441: Chex Mix
Molly 0:00
Hi. I'm Molly.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:04
And I'm Matthew.
Molly 0:06
And this is spilled milk, the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:11
And today we're talking about chex mix.
Molly 0:14
That's right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:15
I think I suggested this topic and at the time I did I didn't even know until wife of the show Laurie mentioned it that the thing about which is your favorite Chex Mix item has been going around again, this is this is like, wait, it's just like a classic, you know, internet quiz, like, you know, either either. What's your favorite or like, which Chex Mix item? Are you if it's like a BuzzFeed style quiz?
Molly 0:37
The Wait, let's let's answer this by the end of the show.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:41
By the end the show not right away. Like we're gonna make people wait. Yeah.
Molly 0:44
Okay. Well, anyway, Matthew, I'm so glad you suggested this because I ran out to KFC this morning. And I Oh, I got to wear a new a new face mask.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:57
Okay. Yeah, yeah, what style
Molly 0:59
so ash made me the second one that they've made me This is the kind that sits a little bit farther out from your face has a seam straight from your nose down to your chin. Yeah, my previous one was sort of more like an accordion fold and like it kind of like sat against your lips. And it made me feel very claustrophobic all the time. Sure. Anyway, this one felt roomy, but also very secure. Anyway, I went out to KFC and I realized it was my first time ever buying chex mix. Yeah, I was on the chips aisle. And somehow I thought the bags would be bigger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:34
like okay, small bags for some reason. It's because it's dense.
Molly 1:38
It is. Yeah. So anyway, compared to a potato chip, it took me a while on the aisle to find it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:45
Because while I'm there, I could keep going
Molly 1:48
all day. snowing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:51
Yeah, it's all day. It's been snowing. And I just keep going. I'm took a while in the aisle getting my mix fix.
Molly 1:57
Yeah. Nice. Anyway, I mean, it makes sense that it would be in a smaller bag too, because it probably doesn't break as easily as chips. Right. So they don't need all that air. Yeah. Anyway, so I'm really glad you suggested this topic because I
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:10
had already chips and it's full of those inflatable plastic, you know, filler things. And like, there's like three chips in there. And just a whole bunch of plastic things that you have to pop and scare your cat and then just put in the recycling.
Molly 2:22
Yeah, yeah. I'm really glad you interrupted me to tell that joke. Me too. Oh, yeah. Okay, so anyway, I had never bought Chex Mix before. I think it's one of those things where like, whenever I see it in a bowl, like, anywhere, like a stew, while I'm out for a walk, maybe I'm at a party. I always want to eat some, but I haven't thought about it before.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:51
So I'm excited. I like on Halloween. Maybe someone's put out a bowl of it like,
Molly 2:55
yeah, just for drinking with razor blades.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:58
Uh huh. Oh, that's my number one favorite item we sorry. Spoiler alert. We got their way before the end of the episode. Number one razor blades number two poison.
Molly 3:06
Okay, great. That's what they mean by Worcestershire sauce. Right? Poison the poison?
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:12
Yes.
Molly 3:12
What's kind of mysterious? It just comes in this dark brown little bottle and nobody knows what it is. Right? And
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:18
what's your chair sauce bottle does look a lot like a poison bottle from a cartoon. It's a like xxx on it. I guess. Maybe a liquor bottle? I don't know.
Molly 3:26
Anyway, okay, hold on. So let's talk about memory lane, I guess. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:30
I don't really remember the first time I encountered chex mix. I mean, I guess probably like at a party when I was a kid. But it kind of didn't register. Like it wasn't it wasn't like a favorite snack food. When I was a kid. I think I didn't know it existed.
Molly 3:44
Yeah, I knew that it existed. It showed up at parties at other people's houses. This was not something that my mom ever made or bought. But I always loved it. But you know what it now occurs to me, you know, the brand guard dedos which is Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Snack mix blend. That was super popular in my middle school, because that was
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:07
super popular in my middle school and high school.
Molly 4:09
Yeah, because they had it in the vending machine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:12
I think they probably had at the vending machine in my high school also. Yeah,
Molly 4:14
do High School still have vending machines? You know, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:17
think they do. And I think like there's been there's been like, I'm making this up. But my impression is that, like, there's been like an ongoing cycle of, you know, should we have vending machines at all, if we're gonna have vending machines, let's put only like healthy things with like, minimal grams of fat in the vending machine. And then the kids get mad because that stuff doesn't taste good. And then they bring back the regular stuff. But then there's another like round of Nutritionism. And you know,
Molly 4:39
also, my high school did not have a vending machine, but my middle school did and I just I have such fond memories of middle school snacks like all of us waiting to get our thing out of the vending machine and like whatever was popular at a certain time it was like so emblematic of middle school like fun. Yeah, yeah, and coke, you know.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:00
Absolutely funyuns and a coke yes in my my favorite items in the middle school. We didn't have a vending machine but we had a student store that was open like every day. We have that in high school. Yeah. And so my favorite things were funyuns. And watch McCall. It's
Molly 5:14
Oh, is that the one with like a wafer cookie type thing?
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:18
I don't think it's, I don't think it's a wafer cookie. But it's got it's got like nuts and caramel. It's very dense. And I feel like I should know exactly what goes into a watch because because I've eaten approximately 1700 of them. But now it's just kind of like a bunch of stuff smooshed together in a bar form.
Molly 5:35
That's fine. That's what most candy bars are. I mean, that's
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:38
fair.
Molly 5:39
I think that that basically I am I have just launched the new advertising campaign for all candy bars.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:46
Oh, candy bars,
Molly 5:47
they're all the same. They just have stuff smooshed together.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:50
Yeah, there aren't there aren't enough commercials like you know like, like gotten milk but for candy bars like the candy bar council these two get together and have like a PSA campaign with like celebrities with with candy bar crumbs on their faces, I guess.
Molly 6:05
Yes. God stuffs mush together.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:07
That's that's my slogan. Yeah. You know, what I had yesterday was a Snickers ice cream bar. Those things are the greatest.
Molly 6:18
I think that is another perfectly engineered food Absolutely.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:20
Like could not be better.
Molly 6:22
You know, I was recently writing Thank you postcard to one of our subscribers. That's right. listeners. If you become a subscriber to the show, you know making monthly donations, you get a thank you postcard handwritten from us. Anyway, I was writing one the other day, and I wished them a lockdown filled with perfectly engineered food product.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:43
Oh, that's great. And
Molly 6:44
I felt like is there any Kinder greeting to give to a human being at this point in time? No, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:49
think I think that's exactly right. Okay, great. And I'm that's what I've been trying to do. myself
Molly 6:55
have a lockdown filled with perfectly engineered food products. Oh, yeah. I
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:58
mean, like, right, I've got like sour cream and onion chips. I've got Snickers ice cream bars. Probably a lot of other good stuff. But I don't have however is chex mix, but I'm going to talk about it anyway.
Molly 7:09
Great. Okay, well, hold on. I think we covered memory lane. I don't really have much of a memory lane other than guard dedos which are not chex mix. But that close. Yeah. Anyway,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:19
I think I thought of chex mix as a kid is one of these things that like because I was a kind of a picky eater, like it had a lot of different things in it, including, like some sort of sauce that I wasn't so sure about. And so like, I don't think I disliked it. But I think I was like nervous about it. Yeah, I'm suspicious.
Molly 7:36
Okay, I can just imagine you like little Matthew, kind of sitting there silently staring at a bowl of chex mix, like, like all the other kids are digging in and you're looking a little bit scared.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:48
I've like I've got a pair of tweezers and like, like a bag, like an evidence bag. And I've like laid out all of the individual components of the chex mix.
Molly 7:57
Because you're trying to decide which one you were
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:59
right but also have like written notes about each one. And like, is this the culprit?
Molly 8:03
Yeah, okay, well, anyway, okay, what is this stuff? Let's get to the bottom of it. Matthew,
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:08
you did the research. You tell me.
Molly 8:10
All right. So the contents vary. The mixes generally include obviously an assortment of checks, cereals, there's what like wheat checks, corn checks and rice checks.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:21
Yeah, I think I think typically like when I've seen it made at home like it people don't always go like three whole taxes. Yeah, alright. In Latin we say chesties. But I think usually like to to taxes. That was not worth that reaction. That was as much of an overreaction as as that customer who gave me the fake review.
Molly 8:47
That was so good. I love that. I love you baby Pig Latin jokes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:53
I think i think that's that's correct.
Molly 8:56
I never took Latin. So that's probably why I find this so amusing. Okay. Anyway. All right. So usually, there's some kind of check serial, sometimes more than one sometimes only one.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:07
Wait, wait, usually there's some kind of, are you alleging that if you left out the checks all together, you could still call it Chex Mix? That's an interesting question. No, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with that. No, I'm disagreeing with that. You can't.
Molly 9:21
Okay. So here are other things that that always appear some sort of chip and we're not talking like potato chip here. It's sometimes these things that almost look like little like Melba Toast, you know, like ride chips.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:33
Yeah, right. Oh, you know what, you know what else was big? At one point when I was in school was rye crisp rye crystal crackers,
Molly 9:40
like wasa crackers or pita or Yeah, totally. Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:44
Why was that popular? Oh, he's not bad. But like,
Molly 9:47
I think it was popular because girls had just started learning about counting calories.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:51
Oh, God, that's not a good reason. Tragically,
Molly 9:53
Matthew. I think that is the reason.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:56
Yeah, that makes sense.
Molly 9:57
Yeah. Okay. Anyway, I also They're usually those little like hard breadsticks. Yes. Also some kind of some shape of pretzel. We'll get to that in a second sometimes really old pretzels and then sometimes nuts or sometimes kind of like a cracker of some sort. And then Wikipedia says all this is topped off with traditional chicken oil and salty what
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:25
I saw the read this and this is somebody having fun out of Wikipedia
Molly 10:29
because you're serious
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:30
Yes, there's no there's no chicken oil. Mix chick there's a nice chick and oil. There's, there's, I mean, I can see like putting like, like a bullion powder in chex mix. I think that would probably be very tasty. What
Molly 10:44
is the difference between somebody fooling around on Wikipedia and somebody who is just an idiot contributing to Wikipedia entries? Like I think there are some people out there who don't know the difference between oil and like an animal fat,
Matthew Amster-Burton 10:58
but I don't think either of those things as ever, like commonly gone into chex mix. I'm sure someone has done it, but
Molly 11:06
because it's usually butter, right? Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:07
like chex mix is as far as I know. Never had like a traditional Yeah, of course.
Molly 11:19
Oh, God. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:21
But anyway, right. The phrase traditional chicken oil is very funny. You're right. I mean, good work, whoever whoever like fucked up Wikipedia to bring us this this joke or misstep? Thank you.
Molly 11:34
Yes. Okay. Anyway, so um, then there's generally seasoning added to it. So worst is your sauce is a very common ingredient. seasoned salt. What
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:45
the heck is seasoned salt. seasoned salt is salt with other like ground herbs and spices in it. Usually, I'm gonna say like a paprika and a garlic powder or like key ingredients and seasoned salt and probably MSG.
Molly 12:01
I remember my parents keeping around like a shaker container of Lowry's seat layer loud. Yes, Laurie's law rays Yeah, wait
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:10
for the show Laurie seasoning salt. Yeah, I mean when you look up the ingredients in Lowery seasoning salt, seasoning salt, I'm not sure. Yeah, I mean, it's it's you know, it's it's like herbs and spices.
Molly 12:22
Alright, and then garlic powder and onion powder are also typical. Yeah. Anyway, and so in the beginning this stuff was was designed to be made at home. But now it's pretty much like sold commercially pre packaged. And there you go.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:39
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure people do still make it at home but it's one of these probably the other one that comes to mind is rice krispie treats where it when we were kids, it was something that was only made at home and you couldn't buy it commercially. And then it like made the leap to mostly bought commercially and sometimes made at home. Yeah, I can't I couldn't think of anything else. Like I know there must be a bunch of other things. Like we go back far enough like jerky like people would you know, out on the plains would like dry their jerky in the sun. You're going back
Molly 13:06
that far there. Yeah. Cheese, I suppose. Yeah. Back in the day. People used to make their own cheeses back in the pastoralist
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:15
back in our pastoralist past. Yes, you're right.
Molly 13:18
Anyway, okay. But outside the US this stuff is sort of generically known as nuts and bolts. Isn't it kind of known that way in the US too?
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:26
Yeah, I like that. I like the name. It's it's evocative.
Molly 13:29
Anyway, so So can we do a little bit of history?
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:32
Yeah, I would love to. I don't know anything about the history of chex mix. And that makes me feel very uncultured. Oh,
Molly 13:37
well get ready. So you know, obviously, this stuff was created as a way of of marketing a serial checks, check series.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:47
Sure.
Molly 13:47
Maybe you've heard of it. We check.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:50
I would have been pretty surprised if you'd mentioned a completely different serial is the Chex Mix was invented as a way of marketing frost.
Molly 13:56
Crispy remember? chrisfix
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:58
chrisfix is kind of a checks knock off, right? It's like two checks is chassis is fused together?
Molly 14:04
Yes. But I always preferred it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:06
Oh, which Chris mix is very tasty. Yeah. Okay.
Molly 14:09
So wheat checks came out in 1937. And then rice checks came out in 1950. And in 1952, in Life magazine,
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:18
there was an ad for checks party mix with a recipe that included both cereals. Okay, so yeah, so 1952 seems to be the first at least according to Wikipedia, the first time that a recipe for Chex Mix was printed. Okay. It seems like like the late 19th century like the early to mid 20th century was a time of rapid innovation in like doing shit with grains, right like that. People discovered Hey, wait a minute, like we don't have to just like make mush out of these grains. We can like process them into like threads and weaves and puffs and all kinds of shit that are tasty.
Molly 14:56
What a time to have been alive.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:58
I know. It seems like that was Like the main commercial activity in the Western world, and and maybe the world as a whole, yeah was like, take, let's take some grains, let's process them to within an inch of their lives and probably it's gonna be great. I
Molly 15:12
think I think that was a wise decision. And I'm really grateful for it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:16
Well, because I mean, like, if you think about, like how far you have to go from, like wheat growing in the fields in your pastoral youth to individual wheat check, like this thing, like, you got to figure like the first person who made a wheat check was like, Whoa, like skit.
Molly 15:34
I mean, that's Yeah, truly woven. To be fair, a
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:38
triscuit is just a really large wheat check.
Molly 15:41
That's true. Anyway, so in 1958, corn checks came out, and then that was added to the recipe. Okay. And it became popular. So this this part is like, sort of, I don't know, this is like the kind of dumb speculation that Wikipedia is so good for Yeah. So apparently in 1958, the wife of an executive at Ralston Purina, which was the company that then you know, that first brought chex mix. I know it's known as like a dog food company. Sure, but anyway, Ralston Purina was the company that first launched checks now General Mills owns it. But anyway, Ross Ralston Purina executives wife apparently served Chex Mix at a holiday function in 1955. And it was often running
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:27
Okay, no, I mean, I think I can hear your skepticism but like, I've read about this party. And like, this was probably the biggest event of any kind that happened in the 1950s. Oh, yeah, it was first of all, obviously, it was a key party. Yeah. And like, but people were so into this new snack mix. They forgot to fuck. Oh, my God. Like they just went back there. I was like, Can you believe like this this combination of flavors like with a with finished off with with a hint of traditional chicken oil.
Molly 17:05
Oh, god, that was so satisfying. I don't have anything else. Now. I'm just ready to drop off to sleep. Sweet dreams of traditional chicken oil. Um, anyway. All right. So in 1985, pre packaged Chex Mix came on the market. But anyway, wait, hold on back to the 50s. Wait, relax. Back to the 50s.
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:26
Yeah, that's your that's your slogan. That's a really problematic slogan. Molly, we need to talk about this. Oh,
Molly 17:32
I think that our you know, speaking of executives, the top executive in the US is he was elected using a slogan of back to the 50s. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:43
uh huh. Pretty much. Yeah.
Molly 17:46
Anyway, sorry. So apparently, you know, when I guess TVs started showing up in like, mainstream American households, or like, it was something that average people could buy. There came along with TVs, a whole sort of category of snack food. They were TV mixes is what they
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:09
Oh, okay. And these were stuff to eat in front of the TV.
Molly 18:13
Yeah. Because obviously you couldn't eat things that were already out there like apples. No, or sandwiches. You definitely needed a crunchy mix that you could eat without interrupting your TV watching.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:27
Well, I mean, the crunch would would bother other people who are watching TV with you. But other than that, I agree.
Molly 18:33
Yeah. Anyway, so then in 1985, they came out prepackaged. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:38
yeah, I would have guessed later than that. Really? I don't I don't know what makes me say that. But I think I think of I think of pre packaged Rice Krispie treats and chex mix as being like a 90s thing.
Molly 18:51
But that makes sense. Matthew, I've got two bags sitting here and I just I need to open for it. Yeah. Can you talk for a minute about about maybe some of the different varieties of Chex mixes? And then I'm going to give you a quiz.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:04
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, first, I wanted to ask you and you can feel free to to answer as well. Chewing. What is your favorite variety of checks itself? Like if you were just gonna eat a bowl of checks? I don't even know the last time I was ever confronted with that possibility. Okay, well, I have been thusly confronted, like within recent times, and yeah, I like checks. I think wheat checks is probably my favorite but corn is close behind if we checks is very different from the other taxes because like it's much smaller and denser. And so it's it's it's in the same family but it's a total different totally different kind of cereal. Yeah, you know, because you've got two different taxes in front of you. Right? Right.
Molly 19:44
Right now I'm eating traditional chex mix, which has corn checks and wheat checks,
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:49
so called because of the traditional chicken oil.
Molly 19:52
Yes, it also has round pretzels, squiggle breadstick, right chip and square pretzel.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:58
Oh, are these are these all these varieties like called out like individually on the Oh, that's great. holding up the bag which has like a legend on the back
Molly 20:08
it's kind of like when when somebody gives you like a box of chocolates and it's got a legend.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:12
Yeah, it's just like that or like a bag of jelly beans. This is great. Yeah, no it is good like okay I was surprised you gave me an assignment and I'm shirking the assignment I need to stop shirking and talk about varieties there are 13 varieties of Chex Mix commercially available, not including limited editions and they can be divided roughly into three categories. Salty chocolate, which are usually marketed as muddy buddies, and sweet and salty. I don't think I've ever had one of the sweet and salty ones but it sounds good.
Unknown Speaker 20:43
Yeah, this is great. Yeah, it's
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:45
good right?
Molly 20:46
Wow It's really good. I'm you know, I'm also really glad this one doesn't have nuts. I don't want nuts in here.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:51
Yeah, I assume they are marketed I think all the commercial ones I've seen are marketed without nuts but you're about to quiz me and possibly school me on that. But I assume it's because so so as not to have to like label them for nut allergies which is fine because I agree like it's not a thing that needs nuts
Molly 21:15
I made a Chex Mix flavor quiz.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:17
I'm very very excited. Alright,
Molly 21:20
so Matthew, get ready huh?
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:23
was born ready for this?
Molly 21:24
winter Chex Mix cocoa Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:27
Real?
Molly 21:28
Yep, it's real summer Chex Mix ranch.
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:31
Okay, that's interesting because I was I was talking with wife in the show. Laurie this morning. We went on a walk around the neighborhood and and talked a lot about chex mix as we do. And she asked like, is there are there recipes for Chex Mix where you put ranch powder in because that sounds good. And the answer is yes. So I'm going to say yes. Summer Ranch is real. Summer Chex Mix ranch
Molly 21:53
Yes. I find the order of words in these these flavor descriptions fascinating summer
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:59
Chex Mix Ranch, right that sounds like they put the words into a bag and shook up right with a little chicken oil and that's what fell out.
Molly 22:07
Cozy Christmas chex mix.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:10
Oh, sounds it sounds a little too good to be true. But I assume it would be sold in a tin. I think you made it up. I made
Molly 22:19
it up. Yeah. Peanut peanut lovers.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:22
I just a minute ago said I didn't think they put nuts in them. But that sounds so good. Like I just said last week that if you put if you put peanut butter on any package, I will buy it and I know you said peanut not peanut butter. Yes. Real?
Molly 22:34
It's real. Cinco de Chex Mix fake? That's correct.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:38
Although Cinco de Chex Mix like if it was flavored with like chili powder and cumin at that would that sounds very tasty.
Molly 22:45
Cherry and crunchy nuts?
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:47
I think real because it sounds kind of too boring for you to have made it up
Molly 22:51
strawberry and cranberry walnut. Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:54
that sounds good. Are these are the all the ones in the quiz? limited edition flavors? Nope. Okay, strawberry cranberry walnut. I think fake.
Unknown Speaker 23:03
It's true.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:04
Real. Okay. Oh, I think I think that sounds good. I don't know about the strawberry like dried cranberries good dried strawberries kind of a different thing.
Molly 23:13
Still import.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:14
Oh, God. Like I think you made that up. But I want it so badly to be real. So I'm gonna save real.
Unknown Speaker 23:20
I made it up.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:21
It's Doesn't that sound great, though.
Molly 23:22
turtle shell?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:25
I don't know what that means. And I don't think you did either before looking it up. So I'm going to say real. It's real. What is like caramel? Well, so crispy caramel. I
Molly 23:34
think they don't call it turtle shell anymore. I think now they just call it turtle. Okay, so it's like,
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:39
I think
Molly 23:40
it is caramel chocolate and maybe a nut.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:44
You're looking at a bag. That is not that flavor. And
Molly 23:48
but it's got a bunch of different bags on it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:51
Oh, okay. I see. No,
Molly 23:52
I'm eating some bold Chex Mix right now. Which isn't that bold? It's fine.
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:56
But how is it? Is it noticeably bolder than traditional? Maybe I can't believe I thought it was okay for you to eat the chex mix and me not to have any. Like what was I thinking?
Molly 24:08
I don't know. Anyway, this is very oniony Okay, okay, but uh, hold on. I'm not done. oatmeal raisin. Fake. It fake. Okay, animal cracker.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:17
Oh, that's interesting. So like kind of a crossover, like a like a mash up or a mix up. Like I think of this. Okay, I'm going to need to talk us through a little bit like, like in the movie Quiz Show. So or like at a spelling bee. So I think what I already forgot what the flavor was an old cracker. I imagine this being in like a series like, like the captain crunch OOP series like first aid. Oops, all berries. Then they had oops chocolate doughnuts. And I know like this. This was a thing that I and I think other people like to have a hold bit about about like, like, it makes sense that you could have all berries oops at the factory. But there is no plausible mechanism by which you could end up with many miniatures Fred dried chocolate donuts in a captain crunch factory accident. So I'm thinking like, they've got like the production line of animal crackers and the production line of chex mix. And like some hoses got hooked up rock, and that's kind of the conceit and it's gonna say like, whoops, there was a problem with the animal cracker hose. And it would say that on the package, animal cracker hose, so I'm gonna say this is real fake. How long were you going to let me go there?
Molly 25:29
I was busy eating.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:31
you're visiting Chex Mix so forever.
Molly 25:33
Oyster cracker? Oh,
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:35
I don't think that would be called out as like a like a key ingredients. I'm gonna say fake.
Molly 25:41
That's right. It's fake. Okay, castle adventure pizza.
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:51
I don't even begin to know what that means. Is it like a medieval times reference? I think it's real.
Molly 26:00
It's real.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:00
It's Can you explain it?
Molly 26:02
It's a chex mix for kids flavor. It was a limited edition. It's called checks for kids castle adventure pizza.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:09
Is there like a castle shaped pretzel in it or something? What's the adventure?
Molly 26:14
I have no idea. Okay, funny faces triple cheese.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:18
Real definitely real.
Molly 26:20
It's real. Yeah, it's also for kids.
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:22
Okay. Wait, does that mean we can't have any money? Like I want to eat both of those.
Molly 26:28
Anyway, wait, hold on Matthew. While you were trying to speculate about animal crackers. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:32
I was 40 minutes.
Molly 26:35
I read some of the the ingredients of the two bags of Chex Mix that I was eating. And I see
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:43
they're about to tell me that one of them has the ingredient traditional chicken oil. I'm not gonna know what to believe
Molly 26:49
they both have vegetable oil though. which shouldn't I mean, you said the Chex Mix never has oil. No, no, no,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:56
it never has chicken oil.
Molly 26:58
Fine, because chicken oil doesn't exist. Okay, I'm seeing so I have the bold party blend and traditional. The Bold party blend is just very oniony but it also has MSG. Okay, and I am looking at the traditional
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:15
does the traditional have like yeast extract or yeast or has
Molly 27:19
autolyzed yeast. That's MSG. Okay, anyway, I think I think I really like the traditional. It's good. It's really good. Um, I wish that that my cue FC had had the jalapeno one because I think I would like to try.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:35
Yes. So I think my favorites when I buy it. So chex mix is something that I rarely buy except when I'm getting on a plane. And I think it's a great plane snack all that baby kind of loud. And my favorite flavors are the cheddar and the whatever the spicy one is maybe jalapeno.
Molly 27:52
Okay, I saw cheddar today in the grocery store and I did it because it seemed kind of boring. I thought that I should try the bold party mix.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:59
I know I know you've you've always thought of yourself as like someone like you've been you've been wanting to like make yourself over a like a bold brash new way and you thought that this that this part index was going to be step one.
Molly 28:11
Yeah. And it's, it's not gonna work now. Okay, so hold on. So you said you like cheddar or jalapeno?
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:19
Yeah, those those are my favorites, I think but they're but the traditional is great.
Molly 28:24
Do you ever on an airplane? I mean, I think of you on an airplane as being like a water kind of guy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:30
Yeah, you've we've flown together a bunch of times. Like what are my bad airplane habits?
Molly 28:34
Well, no, but I was gonna say I think that if you're going to have chex mix, you definitely need to order a beer. I don't like drinking on a plane.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:42
I know that makes me the most boring person in the sky.
Molly 28:45
I used to like to and now I just enjoy the flavor.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:50
Yeah, I think I always get ginger ale on the plane. That's my that's my party mix and ginger Ella Chex Mix go great together.
Molly 28:57
Fair enough. sweet and salty. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:59
so do you do you know offhand what any of the sweet and salty flavors are? No Okay, too bad there's no way to find out.
Molly 29:06
Yeah, the internet. I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:08
it does not exist. I'm gonna go ahead and start googling This is a start because my laptop doesn't like it when i when i do things while video conferencing. Honey not sweet and salty. Chex Mix popped trail mix Chex Mix
Molly 29:24
these I'm getting a honey roasted peanut vibe and I just don't
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:28
know if I want it I think it sounds pretty good like I don't think it would feed the same hunger for me as as like a traditional but I think it like sometimes that sounds like pretty good snack and all the the trail mix one is like Chex Mix sweet and salty with m&ms. And ah,
Molly 29:46
so it's kind of like gorp good all raisins and peanuts but does it every Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:49
it does not have raisins. Oh, um, so I'm on the Amazon page for that and you'll be you'll be probably not surprised to hear that the bold party blend does not have very good reviews. Yeah, most most Chex mixes have very positive reviews. Not the bold party bland shit,
Molly 30:07
why didn't shatter? No no, it's fine. I feel bombed because like I went out to the grocery store it's a big deal to go to the grocery store these days Matthew. Okay, so
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:18
I may need to issue a retraction on the on the reviews of the of the bowl mix because all of the negative reviews are the they sent me a small bag when I thought it was gonna be a big bag. Oh, just want more. People just want more. I expected a family size bag for $10 that's fair. But one person said three stars tasty, good product served to guests with drinks. Wait, wait, I need to read one more review. four stars. I like these treats very much. However, these were for someone else. What? Only four stars only four stars because they because they refer someone else. Oh, yeah. Okay, I couple a couple other questions. So have you had the muddy buddies? No, they're delicious. I think I think in that case, like the homemade is significantly better than what you're gonna get in a bag.
Molly 31:08
Wait Is this thing where it's like, coated in peanut butter and then powdered sugar.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:15
Peanut butter and and melted chocolate and then you shake it with like cocoa Now shake it with powdered sugar. Yeah.
Molly 31:22
Okay, I think I had this as a kid. This sounds great.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:25
It's very tasty. Why did I make making some sometime soon?
Molly 31:29
Okay, great. And then how about you bring me some. Okay, you can walk
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:34
to my house. I can walk to your house. It will take about two and a half hours. I don't probably more
Molly 31:39
I think it would take more. I don't think that taking the bus to bring me some muddy buddies counts as an essential trip.
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:46
I don't think it does. Oh, well.
Molly 31:47
Maybe you can. Oh, Matthew when I come to pick up my paycheck owe me some Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:55
I will Yeah, I will. I'll do that I'll just it'll be below the line deduction on your paycheck.
Unknown Speaker 32:03
Oh god
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:07
so how do you think what's your share sauce ended up in this and have we done an episode on Western share sauce? And if not, should we
Molly 32:14
we should I don't know very much about wish to share sauce. I would like to know more but I think that it generally shows up any in so many places as like a secret flavor boost, isn't it? I mean, it's it's got MSG it's got like naturally occurring glutamates in it. Right right. Well, it's kind of the most interesting thing you will find in like a average american pantry.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:40
I think okay, this is not our wish to share sauce episode, but I know promise that we're gonna do it. Okay, strange. He's got it's got tamarind and anchovies in it. That's what makes it so and it's fermented. Right? So cool. Yeah, recently like I think we talked about this on some other episode I tried to economize by buying storebrand Worcester share sauce instead of Liyan parens. And like most of the time, I think store brand stuff is good. And I buy a lot of store brand stuff. Don't buy store brand. What's your share sauce? It sucks.
Molly 33:11
Oh, really? You
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:12
could tell the difference? Oh, it's like not the same at all.
Molly 33:15
Okay, cool. My gosh, I can't wait to do this episode. Yeah, let's finish this episode.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:20
Okay, why don't we do that? And then just like immediately like segue directly into the western share episode. No. Okay,
Molly 33:26
because I'm not ready.
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:28
I'm not ready either.
Molly 33:29
Okay, so wait Matthew, a really quick um, do you when you want Chex Mix? Do
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:35
you ever make it I don't think I've ever made it but now I kind of want to try and like maybe try doing like a side by side with the with the store bought because I mean, the store bought is very good. But also it's very easy to make. So I guess you have to buy a bunch of like implements though.
Molly 33:53
But I also think that like the you know, if you make it at home, it's going to have butter in it. Yeah, I think that's going to make it taste different because you're going to get the flavor the butter and that sounds so good. Anyway, it
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:05
does sound really good. Okay, so wait, but we didn't answer the question. What is your favorite Chex Mix ingredient? Oh, my what's your share sauce apparently know. What's your favorite item?
Molly 34:15
I think I really so. God,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:19
I know. It's a hard question. There's
Molly 34:21
a lie lighting art. I don't think I care so much about the window pretzels or the little breadsticks. But I did like the circle pretzels,
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:30
circle pretzels a good a good pretzel. So
Molly 34:32
like right chips more than I thought I would because they seem to absorb a lot of the flavoring. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:38
think the right the right chips are kind of like the general favorite, I think partly because like you can't get them anywhere else. As far as I know. I don't know.
Molly 34:47
I still think it's just like tiny Melba toasts. It's tiny Melba toasts.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:52
But can you buy tiny well, burritos you can buy larger. You can't Okay, fine.
Molly 34:58
You can buy tiny Melba Toast but you can Buy like medium size and then you can any you can cut them down to size. Yes. Within my favorite
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:06
is the checks, but I'm trying to decide whether it's the like big checks or little checks. I agree the checks was the first thing I thought of, like I think I think Anna checks mix, probably the larger checks whether that's corn or rice is my favorite.
Molly 35:21
The corn appears to be larger. Okay. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 35:24
You know, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:24
mean, I mean, the wheat checks is the small one. And the corn and rice checks, I think are about the same size, the rice checks is lighter in color. These are so great. I've spent a lot of time thinking and analyzing checks.
Molly 35:36
I just want to keep eating them. It's really they're very effective in terms of making me want to keep eating Oh, yeah. No, they've
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:43
they've done a good job. Like, like, you know, like, I think like maybe in Fast Food Nation or something. Like he talks about, like the rhythm of like, how they want you to, like, have a rhythm of keep reaching into the bag at a set interval.
Molly 35:54
This is uh, this rhythm is fast. Yeah, no, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:57
like whenever I get it's, it's a pretty substantial amount in the bag, even though the bag is kind of small. And like whenever I get one and like, get on the plane, I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna eat like maybe a quarter to a third of this and then set it aside for later. That never happens.
Molly 36:10
No, you know, what I think has the fastest speed or like the fastest rate of eating for me. Crunchy Cheeto, like, yeah, in front of a bag of crunchy Cheetos. And I mean, I just whatever they did to make those so hard to stop eating. It works really well. Like I feel unstoppable in front of a bag of crunchy Cheetos and I, I love it. Do you
Matthew Amster-Burton 36:38
ever have a conversation with yourself about like, how many are acceptable to put in your mouth at once?
Molly 36:44
Well, so crunchy Cheetos are the thing I will buy when I'm out in the world. Like I can think of a time. Last summer I was like leaving a doctor's appointment and I was really hungry. And there was a convenience store across the street from the doctor's office and I went in there and they had a bag of crunchy Cheetos and I bought it. And I thought to myself, okay, I'm going to eat half the bag. And then I'll save half the bag for later. And I can usually do that. But I would say I generally, I don't know, probably eat like two thirds of the bag in the first sitting. Yeah, I usually do that. I usually say to myself, okay, we're just gonna eat half of this. And we're gonna save the other half for later.
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:21
You remember how when we were kids like the standard snack size chip bag used to be called the big grab?
Molly 37:27
Oh, yeah, that was Yeah, that was for like Frito Lay right? Because they
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:31
like the smaller one that now you can only get like in a multi pack and then the big grab and then the big grab like gradually just became the regular grab. Yeah,
Molly 37:40
it's a regular grab. I wish they would write that on the the pack they say yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 37:43
regular now regular grab. Which is that's the thing that that didn't happen at the party held by the Ralston Purina executive, nevermind. failed, failed callback alert. Okay, so I think we've delved deeper into the Chex Mix bag than we ever intended or need. Oh, yeah.
Molly 38:08
Yeah, I feel done. One last question. On Hold on, when you make Chex Mix at home, because you're going to be doing it soon. Are you going to make it in the microwave or the oven,
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:20
so I know that standard directions, our microwave, I feel I feel nervous about that, that like microwaving cereal is going to result in a weird texture. I think probably I should assume it's fine because like everyone does it. But I think I'm probably going to use the oven and be like do it low oven like it's going to get the smell is going to permeate your home. Right. You know, it's like, it's like they always say like when you want to put your house on the market, like you put some chex mix in the oven.
Molly 38:47
That's exactly right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 38:48
And I'm gonna that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna sell this rental apartment. And I'm gonna use the power of checks to do it.
Molly 38:56
Well, before we totally wrap up this episode, we should remind listeners that we have a new spin off podcast out and actually as of the time of this airing, it's been out for almost a month we've been releasing new episodes every Monday the podcast is called
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:12
dire desires. And it is a comedy podcast about erotic thrillers, and producer Abbey is one of the hosts and like, we're so excited about this show. If you haven't listened yet, give it a try. It's totally free Dyer desires podcast.com or wherever you get your podcasts and you can find us at spilled milk podcast calm or wherever you get your podcasts and on [email protected] slash build out podcast on Instagram at spilled milk podcast. Keep doing your thing out there. Keep keep your place stocked with perfectly engineered food products.
Molly 39:47
Thank you for listening to spilled milk,
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:49
the show that grabs you regularly.
Molly 39:54
I'm Molly weissenberg. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 39:56
I'm Matthew Amster-Burton.
Okay, I do turn off the fridge and the kitchen light and then I will be ready to roll.