There is a reason why Alton is so huge. Alton will tell you himself he is not a chef. He's a food scientist who just wants to know how food works and why. He goes deep into the why's and how things work and shows his work. That's why he's the king of food.
He's also really good about correcting himself when he's wrong. He's gone back to old episodes of his show and found new/better techniques. I always appreciate chefs/anyone who can admit they're wrong or keep working at things to find new ways of doing things.
To be fair, with the french toast, if you don't have stale bread, just don't let it sit in the custard mix as long. Just do it quick like 2 seconds on both sides. At the very least this will make it so it's not too wet on the inside.
Yup! I was looking for this comment or I was gonna write it myself. Fresh is better for high volume, fast toast; dip for 2 seconds or less each side. Perhaps not superior in taste/texture but it gets the job done and is still pretty good. 🍞👍
see when I use fresh bread I just cook it for longer at a lower heat and it turns out better than stale bread or dipping it for a short period. granted unless i'm using gluten free bread i typically never put it in for longer than 10-15 seconds anyway lol
Risotto is the exact dish that requires not rinsing rice, similar to paella. If you are having rice by itself, like Chinese style with dishes, or leaving the leftovers overnight for a fried rice, the experience would be different.
I know you meant rinsing,but an image popped into my head: some one raising a little grain of rice for certain dishes and ignoring grains for the rest. It really made me giggle.
For the pork towel I just wanna point out that Fieri left his on a flat cutting board and you guys had yours on a rack with open space below it. If you have any kind of air circulation going on in that kitchen the convection will be moving the cold air in under the rack increasing the rate of cooling off.
He also said that he loosely places the towel and tents. They tucked the towel tight on the test kitchen roast. I think the combination of the two, rack and tight towel, led to it cooling off.
@@texas8322 Well what I really want to know is why a towel and not just aluminum foil. Seems like it would be better because it radiates heat back instead of just absorbing it, and also no pork in your towel.
@@OMGclueless It radiating heat would be the issue, actually. Hot food continues to cook even when you take it off the heat; the foil radiating the the heat back onto the meat would result in your pork (or whatever meat) getting overcooked. A towel probably has the right level of porousness to keep the meet at the right temperature while it rests, and is also less wasteful than foil.
@@deprofundis3293 I'm sure it still replays with other good eats reruns on Food Network. It was a pretty interesting concept. He basically just dumped himself into the old episodes and corrected the recipes based on new things he's learned and fan responses to some recipes that weren't popular.
May I just say that the fact that Lily actively contributes to Mythical Chef Josh's Chaos Energy fills my heart with dread for what the two of them can achieve together.
idk about rubbery for mushrooms (also sounded like it was a 'slight' increase), but Alton Brown actually covered washing vs dry rubbing/brushing mushrooms in an episode of Good Eats. The myth he was specifically testing was that "washing mushrooms water-logs them". He found that even soaking mushrooms, they only retained like.... an ounce (for a huge pack of mushroom) worth of water? So in his book, he washes under running water 'cause it's quicker and easier to get all the dirt off the mushrooms.
I think if there was any rubbery texture its just be because of the tiny amount of added water, so just cook like 30 seconds longer and they would be the same
been to mushroom farms and even the farmers say it's dirt. So.... I'm curious what a mushroom possibly creates that's dirt-like but not dirt. it may be fertilizer of some kind, or maybe even wood particles, since some mushrooms grow on wood. But colloquially, it's "dirty" and should be cleaned, ergo I think we can call it "dirt".
Chef Ann Burrell is very close to my heart. When my mother was deployed to Iraq, I didn't know how to cook but my dad needed me to help make dinner. Chef Anne on Worst Cooks in America literally taught me to cut an onion and put my mise in their place. Those skills I learned then helped me make reasonably good food as a 14-15 year old. I really appreciate her and I wish I could bake her a cake.
Rinsing rice depends on the type of rice. If you are buying "enriched" or "fortified" rice because of the extra added nutrients then you should not rinse your rice because you are washing off the very nutrients you are buying it for. Also depending on the dish, as mentioned in the episode, you have to figure out if you want the extra starch or not. If you want the little extra texture or have a more porridge feel then don't rinse the rice off, if you want to make dishes where the rice is supposed to be individual grains (depending on the rice variety) or make "sticky" rice (again depending on the variety) then rinse it off.
Josh using the other side of his spoon to avoid double dipping is so out of character for him…well done, my boy. We’ll have you washing your hands in no time.
I like to defend the non-stale bread by saying that you don't have to soak it for a whole minute, because that's why it's so mushy! If you have fresh bread for french toast, you can just give it a momentary dunk in the custard and then put it in the pan, and it ends up with a good texture just as if the bread was stale. Of course, for stale bread you might want to leave it a little longer just so it can soak up the custard better.
Exactly! I don't have enough patience to leave bread out for 8 hours or whatever, I make French toast because it's quick. So I use fresh bread and dip it instead of drowning it
I love that Nicole brought up Aarti since she was one of the original food network stars that I rmbr watching win in middle school that actually made a brand for her success, she’s literally so cute and has such great recipes I’m so happy someone recognized her
I would freaking love an episode about what keeps different foods fresh longer! Does bread actually stay better in the fridge? Is wrapping lettuce in tin foil a real thing? So many questions
for my lettuce i dampen paper towels, wrap around the whole lettuce and put it in a plastic bag. it does last longer. i haven't tried the foil. strawberries, blueberries in glass jars also makes them last longer. i am trying raspberries right now.
Store your mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge. If you leave them in the plastic packaging too long they will turn to slime. In a paper bag they just get a little dried out. I'm from Kennett Square, PA and we know a little something about mushrooms. ;-}
4:08 keeping bread in the fridge makes it go stale faster! It's scientifically proven, so no wonder Lily always has stale bread! Also, I remember Alton Brown doing an experiment where he weighed mushrooms before and after washing, and the amount of water absorbed was negligible, but i guess even a negligible amount of water makes them chewier.
For the French Toast, if you are using fresh bread, you don't want it to sit in the pudding for as long because it is going to soak up more faster. It really only needs a few seconds (less than 10) on each side. That's why theirs turned out so flimsy.
I only used fresh myself growing up, always dipped in both sides for maybe 2-3 seconds, flip for the other side, then onto the griddle. leaves more of the coating for more pieces of big batch french toast
I noticed that Guy doubled the towel as well, so solid board under the meat and double thickness of towel. Rematch!! (I just tent mine under foil for the rest period, works fine.)
1) If you want French toast RIGHT NOW but you don't have any stale bread, just toast your bread lightly and then proceed. 2) My Sicilian grandma used to shallow-fry donut-sized discs of pizza dough and then roll them in sugar. She called it "pasta fritta" (fried dough) and we kids went mad for them. 3) If I've got some good ricotta around (especially Calabro, which I love), for dessert I'll spoon some into a dish and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. It has to be a full-flavored ricotta though, otherwise it doesn't taste like anything.
There are at least three different brands of honey mustard in the mythical kitchen and I find that extremely interesting. This is an official request for Josh to give us a collab with Eugene from Try Guys to rank king the best honey mustard brand.
My family has always made French toast out of regular bread. I like that the middle feels a little soggy. I never realized people used stale bread until I worked at Golden Corral and we used stale rolls for the bread pudding
when i started working in kitchens professionally i saw all the chefs had nice knives so that night i went and bought an 8" santoku that was from Giada's line. i didnt even know who she was at the time but nearly 10 years later i still have that knife and it is one of my favorites for general knifework.
Yes, if you rinse mushrooms and let them dry it would be the same as dry mushrooms, but without the poop on them. The problem is that they cooked them while soaked.
Well, sort of. His test proved that the mushrooms DID soak up some water, but not enough to really consider the time and effort involved in dry-scrubbing to be a better option.
@@orboobleck5366 I don't think they even proved that. Differences in color and "rubberyness" is not a real good way to determine they soaked up any water. weight before and after is the only way to tell for sure.
the cooks shouldn't be taste testing their own items, they should have someone else do a blind taste test (and not tell them what specifically they are looking for)
The mushroom one is definitely down to slight differences in the mushrooms and cooking process more than the rinsing. I never used to wash mushrooms at all and they've always been inconsistent texture wise for me.
I'm with you on this one, there is no way running them under water that you are then going immediately boil off before they even start to brown makes a difference.
also i always dry them off on paper towels after rinsing. its almost impossible to get some of them clean without water! and the worst thing is finding a piece of sand with your teeth!
I always use fresh bread for french toast, but I also don't let it soak for a literal minute. Just a few seconds on either side in the mixture then it goes in a searing hot pan. Have never once had soggy french toast.
I just made French Toast using AB's application for dinner last night. My wife loved it. I also turned the left over bread and some cinnamon rolls into AB's bread pudding as well over night.
Josh: you are super knowledgable about food. But everyone is attacking you because sometimes you eat things in the most INFURIATIING way. Like holy crap who wants floppy, wet french toast
Fried dough, usually leftover bread dough would be used to make "Toutons" in Newfoundland, typically if there was any left over bread dough when your nan was finished making bread you'd flatten it out and fry it up in a pan, top with butter and molasses or syrup and you'd have a Newfoundland delicacy.
The soft slice of bread soaked up a lot more than the stale piece. I usually use a thinner slice of bread, so I only let it set for like a couple seconds in the mixture.
It's a fairly give and take scenario. Putting the bread in for less time means there's less custard in it overall too. Thicker slices of bread need a good 30-60 seconds to get the custard to reach the center, depending on the kind of bread used.
@@Rafael_Fuchs Yeah, true But I do think softer breads do absorb a lot more easily because there is less staleness to work through by waiting for the mix to soften it up So it still wouldn't proportionately (and compared to what a same-sized stale bread might need) be as much time (I think :))
@@Rafael_Fuchs with good quality bread, there custard not soaking all the way through is better because the unsoaked center compliments the rest of it.
Question about the towel on the roast test. Guy had his roast resting on a board where as you went with the wire racks. Would that little bit of airflow make a difference?
Unrelated comment because Josh will likely love them (if he doesn't already): check out French tacos. It's basically a massive grilled burrito filled with meat, fries, cheese sauce, and hot sauce. My preferred version is kebab meat with harissa.
Best French Toast I've made: cinnamon brioche soaked in a wash of eggs, half & half, cinnamon, and freshly ground nutmeg. Maybe vanilla extract too. Cooked in coconut oil & a dab of butter for each slice. Store bought brioche is dense and doesn't really have much of a difference between stale and newly bought texture. But you can still use it when it's stale, which is a bonus.
Just think I should point out that Guy Fieri said to lay the towel on top of the meat LOOSELY and Josh kinda packed the towel too close to the meat and that's why it didn't make a difference. If the towel is loose you have a pocket of air in between the towel and the meat which creats a little bit of insulation, if the towel is touching the meat then the effect is diminished since you don't get the pockets of hot air. (Conduction vs Convection stuff)
i grew up eating only savoury french toast (as in, bread dipped in egg and flavoured with salt) and didn’t even know it was a sweet thing until i started using the internet 😭
i made a terrible french toast for a kid that turned into more of a scrambled egg stuck to bread, nothing sweet about it, thought it would be horrible, she loved it.
Two things: Fresh bread only needs a couple seconds. Going exact time as stale didn't give it a fighting chance. Also, of course risotto is better unwashed. You want that starch to get the wet creaminess, for the same reason you reserve pasta water when making a cream sauce. It's like the ONLY rice dish that wants it like that. You went far too easy on Giada here, and she absolutely needs to be called out for her rice statement in a traditional manner.
For the same reason, 30 sec isn't enough for stale bread sometimes...At my home we make it only when we have stale bread tho, and I agree with Josh, it shouldn't be soggy, it's a toast, you should be able to pick it up
Rinsing rice seems to be an East / West thing. Asian cooking usually calls for rinsing rice and European recipes don't rinse. My hunch is that much of it is cultural and what is "clean" or "unclean" in your culture. But, there may be differences in the grain or the processing that make the difference.
I'm with Josh and Travor about the gooey french toast thing. I love me some soggy french toast. If it's not soggy enough I'll put way too much butter on it and put it back in the microwave 💀 Edit: whoops. He didn't even pick it. Link would have, tho 😂
I resonated STRONGLY with Josh on the French Toast. I use fresh Texas Toast and I also use Cinnamon and Vanilla Extract. I made it for my girlfriend and she called me bougie for using Vanilla and I had to defend why it was normal for me
Lily, fellow Mainer here. I don’t do it personally, but absolutely i know lots of people that do keep bread in the fridge! Keep confidence in your storage!
I feel like with a thicker bread the stale works but I normally use typical white bread to make my French toast and it's never flimsy or falling apart.
Gotta be careful. If you bust too many myths Gordon Ramsay will indeed go full Hannibal Lecter on you. Warning to everyone here. This is how we lost my uncle's sister's grandpa-brother. He tested too many food myths and the next thing we knew it Gordon was feeding his prefrontal lobe to him.
By not rinsing the rice and leaving the loose starch on the outside, when you toast the rice in the butter, that little bit of loose starch becomes like a rice-based roux. That adds a little bit more thickening to the risotto.
When I used to work at a restaurant I would rinse the meadow mushroom to get dirt out, because I had to make a salad for 200+ guests, after I had rinsed them I chopped them up and left them in the refrigerator then I poured on the salad dressing the next day and the mushrooms felt fresh and not rubbery at all.
The phrase "honey mussy" is causing me to flinch every time I hear it. I don't know what it is, but that guy gives me weird vibes, and this is the first time I've seen this channel or series.
Knew stale would work, the water thing is kinda BS though because mushrooms taste better if boiled in water before pan frying, the towel would only matter if there wasn't skin keeping the moisture inside or it was cut somehow, and rinsing rice depends on the type because some (like Asian short grain rices) need to be rinsed or else they don't cook correctly.
I think you should always wash your mushrooms. What you should do it boil them first! After boiling them just do a quick saute and they turn out fantastic. The flavor and texture is better. Sauteing them for the entire cooking process tends to turn them rubbery. Just a quick browning after boiling and you'll get a nice bite and they will taste great.
Guy may have been talking about resting under a towel instead of under foil (like most people rest meat). Also, he used a folded towel (two layers) to your one layer. That one needs re-testing.
Wash your mushrooms with water. Then cook the mushrooms for as long as you can to let all the water evaporate and cook down It's near impossible to overcook a mushroom because their cell walls contain chitin which is heat stable. The water left on the mushroom will also help it cook down rather than the mushroom soaking up a ton of oil.
Concerning the mushroom one; they only come out chewier if you cook them for the same amount of time you would dry-brushed ones. If you cook them a bit longer; the difference in texture normalizes as the moisture content The reason we are taught to dry brush mushrooms instead of rincing them in culinary school is because it reduces the cooking time and is more efficient, letting you serve more guests in less time and at a lesser cost (factoring in salaries + fuel costs), which is über important in an industry with profit margins as razor-thin as restauration. Cheers!
Would love to see some sushi videos. I've been wanting to make sushi at home for a long time and even though I've found plenty of videos and have a good idea how to do it, I think I'd love to see these goofballs do it because I trust their techniques and vibes above all
I’ve found that the making of sushi is easier than acquiring the ingredients. At least when you live in a landlocked state. Finding sushi grade fish can be hard. Also make sure you buy sushi rice and nori should be right near that as well :) good luck! It’s super fun to make your own sushi and play around with what to put on the rolls you make 😊 Edited for a typo**
I used to work in the Whole Foods prepared foods deli. One day, I was in the kitchen when the cooks were making “marinated mushrooms,” and received a shock. I was asked to clean the mushrooms, and got yelled at when I used a damp towel. I was forced to dump four pounds of beautiful white buttons into a sink to soak. SOAK. Then drained them, as instructed. The guys finished the “recipe,” after showing me the printed form, which did say to “wash” the mushrooms. Just as one would expect, the mushrooms failed to pick up the flavors of the marinade, and had a nasty texture. That was the day I came to understand why we sold so little of that particular item. I tried to speak with management about it, but I was punished for daring to speak up.🤗🤗🤗Side note: how could anyone believe that mushrooms should or could be exposed to water without soaking it up? They are sponges.
Mushrooms should never soak but they can be swished around in a tub of cold water for a few seconds to get the manure off. They soak up VERY little water and will dry quickly. Restaurants don't have the time to clean that carefully - especially when you have to peel and devein 75-100 pounds of frozen shrimp. Potatoes were washed the same way and as you removed them you paid attention to see if they individually needed more scrubbing for caked on mud. One of the rasons why you might get some grit on a baked potato in a restaurant.
For the French toast, I always use not-stale bread, but I also use Texas Toast so it holds together well but it also soaks up a lot of custard and is so squishy and yummy 🤤
I really think soaking the fresh bread just as long as the stale was a mistake. The fresh does not need soaked nearly as long as its more absorbent then the stale.
I was told if your worried about what's in your rice, & you don't want to rinse it, do this. Spread it on a baking pan, & see if any foreign material is in it. Because stuff you don't want can wind up in your rice. Btw mushrooms are grown in manure, so you better be real sure it's clean. I'd rather rinse it really quick, & I don't eat that many so it doesn't really matter to me. I remember Alton Brown recommended rinsing mushrooms because of that, & he weighed them versus brushing. He claimed it was quicker, more thorough, it didn't absorb any noticable weight, & he didn't want bits of manure in his food either. 😂 So I guess it's a battle of the food network chefs.
I don't use a towel on pork loin, but I usually cook mine wrapped in foil to hold in the juice and it rests in the same foil so it doesn't all run out. Also biscuit dough donuts (by frying the dough) works great!
Alton says you should steam chicken wings before baking, but J Kenji Lopez Alt has shown that doing so doesn't make much of a difference. Also, Alton's brownie recipe specifically says to NOT use Dutch-Process cocoa powder, which everyone from America's Test Kitchen to Josh say is better than normal cocoa powder.
As someone whose cooked in commercial kitchens I can tell you the answer is immediately yes Alton is almost always off base. But also I love his shows and his personality and how accessible he made cooking to millions. I’m always baffled when people say their staple method for something is Alton brown-directed. That being said- I’m purposefully making this comment before I finish the episode and am ready to be totally ducking wrong bc let’s be real if I was such a prolific chef you woulda heard of me😅
I’m doing a marathon of Myth Munchers and loving it! 😂 But did anyone else feel like the soggy French toast made with fresh bread was just that they left it to soak for to long? Surprised Mr Brown didn’t realize this! 😊😂 Yep I usually use fresh bread! My bread tends to get moldy rather then hard and stale so I don’t really have much choice! Life in a tropical paradise isn’t always easy! 😂
I am thoroughly offended that anyone would think it's okay to soak fresh bread for a whole freaking MINUTE in the french toast test. Dip it for 10-15 seconds TOPS!! This wasn't a fair test and if it was done right, no doubt fresh bread would have won!
Bigger question...who tf is soaking their bread for 30 seconds per side? Better question...who soaks their donut for 30 seconds...or their Oreo for 30 seconds...and still expects optimal results?!?!?!
There is a reason why Alton is so huge. Alton will tell you himself he is not a chef. He's a food scientist who just wants to know how food works and why. He goes deep into the why's and how things work and shows his work. That's why he's the king of food.
👏🏼💯
He's also really good about correcting himself when he's wrong. He's gone back to old episodes of his show and found new/better techniques.
I always appreciate chefs/anyone who can admit they're wrong or keep working at things to find new ways of doing things.
Y'all need to try his chili recipe. I did modify it and used beans, but flavor wise, holy crap. Winner! Literally, I won an informal chili contest 😁
And yrs, totally agree!
I went to one of his shows and he chastised me in front of everyone for having a different opinion from him...
To be fair, with the french toast, if you don't have stale bread, just don't let it sit in the custard mix as long. Just do it quick like 2 seconds on both sides. At the very least this will make it so it's not too wet on the inside.
I agree with josh that french toast needs a wet juicy center
Yup! I was looking for this comment or I was gonna write it myself. Fresh is better for high volume, fast toast; dip for 2 seconds or less each side. Perhaps not superior in taste/texture but it gets the job done and is still pretty good. 🍞👍
see when I use fresh bread I just cook it for longer at a lower heat and it turns out better than stale bread or dipping it for a short period. granted unless i'm using gluten free bread i typically never put it in for longer than 10-15 seconds anyway lol
You can also pre toast your bread. I dislike soggy french toast so i pre toast it in the oven with a little butter.
Thank you! lol Literally the best way to eat french toast. I was so grossed out at how long they left the fresh bread in the custard.
Risotto is the exact dish that requires not rinsing rice, similar to paella. If you are having rice by itself, like Chinese style with dishes, or leaving the leftovers overnight for a fried rice, the experience would be different.
I know you meant rinsing,but an image popped into my head: some one raising a little grain of rice for certain dishes and ignoring grains for the rest.
It really made me giggle.
Absolutely!
I was going to say exactly that.
Yea I could hear Joshua Weissman screaming from house
@@Justin-jy6vm i could hear Uncle Roger screaming
For the pork towel I just wanna point out that Fieri left his on a flat cutting board and you guys had yours on a rack with open space below it. If you have any kind of air circulation going on in that kitchen the convection will be moving the cold air in under the rack increasing the rate of cooling off.
He also said that he loosely places the towel and tents. They tucked the towel tight on the test kitchen roast. I think the combination of the two, rack and tight towel, led to it cooling off.
@@texas8322 Well what I really want to know is why a towel and not just aluminum foil. Seems like it would be better because it radiates heat back instead of just absorbing it, and also no pork in your towel.
@@OMGclueless It radiating heat would be the issue, actually. Hot food continues to cook even when you take it off the heat; the foil radiating the the heat back onto the meat would result in your pork (or whatever meat) getting overcooked. A towel probably has the right level of porousness to keep the meet at the right temperature while it rests, and is also less wasteful than foil.
He also tented the towel. It wasn’t in complete contact with the meat
Why wouldn't you just use foil though?
I heard if you say Alton Brown 3 times in a row in a dark kitchen he appears in your fridge.
With a sabotage you need to cook your next meal with
Sometimes you don't even have to summon him
God, I wish!
I'm not in a kitchen with Alton Brown, he's in a kitchen with _me_
(And he probably won't survive the ordeal without developing a killer headache)
This honestly made me laugh out loud. Hands down best comment lol
in the rare instance when Alton Brown rethought his opinion in his show, he revisited the topic with updated information. That's integrity!
Doesnt Alton Brown have an entire series based on the premise of fixing his past mistakes?
@@darkwitnesslxx Yeah, but sadly, it was short lived. Only two or three seasons. ("Good Eats Reloaded")
@@AustynSN bummer! I'd have loved to see it. He's the bomb!
@@deprofundis3293 I'm sure it still replays with other good eats reruns on Food Network. It was a pretty interesting concept. He basically just dumped himself into the old episodes and corrected the recipes based on new things he's learned and fan responses to some recipes that weren't popular.
@@AustynSN I don't actually have cable, unfortunately...or a TV. Just a laptop, netflix, and UA-cam. :( Maybe someday when I have normal income!
May I just say that the fact that Lily actively contributes to Mythical Chef Josh's Chaos Energy fills my heart with dread for what the two of them can achieve together.
I feel like I wouldn't want to come across Josh and Lily together in a dark alley.
@@SimuLord I agree, but Emily and Josh are clearly too much alike to do any real harm.
@@SimuLord came here for this. Emily and Josh are two atoms that collided!
Now all we need is an episode with Josh, Lily and Lucas!!
@@ziggygunz2447 are you trying to destroy us all?!?
idk about rubbery for mushrooms (also sounded like it was a 'slight' increase), but Alton Brown actually covered washing vs dry rubbing/brushing mushrooms in an episode of Good Eats. The myth he was specifically testing was that "washing mushrooms water-logs them". He found that even soaking mushrooms, they only retained like.... an ounce (for a huge pack of mushroom) worth of water? So in his book, he washes under running water 'cause it's quicker and easier to get all the dirt off the mushrooms.
I think if there was any rubbery texture its just be because of the tiny amount of added water, so just cook like 30 seconds longer and they would be the same
@@bennibo_i yeah all of the water cooks off if you have it in the pan longer
Yeah, that's not dirt. Wash your mushrooms! (I went to culinary school, and I hate the dry brush myth.)
been to mushroom farms and even the farmers say it's dirt. So.... I'm curious what a mushroom possibly creates that's dirt-like but not dirt. it may be fertilizer of some kind, or maybe even wood particles, since some mushrooms grow on wood. But colloquially, it's "dirty" and should be cleaned, ergo I think we can call it "dirt".
@@alorachan spores... Plus dirt
Chef Ann Burrell is very close to my heart. When my mother was deployed to Iraq, I didn't know how to cook but my dad needed me to help make dinner. Chef Anne on Worst Cooks in America literally taught me to cut an onion and put my mise in their place. Those skills I learned then helped me make reasonably good food as a 14-15 year old. I really appreciate her and I wish I could bake her a cake.
Rinsing rice depends on the type of rice. If you are buying "enriched" or "fortified" rice because of the extra added nutrients then you should not rinse your rice because you are washing off the very nutrients you are buying it for. Also depending on the dish, as mentioned in the episode, you have to figure out if you want the extra starch or not. If you want the little extra texture or have a more porridge feel then don't rinse the rice off, if you want to make dishes where the rice is supposed to be individual grains (depending on the rice variety) or make "sticky" rice (again depending on the variety) then rinse it off.
Josh using the other side of his spoon to avoid double dipping is so out of character for him…well done, my boy. We’ll have you washing your hands in no time.
It's only because he saw Trevor do it first
I like to defend the non-stale bread by saying that you don't have to soak it for a whole minute, because that's why it's so mushy! If you have fresh bread for french toast, you can just give it a momentary dunk in the custard and then put it in the pan, and it ends up with a good texture just as if the bread was stale. Of course, for stale bread you might want to leave it a little longer just so it can soak up the custard better.
You're not even supposed to dip the stale bread for that long either lol
Exactly! I don't have enough patience to leave bread out for 8 hours or whatever, I make French toast because it's quick. So I use fresh bread and dip it instead of drowning it
Yea I have never seen anyone soak bread for that long making french toast, I have only ever dipped it. I would hate it with stale bread lmao
I love that Nicole brought up Aarti since she was one of the original food network stars that I rmbr watching win in middle school that actually made a brand for her success, she’s literally so cute and has such great recipes I’m so happy someone recognized her
I would freaking love an episode about what keeps different foods fresh longer! Does bread actually stay better in the fridge? Is wrapping lettuce in tin foil a real thing? So many questions
Same with wrapping foil around the stem of bananas!
for my lettuce i dampen paper towels, wrap around the whole lettuce and put it in a plastic bag. it does last longer. i haven't tried the foil.
strawberries, blueberries in glass jars also makes them last longer. i am trying raspberries right now.
Bread stales faster in the fridge. If you need to keep it, it freezes really well.
Store your mushrooms in a paper bag in the fridge. If you leave them in the plastic packaging too long they will turn to slime. In a paper bag they just get a little dried out. I'm from Kennett Square, PA and we know a little something about mushrooms. ;-}
Yes!!
4:08 keeping bread in the fridge makes it go stale faster! It's scientifically proven, so no wonder Lily always has stale bread! Also, I remember Alton Brown doing an experiment where he weighed mushrooms before and after washing, and the amount of water absorbed was negligible, but i guess even a negligible amount of water makes them chewier.
"garbled nonsense" is the perfect description for approximately 50% of Josh's mouth noises lol
For the French Toast, if you are using fresh bread, you don't want it to sit in the pudding for as long because it is going to soak up more faster. It really only needs a few seconds (less than 10) on each side. That's why theirs turned out so flimsy.
I was thinking the same thing. As a staunch supporter of fresh bread, I am surprised that Josh did not say anything.
I only used fresh myself growing up, always dipped in both sides for maybe 2-3 seconds, flip for the other side, then onto the griddle. leaves more of the coating for more pieces of big batch french toast
@@theblindneo4418 mmmmm... now I want french toast lol.
For the towel thing, you also left it on a wrack, so there’s heat leaving out from the bottom, guys!
yes I was hoping someone would point this out!
Good Call. Didn't think about the rack. Guess this challenge is as worthless as the french toast.
I agree. The air flow under the meat probably cooled them down. And Guy had his cooling on the board in the video they referenced.
exactly what i thought. Did not do as Guy did doo
I noticed that Guy doubled the towel as well, so solid board under the meat and double thickness of towel. Rematch!! (I just tent mine under foil for the rest period, works fine.)
“Have you MET me?!” 😂 josh showing some self insight right there 😂
Classic senor chang line
1) If you want French toast RIGHT NOW but you don't have any stale bread, just toast your bread lightly and then proceed. 2) My Sicilian grandma used to shallow-fry donut-sized discs of pizza dough and then roll them in sugar. She called it "pasta fritta" (fried dough) and we kids went mad for them. 3) If I've got some good ricotta around (especially Calabro, which I love), for dessert I'll spoon some into a dish and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. It has to be a full-flavored ricotta though, otherwise it doesn't taste like anything.
There are at least three different brands of honey mustard in the mythical kitchen and I find that extremely interesting. This is an official request for Josh to give us a collab with Eugene from Try Guys to rank king the best honey mustard brand.
Or anything at all. That would be a fantastic combo
I grew up with a health food mom and we once made lemon zest and carob "pudding" with ricotta. it was... fine
I'm sorry.
You poor soul. I hope you were able to have/enjoy real pudding later on in life.
Josh: “We’re testing to see if resting a pork loin under a towel is better, but I’m also going to make my lunch…”
My family has always made French toast out of regular bread. I like that the middle feels a little soggy. I never realized people used stale bread until I worked at Golden Corral and we used stale rolls for the bread pudding
The duality of josh between being an absolute chaos gremlin and being such a wildly knowledgeable and talented chef is the most whiplash
when i started working in kitchens professionally i saw all the chefs had nice knives so that night i went and bought an 8" santoku that was from Giada's line. i didnt even know who she was at the time but nearly 10 years later i still have that knife and it is one of my favorites for general knifework.
Alton Brown had a Good Eats episode that busted the mushroom myth
He did it the right way by weighing the mushrooms before and after. The ONLY way to know if the mushrooms soaked up any water.
Yes, if you rinse mushrooms and let them dry it would be the same as dry mushrooms, but without the poop on them. The problem is that they cooked them while soaked.
Well, sort of. His test proved that the mushrooms DID soak up some water, but not enough to really consider the time and effort involved in dry-scrubbing to be a better option.
@@orboobleck5366 I don't think they even proved that. Differences in color and "rubberyness" is not a real good way to determine they soaked up any water.
weight before and after is the only way to tell for sure.
the cooks shouldn't be taste testing their own items, they should have someone else do a blind taste test (and not tell them what specifically they are looking for)
The mushroom one is definitely down to slight differences in the mushrooms and cooking process more than the rinsing. I never used to wash mushrooms at all and they've always been inconsistent texture wise for me.
I'm with you on this one, there is no way running them under water that you are then going immediately boil off before they even start to brown makes a difference.
also i always dry them off on paper towels after rinsing. its almost impossible to get some of them clean without water! and the worst thing is finding a piece of sand with your teeth!
@@Goldi-Luc that's not "sand" dude, look into how mushrooms are farmed.
@@wendighoul dirt, or whatever it is, what matters is it feels like sand in my teeth.
@@Goldi-Luc it's poop
"I didn't have to put either in my mouth to know- just the way the fork interacted with it" killed me 😂
I love this series. It is so important to have these conversations in an easily accessible format that is entertaining to watch.
11/10
Don't worry Josh, I also want my French toast gushing, wet, moist and supremely custardy. Just sloppy all over.
I always use fresh bread for french toast, but I also don't let it soak for a literal minute. Just a few seconds on either side in the mixture then it goes in a searing hot pan. Have never once had soggy french toast.
I just made French Toast using AB's application for dinner last night. My wife loved it. I also turned the left over bread and some cinnamon rolls into AB's bread pudding as well over night.
For washing rice it's mainly for removing excess starch. Some dishes want that starch while others don't want it. So I think it depends on the dish.
Josh: you are super knowledgable about food. But everyone is attacking you because sometimes you eat things in the most INFURIATIING way. Like holy crap who wants floppy, wet french toast
Please bring Lucas back for a video! The video where Josh and Lucas mad the pizza was my favourite video they've ever done.
It was my favorite, too. The energy was amazing.
Yesssss
Fried dough, usually leftover bread dough would be used to make "Toutons" in Newfoundland, typically if there was any left over bread dough when your nan was finished making bread you'd flatten it out and fry it up in a pan, top with butter and molasses or syrup and you'd have a Newfoundland delicacy.
The soft slice of bread soaked up a lot more than the stale piece. I usually use a thinner slice of bread, so I only let it set for like a couple seconds in the mixture.
Yeah, exactly
It doesn't have to set that long
That's where they were thrown off, I think
It's a fairly give and take scenario. Putting the bread in for less time means there's less custard in it overall too. Thicker slices of bread need a good 30-60 seconds to get the custard to reach the center, depending on the kind of bread used.
@@Rafael_Fuchs Yeah, true
But I do think softer breads do absorb a lot more easily because there is less staleness to work through by waiting for the mix to soften it up
So it still wouldn't proportionately (and compared to what a same-sized stale bread might need) be as much time
(I think :))
@@Rafael_Fuchs with good quality bread, there custard not soaking all the way through is better because the unsoaked center compliments the rest of it.
Question about the towel on the roast test. Guy had his roast resting on a board where as you went with the wire racks. Would that little bit of airflow make a difference?
Unrelated comment because Josh will likely love them (if he doesn't already): check out French tacos. It's basically a massive grilled burrito filled with meat, fries, cheese sauce, and hot sauce. My preferred version is kebab meat with harissa.
Josh mentioned french tacos on latest episode of the podcast! He said he really wants to have some in France.
That sounds bomb!
I've always toasted bread before making french toast and that always seems to work well
I love this new take on food myths ! Please keep it up!
Best French Toast I've made: cinnamon brioche soaked in a wash of eggs, half & half, cinnamon, and freshly ground nutmeg. Maybe vanilla extract too. Cooked in coconut oil & a dab of butter for each slice.
Store bought brioche is dense and doesn't really have much of a difference between stale and newly bought texture. But you can still use it when it's stale, which is a bonus.
I love how GMK focuses on the ish some folks find uncomfortable. Like Josh slurping
Truly 🤌🏼
Just think I should point out that Guy Fieri said to lay the towel on top of the meat LOOSELY and Josh kinda packed the towel too close to the meat and that's why it didn't make a difference. If the towel is loose you have a pocket of air in between the towel and the meat which creats a little bit of insulation, if the towel is touching the meat then the effect is diminished since you don't get the pockets of hot air.
(Conduction vs Convection stuff)
"Opaque means you can see through it right?" "Noope." Just so immediate 💀 love these videos!
The funniest part of this is AB has also done a Myth Busters spoof on his show.
i grew up eating only savoury french toast (as in, bread dipped in egg and flavoured with salt) and didn’t even know it was a sweet thing until i started using the internet 😭
i made a terrible french toast for a kid that turned into more of a scrambled egg stuck to bread, nothing sweet about it, thought it would be horrible, she loved it.
@@whiskeygrandpa1426 😆 Amazing
We used to have ketchup on "french toast" (we call it eggy bread 😂) it's really good but I prefer sugar and vanilla when we have it sweet, or jam 😋
Just go full on croque monsieur. Put some smoked ham and cheese on there
Egg plus milk topped whit sugar and cinnamon.
Two things:
Fresh bread only needs a couple seconds. Going exact time as stale didn't give it a fighting chance.
Also, of course risotto is better unwashed. You want that starch to get the wet creaminess, for the same reason you reserve pasta water when making a cream sauce. It's like the ONLY rice dish that wants it like that. You went far too easy on Giada here, and she absolutely needs to be called out for her rice statement in a traditional manner.
paella to
I knew someone had to be thinking the same thing. I almost always use fresh bread and the key is just time it soaks on each side
you choose the wrong rice to do the test with, you don't rinse Arborio to make risotto, you do wash long grain rice
I prefer my French toast with unstale bread too😂30 seconds was way too long..I do quick swipes on both sides. Comes out amazing
For the same reason, 30 sec isn't enough for stale bread sometimes...At my home we make it only when we have stale bread tho, and I agree with Josh, it shouldn't be soggy, it's a toast, you should be able to pick it up
I’ve always done quick swipes as well. I’m upset about the lack of vanilla and cinnamon though.
Another fun one. Thick vs slim slices of bread?
Rinsing rice seems to be an East / West thing. Asian cooking usually calls for rinsing rice and European recipes don't rinse. My hunch is that much of it is cultural and what is "clean" or "unclean" in your culture. But, there may be differences in the grain or the processing that make the difference.
I'm with Josh and Travor about the gooey french toast thing. I love me some soggy french toast. If it's not soggy enough I'll put way too much butter on it and put it back in the microwave 💀
Edit: whoops. He didn't even pick it.
Link would have, tho 😂
Team wet bread 👍
I resonated STRONGLY with Josh on the French Toast. I use fresh Texas Toast and I also use Cinnamon and Vanilla Extract. I made it for my girlfriend and she called me bougie for using Vanilla and I had to defend why it was normal for me
Josh, you've been a part of my daily routine for ever now, and you give me motivation and hope, and your sort of teaching me how to cook,
Lily, fellow Mainer here. I don’t do it personally, but absolutely i know lots of people that do keep bread in the fridge! Keep confidence in your storage!
Josh. It is actually possible to bite into something without slurping. You know, just so you're informed.
Trevor quoting that vine was amazing! Lololol
I love how that last pitch was actually just a plug to get us to buy the towels XD
I feel like with a thicker bread the stale works but I normally use typical white bread to make my French toast and it's never flimsy or falling apart.
Gotta be careful. If you bust too many myths Gordon Ramsay will indeed go full Hannibal Lecter on you. Warning to everyone here. This is how we lost my uncle's sister's grandpa-brother. He tested too many food myths and the next thing we knew it Gordon was feeding his prefrontal lobe to him.
Wow, what a horrible story
Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us and I'm *so* sorry for what your family went through
I don't even want to think about what a grandpa-brother needs to do to become a grandpa-brother
@@PoppoYoppo I’m not sure that possible… because their mother would also have to be their daughter
@@themagicknightress7132 It's okay guys, it's because he's his own (brother-) grandpa
10:50 Trevor, acting like he’s watched anybody on the Food Network is hilarious he couldn’t even come up with a single name
😂😂😂
DAYUMMM LILY oohhhhweeee 0:31
By not rinsing the rice and leaving the loose starch on the outside, when you toast the rice in the butter, that little bit of loose starch becomes like a rice-based roux. That adds a little bit more thickening to the risotto.
I love all of Mythical, but dare I say the Mythical Kitchen has surpassed the skill of the creators themselves? Really love this channel.
I agree, MK is more than the sum of its parts
I've beem watching more MK than GMM the last few months.
When I used to work at a restaurant I would rinse the meadow mushroom to get dirt out, because I had to make a salad for 200+ guests, after I had rinsed them I chopped them up and left them in the refrigerator then I poured on the salad dressing the next day and the mushrooms felt fresh and not rubbery at all.
My immediate thought when saying the title was you dare question Alton Brown? I'm glad to see that my outraged indignation was vindicated.
Thing is, even Alton Brown has busted some of his own earlier stances. We all learn as we go.
The phrase "honey mussy" is causing me to flinch every time I hear it. I don't know what it is, but that guy gives me weird vibes, and this is the first time I've seen this channel or series.
Knew stale would work, the water thing is kinda BS though because mushrooms taste better if boiled in water before pan frying, the towel would only matter if there wasn't skin keeping the moisture inside or it was cut somehow, and rinsing rice depends on the type because some (like Asian short grain rices) need to be rinsed or else they don't cook correctly.
I’ve never remember to leave out bread to stake for French toast. Just put it in the oven around 200F and let it dry out gives the same effect!
Or 15 seconds in the microwave, and leave it on a paper towel for 5 minutes
"I feel like you owned a lot of Juicy sweatpants." 😂
Lol, if I could go the rest of my life without hearing Josh slurping food (food I didn't realize would be slurped at that), I could die happy.
I think you should always wash your mushrooms. What you should do it boil them first! After boiling them just do a quick saute and they turn out fantastic. The flavor and texture is better. Sauteing them for the entire cooking process tends to turn them rubbery. Just a quick browning after boiling and you'll get a nice bite and they will taste great.
Love the new shirt you've got Josh, "Birramania" Is running wild brothers! (What C'ha gonna do?) Can't wait to see what food myths you'll bust next!
Guy may have been talking about resting under a towel instead of under foil (like most people rest meat). Also, he used a folded towel (two layers) to your one layer. That one needs re-testing.
4:10 don’t keep your bread in the fridge because it increases the rate of crystallization of the starch molecules and makes it go stale quicker
I freeze mine because I only use it for toast and can't use it fast enough 🤷♀️
does the same happen when you store bread in the freezer?
Wash your mushrooms with water. Then cook the mushrooms for as long as you can to let all the water evaporate and cook down It's near impossible to overcook a mushroom because their cell walls contain chitin which is heat stable. The water left on the mushroom will also help it cook down rather than the mushroom soaking up a ton of oil.
I like how everyone starts normal on this channel then Josh slowly drives them insane.
“ 6:23 I’ve been judging you since the freaking minute you got here. “ JOSH
**garbled nonsense**
Josh's life motto. 😉
Concerning the mushroom one; they only come out chewier if you cook them for the same amount of time you would dry-brushed ones. If you cook them a bit longer; the difference in texture normalizes as the moisture content
The reason we are taught to dry brush mushrooms instead of rincing them in culinary school is because it reduces the cooking time and is more efficient, letting you serve more guests in less time and at a lesser cost (factoring in salaries + fuel costs), which is über important in an industry with profit margins as razor-thin as restauration.
Cheers!
Would love to see some sushi videos. I've been wanting to make sushi at home for a long time and even though I've found plenty of videos and have a good idea how to do it, I think I'd love to see these goofballs do it because I trust their techniques and vibes above all
I’ve found that the making of sushi is easier than acquiring the ingredients. At least when you live in a landlocked state. Finding sushi grade fish can be hard. Also make sure you buy sushi rice and nori should be right near that as well :) good luck! It’s super fun to make your own sushi and play around with what to put on the rolls you make 😊
Edited for a typo**
Hearing her say to Josh what everyone else is thinking is the best!!! She should become a regular!!!
I used to work in the Whole Foods prepared foods deli. One day, I was in the kitchen when the cooks were making “marinated mushrooms,” and received a shock. I was asked to clean the mushrooms, and got yelled at when I used a damp towel. I was forced to dump four pounds of beautiful white buttons into a sink to soak. SOAK. Then drained them, as instructed. The guys finished the “recipe,” after showing me the printed form, which did say to “wash” the mushrooms. Just as one would expect, the mushrooms failed to pick up the flavors of the marinade, and had a nasty texture. That was the day I came to understand why we sold so little of that particular item. I tried to speak with management about it, but I was punished for daring to speak up.🤗🤗🤗Side note: how could anyone believe that mushrooms should or could be exposed to water without soaking it up? They are sponges.
Mushrooms should never soak but they can be swished around in a tub of cold water for a few seconds to get the manure off. They soak up VERY little water and will dry quickly. Restaurants don't have the time to clean that carefully - especially when you have to peel and devein 75-100 pounds of frozen shrimp. Potatoes were washed the same way and as you removed them you paid attention to see if they individually needed more scrubbing for caked on mud. One of the rasons why you might get some grit on a baked potato in a restaurant.
Not a hot take. I'm a millenial, I cook all my meals, I love Alton Brown. Alton has been teaching me to cook since I could hold a cast iron.
For the French toast, I always use not-stale bread, but I also use Texas Toast so it holds together well but it also soaks up a lot of custard and is so squishy and yummy 🤤
I really think soaking the fresh bread just as long as the stale was a mistake. The fresh does not need soaked nearly as long as its more absorbent then the stale.
I'd try the stale and see how it turns out, texture is much my itch better for me and I use Texas toast slices too :)
Sporked ideas:
- best pasture raised eggs
- best pasture raised milk
I was told if your worried about what's in your rice, & you don't want to rinse it, do this. Spread it on a baking pan, & see if any foreign material is in it. Because stuff you don't want can wind up in your rice. Btw mushrooms are grown in manure, so you better be real sure it's clean. I'd rather rinse it really quick, & I don't eat that many so it doesn't really matter to me. I remember Alton Brown recommended rinsing mushrooms because of that, & he weighed them versus brushing. He claimed it was quicker, more thorough, it didn't absorb any noticable weight, & he didn't want bits of manure in his food either. 😂 So I guess it's a battle of the food network chefs.
I don't use a towel on pork loin, but I usually cook mine wrapped in foil to hold in the juice and it rests in the same foil so it doesn't all run out.
Also biscuit dough donuts (by frying the dough) works great!
Before I even watch this. Alton Brown is never wrong.
Alton says you should steam chicken wings before baking, but J Kenji Lopez Alt has shown that doing so doesn't make much of a difference.
Also, Alton's brownie recipe specifically says to NOT use Dutch-Process cocoa powder, which everyone from America's Test Kitchen to Josh say is better than normal cocoa powder.
@@NickBLeaveIt hm, that's tough. I guess everyone is wrong sometimes. I trust all 3 of those sources in general!!
As someone whose cooked in commercial kitchens I can tell you the answer is immediately yes Alton is almost always off base. But also I love his shows and his personality and how accessible he made cooking to millions. I’m always baffled when people say their staple method for something is Alton brown-directed.
That being said- I’m purposefully making this comment before I finish the episode and am ready to be totally ducking wrong
bc let’s be real
if I was such a prolific chef you woulda heard of me😅
The fresh french toast is soggy because you soaked it for a freaking minute! Fresh bread doesn't need to soak for more than 10-15 seconds total.
i love alton brown, he’s a good scientist and while you can cook french toast either way he gives you the tools to get the optimal results
Thou shalt not speak Alton Brown's name in vain.
you guys are very entertaining and hilarious to boot!
I'm sad they cut away before he tried the Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Mussy :C
I’m doing a marathon of Myth Munchers and loving it! 😂
But did anyone else feel like the soggy French toast made with fresh bread was just that they left it to soak for to long? Surprised Mr Brown didn’t realize this! 😊😂
Yep I usually use fresh bread! My bread tends to get moldy rather then hard and stale so I don’t really have much choice! Life in a tropical paradise isn’t always easy! 😂
I am thoroughly offended that anyone would think it's okay to soak fresh bread for a whole freaking MINUTE in the french toast test. Dip it for 10-15 seconds TOPS!! This wasn't a fair test and if it was done right, no doubt fresh bread would have won!
I absolutely love this series! They always make it so fun and entertaining. 🙌
Bigger question...who tf is soaking their bread for 30 seconds per side? Better question...who soaks their donut for 30 seconds...or their Oreo for 30 seconds...and still expects optimal results?!?!?!
me, I am.
@@rigamarooh , bro. Then you're making egg bread, or egg toast. Almost a bread omelet.