, Death and Co.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Death and Co has a book. They have several books.
This is the original one with the black cover. This
is kind of my go to book for people who
ask me, Tanner, I want to get into bartending, even
if it's just at home, what's something I should buy?
And the Death and Co book it's a really great one.
It sort of walks you through, step by step the
(23:04):
tools you need for bartending, some of the techniques of bartending,
tells you how to go to the store and buy
some of the things you'll need, because nothing's more frustrating
than wanted to make something and then not having those ingredients.
And fortunately alcohol doesn't go bad, and so this can
be a really great gift to kind of get you
set up. And it also the back of it, it
(23:25):
does have their own recipes in there, and they are
a little bit more advanced. But the end of the
book is a lot of classics, like one hundred classics
or something like that that are all easy to make,
readily available ingredients and if a well stocked bar could
make any of them, and that's a really great way
for you to start learning. But if you're more on
the cooking side, of course, there's absolute classics. The French
(23:47):
Laundry Cookbook. That's a big classic. Not cheap, no, not cheap,
It's like seventy five dollars, but happiness has a price.
Another one I love to give maybe you know somebody
has a lot of cookbooks. A cookbook that I see
almost every chef I know has, but almost every home
cook I know doesn't, is a book called the Flavor Bible.
(24:07):
This is a really cool book. What it does is
it lists almost every single ingredient, and under that ingredient
it says ingredients and flavors that go really well with
that ingredient or flavor. The reason chefs use it is
you go to the market, you see that something's coming
into season, and you think, okay, it's seasonal. It looks great.
What do I do with it? This is the easiest
(24:29):
chef hack in the world. You open up the Flavor
Bible and then it'll tell you goes great with these
five things. Wonderful. Then I'll just buy those five things.
There's the dish. It's done all right.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And this is something that won't give you any recipes,
but is just I think, so endlessly entertaining.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
It's kitchen Confidential.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Kitchen Confidential is probably one of the favorite books for
every chef that exists in North America. Maybe not in Mexico,
but in the US and Canada. Everybody loves this book,
and if you're going to gift it this year, you're
going to ask for it. I do recommend that you
get the audiobook version. The audiobook version is read by
Anthony Bourdain, who, of course is very entertaining. Not all
(25:11):
authors are, but he is, and the stories are so
personal to him. My favorite thing about that audiobook is
it feels like you're sitting down and he's just telling
you about his life. And there's nothing you can get
closer to having a beer with Anthony Bourdain than Necromancy.
But the second closest would be listening to this audiobook
with a beer in your hand.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Let's talk experiences you could give people.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Experiences are a wonderful gift, especially if they're experiences that
you're gifting to share with somebody. I'm going to take
you to this tasting menu restaurant we've been talking about.
We're going to attend a cocktail class together. There's a
place here in Dallas where they'll teach you how to
make mozzarella cheese and you stretch it by hand, the
really traditional Italian way. The gift of spending time with
(25:58):
people is really what you're gifting. You're orienting it around
a hobby and a passion that they have. But this
is a really wonderful gift if you're not sure, maybe
what to get a spouse or your girlfriend, boyfriend, maybe
to get a parent. My dad doesn't really want anything,
what does he want? He wants to spend time with you.
(26:18):
So taking a cheesemaking class, learning about how to brew
a beer, that's what you're gifting is ultimately those memories
and something. It's a little funny, but if you give
them this and you're also on it, it's sort of
a gift for you. So in that way, it was
fifty percent off.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
All right, let's talk about gear you should get, because
you certainly talked a lot in the previous segment about
gear you shouldn't get.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Well, you mentioned the chef's knife. The chef's knife, this
is a classic to get somebody. But assuming you're buying
for somebody who likes to cook, and they might have
already had the knife handled. Really great pans are so nice,
Maybe this is a really great cast iron skillet. Maybe
they're just some good fry pans. If you know somebody
(27:02):
who's cooking in sort of dumpy or very old pants,
this happens to me. I have certainly had this conversation
with Grace where she says, do we need to own
this pan any longer? Look at it? And I say
that pan always works. Oh, the seer is so good.
It's like seasoned in to me. So but a nice pan.
I've said this before. It is an Anthony Bourdain quote.
(27:23):
A good fry pan. You know it's good if you
would trust it in home defense, it needs to have
enough weight. And speaking of weight, the digital scale is
also something a lot of people aren't using. I don't
know why I like to cook with metric in that
I don't really like cup, I don't like tablespoon. I
just prefer grams. I want every recipe to just be
(27:44):
in grams because then I know it's going to be
exactly the same every single time. Also, I hate it
when I have one tablespoon and I have five ingredients.
I have to measure, so I have to go from
like one and then keep cleaning it every time. Whereas
with a scale. I just shovel it on there. I
know what it is. You can also get them in
different weights, but I love them. But probably if I
(28:06):
was putting a list together for myself, I would say
a really great food.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Processor, okay, also not cheap.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Also not cheap. Good ones aren't cheap. I would love
to have a Robocu. The other day, Grace is at
the restaurant and she just saw the Roboku tearing through
this prep project and she asked me. She goes, I
really want one of those. How much is that? Oh
it's twelve hundred dollars. Okay, So we might have to
wait on the food processor and maybe do something like
(28:33):
bar gear instead, which is another really great gift. Shaker
tins are a great gift. I especially like weighted ones.
You can get really light, cheaper ones, but ones that
have little weights in the bottom. I feel they seal
a little bit better. I like them better in my hand.
They don't explode. Nothing's more embarrassing than having a cocktail
erupt all over yourself and spilling all over the people
(28:54):
you're with, which has happened every once in a blue moon.
My bartenders soak themselves with a cocktail but as long
as it hits them and not a guest, I let
it go.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Okay, Well, then it's just entertainment for the guests. I guess.
What about in the consumables area for gifts.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
I mentioned earlier, bringing something like a really nice olive oil.
I do still think that that's a great option. But
there are other ones. Fancy salts. Maybe you don't need
the salt grinder, but there are salts that are made
with lots of spices or made with different herbs. I
got one one time that was finished with port, so
if you added it to something, you got a little
(29:30):
bit of that whininess to it. I really like that.
Or something that might have truffles in it. You know
they make truffle salts. They make truffle honeys. Honey is
a great one if you have a farmer's market person
who makes great honey. I think that's a really lovely
gift because if you're not familiar with the flavor of
single origin honeys versus that mass commodity honey that comes
(29:52):
in the bear, it's a completely different flavor. It's so
nice and I can't possibly do this segment without giving
a push for my friend Vermouth. Vermouth is misunderstood, it
is underappreciated. Good Vermuth would always be an appreciated gift.
In my home. I drink it neat, but it's a
very easy thing to buy and gift to somebody who
(30:13):
likes making cocktails, all right, because it's needed all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
All right, And for if you're being invited to a
Christmas party, you're being invited by somebody who likes to
entertain at home.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
A couple of suggestions I mentioned before. Candles, things that
kind of set the vibe are always really nice. We
have a record player in our kitchen. We also the
Dallas Library has an amazing vinyl collection, so we actually
like to go pick up vinyl and put it on
while we're cooking. Again, kind of helps set the mood,
sets the vibe. But other things that sort of set
(30:43):
the table are also great. Getting really nice linen napkins,
proper napkins that people are going to wash and reuse.
That cloth feels so much better than a paper towel,
which is what I always use at home. With a
little napkin ring, maybe you could embroider it. This would
be such a beautiful accent to someone's home they probably
don't already have.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
This is our Christmas special. I'm Jerry Yegar. He's Tanner Agar.
He's a chef of Bartender, a restaurant tour and we
have done a segment from time to time called short
Order Cooking. It's just quick questions, quick answers, and I'm
always asking the questions and you're providing your expertise.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
I don't know what we're doing right now.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
We're going to ask Christmas themed questions and you're going
to answer, and I'm very curious about these. My first
question for you, you make a great beef Wellington, what
is the secret to making it great?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
If you can't afford to buy a high quality piece
of beef, don't bother doing it. And right now it
can be prohibitively expensive. It just requires a tender loin
of the top quality and if you've decided you can
spring for that for the group of people you're cooking for.
I think after that, all the ingredients and the time
and attention are worth it. And I would say one
(31:53):
more thing, get a good digital meat thermometer and use
that and don't forget about what do you call it?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Ten or the aftercook you take.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It out of aairly over cooking.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Yeah, take it out a little early, take it out.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
A little early. Okay. Next, you grew up in rural Canada,
in a town with fewer people than my graduating class.
What did Christmas Dinner look like?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Back then?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Christmas dinner looked very much like Christmas dinner looks now.
And that is we had the turkey and the stuffing,
and the mashed potatoes and the gravy, and if I
remember correctly, there were probably green beans and a few
things like that. But I will tell you that an
enduring Christmas memory for me would be about the time
(32:36):
we were starting to think about possibly having dessert. My
mom would throw her hands up in the air. It's like, oh,
the cranberry sauce. And then she'd bring it out and
we'd have to eat it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So you speak highly of your mother normally when it
comes to cooking, and you say she makes the best
dinner rolls. Are there any dishes you're grateful that have
not been passed down through the generations, Yes, liver, that
was a big one at your house.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Well, you know what it is, my mom.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I would put my mom's dinner roles against anybody, and
she would just she would pick a day. I think
she could feel the humidity in the air or something.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
She just had this magic way of making dinner rolls.
So I'm not trying to diss my mother, but she
couldn't cook liver. I think what she did was overcook
it maybe, but I just thought it was like having
shoes for dinner.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh so appetizing. But you know it must have been
basically organic, free range. You lived out in the middle
of nowhere, so at least it had to be good
quality liver when it started, right, I guess. Did it
ever snow so much at Christmas that you couldn't leave
the house? And did you ever see a polar bear?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I have never seen a polar bear live because I'm
not from that far north in Canada, certainly northern Manitoba.
I'm from Manitoba and Northern Manitoba. Churchhill, for instance, is
actual polar bear countries, There's no doubt about that. But
they don't come so far south as you know, where
most of the people in Canada actually live. So I've
never actually seen one live in the wild of seen
(33:59):
them with the zo Did it snow too much where
we couldn't go.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know, we were pretty effective at snow removal, so
I think, you know, people just got it done and
figured it out.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I'm very disappointed you haven't seen a polar bear. I
was hoping for a very gristly Christmas story about a
neighbor kid versus a polar.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Bear, but we haven't found that kid.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
We're going to do a true crime podcast next year
and we'll start with the story of where did the
kid go on the polar bear thing? But back to
our questions here. When I was a kid, one of
the strongest sort of Christmas traditions I remember was we
would eat fondue on Christmas Eve, and I thought everybody
did this right. You get your avant calendar, then you
put up your tree, and then you eat your fondue
(34:39):
and then Santa comes. I have since discovered nobody eats
fondue at Christmas Eve except for us. So how did
that get started as a tradition.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I think it's probably because your mom is from Minnesota
and a kind of a Nordic background around there people
from the Nordic countries, And isn't that where fondu comes
from in the first place, and so that's maybe where
that came from. But when we did it, we did
we did sort of all the fun new things. We
(35:07):
did the meat and then oh, let's do the fruit
with the chocolate, the bread and cheese fondu.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So we did them all. It was a full on
fund Christmas Eve, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
It absolutely was, although I do remember it being more
Swiss inspired than Swedish inspired. But that's okay. We're in
too much of a hurry for pedantism. Is pedanticism a word?
Nothing's worse than messing up the word pedantic That is
so embarrassing for me. Do you remember we moved to
Kansas City. We moved all over the United States and
(35:39):
then up into Canada when I was growing up. We
moved to Kansas City. And what happened the Christmas Eve
slash Christmas Day that we moved into our house in
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
We had some kind of disaster. Was it a plumbing disaster?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
The pipes burst and flooded.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I remember now what happened when we moved in. The
movers opened the garage door in order to take the
stuff through the garage and somehow there were some pipes
that were close to the entry from the garage and
they froze, and so it was literally Christmas Eve when
our pipes broke, and we knew no one in Kansas City.
I barely started at the job, so I didn't have
(36:18):
buddies or anybody I could call. We called our friend Brian,
who was actually our real estate agent, which is how
we met him. And if you want service from a
real estate agent, he came over. He also has a
degree in engineering.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
He came over and solved our problem on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, Brian was not our friend when this story started.
He was our realtor. We'd known him only from being
our realtor and he fixed up our house. Now he's
become a great friend. And shout out to Brian, we
really appreciate you. That was one of the more memorable
and less fun Christmases. I remember us having quite the
way to move into a new house. Next question for you.
(36:55):
Sometimes we would go out of town with Mom on Christmas,
but you would need to stay home and work. Those
radio people have a harsh schedule. So what is a
great meal if someone's making dinner for one this year
that they could make.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, I like to do the same, although you know
you would probably not like this, But you can't do
a whole Christmas meal obviously for one person. But you
can do maybe a small chicken, a small turkey breast,
or maybe you could just get a couple of chicken
breasts and you can cook those it's similar enough, and
(37:31):
whip up some dressing, and maybe make your own cranberry sauce,
which on Flavor files. By the way, we have Tanner
doing that on television in Dallas's very simple and takes
about ten minutes. So I think it's just downsizing all
the regular ingredients, don't you.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
It's funny you say that because at Thanksgiving somebody asked me,
I don't want to do the whole thing, but I
want to eat Thanksgiving food. What would be something fun
for me to do? And I said, make burgers, take turkey,
make a turkey patty, do a little cranberry sauce, add
some chili's in there so it's got a little bit
of spice. Your bun is basically just stuffing that hasn't
(38:09):
hit it second life yet, okay, And then a French
fry instead of French fries, just make some mashed potatoes,
and that way you can feel like you did Thanksgiving
without having to do all of it. And that's exactly
what you're saying. Make yourself a version that feels nostalgic
but isn't overdone. And if you did want that cranberry
sauce recipe, check it out on our TikTok at flavor
(38:29):
files or Instagram flavor files pod. Next question, tell me
a Christmas story about you and your dad.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well, here's something that we did every Christmas. And I
don't think you can do that anymore. But when I
was a kid, we would get in the car and
we would go driving around in the country looking for
a tree for my dad to hack down and bring
home as the Christmas tree. Like, I don't know that
you can get away with doing that sort of thing.
(38:57):
Maybe I'm in Toronto, you're in Dallas around well you
wouldn't find them anyway, but.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Think about it. But you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
That you can just go out in the countryside in
northern Ontario and chop down somebody's Christmas tree.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
But there was just you.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Know, the trees are the pine trees everywhere around Gilbert Plains, Manitoba,
and you could go out and there's one growing next
to the ditch, and hey, that looks pretty good.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
That's yeah, that's got a shape to it.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
And so we'd go out and my dad would take
out a hatchet and cut it down and we'd tie
it to the trunk or however we got at home.
And that's always how we got our Christmas tree. And
it was a nice outing.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I didn't think you were going to tell me a
hunting story.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
A gathering story, not a hunting story.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I guess. I guess. Okay, you taught me never to
lie when I was a kid, but you also told
me Santa was real.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Have you ever read, Yes, Virginia, Santa Claus is real.
A young girl wrote to newspaper asking if Santa Claus
was real because some of the little boys at school,
little boys and girls at school were saying that Santa
Claus is not. And the editor wrote a wonderful editorial
on how Santa exists in our world and in our hearts.
(40:07):
And I would say, there's your answer. You can google
it now. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Well, that's a really touching answer for something that was
just me baiting you. Okay, last question I've got for you.
Do you think Santa drinks bourbon at every house or
just when he was visiting mine?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Growing up?
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Santa has a wide variety of taste, and being Santa,
he's so accommodating to others that he will go with
whatever you think is best.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
But you do suggest leaving a drink out for Santa.
There's so many milk and cookies. He would really love
a cocktail. Was it gone when you got up in
the morning, So were all the cookies. I was always
hoping he'd leave me a couple, but that never happened.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Didn't get that memo.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Thank you so much for listening to Flavor Files this week.
That is our Christmas special. We will be back next week.
We are talking about New Year's Eve and the story
of Champagne. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
We'll see you soon.
This is the Christmas episode of Flavor Files. I'm Jerry Yegar.
He's Tannaregar, chef, bartender, restauranteur. I feel like this is
a week early.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
It is a little bit early, but we are a
food show. We're supposed to be telling you what you
should be eating. We're supposed to be telling you how
to celebrate. And if we tell you three days before Christmas,
you've probably made all your plans already.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Okay, Well, actually, then similarly, next week we're going to
the New Year's Show.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So we're kind of a prep show. That's what we're doing.
But you always like to start with the amuse booze,
the drink of the day.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So you and I are actually about to head to
Puerto Rico for Christmas. I'm sure all the people listening
up in Canada are going to be very envious of that.
But we're headed out to Puerto Rico. And so there's
a cocktail that we have made at Rye for years
and people start asking me about it in November is
it going to come back? Can I buy a few batches?
And it's a drink that comes from Puerto Rico. It
(00:52):
is called the Coquito it is like an eggnog, but
it's made with coconuts.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Okay, so you.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Get this really tropical but still like creamy and rich.
So it's a lot like eggnog. You're still gonna use
the eggs, We're gonna use some sweet and condensed milk,
but we're gonna use rum alongside things like cinnamon and nutmeg.
So lots of times American eggnogs, we like to make
them out of whiskey, but of course if you're in
Puerto Rico, it can be a little tough to come
(01:18):
by whiskey. So it's made out of rum. And I
always like coconuts. And it also helps set me in
the mood because in Texas we don't get a lot
of snow. It's really not that cold. I'm still wearing
a T shirt outside, So for me have something a
little bit more tropical when I'm on the patio, feels
really nice.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
All right, Well, go ahead and make one.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, Well, so that fun. Unfortunately, I can't really walk
you through how you make eggnog because that happens in advance,
but I will give you a funny tip on eggnog.
Eggnog you can actually age, so you have to make
sure you've cooked it properly, that it's not gonna spoil.
You want to store it in your fridge properly. But
eggnogs are actually able to age. I've got a friend
who every year brings around two bars where he's friends
(02:02):
with people eggnog from last year, so I can confirm
you can do this safely, okay. And it's interesting how
the flavor changes over time and it just sort of
sort of gets rich and deep, and it's pretty good.
If you want to look that up and look into
making it this year, it could be a fun little
treat for yourself in twenty six.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Now, when we did the Thanksgiving episode for Canadian Thanksgiving,
we gave a number of tips if you're hosting, you're
trying to be the perfect guest, all of that. We
don't want to redo that for Christmas. You could listen
to the Thanksgiving episode at flavor files dot com.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
But you've got some follow up.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
At least we do have some follow up. We had
a few people right in they went to the website,
they wrote us and sort of wanted to clarify. So
I wanted to clarify a couple things that we said
in that episode. One of them is I said, don't
bring anything if you were an ass too. Yeah, Christmas
works the same way. If Christmas has always been at
(02:58):
this person's house and they love being the person who
hosts it, don't bring unsolicited sides. Don't imply that they
don't have it covered. But one of the things that
people asked was is it really not okay? They are
the kind of person who appreciates it but says no,
And this you're really gonna have to read the person.
(03:18):
There are people who say, no, you don't have to
bring anything. I have it covered, And what they mean is,
do not bring something. Don't mess up my table. I've
been planning this for weeks. Those are the people I'm saying,
don't bring something to you might have the people who
are a little more relaxed, No, don't worry about it.
You don't need to bring anything. If you're not sure
which person that is, it's probably best.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Not to bring something, okay.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
But there's also the fact somebody, more than one person
asked this and they said, well, I feel strange not
bringing something, and I feel this way. I don't like
to show up to a party where I know you've
put in the work, and I know you'll have work
after I leave with the cleanup, and I'm not going
to bring anything at all. So if you feel like
you should bring something, but I just told you not to,
(04:03):
then the right thing to bring would be something that's
non food related, or at least non food on that
night related. Don't bring a pie, don't bring mashed potatoes.
Bring something you can give to them that they can
enjoy when the party's over. Flowers are really a classic example.
I really love it if flowers are brought in a vase,
(04:23):
because you're not then starting the party with everybody shuffling
around trying to find something to do with the flowers.
Flowers cut in the vase already look great. You can
sort of just drop them on a coffee table. People
love them. If you do like to bring food, something
that I think is awesome is food that people can
enjoy in the morning. Maybe you want to make a granola.
You take the granola, you pack, you put it in
(04:45):
a little bag for them, and in the morning they
can enjoy the granola after the party, sort of their
party hangover. Meal candle is also a really good option.
Fancy matches to go with the candle. Some people have
more candles than they do have useful them, So sort
of a way to help encourage that can always be
nice or just little bard gifts, you know, give them
(05:06):
here's some bidders, or here's a special little book that
I found, or here's some really fancy olive oil, something
that somebody who likes to cook and likes to host
can use and enjoy.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Well. I think the book is a really good idea.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
If you know the person well enough to know the
book that they would like, you've come with a gift.
You can wrap it for Christmas, and you can even
say to them, really appreciate being here today. Just put
this under your tree and we'll think of each other
on Christmas morning. And that way you haven't interfered in
any way, but you've also shown up. It's hard for
(05:39):
Tanner people. I heard from people when we did the
Thanksgiving episode. My mama taught me to show up not
empty handed.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Absolutely, and I totally get that, and I wish I
had thought of it when we were recorded, but that
was our first episode, so hopefully we can get a
little grace on that. But yeah, I love the idea
of actually wrapping it up wrapping up, making it a
little present, and they can think, oh, that's nice, and
this doesn't have to be something crazy. This can be
something that would be twenty dollars that just says thanks
(06:07):
so much for having me, and you can get something
great that way, because at the end of the day,
the holidays are all about hospitality. It's about being together
and you showing some of that hospitality back, I think
is always welcome. Who doesn't like presents, Who doesn't like
all the presence underneath the tree or in our case
a palm tree.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Ha ha, Okay, don't rub that in for people. Let's
talk about an element of going to a party. You
talk about how we arrive, what we bring with us,
how do you leave gracefully?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
There's always, of course, the classic Irish exit. I don't
know how it got that name, but that's where you
just say nothing to anyone and you just leave.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
And people go where is he? And oh, you must
have left?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Oh I guess he must have left. That's probably the easiest,
you know. I think maybe the modified Irish exit is
maybe the perfect one. You don't have to say bye
to everybody, you have to shake everyone's hand. You can
just say to the thank you so much. I've got
to go, and then you leave.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I absolutely believe in that you have to say goodbye
because you have to say thank you to the host.
It's rude for the host to look around and wonder
which you went. Maybe he wasn't having a good time,
maybe she didn't enjoy the meal. Whatever the thing is,
you do a gracious thank you. You don't, Yeah, that's right.
If it's a whole house full of people, you don't
have to do the rounds. And some of them don't
(07:23):
care that you're leaving.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Some of them are happier.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Let's talk about something that we do as a family,
and I think it's a cool thing. And this is
not when there's a Christmas party. This is where you're
together with a bunch of people and this is almost
invariably going to be family where you're going to be
together for an extended time two three, four, five days.
And it's something we've done a few times that I've
(07:48):
always thought was cool, and it's called Drink of the Day.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I love this little tradition we've created, and it's where
every person who's going to be there is responsible for
one cocktail that they're going to make per day. So
it's almost like an advent calendar of drinking, which is
of course the very best kind of advent calendar in
my opinion. But yeah, so the way it would work is, Okay,
Christmas Eve, that's Tanner's Day or Tanner and Grace's Day,
(08:13):
and we're going to have this cocktail. So we'll go
to the store and we'll buy all the supplies and
we'll do a little bit of prep and then we'll
make that. And on Christmas it's Jerry's day, and so
Jerry's going to buy some things and Jerry's going to
make a cocktail. And there's several things that I really
love about this and would love to see it be
a tradition for other families. Number One, Combining drinking and
(08:33):
family is generally a good idea. Not for everybody, but
generally I find that sometimes you don't like everybody, or
maybe sometimes you've kind of run out of things to
talk about with a cousin you only see three days
a year, and alcohol always helps lubricate that. I mean,
I am in the bar business. But another thing I
like about it is it takes the imposition of cost
(08:56):
and new ideas off of one individual. Hosting a holiday
is so expensive. If you've got people at your house,
you're buying food and they flew in, and so you
feel like you should but all the food, all the
cooking at such an imposition, and asking people to make
a cocktail really isn't much of one, and it sort
of helps spread all of that alcohol cost around and
(09:20):
every day, or as you might recall, when we've had
a lot of family in town, we have a morning
person and an afternoon person.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
I would like to point something out, and that is
if you're one of those people who does not drink,
or you have a large number of people within your
group that don't drink, mocktails have become very popular. You
have them in your bar, or there's various punches and
things you can make. You might have little kids around,
(09:47):
so you need that this doesn't have to be an
alcohol thing.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
No, it doesn't have to be. It's drink of the day.
You can choose what you're going to drink, but the
idea that you've got a fun drink to sort of
look forward to. It allows everybody to be involved sort
of in that creative process. They get to make something.
So the person who's really passionate about eggnog, they get
to have it. And the person who hates eggnog and
thinks we should all be drinking hot chocolate, they get
(10:11):
to have that too. It's absolutely something kids can get
involved in. It can be super fun. And just so
you know, the cocktail community prefers the word non alcoholic cocktail.
We're moving away from the word mocktail because it does
two things. One, it sort of says that you're not
taking it seriously, that it's not a composed drink that
(10:32):
required effort and prep and thought. And two, it allows
us to make sure we're still charging as much as
we like to.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
I see.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And by the way, you get into one of these things,
don't be the uncle who shows up and says, yeah,
I'm supplying drink of the day today.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
It's diet coke, everybody.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
If you're gonna do that, it better be diet coke
plus at least something right, diet coke plus. I bought
espressol rum and I bought some fresh lines. Okay, fine,
that'll pass.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Here's one of the things that happens, and especially around
Christmas time, and that is companies that are trying to
force weird kitchen gadgets onto us. Oh, I know that
she likes to cook. I'll get her this. And Tanner
believes that a lot of those gadgets are just a
number one thing to avoid.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Every year around this time, people love to do Christmas
gift guides. This is what you should buy. But also
what happens is companies try to advertise to you absolute garbage,
and I like to put out a pretty positive vibe.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
I want to promote people to cook. I want to
promote people to host and to enjoy themselves when dining.
But something that makes me angry is Christmas crap, kitchen crap,
junk that you do not need, that you do not want,
and someone is just taking it from you. So this
is probably about to be the angriest Christmas segment on
the air this season. But it is all stuff you
(11:56):
should not buy. You'll have to put up with my frustration.
But the trade off is I'm gonna save you money,
I'm gonna save you time, and I'm gonna declutter your
kitchen from crap.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
We had Mark McEwan, chef and former boss of yours,
on the show, and I asked him one time about
kitchen gadget, and he looked at it.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
It was what do you want kitchen gadgets for? Learn
how to use a knife, learn how to cook.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
In fact, learn how to use a knife is gonna
come up more than one time. So let's get started though,
with probably the thing that I hate the most. It
is the Williams Sonoma Pancake Pen. The william Cinoma pancake pen.
So what you do is you put your pancake batter
into the pen and then it allows you to draw
shapes onto the griddle, so you can make designs, happy faces,
(12:38):
little dinosaurs, maybe a bone shape for your dog. Whatever
you're into, you can make the shape. And it's a
cute idea except for the fact that it's just a
plastic squeeze bottle that you can get anywhere it is.
Speaker 1 (12:54):
But it gets worse, like that's thirty bucks or something
like that. And I'm looking here on Williams Sonoma Dot cas.
I'm looking at Canadian prices, but they ramp it up
with the Williams Sonoma Ultimate Breakfast Set. Okay, And it's
the pancake pen. And it has two nozzles. One is
just the basic circular hole and another was kind of
an oblong I guess to get different shapes, you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Need fine lines, those fine pancake lines that define a
real breakfast.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Okay, a whisk, a pair of tongs. They look plastic,
all this stuff and something that is I don't know.
It looks like a cross between a spatula and a
butter knife.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
And that's it. One hundred and twenty five bucks.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
For plastic tools and a squeeze bottle.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
And you've got all of this stuff in you're ketchen. Anyway,
it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can just go on the internet and google squeeze bottles.
You can get like a six pack for four dollars
or something like that.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
Well, you can go to the dollar store.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
Coming in really okay, what else something that wouldn't seem
as obviously a bad idea, the kinds of things that
people actually do buy.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
So one of them that comes up is there's this device.
It's called the avocado slicer. It's a three to one tool.
It'll cut into your avocado. It'll remove the pit, and
then you can use the other side to get perfectly
sized slices. So this is also called a knife. A
knife can open up an avocado, use the heel of
(14:18):
the knife and that takes out the pit and then
you use the knife to slice it into the proper shape.
A knife is not that difficult to use. Nora is
an avocado that difficult to work with, and yet this
device I see it pop up on Instagram and TikTok,
is this wonderful thing. You don't need this, just use
a knife. And in the world of things that are
(14:38):
like the avocado slicer, this would also count the cherry pitter,
which is some little device you push through a cherry
because cutting it in half was very difficult for you.
This would also include the strawberry top remover. Take a
little pary knife. Okay, hold the strawberry in one hand,
take the little pary knife, go in at an angle,
move around in a circle, and pop it out. This
(14:59):
takes two two seconds. It would take me longer to
clean a strawberry top remover than to just use a knife.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
What about the banana cutter.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Well, obviously you have to get the banana cutter. I
mean it's banana shape. There's no way that you could
reorient your hand and knife for that curve in the banana.
It's absolutely essential to buy the banana cutter.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
All right, So that's on Tenner's list of don't haves
just Christmas.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, my top list of must not haves is basically,
if it works for one ingredient, do not buy it,
which also goes into did you see this video I
sent you the tuna strainer? No, so it's a strainer.
It's like a colander, but it's the size of a
can of tuna, so you can open your tuna and
then pour the can straight into the strainer so it
(15:46):
can perfectly strain your tuna.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
You can't do this with your calander you already have
it home, or just don't completely remove the lid yet,
tip it over into the sink, strain it out, then
remove the lid.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Oh my god, it's almost like we've had a solution
for this since we invented canning food. This is such
a worthless it's it's worthless. Also, it's the size of
a can of tuna, so it's not big as in
it can't do literally anything else but strain tuna.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
All right, now, somebody might be tempted to buy this
if they realize they've got a friend, you know, and
this could especially happen maybe in Canada. More than in
Texas where you are so here in Canada where I am,
oh so, and so you know they went to Mexico
and they've just gotten so into Mexican cooking. Let's get
them the case of dia maker.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
So the case of dia maker, if you haven't seen
one of these, it's basically a hot plate on the
bottom and it's a hot plate on top, and you
put a case, you put a tortilla down, you fill it,
You put a tortilla on top, and you sort of
press it almost like a panini press, Okay, And the
idea is it toasts it and then it sort of
pre molds some triangle shapes for that perfect tortilla.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Look. Okay.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So I've never seen a caseada maker anywhere in Mexico,
nor have I seen one in Texas. So I think
I can confidently say that a pan is the perfect
place to make a cacda. The way that I prefer
to do it is I put one tortilla down in
the pan. Get like a big round pan. Put one
tortilla down, put it all of my cheese, get that
melting and toasting. Put in my meat. If I'm gonna
(17:17):
add anything else, and then I'm sure what you're thinking is,
but if I put a tortilla on top, how while
I flip it. That's the magic of the cacda, baby.
You don't flip it. You take one side and you'll
fold it over on the other side, and then both
sides are toasted, they'll melt together. You pull it out,
and you cut it into three segments. A good pan
is already a cacydia maker. I just saved you thirty
(17:40):
nine to ninety five.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Here's something I hadn't heard of.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
You're telling people not to buy the Bacon Wizard microwave
bacon cooker.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
This thing is so disgusting to me. Imagine a wagon wheel.
It's a mini wagon wheel, and you drape your raw
bacon over the spokes of the wagon wheel, and then
it stands up in a little stand so that the
bacon's hanging over but not touching anything, and then you
just cook it in the microwave while the bacon fat
drips into a little bowl below and has all of
(18:09):
the life zapped out of it. Disgusting. Nobody wants you
shaped bacon. You need the bacon taste better when it's
in a nice straight shape.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
All right. What about the cold brew coffee maker.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Cold brew coffee maker, This one drives me nuts. Here's
what you need to make cold brew container water coffee.
End of list.
Speaker 3 (18:31):
Your sister loves it. You put it in the fridge overnight.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Absolutely when you make it, you need a coffee maker,
you want hot water, you need some way to strain
all the coffee grands, so that's important. But cold brew,
you just put it in the fridge. You just let
it sit overnight and then put it through a strainer.
You have the materials in your kitchen to make cold brew.
I don't mean you personally. I mean if you're listening
(18:55):
to this show and you have a kitchen, you have
the materials to make cold brew. So you do not
need to shell out forty five dollars for this cold
brew coffee maker. That's just a glass jar.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Well, and if you happen to be a person who
does French press coffee, that's perfect because you just put
it in there and then you don't plunge until the
morning when you have your cold coffee.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
My god, I just had an idea. If you visit
the Flavor Files website, we are going to have a
two in one hot and cold brew coffee maker.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Head. Yeah, it's the French well you maker.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Okay, I have a pepper grinder I use every literal day,
but you don't like the salt grinder.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Grinding your salt fresh doesn't do anything, so pepper you
want to grind fresh. It's got oils in their essential
oils that create the flavor, and when they're exposed to air,
they break down. That's not how salt works. So grinding
your salt fresh, I guess if you like it, if
you like the aesthetic, I suppose, but it's actually not
creating any value for you. It's not making your food
(19:57):
any better.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Well.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Coincidentally, since we're talking useful items in the kitchen, this
episode of Flavor Files is brought to you by the
Willy Sonora Soupholder. The round and concave shape carefully coddles
your soup with superior heat retention, portion control, and spillage prevention.
The Willy Sonora Soupholder now with lids set a four
(20:20):
fifty two ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Is this a bowl? Are you selling a bowl? I
suppose quickly right, because I know we're about to have
time expire. Two things that I also hate one. A
glass cutting board, horrible, horrible idea. Wood cutting boards are perfect,
they're easy to clean. People who tell you they have
bacteria don't know what they're talking about. Are you a
(20:43):
dirty person? If you're not, then your word cutting board
is fine. And lastly is an egg separator. There are
these devices where you put an egg in and the
yoke gets held one way, the white goes the other way.
I seen one where it looks like a guy with
a giant nose and you put it in and the
yolks drip out of the nose like he's just got
a giant mucus filled cesspool. So that's disgusting just to
(21:07):
begin with. But also, you own an egg separator and
it is your left hand and your right hand. Just
crack an egg into your hand. The white'll fall through
the yolk you put in a bowl. This problem has
been solved by God. If it does one thing, avoid it.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
It's cheap junk. Dump it by the person. A good knife.
That's what they need coming up though, you'll flip the coin.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Here.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Let's talk about things you actually can get for somebody
who loves to cook, or put on your own list
for that person who never buys you what you actually want.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
We've taken a breath for Tanner to calm down. You
put all of the foolish things that are foisted on
people as supposedly helpful in the kitchen, and they're just
a waste of money. But we do want to get
something for the person who likes to cook, and so
let's talk about the positive side here, what food lovers
(21:56):
actually want and can use.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
There are so many wonderful things to give somebody who
loves food. One of the easiest is probably a cookbook.
I have how many cook I really literally don't know
how many cookbooks I have, and every single time I
get a new one, I'm excited bout it. I love
to look through the pictures. I love to get the
inspiration that comes out of the book, especially if the
(22:19):
book connects to a person or a place. If you
know somebody really loves a restaurant, or they really love
a country, or maybe they just came back from a
fantastic trip, a book for that region is such an
easy buy to get somebody that you know they're going
to love.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
Okay, well, let's give a couple of suggestions here. If
you are getting into cocktails, Death and Co.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Death and Co has a book. They have several books.
This is the original one with the black cover. This
is kind of my go to book for people who
ask me, Tanner, I want to get into bartending, even
if it's just at home, what's something I should buy?
And the Death and Co book it's a really great one.
It sort of walks you through, step by step the
(23:04):
tools you need for bartending, some of the techniques of bartending,
tells you how to go to the store and buy
some of the things you'll need, because nothing's more frustrating
than wanted to make something and then not having those ingredients.
And fortunately alcohol doesn't go bad, and so this can
be a really great gift to kind of get you
set up. And it also the back of it, it
(23:25):
does have their own recipes in there, and they are
a little bit more advanced. But the end of the
book is a lot of classics, like one hundred classics
or something like that that are all easy to make,
readily available ingredients and if a well stocked bar could
make any of them, and that's a really great way
for you to start learning. But if you're more on
the cooking side, of course, there's absolute classics. The French
(23:47):
Laundry Cookbook. That's a big classic. Not cheap, no, not cheap,
It's like seventy five dollars, but happiness has a price.
Another one I love to give maybe you know somebody
has a lot of cookbooks. A cookbook that I see
almost every chef I know has, but almost every home
cook I know doesn't, is a book called the Flavor Bible.
(24:07):
This is a really cool book. What it does is
it lists almost every single ingredient, and under that ingredient
it says ingredients and flavors that go really well with
that ingredient or flavor. The reason chefs use it is
you go to the market, you see that something's coming
into season, and you think, okay, it's seasonal. It looks great.
What do I do with it? This is the easiest
(24:29):
chef hack in the world. You open up the Flavor
Bible and then it'll tell you goes great with these
five things. Wonderful. Then I'll just buy those five things.
There's the dish. It's done all right.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
And this is something that won't give you any recipes,
but is just I think, so endlessly entertaining.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
It's kitchen Confidential.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Kitchen Confidential is probably one of the favorite books for
every chef that exists in North America. Maybe not in Mexico,
but in the US and Canada. Everybody loves this book,
and if you're going to gift it this year, you're
going to ask for it. I do recommend that you
get the audiobook version. The audiobook version is read by
Anthony Bourdain, who, of course is very entertaining. Not all
(25:11):
authors are, but he is, and the stories are so
personal to him. My favorite thing about that audiobook is
it feels like you're sitting down and he's just telling
you about his life. And there's nothing you can get
closer to having a beer with Anthony Bourdain than Necromancy.
But the second closest would be listening to this audiobook
with a beer in your hand.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Let's talk experiences you could give people.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Experiences are a wonderful gift, especially if they're experiences that
you're gifting to share with somebody. I'm going to take
you to this tasting menu restaurant we've been talking about.
We're going to attend a cocktail class together. There's a
place here in Dallas where they'll teach you how to
make mozzarella cheese and you stretch it by hand, the
really traditional Italian way. The gift of spending time with
(25:58):
people is really what you're gifting. You're orienting it around
a hobby and a passion that they have. But this
is a really wonderful gift if you're not sure, maybe
what to get a spouse or your girlfriend, boyfriend, maybe
to get a parent. My dad doesn't really want anything,
what does he want? He wants to spend time with you.
(26:18):
So taking a cheesemaking class, learning about how to brew
a beer, that's what you're gifting is ultimately those memories
and something. It's a little funny, but if you give
them this and you're also on it, it's sort of
a gift for you. So in that way, it was
fifty percent off.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
All right, let's talk about gear you should get, because
you certainly talked a lot in the previous segment about
gear you shouldn't get.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
Well, you mentioned the chef's knife. The chef's knife, this
is a classic to get somebody. But assuming you're buying
for somebody who likes to cook, and they might have
already had the knife handled. Really great pans are so nice,
Maybe this is a really great cast iron skillet. Maybe
they're just some good fry pans. If you know somebody
(27:02):
who's cooking in sort of dumpy or very old pants,
this happens to me. I have certainly had this conversation
with Grace where she says, do we need to own
this pan any longer? Look at it? And I say
that pan always works. Oh, the seer is so good.
It's like seasoned in to me. So but a nice pan.
I've said this before. It is an Anthony Bourdain quote.
(27:23):
A good fry pan. You know it's good if you
would trust it in home defense, it needs to have
enough weight. And speaking of weight, the digital scale is
also something a lot of people aren't using. I don't
know why I like to cook with metric in that
I don't really like cup, I don't like tablespoon. I
just prefer grams. I want every recipe to just be
(27:44):
in grams because then I know it's going to be
exactly the same every single time. Also, I hate it
when I have one tablespoon and I have five ingredients.
I have to measure, so I have to go from
like one and then keep cleaning it every time. Whereas
with a scale. I just shovel it on there. I
know what it is. You can also get them in
different weights, but I love them. But probably if I
(28:06):
was putting a list together for myself, I would say
a really great food.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
Processor, okay, also not cheap.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Also not cheap. Good ones aren't cheap. I would love
to have a Robocu. The other day, Grace is at
the restaurant and she just saw the Roboku tearing through
this prep project and she asked me. She goes, I
really want one of those. How much is that? Oh
it's twelve hundred dollars. Okay, So we might have to
wait on the food processor and maybe do something like
(28:33):
bar gear instead, which is another really great gift. Shaker
tins are a great gift. I especially like weighted ones.
You can get really light, cheaper ones, but ones that
have little weights in the bottom. I feel they seal
a little bit better. I like them better in my hand.
They don't explode. Nothing's more embarrassing than having a cocktail
erupt all over yourself and spilling all over the people
(28:54):
you're with, which has happened every once in a blue moon.
My bartenders soak themselves with a cocktail but as long
as it hits them and not a guest, I let
it go.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Okay, Well, then it's just entertainment for the guests. I guess.
What about in the consumables area for gifts.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
I mentioned earlier, bringing something like a really nice olive oil.
I do still think that that's a great option. But
there are other ones. Fancy salts. Maybe you don't need
the salt grinder, but there are salts that are made
with lots of spices or made with different herbs. I
got one one time that was finished with port, so
if you added it to something, you got a little
(29:30):
bit of that whininess to it. I really like that.
Or something that might have truffles in it. You know
they make truffle salts. They make truffle honeys. Honey is
a great one if you have a farmer's market person
who makes great honey. I think that's a really lovely
gift because if you're not familiar with the flavor of
single origin honeys versus that mass commodity honey that comes
(29:52):
in the bear, it's a completely different flavor. It's so
nice and I can't possibly do this segment without giving
a push for my friend Vermouth. Vermouth is misunderstood, it
is underappreciated. Good Vermuth would always be an appreciated gift.
In my home. I drink it neat, but it's a
very easy thing to buy and gift to somebody who
(30:13):
likes making cocktails, all right, because it's needed all the time.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
All right, And for if you're being invited to a
Christmas party, you're being invited by somebody who likes to
entertain at home.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
A couple of suggestions I mentioned before. Candles, things that
kind of set the vibe are always really nice. We
have a record player in our kitchen. We also the
Dallas Library has an amazing vinyl collection, so we actually
like to go pick up vinyl and put it on
while we're cooking. Again, kind of helps set the mood,
sets the vibe. But other things that sort of set
(30:43):
the table are also great. Getting really nice linen napkins,
proper napkins that people are going to wash and reuse.
That cloth feels so much better than a paper towel,
which is what I always use at home. With a
little napkin ring, maybe you could embroider it. This would
be such a beautiful accent to someone's home they probably
don't already have.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
This is our Christmas special. I'm Jerry Yegar. He's Tanner Agar.
He's a chef of Bartender, a restaurant tour and we
have done a segment from time to time called short
Order Cooking. It's just quick questions, quick answers, and I'm
always asking the questions and you're providing your expertise.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
I don't know what we're doing right now.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
We're going to ask Christmas themed questions and you're going
to answer, and I'm very curious about these. My first
question for you, you make a great beef Wellington, what
is the secret to making it great?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
If you can't afford to buy a high quality piece
of beef, don't bother doing it. And right now it
can be prohibitively expensive. It just requires a tender loin
of the top quality and if you've decided you can
spring for that for the group of people you're cooking for.
I think after that, all the ingredients and the time
and attention are worth it. And I would say one
(31:53):
more thing, get a good digital meat thermometer and use
that and don't forget about what do you call it?
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Ten or the aftercook you take.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It out of aairly over cooking.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
Yeah, take it out a little early, take it out.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
A little early. Okay. Next, you grew up in rural Canada,
in a town with fewer people than my graduating class.
What did Christmas Dinner look like?
Speaker 3 (32:13):
Back then?
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Christmas dinner looked very much like Christmas dinner looks now.
And that is we had the turkey and the stuffing,
and the mashed potatoes and the gravy, and if I
remember correctly, there were probably green beans and a few
things like that. But I will tell you that an
enduring Christmas memory for me would be about the time
(32:36):
we were starting to think about possibly having dessert. My
mom would throw her hands up in the air. It's like, oh,
the cranberry sauce. And then she'd bring it out and
we'd have to eat it.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So you speak highly of your mother normally when it
comes to cooking, and you say she makes the best
dinner rolls. Are there any dishes you're grateful that have
not been passed down through the generations, Yes, liver, that
was a big one at your house.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Well, you know what it is, my mom.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
I would put my mom's dinner roles against anybody, and
she would just she would pick a day. I think
she could feel the humidity in the air or something.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
She just had this magic way of making dinner rolls.
So I'm not trying to diss my mother, but she
couldn't cook liver. I think what she did was overcook
it maybe, but I just thought it was like having
shoes for dinner.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh so appetizing. But you know it must have been
basically organic, free range. You lived out in the middle
of nowhere, so at least it had to be good
quality liver when it started, right, I guess. Did it
ever snow so much at Christmas that you couldn't leave
the house? And did you ever see a polar bear?
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I have never seen a polar bear live because I'm
not from that far north in Canada, certainly northern Manitoba.
I'm from Manitoba and Northern Manitoba. Churchhill, for instance, is
actual polar bear countries, There's no doubt about that. But
they don't come so far south as you know, where
most of the people in Canada actually live. So I've
never actually seen one live in the wild of seen
(33:59):
them with the zo Did it snow too much where
we couldn't go.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
You know, we were pretty effective at snow removal, so
I think, you know, people just got it done and
figured it out.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
I'm very disappointed you haven't seen a polar bear. I
was hoping for a very gristly Christmas story about a
neighbor kid versus a polar.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Bear, but we haven't found that kid.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
We're going to do a true crime podcast next year
and we'll start with the story of where did the
kid go on the polar bear thing? But back to
our questions here. When I was a kid, one of
the strongest sort of Christmas traditions I remember was we
would eat fondue on Christmas Eve, and I thought everybody
did this right. You get your avant calendar, then you
put up your tree, and then you eat your fondue
(34:39):
and then Santa comes. I have since discovered nobody eats
fondue at Christmas Eve except for us. So how did
that get started as a tradition.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
I think it's probably because your mom is from Minnesota
and a kind of a Nordic background around there people
from the Nordic countries, And isn't that where fondu comes
from in the first place, and so that's maybe where
that came from. But when we did it, we did
we did sort of all the fun new things. We
(35:07):
did the meat and then oh, let's do the fruit
with the chocolate, the bread and cheese fondu.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So we did them all. It was a full on
fund Christmas Eve, wasn't it.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
It absolutely was, although I do remember it being more
Swiss inspired than Swedish inspired. But that's okay. We're in
too much of a hurry for pedantism. Is pedanticism a word?
Nothing's worse than messing up the word pedantic That is
so embarrassing for me. Do you remember we moved to
Kansas City. We moved all over the United States and
(35:39):
then up into Canada when I was growing up. We
moved to Kansas City. And what happened the Christmas Eve
slash Christmas Day that we moved into our house in
Kansas City.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
We had some kind of disaster. Was it a plumbing disaster?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
The pipes burst and flooded.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
I remember now what happened when we moved in. The
movers opened the garage door in order to take the
stuff through the garage and somehow there were some pipes
that were close to the entry from the garage and
they froze, and so it was literally Christmas Eve when
our pipes broke, and we knew no one in Kansas City.
I barely started at the job, so I didn't have
(36:18):
buddies or anybody I could call. We called our friend Brian,
who was actually our real estate agent, which is how
we met him. And if you want service from a
real estate agent, he came over. He also has a
degree in engineering.
Speaker 3 (36:30):
He came over and solved our problem on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Yeah, Brian was not our friend when this story started.
He was our realtor. We'd known him only from being
our realtor and he fixed up our house. Now he's
become a great friend. And shout out to Brian, we
really appreciate you. That was one of the more memorable
and less fun Christmases. I remember us having quite the
way to move into a new house. Next question for you.
(36:55):
Sometimes we would go out of town with Mom on Christmas,
but you would need to stay home and work. Those
radio people have a harsh schedule. So what is a
great meal if someone's making dinner for one this year
that they could make.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
Well, I like to do the same, although you know
you would probably not like this, But you can't do
a whole Christmas meal obviously for one person. But you
can do maybe a small chicken, a small turkey breast,
or maybe you could just get a couple of chicken
breasts and you can cook those it's similar enough, and
(37:31):
whip up some dressing, and maybe make your own cranberry sauce,
which on Flavor files. By the way, we have Tanner
doing that on television in Dallas's very simple and takes
about ten minutes. So I think it's just downsizing all
the regular ingredients, don't you.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
It's funny you say that because at Thanksgiving somebody asked me,
I don't want to do the whole thing, but I
want to eat Thanksgiving food. What would be something fun
for me to do? And I said, make burgers, take turkey,
make a turkey patty, do a little cranberry sauce, add
some chili's in there so it's got a little bit
of spice. Your bun is basically just stuffing that hasn't
(38:09):
hit it second life yet, okay, And then a French
fry instead of French fries, just make some mashed potatoes,
and that way you can feel like you did Thanksgiving
without having to do all of it. And that's exactly
what you're saying. Make yourself a version that feels nostalgic
but isn't overdone. And if you did want that cranberry
sauce recipe, check it out on our TikTok at flavor
(38:29):
files or Instagram flavor files pod. Next question, tell me
a Christmas story about you and your dad.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Well, here's something that we did every Christmas. And I
don't think you can do that anymore. But when I
was a kid, we would get in the car and
we would go driving around in the country looking for
a tree for my dad to hack down and bring
home as the Christmas tree. Like, I don't know that
you can get away with doing that sort of thing.
(38:57):
Maybe I'm in Toronto, you're in Dallas around well you
wouldn't find them anyway, but.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Think about it. But you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
That you can just go out in the countryside in
northern Ontario and chop down somebody's Christmas tree.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
But there was just you.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Know, the trees are the pine trees everywhere around Gilbert Plains, Manitoba,
and you could go out and there's one growing next
to the ditch, and hey, that looks pretty good.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
That's yeah, that's got a shape to it.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
And so we'd go out and my dad would take
out a hatchet and cut it down and we'd tie
it to the trunk or however we got at home.
And that's always how we got our Christmas tree. And
it was a nice outing.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
I didn't think you were going to tell me a
hunting story.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
A gathering story, not a hunting story.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
I guess. I guess. Okay, you taught me never to
lie when I was a kid, but you also told
me Santa was real.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
Have you ever read, Yes, Virginia, Santa Claus is real.
A young girl wrote to newspaper asking if Santa Claus
was real because some of the little boys at school,
little boys and girls at school were saying that Santa
Claus is not. And the editor wrote a wonderful editorial
on how Santa exists in our world and in our hearts.
(40:07):
And I would say, there's your answer. You can google
it now. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
Well, that's a really touching answer for something that was
just me baiting you. Okay, last question I've got for you.
Do you think Santa drinks bourbon at every house or
just when he was visiting mine?
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Growing up?
Speaker 1 (40:24):
Santa has a wide variety of taste, and being Santa,
he's so accommodating to others that he will go with
whatever you think is best.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
But you do suggest leaving a drink out for Santa.
There's so many milk and cookies. He would really love
a cocktail. Was it gone when you got up in
the morning, So were all the cookies. I was always
hoping he'd leave me a couple, but that never happened.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
Didn't get that memo.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Thank you so much for listening to Flavor Files this week.
That is our Christmas special. We will be back next week.
We are talking about New Year's Eve and the story
of Champagne. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
We'll see you soon.
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