@ForkReport - Hour 1

Technique of the Week: Essential pot & Pans. Guest- JT Reed and Leslie Nguyen. Trader Joes Parkinzg Lot Scrabble 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Saved. You'relistening to KFI AM six forty the fore
Purport on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Hey, Kayla, Yeah, Neil,
Uh, what do you call Pottthat's always late to the party?
What slow cooker? Let me teachyou had it? Let me teach you

(00:33):
who had it? Let me teachyou wh at it? It's a columnary.
Let me teach you. I neversaid all d Let me teach you
or any of them. Mark KFI AM six forty live everywhere in the

(00:53):
iHeartRadio app. Hey, everybody,it's the four Report, all Things Food,
beverage and beyond. I am yourwell fed host, Neil Saved.
Do you do? Thanks for hangingout today. Happy Saturday to you.
It is a chalk filled chalk chalkfilled that sounds right filled program for you
today. We celebrate food every singleSaturday for three hours from two to five

(01:17):
right here on KFI. We gotsome people we want you to know about,
some places we want you to knowabout that are doing some great things,
some anniversaries going on, some eventsgoing on, and more. So
go know where We're going to startwith Technique of the Week Today. It's
going to be pots and pans.Pots and pans must have. It is

(01:40):
very easy to think that you needevery pot and every pan in the world
because a lot of the sets thatyou see will tell you, hey,
you need this one hundred piece pot. Now, first of all, when
it says one hundred pieces, itdoesn't mean one hundred pans or one hundred
pots, or the combination that countslids that can any inserts that counts trivitz

(02:01):
if they have them, whatever itmight be. Now, some of those
just are beautiful. Those kits thathave those sets that have every single piece
are gorgeous. Finding the room muchmore difficult. So let's start with this.
We'll go through seven to ten.We'll see what we can get through

(02:23):
must have pots and pants. Andit also is very easy to think that
you can just that the most expensivepotter pan is the one that you need
and you can spend a fortune.Man. There are a lot of so
called top tierpots and pans, butquite honestly, there are many many options

(02:45):
that are priced fairly and will outshinethe more expensive ones. So don't only
think that the price is key onthis one, because that is not always
going to be the case. Tostart. This one might be obvious,
but the beautiful, the ever usefulstainless steel skillet. You need it with

(03:12):
a good size to it. It'sgotta be pretty large depending on your family
or what you like to cook.Now, don't always assume that the size
of the pan is based on howmany how many people you're cooking for.
Keep in mind if you are doingthings like caramelizing onions or things where you
want to get that pan nice andhot and to stay hot when you're sauteeing,

(03:37):
whether it be mushrooms, whatever itmight be, you're gonna need some
room in there. If you don'thave the room in that skillet, you're
gonna end up steaming things a lot, and that's not what you want.
So make sure that you've got anice size. It's gonna be large batches
of veggies. You're gonna be ableto do meat on it. So whether
you're pan roasting chicken or let's soyou're gonna use to brown something like a

(04:01):
pork tenderloin or put your brazing saucesin there. This is gonna do probably
a good chunk of what you wantto do in that kitchen of yours.
So you want it to be atry ply construction. That means it's gonna
squish stainless steel and aluminum together.Some will even do like stainless steel,

(04:27):
aluminum and copper. So what thatdoes is every one of those metals does
something different. One brings a heatquickly, one retains the heat. All
of these things. One is easierto clean. Stainless steel is much easier
to clean, but it's not alwaysthe best at conducting or holding the heat.

(04:49):
So they usually put that little tripleply, this little disk underneath,
and that's what ends up giving youthat that's gonna be key. Look for
that little sandwich on the bottom nicelevel. It also keep the pan from
warping under high heat or change inheat, and that's going to be great.

(05:11):
This also works very good on induction, and that's going to be key.
When you're using things, you alsohave to you also be able to
have what's the best way to saythis, Everything you use on induction has
to have iron in it. Soalthough some stainless steel will pull a lot

(05:33):
of that out so that it doesn'trust, you've got to be able to
stick a magnet to it for aninduction top to work f y a ten
inch cast iron, skillet cast iron, Thank you, Grandma. This is
the stuff that is passed down fromgeneration to generation to generation. Hopefully not

(05:59):
everybody gets that. Sometimes you've gotto go out and buy the new stuff,
or you've got to go out andbuy something on eBay or go to
a garage sale or a thrift shop. Just know what you're looking for is
going to be the older stuff.The older stuff is going to be smooth,
especially on the inside bottom surface.The casting process of cast iron is

(06:26):
usually done in sand. That meansthey have a wood mold usually or a
puck, which is the pan design. They put that into a very small
grain wet sand. It makes anegative mold and then they pour the molten

(06:46):
cast iron in it. Thankfully whenI was when I was young, they
had shop class and I had metal. Shop was one of the classes I
took, so I did. I'vedone cast many many times, and what
happens is you end up getting thatkind of dimpled surface. That's normal.
That's why when you buy cast ironthese days, I think anything after nineteen

(07:12):
in the early nineteen seventy somewhere youstart to see that dimpling. Back in
the day, they would mill itdown, so they would machine it down
in the center and be flat onthat surface. So if you find those,
you know that they're older and they'regoing to be really high quality.
Not that new stuff isn't it's justdifferent. If you get cast iron that

(07:35):
says it's preseason, that's wonderful.You go out there and you find your
typical stuff and you go, thisis great. Still, you're going to
want to take the time to seasonit yourself. So ten inch cast iron
skillet, this is enduring forever.Right, it can endure that heat.

(07:58):
It brings that eat up. Ittakes a little while to get as even
as you want it to. Butif you're crisping bacon, or you want
those golden brown crust, some pie, you want to make your delicious corn
bread, there, that's what youwant. And I know a lot of
people believe that maintaining maintaining cast ironis arduous, but you know, with

(08:22):
proper care, it becomes nonstick virtually, and it adds a charm and a
just a tank of a pan toyour kitchen arsenal. So keep that in
mind. Gosh, we've only gottenthrough two. I'm going a little slow,
So we'll come back and give yousome more pots and pants that you

(08:43):
need in your kitchen. You don'tneed every single pot and pan in your
life, trust me. I know. I go out there and I see
a copper pan, I'm like,that thing's beautiful. I gotta have it.
But unless you're going to be doinga lot of candy making, it
may not be the best pan foryou. So we're going through some pots
and pans for Technique of the Week. So go nowhere. Let's get the

(09:07):
latest news now with Ashley Johnson inthe KFI twenty four hour. Wait,
what that's Jackie Ray. That's notAshley Johnson. I where to god?
I thought I heard actually no,no, earlier on the station. Yeah
no, that don't start. Don'tsent stop. Good call there, Yeah

(09:37):
Jackie Ray in the KFI Swear togod, you now I'm supposed toss back
to you, and I don't know. I'm all confused. Now, okay,
the fat bald guy in talk radiois going to get you very confused.
Very can't tell your fat You're you'redeep in a shadow right now.
You look great to me. Okay, this is going great in the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. You're listeningto the Work Report with Nil Savedra on

(10:01):
demand from KFI AM six forty.Hey everybody, Nil Savedra with the four
Report on this Saturday afternoon. We'retalking about pots and pans and what you
need, what you don't need.It's listen. I like to spend I
do. I broke, I grewup broke, seven kids, and you

(10:26):
know, when you get older andyou've worked and you've got some money,
you want to spend it all thetime. You don't have to to have
what you need in your kitchen.You don't need million dollars sets. There
are some great sets out there,don't get me wrong, but I've learned
that pairing down is not a badthing either. So when it comes to

(10:48):
pots and pans, there's only ahandful that you absolutely positively need to have.
And we went over the first withstainless steel skillet, second ten inch
cast iron skillet. Number three wouldbe the ten inch nonstick skillet. Now
there's a lot of debate. Iuse a scan pan, which I like

(11:09):
quite a bit, not cheap,but there are arguments for buying a less
expensive nonstick pan because you probably shouldswitch them out once a year or so.
Because some of the chemicals on themstart to break down. And here
in California there's a lot of lawsthat keep you protected from all kinds of

(11:33):
you know, really ugly stuff.Now, of course you don't want to
be using your metal utensils on thesepots and pans as well. With some
exemption, like I said, scanpan, I believe you can use the
metal. You can use your metalutensils on it, and you're fine.
But delicate dishes like omelets, pancakes, you know, nonstick skillets, boom

(12:01):
easy pasy, lemon squeeze, youwant to opt probably for a lightweight aluminum.
It's gonna have great. Aluminium isanother one of those weird pan materials
because on a one hand, youhave a great conductor, but it's not

(12:24):
good for you. As far asit can it's acid will break it down.
Even tomatoes things like that are gonnastart breaking down. It can start
pitting, salt can do that toit. There, it can break down
and it's not so great and youcould start getting aluminum in your system,
which is something that you don't want. As a matter of fact, there

(12:46):
are folks, even Martha Stewart,if I remember correctly, we'll not use
aluminum foil. She uses parchment paperwhen she wraps things up, or you
know, silicone or glass or whatever. So keep that in mind as well.
Also, another thing you need toremember is don't overheat. Now smoking

(13:09):
a pan smoking when it's cast ironand you're seasoning it, that's a good
thing. An aluminum nonstick pan smokingnot a good thing. That means the
chemicals are breaking down. Also,it's non magnetic or non I need to
say, I want to say aphosphorus, but that it makes the bosphor

(13:31):
it Well, one's gonna glow inthe dark, and one is gonna stick
to a magnet. So you wantit to be able to be magnetic again
if you're going to use it onan induction surface top, So keep that
in mind if that's going to beimportant to you as well. A three
quart saucer, Now, a saucieris like a saucepan, except it doesn't

(13:54):
have the ninety degree angle. Okay, it's a softer swooping angle. So
you can get a spoon in there. You're not gonna get stuff in the
corner, and it's not going togetting hard to reach places where you can't.
One clean it or two, it'sgonna cook differently. So imagine this.

(14:15):
You have that hard ninety degree angleand you're gonna get stuff inside the
saucepan because it's got that hard ninetydegree angle, and it will cook differently,
or it won't stir properly. It'llstay in those corners. So saucy
a much better and for stirring andkeeping those things you know, moving right.

(14:35):
Fourteen inch walk. Now, awalk is wonderful to have, not
only its size, shape, it'sheating capability for doing stir fry, but
really because the size and the shapeof a walk, you can keep really
high heat in the center and thenas you go up the sides, the
curved sides, then it will changethe heat and ends up giving you an

(14:58):
area to keep things warm as you'rest over a high high heat an enamel
Dutch oven. And it doesn't meanand I man, I am a huge,
huge fan of Lake Crusee and Cruseand it's wonderful. Can it be
expensive, yes? Is it worthit? Absolutely great? Valuable for your

(15:20):
money, But it doesn't mean it'sthe only thing out there. Keep that
in mind. Lastly, let's landon a big one, a sixteen quartz
stock pot. This is where youcan boil your chicken on a Sunday when
you don't even know what to dowith it. I remember my mom doing
that all the time. It's notjust a Mexican thing either. A lot

(15:41):
of people boil their whole chicken onSunday and then figure out what you're gonna
do the remainder of the week.But it's big, sturdy. You can
do large batches of pasta sauce againthat you can freeze, and you can
use it as building your stocks foryour soups. It really is just one

(16:02):
of those things that you're gonna useover and over. So those are seven
or so breakdown that are gonna treatyou real good at home. That you
don't need to go nuts on.Stainless steel good stainless steel pan. I'd
spend a little extra money, LikeI said, you can go a little
cheaper on those non stick skillets,the ten inch non sick stick skillet because

(16:23):
you're gonna probably toss it out ormove to a new one. Yeah after
a year or so. Anyways,all right, stick around. More to
come on the four report on NeilSavedra. Let's get the news with Laila
Mohammad and I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Wow, I'm kidding. Wow.
She's gonna wait till I got touh, you know, just keep going

(16:47):
down line, She's gonna go.No, Jackie Ray, I feel bad.
I'm so sorry. But look,okay, so you can't even see
me, but look when you gotlad. This is what the Conway Show
complains about that I buy these newand design these new mic flags to cover
an entire face. Don't say it, Kayla, I will take it,

(17:10):
anybody. If anybody else was inhere, I'd be fine with it.
You're listening to the Fork Report withNil Savedra on demand from KF I am
six forty. Hey everybody, it'sthe Forkport all things food, beverage and
beyond. I am your well fedhost, Neil Savedra. How do you
do? Happy Saturday to you?As we have slid in and passed the

(17:34):
middle of May. Stand up,Kayla and slap my face. No,
no, sheesh, I've never seenyou move that fast when we have guests,
when I need some information on somethingthat invitation not today. All right,

(17:59):
very quick, she is, butI will tell you a very exciting
story that I saw pop up wasthe anniversary of a place that we've been
talking about and had the pleasure ofhaving the good folks from on the show
many times. And that is tenyears of business on Wednesday, May twenty
second for Bosscat Kitchen and Libations therein Irvine on Lake Shore, and we've

(18:25):
got JT on the phone. Wecouldn't get Leslie. It's there on the
phone today, So because they're outthere in OC, we're giving them a
break from driving in JT. Howare you. I'm doing great. Congratulations
a long time, Thank you somuch. Proud of you guys. Honestly,
you know, there's a little bitof shock factor for us too.

(18:45):
I mean, we started it tenyears ago, I hoping we'd make it
a year, and here we areten years later. Yeah, I mean
and you had a location out inTexas as well, right, that is
correct. Yeah, we've since expandedhere in Texas. We have three restaurants.
We have two Boss Gut Kitchens andone time Susheet here in Houston,
and we're currently in development of anotherone in Dallas. How's everybody doing with

(19:10):
all the crazy ass weather. Honestlydoing great. It did kind of stare
through downtown it tore through downtown Houstona little bit, but overall, restaurants
are fine, family fine. Thecity is back to normal, so nice,
balmy ninety nine degrees today down here. You know, I remember there

(19:30):
was some weather and some craziness goingon. Gosh, maybe it was during
the pandemic or something as well.I mean, I just know that that
Texas location has taken it a coupleof times on the chin. But the
fact that you're celebrating ten years ofbusiness, your one location there at lake

(19:52):
Shore is going to transform from thewonderful, eatery, vivacious party atmosphere to
even a more wonderful, eatery andvivacious place as you celebrate this coming up
on Wednesday, what are folks toexpect? Yeah, Honestly, Leslie came

(20:15):
to me. We've never really doneanniversary parties, and Leslie said, you
know, this is a big one. I think we should really lean into
this one. And I agreed,and we were just hoping to get two
or three hundred people to show up. We have a beautiful lawn State at
lake Shore. They're a great partnerof ours, and we found out the
other day through Jen Jennifer Wales ourpr Oh yeah, we live we have

(20:37):
seven hundred. We have seven hundredplus guests in counting coming, So this
is becoming quite the affair. Wow, that's ridiculous. And you're going to
be able to accommodate all this craziness, Well, we are. We're lucky.
We have some great partners. Wehave some great spirit partners with Jim
Beam, Campari, etc. That'llbe showing up doing some pastings. And

(21:00):
then we've actually invited some of thelocal community in that area, Pandor one
of the best bakeries in southern California, Lifetime Fitness, who's a partner of
ours there. Our restaurants, ourMediterranean restaurant from down the street will be
there. So we're very excited tocelebrate with everybody. Excellent. We'll talk
about that menu a little bit withus. Yeah, so every restaurant that

(21:26):
we have out there will be samplingone sweet, one savory, a cocktail.
We really want to give the peoplethat are coming not just Boss that
kitchen, but just a celebration ofhospitality, celebration of you know, kind
of twenty twenty four, you know, as the economy continues to shift.
We're so lucky to have such agreat customer base and we're excited to celebrate

(21:49):
with everybody. So we have sevenor eight amazing whiskey partners that will be
there sampling. We have a champagnetoast for everybody who shows up twenty one
plus obviously, and then we havea variety of sweet and savory items for
everybody to munch on and celebrate.Well the live band, we'll have DJs
inside, so it's gonna be quitethe festivities. That sounds wonderful. JT.

(22:12):
You know what hearing the Misfits appropriatelyas the bumper music coming into talking
with you. You and Leslie,the partners there at Boss Kat Kitchen,
have been through a lot together andseparately. And you know, who would
have thought that two people, twosober folks, would own such a you

(22:36):
know, a high end whiskey experiencealong with fantastic food. How do you
think that strength plays into the successand the ten years that you're celebrating this
May twenty second on Wednesday, Neil, great question and one word authenticity.

(22:56):
You know, both Leslie and Iare extremely flawed. We talk about that,
we talk about our sobriety. Weuse that as a tool with our
staff but we're just very authentic people. We're very down to earth. You
know, do we anticipate coming hereand be some big hospitality company in five
states. No, But we've justmuscled through it from COVID to coming out

(23:17):
of COVID, new states, newopportunities, and trying to maintain the brand
standard that we've created into the California. And I just we have a great
foundation of great culture within our companythat promotes other flawed people like us into
leadership positions and I think that's beenthe core DNA of our success. Yeah,
and it shows and that connection withthe community. You can't help but

(23:42):
see that when a place comes toa neighborhood of any kind, regardless of
what state you're in, when yousay we're not here because we can afford
the rent, We're not here becausewe like the street, We're not here
because we like the neighborhood. Butit's like we're here as we love the
city, we love the state,we love the area, and we want

(24:03):
to be a part of it.You can't help but wish success on people
like that. So I know weonly have you over the phone, but
I just wanted to thank you fortaking the time to come on, tell
people how they can participate on Wednesday, and if they can't get there on
Wednesday to celebrate in the ten years, what's the best way for them to

(24:26):
experience Bosscat absolutely, and thank youonce again for giving us this platform.
You've always been very good to usand your viewership has been such a huge
supporter. So Wednesday the twenty second, you can go to our website bosscat
Kitchen dot com and u k RSVPto the party again seven hundred plus people.
We're not capping it, so asmany people that want to come as

(24:48):
possible, we'd love to have you. You can follow all things on Instagram,
LinkedIn, TikTok, all of thoseat bosskt Kitchen so very happy to
have you. Check us out.If you haven't seen this before, We're
just down to earth, great whiskey, great American food, and an amazing,
amazing vibe. So thank you.Well. I'm proud of you guys.

(25:11):
You know I love you guys,and I root for you constantly.
I love what you and Leslie havedone and the attitudes in which you do
it with. Give my best toLeslie and of course to Jennifer, and
we'll talk again soon. My friend. Thanks for calling JT. Thank you,
Neil, I appreciate you guys,have a great day. Congratulations.
You know, it is nice tosee success and you know when you follow

(25:32):
JT, you follow Leslie and yousee the things they've gone through in life
and that they've you know, truesurvivors and by choice, really making themselves
better in the brands they have.We'll get them in studio again since we
have more time to talk. Butalways nice to chat with JT and Leslie.
We get the opportunity Bosscat Kitchen andLibations in Irvine celebrating ten years.

(25:59):
How about that. You're listening toThe Fork Report with Nil Savadra on demand
from KFI AM six forty. NeilSavadra, your friendly neighborhood Fork Reporter with
you on the Fork Report today,And somewhere there's someone who's listening to the
show for the first time, goinguh was that Ian McKay and minor threat

(26:19):
on AM radio And the answer wouldbe use thanks for hanging out. So
I came across this article today thatmade me laugh. Have I been to
a Trader Joe's? Yes? Absolutely? Do I like a lot of their
food? Sure? Do? DoI shop at Trader Joe's regularly. I'd
say no for a couple of reasons. The parking just sucks, and I

(26:44):
don't want to deal with that parking. The reality of the parking is that
Trader Joe's enable to keep itself small, being a small grosser in your neighborhood,
which is what their goal is.They buy these small They don't go
into like old grocery stores and saywe'll take over this grocery store. They
find these small areas, and whatcomes with a small area, especially here

(27:10):
in California, small area comes asmall parking lot. So you only get
a couple of parking spaces per squarefootage or whatever the calculation is. I
don't know, and that bugs me, you know what I think. Yes,
there are times in life that youneed to fight. There is there's
times you got to defend your family, you gotta defend yourself, your home.

(27:33):
But you don't need to fight toget into a grocery store. When
you get to that point in lifewhere you feel like you've got to throw
hands to go and find out whateverthe new pumpkin spice thing is, then
your life is in a much differentplace than it needs to be. However,
I'm humored by the people that likeswear by It, not the people

(27:55):
that go in there. We allgo in there. There's some great stuff
in their period, but like swearby It, like that's their grocery store.
And I said, you know,you're not going to find Kellogg's in
there. Okay, you're not gonnafind everything that you grew up with.
I used to be a trader Joe'sloyalist, and I would not go anywhere
else. I just felt like,they don't have any unhealthy options, which

(28:15):
are my weakness, so I would. Of course they do. They got
cookies in there. Yeah, they'rehealthier versions of it. They're not healthier
versions. The packaging helps me,yes, the path yea, then eat
the packaging. Well that that fibI said former, I didn't learn that
that's just a gimmick too that theydo. They make it seem that way,
but it's not. That's the equivalentsaying that is the equivalent of these

(28:37):
dumb guys that go in there andthink that they're being flirted with by the
cashiers. Okay, they're not flirtingwith us. No. So this article
that I read made me laugh,and it's it comes down to TikTok.
But in the Daily Dot it breaksdown what one experience, you know,

(28:59):
kind of cold experience. Are thepeople that work there and the trader Joe's
workers say, Hey, we're notflirting with you. We're judging you.
We're judging you because you're supposed tobag your own groceries. We're judging you
based on what you grab, We'rejudging you on you know, how you're
dressed or any of these things.They're just judging you. And they're they're

(29:22):
supposed to talk to you and benice. I don't know if it's a
rule that they're not supposed to weardeodorant, but that's something there too.
So they you're paying, you know, more sometimes for regular items and they
mock you on that. But theyhave a lot of attitude towards people that

(29:48):
shop in there too. So evenjust because they're smiling and they look like
they're being nice, they're judging you. That smile is a judge smile.
They're putting that bag in front ofyou on a re and yes, they
judge you in You don't bring yourown bags. Is this new to you?
Well, I never bring my ownbags. I don't bag them myself.
I just you're supposed to. There'ssomebody. No, it's traded.

(30:12):
Joe's bag your own stuff. Wow. Yeah, and most people don't know
that now most places you've got tobag your own stuff these days. It
bugs the hell out of me.Yeah. Well it's just like, well,
somebody's hired there for a reason bagthe groceries, and they know how

(30:33):
to bag them. I squashed myown eggs. It's just not my expertise
what you do in the privacy ofyour own home. Kayla is on you.
You've been listening to The Fork Report. You can always hear us live
on KFI AM six forty two tofive pm on Saturday, and anytime on
demand on the iHeartRadio app.