Tariffs, Turkey & What’s Really on America’s Plate

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode Title: Tariffs, Turkey & What’s Really on America’s Plate
Date: November 6, 2025
Hosts: Lauren Gruel & Chef Andrew Gruel (guest hosts)
Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this special episode, Lauren and Chef Andrew Gruel explore the intersection of American food, policy, and cultural quirks. They delve into the latest U.S.–China trade developments under the Trump administration, raise concerns about America’s food security, react to viral news from across the country, and serve up both culinary tips and whimsical commentary. Throughout, the hosts blend irreverent humor with real concern about what’s really on America’s plate—quite literally and figuratively.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. U.S.–China Tariff Deal: What’s at Stake?

[04:00–05:35]

• Trade Agreement Details:

  • China commits to purchasing 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans this year and at least 25 million tons annually for the next three years.
  • In exchange, the U.S. will reduce tariffs by about 10% on Chinese goods.
  • Broader aspects include rare earth export controls and cooperation to curb fentanyl precursor chemicals.

• Why It Matters:

  • Tariff wars have hit American farmers hard—especially soybean producers.
  • “We were trying to make deals with other countries to sell them the soybeans. But now that Trump has been on this kind of East Asia tour... he's going to reduce tariffs... in exchange for [China] agreeing to buy the soybeans back.” (Chef Andrew, 04:12)

• Food Security Concerns:

  • Overreliance on monocrops leaves the U.S. vulnerable if a major buyer like China pulls out.
  • Need for diversification and decentralization in agriculture seen as a national security issue.
  • “We need to diversify and decentralize our food supply and our food system so that we are not just self sufficient, but we are also preventing some sort of a national issue...” (Chef Andrew, 07:21)

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2. Import Dependency & Food Safety

[08:44–09:44]

• Startling Statistics:

  • Over 90% of U.S. seafood is now imported (up from 80% fifteen years ago).
  • Not just for direct consumption—pet foods and the pet food industry depend on these imports.

• Hypothetical Threats:

  • What if import sources simply stopped shipping to the U.S.?
  • Concerns over supply chain contamination: Example given of radioactive shrimp traced to Chinese shipping containers.
  • “If it took us having the product in the supply chain to figure it out, how do we know that one of these countries... doesn't put something in our food supply... and creates like a national disaster?” (Chef Andrew, 07:48)

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3. Security and Social Memes

[10:54–15:24]

• Home Security:

  • Recent home invasion in California by men posing as FBI agents sparks fears.
  • Advice: Stay vigilant, use door cameras, and limit answering the door.

• Viral Moments:

  • Detroit cop appears pantless at a virtual court hearing—demonstrates the ongoing quirks of remote work.

• Language Culture:

  • Dictionary.com’s word/phrase of the year is “6, 7” (popularized from a song and viral trends among kids).
  • Discussion on how linguistic memes become nationwide phenomena.
    • “I saw the videos at In N Out Burger... when they say 67 or now they're saying 6, 7, the whole entire In N Out Burger goes crazy.” (Chef Andrew, 15:35)

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4. Corporate Social Media (and Cracker Barrel’s Comeback)

[18:01–19:24]

• Cracker Barrel’s Viral Tweet:

  • After a satirical image of the White House connected to a Cracker Barrel goes viral, Cracker Barrel responds with humor: “You definitely don’t want us to get anywhere near a redesign.”
  • Public responds positively, praising authenticity and self-deprecation.
  • “I read through the comments and everyone's like, you're back, Cracker Barrel... you have saved yourself.” (Chef Andrew, 18:32)

• Lesson:

  • Sometimes owning your mistakes and showing humility is better PR than trying to spin them.

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5. WTF Stories & Culinary Oddities

[20:06–22:16]

• Ant-Fermented Yogurt at a Michelin-Starred Restaurant:
  • Bacteria and enzymes from ants used to ferment milk—an “ancient recipe.”
  • Both hosts are appalled, question the culinary necessity and food safety.
  • “Leave it to Michelin to be like, you get a Michelin star for that. That is so avant garde. That is just so out there.” (Chef Andrew, 20:54)

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6. Stuff They’d “86” (Throw Out): Food & Fashion Trends

[22:21–28:28]

• Barrel Jeans:
  • The latest fashion trend that “looks like you’re about to get in a duel” (Lauren).
• Bay Leaves:
  • Chef Andrew criticizes overusing them in cooking, likening strong bay leaf flavor to “a rotten rose sit[ting] on your face.”
  • Discussion about whether bay leaves can be dangerous if accidentally swallowed.
• Bowls:
  • Everything is now a “bowl” (rice bowl, pizza bowl, etc.), and Chef Andrew calls for a stop to the endless “bowlification.”
• Revisiting Fast Food Fads:
  • Sprinkle of nostalgia: favorite fast food meals (In N Out, Shake Shack, Five Guys).
  • “Five Guys have the best fries in my opinion. They're cooked fresh. But why aren't they cooking them in beef tallow?” (Chef Andrew, 28:16)

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7. Culinary Tips: Getting Practical in the Kitchen

[29:21–32:56]

• Sheet Pan Cooking:

  • Efficient, easy to clean, ideal for family meals (e.g., sheet pan fajitas).
  • “I've been enjoying like the sheet pan cooking lately... it’s quick, relatively cheap.” (Chef Andrew, 29:33)

• Cooking Seafood at Home:

  • Use a sheet pan for less mess and gentler cooking.
  • “The best way to do it is... just throw it on a sheet pan and cook it in the oven. Gently cooked seafood is the best way to get into seafood cookery.” (Chef Andrew, 30:27)

• Crockpot/Braised Meats Tips:

  • Utilize cheaper, tougher cuts (shoulder, leg) for slow cooking.
  • “Break that down cost per meal and you're at like $3 or $4. Wanna talk about snap benefits? I mean, we could cut down the snap benefit expenses just by that technique alone.” (Chef Andrew, 32:56)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On American monoculture farming:

  “We realized that… through the government imposed farm subsidies, if we got our farmers to only grow a certain number of crops, we would be stronger on an international stage. I have said it puts us in a position where it's a national security issue.”
  – Chef Andrew Gruel, [06:23]

• On imported seafood dependency:

  “90% of the seafood that we consume in the United States is imported... The pet food industry is huge. I mean, you know, Karen and Mary have 17 cats. You know, they're eating the Friskies seafood cat food. And who's going to be feeding those cats?”
  – Chef Andrew Gruel, [08:47]

• On viral Internet phenomena:

  “It's like, us. We're a random pairing of numbers... that's created a sensation in our bellies. It's called butterflies.”
  – Chef Andrew Gruel, [15:52]

• On the Cracker Barrel social media hit:

  “They thought that that one tweet was so funny. How they operated with humility, leaned into the issue. Wouldn’t it be funny if now, like, Cracker Barrel sales go up just because of one viral [tweet]?”
  – Chef Andrew Gruel, [18:59]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Tariffs & Soybean Deal: [04:00–05:35]
• Monocropping & Food Security: [06:21–08:44]
• Imported Seafood Dependency: [08:44–09:44]
• Home Invasion, Door Security: [10:54–12:22]
• Viral Cop Court Appearance: [13:31–14:16]
• “6, 7” Meme & Linguistic Virality: [15:12–15:58]
• Cracker Barrel Viral Redemption: [18:01–19:13]
• Ant-Fermented Yogurt WTF: [20:10–22:16]
• Food/Fashion Trends to “86”: [22:21–28:28]
• Fast Food Chat: [27:19–28:28]
• Sheet Pan & Crockpot Cooking Tips: [29:21–32:56]

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Overall Tone & Vibe

The episode is lively, irreverent, and conversational. Chef Andrew balances pragmatic food and policy commentary with quick-witted humor; Lauren keeps the conversation grounded, occasionally poking fun at Andrew’s tangents. Even the most serious policy discussions are leavened with playful sarcasm and good-natured banter, making for an engaging listen.

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Transcript

[A]

This is an I Heart podcast.

[B]

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[C]

And welcome back to another episode of American Gravy. This is the only show where we mix food, family and freedom in the same pot. And somehow we don't burn it. We like to burn things. Well, mostly, yeah.

[A]

Where the grease is hot, the opinions are hotter, and somebody definitely burned the bacon. I'm Lauren Gruel.

[C]

And I'm Chef Andrew Gruel.

[A]

And today we're stirring together a little food, family, and the occasional political indigestion.

[C]

Yeah, I threw that one in there. A little political indigestion. Get me my. Get me my zantac.

[A]

Oh, my word.

[C]

Where are my Tums? Tums are delicious, by the way.

[A]

You used to have tum. You used to just walk around with tums all the time.

[C]

I like Tums.

[A]

What happened to those?

[C]

I don't know, but I've had heartburn. Political indigestion ever since.

[A]

Well, you need to carry some Tums.

[C]

Speaking of political indigestion, let's get into our main food headline today. So the Trump administration and Xi Jinping's Chinese government agreed on a new framework for an agreement. It's the constant tariff war.

[A]

All right, so China commits to purchasing about 12 million metric tons of US soybeans this year and at least 25 million tons annually for the next three years.

[C]

So the reason why this is important is because we've been in this tariff battle, and I feel like sometimes it's a hot conversation, other times it's not. But in the background, what China has done is they've said, okay, you wanna throw these tariffs on us? Well, we're your number one buyer consumer of soybeans, which is funny because they buy the soybeans processed junk and then send it back to us. But we're gonna stop buying altogether from you and the soybean farmers. Soybean prices went down, commodity prices went down. Everyone was freaking out about this. We were trying to make deals with other countries to sell them the soybeans. But now that Trump has been on this kind of East Asia tour, one of the goals has been to try and renegotiate. And he said, we're gonna reduce tariffs on Chinese goods altogether. We're gonna. Well, not altogether. Sorry. Probably a 10% cut in the cumulative tariff rate under this deal in exchange for them agreeing to start buying the soybeans back. The agreement also touched on a lot of the high tech rare earth export controls and kind of curbing the flow of precursor chemicals used for fentanyl. So, you know, multifaceted. We're covering the fentanyl trade, we're covering a lot of the rare earth stuff, which is ultimately tech related. And then of course, more importantly for us farmers is the soybean piece of this. And then hopefully we can kind of, I don't want to say put a pin in this, but like you know, really start to normalize or balance out some of these trade issues that we've seen that's been jostling the economy to some degree.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like all people were talking about and still continue to talk about are the tariffs.

[C]

Well, like we talked about last episode, you know, everyone's like SNAP benefit experts and they're also tariff experts and they're, you know, it's like suddenly I'm a mercantilist and nobody even knows what that means. You know, we're getting into the macro.

[A]

So with the rare earth, be like lithium.

[C]

Yeah, like, like lithium and any of these rare earth metals, all the things that we need.

[A]

Because AI, what else are we using besides lithium?

[C]

We are using cadmium. Cadmium.

[A]

What's cadmium?

[C]

I think it's like a Cadbury egg, but it comes from the earth. It just doesn't have the cream on the inside of it. What the. But I want to. We'll talk about the lithium and the Xanax in a second here. But let's go back to the Xanax.

[A]

Do I need some.

[C]

No. Isn't lithium a drug? That's why I made that joke. What I want to go back to is the soybeans. Because I have said at length for years that when we are only focusing on three or four monocrops, right? Soybeans, corn, wheat, and I mean really, you know, soybean in the corn are the key right there. And we used to have this diversity of crop in the United States, thousands of different crops, and we were able to distribute them all over the place and create tons of different products. But then we realized that it threw of the government imposed farm subsidies. If we got our farmers to only grow a certain number of crops, we would be stronger on an international stage. I have said it puts us in a position where it's a national security issue. Just like this China says, well, screw you, we're not gonna buy all that soybeans for you. Theoretically, that could tank the economy because when we Put all of our eggs or our soybeans in that one basket. We run the risk of having a national security issue or situation when it comes to the food supply. We need to diversify and decentralize our food supply and our food system so that we are not just self sufficient, but we are also preventing some sort of a national issue, whether it be economic or even through the import of questionable products. One of the things that the news stories that we covered briefly was the radiation and all of the shrimp imports that we've seen. And everyone's like, oh my God, there's radiation in our shrimp. Now I'm not saying that was nefarious by design, but when I look back into the story, the radiation was actually coming from the shipping containers, the majority of which come from overseas, China specifically. So I still want to know. And then it tainted the shrimp packaging, so they obviously recalled the shrimp. I don't think that there was an issue with people consuming the radioactive shrimp, although we'll find out on Halloween when people are walking around with a glowing green head. We don't know if it's a Halloween costume or they just had too many shrimp cocktails. But the issue is where did the radiation come from in these shipping containers? And furthermore, if it took us having the product in the supply chain to figure it out, how do we know that one of these countries that perhaps has some ill will towards the United States doesn't put something in our food supply with all the imports that we have and then ultimately creates like a national disaster similar to the pandemic, but in the form of food poisoning or food contamination, etc.

[A]

Yeah, that's a really scary thought.

[C]

I will.

[A]

I've never thought of that.

[C]

That's where my head goes. 80 plus now it's 90% of the seafood that we consume in the United States is imported. And the majority of that comes from 90%. 90%, wow. 15 years ago it was around 80, 81% and it's up to 90% right now.

[A]

That's wild. What if they just stopped sending us stuff?

[C]

Well, yeah, what if they say we're done? Like four big countries get together and say we're not shipping you any seafood. Then you think to yourself, well, I don't eat seafood, so it's not going to affect me. No, it's going to tear the economy apart. Because every single restaurant food service operation who relies on that seafood in addition to people don't know this, but pet food. So we buy and import so much seafood and seafood bait product for pet Food. The pet food industry is huge. I mean, you know, Karen And Mary have 17 cats. You know, they're eating the Friskies seafood cat food. And who's going to be feeding those cats?

[A]

Not Karen and Mary.

[C]

Yeah, exactly. Not Karen and Mary. Because they're gonna be tied up in a prison somewhere wondering where their cats are while the Chinese whip us.

[A]

What the heck?

[C]

I don't know. I was just trying to get.

[A]

How does he make this stuff?

[C]

I was just trying to get a reaction from Lauren. So I think this is really interesting because it gets into the food and agriculture policy, local and regional agriculture policy. We really need to focus on breaking down the centralization and getting rid of the monocropping. Focusing on our U.S. ranchers and produce suppliers, smaller independent family run operations, more processing facilities, more independent farms. That's going to be the answer because then there's self sufficiency, which makes us a stronger nation. Does that come with an increased cost? Maybe over the short term you just got to budget better.

[A]

I agree with you. You're so smart on this stuff.

[C]

She's saying that. But what you guys don't realize is that she was fixing her computer in the background. So I had to kind of go on my filibuster here.

[A]

I know, I was like, keep rolling.

[C]

Yeah, keep, keep it rolling. Keep going, keep going. Talk about this stuff for years, but.

[A]

You can, you're very, you are very knowledgeable.

[C]

No, I just made most of that up.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I was just trying to filibuster.

[A]

You convinced me.

[C]

All right, what do we got for our second story? Lauren?

[A]

All right, so this kind of scares me because I feel like it could happen to anybody. So in Europa Valley, California, mask men claiming to have a search warrant posing as FBI agents enter a home and proceed to zip tie the entire family inside and rob them. Like, isn't that scary? Especially if you can get like these kind of FBI or you know, official looking outfits on like Amazon.

[C]

I know. That is scary because we've taught our kids, like, just period, you don't answer the door for anybody. There's way too many stories, especially here in California, where people are knocking on the door and then like there's 10 guys hiding in the bushes and they bust in and they steal everything, you.

[A]

Know, and they pose as like, you know, delivery drivers. Delivery drivers needing a signature. Yep. Like, there's so many things. It's like. It's pretty scary that this could happen.

[C]

Or the kids selling the candy bars.

[A]

Oh, yeah, that was a thing.

[C]

Yeah. You gotta protect yourself. I mean, we have a moat outside of our house. And then what I do is that I'll have, like, the youngest kids answer the door, because if they spend two minutes with our youngest kids, they're probably gonna return them.

[A]

They're like, nevermind.

[C]

Yeah, they're like, nevermind. That's even better than a watchdog.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And then, of course, slingshots, water balloons, a few Sig Sauers, and a shotgun. For the kids. Of course.

[A]

For the kids. Yeah. So that's pretty scary to me, especially because, you know, you have these older people who necessarily maybe are more trustworthy and, like, don't watch the news as much or don't see what's going on, and they answer the door and whatever. It just freaks me out.

[C]

Yeah. So what I would say. I hate to say this, like, ring, camera, get it, but. Or just don't answer your door. There's. What's a reason to answer your door anymore?

[A]

These days, the only reason I answer a door is when, like, our kid, the neighborhood kids come into our house.

[C]

Exactly. But you look through the people, you see the kids. But, like, otherwise, there's no reason to answer the door.

[A]

Zero reason to answer the door. It freaks me out.

[C]

I think we should stop. Mail.

[A]

Well, they don't knock on your door sometimes. Unless it's a certified letter you have to sign sometimes.

[C]

Well, and a. I don't think anybody.

[A]

Would come dressed as a mailman with a male bag.

[C]

You say that I was a mailman for Halloween. I don't. I don't even think we should have mail. I'm saying get rid of the U.S. postal Service.

[A]

There's a lot. Speaking of mail, how much junk mail do we get? It's so much wasted paper.

[C]

It is.

[A]

And all these flyers that they're spending who knows how much money on, you know, probably from donations or whatever. And I'm like, there's just so much wasted money.

[C]

I actually do agree with that 100%. So we're banning mail. We're getting rid of all costumes on Amazon, and nobody's gonna be able to consume soybeans anymore.

[A]

We are getting rid of everything.

[C]

So that's that. This is one that's interesting is that. Did you see this Detroit cop who went viral.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

For making a virtual court appearance.

[A]

And he had no pants on. But which is hilarious because most people, when they're doing these types of zooms, they dress from the top up so they. They have, like, a nicer shirt on or, you know, whatever. So he probably assumed, like, the lower Half of him wasn't going to be, like, on video.

[C]

But how does that happen? Was he in his office?

[A]

No, he was, like, sitting on a couch, I think, or something.

[C]

Oh, that's weird.

[A]

And so the. The judge asked to, like, show himself or whatever, make an appearance. So he turned on his video and he's just sitting there, like, in his boxers, I'm pretty sure. And then his, like, police uniform up top.

[C]

At least they were boxers and not fundies.

[A]

At least he had something on.

[C]

At least they weren't, like, edible on, like, he was wearing prosciutto.

[A]

Okay. Why do you always bring that up?

[C]

Because I wore. One time I wore made paint.

[A]

I feel like this is a secret, you know, some sort of secret thing you have going on.

[C]

Yeah, that's weird. Do you know that Dictionary.com's word of the year is Dun, dun, dun, six, seven, six, seven. Our kids. You know what? Our kids are getting sick of it.

[A]

Our kids are getting sick of it, too. But it's so funny. So people are losing their minds that this is the word of the year.

[C]

Yeah, but we did. We had so many stupid phrases and sayings back when we were growing up.

[A]

Did it ever make Word of the year?

[C]

Well, that's just Dictionary.com I mean, wordsmithing has become like a political thing recently where we're changing the definitions of words. And, like, the Webster Dictionaries and Dictionary.com have gotten really involved in culture, which I think is so, so dumb. Go back to the old Encyclopedia Britannica days and just give us the facts. The. The undressed facts. Let us make our own. Create opinions about it.

[A]

I still don't know what 6, 7 is.

[C]

It came from a song. There was a song, and then somebody clipped it out. And then some famous basketball player started using that part in one of his videos. And then it went viral and it was like, that was it.

[A]

You know what's funny? Teachers are now when they're counting, they're going, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10. Because they're skipping 6, 7. Cause the kids go crazy.

[C]

I saw the videos at In N Out Burger where they wait for the number. It's like 6, 65, 66. And then when they say 67 or now they're saying 6, 7, the whole entire In N Out Burger goes crazy.

[A]

It's crazy. I mean, I think it's kind of funny that, like, this random, you know.

[C]

Pairing of numbers, this random pairing of numbers. It's like, us. We're a random pairing of numbers.

[A]

We are.

[C]

That's created a sensation in our bellies. It's called butterflies. Oh, I get butterflies. I have butterflies in my stomach.

[A]

Do you get butterflies still when you see me?

[C]

When I see you, do I get.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Cause I'm like, oh, shoot, I didn't make the bed. I'm dead.

[A]

So you get nervous butterflies, not like, excited to see me?

[C]

It depends. I can see when I get home. Sometimes when I pull up to the house and you're pulling up to the house and I can see the look on your face, and I'm like, is she in a good mood or did the kids do something really hard?

[A]

Okay, listen here. So Andrew, I do this too, but you do it a little more extreme. Andrew will get home and he'll sit in the driveway forever.

[C]

No, that's not true. I take a lot of phone calls when I drive, and in many cases, I'm still on the phone call. I don't just sit in the driveway. I also love it because when I get home, the kids all run out and come to the car. So a lot of times, even if I am on a phone call, I'll put James on my lap.

[A]

Can you stop?

[C]

Just the other night, James, when I was on with my mother after the city council meeting, James comes running out, I put him on my lap, I let him drive. I back up in the driveway.

[A]

All right. Regardless. I mean, yes, you, yes. Okay.

[C]

I let my 5 year old drive is really what it's coming down to.

[A]

No, but anyway, I do that too. But it's. But then this is what. Instead of I let you sit out there because I'll peek out the window and I'll see you're on the phone. So I just let it be. I will sit in my car, I'm not even parked for 30 seconds, and you're opening the garage to see what I'm doing and why I'm not inside the house.

[C]

It's coincidence that I happen to be opening the garage the same time every. And because you're not, you're in your car scrolling through somebody's random Instagram story like, oh, my God, Nancy uses. She uses that mascara.

[A]

You make it out like I'm an idiot. You think that's what I do on my phone?

[C]

I don't know. I just decided to make that one up. But Nancy does use good mascara. Okay, no, but I will say this. So coming from this 6, 7 story, I don't know how we got into Nancy's mascara. Is that how something can just become and go so viral and create like Like a phenomenon.

[A]

It is worldwide.

[C]

And so last night, so Cracker Barrel, we've talked about Cracker Barrel at length, multiple episodes about how, you know, Cracker Barrel sales dropped and their stock price dropped, etc. And everybody was arguing about the cultural reasons behind why they made the moves that they did to redesign Cracker Barrel. Well, somebody posted a tweet and it said, and it was a fake image of a Cracker Barrel connected to the east wing of the White House. And they're like, I can't believe that Trump is turning the east wing of the White House into a Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel re quotes that. And they put, you definitely don't want us to get anywhere near a redesign. Hilarious.

[A]

Which is super funny.

[C]

Super funny. Self deprecation. Leaning into the fact that everybody's angry at Cracker Barrel.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

And the comments I went through, first of all, it has like 10 million, 15 million views and impressions. And I read through the comments and everyone's like, you're back, Cracker Barrel. I am now going to eat at Cracker Barrel. Like, you have saved yourself. They thought that that one tweet was so funny. How they operated with humility, leaned into the issue. Wouldn't it be funny if now, like Cracker Barrel sales go up just because of one viral.

[A]

I want to see this. I bet they did. I wish they would tell us.

[C]

It was almost as if people wanted to continue supporting Cracker Barrel, but they felt like they couldn't anymore. And now Cracker Barrel was like, funny and hip because of their post. And now go back to Cracker Barrel.

[A]

I appreciated the quote tweet. I do too.

[C]

I mean, lean into it. Like, too often we make mistakes and then we're constantly trying to spin and spin PR as to, like, why we made the mistake. Just say, hey, we screwed up.

[A]

Yeah, we messed up. I feel like people, they don't like to admit that they're wrong. You know what I mean?

[C]

Well, and people like, especially corporations, they.

[A]

Don'T want to say that they were wrong. It takes a lot to admit that.

[C]

Well, I think people, they see it as like, well, if we give in to all the bots and they call them bots, but we talked about this in the past, but they're not bots. But if we give in to the, the loud, you know, the peanut gallery, well, then we're forever gonna be controlled by the peanut gallery. But sometimes it's like, you know what? Sometimes the peanut gallery can be right. Sometimes we have a peanut gallery at our house and they're always right. I'm actually sometimes part of the peanut gallery.

[A]

Is that our kids?

[C]

It's me and the kids.

[A]

Yeah, it's me and the kids.

[C]

What the fork? Lauren, what do you got this week for your WTF story?

[A]

So there's ant fermented yogurt at a Michelin star restaurant.

[C]

Oh my God, of course it's Michelin star.

[A]

Like why? Okay, so let me just read a little bit of this. So Michelin starred restaurant serves yogurt with ancient recipe using ants. Like, the team showed that bacteria, acids and enzymes in ants can kickstart the fermentation process that turns milk into yogurt.

[C]

Why don't we just do it normally? Like, why do we need to use ant? That scares me that we're using ant bacteria. What if that's like an ant that has some sort of like ant version of a venereal disease?

[A]

Well, they say their work published in the Journal of Ice Science highlights how traditional practices can inspire new approaches to food science.

[C]

That's not a new approach to food science. And leave it to Michelin to be like, you get a Michelin star for that. That is so avant garde. That is just so out there. Like Michelin. The Michelin star system had such respect and I feel as if they've been politicized. Same with like all these coffee a stuff like all of this. It's like, oh, well, your restaurant. Oh, so your restaurant is breaking through generations of systemic X, Y and Z and you're making a cheese popover out of all of that anger and hate. Like Michelin star.

[A]

Yeah. So what they would do, they would like basically bury a jar, right. Of milk and they would cover it with. So it'd be in an ant mound to ferment overnight. And then the next morning they would notice that it started to thicken and smell sour.

[C]

Maybe there's. That's, maybe that's not a good thing.

[A]

I mean, it's a little. I don't know. I wouldn't, I wouldn't.

[C]

It sounds like you're describing a boil.

[A]

I wouldn't. They say one type of bacteria was similar to that found in commercial sourdough.

[C]

Okay, well, you can say that like any type. There's good bacteria and there's bad bacteria. It doesn't mean that you got ant. I just for some reason don't consider ants to have good bacteria. They're walking around on the ground like I said. How do you know this isn't some ants STD that we're putting. Putting inside there and this is disgusting.

[A]

I wouldn't try it. That just seems weird. I would just. I'll eat yogurt. Regular yogurt.

[C]

What do you want at 86 this week?

[A]

Oh, my gosh. So barrel jeans. I feel like they're slowly fading away, but, like, I've seen a couple women out and about wearing them. It reminds me if I was about to get in a duel. Like, I'm about to pull out my. My pistol. I'm wearing chaps. You know what I mean? You know, when, like, they're walking, it's like. And they turn around and. But their pants look big. Like, that's how I. Every time I see somebody wearing these.

[C]

Pants, I just imagined you and a duel with buttless chaps on. But that's how I. I call them stovepipe jeans.

[A]

Have you seen them?

[C]

Yeah, they're huge. I used to wear.

[A]

They, like, go out to the side.

[C]

And they're like jenkos.

[A]

So unflattered. No, no, they're, like, specifically designed, so they, like, bulge out at the side sides. Like. It's the weirdest design ever. I don't know why it's a thing or why it's trendy. It's so unflattering.

[C]

All right, fine. So if they. If Barrel. Barrel House jeans are what? Barrel jeans. I don't know. Barrel House Blues. If barrel jeans are back in, then I'm bringing cargo shorts back.

[A]

I think cargo shorts have never left.

[C]

That's not true. Cargo shorts have left, and I think they need to come back.

[A]

I see, like, men in their, like, 60s wearing them.

[C]

Well, they just. Those are the same cargo shorts that they Wore in the 90s. So they were probably in their 20s. So that's probably why they're still wearing them. Okay, so let's see. What do I want to see? And I would say bay leaves.

[A]

Why?

[C]

Well, I read this story about a review where this lady goes. And this goes back to my 86 and 8 yelp from the last episode. Is she. I went to the restaurant. It was great. I was so excited. And I was eating the beans, and there was a leaf in the beans, right? So they came across a bay leaf. And then the restaurant owner wrote back a response and was like, well, that is indicative of the fact that we cook our beans fresh, which is a good thing. You have absolutely no idea what you're eating. I agree with the restaurateur in that regard. However, I just think bay leaves in general, you learn to cook with bay leaves in various soups and sauces. Stock specifically, people Overuse bay leaves. Have you ever boiled, like, a small amount of liquid with multiple bay leaves in it?

[A]

No.

[C]

It's disgusting. It is so floral. It's like going out to a rose garden and just having a rotten rose sit on your face and then eating it.

[A]

Well, you should only put one in there, right?

[C]

You should put one in eight to ten gallons of soup. I don't even like bay leaves. I would break a little piece of a bay leaf off if I was cooking it in my beans. It is aromatic. It's certainly floral. But I just think in general, cooking, bay leaves and cumin need to go.

[A]

Well, I learned in culinary school that bay leaves can be very dangerous. If you swallow them, you could choke on them.

[C]

Who the heck's gonna swallow a full leaf?

[A]

What if somebody's not paying attention?

[C]

Okay, a bay leaf would fill your whole mouth.

[A]

What if there's, like, a broken bay leaf? I'm just trying to, you know, maybe a bro.

[C]

Yeah, but I don't know. Okay, fine. You can swallow anything the wrong way, then. All food is dangerous, but.

[A]

Oh, you just want to argue with me today.

[C]

I know this is. Well, it's podcast. That's what you're supposed to do. Well, it's. It's also. It's like. It's like the person who. Who said they swallowed the. The finger that they found in their.

[A]

Wendy's chili, and that was a total lie.

[C]

Oh, that's right. That was a lie. We need to bring back those.

[A]

Wait, was it a lie?

[C]

Yeah, the person apparently, like. Like, found the finger. I just want to know where they found the finger. Did they, like, buy it from a hospital or something? Like, where do you find a finger?

[A]

Where?

[C]

Yeah, like, walking around and be like, oh, look, a quarter. Heads up. Oh, pick it up. No tails down.

[A]

Don't pick it up.

[C]

Oh, finger.

[A]

The finger in the Wendy's chili Incident was a 2005 hoax in which a woman, Anna Ayala, claimed to find a human finger in her chili. But she and her husband, Jamie Placencia, had planted it where the severed finger came from a coworker who had lost it in an industrial accident, and they bought it for $100 to use in the scam.

[C]

The guy sold his finger for 100 bucks.

[A]

So was he also, like, he was.

[C]

Probably taking some of the money. That's some serious investigation to get to the bottom of that.

[A]

So, yeah, the incident obviously created a media firestorm and caused Wendy's to lose millions in sales. So they were both convicted of felony grand theft and conspiracy, and they were sentenced to a lengthy prison time order to pay millions in restitution to Wendy's.

[C]

All right. I don't know how much time they should spend in prison for that. Like, I definitely think they should be punished.

[A]

And they can never go back to Wendy's. But how do they know they can never, like, you can never come back.

[C]

Swipe your credit card and they're like, the finger people are here.

[A]

Maybe they have an alert, I don't know.

[C]

That is absolutely wild. But I will say this. Those damages are probably infinite because I imagine to this day there's still people who don't know that this story was fake. And don't eat the Wendy's chili or Wendy's period.

[A]

I mean, even right now, you were like, oh, yeah, it was fake.

[C]

Yeah, but I love Wendy's chili.

[A]

Actually, Wendy's has some good chili.

[C]

Wendy's does have good chili. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the msg, whatever it is, if I'm gonna indulge in a little fast food. What's some Wendy's chili?

[A]

What is your favorite fast food?

[C]

Oh, well, she just hit me from the side on this one. Nancy. I would say my favorite fast food. It depends, right? I actually like the Shake Shack burger, generally speaking, but I think price to quality to value would be In N Out. Although I don't love the In N Out Bun, I just think pricing wise. So it all depends on how you judge it. If you're talking fast food, like cheap food that you get quickly, any kind of taqueria style burrito or taco up in LA for me is gonna do it.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

What about you?

[A]

I love the In N Out burger, but you have to do it with chopped chilies and caramelized onions. You have to. Don't love the fries at In N Out. They're always so, like, bleh and soggy. I like the fries at. What is it, five guys?

[C]

Five guys have the best fries in my opinion. They're cooked fresh. But why aren't they cooking them in beef tallow?

[A]

What are they cooking them in?

[C]

Peanut oil? No, no, no. That's inflammatory. Come on.

[A]

Not horrible.

[C]

You know. Oh, I meant to say this too. As my 86. You know what? I want bowls. Why is everything bowls? Everything is a bowl nowadays. My black bean bowl, my chicken bowl, my rice bowl, this bowl, that bowl, that bowl.

[A]

Don't we even do that at cabin restaurants or bowls?

[C]

Yeah, we have one. We have one bowl on the menu, but not Everything has to be a bowl. I feel like everything is a bowl. Taco bowl, cheeseburger bowl.

[A]

They clearly did some research on that.

[C]

Yeah, but it's one of those things where it's like, okay, in the beginning it was like, nice. I'm not eating it in a bun or in a wrap and I can eat it out of a bowl and mix all my ingredients together. But then everything became a bowl. Pizza bowl.

[A]

There's a pizza bowl.

[C]

There's a pizza bowl. I don't know where it is, but there's a pizza bowl.

[A]

I'm sure there is somewhere.

[C]

Do you like soup and sourdough in like hollowed out sourdough?

[A]

No.

[C]

Yes, you do.

[A]

I like them separately. I wouldn't eat it out of a sourdough bowl. Bread bowl.

[C]

Okay. All right. So what's our sharpened skills today?

[A]

You tell me.

[C]

Okay. I like to do. I've been really. Here I am. I'm like, I hate bowls. But I love the following, which is similar to a bowl. It's just flat. I've been enjoying like the sheet pan cooking lately.

[A]

Why?

[C]

Because it's clean. It's easy to clean up. It's quick, it's relatively cheap. It's also easy to do where you're taking, like if you do sheet pan fajitas, right? Like throw chicken and peppers and onions and garlic and all the different flavors together and then just roast it in the oven at the last few minutes, throw in the tortillas on top of it and let it steam underneath the flavors. And you've got all your fajitas and your setups or your tacos or whatever you're doing right there on one sheet pan.

[A]

I'm hungry.

[C]

Yeah, I know. It is lunchtime.

[A]

Okay, that's a great. That's a great. Sharpen your skill.

[C]

Yeah. A little sheet pan this, sheet pan that. Do it with fish. People are afraid to cook seafood because they think it's gonna stick. They think it's gonna stink. They think they're gonna undercook it.

[A]

I mean, it does kind of stink.

[C]

Not if you're cooking the. Everyone says that. Okay.

[A]

No, no, no. Even when we're making like salmon at home, I could tell what you're cooking. When I'm upstairs, I'm like, andrew's making salmon.

[C]

That's usually because I come from the restaurant, leave my clothes upstairs after I change and they're stinky.

[A]

It kind of makes its way upstairs.

[C]

Alright, that's fine. But still, that's just the way in which our air ventilates in the house. But with seafood, that's a great way to utilize the sheet pan cookiness, because people who are apprehensive to cook seafood because of the skill element, the best way to do it is to just take your seafood, hit it with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, butter, beef tal, rub it down with whatever your favorite seasoning or fresh herb is, hit it with a dash of vinegar, and then just throw it on a sheet pan and cook it in the oven. Gently cooked seafood is the best way to get into seafood cookery. And then when you add your vegetables or you add your sides to that same sheet pan, a lot of the flavors from the seafood infuse into what you're cooking it with. And it's the perfect way to get into cooking seafood. So single sheet pan cooking on the seafood is certainly the way to go. I've also been talking in the past week about cooking kind of crock pot style cooking, right? So beans and rice and Chernovich was posting a lot about this and shredded meats, and I think we're getting into that season and somebody had asked me, like, what types of meat should I be using to cook crock pot style? All the cuts on the end of an animal, right? So the shoulder cuts, the leg cuts. Think about the muscles that get a lot of movement. Those are the ones that you want to braise, right? So even if you go to the grocery store and it's like Chuck, and you don't know what Chuck is, besides the neighbor down the road who always leaves his garbage cans out there, you would just google, where does the chuck come from on the cow? And if it comes from the shoulder, comes from the leg, comes from the hindquarter or the round, then that's something that you do want to braze. If it comes from the belly, you also want to braze it because that gets a lot of motion. Everything that comes from kind of the shoulder to the leg would be your strip loin and your strips and the inside of the steer that doesn't get much movement, which means it doesn't have a lot of connective tissue to break down. Something that you would cook with quick high heat, right? Your rib eyes, your strip loins, your strip steaks, your tenderloins, skirt steak, flank steak. These are all the things that are in between the, you know, the ends of the cow. The muscles that get a lot of movement have a ton of connective tissue, but also collagen and gelatin. And as you slowly braise them, that's what Breaks down into that beautiful mouthfeel and that meltingly tender bite in a traditional crock pot or stew. So this so tis the season right now, especially with beef prices going up to be taking five pounds of a chuck, braising it on a Sunday afternoon, or throwing it in a crock pot, getting some rice and beans going and you got meal for three or four days. Break that down cost per meal and you're at like $3 or $4. Wanna talk about snap benefits? I mean, we could cut down the snap benefit expenses just by that technique.

[A]

Alone and have some delicious food.

[C]

Do you want me to make you some braised meat today?

[A]

Actually, yes.

[C]

All right. You're gonna get it.

[A]

That was fun.

[C]

Yeah, that was a good one. I'm excited because coming up on our next episodes, we're gonna be getting really detailed into Thanksgiving cooking and recipes, holiday cooking and recipes, ways in which you can start to incorporate a lot of these fall flavors into your food. We're gonna get into daylight savings because we're gonna lose an hour of light in the next week or so. And isn't it.

[A]

Well, by the time this airs, I think it'll already happen.

[C]

Don't give away the behind the scenes secrets. We don't know what's going on, but it's gonna get darker earlier, which means I'm going to turn into a vampire much earlier. We're going to be a lot crankier the next time we shoot these episodes.

[A]

What? Speak of yourself.

[C]

I do. You're a morning person.

[A]

I just like my mornings alone.

[C]

Whoa. Well, on that note, looks like I'm going to be sleeping in a hotel tonight.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[C]

So thank you so much for tuning in. Make sure that you follow us on all of your favorite podcast platforms and you can catch us on Instagram. I'm at Andrew Gruel. On X I'm.

[A]

And on Instagram, I'm Aurengruel. And on X, Aurengruel, send us all.

[C]

Your questions, comments, 86 IT, what you want to hear and sharpen your skills. And furthermore, we're still looking for the best sandwich shop anywhere and everywhere in the United States. That's going to be the next series. So hit us up with your ideas. Here we have the Limu emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their.

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This is an iHeart podcast.