0:08

Hello, and welcome to Saber production of iHeartRadio.

0:11

I'm Annie Reese.

0:12

And I'm Lauren Bogelbaum, and today we have an

0:14

episode for you about Friday fish

0:16

fries.

0:18

Yes, I'm god you specified because

0:20

I got a little under the weeds this one. You

0:22

told me this was going to be a difficult one historically,

0:25

and you were correct. But

0:29

that being said, you had a specific reason for

0:32

bringing this one.

0:33

Yes, Yes, because

0:35

the season of Lent is almost

0:38

upon us, or is upon us as

0:40

this episode is coming out, and

0:44

this is a whole cultural thing. Yeah.

0:48

And I have a bunch

0:50

of friends from Wisconsin and

0:52

I don't understand them all the time,

0:55

but they have assured me that this

0:57

is a situation. And furthermore,

0:59

I have I've seen advertisements

1:03

for or like flyers, welcoming

1:06

committees for this kind of thing around Atlanta

1:08

and elsewhere.

1:09

So yes,

1:12

and we are going to be talking a lot about Wisconsin

1:14

in this, but a lot of other states do it,

1:16

so I don't know.

1:16

Yeah, states to feel

1:19

slighted.

1:19

Listener's right in oh, yeah,

1:22

but yes I did. My

1:25

ex boyfriend was from Wisconsin when

1:28

I was visiting his family up there. Once

1:31

I went to I think it was June.

1:34

No, it would have been July, July, okay,

1:37

in July, and there was a huge

1:40

It was like, I'm hoping listeners

1:42

can write in about this and explain what

1:44

happened to me, because I didn't.

1:45

Know at the time.

1:46

I never heard of this. I didn't know what was going

1:48

on. But he was like, we're going to this fish fry. I

1:50

was like, okay, it sounds great. And

1:53

it was alongside like a lake,

1:56

and it felt more of a it felt more

1:58

to me like a festival. Then it

2:01

wasn't like I went into one restaurant. It

2:04

was like tense and so

2:07

much fish. It's so many potatoes

2:10

of various types. And I got

2:12

these buttons out of it

2:15

and I was like lamenting, like pinned

2:17

back buttons. Yes that you came to your

2:19

shirt. I guess I

2:22

was lamenting to to Lauren before this. I

2:24

wanted to find them and maybe illuminate,

2:27

uh, what where I had been, what

2:30

I had been doing, But

2:32

I could not find them alas so

2:34

off listeners know what I'm talking about. But I remember it

2:36

was a very fun atmosphere.

2:39

The food was great.

2:40

That like water, yeah,

2:43

school like it was just a nice,

2:46

lovely day outside with fried fish

2:48

and a lot of sides.

2:49

It was great beer that

2:53

sounds terrific. Yeah, yeah,

2:56

I have never been to a Friday

2:58

fish fry, but I'm

3:01

super curious about them now. I mean

3:03

I have eaten fried fish. Yes,

3:06

I have eaten many of these sides that we're

3:08

going to talk about. Yes, I

3:10

mean we live in Atlanta. They're

3:14

also true

3:17

fried fish is kind of a thing here. But

3:21

yeah, yeah,

3:24

I do need to say that while

3:27

doing this reading and looking at a lot of photographs

3:30

of fish fries, I was eating

3:33

my pre planned and earnestly

3:36

lovely salad lunch

3:38

today and I was so

3:40

viscerally angry m

3:43

hm. And

3:47

this will certainly have an effect on my dinner

3:51

me too.

3:53

I was thinking about this today because one

3:57

of the lovely things about this show I

3:59

have realed is that it does give

4:02

me a wonderful opportunity

4:05

to be like, I need to get gorgonzola?

4:07

What shall I do? And there's

4:09

just so many foods that.

4:10

I have in my life now that I have in my life

4:12

because of the show and

4:14

because of listeners, and I've

4:17

like last night, I made too much,

4:20

too many sides for my solo

4:23

Valentine's Day thing that I did, which was great,

4:25

But I'm going to make some fry fish

4:28

for the side, the extra sides, so I'm very

4:31

excited about it.

4:32

But yes, that's also the same.

4:35

So this whole thing, the

4:37

fish fry, not

4:40

not maybe specifically, but kind of has

4:42

come up in a lot of episodes. A

4:45

lot of them have been surprising to me at least

4:49

the same with lent. Lent comes

4:51

up a lot in episodes

4:53

that we do about food trends,

4:56

traditions, but for this episode

4:59

specifically, we have done fish

5:01

and chips. A

5:03

lot of our fish episodes, perhaps

5:06

seafood perhaps perhaps

5:09

specifically some of our New Orleans episodes

5:12

if you'd like to revisit those, maybe

5:14

that big Fish Industry episode

5:16

that we did out of Owahu. Yeah,

5:20

yeah, And I think a couple of the sides we've touched

5:22

on shared totally some

5:24

things that are related to that. Some beers.

5:27

Beer can be a big part. Yeah, So

5:31

what a lot. But I

5:33

guess that brings us to our question. I guess

5:36

it does Friday

5:38

fish fry?

5:41

What is it? Well,

5:44

Friday fish fry is a type of

5:46

social meal where you get together with family

5:49

or friends or community on a Friday

5:51

for a lunch or dinner of filets

5:54

of breaded fried fish,

5:56

along with usually some kind of fried

5:58

potato and some tangy

6:00

condiments. The fish is usually

6:02

something light and white and flaky, fried

6:05

till tender and golden brown, and

6:07

condiments like wholeslaw tartar sauce

6:09

and lemon wedges are common, but the

6:11

exact style of everything is really

6:14

adaptable to whatever is locally

6:16

available or preferred. It's

6:20

sometimes a large service like

6:22

family style and or buffet

6:24

sort of situation. It's just

6:26

a it's just a big old plate of comfort food,

6:29

meant to be eaten in good company, probably

6:32

inexpensive, possibly with beer. It's

6:35

it's a start to your weekend and a reminder

6:38

that the good things in life don't have to

6:40

be costly or fancy.

6:44

It's like being encased

6:47

in the in the warm golden

6:49

color of a perfect ale, or

6:52

or of the perfect crispy

6:54

batter. M mm

6:58

hmmm. Just a nice thing to look forward

7:00

to, right right?

7:02

Oh man, I get like viscerally

7:05

angry and

7:08

my very nice salad which had done nothing

7:10

wrong, but

7:13

it certainly was not a giant plate of fried

7:15

fish. Indeed.

7:19

Oh okay, So

7:22

yes, any number of types of fish might

7:24

be used Great

7:26

Lakes locals as here

7:29

in the United States, this does focus on the Great

7:31

Lakes a lot. Things like a perch,

7:34

lake trout, smelts, bluegill, whitefish,

7:36

or walleye can be used.

7:38

Ocean fish like cod, haddock or flounder,

7:41

river fish like catfish, other seafood

7:43

like shrimp or oysters. These days

7:45

there might be a trade off between fresh

7:48

local fish versus the price of a plate,

7:51

as a number of environmental and

7:53

fishing industry factors have led to declining

7:56

populations of some of those local traditional

7:58

fishes. The

8:01

fry is the breading

8:03

from a batter that puffs up like nice

8:06

and thick and fluffy. Is it breadcrumbs?

8:08

Fried, thin and crisp? Is it corn meal?

8:11

Does it involve beer or milk or

8:13

butter milk? Do you put seasonings

8:16

in the batter? This is

8:18

an important question in the South. Is

8:21

it deep fried or pan fried or baked?

8:25

Then sides and sauces and

8:27

table side seasonings. Does it come

8:29

with coleslaw, steamed or boiled

8:32

vegs like cabbage, green beans, or corn,

8:34

potato salad, macaroni salad, Maybe

8:36

some rye, bread or rye toast with butter,

8:39

soft rolls, crispy rolls, grits,

8:42

hush puppies, mac and cheese,

8:44

french fries, potato pancakes with sour

8:46

cream or apple sauce or both, hash

8:48

browns, buttered boiled potatoes, baked

8:51

potato, your sauces,

8:53

your tartar sauce, lemon wedges, hot

8:55

sauce, smalt, vinegar. I'm

9:01

like one of every I'm like one of everything. Please.

9:04

I'm like, yes, yeah, I'll

9:06

take it. Sounds good the

9:11

meal itself, okay. So in some

9:13

areas of the United States with Catholic,

9:16

Lutheran, Anglican, or Methodist

9:18

roots, perhaps especially in the Midwest

9:20

and even more specifically in

9:23

the aforementioned Great Lakes region, but

9:26

like also definitely in New Orleans

9:28

and other places, Friday fish fries

9:31

are common on Fridays in

9:33

general and during Lent in particular,

9:36

a Lent being the season leading up to Easter.

9:39

Local churches and other organizations may

9:41

host Friday fish fries as like casual,

9:43

family friendly fundraising events, and

9:46

in some areas lots of local restaurants

9:48

will do a fish fry every week during

9:50

Lent. A Friday fish fry in

9:53

many places wine or beer

9:55

and some kind of dessert are also integral

9:57

parts of the meal. Yeah,

10:00

but that is really just scratching the

10:02

surface. Just just for example,

10:05

there are dozens of Friday

10:07

fish fries around the Greater Atlanta area.

10:10

Yes, yes, and

10:13

we're not near like water, so

10:16

now if you're near water

10:18

gets bigger. Also, I

10:20

read about some like specific cocktails

10:23

I would write in about

10:25

that. Yeah, that

10:27

are traditional at these fish fries. Uh

10:30

but what about the nutrition.

10:33

Yeah, well fried

10:36

foods are colorically dense with fats

10:38

from the frying process. Oh, you

10:40

know, mind your portion sizes. Drink

10:43

water, eat a vegetable, Eat

10:45

a vegetable that is not tartar sauce.

10:47

Okay,

10:50

SpongeBob would say, oh,

10:52

tartar sauce. It's

10:55

like a curse word in the sponge Oh cute,

10:58

cute, I love it.

11:00

Well, we do have

11:03

some numbers for you, a

11:05

couple because this is like a community

11:07

event, Like I don't have like global

11:10

production numbers of Friday fish fries,

11:12

but a few random pieces

11:14

here and there. Okay. So Barrows

11:17

Catfish, which is a seventy plus

11:19

year old black family owned restaurant in

11:21

New Orleans, says that they may cook

11:23

up some three thousand pounds of fried fish

11:26

a week during Lent. Wow.

11:29

Yeah, not

11:32

strictly related, but if you're

11:34

in the DC area, the National

11:36

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or

11:38

NOAH, hosts a fish fry every June

11:41

for about a thousand people or so. This

11:43

began in nineteen seventy five and was punnily

11:46

called Friday's Fish Fry

11:49

after a man by the name of Paul

11:51

Friday, who was one of the originators.

11:54

Anyway, it's always focused on presenting

11:56

tasty iterations of underutilized

11:59

seafood. It took a couple of years off for COVID,

12:01

but it's supposedly back and open to the

12:03

public again this year, perhaps

12:05

under its new name NOAH

12:07

Sustainable Seafood Celebration. Woh

12:12

so it's nice, which is a tongue twister, but

12:14

lovely. Yeah, yeah, Seafood

12:17

Celebration. Yeah, Sustainable

12:19

Seafood Celebration. Great, Okay.

12:23

And then the McDonald's

12:25

franchise that came up

12:27

with the file of fish Sandwich, which

12:30

is related. More on that later.

12:32

In Montfort Heights, Ohio,

12:35

sells easily three times the number

12:38

of these fried fish sandwiches on good Friday

12:41

than any other day of the year. As

12:43

of twenty twenty two, I think

12:46

that was some eight hundred and seventy two

12:48

sandwiches on Good Friday versus like

12:50

two to three hundred on any other given day.

12:54

Wow. Yeah, more

12:56

widely. A quarter of all

12:58

McDonald's filet fish say happen

13:01

during Lent, which is like

13:03

forty days out of the year.

13:05

So yeah,

13:08

which was very purposeful on McDonald's

13:10

part. And we will talk about that.

13:12

Yes.

13:12

Yeah, there's a lot of history, a lot of varying

13:14

history to go over.

13:16

Oh yeah, yes,

13:18

and we are going to get into that as soon

13:20

as we get back from a quick break for a word from our sponsors,

13:32

and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank

13:34

you. Okay.

13:36

So I know we've talked about this before, but because

13:38

it's so important to this episode, just

13:41

go over it again, huh.

13:44

The Christian tradition of fasting on Fridays

13:46

to honor Jesus' crucifixion on

13:48

Good Friday goes back to at least the

13:51

first century CE. In

13:53

the early days, the Catholic Church ruled

13:55

that Catholics should abstain from eating

13:58

warm blooded meat on Fridays as penance.

14:00

For christ sacrifice, and

14:02

one of the first known historical instances

14:05

of meat being mentioned in conjunction with

14:07

lent dates back to sometime

14:10

between the third and fourth century, when

14:12

a religious historian detailed how during

14:14

the forty days of Lent, meat and meat products

14:17

like cheese and eggs were prohibited. After

14:20

being elected in five hundred ninety CE, Pope

14:22

Gregory the First mentioned this

14:24

practice, and then the church made it official

14:27

canon law in twelve forty

14:29

nine CE. However,

14:32

cold blooded meat like fish was

14:35

allowed since after Jesus' resurrection

14:38

he cooked his apostles fish.

14:41

I actually I'm not a Catholic.

14:43

I don't think that will surprise anybody. I had

14:45

a very Catholic friend growing up. My

14:48

boyfriend ex boyfriend who I went to Wisconsin

14:50

with was very Catholic. So

14:54

I read a lot about it for

14:56

this, but just to say.

14:59

This is what I read. Yeah,

15:01

yeah, I also have very little

15:04

Catholic experience in my life,

15:07

but so cool.

15:09

Yeah, it's where we're reporting

15:12

on what we have read, y'all write

15:14

in. Also, I do understand that there

15:16

are a number of other Christian sects

15:19

that over time have

15:22

adopted these rules.

15:25

Yes, and one of the reasons. I wanted to mention that,

15:28

yeah, I'm like reading Catholic

15:33

works for this episode is because I

15:36

did find other sources that were saying

15:38

different reasons why people eat fish

15:41

on Friday, and to me, it sounds

15:43

like maybe it started as one thing and then it

15:45

became like fish was cheaper

15:48

in some areas, it

15:50

wasn't as hard to it

15:52

wasn't as a painful thing to give up

15:54

as other meats. Yeah,

15:57

I'm just saying like, there's there are other schools

15:59

of thought, but this is kind

16:02

of the main stream thing I read.

16:04

Also, also, knowing what

16:06

I vaguely know from like our butter episode,

16:08

I feel positive that there was something

16:11

to do with taxes or tariffs or

16:13

other monetary than just like it

16:15

was less expensive reasons.

16:17

But yes, yeah, yes,

16:21

yeah, With that being said, stuff

16:24

separated separate from lent. The

16:26

history of frying fish is a very old history,

16:29

especially in places where fish are

16:32

easily accessible. Again, you can see

16:34

any of our fish episodes Fish

16:37

and Chips. Yes, so

16:40

that was already going on. But

16:43

because this history was kind of a dense

16:45

one, I split it up differently

16:47

than I would normally do, So

16:50

I wanted to start first with

16:52

the history of the Friday fish

16:54

fright in Wisconsin in particular. Okay,

16:58

yeah, so let's talk

17:00

about how that became such a tradition there.

17:02

So most sources indicate that the

17:04

three main reasons that this tradition took

17:07

off in that state are Catholicism,

17:10

prohibition, and the availability

17:13

of freshwater fish.

17:15

So a lot of the thousands of European families

17:18

that settled in Wisconsin and the eighteen hundreds were

17:20

Polish and German Catholics. In

17:22

fact, the nineteen hundred records show one

17:24

third of the state's population.

17:27

They were German.

17:28

So when European Catholics

17:31

came to America, they brought this

17:33

practice of not eating warm blooded meat

17:35

on Fridays with them. But fish

17:38

was allowed, so they brought that too. And

17:41

just a note also, we've mentioned

17:43

a few other meats. We've

17:45

done a few episodes on other meats that have been

17:47

subject to this conversation, including alligator

17:50

and frog legs. Can you

17:52

eat that on Fridays? Yeah,

17:54

Durny Lents.

17:55

Yeah.

17:56

Also, of note, the

17:58

indigenous peoples in this region

18:00

had practices of feeding their communities with

18:02

large amounts of fish for thousands of years.

18:05

When the Europeans arrived, they

18:07

picked up the practice too because

18:10

the fish were so plentiful, so

18:12

it was inexpensive, and it was fairly easy

18:14

to feed a lot of people with the fish,

18:17

which fit in with their religious

18:19

beliefs. So there's

18:21

that piece, Okay. The other piece, Prohibition

18:25

also comes up in a lot of episodes. So

18:28

during Prohibition, a lot of taverns

18:31

in Wisconsin used the states

18:33

readily available and cheap freshwater

18:35

fish in fry dishes in order

18:37

to survive financially without alcohol.

18:41

Because at the time in the state there were already a lot of

18:43

breweries and there

18:45

may have been some beer sold

18:48

under the table of these establishments

18:50

to go with the fish fry. So

18:53

this is when the Friday fish

18:55

fry really took root in

18:57

the state. Locally, caught perch

18:59

was a bunch inexpensive, so

19:02

much so that, according to some sources, a few establishments

19:04

offered free fried.

19:06

Fish with the purchase of a beele.

19:11

Yeah, At some point during

19:13

the nineteen forties and fifties, local Wisconsin

19:15

restauranteurs introduced the idea of

19:18

all you can eat family style fish

19:20

fries, and many other

19:22

restaurants followed their lead. So it was a pretty

19:25

popular thing this point. You can have

19:27

beer again legally. But

19:30

with all of this popularity,

19:32

this led to over

19:35

harvesting of the fish in local

19:37

waterways. When

19:39

commercial interest really got underway in

19:41

the early twentieth century, overfishing

19:44

led to significant decline and near

19:46

extinction of some fish,

19:48

like the lake trout and whitefish

19:50

that were used popularly in fish

19:53

fries. To address

19:55

this, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission

19:57

formed in nineteen fifty four to protect

19:59

and manage the fish populations from things like overfishing

20:02

and invasive species, which

20:05

had become a problem to at that point and

20:07

are still a problem. We'll talk about that later. Sometime

20:09

during the nineteen sixties, the rules

20:11

for Catholics around eating meat on Fridays

20:14

changed, instead limited to Fridays

20:16

during light so instead of like a year round thing, just

20:19

during Lent. But by

20:21

then the idea of going out for fish

20:23

on Fridays was already enshrined

20:25

in the minds of Wisconsin. Its

20:27

like it was if thing they looked forward to, they actually

20:29

doing it, so they continue doing it. So

20:34

the tradition is still alive and well, but climate

20:37

change is having an impact on it.

20:40

As Wisconsin's lakes warm, more

20:43

invasive species take hold, and the populations

20:45

of fish like perch, whitefish, and lake trout

20:48

commonly used in these fish fries are declining.

20:52

Yeah, recently, some

20:54

locals have been trying to help lessen

20:56

climate change by recycling

20:59

Friday fry oil into biodiesel.

21:01

A public radio station out of Missouri, KBIA

21:04

ran a story in twenty sixteen about a few people

21:07

and organizations in Nebraska gathering

21:09

thousands of gallons of restaurant and church

21:12

fish fry oil or recycling. Pretty

21:14

cool, But of course they are not the only

21:16

folks working on it. There are all kinds of research

21:19

and programs bent towards improving

21:21

conditions for native fish. But that's

21:23

other episodes that

21:26

is.

21:26

And also, I know I said

21:28

it earlier, I'll say it again. Other

21:31

states in this region do this too, and

21:33

I've read really fun differences between

21:35

like what Pennsylvania has as their side

21:39

this state.

21:40

So yeah, just to say, the

21:42

Great Lakes region in

21:45

general is pretty

21:47

big on this concept from what I can tell,

21:50

But Wisconsin frequently gets called out specifically.

21:53

Yes, they got

21:55

a lot of tradition by or lauded specifically,

21:58

I should say, not like that all out

22:01

you Wisconsin.

22:05

But I wanted to reemphasize that because

22:07

now we're moving to a different region. So

22:10

let us talk about fish

22:12

fry traditions in the South. So

22:15

just like in Wisconsin and other northern states

22:17

that do this, Southern fish fries

22:20

have roots with the indigenous people

22:22

of the region, who would fry up a bunch of fish

22:24

for their community. For enslaved

22:26

peoples, forcibly moved to the southern

22:29

US, fish was one of the few things

22:31

that they could catch themselves without retribution,

22:34

especially in the Mississippi Delta where

22:36

catfish were everywhere.

22:38

But in Georgia it.

22:39

Was Tilapia, and other states like Tennessee

22:42

or Alabama it may have been Swi

22:45

or Whiting. According

22:47

to Tasting Table, life

22:49

for the enslaved generally slowed

22:51

down on Saturday evenings, allowing

22:53

time to go fishing and to share the bounty

22:56

amongst enslaved communities in

22:58

Saturday fish fries. But

23:02

after the Great Emancipation and the Great

23:04

Migration, these traditions spread

23:06

throughout the country and eventually these Saturday

23:09

fish fries moved to Fridays.

23:11

Yeah. I suspect that a

23:14

as the industrial

23:17

work week became a thing, and

23:19

b as As

23:22

the migration occurred, these disparate

23:24

but similar traditions dovetailed,

23:28

especially in southern areas like New Orleans

23:30

with Catholic populations.

23:33

Right, and many

23:35

Black Americans opened restaurants based on fish

23:38

fry. I found a lot of restaurants

23:40

in Atlanta.

23:40

Whe I was like, yep, yep, yep, fish

23:44

and grits, y'all.

23:47

So modernly, these fish fries are still

23:49

popular in the South, and in particular in

23:51

black communities, and in particular in

23:53

the summer and fall, from what I read, and

23:56

they are communal events. They are these things

23:58

that you come out

24:00

and you have these hangouts,

24:04

meetups, ketchups with people,

24:08

and so I love that that is part of

24:10

it, that this is another example of something

24:12

that is more than just a

24:14

food, Like the fish fry is

24:17

more than just a.

24:18

Food, absolutely, yeah. Yeah,

24:20

it's a community. Yeah yeah.

24:24

But that being said,

24:26

again we're focusing on those two regions.

24:29

Listeners, please let us know if you've been to

24:31

these things, if you've done them, if you have different

24:33

things in your region. Oh yeah, But

24:37

that being said, we

24:39

did want to talk about McDonald's a second, because

24:44

I just remembered we'd mentioned this in

24:46

a past episode, and I had to know more.

24:50

So, yes, the file of Fish.

24:53

So when the company noticed

24:56

a drop of orders, specifically

24:58

a franchisey noticed a drop

25:01

of orders for their burgers on Fridays

25:03

related to religious reasons, they wanted

25:05

to introduce another menu option to cover that

25:07

loss. Here we go

25:10

the Fley of Fish. But okay,

25:12

a little more context. This

25:14

was the brainchild of a McDonald's franchise

25:17

owner, Lou Groen in nineteen

25:20

sixty two around Cincinnati, Ohio.

25:22

He got the idea when he realized that Catholics

25:24

of standing from meat on Fridays was hurting

25:26

his bottom line because

25:29

his location was located in

25:31

a heavily Catholic neighborhood

25:33

and a nearby restaurant offering

25:35

fish options was knocking them out of the park

25:39

during this time. So originally

25:42

McDonald's founder Ray Kroc

25:45

hated the idea, believing

25:48

that fish would stink up their

25:50

restaurants. And here is a quote

25:52

from his book about it. Hell

25:55

no, I don't care if the Pope

25:57

himself comes to Cincinnati.

26:00

He can eat hamburgers like everybody

26:03

else.

26:04

We are not going to.

26:05

Stink up our restaurants with any of your

26:07

damned fish.

26:09

Wow.

26:12

The Pope can eat hamburgers

26:15

like everybody else.

26:17

Right, coming in hot every

26:19

time.

26:20

Really, he really did, he

26:22

really did. But he

26:27

eventually did relent when

26:30

the File of Fish won in

26:32

a sandwich contest against

26:35

crocs idea the Hula Burger, which

26:37

was like a grilled pineapple and

26:39

cheese sandwich.

26:40

And it won easily. Yeah,

26:43

the the File of Fish outsold the Hula

26:45

Burger three hundred and fifty

26:48

two six. That's

26:52

a substantial loss. That

26:54

is yep.

26:57

You know, as the numbers keep coming in and you're

26:59

like, at first you have hope.

27:02

Then as it goes on you're like, oh,

27:06

miscalculation.

27:09

Yeah, well yes,

27:11

the Flag of Fish one. And

27:14

when it went nationwide in nineteen sixty

27:16

five, it was the first non hamburger

27:20

sandwich added to McDonald's menu. I

27:24

read somewhere it was like the first.

27:27

It was confusing to me because I was like, well,

27:29

there's French fries.

27:30

But anyway, it was a big deal. Yeah.

27:33

I think it might have been like the first new addition

27:36

to the menu in basically ever and

27:38

basically ever. Yeah.

27:42

And then, because our culture is

27:45

a snake eating its own tail, lots of places

27:47

that do, like local places

27:50

that are not McDonald's that do Friday fish

27:52

fries now include options

27:55

to get your fish as a sandwich

27:57

with cheese and tartar sauce. So

28:02

oh wow, you

28:05

gotta love it. Yeah.

28:08

I feel like when I did it in Wisconsin, I

28:10

just ate. I just ate the fish

28:12

and the fries, and it was glorious.

28:15

But I'd like a sandwich too, you know.

28:17

Oh yeah, sure, yeah, fred

28:19

fish sandwich delicious

28:22

so good.

28:23

Gosh, Well, listeners, we

28:26

really would love to hear from you about this.

28:29

Mm hmmm if you have experience with it,

28:31

regional differences.

28:32

Oh yeah, what are your favorite side

28:35

dishes, what your favorite seasonings

28:37

are? I need to

28:39

know all about.

28:41

It, yes, please,

28:45

But I think that's what we have to say about the

28:47

Friday fish fry for now.

28:48

I think it is. Yeah. We do already

28:51

have some listener mail for you, though, and we are going to get

28:53

into that as soon as we get back from one more quick

28:55

break for a word from our sponsors. And

29:05

we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you,

29:08

and we're back with this

29:17

sh is yah yah.

29:21

Well, Matt

29:26

wrote, this is my

29:28

first time ever writing into a

29:30

podcast. I have been listening

29:33

to you since the beginning of the food stuff days and

29:35

enjoy all of your episodes. They

29:37

are informative and the friendship you two share

29:39

makes them so much more fun. With every nerdy

29:42

dangit, I am

29:44

many weeks behind at this point, but I have been

29:46

binging to catch up. I am

29:48

writing in after finishing the replay

29:50

of the Saracha episode and listening

29:52

to the drama that has unfolded. I

29:55

personally have never actually had

29:58

the hoi funk version, as I am not typically

30:00

a hot sauce fan. However, a

30:02

few years ago I received a sample bottle

30:04

of Yellow Bird organic siracha

30:07

through a friend and became obsessed, so

30:09

much so that I would order two twenty ounce

30:12

bottles at a time. I have

30:14

also gifted many a bottle to friends

30:16

and family to spread my love for it, many

30:19

of which have purchased additional bottles

30:21

after their gift ran out. I

30:24

know you love an opinion. So the

30:27

interesting thing is I prefer

30:29

the organic to the non organic, and

30:31

I am not normally a buy everything organic

30:34

person. If anything, I

30:36

purposely avoid the higher prices

30:38

on organic. However,

30:40

I did once get a bottle of the non organic

30:43

yellow Bird siracha as the organic was

30:45

not available at my local store, and

30:47

it's just not the same. It

30:49

is clearly a different recipe. I do

30:52

not know if they cannot source everything

30:54

organic, so they changed the

30:56

recipe. But the non organic one is watery

30:58

and the flavor is just slightly off.

31:01

Don't get me wrong. I finished the bottle. It was still

31:03

great, just not as amazing as

31:05

the organic one. One of my favorite

31:08

snacks is still some crackers and cheese

31:10

with just a doll up of Yellow Bird organic

31:12

Suracha.

31:13

Delicious.

31:15

I hope that this was not too long and rambling

31:17

and you got some sort of joy reading it. Either

31:20

way. Thank you for the podcast. I learned

31:22

something new every time I listen.

31:24

Oh you, Yeah, we

31:26

welcome, Welcome to writing into podcasts,

31:29

Welcome to our box. Thank you. Oh

31:31

my gosh. We do love an opinion,

31:35

and this is a great one. Hot sauce

31:37

right, so especially

31:39

hot. I don't think I've had that brand, but I'm

31:42

going to look for it.

31:43

Yeah, I don't think I've had that one either. Oh

31:47

my gosh, I just love hot Sauce so

31:49

much. I need to look to this. I've been going through,

31:51

like I know, I go through like waves

31:53

of this and listeners have heard me go

31:56

through it. But I'm going through a phase where I'm adding

31:58

hot sauce to everything again, even things that should

32:00

probably be better without it,

32:02

just.

32:04

For the feeling, just to feel something, Yeah.

32:06

Just to feel something in my gold

32:08

head heart. I just love it so

32:10

much.

32:14

But I do.

32:14

I have a ton, but I'm always looking

32:17

for more. So thank you.

32:19

Well.

32:19

I mean, the thing is is that different hot sauces go

32:21

so well with different things. I mean, mm

32:24

hmmm.

32:27

I made my gumbo for

32:30

Marti Grass recently and I

32:32

really debated and and

32:35

gumbo fishonados can yell at me, but I really debated

32:37

on what hot sauce I wanted to put in it because I wanted

32:39

a hot sauce in it, Okay

32:42

saying what it was because no, no,

32:44

no, I probably won't it was from It's

32:47

pretty normal. But I

32:50

yeah, it's true, like you have to plan

32:52

out sometimes I want a hot sauce

32:55

that I know won't go with the thing I'm eating,

32:58

and I let my wan override

33:02

my senses, my knowledge,

33:04

and then I usually regret it.

33:06

Yeah, yeah, I've done that a few times

33:08

for sure. And yeah, then I was kind of like, get

33:11

your life together, Lauren, Like come on, come

33:14

on, vogel Bomb, like, what are you doing choose

33:17

the appropriate hot sauce for a dish. Yeah,

33:22

I'm on.

33:22

A real kick with this point really hot,

33:24

really hot hot sauce right now. And

33:27

of course every time I add it to something, I'm like, wow, that

33:29

was too hot, Like yes, why.

33:32

Do you do this over? And you're like, that's the point

33:34

of it. It's too hot here we are exactly

33:37

it should be relegated to certain.

33:42

But anyway, yes, thank you, yes, yeah,

33:44

the recommendation, I'm going to look for it as well.

33:47

And that is actually one of that issue that you were

33:49

having is one of the reasons that I like saracha because

33:52

it's a relatively gentle heat. Yes,

33:55

it goes with yeah, yeah, it's got

33:57

a little bit sweetness that cuts it. Anyway,

34:00

Eric wrote the papaya episode today

34:03

reminded me to check the store when I went tonight.

34:05

Yep, they had cut pieces back on the shelf,

34:07

so I had to pick them up. Always enjoyed

34:09

papaya, but always seemed to forget about it. I also

34:12

never realized there were so many varieties With

34:15

the one statement you made. I thought of a crossover

34:17

a mutual episode with the stuff they

34:19

don't want you to know. Crue what happens

34:21

when you recklessly google fruit? The

34:27

Escaffie stories interesting. Had heard the name,

34:29

but had not really heard any of the detail around

34:32

it or what was contributed. I

34:34

only worked in a pizza place, so I can't speak to

34:36

what happens in larger kitchens, but even there

34:38

we had specific things we did for things,

34:41

how to top, how to place, how to turn, etc.

34:43

Definitely ran smoothly, and when I go back

34:46

home, I always visit and see how things

34:48

still run the same. Why mess

34:50

with what works? A shout out to Pet

34:52

and Mike for that summer learning experience and

34:54

in response to the listener mail black

34:57

olive fingers for the win. Indeed

35:02

absolutely right.

35:05

Yes, well

35:08

interestingly one recklessly

35:11

googling fruit.

35:13

I don't know about that.

35:14

But our

35:17

friend and co worker Ben Bolin occasionally

35:21

reaches out to us and is like, let's

35:24

do an episode again soon, And yeah,

35:26

he just reached out to us, so hopefully that will happen

35:28

in one way or another. We

35:31

had a great time talking about Ranch, something

35:36

that he and I bonded over. Not

35:38

liking, but

35:40

yes, so hopefully that will happen. We do

35:42

love doing those crossovers. I

35:45

also thought this was interesting because I

35:47

know I've talked to you about this,

35:49

Lauren, but regarding

35:52

kind of working in kitchens and these sort

35:55

of militaristic organized layouts

35:58

of them. You and I started

36:00

discussing the TV show The Bear, and

36:03

I'm saying, like it stressed me out and made me never want

36:05

to eat at a restaurant again.

36:06

No, not, the.

36:08

Show is really good, like guys,

36:10

Yeah, but I recently

36:13

talked to a friend about it.

36:15

She had a whole different.

36:16

Read on it, and it was so fascinating where

36:20

she was like, no, that made me feel comfort

36:22

that it was so organized

36:26

in this way, and it just made me I've just been

36:28

thinking about it, pondering this.

36:31

I mean, we won't go

36:33

into what happens in the show, but I guess it

36:35

was just interesting to me that she was

36:38

sort of like, oh, no, I put it on as a comfort

36:40

show, and I was.

36:40

Like, what, yeah,

36:43

coming from coming from industry like my

36:45

dad was industry. I have not watched

36:48

that show yet because these

36:52

stressful parts of it

36:54

sound very, very very stressful to

36:56

me. And there's something that I am very

36:58

familiar with, having that

37:00

family history and lots of friends

37:03

who are still in the industry to this day. So

37:06

I'm just like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I understand

37:09

it's a good show. I understand that

37:11

I will end up liking it, but I

37:13

just haven't felt like subjecting

37:15

myself to like extra stress.

37:23

It's also funny because I remember

37:26

when I talked about it to you, I was like, oh, I

37:28

don't.

37:29

And I swear to god listeners.

37:31

I did not know this was a thing when I said this to Lauren,

37:34

but I was like, I don't think it's a comedy.

37:36

Apparently that's a huge controversy

37:40

and like kind of a meme what

37:42

you talked about when you came on to stuff. Mo've never

37:44

told you to talk about Diehard not being

37:46

a Christmas movie. I didn't know that was a

37:48

thing I.

37:51

But I stepped in it unintentionally.

37:57

I mean, it's got funny moments.

37:59

Would call it a comedy, but.

38:01

That I'll step up, maybe argument

38:03

dramatic comedy. Perhaps genres

38:06

are strange, I'll say that a black

38:09

comedy. Maybe. I having

38:11

not watched it again, I can't ye know personally.

38:15

Yeah, London, Well, it was.

38:16

A huge debate

38:18

happening, and

38:20

I did not know about it, but

38:23

I do again, I do think genrezred

38:26

sometimes difficult opind on So

38:28

sure, yeah, anyway,

38:34

one day we'll revisit perhaps.

38:36

But thank you too

38:39

both of these listeners for writing in. If

38:41

you would like to write to us, you can. Our

38:43

email is hello at savorpod dot

38:45

com.

38:46

We're also on social media. You can find

38:48

us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

38:50

at saber pod, and we do hope to hear from

38:52

you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.

38:55

For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, you can visit

38:57

the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

38:59

or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks

39:01

as always to our super producers Dylan Fagan

39:04

and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,

39:06

and we hope that lots more good things are coming your way