Speaker 1: I am all in again.
Speaker 2: Luke Steiner with Scott Patterson an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Nah, there she is, Hi, Susan, how you doing. Thanks
Speaker 1: for coming on. I'm doing great. Let's just get into it,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, you're like you're happening.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: You're like former contestant on The Golden Bachelor, and you
Speaker 1: have taken your love for Italian cooking, one of my
Speaker 1: favorite things in life, to the next level. You have
Speaker 1: your own Italian foods on QVC. You're known for your
Speaker 1: culinary flair. On The Golden Bachelor, you delighted Jerry Turner
Speaker 1: and her fellow contestants with her signature Italian dishes, including
Speaker 1: your famous homemade meatballs. Oh my god, I'm so hungry.
Speaker 1: I can't take it any more. A true food lover,
Speaker 1: Susan enjoys flavoring leftovers from the night before, a fun
Speaker 1: fact that showcases her down to earth approach to cooking
Speaker 1: and enjoying great meals. Welcome, thank you, they I am
Speaker 1: All in podcast and welcome to Luke's Diner. You are
Speaker 1: now inside the diner. Tell us, tell us I love
Speaker 1: this QBC thing you're doing.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, and I just say I was so nervous.
Speaker 3: They just threw me to the walls.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, right, right, So how did it happen? Tell
Speaker 1: us how it? You know, the cooking cane your life.
Speaker 1: And it got to the point where QVC reached out
Speaker 1: and said, let's make a deal with this this person.
Speaker 4: I grew up with my nana. I was on her
Speaker 4: apron strings. I just loved nanimated everything fresh. We used
Speaker 4: to make her homemade spaghetti. I don't go that far anymore.
Speaker 4: And Sunday gravy, you know, that's a big part of
Speaker 4: my life, and that's where I learned to make meat falls.
Speaker 4: My grandkids love them fried before I put them in
Speaker 4: the gravy or the sauce, if you will, So we
Speaker 4: do both.
Speaker 3: And then I met this.
Speaker 4: Woman in the airport and we became instant friends. And
Speaker 4: she's a big TVC host. I am not a host,
Speaker 4: so it was tough for me when I went on
Speaker 4: that day.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what I was doing right right, But
Speaker 1: I just have a lot for food, right right right.
Speaker 4: Some people eat to live, me, on the other hand,
Speaker 4: I live to eat.
Speaker 1: There you go, Where are you from?
Speaker 3: Philadelphia?
Speaker 1: You're from You're a Philly girl. Get out, get out.
Speaker 1: You can't it tell you're a South Philly girl.
Speaker 3: Just say coffee, coffee.
Speaker 1: Let's go down the South Street and get a hold
Speaker 1: he you have water, We'll get some water. Yeah.
Speaker 3: How about you. Where you from?
Speaker 1: I'm from Philly? No, yeah, for real, Yeah, I'm born
Speaker 1: in Philly where well, I mean I was born there,
Speaker 1: but raised over the bridge over the Wall Women Bridge
Speaker 1: in southern New Jersey. Yeah, Cherry Hill, right next to
Speaker 1: Cherry Hill in Haddonfield.
Speaker 3: Yep, I know where it is there.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We we used to come into Philly all the time.
Speaker 1: The Flyers were always winning the Stanley Cups. We were
Speaker 1: always cut in school, coming in and you know, standing
Speaker 1: on top of cars and drinking beer at fourteen.
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving Day parade in Philly.
Speaker 1: Oh is that the Mummers.
Speaker 3: Parade are January? That's January?
Speaker 1: Sorry, yes, right, So that's exciting and that's a big parade.
Speaker 1: All right. So you're south? Are you South Philly?
Speaker 3: My family is West Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: Yeah, gotcha, gotcha? Wow, you're the real deal a bit
Speaker 1: Oh my god. So, I mean we grew up going
Speaker 1: to the Italian Market in South Philly every every Sunday.
Speaker 3: I still go Oh god, I get I get stuck.
Speaker 1: Ohls, Oh my goodness. You know, my father remarried an
Speaker 1: Italian woman named it Bellito. She was the oldest. She
Speaker 1: was the oldest of thirteen. Your parents died young, and
Speaker 1: she had to drop out of school and raise her
Speaker 1: twelve sisters and brothers. And she learned how to cook
Speaker 1: from scratch all this great Italian food. So every time
Speaker 1: I go over and visit them, you.
Speaker 3: Know, you're getting a good meal.
Speaker 1: Oh. It was one of the few reasons I went
Speaker 1: over is just to see her, you know, and eat
Speaker 1: that food because the mount of goat it would melt
Speaker 1: in your mouth. It was just beautiful. Anyway, now I'm hungry,
Speaker 1: Let's take a break and eat some food. What is it? So?
Speaker 1: You your nana pretty much taught you how.
Speaker 3: To cook, and then my father was a butcher.
Speaker 1: Okay, I mean, you can't go wrong. I love Yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I mean, you were born, you were born to do this.
Speaker 1: You were you were You're a born.
Speaker 4: I mean I am definitely truly not a chef, and
Speaker 4: don't claim to be.
Speaker 3: But what I made is what I've learned. And you
Speaker 3: know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Sure, I've tried meatballs several different ways. I've tried throwing
Speaker 1: them in the sauce uncooked. I try to cook them
Speaker 1: and then throw them in the sauce. But the secret,
Speaker 1: the secret to a great meat sauce, I thought I
Speaker 1: learned it on The Godfather when when they're teaching Michael
Speaker 1: Corleone before before I think it's before he assassinates that
Speaker 1: guy in the wonderful Italian restaurant. Uh, they have this
Speaker 1: huge vat and they're putting tomato paste in there, and
Speaker 1: he says, now, you got to add the onions for
Speaker 1: the flavor. He puts in a bunch of hole onions,
Speaker 1: and then he puts in the sausages and the pork
Speaker 1: and the lamb, and that's for the flavor. And you're
Speaker 1: just like you watch that and you're like, I got yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Like a brushole or a sauce. Right, you brown it
Speaker 4: in the oil with the fresh garlic. The when I
Speaker 4: start out in the tomatoes and wine in it, so
Speaker 4: it cooked simmers all day.
Speaker 1: Right, are you using a tomato paste?
Speaker 3: That's at the end.
Speaker 4: So when I fry my meatballs in an iron skillet,
Speaker 4: round them so they're crispy, and then.
Speaker 3: They could cook the rest of the way in the
Speaker 3: greatly but in that iron skillet the oil from the meatballs.
Speaker 4: I add my tomato paste to that and stir it
Speaker 4: up with the oil.
Speaker 3: That to the big bot.
Speaker 1: Uh, nice tip tip. That's a nice tip. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I will because I have an iron. I have iron
Speaker 1: skillets where I am like I have I made them,
Speaker 1: get me cast iron.
Speaker 4: And of course you make a huge pot and you freeze,
Speaker 4: you know you have it several times.
Speaker 1: All right? Let me ask you this, how long do
Speaker 1: you cook? You put all all the sausages in, you
Speaker 1: put all the onion, you put everything you need in
Speaker 1: this huge pot. You don't put on It's okay, okay,
Speaker 1: all right? I doing mine. I doing mine. My son,
Speaker 1: my son loves my sauce. I put onion and he
Speaker 1: always says, yeah, put on You used to sauce?
Speaker 3: Or do you use crush to meat this?
Speaker 1: I use raos, I just use it. I don't I
Speaker 1: don't make it from scratch. I use the raos. Marinara,
Speaker 1: don't say that. Sorry, I use Susan knowles.
Speaker 3: My gravy in a jar. They won't let me.
Speaker 1: Oh really why not?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I but how long do you like, if you have
Speaker 1: that big fat, how long do you let that cook?
Speaker 3: Once?
Speaker 4: I bring it to a boil and then I wore
Speaker 4: a fresh basil and stuff, and then I just simmer
Speaker 4: it for at least three.
Speaker 1: Hours, right, Okay, So it's on low a low heat
Speaker 1: for three hours and it's just kind of bubble bubbling
Speaker 1: a little bit and cooking and all everything's melting together.
Speaker 3: So good.
Speaker 1: Oh smelling killing me?
Speaker 3: Right, I'm just killing me. I don't even have any leftovers.
Speaker 3: I just got endless.
Speaker 1: So that's one of the things. Right, you are uh
Speaker 1: ingenious in how you use leftovers. Tell us about that.
Speaker 3: I prefer a leftover rather than breakfast.
Speaker 4: Like if I have rigatonis, forget about it for breakfast
Speaker 4: a little bit.
Speaker 3: I don't hate them.
Speaker 4: In the microwave, I bring the iron skill it out
Speaker 4: put the rigatonis in the iron skill and at a
Speaker 4: little tiny bit of water and turn it up high
Speaker 4: so it like steams it.
Speaker 3: Okay, hole pizza.
Speaker 1: Wow, man, that's hardcore.
Speaker 3: Not everybody does that. But you know, sometimes I have
Speaker 3: yogur too, but that's so boring, So so.
Speaker 1: Tell Maul, you got to have a little yogurt, right,
Speaker 1: it's healthy. You gotta have. You got to clean the
Speaker 1: pipes every once in a while, right, Yeah, So listen,
Speaker 1: tell us about the QVC deal and tell us what
Speaker 1: it was like going on there and where you're at
Speaker 1: now with it.
Speaker 3: So I meet this girl, they take me under their wing.
Speaker 4: I belong to the Q fifty, which is quintessential and
Speaker 4: fifty and it's supporting women over fifty.
Speaker 3: Life is not.
Speaker 4: Freaking over people. We've got so much more. And I
Speaker 4: pretty much was gifted. I went to Vegas with this
Speaker 4: big opening and they go, Susan, think of a brand.
Speaker 3: You've been gifted like h She goes, do a hair
Speaker 3: tool or hair product. I've been doing hair for forty years.
Speaker 3: I didn't know what to do here. I gifted this.
Speaker 4: So I went to bed the last night there and
Speaker 4: I prayed to God and I talked to the universe.
Speaker 3: I said, not only do.
Speaker 4: I want to know what it is I want to do,
Speaker 4: but I want the name of it when I wake up,
Speaker 4: and I promise as sure as I'm sitting here.
Speaker 3: I woke up and said Mimi's meat Balls, and I
Speaker 3: just went with it.
Speaker 4: However, I could have made a lot more money if
Speaker 4: I did like an outfit or a jog on suit.
Speaker 3: Slow business up.
Speaker 4: So I used Veo beef and pork and which I
Speaker 4: had so many meatballs coming to my house for these companies,
Speaker 4: and I'd make little tiny ones for the scutle soup.
Speaker 3: And you know, I didn't like it. They didn't even
Speaker 3: look real.
Speaker 4: So we were about to give up, and I had
Speaker 4: one last shot and she said, you can't tweak it.
Speaker 3: I give them my ingredients and it was x X it.
Speaker 1: That was the moment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they the wolves and there I was. I
Speaker 3: think they priced it a little expensive.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's okay. You're famous, so it's like it
Speaker 1: comes to a little premium. Plus it's your special recipe,
Speaker 1: which is straight out of Philadelphia.
Speaker 3: Anything to frost it and roll it and go yeah.
Speaker 1: And is this in retail? Is it all in retail? Now?
Speaker 1: Are you a lot of grocery and all that?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, no, just PBC right now, just.
Speaker 1: QBC right now. You haven't gone even going into retail yet.
Speaker 3: No. I don't even know how to begin. I'm all
Speaker 3: over the place.
Speaker 4: I'm sitting at the Golden Bachelorette and then I got
Speaker 4: to meet all the guys.
Speaker 3: I was looking for the next one. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I still all right. When it comes to reinventing leftovers,
Speaker 1: do you have any favorites, ways to give them new life,
Speaker 1: any tips for making them feel like a fresh meal?
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I've cheese anything.
Speaker 1: I mean, there you go.
Speaker 4: And like I said, when I use I don't use
Speaker 4: the microwave all the time. You know, I'd rather do
Speaker 4: it in an iron skillet.
Speaker 3: With a little bit of water and.
Speaker 4: Have it steam hot rather than right suck the life
Speaker 4: out of it in the microwave.
Speaker 3: I'll eat it like coffee in the microwave.
Speaker 1: But right soup.
Speaker 3: That squirrel soup, I even love that.
Speaker 4: For breakfast, I make a homemade beef soup with beef bones.
Speaker 3: I start from scraps.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, are you still living in Philadelphia and you're
Speaker 1: getting I.
Speaker 3: Knew that at the city. I'm in the burbs.
Speaker 1: Now, Okay, so you're in the burbs, But do you
Speaker 1: come into the city. You get your supplies.
Speaker 3: All the time.
Speaker 4: The Bruno brothers. I got a sign stucker. As soon
Speaker 4: as I get on Ninth Street, they know I'll come.
Speaker 4: And then I buy at the butcher the sausage stuff.
Speaker 3: With the broccoli, rab and trevalonets.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, what's the largest group you've ever cooked for?
Speaker 1: And what'd you make for him?
Speaker 4: I do it every year Thanksgiving on Christmas, like twenty
Speaker 4: five and now it's growing a little bit.
Speaker 3: Twenty six.
Speaker 4: They got boy friends. And here's the problem with my family.
Speaker 4: They want the same exact meal every single year. I go,
Speaker 4: let's get a whole file at or you know, a
Speaker 4: big piece of meat. Nope, mom, no, we start with
Speaker 4: the suit. We get squirrel suit. I'm tell you, wedding suit.
Speaker 4: Then we go to the Raveoli's the meat balls, the sausage,
Speaker 4: the whole bit. Then we have salad, then we have
Speaker 4: On Thanksgiving it's the turkey and all the sides, and
Speaker 4: on Christmas it's the ham and all the sides.
Speaker 3: Right, so it's like five horse meal.
Speaker 1: Beautiful, absolutely funny. They will do it, just beautiful. Do
Speaker 1: you have any special dishes planned for the upcoming holiday season?
Speaker 1: They're just gonna keep exactly.
Speaker 3: You know what the hard part is, I can't find
Speaker 3: fresh ester all. I gotta go to China to find this.
Speaker 4: I swear nobody I found one head. I'm like, are
Speaker 4: you serious? I'd need like five because when I cooked.
Speaker 4: I made huge.
Speaker 3: Pots, and everybody comes with their containers. You have to go, right,
Speaker 3: I got leave me something.
Speaker 1: You must have some kind of kitchen.
Speaker 3: It's really just normal. I have a colonial normal kitchen. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I took everything ahead of time, and I freeze my soup.
Speaker 4: I freeze my gravy like the fresh stuff, of course.
Speaker 1: But ye right, that's probably the only way you could
Speaker 1: do it. Otherwise you couldn't entertain. I know, all right.
Speaker 1: If you could add your culinary touched any meal or
Speaker 1: scene from Gilmore Girls, which one would you choose? And
Speaker 1: what would you serve?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 4: I would not put the cayenne pepper and the lemon
Speaker 4: in the open faced turkey.
Speaker 1: That was right right, lemon right so?
Speaker 4: And he just brought a normal meatload. Well, meatloave, you
Speaker 4: can doctor up good, especially if you use beanies.
Speaker 1: Meatball mixed right right right.
Speaker 4: And I like it with onions and brown bravy, or
Speaker 4: I like it with cheese and red sauce.
Speaker 1: You know, gotcha. Let me ask you this. If you
Speaker 1: were to come into Luke Steiner, what would you order
Speaker 1: and where would you sit?
Speaker 4: I like to sit right at the counter, okay, And
Speaker 4: I think that mushroom risotto that I don't make risotta.
Speaker 4: It's painted the butt, but I really like it. And
Speaker 4: if you add a little truckle to that, forget about.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, are you gonna are you gonna come
Speaker 1: out with a cookbook? Do you have a cookbook out?
Speaker 4: I mean I have things down. I have my nana's original.
Speaker 3: It was like a copy book, right, so old and
Speaker 3: so worn.
Speaker 4: All the cookie Italian cookie recipes and mostly.
Speaker 3: The sweets and the cakes used to make all that.
Speaker 3: I'm not so much a baker, but I'll do the
Speaker 3: cookies out.
Speaker 1: Oh man, I got maybe something.
Speaker 3: No, I just have when I have.
Speaker 1: A feeling we need to collaborate on something, I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you. You know a couple of Philly kids. I mean
Speaker 1: you got the recipes?
Speaker 3: Man?
Speaker 1: Oh I just I just want to get the recipes,
Speaker 1: you know, like.
Speaker 3: You've heard of eggplant farmers?
Speaker 1: Of course?
Speaker 3: Okay, So how do we do prepare? How do you?
Speaker 3: How's it served you?
Speaker 1: My chicken game is not I'm not I do chicken
Speaker 1: pretty well. If it's just lemon and herb seasoning, I
Speaker 1: put it in a shallow pan. I cover it at
Speaker 1: four twenty five for about forty five minutes and they
Speaker 1: take the covering off and let it go for another
Speaker 1: thirteen to fifteen minutes, and it's nice and crispy and juicy.
Speaker 3: That really pieces, I hope, because you're cooking a long time.
Speaker 1: That's yes, it is a long time. But the dish
Speaker 1: is it's not a huge dish, it's not a huge pan.
Speaker 1: But it comes out really nice as far as listen.
Speaker 1: I just tried to do like a breaded h Yeah,
Speaker 1: it didn't. It didn't work out for me up here.
Speaker 1: I screwed it up pretty well.
Speaker 4: You dip it in the egg, okay, the season bread crumbs,
Speaker 4: and you have to add the little telly cheese.
Speaker 3: Mix it up.
Speaker 4: To the bread crumbs to the hot oil in the
Speaker 4: iron skillet.
Speaker 3: They can sell it, They go, did you make me
Speaker 3: any of this time?
Speaker 1: Oh? Really? And how and how how thin do you
Speaker 1: have to have?
Speaker 4: I have a chicken breast. I'll get eight pieces out
Speaker 4: of that, and some of them are small. I don't
Speaker 4: do the whole thing because it's easier to fry.
Speaker 1: How do you cut them so thin?
Speaker 3: My father was a butcher. I haven't if you have
Speaker 3: are like this, and I put my hand on top
Speaker 3: and all.
Speaker 1: Right, I'll have to. Yeah, I got a lot to learn.
Speaker 1: I have a lot to learn, and you have a
Speaker 1: lot to teach. This was so much fun. This was
Speaker 1: so much fun a Philly girl. I can't believe it.
Speaker 3: You're not Italian.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, I'm Russian and Irish and Scotch and German.
Speaker 1: I'm a mutt for sure. But I grew up with Italians,
Speaker 1: So you know, I.
Speaker 3: Have Jewish girlfriends.
Speaker 4: They don't pluk and they're times to be in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, they know what they're doing. They know what
Speaker 1: they're doing. Susanoles, You're the best. Where can they find
Speaker 1: your So they go to QVC? How do they How
Speaker 1: do they get your stuff? How do they buy your meatballs?
Speaker 3: Meatball mix? Susan, Here you go on GVC.
Speaker 4: And I also did an Italian rainbow cooked cake. They're
Speaker 4: so pretty because when you cut it, it looks like
Speaker 4: the Italian flag in such beautiful. Oh it's delicious because
Speaker 4: it has that almond, oh god, and raspberry.
Speaker 1: You're just you're a revelation. You're a revelation. It's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It's just like we're gonna wrap this up, everybody, Susan Oles. Uh,
Speaker 1: go get Mimi's meatballs. They're probably the best meatballs on
Speaker 1: the planet Earth. You're gonna thank me. You're gonna thank
Speaker 1: Susan once you try them.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: It was a pleasure. You gotta come back. There's gotta
Speaker 1: be a part two.
Speaker 3: You practiced your cook and I'll have you on my podcast.
Speaker 1: Let's do it. Let's I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get my chicken parm game going, man. I might do
Speaker 1: that tonight.
Speaker 3: Remember what I told you? Egg from with cheese.
Speaker 1: Oil, what kind of cheese?
Speaker 3: What kind of cheese like a parmesan? You know?
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, all right, so I do the egg,
Speaker 1: I do the bread. But but do I do I
Speaker 1: do the cheese after the.
Speaker 4: Agg put the cheese inside the bread, trumps mix it
Speaker 4: all up.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, okay, so what do you? Okay? Good deal?
Speaker 1: All right?
Speaker 3: Just egg, bread, trump, frying pants messy, all right? I said,
Speaker 3: not these big bath things.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, I know I got it now.
Speaker 1: I got the technique, you know.
Speaker 4: And for breakfast ice cold, oh, I take them out
Speaker 4: of the refrigerator.
Speaker 3: I can't make a pile up. I'll eat them for three.
Speaker 1: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You're the coolest woman in the world. All
Speaker 1: the best. We'll talk soon. Okay, Happy Thanksgiving, Yes you too.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving to you and joys. All the best, Susan Dawles,
Speaker 1: Ladies and gentlemen, Mami's mate balls all right, take care, Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: indults again. Follow us on Instagram at I Am all
Speaker 1: In podcast and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio dot com.