@ForkReport - Hour 1

Technique of the Week- Essential Pots and Pans. Egg Price Soar. Trader Joes Parkking Lot

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 got it? Let me teach you

(00:33):
at it, Nathan, Let meteach you at it. It's a columnar
Let me teach you all. Letme tea or any of them are k
IF I am six forty live everywherein the iHeart Radio app. Hey,

(00:55):
everybody, it's the four Report allthings Food, beverage and beyond. I
am your well fed host, NeilSaved or how do you do? Thanks
for hanging out today. Happy Saturdayto you. It is a chalk filled
chalk chalk filled that sounds right filledprogram for you today. We celebrate food
every single Saturday for three hours fromtwo to five right here on KFI.

(01:18):
We got some people we want youto know about, some places we want
you to know about that are doingsome great things, some anniversaries going on,
some events going on, and more. So go know where. We're
going to start with Technique of theWeek Today. It's going to be pots
and pans, pots and pans musthave. It is very easy to think

(01:41):
that you need every pot and everypan in the world because a lot of
the sets that you see will tellyou, hey, you need this one
hundred piece pot. Now, firstof all, when it says one hundred
pieces, it doesn't mean one hundredpans or one hundred pots, or the
combination that counts lids, that countany inserts, that counts trivits if they

(02:01):
have them, whatever it might be. Now, some of those just are
beautiful. Those kits that have thosesets that have every single piece are gorgeous.
Finding the room much more difficult.So let's start with this. We'll
go through seven to ten. We'llsee what we can get through must have

(02:23):
pots and pants. And it alsois very easy to think that you can
just that the most expensive potter panis the one that you need, and
you can spend a fortune. Man, there are a lot of so called
top tier pots 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 you'regonna use to brown something like a pork

(04:01):
tenderloin or put your brazing sauces inthere. This is gonna do probably a
good chunk of what you want todo in that kitchen of yours. So
you want it to be a tryply construction. That means it's gonna squish
stainless steel and aluminum together. Somewill even do like stainless steel, aluminum

(04:29):
and copper. So what that doesis every one of those metals does something
different. One brings a heat quickly, one retains the heat. All of
these things. One is easier toclean. Stainless steel is much easier to
clean, but it's not always thebest 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 you thatthat's gonna be key. So for that
little sandwich on the bottom nice level. It also keep the pan from warping
under high heat or change in heat, 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 say this, Everything you use on induction has to
have iron in it. So althoughsome stainless steel will pull a lot of

(05:33):
that out so that it doesn't rust, you've got to be able to stick
a magnet to it for an inductiontop to work f y a ten inch
cast iron, skillet cast iron,Thank you, Grandma. This is the
stuff that is passed down from generationto generation to generation. Hopefully not everybody

(05:59):
gets Sometimes you've got to go outand buy the new stuff, or you've
got to go out and buy somethingon eBay or go to a garage sale
or a thrift shop. Just knowwhat you're looking for is going to be
the older stuff. The older stuffis going to be smooth, especially on
the inside bottom surface. The castingprocess of cast iron is usually done in

(06:27):
sand. That means they have awood mold usually or a puck, which
is the pan design. They putthat into a very small grain wet sand.
It makes a negative mold and thenthey pour the molten cast iron in
it. Thankfully, when I waswhen I was young, they had shop

(06:55):
class and I had metal. Shopwas one of the classes I took,
so I did. I've done castmany many times, and what happens is
you end up getting that kind ofdimpled surface. That's normal. That's why
when you buy cast iron these days, I think anything after nineteen in the
early nineteen seventy somewhere you start tosee that dimpling. Back in the day,

(07:17):
they would mill it down so theywould machine it down in the center
and be flat on that surface.So if you find those, you know
that they're older and they're going tobe really high quality. Not that new
stuff isn't it's just different. Ifyou get cast iron that says it's preseason,

(07:38):
that's wonderful. You go out thereand you find your typical stuff and
you go, this is great.Still, you're going to want to take
the time to season it yourself.So ten inch cast iron skillet, this
is enduring forever. Right, itcan endure that heat. It brings that

(07:59):
heat up. It takes a littlewhile to get as even as you want
it to. But if you're crispingbacon, or you want those golden brown
crust some pie, you want tomake your delicious corn bread there, that's
what you want. And I knowa lot of people believe that maintaining maintaining
cast iron is arduous, but youknow, with proper care, it becomes

(08:24):
nonstick virtually, and it adds acharm and a just a tank of a
pan to your kitchen arsenal. Sokeep that in mind. Gosh, we've
only gotten through two. I'm goinga little slow, So we'll come back
and give you some more pots andpants that you need in your kitchen.
You don't need every single pot andpan in your life. Trust me.

(08:48):
I know. I go out thereand I see a copper pan, I'm
like, that thing's beautiful. Igotta have it. But unless you're going
to be doing a lot of candymaking, that may not be the best
pan for you. So we're goingthrough some pots and pans for Technique of
the Week. So go know whereyou're listening to The Fork Report with Nil

(09:09):
Savedra on demand from KFI AM sixforty. Hey everybody, Nil Savedra with
the Fork Report on this Saturday afternoon. We're talking about pots and pans and
what you need, what you don'tneed. It's listen. I like to
spend I do. I broke.I grew up broke, seven kids,

(09:33):
and you know, when you getolder and you've worked and you've got some
money, you want to spend itall the time. You don't have to
to have what you need in yourkitchen. 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 nota bad thing either. So when it

(09:56):
comes to pots and pans. There'sonly a handful that you absolutely positively need
to have, and we went overthe first with stainless steel skillet. Second
ten inch cast iron skillet. Numberthree would be the ten inch non stick
skillet. Now there's a lot ofdebate. I use a scan pan,
which I like quite a bit,not cheap, but there are arguments for

(10:22):
buying a less expensive nonstick pan becauseyou probably should switch them out once a
year or so because some of thechemicals on them start to break down.
And here in California there's a lotof laws that keep you protected from all
kinds of really ugly stuff. Now, of course you don't want to be

(10:46):
using your metal utensils on these potsand pans as well, with some exemption.
Like I said, scan pan,I believe you can use the metal.
You can use your metal utensis onit. You're fine. But delicate
dishes like omelets, pancakes, youknow, nonstick skillets, boom easy pas,

(11:11):
lemon squeeze, you want to optprobably for a lightweight aluminum. It's
going to have great Aluminium is anotherone of those weird pan materials because on
a one hand, you have agreat conductor, but it's not good for

(11:33):
you as far as it can.It's acid will break it down. Even
tomatoes things like that are going tostart breaking down. It can start pitting.
Salt can do that to it.It can break down and it's not
so great, and you could startgetting aluminum in your system, which is
something that you don't want. Asa matter of fact, there are folks,

(11:56):
even Martha Stewart, if I remembercorrectly, we'll not use aluminum foil.
She uses parchment paper when she wrapsthings up, or you know,
silicone or glass or whatever. Sokeep that in mind as well. Also,
another thing you need to remember isdon't overheat now smoking a pan smoking

(12:18):
when it's cast iron and you're seasoningit, that's a good thing. An
aluminum, nonstick pan smoking not agood thing. That means the chemicals are
breaking down. Also, it's nonmagnetic or non I had to say,
I want to say a phosphorus,but that it makes the busphor it.

(12:41):
Well, one's gonna glow in thedark and one is going to stick to
a magnet. So you want itto be able to be magnetic again if
you're going to use it on aninduction surface top, So keep that in
mind, if that's going to beimportant to you as well. A three
quart saucyer now is like a saucepan, except it doesn't have the ninety degree

(13:03):
angle. Okay, it's a softerswooping angle, so you can get a
spoon in there. You're not gonnaget stuff in the corner, and it's
not going to getting hard to reachplaces where you can't one clean it or
two it's gonna cook differently. Soimagine this. You have that hard ninety

(13:24):
degree angle and you're gonna get stuffinside the saucepan because it's got that hard
ninety degree angle and it will cookdifferently, or it won't stir properly.
It'll stay in those corners. Sosaucia much better and for stirring and keeping
those things you know, moving right. Fourteen inch walk now, a walk

(13:46):
is wonderful to have, not onlyits size shape, it's heating capability for
doing stir fry, but really becausethe size and the shape of a walk,
you can keep really high heat inthe center, and then as you
go up the sides, the curvedsides, then it will change the heat
and ends up giving you an areato keep things warm. As you're stirring

(14:09):
over a high high heat an enamelDutch oven. And it doesn't mean and
I man, I am a huge, huge fan of Lake Crusee and Cruse
and it's wonderful. Can it beexpensive, yes? Is it worth it?
Absolutely great, valuable for your money, But it doesn't mean it's the

(14:31):
only thing out there. Keep thatin mind. Lastly, let's land on
a big one, a sixteen quartzstockpot. This is where you can boil
your chicken on a Sunday when youdon't even know what to do with it.
I remember my mom doing that allthe time. It's not just the
Mexican thing either. A lot ofpeople boil their whole chicken on Sunday and

(14:52):
then figure out what you're gonna dothe remainder of the week. But it's
big, sturdy. You can dolarge batches of pasta sauce again that you
can freeze, and you can useit as building your stocks for your soups.
It really is just one of thosethings that you're gonna use over and
over. So those are seven orso breakdown that are gonna treat you real

(15:18):
good at home that you don't needto go nuts on stainless steel, good
stainlessteel pan. I'd spend a littleextra money, Like I said, you
can go a little cheaper on thosenon stick skillets, the ten inch non
si stick skillet, because you're gonnaprobably toss it out or move to a
new one, yeah after a yearor so. Anyways, you're listening to

(15:41):
the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra ondemand from KF I am six forty.
Hey, everybody, it is theForek Report. Boom boom goes the dynamite.
Those are good, those are good. Boom. It is a Fork
Report on Neildra. Love me somebooms, Give me some boe boom A

(16:02):
right, pa bom down. Themore boom, the better, I say.
We talking about brunch, and thenyou come across well brunch eggs are
going to be obviously part of that. What's going on with the eggs.
They're constantly spiking here and there.Is this something we're going to be dealing

(16:23):
with just now or is this somethingwe're going to be dealing with for some
time. Well that that we're goingto have to wait and see. But
this is what's going on right now. It's the bird flu. It's making
eggs more expensive period. This hashappened in the past, it's going to
happen again, and it's probably goingto go back and forth for a while.

(16:45):
So this type of flu is affectinghens which lay eggs. The H
five N one bird flu it spreadover ninety million chickens across almost every single
state. And this is since twentytwenty two. So here we are a
couple of years later and slowly movingtowards twenty twenty five, and we're seeing

(17:07):
it go up and down. Alsoaffecting dairy cows, with over thirty groups
of cows in nine states dealing withthe flu at this very moment. So
the last time the bird flew hitfarms in the US was early twenty twenty
two, and back then eight priceswere more than doubled in a year,
reaching four dollars and eighty two centsor so for a dozen eggs in January

(17:30):
twenty twenty three. We all rememberthat. Now during there was all those
memes too, like people having iton, you know, an egg on
a wedding ring, engagement ring insteadof a diamond. We remember, ah,
such good fun. But during aprevious bird flew outbreak in twenty fourteen
twenty fifteen, egg prices also wentup a lot, so they continue to

(17:53):
move when this particular flu pops up. Prices now aren't as high as they
were in January twenty twenty three,but they've been going up since last August
and they continue to do so.So back then, a dozen large egg
costs a little over two bucks.By March they were almost three dollars,
which nearly forty percent or so more. A few years ago, and nearly

(18:18):
twenty twenty, a dozen eggs wereonly a buck forty six an a on
average, huge difference. So theh five and when bird flu very contagious,
very dangerous for hands. But thisisn't just about bird flu. It
shows a bigger problem with the wayour farming system is now and it continues

(18:42):
to be more problematic. So bigcompanies control most of the egg market.
That leaves very little room for problemslike disease. So many animals are kept
close together on big farms, makesit easy for this disease to spread,
which is all ready easy to spread. So most of the country's egg laying

(19:03):
hens are on just you know,I don't know. They're about three hundred
and fifty big farms or so.These farms use similar animals that produce a
lot of eggs, but this meansthat they're more vulnerable to this disease or
any disease for that matter that comessweeping through. So when a hen gets

(19:26):
sick, it's not just that henthat has to go down. Many others
have to be killed to stop tothe disease from spreading, so you have
these layers of death. Honestly,this has happened to eighty five million birds
since twenty twenty two, and thatmeans that system breakdown. This seems kind

(19:51):
of crass because it's the death ofthese animals, but also leads to us
paying more for eggs. It's notjust the disease though, causing the price
to go up. Egg producers arealso raising prices more than they need to
to make a profit. This isone of the concerns and these watchdog groups
are poking around to find out more. An example, Brimle Cowmaine Foods made

(20:17):
a lot of money in twenty twentythree by raising prices, but they didn't
sell many more eggs than before.In twenty twenty three, several big food
companies like Craft General Mills won almostan eighteen million dollar lawsuit. They said
egg producers were making prices higher bylimiting the number of eggs available, trying

(20:37):
to control that flow of the merchandiseand therefore boosting up those numbers. So
in the past, the government hadrules make sure these food prices stayed fair
for farmers and of course for consumersas well. Those rules changed in the
nineteen seventies. Big farms became morecommon, and that causes an issue as
well. I mean our farming Godblessed farmers, but the factory farms are

(21:03):
not the best way to do thingsand causes more problems. So our food
system so connected to this stuff thatit causes problems throughout the world. So
all kinds of issues, disease,war, any of these things make things
go up and up and up.The Biden administration now is trying to fix

(21:23):
that some of these problems, lookinginto by enforcing laws better. And that
means some bills in Congress can eventuallyhelp stop companies from raising prices too much,
so we don't have to keep goingup and down and up and down
in this cycle of problems and higherprices. So we shall see these changes.
Hopefully we'll protect animals to a certaindegree. I mean they're still working

(21:48):
for us. Some people don't likethat or becoming our food. Others don't
like that as well, but alsoprotect workers at us the consumers fingers crossed.
You're listening to The Fork Report withNils of on demand from KFI AM
six forty. Neil Savadri, yourfriendly neighborhood folk reporter with you on the
Fork Report today, And somewhere there'ssomeone who's listening to the show for the

(22:10):
first time. Going was that IanMcKay and minor threat on AM radio and
the answer would be yes, thanksfor hanging out. So I came across
this article today that made me laugh. Have I been to a Trader Joe's?
Yes? Absolutely? Do I likea lot of their food? Sure

(22:33):
do? Do I shop at TraderJoe's regularly? I'd say no for a
couple of reasons. The parking justsucks and I don't want to deal with
that parking. The reality of theparking is that Trader Joe's enable to keep
itself small, being a small grocerin your neighborhood, which is what their
goal is. They buy these smallThey don't just go into like old grocery

(22:59):
stores and say we'll take over thisgrocery store. They find these small areas,
and what comes with a small area, especially here in California, small
area comes a small parking lot.So you only get a couple of parking
spaces per square footage or whatever thecalculation is. I don't know, and
that bugs me, you know whatI think. Yes, there are times

(23:22):
in life that you need to fight. There is there's times you gotta defend
your family, you gott to defendyourself, your home. But you don't
need to fight to get into agrocery store. When you get to that
point in life where you feel likeyou've got to throw hands to go and
find out whatever the new pumpkin spicething is, then your life is in

(23:45):
a much different place than it needsto be. However, I'm humored by
the people that like swear By It, not the people that go in there.
We all go in there. There'ssome great stuff in their period,
but like swear By It, likethat's their grocery store. And I said,
you know, you're not going tofind Kellogg's in there. Okay,
you're not gonna find everything that yougrew up with. I used to be

(24:07):
a Trader Joe's loyalist, and Iwould not go anywhere else. I just
felt like, they don't have anyunhealthy options, which are my weakness,
so I would. Of course theydo. They got cookies in there.
Yeah, they're healthier versions of it. They're not healthier versions. The packaging
helps me, yes, the pathYeah, then eat the packaging. Well
that's fib, I said former.I didn't learn that that's just a gimmick

(24:30):
too, that they do. Theymake it seem that way, but it's
not nice. That's the equivalent sayingthat is the equivalent of these dumb guys
that go in there and think thatthey're being flirted with by the cashiers.
Okay, they're not flirting with us. No. So this article that I
read made me laugh and it's itcomes down to TikTok. But in the
Daily Dot it breaks down what oneexperience, you know, kind of cold

(24:56):
experience. Are the people that workthere, and the Trader Joe's workers say,
hey, we're not flirting with you. We're judging you. We're judging
you because you're supposed to bag yourown groceries. We're judging you based on
what you grab. We're judging youon you know, how you're dressed or
any of these things. They're justjudging you. And they're they're supposed to

(25:22):
talk to you and be nice.I don't know if it's a rule that
they're not supposed to wear deodorant,but that's something there too. So they
you're paying, you know, moresometimes for regular items and they mock you
on that. But they have alot of attitude towards people that shop in

(25:45):
there too. So even just becausethey're smiling and they look like they're being
nice, they're judging you. Thatsmile is a judge smile. They're putting
that bag in front of you ona red And yes, they judge you
when you don't bring your own bags. Is this new to you? Well,
I never bring my own bags.I don't bag them myself. I

(26:08):
just burn you're supposed to. There'ssomebody, No, it's traded. Joe's
bag your own stuff. Wow.Yeah, and most people don't know that
now most places you've got to bagyour 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 to

(26:33):
bag them I squashed my own eggs. It's just not my expertise what you
do in the privacy of your ownhome. Kayla is on you. You've
been listening to The Fork Report.You can always hear us live on KFI
AM six forty two to five pmon Saturday, and anytime on demand on
the iHeartRadio app.