506: Steak Sauce
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:04
I'm Matthew. No,
Molly 0:06
yes, it's you go on.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:08
I'm Matthew. Molly. And this is the show where we cook something delicious. Eat it all and you can't have any
Molly 0:15
I thought we were doing the order wrong. But anyway, this is our steak sauce episode. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:20
it was suggested by listener Nicole did Oh,
Molly 0:22
wait did listener Nicole also suggest our previous episode?
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:26
Either either listener Nicole suggested both of these episodes or accidentally like copy and pasted. So I don't know like just, you know bank error in your favor listener to call? Yeah, you did a great deed by suggesting both these episodes or you get like double the credit and you deserve it.
Molly 0:42
Anyway, today we're talking about steak sauce. And I would like to begin our memory lane segment by saying that I once tasted a one and I liked it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:50
Okay, do you remember the context? Nope. Okay.
Molly 0:53
But a one is like something that like this just shows up on tables, like, you know, like, it's like a centerpiece.
Matthew Amster-Burton 0:59
It does just show up on day one is what I'm pointing. It's like, like spontaneous generation. You you set a table and like you turn your back and when you look again, there's a bottle of a one sauce.
Molly 1:08
Yeah, no, it's just I feel like I've seen this bottle so many times. It almost became just like part of the woodwork and it never occurred to me to taste it for years. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:18
well, this bottle has changed in an interesting way in the last few years. Okay, so we'll talk about that. I suggested this app will now listen to Nicole suggest this episode, but I was excited to do this episode because I love steak sauce.
Molly 1:33
Hold on. I've got a pause on this fact because you're so condiment phobic.
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:37
I like when when I was a kid and like to this day, like it was just like the most popular condiments that I was afraid of. So you're Cacho, Sears mustard. You want a different always liked barbecue sauce.
Molly 1:50
So what you mean by sauce. What you mean by fear is is more like superiority, like you were superior
Matthew Amster-Burton 1:58
is more more prejudice than fear. Okay, this makes me sounds better, right?
Molly 2:02
Yeah, that sounds a lot better. Okay, but so you've always liked steak sauce.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:07
Yeah, cuz when I was a kid, like, I don't eat steak very often anymore. But when I was a kid, I was a steak fiend. Anytime like like steak night was was the most exciting thing that could happen at my house. Oh, wow. Okay, and like I would go like sometimes like for it for a super special treat like a report card or something like I would get like my parents to take me to a steak house. Wow. wholesalers old country kitchen is the one I recall.
Molly 2:32
Oh, what a good name. I love it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:34
Yeah, Homer the 72 ounce steak. If you eat the whole thing, it's free.
Molly 2:38
Did you ever succeed? No. Yeah, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 2:40
was gonna order it. How Ill do you think you'd be? I think when I was a teenager, I could eat like a 12 ounce steak, maybe 16 ounce, which I could not do today. And I always loved steak sauce with it. And it's different. It's just different enough from catch up that that it felt like oh, this is like a special sauce. Huh? But did I like McDonald's special sauce? No. I thought that was gross. Okay. Yeah. So I would always put a one if there was available. If it was available, I would put it on burgers like I would make myself. I've mentioned before that when I was a teenager, like I would often make myself a double cheeseburger as like an afternoon snack. I would go out to the gas grill out on the patio, grab a couple of frozen Costco beef patties from the freezer, and make myself a snack and I would put a one sauce on it.
Molly 3:27
Oh my gosh, this is delightful. What do you think we would have been friends
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:31
in high school? We've talked about this before. And I think we decided no, but I don't know.
Molly 3:37
feel sad for for us.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:41
In what way?
Molly 3:43
I think we could have been such awesome friends like, like burger friends.
Matthew Amster-Burton 3:50
What's that? Is that? Like you? You'd be the bun? And I feel
Unknown Speaker 4:01
like
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:05
Well,
Molly 4:07
I don't know. Like, like, what? Like what?
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:08
What was your I know, we've talked about this before, but like, you know what, like, what was your social group? Like in high school?
Molly 4:14
It was a bunch of? Well, initially, it was mostly girls and we hung out at a coffee shop where there were poetry reading Yeah, I would have been friends. And then my senior year it was mostly guys and I totally think you might have been one of the guys that I was friends with.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:34
Yeah, I like we you know, yeah, I would hang out and like like,
Molly 4:38
we would do things like go to Brahms and Barnes and Noble. Okay. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:41
of course we would have been friends so I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry.
Unknown Speaker 4:45
Okay, I okay.
Molly 4:46
I'll get over it.
Matthew Amster-Burton 4:48
I think I think it's more that I was just trying that like, what popped into my head was like, like a my idea of like, what your Oklahoma City High School was like and like trying to imagine myself in that in Iron Man, I think you might have combusted. I think I might have combust it. But I mean, I'd like I went to like a fancy private school for like fourth to eighth grade. No, I
Molly 5:08
mean, I think you would have done really well there. I just think you would have called bs on the whole thing.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:13
Yeah. But like, okay, but but we would have we would have been friends would have started the podcast like 20 years earlier.
Molly 5:20
God, that would have been so awesome. We probably would have talked about things like
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:24
how old were we when we started this podcast? Like, yeah, what do you write? 20 years earlier? That's right. Okay, wait,
Molly 5:31
hold on,
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:31
maybe maybe like 818 years earlier. Okay. What would we have talked about? Yeah, what would we have talked about, like stuff you get out of the vending machine? Did you have vending machines at your high school? Not in high school. But
Molly 5:41
in middle school? We did have like a little concession stand where you could buy candy. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:45
what I've done the episode where we went to Brahms a lot sooner,
Molly 5:48
we would have done it also a lot.
Matthew Amster-Burton 5:51
It would have been the premise of the podcast would have been like a couple of friends sharing a malt. Yeah. All right. I mean, I guess we could have gotten our own mob. Okay, but I don't know.
Molly 6:01
Okay, and we would have probably talked about like the crinkle cut fries at Brahms. Which I don't think you had
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:06
no, and maybe compared them to fries at other places.
Molly 6:08
Yeah. And I think we might have talked about the different ice cream flavors at Brahms. Why do I
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:12
have to be in your like social media? Why couldn't you have come to my high school? I'm
Molly 6:16
not sure. Can I go see your high school? You can go to my high school. Yeah. Okay. What are we gonna do and what are we gonna eat and stuff? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:23
we're gonna go see like a punk band play at la luna Escape from New York pizza.
Molly 6:31
Awesome. We're gonna go to your drive. Yeah. Oh, cool. I can drive to
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:36
right I drove in high school. Me too. You would love my car. Was that 1980 Mazda GLC three door hatchback.
Unknown Speaker 6:43
Oh my god. That's so cool. Yeah.
Molly 6:46
What's your hair long then?
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:47
Yeah, as long as shit. Wow.
Molly 6:50
Mine was too. Okay. Um, okay, cool.
Matthew Amster-Burton 6:54
That's good. I feel a lot better. I can't believe I said we wouldn't have been
Molly 6:58
I don't know why I teared up. I'm just feeling I haven't had a good cry on the show for a long time.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:04
Right. Like, but I mean, that was that was like a just like, an uncalled for negative reaction on my part.
Molly 7:09
I feel like I'm gonna cry for real by the end of this day. So
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:12
let's be friends forever. Okay.
Molly 7:15
Okay, go on.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:17
Alright, so like I want I want our relationship to mirror my relationship with a one size. I'm never gonna quit. Okay, good. All right, so should we talk about what steak sauce is? Some?
Molly 7:29
I've been wondering. Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:30
so I learned a lot about steak sauce in the course of researching this episode and like not in the way that I expected necessarily.
Molly 7:39
say like, not in the way I wanted to
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:41
what kind of, we'll get right so steak sauce is similar to English brown sauce, and maybe it's like a type of English brown sauce, which is like a fruit based sauce
Molly 7:54
seems like a like a descendant of chutney.
Matthew Amster-Burton 7:58
Yes. I'm sure it is related. And it's it dates to like the early 19th century. And it's probably related to what's your share sauce? Because what just happened?
Molly 8:11
That smells so good. Why don't I eat this on everything? Okay,
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:14
no, I'm excited. And it's so it's a tangy brown sauce and steak sauce in particular is made with tomatoes, raisins or dates. Um, like one of the key ingredients in a one sauce is raisin puree. I'm here for it, which like they don't put that on the front of the label but you know, vinegar Of course spices and sometimes citrus and or anchovies. Okay, okay. And I haven't looked closely at the ingredients of the three sauces I bought to see how they're different.
Molly 8:38
How is this different from like Worcestershire sauce
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:40
It's much thicker so I think it's really like like a you know a puree thick and and maybe sometimes also starch thick and like Western share type sauce because really does smell symbol
Molly 8:51
because it's got that same sort of Tang Enos with a hint of fruitiness Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 8:55
I think HP sauce here actually has tamarind in it
Molly 8:59
that HP sauce smells so
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:01
good sauce is made with tamarin, which is also an ingredient in western share sauce.
Molly 9:05
That stuff smells fantastic. I'm
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:07
excited to try all of these. Okay, there's also Heinz 57 sauce is sometimes marketed as a steak sauce, which I didn't realize until I was researching this episode. And I didn't get any because I knew I wouldn't like it and didn't want to buy a whole bottle of stuff that I knew I wouldn't like cuz it's kind of a ketchup mustard hybrid.
Molly 9:24
What is Heinz 57 marketed as if it's not marketed as a steak sauce,
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:29
just kind of a sauce. Like, you know, if here's, let's let's go ahead and let's jump ahead a little bit. Okay, I want to I want to go out of order here. Because the thing I realized I did not realize at all until researching this this episode is that steak sauce used to be much, much more popular than it is and it has has plummeted in popularity over the last couple of decades.
Molly 9:50
I think that we can fix that today.
Matthew Amster-Burton 9:52
I think maybe we can Okay, cuz the thing is, I went to the store thinking okay, like we've done barbecue sauce. We probably did a hot sauce episode. And like if you are looking for barbecue sauce or hot sauce and you go to any supermarket in America, you will have dozens of options. Right? Right. And in that same section, you'll also find like the Heinz 57 sauce and like the marginal sauces, right? That are like, you know, now the marginal side, I mean, and really, they're kind of marginalized sauces. We'll get there. Okay. So I found that I went to Safeway, which has a pretty good selection of prepared and packaged foods. And there were three steak sauces. Wow. And then I went to Broadway q FC and there were like three or four steak sauces compared to probably 40 barbecue sauces and 50 hot sauces. Okay, I know this is different from even like a few years ago, because it used to be they still make several formulations of a one, but they had the a one or the a one thick and hearty. The last time I remember buying steak sauce. There were like eight kinds of a one on the shelf. Wow, let's go into the history. Let's Let's leave that hanging as kind of a mystery. Like what's going on there and go into the history of steaks.
Molly 11:00
I'm ready for it. When do we get to eat this?
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:02
Why don't we Yeah, actually, let's do that. Let's Let's eat so
Molly 11:06
I'm starting to die because I can't eat this. Whoa. Wow, it's steak
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:14
day. Yo, should we just like to spend steak sauce onto the plate? That seems
Molly 11:18
like we should just dip it up. All right. dippity do okay, so hold on. This is the state Safeway, signature select. Very vinegary.
Matthew Amster-Burton 11:29
They're all going to be super vinegary. That one I feel like is is very like dried spice forward in a way that I think the other ones are going to be less so. But that's a guess. Hang on. Let
Molly 11:39
me Wait. Let me just stick my fork in it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, this definitely. This tastes like an old cabinet in a good way. Like an old cabinet. Like a spice cabinet in a good way. Like your parents spice cabinet. Now let's try the HP sauce. This is the original like English brown sauce. Right?
Unknown Speaker 11:59
Hmm, this was more of like a ketchup II vibe. Right. But I still like it.
Molly 12:05
Mm hmm. I like it. Less than I thought I would based on
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:12
it's not as good as nails.
Molly 12:13
Yeah. Oh my god a one. Did you shake that? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:18
I did. Okay. I think so. Okay,
Molly 12:21
this a one is runnier than either of the other two.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:24
Maybe that's why they sell a thick and hearty
Molly 12:25
Hmm. That shows a smoky thing going on. Right? That's not my favorite.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:31
I like the a one best of the three. But you do. I think maybe I'll finish chewing maybe not.
Molly 12:36
Who knows? Huh? Mm hmm.
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:41
I mean, it's good to get to have snake snakes. Red stack. Okay. Hold on. I'm
Molly 12:51
going back to the signatures. Like
Matthew Amster-Burton 12:53
Yeah, I want to try a little more that too, because it's
Molly 12:54
pretty good. Signature select is quite good. It does have like, a spice cabinet and vinegar flavor. Yeah. Wait, Matthew, I need more of the medium parts. Hold on. I'm gonna put more HP sauce on the plate. So HP is definitely the thickest one. I'm having to pound it a little bit. Ah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:12
oh god, it
Molly 13:14
Gloop a little bit like it's kind of, Oh, God. It's got a real glib quality to it. HP sauce truly does taste a lot like ketchup. I mean, I mean,
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:24
now that you point that out, I can't and taste it. And I'm afraid I won't like it anymore. But, hmm.
Molly 13:30
Well, in general, I like the smell of these better than the taste. Okay. So what I like them all.
Matthew Amster-Burton 13:36
I mean, having grown up with a one and like a one dominates the steak sauce market in the US to the extent that there's still a steak sauce market. And so I think to me, like a one just like, it's just like the Heinz ketchup effect, like, you know, that that is steak sauce to me and everything else, whether it's good or not, it's going to seem like a departure from a one.
Molly 13:54
Okay, fair enough. It's it's the default. Okay, so hold on. So what's the history here? Like, what where did this stuff come from? Was I mean for some reason? I'm thinking HP was probably the original.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:06
So a one was the original although it certainly was, you know, it was a sauce marketed in like 19th century England. And I think like, you know, Northern Western Europe as a whole was was kind of like a stewing like sauce cauldron at the time, like people were way more into sauce, I think than they are now. And to the extent that there's there's a recent best selling romance novel by Courtney Mullen, that is all about brown sauce.
Molly 14:35
Wait a minute, say that again.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:36
There's a reason romance Oh, by Courtney Milan that said in like a like a sort of like alternate history. Medieval not medieval, like 19th century England. A lot of brown centers around like a brown sauce recipe
Molly 14:49
is Oh, wow. Really? Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 14:52
Yes. I can't remember the name. I will find it if Abby reminds me and put it in the show notes. Okay. So I think this was probably not not so much like the invention of a new sauce and more like the shrewd marketing of like a type of existing sauce got it but the the Henderson William brand in England created a sauce in 1824 that what they first marketed commercially in 1831 as a one sauce.
Molly 15:18
So a one was originally an English.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:21
Yes,
Molly 15:21
thank Oh, okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:23
It's no longer much of an English thing. Okay, the the name is often explained by saying that the King of England tasted the sauce and pronounced it a number one and you're not going to believe this. But that's not true. That's unfortunate. It was not called steak sauce at the time. And as far as I could tell, there didn't seem to be like one product associated with the name one type of sauce associated with the name steak sauce before the early 60s.
Molly 15:49
Interesting. Okay, 1960s then what happened?
Matthew Amster-Burton 15:53
So, at that time, so a one was was Mark had been marketed in the US since 1862. As a one sauce, and they changed the name in the 60s to a one steak sauce because
Molly 16:03
people didn't know what to do with it. Because people
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:05
yeah, they've been selling it for 100 years if people were buying it, leaving it in there covered like how I did with my Western. Yeah, you did with your westers Yes, yeah. And then throwing it away. And they were still doing a pretty brisk business. Because people just like having it on the table.
Molly 16:20
It's like one of those things you just like have to have like salt and pepper. Right one sauce?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:25
Yeah. So then they started marketing it as a one steak sauce. They put it steak sauce on the label. And I think it was like a, you know, a post World War Two time when like, meat consumption and steak in particular was was shooting up in the US.
Molly 16:39
Wow, that sounds dark.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:41
I didn't mean to say shooting.
Molly 16:45
Like the other day, I was trying to like set up a time to like, take a walk with a friend. And I was like, why don't you like just throw up some dates?
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:54
Well, I mean, yeah, I
Molly 16:55
was like, wait a minute, wait a minute to toss out. That's what I meant.
Matthew Amster-Burton 16:58
If you eat too much HP sauce, you'll throw out some throw up some dates because it's ready to date.
It's time for an A one slogan quit. I'm ready. So I tried to make up my own stakes or slogans and couldn't do it so that the quiz is going to be I named the slogan and you guess the decade that a one was using this slogan from the 1920s these are all real. I think. Like I didn't find it on a was official site. And there's some of them I'm not sure about but let's Okay, let's let's pretend they're all real. And it is possible that the same decade might appear more than once. Okay, so just because you've guessed one before, it doesn't mean you can't guess it again. Okay. Okay, ready?
Molly 17:44
This is exciting. I had no idea there was going to be a
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:48
great steak. Great fun. A
Molly 17:50
119 70s
Matthew Amster-Burton 17:54
very close at one. Oh, okay. Okay. A one makes hamburgers tastes like steak burgers.
Molly 18:01
1970s
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:03
This is the mid 80s This is the one that I remember best. Okay, wait, what is it again? Makes hamburgers tastes like steak burgers. What? I don't know. At the time, though. It sounded so good. And now I look back. I'm like, oh, that didn't mean anything. Okay, go on. There's a steak burger. Okay. A one makes meatloaf sing and the ad campaign featured meat. Love the singer.
Molly 18:31
Oh, it featured meatloaf. The singer? Yes.
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:33
Because it makes meatloaf sick. 1990s 2009
Molly 18:38
What is extremely late in meatloaf years?
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:43
All right. A one? Yeah, it's that important? 1970s 2000s
Molly 18:52
What does it mean? A one. It's that import? Well,
Matthew Amster-Burton 18:56
I guess like that. If you forget the a one then your meal is ruined. Okay, and kind of the idea. Okay, don't cover it. Discover it with a one. This one I really don't get because it sounds like they're they're advising you not to use too much of the product. They're trying to sell it Right, right. Maybe Okay, maybe what you're saying is like other sauces will cover up the flavor of your meat but a one will bring out
Molly 19:17
a flavor. I think you're right. I'm gonna stick with my answer. 1970s 80s Okay, well, it seems like this slogans Really? Are there any from the 1940s or was that just two more? Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:32
The dash that makes the dish?
Molly 19:34
Oh, that's a good one. I like that. 1960s 40s
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:38
Oh, okay. And one more a one for almost everything. Almost.
Molly 19:45
Since I haven't guessed this yet. I'm going to say the 2020s 2014
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:46
that means 2014. So the 2010 is closing.
Molly 19:50
Okay. Okay. Almost everything. Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 19:55
I have assumed that one was kind of like a Winky ad campaign where like, you know, you wouldn't put it on this Would you?
Molly 20:00
Yeah, all right. Okay, I wouldn't put it on that.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:04
Okay, so there are similar competing sauces including Liyan parents steak sauce, which I would have liked to try a confined HP sauce which is the dominant brand in England and HP Heinz 57 and eight one are all now owned by Kraft Heinz. I call this a monopoly Yeah, I think there is a steak sauce monopoly.
Molly 20:22
Although here you gave it the polite term of consolidation in the sauce bit.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:26
Yeah, it's a cartel. I think it's a steak sauce cartel I think it is to HP stands for Houses of Parliament as pictured on the bottle. Okay, like Sylvia HP sauce contains rye flour for some reason.
Molly 20:38
Wow. Okay. Interesting. Okay, and HP is the one that's made with dates instead of raisins.
Matthew Amster-Burton 20:43
Right and contains Tamron HP sauce was developed by David Whoa, of Botsford, which I mentioned just because it's so fun to say. And I want to read this whole paragraph from Wikipedia because it's just full of delightful English names. I'm ready. I'm ready. The original recipe was invented and developed by David whoa of Botsford, who have been making sauces since 1854. To complement locally made pork pies. Great. This business later evolved into David whoa and sons and whoa brothers sauce manufacturers hos sauces were patronized by the Prince of Wales. The recipe was sold to Frederick Gibson Garten, a grocer from Nottingham, who registered the name HP sauce in 1895, after reportedly hearing that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it. In 1930 Garden sold the recipe to Edwin Samson, more founder of the Midlands vinegar company for the sum of 150 pounds and the settlement of some unpaid bills
Molly 21:33
dear Wow, Frederick Gibson Garten really,
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:37
really got screwed. nearly
Molly 21:38
got screwed yourself. Yeah, I mean, what maybe the unpaid bills were like $18 million. Yeah, like, like unpaid electric bills? No, I
Matthew Amster-Burton 21:48
think 818 million dollars in unpaid electric pay. 1903 Yep, they not only They not only like shut off electricity, they like to suck the electricity back out of his factory somehow. Okay. And there's also a milder formulation of HP sauce called HP fruity.
Molly 22:06
I feel like that would be a really good like, I don't know like a good name. I don't know like a rapper DJ or like a drag queen. Yeah, it's good. No, except drag queen names should be punny, I think right? HP fruity isn't quite right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:21
But if it's well known in England, maybe there could be a pun on that. That's true. Okay, that's true. Okay, so it's now time to talk about the decline and follow up stakes.
Molly 22:30
This is distressing, especially now that I've only just discovered
Matthew Amster-Burton 22:34
to be fair, like a one sauce isn't going anywhere. So it will be fun. Okay, so my assumption when I got to the store and saw that there were like almost no steak sauces to choose from my assumption was that a one had just totally, you know, its tentacles had suffocated the market and that, you know, there was no oxygen left for any other sauce. That's part of it, but it's not really the whole story. So I found this article from 2016 by Dan Gentile thrillist. And we'll link to it in the show notes titled Why doesn't anyone use steak sauce anymore? And I was like, Okay, this is going to explain it and it sort of. So first of all, he noted which I had noticed that a one sauce is not called a one steak sauce anymore. They took steak out of the name in 2014.
Molly 23:19
Well, this makes sense. This is when they did the slogan about it being for almost everything. Right?
Matthew Amster-Burton 23:23
Right. Yeah. Okay, I hadn't made that connection. Because like, people just don't eat as much steak anymore. Hmm. And yeah, it's now just called a one sauce. So it reverted to its original name. So it was only officially called a one steak sauce for like, a few decades, okay. And the steak sauce market has been in decline, as I mentioned. So Gentile talked to a spokesperson for certified angus beef, who attributed the decline to higher quality beef that people are less likely to put sauce on that so like that back in like the 60s you would have like, you know, not very marbled meat without a lot of flavor and you were probably cooking it to medium well. And so you want to need it to pretend to sausage flavor to the meat and that people are eating more interesting sauces like chimichurri.
Molly 24:07
Yes. Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:08
He also interviewed a Texas chef who says that steak sauce has become uncool and quote, just seems like a 40 plus male type of thing.
Unknown Speaker 24:16
Wow.
Molly 24:16
Harsh. That's harsh. It
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:18
was pretty harsh. And I was like, Yeah, I think maybe he's right. Very few customers ask for it at steak houses anymore. jentel interviewed a steakhouse waiter Who said that? He this was the second Steakhouse he had worked out in a row. And in all the time he'd been working in steak sauces. One person has requested steak sauce. Wait, he's working in space.
Molly 24:42
Can you imagine how deeply infused into his skin The smell is from working in steak sauces. And
Matthew Amster-Burton 24:51
if you get a job like Ruth's Chris, they make you like slather your entire body with steak sauce before you step out onto the floor of the restaurant. So then finally, the author of the article went to a steak house stay cause I didn't realize that that it would
Unknown Speaker 25:13
take off
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:15
like a US Yes. Or did like a steak house like a horse. I was thinking the steak chalet. Yeah. And goes to a steak house and eat a steak with a one sauce and proclaims that steak sauce sucks.
Molly 25:28
Oh, you you hate this guy, don't you?
Matthew Amster-Burton 25:31
Well, I was I was on board up until that point. Okay, but yeah, so clearly steak sauce doesn't suck. It's pretty tasty. Right? Right. It's totally taste and he also tries to make the argument in the article that people have kind of turned away from like pre made sauces and like to make their own things, which I don't think is true.
Molly 25:48
I mean, the other day I was I wanted to make tea like he lays and so I was at the grocery store and I was looking at like jarred salsas. And there are so many jarred salsa. I mean, not just from like the brands you think of like pace picante sauce, but there are like new boutique sauces,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:08
to mention salsa, but
Molly 26:08
of course, huge, huge market. So maybe steak sauce is is going the way of steak sauce. But I feel like bottled sauces in general, everyone's making bottled sauce,
Matthew Amster-Burton 26:21
but I do get that like, you know, sauces have their day and there are trends in the in the food world and steak sauces is in decline. And that's fine. But also, like, I agree that I don't think I would put steak sauce on like a great, dry, aged ribeye steak, which is a thing that I've eaten maybe possibly twice in my life, possibly just once. And like most of the time, if I'm going to have steak, it's going to be something like what we had today, which was a piece of flank steak that I found in the freezer. And, you know, he's gonna be like, pretty good, but not like this is the best steak I've ever eaten. Yeah. And it's great with steak sauce. Delicious with steak sauce.
Molly 26:58
I'm really excited to try putting steak sauce on burgers.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:01
Yeah, it's it's my favorite burger sauce.
Molly 27:04
I think that makes a lot of sense. I'll
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:05
go barbecue sauce. But you know, right.
Molly 27:07
I recently had a burger from five guys or something in Seattle, and I just got like a plain cheeseburger with some pickles and ketchup. And I was like, this needs something else. And I think what it needed was some
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:23
something else.
Molly 27:26
Anyway, and apparently I'm a Ford exhaust kinda apparently I'm a 40 plus male now. Yeah, since I just got into steak sauce.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:35
Maybe maybe what what the what the author meant was 40 Plus, or the chef It was 40 plus people.
Molly 27:41
That's probably right that there are 40 people left who are
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:43
4040 Plus, possibly as many as like 48 people.
Molly 27:48
It might even be 49. Right. Good day.
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:50
So do we do we have anything else that we need to say about steak sauce?
Molly 27:55
Well, no, but I want to hear from listeners about steak sauce. Yeah,
Matthew Amster-Burton 27:58
like listeners. Do you use steak sauce? Are you or are you part of the process?
Molly 28:03
Yeah. Be part of that contact
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:05
contact at spilled milk podcast calm or there'll be someone will start a thread about this episode on the Reddit reddit.com slash are slash everything spilled milk. This there was like a big change in the sauce world that I just went right over my head until I stepped into that sauce aisle.
Molly 28:19
Speaking of mail, we have some spilled mail.
Matthew Amster-Burton 28:28
We sure do. Would you like to read this one?
Molly 28:30
I would. So this is from listener of the show ash who is not the same person that I'm married to. Okay, listener of the show, Ash says, I have a potential question for the spilled mail segment. Ding Ding Ding, that I'd be really curious to hear you guys discuss. Are there any foods beverages or other edible items that you've had a significant change of opinion about? For example, I thought I hated peanut butter until I was about 22 or 23. But then one day it mysteriously just became delicious to me. I have one Okay, that like I was just thinking about yesterday, right? So I really disliked melon as a child.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:09
Okay.
Molly 29:10
I didn't eat much watermelon, but I remember my parents bought cantaloupe frequently. And I distinctly remember my dad sitting at the kitchen table with a wedge of cantaloupe and a spoon. Sure, like eating it with gusto.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:25
Yeah, it's called lopen.
Molly 29:27
We even had a melon baller. I mean, we we knew how to live anyway but I really disliked cantaloupe. Like if it even got like, if it even touched another fruit let's say in a potato set in a potato.
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:41
Now I know what you didn't like it.
Molly 29:44
Fruit Salad I was like I am out. Now I'm the kind of person who all summer long if there's not a melon in the house like something is wrong. Just yesterday,
Matthew Amster-Burton 29:56
there's not a melon in my house and some now I realized something is wrong. So
Molly 29:59
I have been really Enjoying orange honeydew lately Okay, which I still so cantaloupe I think like regular old cantaloupe is still kind of like the bottom of the hierarchy.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:09
Oh, it's interesting to
Molly 30:10
me. I really love honeydew and orange flesh honeydew
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:15
and I think when we did the melon episode, I think we may have tasted all three of them we
Molly 30:18
did I think that might have been my first time I think maybe I hadn't heard
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:21
of orange flesh tiny do
Molly 30:22
now you see them like everywhere.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:24
Yeah. Anyway,
Molly 30:25
I love Melon and I truly could like barely tolerate to be in the same room with it when I was younger.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:33
Yeah, like the green flesh. Honey do is like the favorite melanin in Japan. And like I really love getting like melons and melon flavored things. I Japan.
Molly 30:43
I remember going to was it talking? Oh, yeah. with you and having the like, was it? Oh my god, it was incredible. And I would have never eaten that I would say like 10 years before.
Matthew Amster-Burton 30:54
Okay, so Oh, 10 even 10 years before? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yes. Because I was gonna say like, I think this question is kind of too easy. If we're allowed to do like things we were kind of picky about as kids and then just kind of got over that, like when we got to college or whatever. Because for me, like, I know, I've talked about it on the show, like, definitely sushi is the thing that comes to mind. Like, I really like if you'd asked me when I was 17 I would have said no, like, I am never gonna eat sushi. Like, you know, I have no problem with you if you like it, but clearly that it's just a thing that isn't for me.
Molly 31:26
Was it the raw fish
Matthew Amster-Burton 31:28
aspect of it? Or is the raw fish aspect is the fact that it served like cold or room temperature calm and that there's like a variety of textures that I wasn't comfortable with. And that I that when we went on a school trip to Seattle in fourth grade and everyone had to try sushi. And I did not like it and it was traumatic. No one wants to be told you have to try it. Yeah, no, no, nobody wants to be and so then and then I remember realizing when I was like 22 maybe like, okay, I've just suddenly realizing everybody I know who's my age really likes sushi. The fact that I don't like it, like there's definitely something wrong with me. And I could tell just before I even like went to try it. Oh, like the next time I tried this I'm going to like it. It was a really weird feeling that I remember really well. And I loved it.
Unknown Speaker 32:23
Wow.
Molly 32:24
I think I've had that feeling about other you know foods. Yeah. But I can't think of them right now. That's so interesting. I mean, I still don't think of you as like a big sushi person but you and I totally have gone out for sushi in fact at the the Dearly beloved and recently departed on a sushi Yeah, on Broadway. Thank you listener show. That was a really good question. All right.
Matthew Amster-Burton 32:50
Are you ready for now but wow, I am.
Alright, this may be the first time the two former nouns but wows have joined forces. But I'm not sure if we've actually picked Roxane Gay as a noun. But Wow. In the past, it seems like we would have
Molly 33:09
I would think we would have but I do not believe we have
Matthew Amster-Burton 33:11
Okay, in that case, my claim is incorrect. But like one it's it's it's a should have now but wowed me meets and actually now but wow. How about that? Okay, so a while back I mentioned the the podcast, all fantasy, everything where some comedians do like fantasy drafts of non sports things. Okay. And they recently had on the show, Roxane Gay as a guest talking about her favorite thing, the Fast and Furious movies, which are also my favorite thing. And the way they did the draft was they each got to pick like a favorite moment from the entire series, and then move on. Like everyone got to pick like five favorite moments. And it was like Roxanne is so funny. And like such a great guest and just like, getting to getting to like relive, like, like so many of my favorite moments from from this exceptional film series. Along with them was just a delight. The episode is free. It's called. It's all fantasy, everything. You can find it wherever you find podcasts. I think if you if you like Roxane Gay's writing, or like the Fast and Furious movies or both, you will definitely enjoy this.
Molly 34:17
Okay. Whoops, I took a bite of an apricots. You would keep talking it's fine. So our producer is Abby sercotel app.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:23
Oh, please rate and review us wherever you get your podcasts to hop onto the onto the Reddit reddit.com slash are slash everything spilled milk you can you can weigh in on like what food you used to. You didn't use to like that. Suddenly you came around on.
Molly 34:36
You can talk to us about your
Unknown Speaker 34:38
feelings about steak sauce. You can just talk to us about your feelings. Just talk to us about your family going out there pro
Molly 34:43
feelings podcast, and I almost cried today.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:47
Yeah, no, I almost made you cry today. No, no, you didn't
Molly 34:50
almost make me cry. It was like something in the air. Anyway, so yeah, thank you for listening to spilled milk.
Matthew Amster-Burton 34:56
We'll sell you the show 450 dollars and some and you'd have to do certain dirty job for us
Molly 35:05
and pay my mortgage and pay Molly's I mean, like pay off my pay off Molly's Morgan. Yeah. Okay.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:11
I don't know. Would that be a good? No, that would be a terrible deal for me a great be a great deal for you. Yeah, a terrible deal. listener.
Molly 35:17
Yeah.
Matthew Amster-Burton 35:18
Thank you for listening. You spilled milk, a terrible deal for the listener. I'm Matthew Amster-Burton. I'm
Molly 35:22
likewise in Burke. Perfect.