WEBVTT - The Formula 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:23.116 Pushkin. A while ago, my colleague Bend A daff Haffrey 0:00:23.116 --> 0:00:26.516 and I gathered to eat English muffins at the Pushkin office. 0:00:26.956 --> 0:00:29.116 Ben had the idea to do a story about the 0:00:29.156 --> 0:00:34.516 famous secret recipe for Thomas's English muffins. It sounded like 0:00:34.516 --> 0:00:37.076 a fun romp. Go for it, I said, have a 0:00:37.076 --> 0:00:41.516 good time, enjoy yourself. And then a couple months down 0:00:41.556 --> 0:00:44.876 the road, Ben recorded the following voice memo. 0:00:46.036 --> 0:00:50.356 It's five sixteen am. I just had a dream where 0:00:50.556 --> 0:00:54.476 I was in an Airbnb with someone who was affiliated 0:00:54.516 --> 0:00:59.316 with benbo Bakers, who knew I was trying to reverse 0:00:59.396 --> 0:01:03.396 engineer the muffin recipe. He's this bald guy who with 0:01:03.836 --> 0:01:06.156 a mustache, I want to say. He was wearing a 0:01:06.356 --> 0:01:09.236 card again. We were playing pool in this area, and 0:01:12.716 --> 0:01:17.196 he said, how much flour and how much water do 0:01:17.276 --> 0:01:20.956 you think we start with? Because if you tell me that, 0:01:21.116 --> 0:01:24.276 it'll tell me if you're even close to knowing how 0:01:24.316 --> 0:01:24.796 we do this. 0:01:26.316 --> 0:01:29.476 It was clear that Ben had gone very deep into 0:01:29.516 --> 0:01:32.276 the nooks and crannies of this story, but this work 0:01:32.356 --> 0:01:35.676 was too important to stop. In case you missed our 0:01:35.796 --> 0:01:38.916 previous episode, let me catch you up. One of the 0:01:38.956 --> 0:01:42.196 most famous trade secrets of all time is the recipe 0:01:42.316 --> 0:01:45.716 for Thomas's English muffins. It involves how they create their 0:01:45.796 --> 0:01:49.356 famous nooks and crannies, the most distinctive feature of a 0:01:49.436 --> 0:01:52.996 nearly half a billion dollar product. The owner of Thomas's, 0:01:53.316 --> 0:01:57.676 Bimbo Bakri's GROUPO Bimbo, say this secret was allegedly known 0:01:57.996 --> 0:02:01.036 to only seven employees of the company, and they sued 0:02:01.076 --> 0:02:03.716 one of them to keep him from taking another job, 0:02:04.156 --> 0:02:07.076 which set off a whole race in corporate America to 0:02:07.116 --> 0:02:10.636 lock up as many trade secrets as possible. Soon, the 0:02:10.676 --> 0:02:13.876 corporate world could look a lot more mystical and secretive. 0:02:14.796 --> 0:02:17.796 And all this had been many many years later to 0:02:17.876 --> 0:02:21.036 wonder how hard can it be to make a muffin? 0:02:22.556 --> 0:02:25.716 So he set out to try and reverse engineer the 0:02:25.756 --> 0:02:29.196 famous Thomas's English Muffins recipe. 0:02:31.356 --> 0:02:32.876 I said, are you one of the seven? And it 0:02:32.916 --> 0:02:38.076 was the recipe and he nodded ah. And he was 0:02:38.116 --> 0:02:41.996 pretty mad at me, and he said, you're me after 0:02:42.036 --> 0:02:42.796 my livelihood. 0:02:43.756 --> 0:02:47.836 You're coming after my livelihood, Ben, But it's too late 0:02:47.876 --> 0:02:50.796 to turn back. He's in too deep. He's told me 0:02:51.276 --> 0:02:57.396 he might even have to go to the CIA. I'm 0:02:57.436 --> 0:03:01.116 Malcolm Gleavell. You're listening to Revisionist History, my show about 0:03:01.116 --> 0:03:06.076 things overlooked and misunderstood. This season, we've taken on a 0:03:06.116 --> 0:03:09.796 great many foes, the haters of paw Patrol, the absurd 0:03:09.836 --> 0:03:13.596 claims of RFK Junior, the lazy interviewing style of Joe Rogan. 0:03:14.876 --> 0:03:19.596 But now we're taking on our biggest opponent yet, Big Muffin, 0:03:20.516 --> 0:03:24.916 because their trade secret represents a rising tide of secrecy 0:03:25.196 --> 0:03:29.036 that's coming for us all. And so we shall persist 0:03:29.356 --> 0:03:35.316 despite our nightmares. We must reverse engineer the English muffin. 0:03:43.676 --> 0:03:44.396 And here it is. 0:03:46.196 --> 0:03:50.956 The Muffin House three three seven was twentieth Street, built 0:03:50.956 --> 0:03:54.436 as a foundry circle eighteen fifty. Samuel Beth Thomas converted 0:03:54.436 --> 0:03:56.956 the ovens for his English muffin bakery in the early 0:03:57.036 --> 0:04:00.156 twentieth century. I'm reading from a plaque in front of 0:04:00.196 --> 0:04:03.636 the house where the inventor of Thomas's English muffins once baked. 0:04:04.436 --> 0:04:06.476 It's in Chelsea, just a couple of blocks from the 0:04:06.516 --> 0:04:11.156 offices of Pushkin Industries. Nineteen years ago, the owner of 0:04:11.196 --> 0:04:14.756 the first floor apartment was taking out a radiator. He 0:04:14.916 --> 0:04:18.716 lifted up some of the floorboards and discovered a door. 0:04:19.636 --> 0:04:23.636 It was the remnants of Samuel bath Thomas's oven. I 0:04:23.676 --> 0:04:27.716 was hoping somebody could show it to me. I rang 0:04:27.756 --> 0:04:34.676 the doorbell, no answer. Clearly Bimbo Bakeries had gotten here first. 0:04:35.436 --> 0:04:38.076 This was a recurring problem. I tried to hire some 0:04:38.116 --> 0:04:41.236 culinary researchers to help reverse engineer the trademark Nooks and 0:04:41.236 --> 0:04:45.476 Cranni's recipe, but Bimbo was a client. After all, they 0:04:45.516 --> 0:04:48.196 are one of the largest baking conglomerates in the world. 0:04:48.836 --> 0:04:50.796 I rang a bunch of doorbells and no one answered. 0:04:51.156 --> 0:04:54.396 I sent a lot of emails that went unreturned, but 0:04:54.476 --> 0:04:56.716 a few grave bakers were willing to talk to me 0:04:56.876 --> 0:05:00.156 at least about the Nooks and Crannies in general. For 0:05:00.196 --> 0:05:04.036 their own protection, we're not identifying them by name, So 0:05:04.196 --> 0:05:06.116 am I the muffin man or not? I guess it's 0:05:06.116 --> 0:05:06.596 a question. 0:05:06.996 --> 0:05:09.516 My question for you is is this like your trying 0:05:09.556 --> 0:05:12.796 to create their exact products? 0:05:13.476 --> 0:05:16.476 Can we make this exact English? 0:05:16.556 --> 0:05:16.916 Okay? 0:05:17.796 --> 0:05:20.556 The vibe I was getting was mild interest, laced with 0:05:20.596 --> 0:05:22.716 a healthy dose of are you okay? 0:05:23.396 --> 0:05:25.796 It's fairly intriguing, but it's also something that can be 0:05:25.836 --> 0:05:30.036 super time consuming, So I personally don't like Thomas English muffins. 0:05:30.596 --> 0:05:33.876 You know, it looks like just a normal English muffin 0:05:33.956 --> 0:05:38.876 recipe with you know, industrialized ingredient. 0:05:38.836 --> 0:05:42.916 Sorry lesson than soy rye, soybean oil, sort big acid, 0:05:43.316 --> 0:05:45.116 those kind of things that are going to give it 0:05:45.196 --> 0:05:46.436 that gumminess to it. 0:05:46.556 --> 0:05:49.356 The nificent creates come from holes in the dough, and 0:05:49.476 --> 0:05:53.156 holes in the dough come from higher hydation. Lots of 0:05:53.196 --> 0:05:55.996 good information on what makes a muffin an English muffin, 0:05:56.476 --> 0:05:59.716 but little enthusiasm for my quest to make one exactly 0:05:59.836 --> 0:06:04.596 like Thomas's. For me, this was way bigger than muffins alone. 0:06:04.836 --> 0:06:07.316 I've learned that companies can use trade secrets as a 0:06:07.316 --> 0:06:10.956 way to control their employees. The muffin trade secret had 0:06:10.956 --> 0:06:13.236 put a man named Chris Botticella out of a job 0:06:13.596 --> 0:06:16.796 Bimbo Bakeries. His employer claimed there was some deep mystery 0:06:16.876 --> 0:06:20.116 to how Thomas's English muffins were manufactured, and this, it 0:06:20.156 --> 0:06:22.436 seemed to me, had given them all too much power. 0:06:23.596 --> 0:06:27.116 My plan was to test a reverse engineered muffin against 0:06:27.116 --> 0:06:30.676 Thomas's to see if anyone could tell the difference. If not, 0:06:31.396 --> 0:06:35.396 that would end the mystical power of their secret. But 0:06:35.436 --> 0:06:38.476 I lacked the necessary skills to do this alone. One 0:06:38.516 --> 0:06:41.796 baker asked me for several thousand dollars to do the job. 0:06:42.396 --> 0:06:45.116 That's not crazy, seeing as the secret recipe brings in 0:06:45.156 --> 0:06:48.036 almost half a billion a year for Bambo, But for 0:06:48.076 --> 0:06:52.076 a complicated set of reasons involving journalistic ethics and poverty, 0:06:52.676 --> 0:06:55.516 it was a non starter. I needed a true believer. 0:06:55.996 --> 0:06:59.436 I needed a zealot. I needed a superstar. 0:07:00.476 --> 0:07:04.436 On this Donut Showdown, three superstar bakers elevate the humble 0:07:04.476 --> 0:07:06.436 donut to new culinary heights. 0:07:07.276 --> 0:07:09.676 This is a clip from a twenty fourteen episode of 0:07:09.716 --> 0:07:13.316 the short lived Cooking Channel show Donut Showdown. If you've 0:07:13.316 --> 0:07:17.036 never seen Donut Showdown, congratulations. 0:07:16.676 --> 0:07:18.316 Let's say hello to our competitors. 0:07:18.516 --> 0:07:22.036 Three contestants compete in a variety of donut baking challenges 0:07:22.196 --> 0:07:25.956 for a ten thousand dollars prize. This episode featured a 0:07:25.956 --> 0:07:29.076 former architect, a pastry chef with a background in molecular 0:07:29.076 --> 0:07:30.996 gastronomy who says things like. 0:07:31.236 --> 0:07:33.676 I'm the overlord of pastry. 0:07:33.636 --> 0:07:39.036 Overlord, and Rachel Wyman, head baker at the Montclair Bread Company. 0:07:39.116 --> 0:07:41.836 I've been baking since I was old enough to hold 0:07:41.836 --> 0:07:43.956 a pastry bag. I literally wrote my name with a 0:07:43.996 --> 0:07:45.396 pastry bag before pencils. 0:07:46.476 --> 0:07:50.436 Rachel Wyman has a baker's warmth about her angular red hair, 0:07:50.596 --> 0:07:53.476 a little like Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog. She's a 0:07:53.476 --> 0:07:56.116 total badass. She's got a tattoo on her arm that 0:07:56.156 --> 0:07:59.996 says flower water, yeast, salt. Of course she makes it 0:08:00.036 --> 0:08:03.836 to the final showdown. It's Rachel versus the Overlord of pastry. 0:08:04.356 --> 0:08:11.236 At least one of your donuts must include avocado. 0:08:11.596 --> 0:08:15.436 Rachel lands on avocado whipped cream on a treslacious donut 0:08:15.596 --> 0:08:19.196 with the Sangreea filling. The food Scientist is going with 0:08:19.236 --> 0:08:23.116 a notcho flavored donut. To my mind, these both sound disgusting, 0:08:23.476 --> 0:08:27.156 but in the midst of it all, Rachel is having 0:08:27.236 --> 0:08:29.036 a beautiful mind moment with her flower. 0:08:29.516 --> 0:08:32.116 The flower that I'm used to using is about eleven 0:08:32.156 --> 0:08:36.356 percent twelve percent protein, and my options were a nine 0:08:36.356 --> 0:08:38.996 percent protein or thirteen percent protein, So we had to 0:08:39.076 --> 0:08:42.156 lend the flowers together. The last thing that I want 0:08:42.196 --> 0:08:44.036 is to send the judges chewy donuts. 0:08:44.636 --> 0:08:48.036 It turns out that Rachel is a doe genius. But 0:08:48.196 --> 0:08:48.796 was it enough? 0:08:49.516 --> 0:08:55.436 Rachel, you made two perfect does, but your sangreea filling 0:08:56.356 --> 0:09:01.876 was a risk that didn't pay off. The winner of 0:09:01.916 --> 0:09:09.836 this donut showdown is Rachel. Congratulations, one of ten thousand 0:09:09.876 --> 0:09:11.076 dollars Russ Rachel. 0:09:12.796 --> 0:09:16.476 Rachel gets emotional. I get emotional because what I see 0:09:16.516 --> 0:09:19.836 before me at last is a baker who just might 0:09:19.956 --> 0:09:23.116 be crazy enough to take on the secret recipe for 0:09:23.236 --> 0:09:24.556 Thomas's English muffin. 0:09:25.316 --> 0:09:25.996 I look her up. 0:09:26.556 --> 0:09:29.876 She teaches baking and pastry arts at the Culinary Institute 0:09:29.876 --> 0:09:34.276 of America, the most prestigious culinary school in the country, 0:09:34.836 --> 0:09:35.476 the CIA. 0:09:36.716 --> 0:09:38.876 So what I was going to tell you a couple 0:09:38.996 --> 0:09:42.596 things because I neglected to send you the anything about me. 0:09:42.996 --> 0:09:46.796 I used to do recipe development for a company that 0:09:46.956 --> 0:09:50.196 created products for grocery stores all over the country, so 0:09:50.836 --> 0:09:55.996 reverse engineering. It was like my jam, Oh, I'm saying, yeah, 0:09:55.996 --> 0:09:58.636 this is exactly what would happen. They would bring me 0:09:59.316 --> 0:10:02.356 a sample of something they wanted, and this was Wegman's 0:10:02.356 --> 0:10:03.756 and Target and Whole. 0:10:03.516 --> 0:10:05.516 Foods, and I worked with that. 0:10:06.076 --> 0:10:06.756 Yeah. 0:10:06.916 --> 0:10:09.436 No, so I made the bread on the cheese cake 0:10:09.476 --> 0:10:10.316 factory table. 0:10:10.396 --> 0:10:11.036 Oh my god. 0:10:11.396 --> 0:10:14.156 So I lived in this space that you're doing this 0:10:14.236 --> 0:10:14.756 story on. 0:10:14.996 --> 0:10:17.076 I didn't even know that this was a space. I 0:10:17.076 --> 0:10:21.676 mean it is a big space. Rachel checked in with 0:10:21.716 --> 0:10:25.036 the CIA green light. She and I were going to 0:10:25.076 --> 0:10:28.876 reverse engineer Thomas's nooks and crannies. The trade secret of 0:10:28.876 --> 0:10:32.676 the muffin involves the process, recipe and machines, but any 0:10:32.716 --> 0:10:35.156 major baking company knows how to make bread at scale. 0:10:35.596 --> 0:10:38.676 It's the principles behind the nooks and crannies that were 0:10:38.716 --> 0:10:42.156 the key thing. We began to have regular debriefing calls. 0:10:42.876 --> 0:10:48.596 I I'm driving home from school, so uh yeah, it's 0:10:48.636 --> 0:10:49.436 going really well. 0:10:50.036 --> 0:10:53.196 Rachel was all in. She even enlisted her students in 0:10:53.236 --> 0:10:54.836 the effort, and I have. 0:10:55.476 --> 0:10:57.556 So many English muffins in the classroom. 0:10:58.036 --> 0:11:01.676 The first recipes were a bust. No nooks or crannies. 0:11:02.476 --> 0:11:06.636 The inside of the Thomases almost reminds me of like 0:11:06.716 --> 0:11:12.556 a dense pancake, like a batter that's almost poured. So 0:11:12.876 --> 0:11:15.836 we decided that we need to add more hydration to 0:11:15.996 --> 0:11:20.796 our dough. We're gonna overproof it on purpose, so it 0:11:20.916 --> 0:11:24.436 sits a little flatter on the griddle. Our our's got 0:11:24.476 --> 0:11:26.596 a lot of loft, so we kind of have to 0:11:26.676 --> 0:11:28.076 make them a little crappier. 0:11:29.556 --> 0:11:32.396 But making things crappier turned out to be a bit 0:11:32.396 --> 0:11:33.676 of a challenge for Rachel. 0:11:34.676 --> 0:11:38.476 Like, the difficulty is that the Thomas's muffin is gray 0:11:39.076 --> 0:11:41.916 and ours is uh not, So I think I can 0:11:41.996 --> 0:11:44.316 just get a lower quality flower and work with that. 0:11:44.516 --> 0:11:47.476 And also I've been buttering the griddle, but like also 0:11:47.556 --> 0:11:50.996 we're using you know, plue gras, like eighty four percent 0:11:51.156 --> 0:11:55.316 butter fat butter. It's like super yellow. I mean, so 0:11:55.516 --> 0:11:57.596 I need to get I think I'm just gonna oil it. 0:11:57.676 --> 0:11:59.876 And then the students even pointed out there's no butter 0:12:00.076 --> 0:12:02.996 in the ingredient deck, so they're not using butter on 0:12:03.076 --> 0:12:05.836 any surface, So I'll just use the same oil. 0:12:07.596 --> 0:12:08.836 Students are keeping you honest. 0:12:09.396 --> 0:12:12.076 I know they are, they really are. I mean the 0:12:12.556 --> 0:12:18.956 flavor yesterday was amazing, but not like Thomas, And they're like, chef, 0:12:18.996 --> 0:12:20.796 you just need to make it taste worse. 0:12:22.236 --> 0:12:24.556 Rachel and her students kept tinkering for about a week. 0:12:24.996 --> 0:12:28.356 Every so often she'd send me photos their muffins went 0:12:28.396 --> 0:12:30.796 from a flat surface on the interior to these big, 0:12:30.916 --> 0:12:34.196 uneven lunar craters. I was starting to think that maybe 0:12:34.196 --> 0:12:39.676 this really was a secret, uncrackable recipe, but then Rachel 0:12:39.756 --> 0:12:43.276 sent me a photo of two muffins riddled with these small, deep, 0:12:43.636 --> 0:12:47.756 perfect nooks and crannies. Other than the color, I couldn't 0:12:47.756 --> 0:12:50.916 tell a difference between the classes nooks and crannies and Thomas's. 0:12:52.436 --> 0:12:53.996 It was time for me to come up to the 0:12:54.036 --> 0:12:57.956 CIA at Hyde Park to meet her in person, finalize 0:12:57.956 --> 0:13:00.676 the recipe, and then put it to a blind taste 0:13:00.716 --> 0:13:13.836 test to see if she'd actually pulled it off. Like 0:13:13.876 --> 0:13:17.636 all the great American culinary schools, the Culinary Institute of 0:13:17.676 --> 0:13:20.676 America is in a fight to the death with federal 0:13:20.756 --> 0:13:27.036 law enforcement acronym versus acronym, the CIA versus the Central 0:13:27.076 --> 0:13:30.236 Intelligence Agency. You would think that at some point in 0:13:30.276 --> 0:13:33.636 its nearly seventy five years of existence, the president of 0:13:33.676 --> 0:13:36.756 the Culinary Institute of America would have said, you know what, 0:13:37.556 --> 0:13:42.196 our acronym has become a distraction. It's the American Culinary Institute. 0:13:42.196 --> 0:13:44.956 Now you can have its spooks, take the bugs out 0:13:44.996 --> 0:13:49.796 of my office, stop following me home. But no, the 0:13:49.836 --> 0:13:54.516 Culinary Institute of America is not changing its name for anyone. 0:14:00.036 --> 0:14:02.916 I took the train up in April. The campus sits 0:14:02.916 --> 0:14:05.476 along the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York, on 0:14:05.516 --> 0:14:09.076 the grounds of an old Jesuit novitiate, gracious brick buildings, 0:14:09.396 --> 0:14:13.356 photos of famous alumni on the wall, Anthony Bourdain. It's 0:14:13.396 --> 0:14:17.996 a kind of culinary temple, little chapels, vaulted ceilings, stained glass. 0:14:18.516 --> 0:14:20.876 The doors to the main hall have a crest with 0:14:20.956 --> 0:14:26.716 three griffins and the school's motto cybus vite est Food 0:14:27.076 --> 0:14:27.556 is Life. 0:14:28.276 --> 0:14:31.556 There's a reoccurring themale around the campus too, of like 0:14:31.676 --> 0:14:33.276 what came first, the chicken or the egg. 0:14:33.836 --> 0:14:37.516 I'm getting a tour from baking business student Hannah Dawkins. 0:14:37.716 --> 0:14:40.276 She was graduating in a semester and was filling me 0:14:40.356 --> 0:14:43.356 in on campus lore. Do you have a strong position, Yeah. 0:14:43.236 --> 0:14:44.876 I feel like the egg definitely came first. 0:14:46.236 --> 0:14:48.716 We were walking through a library, one floor of which 0:14:48.756 --> 0:14:51.636 is all recipe books organized according to a system I 0:14:51.676 --> 0:14:56.276 had never before encountered nutrition, gastronomy, kitchen equipment. As we 0:14:56.316 --> 0:14:59.916 walked through campus, I noticed all the pedestrian crossing signs 0:14:59.916 --> 0:15:03.276 had a cartoon person in a chef's hat a toque, which, 0:15:03.436 --> 0:15:06.116 true to life, was what everyone wore or the teachers, 0:15:06.156 --> 0:15:09.036 at least the students all had these small skull caps on. 0:15:09.596 --> 0:15:12.196 You know you've chosen a great profession when only at 0:15:12.196 --> 0:15:15.116 the highest rank, do you get to wear the silliest hat? 0:15:15.316 --> 0:15:16.596 We entered the baking building. 0:15:17.076 --> 0:15:19.396 So in this class they learned how to do sugar work, 0:15:19.476 --> 0:15:23.596 chocolate show pieces, and fondant, So that swan is totally 0:15:23.596 --> 0:15:24.276 made out of sugar. 0:15:24.636 --> 0:15:27.756 Why is she using a steamer on her cake over there? 0:15:27.876 --> 0:15:30.836 It gives it like a nice, like glossy look. 0:15:31.836 --> 0:15:34.876 It was becoming clear to me that this is the 0:15:34.916 --> 0:15:36.476 greatest college in America. 0:15:36.676 --> 0:15:41.916 This is contemporary Cakes, Chocolates, Advanced baking principles, Late of 0:15:41.956 --> 0:15:45.716 Dessert's class. Like, there's the freshman what at fifteen at 0:15:45.796 --> 0:15:48.276 other schools, I would say, being at the culinary, it's 0:15:48.316 --> 0:15:49.436 more like a freshman fifty. 0:15:50.116 --> 0:15:52.916 The plan was to use CIA students as guinea pigs 0:15:52.916 --> 0:15:55.756 in our muffin test. Could they tell the difference between 0:15:55.796 --> 0:16:00.036 the reverse engineered muffin and the real Thomases except as 0:16:00.076 --> 0:16:03.676 handon toward me around campus? I was slowly realizing that 0:16:03.756 --> 0:16:08.196 this particular audience of testers might be a little too smart. 0:16:09.156 --> 0:16:12.516 Vitamond was essentially testing a claim that adding baking soda 0:16:12.596 --> 0:16:16.556 to onions when catamalizing them can reduce the cook diime 0:16:16.596 --> 0:16:17.036 in half. 0:16:17.196 --> 0:16:20.116 I wanted to look at how refrigerating cookie dough before 0:16:20.156 --> 0:16:23.596 baking is going to affect the final alcohol differences between 0:16:23.676 --> 0:16:27.116 ricotta made with vinegar, citric acid, and lemon juice. 0:16:27.116 --> 0:16:28.596 So do you even know that you could make that? 0:16:28.636 --> 0:16:31.796 You made ricotta with any of Yeah, so you make 0:16:31.876 --> 0:16:33.636 ricotta with an acigilant. 0:16:33.676 --> 0:16:37.956 So that's an acid A sigilant who says is vigilant. 0:16:38.836 --> 0:16:41.116 Even the school's fight song was inscrutable. 0:16:42.676 --> 0:16:47.396 Okay, So it's mirror pla, mere pae dice about chop 0:16:47.436 --> 0:16:51.236 it up, put it in the stew, mer Pa. 0:16:52.716 --> 0:16:54.956 She could not believe I didn't know the meaning of 0:16:54.996 --> 0:16:57.996 the word mirror pla. Do you know the meaning of 0:16:58.036 --> 0:17:01.036 the word mir pa? Well, as I learned, it is 0:17:01.076 --> 0:17:04.796 a ratio for soup bass two parts onion, one part carrot, 0:17:05.076 --> 0:17:09.956 one part celery, and four parts esoteric. You're welcome. And 0:17:10.076 --> 0:17:13.556 here I was thinking these food geniuses could be fooled 0:17:13.556 --> 0:17:17.676 by my taste test. I headed over to Rachel's classroom 0:17:17.916 --> 0:17:22.556 Bakeshop nine. Rachel was communing with the muffin dough. 0:17:23.276 --> 0:17:27.876 Like every time you stretch gluten, it freaks out a 0:17:27.916 --> 0:17:31.396 little bit, and you have to let it rest so 0:17:31.476 --> 0:17:34.196 that it will relax enough to do the next thing. 0:17:34.636 --> 0:17:39.556 I took the dough out of the refrigerator and I 0:17:39.596 --> 0:17:44.036 have flattened it into a pan. So it's the right 0:17:44.116 --> 0:17:45.716 thickness for our muffins. 0:17:46.556 --> 0:17:48.836 If anyone could pull this off, it was going to 0:17:48.876 --> 0:17:52.156 be Rachel. We were making English muffins from two recipes. 0:17:52.196 --> 0:17:56.436 She'd created one using the ingredients listed on the Thomas's package, 0:17:56.676 --> 0:18:00.276 including vinegar. Now having that list is helpful, but the 0:18:00.436 --> 0:18:03.876 ingredients only tell you so much. Baking, like mir POAs, 0:18:04.276 --> 0:18:08.036 is all about ratios and process. Rachel was making a 0:18:08.076 --> 0:18:10.876 second batch with sour though, which was her own spin. 0:18:11.516 --> 0:18:13.916 We were going to taste both see which was closer 0:18:13.956 --> 0:18:16.476 to Thomas's, and then put it up against the real 0:18:16.516 --> 0:18:18.036 thing in the blind taste test. 0:18:19.356 --> 0:18:23.636 I can open this one to this perfect that's pretty amazing. 0:18:24.596 --> 0:18:26.476 Look at that. That looks really good. 0:18:26.796 --> 0:18:27.796 It's a little bit. 0:18:27.996 --> 0:18:29.996 I don't see a difference. I don't see a difference. 0:18:30.276 --> 0:18:31.596 Oh my gosh, look at that. 0:18:31.636 --> 0:18:35.916 They look identical. But it was amazing. I called the 0:18:35.956 --> 0:18:38.516 students over see what they made of it. Do you 0:18:38.556 --> 0:18:39.676 really think this is gonna work? 0:18:39.836 --> 0:18:40.556 I actually do. 0:18:41.116 --> 0:18:44.676 I do very optimistic because I just by looking at them, 0:18:44.676 --> 0:18:47.756 they look completely like exactly the same. We ran a 0:18:47.796 --> 0:18:50.956 mini test where the kids tasted the fresh muffins against Thomas's, 0:18:51.236 --> 0:18:53.236 and I quickly learned that they did not think as 0:18:53.276 --> 0:18:55.276 highly of Thomas's English muffins as I did. 0:18:56.636 --> 0:18:57.876 So, I don't like English muffins. 0:18:57.876 --> 0:19:00.316 Doesn't it taste like so you just spat it out. 0:19:01.116 --> 0:19:03.236 I've never liked English muffins my whole life, because this 0:19:03.276 --> 0:19:06.556 is what I've always been offered. It smells like box, 0:19:06.916 --> 0:19:07.996 like cardboards. 0:19:08.196 --> 0:19:10.636 You think if it gets stale, there might be a 0:19:10.756 --> 0:19:12.756 chance we pull this off that people can't tell. 0:19:12.996 --> 0:19:14.556 I think it'll be pulled off. Well. 0:19:18.036 --> 0:19:20.236 The key was to let our muffins get stale so 0:19:20.236 --> 0:19:23.396 they matched Thomas's. Rachel had made a batch the day before, 0:19:23.596 --> 0:19:25.716 which she'd left out in the open for this purpose. 0:19:26.116 --> 0:19:28.356 For the test, we were gonna cut the muffins into 0:19:28.356 --> 0:19:31.276 sixteenths and put them in egg cartons. That would give 0:19:31.316 --> 0:19:34.916 us enough samples for about one hundred tests. But as 0:19:34.956 --> 0:19:37.836 we cut up Rachel's muffins from the day before, it 0:19:37.956 --> 0:19:41.356 was clear that they were a little too crusty. We 0:19:41.516 --> 0:19:45.476 left them out uncovered, and they'd gotten very stale. We 0:19:45.476 --> 0:19:49.876 were both worried, and then Rachel found a bag of 0:19:49.956 --> 0:19:51.796 muffins under her desk. 0:19:52.196 --> 0:19:53.876 These have been sitting in a bag. 0:19:53.676 --> 0:19:56.596 For like all week, so these are the same as 0:19:56.676 --> 0:19:57.956 the final recipe. 0:19:59.076 --> 0:20:00.516 These are the vinegar recipe. 0:20:00.916 --> 0:20:03.156 Look at that, it looks like exactly like a Thomas's. 0:20:04.716 --> 0:20:08.876 It looked exactly like a Thomas's, and to me it 0:20:09.196 --> 0:20:14.436 tasted exactly like a Thomas's. We began furiously slicing them up. 0:20:14.756 --> 0:20:18.516 This kind of last minute dramatic switch of the plan 0:20:18.676 --> 0:20:23.476 is exactly there's two minutes until the test starts. We 0:20:23.556 --> 0:20:27.076 finished right on schedule. We wheeled our samples out into 0:20:27.076 --> 0:20:28.516 the packed student cafeteria. 0:20:29.396 --> 0:20:31.636 You know, it's like when you when your kids play 0:20:32.156 --> 0:20:36.396 sports and you're like super nervous for them, even though 0:20:36.396 --> 0:20:37.596 it has no bearing ones. 0:20:42.516 --> 0:20:45.356 It was time to pit our formula against the greatest 0:20:45.356 --> 0:20:58.876 culinary minds in America. Cue the fight song. Hello everybody, 0:21:00.596 --> 0:21:03.596 My goodness. At some point in your life, I hope 0:21:03.636 --> 0:21:08.596 you experience a moment so absurd, so profoundly unrecognizable, that 0:21:08.676 --> 0:21:12.516 you haven't of body experience. For me, that moment was 0:21:12.556 --> 0:21:15.796 standing in the cafeteria at the CIA, addressing a crowd 0:21:15.836 --> 0:21:19.436 of culinary students in white uniforms and skull caps regarding 0:21:19.516 --> 0:21:23.036 the several hundred egg cartons I had filled with English muffins. 0:21:23.836 --> 0:21:26.956 So in each of these cartons there's a slice of 0:21:26.996 --> 0:21:30.116 English muffin. Two of them the same, are the same, 0:21:30.156 --> 0:21:33.396 one of them is different. Using tastes, I want you 0:21:33.436 --> 0:21:35.716 to tell me which number is different. I had marked 0:21:35.756 --> 0:21:39.036 each muffin section with numbers like three oh two, three 0:21:39.156 --> 0:21:42.396 forty eight, and one twenty nine, blinding codes so people 0:21:42.436 --> 0:21:46.196 wouldn't be biased by ABC or one two three. In 0:21:46.236 --> 0:21:49.316 each test, you either had two Thomases and one Rachel's 0:21:49.396 --> 0:21:52.316 or two Rachels and one Thomas's. Exactly. I knew which 0:21:52.396 --> 0:21:55.676 numbers marked the odd muffin out. The goal was to 0:21:55.676 --> 0:21:59.316 see if they could tell. If they could, we'd failed, 0:21:59.916 --> 0:22:01.596 which one do you think is different than the others? 0:22:02.156 --> 0:22:04.996 That was a wrong answer, but most of. 0:22:04.956 --> 0:22:07.516 Them see, I think it was four. 0:22:07.836 --> 0:22:11.876 That's different, ninety nine is different, it's one, nine, pretty sure, 0:22:11.876 --> 0:22:16.076 it's one. Pretty quickly it became clear that we were 0:22:16.116 --> 0:22:19.396 on track for over sixty percent of people correctly guessing 0:22:19.436 --> 0:22:23.556 which muffin was not like the others. This was not working. 0:22:24.276 --> 0:22:29.556 We're getting smoke so far, we're invasively destroying it. Looked 0:22:29.596 --> 0:22:32.516 like our entire plan was going to fail. We took 0:22:32.556 --> 0:22:36.476 on Bimbo Bakeri's legendary trade secret, and just like in 0:22:36.516 --> 0:22:41.156 Bimbo Bakeries versus Cris Botaicella, we were losing and the 0:22:41.236 --> 0:22:50.556 secret was winning. We'll be right back. I want to 0:22:50.636 --> 0:22:52.796 leave the muffin test for a moment to tell you 0:22:52.876 --> 0:22:56.396 about a rabbit hole. I fell down while researching this episode. 0:22:56.636 --> 0:22:59.116 I was trying to articulate why the idea that the 0:22:59.236 --> 0:23:02.076 nooks and crannies were a trade secret bothered me so much, 0:23:02.916 --> 0:23:05.996 so I began studying other trade secrets and secret recipes. 0:23:06.876 --> 0:23:10.156 One of the most famous is for cur called chartreuse. 0:23:11.076 --> 0:23:15.236 Chartreuse has been made by a French monastic order, the Carthusians, 0:23:15.276 --> 0:23:18.636 based on a mysterious recipe that was gifted to them 0:23:18.796 --> 0:23:23.276 in sixteen oh five. This recipe is a very closely 0:23:23.276 --> 0:23:28.276 guarded secret. Nooks and crannies for fancy cocktails. I learned 0:23:28.276 --> 0:23:30.636 that one of the Carthusian monks who'd been in charge 0:23:30.676 --> 0:23:33.516 of chartreuse production had left the order and now lived 0:23:33.516 --> 0:23:36.596 in New York City, so I wrote to him. His 0:23:36.716 --> 0:23:40.076 name is father Michael Hollerin. I visited him at the 0:23:40.076 --> 0:23:43.396 parish offices of Saint Monica's Church on the Upper East Side, 0:23:43.476 --> 0:23:46.276 just a few days after Easter. What is known about 0:23:46.276 --> 0:23:47.636 the origin of that recipe. 0:23:47.876 --> 0:23:51.276 No one ever seems to have researched it. We never 0:23:51.356 --> 0:23:54.316