[00:00] A couple months ago on the channel, I did a video on the worst recipes that I've ever made here on the channel, and people loved it, but they were wondering, well, what about the best recipes you've made? So, today, I'm going to be counting down the top 20 best savory recipes.
[00:16] Basically, these are recipes that I either have made again or would make again. The top 20 best savory recipes, this time, on Tasting Victory.
[00:30] It was a lot of fun going back and watching pretty much all of my old videos. I've had over 350 at this point, and I just kind of watched the tasting portions to remind myself what I liked and what I didn't like.
[00:45] And, yeah, so here we're going to start with number 20, a classic Parthian chicken. So the reason that this is on the list is not just because it is delicious, which it is, But for me, it was so surprising, eye-opening, because it was the first time that I ever cooked using either garum or asafoetida.
[01:05] Both very interesting flavors, both very Roman flavors, and both flavors that I was not accustomed to eating. And especially the asafoetida, I mean, it smells like, I don't know, rancid garlic when it's just in the cupboard.
[01:22] then you cook with it and it is just this wonderful still kind of garlicky flavor but like a savory burnt garlicky flavor um that and then the garum kind of mixed together it was just so
[01:34] surprising so that is definitely why this is uh on the list what I really loved was going back and watching because it's a really early episode and I remember that shirt I haven't worn in a long
[01:46] time I love that shirt um and I also love that apron so now I have to look and see if I can find that effort. It's been a while since I have worn it. I also love the fact that my filming
[01:58] back then, like I'm way down in the, on the screen, I'm like way down here, kind of in the center of the screen. It's interesting to see how far my filming techniques have come. My lighting,
[02:10] some of these are not so great, but when I made them, I thought they were great, or at least the best I could do. And I'm sure in a few years, I'm going to look back at this and be like, what? What are you doing next? I also love that one of the comments on that video is one of
[02:27] my favorite comments that I've ever received, and versions of it just make me so happy. The comment was, I was so engrossed in the history lesson, I forgot we were even making chicken. Yes, that is
[02:41] the point of the show. It is a history show, and I cook food on it. So whenever anyone is engrossed in the history, especially someone who, like, comes to the channel not for the history, but for the food, and then ends up really enjoying the history, that's the best compliment I can get. It's amazing.
[03:00] I don't know what I'm tasting. Number 19, Texas chili. I love this chili. I mean, I like chili in general. I grew up eating a lot of chili. My dad always cooked a lot of chili, but I like this one because it was hot, but not too hot. Sometimes his chili was a little too hot for me. I'm a wuss,
[03:18] I guess. But this was, there was heat there, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was also so simple. Like the depth of flavor in an incredibly simple dish, I just think of as just being really interesting.
[03:32] I also really love how I decided to do this video. Usually, I have my videos planned way out, and, like, when somebody brings an idea, it's like, get to the back of the line. I'll get to it in five years.
[03:45] Literally. But this one, I was at a book signing, and somebody came up to me, and she was like, do you know about the Texas Cheney Queens? That's not how she sounded in my head. And I was like, no, but I need to.
[04:01] And at first I thought it was maybe drag queens. It is not. It was people who made chili in the early 20th century in San Antonio. off the top of my head. It's been a while since I watched it, but I was so intrigued by the concept
[04:16] of Texas chili queens that that video moved right up to the front of the line. I went home after that book signing and, like, started the research, and I think in, like, 10 days, the whole video was done, which is pretty good timing for me. Here we go.
[04:31] Wow. Number 18, from the Dining in a Dinosaur episode.
[04:44] So this is one of those dishes where I almost love the episode more than the dish. And it didn't do very well, but I love this episode. It's all about this experience in the 19th century
[04:56] where people dined inside of a massive iguanodon. Not a real iguanodon. and it was like a, I don't know what it was made out of, paper mache maybe? But the dish was absolutely fantastic, and it all came down to the sauce.
[05:12] So the recipe actually calls for partridges. I didn't find a partridge, so I used game hens, I'm pretty sure. But the sauce is what, like, blew me away. The depth of flavor, I think I even said it feels expensive.
[05:28] Now, unlike the chili, which was simple, this was not simple. In fact, it's one of the most complex dishes I think I've ever made on the channel. The whole dish was complicated, but the sauce itself was complicated.
[05:42] It had lots of different ingredients, including things that usually I don't love, mainly mushrooms. But it didn't matter because you didn't have the texture of the mushrooms, and that's actually what I don't like. You just had the flavor of the mushrooms and the sherry and lots of butter.
[05:56] and it was just, it was absolutely delicious. The thing is, it's probably not something I'll make again because it is really, really complicated. Though, there's actually a modern version of this sauce that's even more complicated.
[06:09] It takes us days to make. I didn't do that one. That feels expensive. Number 17, French onion soup from 1651. So basically, any recipe that has slow-cooked onions
[06:21] is going to be at the top of my list because I love that flavor so, so much. Raw onions, not as much, but cook them, I'm sold. And this soup was, it's not actually the prettiest version of French onions
[06:38] just because it has milk in it and it just doesn't really like mix in well, but it doesn't matter. It is so good. It is just so like warming and homey. And I mean, I love French onion soup of all ilk.
[06:50] but this one is a bit of a cheat because usually when I do a video when I'm tasting on camera it's the first time that I'm tasting the actual dish
[07:02] this one I had tasted before because I'd actually made this recipe for my cookbook and so this was the first episode that I made of something from the cookbook
[07:14] that I hadn't already done if that makes any sense so I'd actually tried it already so I knew that I was going to really like it because I liked it the first time. That's why I put it in the cookbook. It's so good.
[07:28] Number 16, Masaman Curry. So this is one that kind of threw me for a loop when I actually watched it because I say certain things the same way every single episode. Same cadence, same everything.
[07:40] And I say, and here we are. Name of the dish. This one was like, and here we are. Name of the dish. It was so weird. I was like, who recorded that? It was me, but I don't remember that.
[07:52] It's an out-of-body experience. Anyway, this is one of my favorite dishes. Also one of the most complex, but it made the whole house smell of like these spices that were just, it was overwhelming in the best of possible ways.
[08:08] But like I said, way too much work. So while this is one of the best tasting dishes that I've made on the channel, it is not something I'm going to make again because it has just become one of my go-to things to order when I get Thai food.
[08:22] And maybe it's not as good, but it's so much less work. I'm just going to order Thai food. But Mothman Curry, if you've never tried Mothman Curry, try it. I mean, wow.
[08:36] It's a lot of ingredients and it's a lot of work, but what a payoff. Just overwhelming. It's like I'm encapsulated in flavor. Flavor town.
[08:48] Number 15, Mruzia, or the Moroccan tagine. This was a lamb and prune tagine. It actually was not Moroccan. I believe that the recipe was maybe Egyptian, or maybe it was from Andalusia.
[09:02] I'm not sure, but it's the same kind of dish that they make today in Morocco. So, lamb and prune tagine, where it's all cooked in the tagine, the cone-shaped thing.
[09:14] And I love the way that this cooks food, this instrument cooks food, because it makes it so that the meat is, like, unbelievably tender and so moist,
[09:26] because no liquid gets out. So, it's just like taking a steam bath in there. But then the edges get really, really crispy. So you kind of get like burnt, in this case pruned, but whatever you're cooking kind of gets burnt on the outside, but really nicely burnt.
[09:45] It's really good. But also I loved it because it reminded me of all of the wonderful food that I had when I was in Morocco. Everything that we ate in Morocco was absolutely fantastic.
[09:57] And so actually like cooking it in my own house, like as it was cooking, I could smell it. I was like, ah, Morocco. It's so good.
[10:09] It is so, so good. Number 14, Coronation Chicken. So I had actually forgotten that I had done this episode I like going back through all my old episodes I was like oh yeah I did that It actually came out on the day that the cookbook was published So I was probably just like too busy But what I remember now is that it has one of my favorite Pikachus in it
[10:34] That one there who's dressed kind of like a beef eater. Or, yeah, a beef eater. But the Coronation Chicken itself is absolutely wonderful.
[10:46] It's like sweet, which I love sweet things. is sweet and curry at the same time. But what was interesting is it is boiled chicken. This recipe is boiled chicken. Very often today it's not, but this recipe is boiled chicken.
[11:01] Usually boiled chicken, not the best way to make it. Didn't matter. It was so good because you kind of like, it was smothered in this sauce, which is really creamy. But it's not as sweet as the modern Coronation chicken.
[11:16] Today, when you go to England, you can find Coronation Chicken all over the place, and it's usually much sweeter than the original version. I still love it, but it is very different. That original version, I think, was actually better.
[11:28] The one place that I've had the Coronation Chicken where it actually tasted like this was at the Savoy Hotel. I went and had afternoon tea there, and the whole thing was fantastic, just like everything.
[11:44] the ambiance, the history of being at the Savoy, to where Auguste Escopier cooked, but then their Coronation Chicken. We ended up being like, they brought out like four or five different kinds of sandwiches, and we tried one, and then we tried the Coronation Chicken, and we were like, you can take everything else away, just bring more of the Coronation Chicken.
[12:00] So good. So again, it is served cold, so don't eat it up. Mmm. Mmm. Fantastic.
[12:12] Fantastic. Fantastic. Number 13, King Tut's duck. So this one is a little bit of a cheat too, because technically, technically there is no recipe for it, because the ancient Egyptians didn't leave one.
[12:24] So it's based off of ingredients that were found in King Tut's, in his tomb. And I actually got to go, when I went to Egypt, like see all of the actual food that had been mummified
[12:36] and put in these little like boxes that were shaped like the food, like the duck shaped box. um so first of all I love duck so there are multiple duck recipes that I was going to put
[12:48] on here I think I just put one because otherwise it would just all been duck I love duck so much I actually overcooked this duck and I still loved it that's how much I love duck but really it is the sauce that shines through um it I believe it was figs preserved in honey that I used
[13:06] I mean, come on. Then it also had like wine and other things, like some savory things in there, but it was just a wonderful, wonderful sauce that could kind of go with everything. And while all of the ingredients and the methods, you know, ancient,
[13:21] you could have had this back then, you could also have it now, and it would be perfectly welcome on any modern table. Another reason that I really enjoyed that episode was, well, one topic, King Tut,
[13:34] But I remember researching it while I was in Hawaii sitting by the pool. And so that's just a wonderful way to work.
[13:50] That's fantastic. Number 12, Scottie's Ribs. So again, we have really well-cooked onions, so there's that. We also have a somewhat sweet sauce.
[14:02] It was kind of like an early proto-barbecue sauce on these ribs. Everything that Scoppy, every recipe I've ever made by Scoppy has turned out flawless. They've all tasted good, but also just like his instructions are so unbelievably clear,
[14:19] and they work every time. But when I remember this episode, oh, also, I love ribs. Ribs are maybe my favorite food. Like, when it's my birthday, we will have ribs. If we're celebrating something, I want ribs.
[14:31] so there is that as well but this was like a rush job a little morbid a rush job of a video because I wanted to put it out
[14:43] for the papal conclave which happened just a certain number of days after the Pope died so literally I remember reading that the Pope had died and I was like I need to do a video about the conclave
[14:57] how many days will I have and I think it was 14 or something like that But, like, that day, I started, like, working on this episode, hoping that I would get it out by the time Conclave happened. And I did.
[15:10] And it was so fascinating. The history was wonderful. And I didn't think that people would actually be interested in it for some reason. But they were. Like, it did really well. And people loved the dish.
[15:22] I had lots of people make the ribs afterward because they're not hard. Some of Scoppy's recipes are unbelievably complicated. This one was not at all. Yeah, I would actually make those ribs again. Maybe I should do that.
[15:34] I love the look of a rack of ribs. Ribs are one of my favorite foods. Give them a try here. Number 11, paprika handle.
[15:46] So also called chicken paprikash, this is one of the dishes that I declared a winner before I even tasted it because I could smell that it was going to taste so good.
[16:00] And I was right. The recipe, I believe it was a mid-19th century recipe. The topic, I was talking about the food that's in the movie, or in the book Dracula, Dracula, Dracula,
[16:12] but, and paprika handle is one of the many foods that is mentioned. And I just, when I was cooking it, I was like, this doesn't have because it is different than the modern version
[16:24] different enough that I was like eh this isn't right it's not using enough of this and not enough of that and it didn't matter it smelled so good I even think in the video I actually said
[16:36] this is a winner and I haven't even tasted it and then I tasted it and it was even better now I want paprika handle I really like Hungarian food in general actually when we were in Hungary I didn't expect to and I really really did
[16:48] because it's It's really, really flavorful without being like spicy, like hot spicy. It's just lots of spice of mainly paprika, which is not very strong.
[17:00] Anyway, absolutely delicious. You should make it. So before we get to the top 10, I wanted to mention a new channel that is happening. So I often get after last year, I did like a Christmas marathon of all the old Christmas videos.
[17:14] And a lot of people, they love that. And they actually say that they fall asleep to me, which I take as a compliment. They fall asleep listening to my videos at night, so they like that one because it was longer.
[17:26] YouTube does not like the fact that I put a longer video on the channel, so I am making a separate channel that will be, like, multiple videos that kind of have a theme together
[17:38] and hopefully can give new life to some old videos, which, like, nobody watches anymore. And people are always like, you should do a video on this. I'm like, I did it five years ago, though. So, that is going to be called Tasting History with Max Miller Top Videos.
[17:52] Simple as that. I'll put a link in the description. Number 10, Irish Stew. This is one of my favorite tastings that I ever did. My description was, when it actually comes to the taste, not terribly descriptive,
[18:06] but I can remember the taste simply by what I said. I said it was like a warm hug, or like spending the evening with your cats and your loved ones by the fire.
[18:19] That's what this tasted like. It was so, like, wholesome and warming. What's interesting about this Irish stew, it is quite different from any Irish stew you would get today,
[18:31] if you were to order some, in most places at least, because it's not liquidy at all. There's pretty much no liquid. It's more just that the meat and the potatoes and the carrots and everything have soaked up the little bit of liquid that is in there to just kind of soften into a mush.
[18:50] And it doesn't look pretty. And it doesn't matter. It is so, so delicious. Also, I remember that I wore this green shirt, which was absolutely huge.
[19:03] It was still kind of COVID times. And so, like, I think about shopping, I guess. I can't remember. But the only green shirt that I could find, because it was a St. Paddy's Day video,
[19:15] the only green shirt I could find, if you look, like, the shoulders start here. It was huge, absolutely huge. Yeah. Just so they're looking. This is the happiest meal that I've had in a long time.
[19:30] Number nine. Poulet sauté au dix de Bourgogne from the Michelin episode. This episode. So I wanted to find a Michelin star dish or from a Michelin restaurant.
[19:43] But I wanted to go way, way back because it's tasting history. And so I think this one was from like the 30s, maybe. And it was so much simpler than I had expected.
[19:55] Because usually you think Michelin star, oh, it's going to be unbelievably complex. And you can only get it in this one place because nobody else could do it. Anyone could make this dish. It was really, really simple. very, very alcoholic.
[20:09] Like, it had a lot of alcohol in it. It was a simple dish, though. It was just a sauce on chicken. And all of these different alcohols, I thought were going to be overwhelming,
[20:21] and they weren't. Like, all the burn left, and you just get, like, this flavor of these different liquors. And it was just so simple to cook and so complex to taste
[20:34] that I feel like it's the kind of thing where you could, like, wow a dinner party with this dish. And what cool is the person who came up with the recipe or at least this version of the recipe her restaurant is still around She been dead for I don know 50 years But her restaurant is still around and you can actually go to it in France
[20:58] I doubt they serve this dish, but maybe you could request it. I don't know. But one of these days, I'm going to go and try something there. It's so simple, but wow. Number 8, Transylvanian beef with garlic harvester sauce.
[21:12] This is a fan favorite. I have had so many people make this dish, and I remember exactly where I was when it came out. I was on my honeymoon in Hawaii.
[21:24] I think it was actually the same trip. And, yes, it was. And this video came out, and I didn't expect it to do any better than anything else, and it just kind of blew up. It was very, very exciting. But the thing is, this is actually really, really simple.
[21:39] It's pot roast, essentially, an old form of Transylvanian pot roast. But it's the sauce. So the meat is wonderful. I mean, it's potless. It just, like, falls apart. But the sauce is kind of vinegary, really garlicky, without being unpleasantly garlicky.
[21:58] And it's made with eggs. So it's actually kind of tricky to make because it can very easily split. Or you can scramble the eggs very easily. So it's actually harder than it looks. And I got it right on the first time.
[22:10] And then I tried a couple other times and I haven't got it right. But it is really, really tasty. So much so that I did a talk at ASU, which is where I went to school, Arizona State.
[22:22] And they made several of my dishes for the entire, like, honors college of hundreds of kids. So they had to make this dish that, you know, when I write the recipe, it's usually for, like, four or five people.
[22:39] And then you need to make, like, 300 servings. And so I just remember this stack of garlic bulbs on the counter and like 300 or 400 eggs
[22:52] and then these huge sides of beef that were in this thing. It was very cool. And all the kids actually really, really liked it. But yeah, this is a fan favorite. Still today, people make it all the time.
[23:04] The meat is so tender, it just falls apart. Number seven, Sloppy Joe's. It's Sloppy Joe. You know why it's on this list. It's frickin' sloppy joe. It's a childhood favorite.
[23:17] So you get that like, oh, yes. And it came from the school cookbook that I did from the USDA that they put out. So this was the sloppy joe recipe that they were making like in the 70s through 90s in middle schools and high schools.
[23:34] And it's sweet almost so much that I was like, does it go in the savory episode? Or am I going to do a sweet episode? I am, but maybe it should go there. But no, it is savory because it's a meat dish.
[23:46] And I think I ended up, I'm embarrassed to say, I think I ended up eating four Sloppy Joe sandwiches, like, right after filming. I just downed them. I was like, it was like Wimpy with the hamburgers, like, just one big bite.
[24:01] And I think I even say in the video, I should have made 100. Because the recipe calls for 100 because it's meant for a tool. And obviously I didn't make that many. and I was like, I should have, because I could have eaten a hundred, like, over the course of a week.
[24:13] And then I would have just been sick and I would have, you know, hated myself, probably. But, boy, it would have been fun while it lasted. Mature onions produce acid dust.
[24:25] Number six, beef with bearnaise from Titanic. So you know I had to put a Titanic recipe on the list, and this is most definitely the one. it is a first class recipe
[24:37] but it was in the video about the crew because we don't have recipes from the crew so this was something that they would have made for the first class passengers and it is very complicated
[24:49] very complex between the beef because it's also served with chateau potatoes which are very difficult because you have to like it's called turning and you're basically carving potatoes into like little torpedo looking things
[25:01] but then they were fried in clarified butter they're so good they're like crispy on the outside soft on the inside I mean essentially they're like a french fry
[25:14] but the meat was wonderful but it's the sauce the bearnaise and one whenever I have bearnaise I am just reminded of that scene from History of the World Part 1
[25:27] don't get saucy with me bearnaise if you haven't seen that then it actually does not age terribly well but I remember lovingly as a kid watching it as a kid probably shouldn't have as a kid what were my parents thinking
[25:40] but this version this version of the recipe is from Escopia and it is different than a Bernays that is made today similar but different
[25:53] it is much more vinegary it has a lot more vinegar in it In fact, all of his sauces are more vinegary, pretty much, than the modern-day counterparts. And I don't know why that is.
[26:05] The vinegar would have been the same. So people are like, well, maybe vinegar. No, vinegar was the same. It's been the same forever. So I don't know because it's wine vinegar. It's not like distilled vinegar. But it's so delicious. and actually with the richness of the potatoes and the heaviness of the meat,
[26:22] that astringent kind of vinegar actually compliments it better than just the rich and heavy Bearnaise. Absolutely fantastic.
[26:34] It's really complicated, so I haven't made it again, but maybe one day I will. I love Bernays sauce. Number five, Minutal Matianum, Roman pork with apples. This is probably
[26:53] my favorite Roman recipe that I have ever made, partly because it relies heavily on the frutum, or sapo, mostocoso, it's all the same thing pretty much. It is a reduced grape must
[27:07] into, in this case, into a syrup. Sometimes it's not quite as thick, but it is so good. I'm introduced grape juice. It's sweet, and it just is this wonderful, wonderful flavor
[27:20] that when placed alongside things like garum, makes this just fantastic new flavor that we do not have in modern cuisine
[27:32] that I've ever come across. Definitely not modern Western cuisine. I love this recipe so much. Well, I think I patted myself on the back in the episode.
[27:45] Because it was so good. And I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. But also, it was one of the very first recipes that when I decided to do a second cookbook, I was like, that's going in there. And it is in the next cookbook.
[27:58] but this so this recipe is very similar in flavor profile to the beef that I made for the
[28:10] Commodus episode just a couple weeks ago and so I didn't include the Commodus beef because like I said the flavor profile is similar they're different enough that because of the meat
[28:22] the texture is totally different the fact that there are apples and like meatballs in the pork dish and then braised beef in the other. Super different texture, but the flavor is very similar, so I
[28:34] didn't put both. I'll just be repeating myself. But yeah, this. You can wait for the cookbook, but that's still a ways away. I'm nine months or so, so don't wait for the cookbook. You just make
[28:46] this dish. The recipe is up on the website, and it is chef's kiss. That's fantastic. Number four, Welsh rarebit.
[28:58] This is the simplest dish I have ever made on the channel, and it is one of the best tasting dishes. It is cheese on toast, but it is not just cheese on toast. If you just add that little bit of beer and that little bit of mustard,
[29:13] it completely changes the everything about this cheese on toast and turns it into an absolutely fantastic dish. It is so, so good. And if it wasn't so unhealthy, I would eat it all the time.
[29:31] Here's the thing. So when I made it, a lot of people were questioning why the cheese was so orange. And mostly it was English people saying, why do Americans have such orange cheese?
[29:45] And I can come back to them and say, because that's how you made it. It is an English thing.
[29:57] It started in the 17th century, I believe, and essentially it was kind of fraud. There are certain times of year and certain breed of cows
[30:09] that make a very dark milk, dark kind of a, it's so white, but it's more orange and yellow from the beta carotene that they eat.
[30:21] It's usually the first, at the beginning of spring, it's that first grass that comes up, very often Jersey and Guernsey cows. That milk makes really dark yellow butter
[30:34] and wonderful yellow clotted cream and really orange cheese, naturally. and that was the most expensive, like the prized cheese at the time.
[30:49] The thing is, that cream that was in that milk could actually be sold for more right then than if you just kept it to make cheese.
[31:02] So some unscrupulous cheesemakers would sell the cream and then they would take either saffron or later on annatto which is from the New World and they would add it to the milk all year round to make it look like the really expensive cheese
[31:26] And that process stuck around for quite some time in England, and it came over to America. Eventually in England, I think they pretty much stopped that except for a few choice cheeses.
[31:39] There are some, Leicester Red, I believe, or Leicester Red, that one I think uses a nacho. Don't quote me on that. But it is artificially colored. And Americans never got rid of that.
[31:53] It became a thing, especially in the Midwest, where, again, it was trying to mimic that other look. So, yes, some of our cheeses are oddly orange, but it's because the English started it,
[32:06] and we just never got the memo to stop. As for the Welsh rarebit, I do remember. Back to the actual taste. It was so good that I had to, like, take a second bite right away. It was just so silky.
[32:18] That cheese was so silky with the crunch. You gotta make it. Welsh rarebit. Perfect. Number three, Chef Boyardee spaghetti. This is one that I have actually made again after the episode.
[32:32] There are very few recipes that I make again after the episode. this is one because it's actually really easy and it is it's so much better than any kind of canned
[32:44] spaghetti sauce that you're going to get um and it's got this sweetness that I really really like because I like sweet things but there is no sugar added like actual sugar it all comes from the
[32:57] tomatoes and the carrots that are slow cooked oh it's so it was so unexpectedly good like I said I've actually made it again, and I know a lot of people who have made it multiple times.
[33:12] Aya in Hawaii, you know who you are. It's just a delicious, delicious dish. Plus, I got to do a video on Chef Boyardee, which was a lot of fun. I need to do more kind of those modern things.
[33:27] Yeah, that was a really good episode. That said, back to the mushrooms and me not loving the texture of mushrooms. The recipe calls for mushrooms, so I put mushrooms in it. But when I make it, not for the show, ain't no mushrooms.
[33:42] It's phenomenal. Number two, pot roast from the video on airline food. So kind of the same going back to the beef with garlic harvester sauce, but modern. It's pot roast.
[33:54] Pot roast is just so good. It's such a great way to cook meat. It is slow cooked with... In this case, it's actually seared first with marrow bones, and then it is slow cooked with all of the different vegetables and herbs.
[34:12] And it was so, so good. I remember it not looking good and being like, this was a first class meal because it just looks, and then you taste it and you're like, oh, this is a first class meal. Okay, fine.
[34:24] Yeah, really, really good. The rest of that meal, because I made a few different things, The rest of the meal, meh. Pot roast, so good. It's so flavorful, and I will be eating the whole thing over the next couple days.
[34:40] And number one, school pizza. You know it had to be on here. That school pizza was, when I first tasted it, it was that scene in Ratatouille
[34:53] where the food critic just is transported back to his childhood and his mom making the Ratatouille. that was it I was transported back to 5th grade which wasn't a particularly wonderful time
[35:07] but I always enjoyed lunch you know that pizza, it was a pourable dough I never made pourable dough before I've never heard of it outside of this recipe in fact
[35:20] I'm sure it's out there but it was exactly the flavor everything about it was exactly the flavor of my childhood. And so it was just very special. Is it the best tasting thing that I've ever made
[35:39] from a culinary standpoint? No. Was it the best tasting thing for me? Yes, because of the memories. And food and memory, it's a big connection, honestly. They did a study where they gave
[35:55] people all these like fancy fresh ketchups and different kinds of ketchup and almost to a person everybody's favorite ketchup was whatever they ate growing up whether it was hunts or hines or
[36:08] whatever and I find that with a lot of a lot of foods whether they are simple things like this pizza or cracked macaroni and cheese um you know it kind of triggers that thing or things that my
[36:24] family would make like my dad makes this thing called taiko chicken which is what we would have whenever we had a birthday and and it's a very like it takes him all day to make and it's this
[36:37] kind of japanese fried chicken but still today you know uh that's what we have when we have birthdays and it's just memories memories in fact i think in the piece in the piece episode i sang memories
[36:51] because that's what it was. It was like, ah, yes, that's it. So it smells just like it did 30 some odd years ago. Let's see if it tastes that way, too.
[37:14] Memories from the corners of my mind. So I have three honorable mentions. That was number one, but I have three honorable mentions, and I'm having them be honorable mentions because they don't really, they don't follow the rules of me making something historic here in my kitchen or being a full meal.
[37:37] So, the first one is Birox, which are so good. So many people have made these things. The video that I did was on the Volga Germans, who were brought to Russia by Catherine the Great,
[37:51] who was from a German-speaking area of Europe, and they are absolutely fantastic. The thing is, it's not a historic recipe. It is. They have been making those for a long time, but the recipe that I used,
[38:05] I could not find an actual recipe from the 18th century or early 19th century. So I used a recipe that is probably no more than like 40 or 50 years old.
[38:17] There's no reason that that can't be what had been made earlier, but probably slightly different. And so I don't count it, but oh, they're so, so good.
[38:29] And that's one of those things where also it's like a memory because my dad used to make those too. Let's give him a shot, though. Don't bite off.
[38:42] The other one is Medsuna or Tabadirt. And this one I don't count because I didn't make it. We had this when I was in Morocco, my parents and I. In fact, my mom's actually here.
[38:54] She's visiting right now. And she, I remember, she brings it up all the time. What it was was we went out into the desert, and they made meat and vegetables in bread, super simple,
[39:10] and kind of made into a pizza. And then it is put under the ground, under the sand, and cooked under the sand. So they built a fire, put it in there, cover it with sand, and let it cook.
[39:23] And it was just so good. The amount of spices that these people used in cooking it, oh it was just unbelievable but again I don't count it because I didn't cook it
[39:35] we have had a lot of wonderful food here in Morocco but honestly nothing compares to the tabbadi and the last honorable mention is the beurre blanc from the Concord episode
[39:47] I don't count this one because it was just a component of the rest of the meal the rest of the meal was good but that beurre blanc I mean it's just butter and onions um butter and it was it was butter it was so good I ended up oh it's embarrassing I I'm so glad that
[40:06] I do this alone and I don't have like a crew watching me I sat there and ate I'd say a third of a cup of melted butter with onions that's how good it was yeah and I'd do it again I would do
[40:20] it again you should definitely make that and put it on whatever you should make any of these honestly they are all worth it even the really complex ones if you've never made it it's worth doing at least once
[40:32] oh my god so that is the top 20 savory recipes
[40:44] I'm also going to do one with sweet recipes because as I was going through there were just too many and I was like ah there's so many things I love and I don't want to choose so I don't know what that actually was so there will be another episode
[40:58] maybe in a month, maybe in two months I don't know, when I have time of the sweet ones and yeah, we'll make a playlist of all 20 favorite recipes and so you can watch through
[41:10] but also that other channel will have things like that where it's just basically a bunch of episodes that you can kind of watch through for those people who like to do that like to fall asleep
[41:22] a lot of people fall asleep to my voice which is kind of interesting. Anyway, thanks for watching, and I will see you next time on Facing History.