Speaker 1: So we just wrapped up Pride Month and Black Music
Speaker 1: Month and we were able to give you some very
Speaker 1: special episodes that we loved. But this week we're taking
Speaker 1: a break, but we're not gonna leave you empty eared.
Speaker 1: We are bringing back one of our favorite labs from
Speaker 1: semester one. This one is called the Cookout. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: me and TT love to eat, so we're bringing you
Speaker 1: right along.
Speaker 2: For augustatory experience with us.
Speaker 3: And when we come back next week, we're talking all
Speaker 3: about nails. You know something you said, you said, whenever
Speaker 3: there's a reason to celebrate, you celebrate by eating food.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Yeah, I absolutely celebrate by eating food.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's not a celebration if I'm not
Speaker 1: chewing on something. Yep.
Speaker 2: And so we're inviting all of you to the Kids Cookout.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure you've heard TT saying it over and over.
Speaker 3: The way we always celebrate is by starting up the grill.
Speaker 2: Yes, that's the only way to do it. If I
Speaker 2: don't smell charcoal, it ain't a party. Did we even win?
Speaker 2: You know, now you're losing. We gotta get that grill going.
Speaker 2: We got it going.
Speaker 3: You gotta get the grill going. So welcome to our
Speaker 3: virtual cookout. So that means right now, you should already
Speaker 3: just magically have on a white linen suit.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's what all the old black people
Speaker 1: wear to a cookout, right it is? And a fedora.
Speaker 3: Yes, put on your best put on your best linen,
Speaker 3: wear your penty toe shoes.
Speaker 1: Go grab a drink too, Like, if you don't drink alcohol,
Speaker 1: go get you some juice, some water, some sparkling water.
Speaker 2: If you're trying to be fun sie.
Speaker 3: So welcome to the cookout. Let's give you a tour.
Speaker 3: I'm TT and I'm Zakiah and from Spotify Studios.
Speaker 2: This is Dope Laps.
Speaker 1: So today we're talking about barbecue. Wait, what did you
Speaker 1: say barbecue? I said, grilling.
Speaker 3: Okay, we gotta get on the same page.
Speaker 2: This is a common problem, I said, grilling.
Speaker 3: Well, it depends on what we're talking about though, Yeah
Speaker 3: you no chicken, chicken?
Speaker 2: Yes, that's grilling. What you're putting it on the same thing,
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 3: So it's clear to me that we need to do
Speaker 3: a dephine into uh God of some some basic some
Speaker 3: some keywords. I think one of the best questions that
Speaker 3: you can hear in the summertime is what do you.
Speaker 2: Bring into the What are you bring into the cookout?
Speaker 2: Like that's a favorite, what's your go to?
Speaker 3: I have to make? It depends on who's there, right,
Speaker 3: It depends on who's there.
Speaker 2: Some of y'all only getting hot dogs.
Speaker 3: Some of y'all only y'all only getting hot dogs, Okay,
Speaker 3: And I'm just throw them on the grill.
Speaker 2: You're not evenna spiral cut them.
Speaker 3: I spiral cut the hot dogs. If I know you're coming,
Speaker 3: t T I spiral cut the hot dogs for you.
Speaker 2: Hot dog.
Speaker 3: Listen, y'all, if you just eat, If you're just throwing
Speaker 3: that hot dog right out of the package onto there,
Speaker 3: you're not doing it right. You take the hot dog,
Speaker 3: you put your knife at a forty five degree angle
Speaker 3: and you just turn the hot dog around. The knife
Speaker 3: is just cutting into the hot dog a little bit,
Speaker 3: a little bit the whole way down.
Speaker 2: And not slicing through the hot dog.
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't slice through it. You're just kind of gently
Speaker 3: scoring it. When you put that hot dog on the grill. Honey,
Speaker 3: those edges that get those those that surface area the
Speaker 3: hot dog expands, okay, and then you get those crispy spots, right, there,
Speaker 3: but then you get some of that inside. It gets
Speaker 3: a little bit of crispiness. And so you just expanded
Speaker 3: the surface area of that hot dog.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: And so for me, before learning about the spiral cut
Speaker 1: hot dog, I'd always tell people I like my hot
Speaker 1: dog burnt, so burn my hot dog on the grill.
Speaker 1: But now I'm like, if it's spiral cut, it don't
Speaker 1: need to be burnt for me to get all that
Speaker 1: crispiness that I want. The flavor is just collecting those
Speaker 1: little pockets. Oh honey, it is perfect.
Speaker 2: I'm hungry. We should take a break. We're gonna take
Speaker 2: a quick break and come back.
Speaker 3: I think a lot of my friends now don't like.
Speaker 3: If I'm up here and I'm grilling, then I'm gonna
Speaker 3: put like a whole fish on the grill, you know,
Speaker 3: stuff like that I'm gonna put. I'll properly do a
Speaker 3: whole chicken, or I'll cut it up.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: Zequila puts whole burbles on the birds, birds on the grill.
Speaker 1: One time for Thanksgiving, she put a whole turkey on
Speaker 1: the grill. I don't eat turkey, but I ate that
Speaker 1: entire turkey. It felt like by myself, low and slow.
Speaker 1: It was so good. It was smoked, it was crispy, it.
Speaker 2: Was so good. I've never had a better turkey in
Speaker 2: my life, hands down.
Speaker 3: And then we made pot pie with it after it,
Speaker 3: and then she made that She.
Speaker 1: Keeps saying we, because I'm standing there when she's doing
Speaker 1: these things. She really the key is a good friend
Speaker 1: because she always says we. She's like, remember that time
Speaker 1: we made that whole fish. I ain't make nothing but kiya.
Speaker 1: She made a pop peye with the with the leftover
Speaker 1: turkey that she had put on the grill, and it
Speaker 1: was he are good. I don't even I don't even
Speaker 1: know if this I can get through this episode.
Speaker 3: I think one of the most interesting things for me
Speaker 3: when I first moved up here. I was living in
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania at the time. I was just moving up there,
Speaker 3: and they were like, welcome to Pennsylvania. I'm gonna have
Speaker 3: a barbecue.
Speaker 2: You should come.
Speaker 3: I said, oh, yes, they're having a barbecue. I said,
Speaker 3: what can I bring? They said, bring whatever you want.
Speaker 3: So I brought macaroni and cheese. I was like, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna show out and that's right, okay. I brought macaroni
Speaker 3: and cheese. And then I brought my dish in and
Speaker 3: I was like, wait a minute, I don't see a
Speaker 3: pork shoulder. I don't see it. I don't see a
Speaker 3: Boston but I don't see.
Speaker 2: Anything of Boston.
Speaker 1: Fun.
Speaker 3: Hey, I gotta get where's the where's the pork? I
Speaker 3: don't see anything.
Speaker 2: I was like, what was Henna? Right?
Speaker 1: Because the kids from North Carolina for those of you
Speaker 1: who don't know, and you know, North Carolina is one
Speaker 1: of the meccas of barbecue. So there are some things
Speaker 1: that she's got to see when she pulls up to
Speaker 1: the cookout. Yeah, from Maryland, and so anytime somebody's cooking out,
Speaker 1: you better have a bushel of crabs. I'm expecting it,
Speaker 1: and that I feel like that's part for the course
Speaker 1: for most folks from Maryland. If it's going to be
Speaker 1: a really good cookout, there's definitely gonna be crabs.
Speaker 3: Yes, that is something that I have started to do.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't put any crabs on the grill, but I
Speaker 3: have been boiling the crabs. And y'all spray old bray
Speaker 3: like for breeze.
Speaker 1: It's just I dab old baby behind my ears.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3: We gotta get down to the terms right, Because there's
Speaker 3: a cookout, there's a grill and a barbecue.
Speaker 2: Yeah, then you got a kickback where Oh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I think wherever you go it's a buffet.
Speaker 2: Yes it is. Please more food.
Speaker 1: My friend never met a piece of meat she didn't like.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: I think it all tastes delicious and it's prepared correctly,
Speaker 1: and the kid is always doing it just right. Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't need any side that's the kids. No, I
Speaker 1: don't need any size. I don't that's how good her
Speaker 1: food is.
Speaker 2: I don't need I don't need coal, slaugh, I don't
Speaker 2: need none of that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, just put the chicken wings in, the hot
Speaker 1: dogs and the ribs and everything just straight onto my plate.
Speaker 2: That's all I want.
Speaker 3: Yeah, be careful t jump into flames.
Speaker 2: If she could, can I grill myself? Shoot?
Speaker 1: But the other thing that I really like that I
Speaker 1: think that you should well maybe it's a secret recipe.
Speaker 1: I think maybe you should let people know about Wattley water.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, so at the cookout, not only are we
Speaker 1: talking about food, you gotta have the right drink. And
Speaker 1: when I say drink, y'all know what I mean mm hmm.
Speaker 1: Hydrating beverages with a little kick. That is what puts
Speaker 1: the kick and kickback.
Speaker 3: So for a while when we were in grad school,
Speaker 3: every year we would make a different Wattlely water. So
Speaker 3: it would be the twenty twelve Wattlely water or the
Speaker 3: Fall twenty thirteen Wattlely water. I think one that was
Speaker 3: a big hit was like water. It was a watermelon
Speaker 3: based one.
Speaker 2: Yep, that was.
Speaker 1: What I was introduced to as wattle water. That was
Speaker 1: my first, very first Wattly water was the watermelon one.
Speaker 3: And so okay, we're gonna share the recipe. It's gonna
Speaker 3: be on the on the show notes. So that's at
Speaker 3: Dope lausepodcast dot com slash Lab zero one two.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get into the recitation, and first we
Speaker 1: need to get to the bottom of all these words.
Speaker 1: What's the difference between grilling a barbecue and a cookout.
Speaker 3: So we've been talking about a cookout t T to you,
Speaker 3: what's the cookout?
Speaker 2: Cookout is.
Speaker 1: Ribs, chicken burgers, hot dogs.
Speaker 2: Corner on the cop.
Speaker 3: To me, the cookout is the event.
Speaker 1: Oh right, So it's not like, yeah, all the.
Speaker 3: Food to me is the event. So the cookout is
Speaker 3: like standing at the grill. It's people inside talking. It's
Speaker 3: like the whole thing is the cookout, it's like the party.
Speaker 3: I agree, I'm just more concerned about the food. I
Speaker 3: guess I'm not worried about you people there. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 3: where is the food?
Speaker 2: What time will the chicken be done? Exactly?
Speaker 1: Don't tell me to get there at three point thirty
Speaker 1: when the chicken ain't going to be done till six,
Speaker 1: because I'm leaving and I will come back at six
Speaker 1: when the chicken is done.
Speaker 3: And don't volunteer to bring something essential to the cookout.
Speaker 3: If you know you're gonna be late.
Speaker 1: Don't say you bring in plates and then you show
Speaker 1: up at nine o'clock and so we're all eating out
Speaker 1: of our palms.
Speaker 3: You remember when our friend didn't bring those hamburger buns.
Speaker 2: Do you know how angry we were so angry, like, hey,
Speaker 2: you had one job.
Speaker 3: She showed up at like nine o'clock. The party started
Speaker 3: at three.
Speaker 2: I was like, what are you thinking? We couldn't eat
Speaker 2: our hamburg.
Speaker 3: Okay, So to me, grilling is when you are cooking
Speaker 3: over high heat. So that's when you are using your
Speaker 3: charcoal or gas grill. And that's when you are like,
Speaker 3: you put the meat down, it's like the flame, like
Speaker 3: the coals are right there, the heat is on high,
Speaker 3: and you get those nice uh grill mark grill marks. Right,
Speaker 3: that's grilling to me. Whenever I say barbecue, I'm talking
Speaker 3: about a brisket. I'm talking about the coals are all
Speaker 3: stacked up on one side. I have soaked my wood chips.
Speaker 3: My wood chips are just putting all that smoke and
Speaker 3: aroma into the drum of my grill, and the meat
Speaker 3: is just cooking over off to the side indirect heat,
Speaker 3: you know, and it's just just taking on all the
Speaker 3: flavor just hours and hours. So I need to stop
Speaker 3: saying grilling for everything. If I'm really gonna be a
Speaker 3: cookout connoisseur, I need to be like, no, that's a grill.
Speaker 2: This is barbecue. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean it's tricky because you're doing it all on
Speaker 3: a grill. Usually, yeah, unless you're in a smoker, which
Speaker 3: is a different thing.
Speaker 2: But you're doing it, my friends, fun, you're doing it.
Speaker 3: You're doing all of it on the grill, right, And
Speaker 3: so I think that's what happens, and that's how I
Speaker 3: got tricked that time because they were like, we're barbecuing
Speaker 3: and I was like, yes, they lived on a farm house.
Speaker 1: They probably gonn put a whole pig on it. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be delicious. And I was like, hamburgers, hot dog, cauliflower, no, make,
Speaker 1: no qulifier steak at the cookout, I'm not eating nothing.
Speaker 3: So whether you're talking about grilling or barbecuing, what we're
Speaker 3: talking about today is adding heat to meat and enjoying
Speaker 3: a treat bars. But yeah, we're talking about basically when
Speaker 3: you're cooking on the grill, why is it so good?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 1: And the science behind all of that, because there's a
Speaker 1: lot of science behind.
Speaker 3: There is Listen, if you're a pitmaster, you are molecular gastronomers.
Speaker 2: In my book, Okay, if you.
Speaker 3: Can manage those coals and keep that meat just.
Speaker 2: Right, you deserve a Nobel Prize in chemistry.
Speaker 1: They need to nominate you, Honestly, they deserve it.
Speaker 3: So we're talking about all the things that make barbecue
Speaker 3: taste good. We're we're gonna tell you a little bit
Speaker 3: about the cooking process, what's happening there, and we're gonna
Speaker 3: be talking about like what is actually flavor like how
Speaker 3: your brain processes flavor and how it develops over time. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and why some people have differences in what they think
Speaker 3: tastes good. I'm a vinegar based barbecue person.
Speaker 1: Okay, so listen, my friend, I like a vinegar based marinate.
Speaker 2: M M. But I do like a tangy, spicy barbecue
Speaker 2: sauce on top after like ketchup based? You think, I
Speaker 2: don't know if it's ketchup based barbecue based? Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: You see we're gonna teach teach some words. I'm like,
Speaker 3: what are you trying to say? I like barbecue, Okay, okay,
Speaker 3: So you like traditional like crafts barbecue sauce or a
Speaker 3: sweet baby rais.
Speaker 2: I like sweet baby rais.
Speaker 3: Okay, we can get into that. So now we're gonna
Speaker 3: start talking about what you like in there. So is
Speaker 3: it you know? Is it the salt?
Speaker 2: Is it sweet?
Speaker 3: Is it the oumami flavor?
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about all of my mommy gonna be there.
Speaker 1: I've got a lot to learn, but it's okay. I'm
Speaker 1: excited about this episode because it's all my favorite topic.
Speaker 3: Fit's going to be fun. Stay tuned.
Speaker 1: In this labra'y taking y'all through everything from what is
Speaker 1: taste to the science of a good barbecue. We already
Speaker 1: know everyone loves a good cookout, so let's just dive
Speaker 1: into the dissection.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: So the first thing we want to do is help
Speaker 3: you understand tastes. So we gotta start with tastes because
Speaker 3: we often are saying, oh, I like this, I like that,
Speaker 3: my taste preference, my taste buzz are like this, my
Speaker 3: palette is this.
Speaker 2: But do y'all even know what taste is?
Speaker 1: So folks have between five thousand and ten thousand taste buds,
Speaker 1: and each taste bud that's on your tongue has about
Speaker 1: fifty to one hundred specialized sensory cells.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and if you think about it, right, that is
Speaker 3: a big range. You're talking about somebody having two hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty thousand sensory cells.
Speaker 2: Or a million a million.
Speaker 3: Somebody is out here having a flavor explosion in their
Speaker 3: mouth and you over here like it's all right, that's
Speaker 3: wild to me. So there's five major tastes. There's sweet, salty, sour, bitter,
Speaker 3: and oomammy. What's your favorite taste?
Speaker 2: Salty?
Speaker 1: Definitely, I will take a potato chip over a slice
Speaker 1: of cake most days, But would you take a potato
Speaker 1: chip over a piece of bacon?
Speaker 2: No? No, So you like you like umammy? Probably I do,
Speaker 2: like my mommy.
Speaker 3: No is the savory taste. So it's sweet, salty, sour,
Speaker 3: bitter and savory, which is called Japanese word for so.
Speaker 2: Yes, I prefer umami then.
Speaker 3: And you know what was hard for me to understand
Speaker 3: what I didn't know before this episode TT was the
Speaker 3: difference between sour and bitter. So sour is a measure
Speaker 3: of acidity. So lemons and limes, those are acidic, and
Speaker 3: so they're sour, but they're not necessarily bitter. You know
Speaker 3: what I think is bitter the pith of like that
Speaker 3: white stuff when you're eating like a citrus fruit.
Speaker 2: To me, that's bitter.
Speaker 3: But the sour is probably like the lemon juice itself,
Speaker 3: because it's a cidic. We generally aren't seeking bitter tasting
Speaker 3: or the bitter taste. But that's useful because a lot
Speaker 3: of toxins taste bitter. Right, So this is like your
Speaker 3: body is maneuvering over time. It's just like I'm not
Speaker 3: even gonna mess with anything that might toxic.
Speaker 2: Is it true?
Speaker 1: That different parts of your tongue taste like bitter, sour,
Speaker 1: and sweet. I think it was I saw something that
Speaker 1: said that the back of your tongue tastes bitter stuff,
Speaker 1: the sides of your tongue taste sour stuff, the tip
Speaker 1: of your tongue tastes like salty and sweet stuff.
Speaker 3: And I always wondered about that chart. So if I
Speaker 3: eat something sweet, but I toss it to the back
Speaker 3: of my mouth, do I not taste the sweetness?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: How does it work?
Speaker 1: I guess it's because taste and stuff is way more
Speaker 1: complex than just your tongue.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 3: So what is taste when we're tasting something overall?
Speaker 2: So taste and flavor.
Speaker 1: People use those two words interchangeably, but it's not the
Speaker 1: same thing actually. So, taste is determined by the gustatory system, okay,
Speaker 1: and all of those parts of that system are located
Speaker 1: inside of your mouth.
Speaker 2: But flavor is what happens after that.
Speaker 1: So, after you taste something and the signals are sent
Speaker 1: up to your brain and you're also smelling it and
Speaker 1: seeing it, flavor is the result of all of those
Speaker 1: things interacting together. Yeah, So taste is like a sense
Speaker 1: the flavor is a vibe. Yes, it's like are there
Speaker 1: linen napkins here?
Speaker 2: Like it's the ambiance just right?
Speaker 1: Are all the colors of the rainbow represented on my plate?
Speaker 1: I don't know how you eat those plates of meat?
Speaker 2: No green? Is that hot dog? Crispy?
Speaker 3: I think my flavor profile is heavy on seeing the
Speaker 3: Oh I need some different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't care how good it is.
Speaker 3: If it's brown and on the edges and Wilton, your
Speaker 3: girl don't want.
Speaker 2: It, then it automatically has a bad flavor for you.
Speaker 1: It doesn't automatically have a bad flavor, but it's going
Speaker 1: to start out at negative five.
Speaker 2: On the scale one t. You gotta bounce back. You
Speaker 2: better really have a good smell. Then.
Speaker 1: I think the other thing that's really interesting is the texture,
Speaker 1: Like how does something feel in your mouth? I know
Speaker 1: some people that say, like, oh, I would like to
Speaker 1: eat this, but I don't like the way it feels.
Speaker 1: I'm exactly like that. Anything that's too soft, like no way,
Speaker 1: Like I can't do like what is it called trayce
Speaker 1: lea chase where it's like milk, I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 1: can't do that. I can't really do oysters, even though
Speaker 1: they taste. I think they taste good, but I can't
Speaker 1: get past the texture of it, okay. Or even like
Speaker 1: if somebody makes chicken and the skin is not crispy,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I can't eat it.
Speaker 2: No, my friend wants that skin crisp. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's why even when I order wings, I say, can
Speaker 1: you make sure that it's well done, please, because if
Speaker 1: that skin is even a little bit like gelatinous, I'm like, hmmm,
Speaker 1: I have to peel all the skin off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no thanks.
Speaker 3: I think for me, there are things that the sensations
Speaker 3: I don't like or like hot stuff I don't like. Oh,
Speaker 3: I don't like halloenos.
Speaker 2: Feel I don't like the way that we were eating.
Speaker 3: We were having swim were we and I was like
Speaker 3: this is.
Speaker 2: Spicy, and I was like, it's black pepper.
Speaker 3: I can't hate too much spicy, y'all. I also don't
Speaker 3: like every now and sometimes it bothers me. Sometimes it
Speaker 3: doesn't stuff that has like a fur on it, like
Speaker 3: some peaches with the fuzz. Sometimes I take sometimes I
Speaker 3: can't take it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's okay, but sometimes I'm like, hey, you should
Speaker 1: have narrated this peech.
Speaker 2: Okay, you should have narried it, she's a wax.
Speaker 3: We've only really talked about what's happening in your mouth.
Speaker 3: We haven't said what's happening in your brain for you
Speaker 3: to be like, ding, this was good, I'll have another. So,
Speaker 3: neurogastronomy is the field that studies how your brain creates
Speaker 3: the perception of flavor. And it's wild, y'all. There's a
Speaker 3: lot that goes into it. One of the sensory methods
Speaker 3: that contributes to how you perceive flavor, and I think
Speaker 3: it's one of the ones that contributes the most is
Speaker 3: all faction and that's smell. Okay, So you have two
Speaker 3: kind of ways that you detect an odor. So there's
Speaker 3: orthonasal smell, which is odor that originates from outside the body, right,
Speaker 3: So that's detecting odors from outside your body. And then
Speaker 3: there's retro nasal smell, and that's the detection of older
Speaker 3: molecules that happen while you're chewing. So as you're masticating, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's chewing.
Speaker 1: Older molecules are coming out of that food and going
Speaker 1: to the back of your mouth, and there are sensors
Speaker 1: back there.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest culprits of like letting off retro
Speaker 1: nasal odor.
Speaker 2: To me is big red here. What you that chewing
Speaker 2: gum the cinnamon one.
Speaker 1: Yes, once you chew into it, it's like your saliva
Speaker 1: must be activating something in red and it's like somebody
Speaker 1: shove a cinnamon stick in your throat, like with sab
Speaker 1: with sabi is one of them too. Yeah, because you
Speaker 1: can't really smell.
Speaker 3: You cannot smell, will not have a smell outside of
Speaker 3: your mouth. But when you put in your mouth, that
Speaker 3: thing light lights your whole life up.
Speaker 2: Yes, it'll blow hole through your skull.
Speaker 3: It's crazy. So we hit orthon nasal smell outside the mouth,
Speaker 3: retro nasal smell in the mouth. But then your odor
Speaker 3: molecules are traveling from the back of your mouth up
Speaker 3: to your nasal pharynx, right, So this is where they
Speaker 3: reach receptors on the skin in the back top part
Speaker 3: of the nose and throat. It'll be on the cheat
Speaker 3: sheet for you guys. So these receptors are able to
Speaker 3: detect the multi dimensional nature of odors. So it's not
Speaker 3: flat like cinnamon. It's probably like ceylon cinnamon, spicy cinnamon.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's where I feel like those are
Speaker 1: the bougie receptors. They're like, it's not just pepper, this
Speaker 1: is white pepper, this is smoked Hungarian paprika. This is
Speaker 1: not just that relation sea salt, right.
Speaker 3: Right, And so interestingly, it's almost like your brain is
Speaker 3: like refining that, right. So once you get that signal,
Speaker 3: it's like it's fine tuning and you get like a
Speaker 3: it starts your your body is basically zeroing in increasing
Speaker 3: the signal to noise racial. So it's like get rid
Speaker 3: of all that background flavor. Let me give you this
Speaker 3: intense You remember iceberg gum when it first came out
Speaker 3: and they had those commercials like like like.
Speaker 2: That's what I feel like it is.
Speaker 1: So then after all of that, after all that happens
Speaker 1: inside of your mouth, and those receptors are and those
Speaker 1: receptors are interacting with those older molecules, it starts to
Speaker 1: send these signals to your brain. And in your brain,
Speaker 1: your hypothalamus and your hippocampus. They determine what type of
Speaker 1: emotion that you have, what emotional reaction that you have
Speaker 1: to the food. I feel like the hypothalamus and the
Speaker 1: hippocampus are involved in everything. They showed up in LAP
Speaker 1: three in lot of me. They showed up in the
Speaker 1: memory episode.
Speaker 3: They gotta minding business, right, they like the Russians, And
Speaker 3: so then this type of old faction stimuli. So stuff
Speaker 3: you were just by chewing a little older release and
Speaker 3: going to the back of the naso pharynx into the brain.
Speaker 3: Then it's like, this is affecting decision making, this is
Speaker 3: affecting emotion, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 2: We're just a slave to the food.
Speaker 1: I know, I am. Guess what, I'm the first one
Speaker 1: to get angry. I need that food and I need
Speaker 1: it now. Did y'all hear what our producer Jenny put
Speaker 1: at the end of the last episode. It was me hollering,
Speaker 1: where's the food? Yeah, y'all have to listen to the
Speaker 1: little carrots that she puts at the end of the episode.
Speaker 2: Yeah, after they're crassing.
Speaker 3: But that is true, you know. I mean, Snickers made
Speaker 3: a whole campaign around it. Yeah, you're not yourself when
Speaker 3: you're hungry, and it's so true. Now we know why, right,
Speaker 3: so our.
Speaker 2: Old friend the brains.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we've talked about quite a few things. We've
Speaker 3: talked about how you chew your food and it releases
Speaker 3: these older molecules and they travel up the naso pharynx
Speaker 3: and you have the stimulations of the old factory cortex
Speaker 3: where all those cells are, and it's affecting your emotion
Speaker 3: and your mind, and you have this whole flavor experience.
Speaker 3: But why is it that two people can't eat the
Speaker 3: same thing and have totally different experiences.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that Maya green tea.
Speaker 1: You made me know that it was a macho latte,
Speaker 1: macho lte, and I was like, I'm not getting it,
Speaker 1: and you were like, this is delicious. Yes, it was
Speaker 1: like every kid drinking it.
Speaker 2: But you know I had the best case of that.
Speaker 3: I was so excited to share. I had got some
Speaker 3: fresh figs at the farmer's market. It is a good example,
Speaker 3: and I was like, teacher, I can't wait for you
Speaker 3: to have some of these figs. These are it's like
Speaker 3: that plums in the ice box poem. But I was like,
Speaker 3: these figs are delicious. You're gonna love them.
Speaker 2: M hm.
Speaker 1: I was like, yeah, I'm gonna eat a fig. I
Speaker 1: never had a fig before, But you had had a
Speaker 1: fag Newton I had. I've eaten a lot of fake
Speaker 1: newtons in my life, so I was like I love
Speaker 1: fig Newtons. Bring those figs on. I'm gonna eat the
Speaker 1: whole thing. They're gonna be delicious. M And my friend
Speaker 1: cuts one open. I'm like, this don't look like I
Speaker 1: thought it would, but I trust it because I love
Speaker 1: fake Newton's.
Speaker 2: I've been into that thing.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is not fag Newton. This is
Speaker 1: not what is in fake Newtons.
Speaker 2: It can't be. These don't taste the same, but fake
Speaker 2: newton is delicious. This is gross if some.
Speaker 3: Of it is probably texture, but I think some of
Speaker 3: it is also like expectation, I really should have It's
Speaker 3: my fault. I should have set you up differently, because
Speaker 3: basically I was like, you you're like a fig because
Speaker 3: you like fake Newtons.
Speaker 2: You were like, yeah, I do like fake newtons. But
Speaker 2: what I basically said.
Speaker 3: Was like, you'll like a strawberry because you eat strawberry
Speaker 3: pop tarts, and that's not the same. It's like, you'll
Speaker 3: like raw what is that cocow nibs or cocoa. What
Speaker 3: are those things called cow cocaw. That's like, you're like
Speaker 3: raw cocal nibs.
Speaker 2: Because like hershey bars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I didn't really think that through.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of sugar they're adding.
Speaker 3: So let's talk about these flavor preferences and how that
Speaker 3: can play out at the cookout. Because something that's really
Speaker 3: interesting to me is some of my friends.
Speaker 1: She says some of her friends then looked up, which
Speaker 1: makes me feel like she's talking about me. Some of
Speaker 1: my friends only eat certain things. Some of my friends
Speaker 1: it's like, don't put no onions on that.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, here we go.
Speaker 1: And some of my friends that's not just you, that's you.
Speaker 3: Just a coincidence, coincidence. I believe in coincidences. Sometimes some
Speaker 3: of my friends are you know, don't cook it too long,
Speaker 3: it's too crispy. You know, It's just everybody has these preferences,
Speaker 3: and I think it's really interesting how all this stuff
Speaker 3: plays out. One of my favorite places to see this
Speaker 3: playing out is on black Twitter.
Speaker 1: Yes, because they're like, okay, who made the potato salad?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: They have thinking about and they're saying, what do you
Speaker 3: put in your potato salad?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: You gotta be careful about both what's in it, and
Speaker 3: you know me, I'm a stickler for food safety.
Speaker 2: I'm like, hey, is mayonnaise in that?
Speaker 1: Is that refrigerat and that's been sitting out since this
Speaker 1: afternoon and it is now dark. I don't want to
Speaker 1: see the oil separate from the egg and your potato salad.
Speaker 3: I don't want to say it.
Speaker 2: And then they're also saying, your elbows gotta look a
Speaker 2: certain way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me tell you, when I grill, I look
Speaker 3: like my worst self. That's how the food tastes the best.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I don't even put any lotion on my heels when
Speaker 3: I grill. You can't, or the food won't taste right.
Speaker 2: Food won't taste right.
Speaker 1: That's why when they say, man, you really put your
Speaker 1: foot in this, they mean the ashy.
Speaker 3: Foot, the crusty part of the food.
Speaker 2: I don't want to know. No foot with a pedicure
Speaker 2: making my food.
Speaker 3: No pedicure foot ever made a good brack of ribs.
Speaker 2: Never. Okay.
Speaker 1: So now that we've dissected taste versus flavor and how
Speaker 1: we process flavor in our brains, let's apply all that
Speaker 1: to the cookout. We're gonna take you from start to finish,
Speaker 1: and the first step is usually marinating or brining.
Speaker 3: So we have to think of meat as all these
Speaker 3: proteins that are packed together. And if you don't put
Speaker 3: anything on your meat, and you just throw it on
Speaker 3: the grill. The first thing you'll see is that meat
Speaker 3: shriveling up.
Speaker 1: So what happens with the marinad is that when that
Speaker 1: salt it begins to dissolve in all the water that
Speaker 1: you have in your meat, because meat is seventy five
Speaker 1: percent water. So then the salt begins to dissolve and
Speaker 1: all those salt molecules start to travel through the meat.
Speaker 1: Because when you have something that's high concentration salt, so
Speaker 1: that's your marinade, it naturally wants to go from high
Speaker 1: concentration to low concentration, so that salt just starts to
Speaker 1: force itself down into the meat. And that's the reason
Speaker 1: why with a marinade, your entire meat gets flavored.
Speaker 3: I am a fan of brining. I used to be
Speaker 3: a marinading kind of girl, but now I am a
Speaker 3: dry brine.
Speaker 2: What is the difference between marinating and burning?
Speaker 1: So marinating is when you have a like, you usually
Speaker 1: create some kind of sauce almost like it's usually some
Speaker 1: citrus and some savory and salt, and then you put
Speaker 1: the meat. You like are putting the meat into like
Speaker 1: a liquid flavor bath is what I I would call it.
Speaker 1: And the key here is a salt based marinad because
Speaker 1: sometimes people make the mistake of making kind of acidic
Speaker 1: marinaise because they're like, ooh, I mean U some limon juice.
Speaker 1: It's going to really tenderize this stuff. But acidic marinades
Speaker 1: and things like with vinegar, lemon and wine, the acid
Speaker 1: can only go so far down into the meat. So
Speaker 1: if you have a really thick cut of meat, your
Speaker 1: acidic marinate is not going to be able to get
Speaker 1: down in there. It's not gonna be able to just
Speaker 1: get down to the core like you like you can
Speaker 1: with the salt. Yeah, So salt is a major key, yes.
Speaker 3: And so another thing that the salt does while it's
Speaker 3: diffusing through your meat is that it also helps to
Speaker 3: break down some of the protein that's in it, and
Speaker 3: that creates a more tender and juicy product. And so
Speaker 3: when I think about that salt, that's why one of
Speaker 3: my favorite things to do is a dry brine. So
Speaker 3: a liquid brine is basically a salty marinate, but a
Speaker 3: dry brine is where you just take the salt and
Speaker 3: you put it right on the meat like and so
Speaker 3: it's so interesting. Sometimes I'll do this and I'll have
Speaker 3: a piece of meat and it's uncovered and I put
Speaker 3: a bunch of salt on it, and you can just
Speaker 3: see the water kind of bubbling up, like because I
Speaker 3: think it's the salt going in because there's a higher
Speaker 3: water concentration in the meat, so it's pulling the water
Speaker 3: out and the salt is forcing itself in. But you
Speaker 3: get to see some of the water on the surface
Speaker 3: of the meat. And so I like to do a
Speaker 3: dry brin. I do that for chicken, for turkey, Like
Speaker 3: when I do something on the grill, like the turkey
Speaker 3: we talked about, I usually do a dry brine and
Speaker 3: so the skin will get so crispy because you've pulled
Speaker 3: all that moisture out. When I want a crisp skin,
Speaker 3: a dry brine is where it's at.
Speaker 1: So after you've already marinated or brined your meat, depending
Speaker 1: on your preference, then now it's time to start cooking.
Speaker 1: And me personally, I love a seared meat because I
Speaker 1: really love that crispy outside. Like we said, I like
Speaker 1: a crispy hota. I like my chicken crispy. I like
Speaker 1: my steak to have like a nice seared outside. And
Speaker 1: I always heard that with like a bigger cut of meat,
Speaker 1: like a steak, that you see it to keep the
Speaker 1: juices in. Yeah, that's kind of a misconception, right, because
Speaker 1: when you sear something, what you're actually doing is removing
Speaker 1: all the water from it, all the juices from it.
Speaker 1: And so maybe a more appropriate thing to do is
Speaker 1: to sear on one depending on how thick cut your
Speaker 1: steak is.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: I have a friend that makes these cowboy steaks, and
Speaker 3: I swear they're like three or four inches a bit,
Speaker 3: and you sear it on one side, see it on
Speaker 3: the other, and then you have a little bit of
Speaker 3: indirect heat to kind of let it finish cooking so
Speaker 3: that you're not just drying the meat out, right, because
Speaker 3: that searing isn't waterproof, no, so searing it in doesn't
Speaker 3: actually keep water in. The water is still going to
Speaker 3: try and get out, but what you're doing by seering
Speaker 3: is like forcing the water out faster fast.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And so a lot of times people think if I
Speaker 3: cook everything really high, I'm going to get a really
Speaker 3: good and crispy skin. And some of y'all are finding
Speaker 3: you're putting your chicken on really high and it's crispy
Speaker 3: on the outside and it's.
Speaker 2: Raw dog on the inside.
Speaker 3: Yes, and there's a raw on the inside. And so
Speaker 3: I think you really got to look at when do
Speaker 3: I want direct heat and when do I want indirect heat.
Speaker 1: So that's when you have the low and slow technique. Right,
Speaker 1: low and slow.
Speaker 3: Is really good for some of your tougher cuts of meat,
Speaker 3: so like your shoulders, brisket, like big pieces of meat
Speaker 3: like that. I like a low and slow and just
Speaker 3: adding the coals. Like we had a big party in
Speaker 3: Durham and my whole family was there.
Speaker 2: My mom was there, and my godmom, the whole family
Speaker 2: wasn't there. I wasn't there. Yeah, you weren't there. I
Speaker 2: hadn't met you yet. I'm sorry. That's no excuse, but
Speaker 2: that's why continue.
Speaker 3: My godmom cooked ribs and she cooked something else I
Speaker 3: don't know, but it was overnight, just on the grill,
Speaker 3: just low smoking it.
Speaker 2: She was like, add a.
Speaker 3: Few more coals out there, add a little bit of chips,
Speaker 3: and when I tell you that, meat was falling off
Speaker 3: the bone.
Speaker 2: And that's what I like.
Speaker 3: I wanted to have some crispy bits on the edges
Speaker 3: and to be tender and then all that fat just.
Speaker 1: So you don't even necessarily have to see it to
Speaker 1: get the crispy stuff right, not all the time. So
Speaker 1: the meat is marinated or brined, it's cooked to perfection,
Speaker 1: and now it's time for the very last step, the sauce.
Speaker 1: You can travel all over the United States and everybody
Speaker 1: has their own opinions on what the best type of
Speaker 1: barbecue sauce is. We're just gonna tell you the different
Speaker 1: types that there are, and then you should go out
Speaker 1: there and try them, try them all and tell us
Speaker 1: which ones you like best.
Speaker 2: Yes, because personally.
Speaker 1: I had not really had different types of barbecue sauce
Speaker 1: until I moved to North Carolina, where when you go
Speaker 1: to a barbecue spot, they offer you multiple types of barbecue.
Speaker 2: Sauce on your table.
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, so this is your vinegar base, this
Speaker 1: is your mustard base, and I'm like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what you want to get. And when I first moved
Speaker 1: to North Carolina, I was just dumping all of them
Speaker 1: on there because I was just like, I don't know
Speaker 1: what to do.
Speaker 2: I don't want to offend anyone. I'm nervous, and I
Speaker 2: don't want anybody to be mad at me.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's so many different kinds and they all
Speaker 1: like can I'm like, okay, I like this for chicken,
Speaker 1: I like this for brisket, I like this for this thing,
Speaker 1: and all of the have like different bases.
Speaker 3: I have always really liked a vinegar base, right, So
Speaker 3: this is this is like eastern North Carolina style barbecue
Speaker 3: where you have grilled your meat and then you like
Speaker 3: are pulled, like you pull the meat off the bone
Speaker 3: and then you dump something that's like vinegar, like almost
Speaker 3: like apple cider vinegar and hot spices and stuff. So
Speaker 3: I like that tangy. I like a tangy taste and
Speaker 3: a little bit of heat, not too much because you
Speaker 3: know I can't handle that, right, So a little a
Speaker 3: mild vinegar sauce. One of the mild vinegar sauces that
Speaker 3: always takes me right back home is called Carolina Treat.
Speaker 3: But I also am a fan of like what would
Speaker 3: we called Kansas City style barbecue. So this is where
Speaker 3: barbecue where you have the meat and you rub it
Speaker 3: with all these spices and you cook it. And then
Speaker 3: after you have the meat with the spices cooked, you
Speaker 3: add like a thick tomato sauce.
Speaker 1: So so it's a dry rub, then they cook it
Speaker 1: and you cook it and there's a tomato based sauce
Speaker 1: that goes with it.
Speaker 3: I think k C Masterpiece that case is for Kansas City.
Speaker 3: Oh so KSE masterpiece is Kansas City like masterpiece style
Speaker 3: barbecue sauce.
Speaker 2: I would have thought that Casey was just like keep cooking.
Speaker 3: I think I really like that one of my favorite
Speaker 3: tomato based barbecue sauces.
Speaker 2: And I think you like this one too, Sweet Baby Race, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that is my go to.
Speaker 1: I put that on everything right next to my old
Speaker 1: bay Like it's so good.
Speaker 2: You can just put Sweet Baby Rais on a bun.
Speaker 2: I just put it on my finger and I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is a great snack. And so there's that. But
Speaker 2: then there's Texas style.
Speaker 3: There's also mustard style that I think is in North
Speaker 3: Carolina and South Carolina a little bit.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of different styles.
Speaker 1: I don't want to leave anybody out, but those are
Speaker 1: the two main things that I think are big. And
Speaker 1: I think your preference is just based off of those
Speaker 1: things that we mentioned earlier on in the episode, where
Speaker 1: it's just like if you grew up around people who
Speaker 1: only had mustard based barbecue sauce, and your likely to
Speaker 1: only like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, especially if it's the only thing available, You're gonna
Speaker 3: eat that or you're gonna be.
Speaker 1: Hungry, you know, for real, And so like, I don't
Speaker 1: really have a preference. I'm just like what tastes best
Speaker 1: at that time and what's available and available I'm hungry.
Speaker 1: And I think that's the really interesting thing. You know,
Speaker 1: food is something that can both unite and separate us.
Speaker 1: I was at the grocery store recently and I saw
Speaker 1: what those things called. It was like dry grasshoppers at
Speaker 1: the grocery store and I was like, ewh And then
Speaker 1: I said, people are probably wondering who is eating those
Speaker 1: pickled doubled eggs. You know, is there something for every
Speaker 1: culture that people were like, oh who eats that? And
Speaker 1: I think it's really it's really interesting because food really
Speaker 1: binds us. Like you think about a lot of major things,
Speaker 1: we celebrate, we talk, we do all kinds of stuff
Speaker 1: and bond over food.
Speaker 2: Like every major there's usually food that's involved.
Speaker 3: And it's really important to really kind of get out
Speaker 3: there and try other foods.
Speaker 1: Absolutely because I have had grasshoppers, you have and they
Speaker 1: taste like some flower seeds.
Speaker 2: What so I really enjoyed them.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like I'm out here like, oh,
Speaker 1: let me run to the store and get some grasshoppers
Speaker 1: real quick. But I'm never afraid to try something and
Speaker 1: not afraid to like it.
Speaker 2: If it tastes good, give it as frobs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a mental thing for me. You
Speaker 1: know how I'm about exoskeleton. Yeah, she doesn't like any
Speaker 1: shiny backed beetle or anything with antenna.
Speaker 3: But I do have to say a lobster is looking
Speaker 3: real close to a roach, she got a shiny back
Speaker 3: of heart or right outside in an antenna, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have to reevaluate.
Speaker 2: Oh no, y'all.
Speaker 3: All we're saying is don't be afraid to try something new.
Speaker 3: And if you didn't learn anything today, I hope you
Speaker 3: learned that your taste preferences they're just temporary. You can
Speaker 3: change them. Get out there, try something new, eat a grasshopper.
Speaker 1: Yeah. If you feel like you're picky, that's something that
Speaker 1: you're deciding. It's not something that your body is doing
Speaker 1: for you.
Speaker 2: You can you can change it.
Speaker 3: Mind over matter. Just tell yourself I'm not picky. I'm
Speaker 3: gonna try something new and as long as you're not
Speaker 3: allergic to it, I think it's a good look.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tell us what you guys are eating that's different,
Speaker 2: tell us tell us what you're doing.
Speaker 3: If you stepped outside your comfort zone and try something new,
Speaker 3: we want to hear about it. So this episode was
Speaker 3: so fun that we had to just keep going. We
Speaker 3: told you all the elements for our cookout, but we
Speaker 3: left out one thing.
Speaker 2: And that's the cookout playlist.
Speaker 1: Yes, and Spotify is actually put together a cookout playlist
Speaker 1: that you can go into the Spotify app and listen to.
Speaker 1: It's got all the hits, from the old stuff to
Speaker 1: the new stuff.
Speaker 2: So go check that out.
Speaker 3: And if you check out our show notes, you can
Speaker 3: see some of our favorite and hottest barbecue takes. So
Speaker 3: I'm posting the Wattley water recipe. GT's gonna tell you.
Speaker 2: Some of my favorite barbecue places in DC.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you some I really like in North Carolina.
Speaker 3: We're gonna give you links to our sauces. You name it,
Speaker 3: we got it in the show notes, so you can
Speaker 3: find those at Dope Labs podcast dot com, slash Lab
Speaker 3: zero one two and that brings you to the next point.
Speaker 2: This is lab wel, this is lab twhoa. This is
Speaker 2: the end of the semester, and congratulations, you've all passed.
Speaker 2: You don't have to go to summer school, so you're
Speaker 2: getting a break.
Speaker 3: Semester two will start September twelfth, don't be late.
Speaker 1: And so while we're on this break, we're gonna still
Speaker 1: be putting stuff out on social media and still interact
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 1: Please call us and let us know your episode's suggestions
Speaker 1: or if you just want to say, hey, what's up.
Speaker 3: So we're also creating an audio yearbook everybody. You know
Speaker 3: how the end of the school year you sign the
Speaker 3: yearbooks and you say, hey, I have such a great time,
Speaker 3: can't wait to see you next fall. We're basically doing
Speaker 3: the same thing. We want to hear from you, and
Speaker 3: we want to know what did you like about the show?
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Speaker 3: All this talk about a little Mermaid and I was thinking,
Speaker 3: I was like, yeah, I should get some lobster. I
Speaker 3: was thinking about Sebastian.
Speaker 2: No, Sebastian's a crab. I thought he was a lobster. No,
Speaker 2: he's a crab.
Speaker 3: All this time in my head, when I recreated him,
Speaker 3: he was a lobster.
Speaker 2: No, Sebastian's a crab. That's wild.