America's best dishes just might burst your buttons.
America's best dishes just might burst your buttons.
Episode content:
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Find episode transcript here: https://the-best-thing-i-ever-ate.simplecast.com/episodes/stretchy-pants-required-with-anne-burell-antonia-lofaso-and-jernard-wells
SPEAKER 1: Who doesn't love great food?
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SPEAKER 2: It's more than just eating. It's an experience. Do we have any more?
SPEAKER 3: This is the best thing I ever ate.
OK, if someone said to me, stretchy pants required, I think of a huge portion of really fatty food. Sometimes that might mean helping me recover from a big fat night out. [LAUGHS] The Fat Club from the Little Goat in Chicago by my good friend, Stephanie Izard. Fixes what's ailing me. [LAUGHS]
I've never had too much fun in Chicago. But I've definitely had a lot. I'd go there, and I'm like, mmm. Everything involved in the sandwich is delicious. And all I know is that my stretchy pants are feeling a little tight.
SPEAKER 4: So first up, we're going to make the fat bread. We're going to start with our yeast, then we're going to add in our two different liquids. We've got milk.
SPEAKER 3: Beer. Hello.
SPEAKER 4: These are both going to add the moisture that's going to make the bread get nice and crunchy on the outside, and also help it toast really well later. And then we're going to add in high-gluten flour. We're going to mix this together and let it sit for about two hours. Now, we're going to add our next phase of ingredients, some more flour as well as our fat.
SPEAKER 3: Either duck or goat fat.
SPEAKER 4: The fat is going to bring just a really nice sort of spongy texture to the bread, make it really springy.
SPEAKER 3: And then it has pickled mustard seeds in it as well.
SPEAKER 4: And then we're going to let this sit again for another couple of hours until it rises and it's all ready to go into the oven.
SPEAKER 3: They take this fat bread butter that like it needs it. And they toast it, so you get the crunch of the bread. You know, brown food, again, tastes good.
SPEAKER 4: Get it all ready for the sauces. First, we're going to start off with some mayonnaise.
SPEAKER 3: And then you have this special sauce, which is (WHISPERING) ketchup and mayonnaise. You have the havarti, ewy, gooey, yum. You have turkey. Yes, delicious. Then you have crispy crunchy bacon.
SPEAKER 4: Thin-sliced tomatoes.
SPEAKER 3: Cabbage, another crunch. Smoky ham. Crunchy cucumbers.
SPEAKER 4: Avocado that's been smashed with a little bit of salt and some lemon juice.
SPEAKER 3: I mean, hello. It's meaty. It's crunchy. It's creamy. It's salty. It's a little bit sweet. Yum! This is delicious. And the bread has great flavor, that beautifully fermented tang to it. And I have a big mouth. It's hard to open my mouth big enough to get this in there. But believe me. I'd do it. Afterwards, I'm like, [GRUNTS]. Like, take my stretchy pants off, or maybe I just need bigger stretchy pants. I don't know.
SPEAKER 5: My favorite thing is to just look at everyone's reaction when they place that plate on. Everyone's like, this can't be real. No. No. They call it a sandwich, but can you call it a sandwich if it feeds six to eight people?
SPEAKER 6: When I put on my stretchy pants, that means I'm headed to Edison, New Jersey to Harold's for that XL corned beef and pastrami sandwich. It's so massive but it's so delicious. Then pastrami sandwich is-- I don't even know how many pounds of meat it is.
SPEAKER 7: 3 pounds of meat.
SPEAKER 6: It's 3 pounds of meat?
SPEAKER 7: It's 1.5 pounds of corn beef, 1.5 pounds of pastrami.
SPEAKER 6: I mean, it's just so ridiculous. Now that I know I can't tell if that makes me more excited or horrified at myself because I've eaten it so much. It's like a giant, like, meat mountain like it's a meat mountain, mountain a meat. First, they get high grade, high quality, super flavorful brisket.
SPEAKER 8: We pumped it full of brine. Now we put it in brine. And it goes into the refrigerator for three days. So it has that corned beef flavor.
SPEAKER 6: Then after that, they boil it for 3 and 1/2 hours. Then time to hook it up with the pastrami.
SPEAKER 8: We cure it with the same solution that we did the corned beef. And then we put coriander, carmel, and garlic.
SPEAKER 6: But instead of boiling it like the corned beef, they smoke it. Now, comes the time where you need to get your stretchy pants ready because they stack that mountain of meat between two pieces of Jewish rye bread. And then they give you the extra rye bread, so you can build your own sandwiches off of this motherlode of a sandwich that is placed down in front of you. It's so big. And then there's a little piece of bread on top and like a flag.
What makes it so delicious is that corned beef in that pastrami. The corned beef has got a very nice, super juicy, super flavorful, a little bit peppery, mustardy New York-staple flavor. The pastrami has got all those beautiful factors going on as well. But you get a nice smokiness that's awesome with that acidity and that beefiness. You don't need stretchy pants to eat here. But it'll help you.
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SPEAKER 9: The first time I had this pizza, I made the mistake of wearing overalls. And they just felt shorter and shorter when I stood up. Rookie mistake. There's certain meals where I have to wear my stretchy pants. One of those, the Cacio E Pepe pizza at Pizzana in Brentwood, Los Angeles. It's like, give me the stretch. It has so much cheese. It's fabulous.
Cacia E Pepe is usually Pecorino Romano cheese and pepper tossed with a pasta. But this is a pizza. It's perfection. Watch out pasta because there's a new Sheriff in town. First things first, you have to have really good dough.
SPEAKER 10: My dough is really simple. It's just flour, water, and a starter that was made from my family 64 years ago.
SPEAKER 9: That's the heart of a good pizza.
SPEAKER 10: This dough has been sitting and fermenting for 24 hours. Right now, I'm about to portion it and let it ferment for another 24 hours.
SPEAKER 9: So it'll be rising and doubling in size. And that's where all the flavor starts to develop and really good texture. Now, it's time for the Parmigiano [? krem. ?]
SPEAKER 10: In the good Cacio E Pepe pasta there is always a cream that is made out of Pecorino and a little bit of pasta water. But I don't have the pasta water. So what I did is to blend a little bit of ricotta, Parmigiano cheese, and a bit of heavy cream.
SPEAKER 9: Hence the need for an adjustable waistband.
SPEAKER 10: We're going to spread it all over the crust. And then we're going to add [INAUDIBLE], which is a young provolone, and then fior de latte, which is a drier version of mozzarella. I sprinkle Parmigiano Reggiano and then [INAUDIBLE].
SPEAKER 9: Pizza comes out of the oven. It gets cut. Parmigiano crema is getting drizzled all over every piece, and then a little sprinkling of cracked black pepper. I've got my stretchy pants on. I'm there for a reason. I like to eat with abandon, mass quantities, please.
And the crust itself is so good. It's just wonderfully stretchy dough, just little bits of char on there. The Parmesan has this really nice nuttiness to it. The fior de latte, it's mild and creamy, and then the kick of cracked black pepper. I'm eating it, and I'm on a complete high. And then it's finished. And I'm so sad that it's gone. But I will go back again and again. I've even been known to maybe go two days in a row.
SPEAKER 11: These are the award-winning ribs. They fall off the bone. They've been smoked for hours. You got to wear your stretchy pants if you go to a place like The Pig & Pint in Jackson, Mississippi. I get the [? whole ?] glazed baby back ribs with two sides and a slice of toast.
At the end of the meal, I feel good. Then I also feel like, oh. Yeah, I might have overdone it a little bit. [LAUGHS] It was so good when I tried it. It was like an out-of-body experience. I just heard, like, angels singing. It's like heaven. They have perfected the smoke rib.
SPEAKER 12: We're looking for a sweet and savory flavor to come through in our rub. So we mix together chili powder, salt, brown sugar, pepper, white pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder, and paprika.
SPEAKER 11: There's a really nice cut of baby back ribs. And then the rub just really seeps down into that meat. So you're getting layers of flavor-- I mean, all the way down to the bone.
SPEAKER 12: These are ready to go on the smoker.
SPEAKER 11: At 250 degrees for 2 and 1/2 hours over hickory and hickory lump charcoal.
SPEAKER 12: It's a cleaner, sweeter smoke than you would find from other hardwoods. And it really compliments to the glaze and the rub that we use on the ribs.
SPEAKER 11: While the meat is smoking, they make this glaze. Starts off as a simple syrup with the Cola.
SPEAKER 12: Then we add vinegar, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and poly peppers. Then we add our brown sugar and fruit preserves to balance out the heat a little bit. Then to finish it up, we had a little of our Pick & Pint sweet sauce.
SPEAKER 11: Once the ribs are smoked, they brush it on there, so you get that nice, smoky flavor. And then you get that sugary glaze on the backend, heaven-sent. And I don't want just the ribs. I want the whole thing. I want the whole shebang. I get a side of their melt-in-your-mouth collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and this piece of buttery toast.
Get that first piece of rib, and it's so flavorful. I'm tasting the smokiness. I'm tasting the sugary glaze of the Cola. I'm tasting all of the spices that go into the rub. And then the meat just melts. It's like, what happened? It just disappeared. And then you get that salty, brininess of their collard greens. You get the creaminess of the mac and cheese. It's a perfect recipe for good barbecue. Just make sure that you have adequate stretchy pants to do it.
SPEAKER 13: I mean, this thing is ginormous. Bring your stretchy pants. Because if you eat this whole thing, you're going to need them. It's going to be like Thanksgiving dinner right to sleep afterwards. I live in Denver, Colorado. We have a lot of great Mexican restaurants there.
Adelitas, these guys do it right. The Earth, sea and sky, molcajete is the bomb. It's kind of like in between fajitas and stew, almost like fajita soup. It's delicious. Me and my business partner, Casey, and Johnny, my corporate chef, probably eat this every 10 days. I mean, it's got shrimp, steak, and these giant chunks of cheese floating around in there. It's so hot. You'll burn everything in your mouth and face. But it tastes so good. So when they make this thing, they actually make the broth.
SPEAKER 14: In the broth, we have tomatoes, jalapenos, and garlic. We're going to boil water, and then we're going to blend.
SPEAKER 13: It's like a spicy tomato sauce.
SPEAKER 14: And the jalapenos. We never know sometimes it's spicy, sometimes no. So you can add little by little.
SPEAKER 13: The next thing they do they take the molcajete, which is this big earthenware bowl, and they flip it upside down on a burner. They're getting this thing absolutely ripping hot. Put this delicious broth in there, and it starts bubbling and going crazy. Then they add Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese, this delicious Carne asada, marinated in lime juice, garlic, black pepper, perfectly cooked chicken, green onions, some nopales, which is cactus, the shrimp.
SPEAKER 14: And in the end, the [INAUDIBLE].
SPEAKER 13: It's very similar to like a mozzarella string cheese. And there's giant chunks in there. And it comes out with a big old side of flour or corn tortillas. I like flour because I'm from the Midwest, and that's how we roll. So you take your first bite. Wow, sliver city. You get the steak. It's all beefy, and irony, delicious.
And the chicken's cooked perfectly. And their shrimps, they taste like the ocean. And the nopales has this beautiful, very green flavor to it and it's all coated in this awesome tomato chili sauce. You get the gooey cheesy piece. And all this beautiful juices running down your arm, onto your stretchy pants. And it doesn't matter because you got your stretchy pants on. Stretchy pants don't care. You can stretch your pants as dirty as you want.
SPEAKER 15: This is what I'm talking about, 12 layers of red velvet cake. Need I say more? Stretchy Pants dish is one of those dishes where you're eating it and eating it, and you feel so good. But you know, hey, I just increased myself by a waist size or two. I'm talking about the 12-layer, red velvet cake at Southern Art and Bourbon Bar.
This cake cures every craving that you can possibly have, when it comes to sweet and delicious. This cake is definitely be. It'll hold you over for at least 30 days, perfect amount of moistness, cream cheese icing over it. Oh, man. It's beyond words.
SPEAKER 16: It's just layers and layers and layers of love. You see, the higher the cake, the closer to heaven. So what's in it?
SPEAKER 17: Of course, sugar, eggs, and oil.
SPEAKER 15: All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa.
SPEAKER 17: But we make it special by coffee. Coffee gives it that richness, deliciousness, that robustness.
SPEAKER 15: And it enhances that chocolate flavor.
SPEAKER 17: Now, we don't use that in that red dye stuff. We use beet juice to give it that beautiful rosy color.
SPEAKER 15: They fall in the buttermilk.
SPEAKER 17: Gives it a wonderful tangy flavor.
SPEAKER 15: And they'll mix in the vanilla.
SPEAKER 17: Scraped from the beans. It's a piece of cake, honey.
SPEAKER 15: They layer everything on baking sheets. And they do this 12 times. Place it in the oven, 325 degrees for six minutes.
SPEAKER 17: The next thing I'll do. I'm going to ice the cake.
SPEAKER 15: You have a cake. You have the cream cheese icing cake, cream cheese icing cake, 12 layers over and over and over. And it's floated on the top of this raspberry sauce with the strawberry garnish. As you bite into the cake, you taste subtle notes of that coffee that was blended in along with the cocoa, perfect amount of moistness.
That cream cheese sweetness just softens it up. And oh, you just want to savor every bit of it. And all you're doing is making something, ooh, oh, oh, yes. Now the scary part is I've told the world about it. So makes you guys over Southern Art and Bourbon bar. You keep one of those stash for me.
SPEAKER 18: Korean barbecue is an experience. You go there with no apologies. You show up in stretchy pants. And you're like, this is what we're about to do. The beef bulgogi at Park's Barbecue in Los Angeles, perfectly spiced rib eye, just marinated, and all the [? Bon ?] [? Cheung ?] that goes along with it. I call them Korean snacks. I eat all of it.
You guys at home, Stretchy Pants, all day long for this. Korean barbecue is so, so, so good. There's only one person on the planet who may love this place more than I do, and that would be my daughter's [INAUDIBLE]. You want to see her reaction to Korean barbecue?
[PHONE RINGS]
She has no idea of the call. Hi.
SPEAKER 19: Hi.
SPEAKER 18: How do you feel about Korean barbecue, Park's barbecue? Like specifically, how do you feel about it?
SPEAKER 19: It's the best. Why?
SPEAKER 18: Do you want to go there right now? If I came to pick you up right now, could we go get Korean barbecue?
SPEAKER 19: Are we going?
SPEAKER 18: No, I'm so sorry. It was a joke.
SPEAKER 19: Are you serious? Are we not going? I think you're not funny.
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SPEAKER 18: So to make this dish, they're using rib eye. Rib eye is wonderfully marbled of meat and fat.
SPEAKER 20: We're going to slice it in the slice machine.
SPEAKER 18: So perfectly thin. And then it is perfectly marinated.
SPEAKER 20: I'm going to put some sugar, black pepper, sesame seed, garlic, chopped green onion, puree onion, red pepper, soy sauce, Korean cooking sake, sesame oil. The last one is honey. Mix everything together and then put the meat in here to marinate it.
SPEAKER 18: And then just with tongs, they just start putting it on this very hot grill. And you have [? Bon ?] [? Chung ?] for days in front of you. The beef bulgogi caramelizes, chopstick, mouth. Tasting the meat, it's gingery. It's beautifully peppery and salty. I'm like salivating right now, just thinking of soy sauce and ginger, seriously.
And then another serving of meat goes down, as they're bringing kimchi stew. As the seafood pancake comes in this way, can I get more kimchi? Can I get more spicy cucumbers? Like, it's so much. And it just goes on for hours, until you're basically popping out of your stretchy pants. And you're like, if I don't get home soon enough, I'm going to fall asleep here. For safety you have to make it stop, and then you go home. [LAUGHS]
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