July 5, 2023 • 47 mins
Host Bryan Ford is joined by Jenna Fischer, who you might know as Pam from The Office. She’s also a host of the top 10 podcast Office Ladies, an author, and (long before she came to Hollywood) a professional fry cook. Bryan recreates Jenna’s beloved childhood pizza, Imo’s St. Louis Style Pizza.
Watch Bryan make his version and Subscribe: Youtube
Recipe from today's episode can be found at Shondaland.com
Join The Flaky Biscuit Community: Discord
Jenna Fischer IG: @msjennafischer
Bryan Ford IG: @artisanbryan
Don’t forget to check out Miry’s List at MirysList.org and Jenna’s book, The Actor’s Life a Survival Guide.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Flaky Biscuit is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Flaky Biscuit, where each episode we're
cooking up delicious morsels of nostalgia, meals and recipes that
have comforted and guided our guests to success. Each episode,
(00:21):
I'm creating a recipe from scratch based on my guest
nostalgic moment, hand delivering it to them, and recipes that
I'm hoping you listeners are making as well at home.
Today I have a really really exciting guest. My heart's racing.
I'm like, oh man, this is so crazy. I can't
believe it's actually happening. A fellow lover of bread making.
(00:42):
That's actually what protests close together, which is no surprise
because Bread's is a graysting on the planet. But there's
much more than that. She's an admired podcast host, esteemed author,
and of course you might know her for her role
as Pam in the office. We are welcoming today, Jenna Fisher. Hello, Hello,
Welcome to Blaky Biscuit.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm so exciting. We're having like a mutual nerd out
because we're meeting in person for the first time.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's been a couple of years in the making now right, Yeah,
I'm out here in La doing my thing. But you,
a couple of years ago decided to support my first cookbook.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, let me tell you, and I'm not saying this lightly,
you were part of something that really truly changed my life.
You and Bonnie O'Hara Ya, no, Bonnie as well.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, yes, Bonnie is amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You talk about how I got into bread making and
we were dming. This is like one of the perks
of being I guess a public figure is that when
you're in the middle of bread making and you have
a big question, sometimes the person who posted the recipe
will DM you back. It is a nice perk, I'll say, yeah.
But that really started our back and forth. And you know,
(01:51):
I started making bread and it was through Bonnie's book
Bread Making for Beginners. But once I felt like maybe
I wasn't a beginner anymore. I was looking for that
kind of like intermediate thing. But I wanted that same
spirit of I wanted to measure my ingredients. I don't
want any cups and tablespoce. Oh, that's right, let me
say that I weigh my ingredients. I don't want any
(02:13):
cups and tablespoons or any of that business. But also,
you had all of this stuff on your website for
sourdough discard, and I had so much sourdough discard. And
I made your chocolate chip cookies. I made your Johnny cakes.
Your chocolate chip cookies have become like a signature, like
(02:36):
people know me for your cookies. Yes, I get asked
to bring them all that kind of stuff. But here's
the way you change my life. I had started making
bread way before the pandemic. I just want to say
I was not a pandemic breadmaker. I was a pre
pandemic breadmaker. I was ahead of the track. I had
(02:56):
been working full time as an actress, and I was
gone a lot from home, and I was like having
to do that thing where I'm like facetiming my kids
to bed, which I hated, and even though I loved acting,
I was really craving something else. But I didn't know
it until I started baking bread. And as you know,
(03:17):
to bake bread, you have to stay home, you have
to nurture that dough. So I did this thing where
I started baking bread every day for like twenty days
in a row. My husband did have a minor intervention
with me where he was like, baby, are you okay?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Was there it too much dough on like the cabinets
or something.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It was just sort of like you started baking bread
and you have not stopped. But what I realized in
that moment I had this epiphany. I realized, Oh my god,
I think I want to be home. Part of this
passion of bread making is because I don't want to
leave my house. I want to be here. This is
my foundation, is my house, and then I want everything
(03:57):
to happen from there. And once I realized that, I
like changed my whole life. I stopped acting. I'm a
full time podcaster, which I do mostly from hume h.
That was an epiphany for me, and you were part
of that epiphany. You and Bonnie we changed changed my life.
I mean it for real, all right, job done? Forget
(04:19):
that amazing and changing lives.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
At the same time, I was just hanging out in
my kitchen one day and all of a sudden, my
phone is just blowing up and I'm like, what is
going on? Like what could possibly be this? Like critical
that people are texting me and say, ooh did you
see see what you know what I mean. It's like, oh,
it's like Jenna Fisher posted about me. I was like
whoa sound, was like what this is out of the blue,
you know. But it did create a lot of awareness
(04:44):
for my work and helped me sell a lot of books,
so I could say the same thing, Jenny, you changed
my life as well. And you know, of course me
and Bonnie had the you know, the we talked to
Jenni Fisher chats on his side like oh yeah, you
know we got the jennif Fisher books. You know what
I'm saying. You know you already know we had them
chat Spinachi. He's a very talented baker. So here we are.
We're behind microphones. Like you said, this is what you
(05:06):
do now for a living? How has that been?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
By the way, I love it so much. I get
to work with my best friend. Yes, Angela Kinsey is
my best friend in real life, and she's my business partner.
You know, she was on the office with me as well,
and we've wanted to work together again ever since the
office ended. And now we get to work together and
it's amazing. We get to set our own schedule, we
get to set it around every family activity that we
(05:31):
want to be a part of. We get to decide
how we prioritize things. It's been really important and special.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. Also, like your content and your merch and everything
about your podcast is exceptional. So you already I'm gonna
need some advice at some point, you know what I mean,
some tips and tricks.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Well, you asked me about starting a podcast, and my
advice to you is don't do it. It so much work.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, but listen. So you're here at Flaky Biscuit and
let's actually let our listeners know why you're even here.
So what did I prepare you today?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You prepared for me a Saint Louis style Emo's pizza.
So I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Saint
Louis has a style of pizza. It is a very
very thin, crust, crispy kind of wafery sort of thing,
a little bit of tomato sauce, I think, but barely.
It's like almost not. I'm not sure, though you probably researched.
(06:25):
I haven't eaten it yet. But then the cheese is
a pro vel, which is a made up cheese. It
is a blend of I believe provolone and a processed
sort of in the family of saya velvida, but it's
not velvita, some odd cheese mixture. And then what you
(06:46):
do is you only order it. You don't really go
to Emo's and eat this pizza. You either go and
pick it up and then you drive it home in
the box or you have it delivered, because that thirty
minutes in the box is the time when the cheese
turns into a type of a type of plastic yes,
that layers the crispy crust. And this is the part
(07:08):
that non Saint Louisan's are most confused by.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Why enlighten us, I.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Don't know, but this is the tradition of the Saint
Louis style pizza. J Novac from the office. He was
doing a comedy show on Saint Louis and he texted
me and he said, Hey, what like local food do
I need to eat? And I said, you have to
hit an Emo's pizza. You have to. It's legendary. He
thought I was pranking him. When he ate it, he said,
this is like the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten.
(07:36):
F you, this is off, And I'm like, what are
you talking? About I'm like, that was not a joke.
I legitimately love it, and people from Saint Louis legitimately
love it. Like my husband doesn't love it, hmm, but
I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I feel like I would probably like it because the
plastic thing kind of resonates with me. Like I'm a
big fan of American cheese. Yeah, I'm a huge fan
of American cea. I think it's one of the most
delicious and meltiple and perfectly textured cheeses, even and you.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Were with it and it's a processed cheese.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Get this. The other day, I think at Whole Foods
here in Burbank or wherever we were, there was an
organic American cheese.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
What is that? I guess I was just like man.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And it was seven bucks for the package, and I
was like, bro, the way people sell and market stuff
these days, it's unbelievable organic American cheese.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Were you curious, like, did you want to buy it?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I did buy it and it was cheddar? No, it
was I swear it was just cheddar. So if you're
in the pizzeria eating the pizza and you didn't take
it away, is there like a perception of people that
sit in there and eat.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
No, because you know, as a kid, maybe you're going
to have your birthday party there. It's okay, like you
can eat it there. You're just if you eat it
when it's too hot, it's not as good.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
How does it say crispy though, I don't know. I
don't know it does, but it does. So you get
home thirty minutes later, and then mug is crispy, Yes,
a little crisp. I just you know, I moved the
pizza that I made, and we all in this room
heard an audible crisp crunch, So I think I might
be in good shape here. When was the first time
you had this dish? Wondering? Actually, like was it a
(09:11):
special occasion?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Here's the thing. It's one of those things that I
have no memory of it ever, not being in my life.
I was probably so young the first time I had
it in Saint Louis. You just grow up with it.
So I feel like it's just always been the pizza
of my life. But I have very specific memories. This
is the pizza you order when you're cramming for a
(09:36):
chemistry test in high school. This is the pizza you
order after prom. This was your like late night Munchie pizza.
So I think a lot of my memories go back
to high school with my friends. This is the pizza
when you have a sleepover, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Those like formative formative. Yeah, why I'm trying to think,
like I think I went to McDonald's after prom to
be honest with you. Sure, well, I'm going to describe
a little bit of what I did to make this
pizza because we had a conversation I think like two
days ago, and I think I mentioned using yeast. Yes,
but it's not really levened. It's not a leven dough.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It is very it's a very thing.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
It's a thin dough. So I there was no fermentation
that occurred here. And there's a lot of flatbreads that
you can think of like that, like a Turkish lacoma.
June is actually so the dough is actually kind of
similar to that. You don't really need yeast or fermentation
to develop like a good base. So that was that
and the provo.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Thing, Oh is it to pronounce provoal bro I'm asking youvel.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
No, I have no clue. I didn't even know what
this was until so she was doing the deep dive
Bridget was doing the deep dive on this pizza, and
I make a lot of different pizzas, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Know that was one of the reasons why I picked it,
because I'm like, if anyone knows pizza.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There's no way he can mess it up. But I
actually was like Saint Louis. I was like, I know
Chicago cracker thin, I know, like tavern style, kind of
Midwest tavern style, like I know a few different styles,
obviously deep dish and all that New York Nepolitan. But
I was like, oh, Saint Louis. I guess in my
head I thought I knew what to do, and then
like a couple of days ago, I was like, wait,
I don't even I don't know what to make. And
then she's like bridges like this thing called provail cheese.
(11:13):
I'm like, oh, like provolone, right, and it's like, nah Son,
it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
There's I think is provolone in it. It's a blend.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes, So that's what I had to do. I made
a blend of white cheddar, Swiss and provolone, and everything
on the internet said I had to add liquid smoke
to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I don't know if you do do you associate smokiness
with this? Yes, that track, So I'm on the right
track here. So I made a blend of these cheeses.
I literally added the tiniest amount of liquid smoke, and
I felt like I was like a pitmaster and the
whole house. I was like, yo am, I like smoking
a pork belly back here, something like, what's going on?
It's very smoky. And some Oregonos, you know, some dried
(11:51):
kind of a tendian. I picked up some crushed Bianca
Tonopoly tomatoes and I have the thin crust here, and
I baked it. I just baked it. So I think
it's I think the moment has come.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I think it's ready.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I think it's it's looking right.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So have you tried it?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Oh, this is the first. You don't do a test run.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
No, no, no, no oh, I'm excited. No, this is
real deal. No, bs like, I just made this right
now and this random oven that I've never used before.
So okay, let's do it. Let's see.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Uh, you gotta cut it into this.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I know I got to cut it and bring it.
I got to cut it into squares. You heard me,
I thank you?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You really did deep dive pisa.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's her specialty. First, let's see, So did I pass
the esthetic tests? I've seen You've been staring at it NonStop,
so I need I need some thoughts there.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Esthetically, home Run, I give this one hundred percent immediately,
it looks like inn Emo's pizza.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
By the way, Emos is like there are other places
in Saint Louis that do the Saint Louis style pizza.
There's this restaurant called Chercos that my family would go
to all the time, but I think of it as
an Emo's pizza, kind of like how every face tissue
is a Kleenex.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Band aid is a band aid. I don't even know
what else to call it. That's right, youtubs, I mean really, yes,
what are.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
They Emo's pizzas going into like frozen food aisles now too?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
So just oh, so you could get a frozen.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Emos for my thirtieth birthday. My big splurge I lived
out here in LA was that I contacted a local
Emo's Pizza in Saint Louis and I paid them to
FedEx meet some Emos frozen pizza on dry ice, and
I served it for my thirtieth birthday. That's how much
I love this pizza.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Collar.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That was you know you've made it.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
That's I know you've made it when you bring that
hometown taste to everyone and they're like, what is this.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I had only just been cast on the office pilot.
It had not even been picked up yet. So I
was cast on the Office pilot when I was twenty
nine and we shot it, and then when I I
turned thirty, in a vacuum like, I assumed that the
pilot wouldn't get picked up and I would never see
those people again. So I didn't even invite any of
the cast to my thirtieth birthday. But with my money
(13:57):
that I got from this first job, my first big
deal paycheck, I flew in Emo's pizza like FedEx on
dry ice. It was like, should I buy a new
couch or should I fly in the Emo's pizza? And
I just sat on the floor with my pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, no, I don't blame We'll be back after these
messages from our sponsors, welcome back to Flaky Biscuit. I'm
(14:37):
gonna cut it. I think we heard a crispiness at
some point, But so I got to do the little
squares here. Oh, Yeah, that's crunchy. Let's go look at that.
How was the cow? Was the square size?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Very good? Yes, very good, very very good.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Off the coff freestyle and here here we go. Hold on,
we should do at the same time. Should be cheers, edge, cheers, cheers.
Here we go. Ready, I don't know what I'm looking
for in the taste.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Okay, here we are. That was really good.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Wow you don't like it?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
No, No, I think it's delicious. I'm just waiting for
the for the truth to come out from you. I
think it's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Here's what I'll say. The crusted is not quite as
crispy as an Emo's pizza. Your cheese blend is really good.
It's kind of better. It's a little more upscale. Okay,
then the cheese blend on an Emo's.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I should have put it in a box fitch
for thirty minutes to somehow get it crispy.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I'm gonna go in for seconds if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Okay, seconds is that's a good thing. I actually just
talked to David Chang about this. I was I actually
appeared on an episode of his show, and he was like,
you know, the best way to know how someone is
feeling when they eat is to just watch their face.
They could say anything. I mean, you could say any
word to me, but like watching the face and the eyes.
That's what I was doing when I took a bite.
It wasn't that I didn't like it. I was like
(16:06):
trying to read your expression. I was like, Okay, she's
definitely vibing on this, and you got a second slice.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So I liked it. And I was afraid you were
having like a BJ Novak response. No, you were like,
what made me make?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
No? Me and BJ gotta have a talk, man, You
gotta let's put some respect on let's let's put some
respect on the emo's name. So to the listeners right now,
what we want to know. You know, we talk about
something called the Proost effect here, which is food triggering memory,
food triggering nostalgic moment. And my listeners right now are
probably at the edge of their seats wondering. She just
(16:42):
took another bite. So y'all gotta be patient. She took
another bite. We about to get the answer in a minute.
I want to know where you went. I want to
know how the smell made you feel the texture of
the flame. I want I want to know where your
brain went when you had that slice.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, so here's why I I'm back in my childhood home,
the house I grew up in. In our family room,
we had like this shag carpet and wood paneling. This
was our TV room, and it's sort of taking me
back to that time. Oh, that time before like adult responsibility.
(17:19):
You know, whenever you would order this, it was either
a treat for like Friday night, Oh, let's get a
pizza and we'll watch a movie as a family, right,
or it was like I'm with my very best girlfriends
and we're at a sleepover. Or when I say, like
after prom or like after a school dance, it's like
(17:40):
really after after, like the boys have left and it's
just the girlfriends downloading to each other over a pizza.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
So those are like the memories that are coming up.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow, once again, second time, job done. I'm out, no
matter what the circumstances, no matter what I'm making. It
always makes me feel good when I help someone kind
of just think about moments that are so pure. So
I'm really happy that I allowed you to have that
moment of bliss and relive those nostalgic moments.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
It's true, like it's such a gift to be able
to bake for people or cook for people. There's so
much love that goes into it, you know, and you
feel that when it served to you. I mean, I
can feel the Karen love you took with my pizza.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
O man, boy, feeling good.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I need more of it. I told my kids I
would bring them home a slice. Oh there is, but
I eat one more?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yes, do one more? So you know we've talked about emos.
We talked about this pizza. But growing up in Saint Louis,
there's other specialties to eat too, right, I mean, what
are some other Saint Louis food specialties? It's going in
for another bite.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Just gotta just have ruining your podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
No, I'm just giving you all the bite.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
No engineer is like, tell her to stop.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Everyone wants to hear people chew these days. So like,
you know, if there's like a Jenifisher chewing thing that
goes viral, you know it's all good. What was I
even talking about other Saint Louis? Yes, you know I've
been to Saint Louis twice. Okay, I think I had
some good barbecue.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh yeah, right, so yes, So Saint Louis style barbecue
is great. It is not wet. It's like a kind
of like a sticky glaze of barbecue on the meat.
My parents they're friends with a chef in Saint Louis,
and he boils his ribs first, then he puts the
(19:30):
seasonings on, he puts it on the grill, and then
he will do many multiple layers of sauce. But you
want it to get nice and sticky. That's like I
think the Saint Louis style barbecue. That's what I grew
up on. And I've gone other places to get barbecue,
and then I feel confused by, like, how very very
(19:50):
wet a lot of barbecue.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Is most of the East Southern, Eastern Barbara, Texas is dry, right,
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Texas is like a dry rub.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
It's Kansas City. Kansas City is more wet too.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think Kansas City is more wet. I remember having
some very wet ribs in Memphis. Ones.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh yeah, so barbecue. What else? There's a sandwich, right,
I mean you guys have sandwiches. I mean, like, what
else do we have a sandwich?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So a really famous one is toasted ravioli. Okay, So
if you go back, you're gonna want to get some
toasted raves, as we call them.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
In the loo.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it's a meat filled pasta ravioli that like you
could just boil and then you have it with sauce,
but you don't. Instead you bread it and fry it.
So it is a meat ravioli that is then breaded
and fried and then you dip it in like a
marinera sauce. Okay, and it's delish.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Toasted raves toasted. Rating me some toasted rabs, They're.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Really really good. And then we also do pork steaks.
It is a cut of meat that I did not
know did not exist outside of Saint Louis until I
moved to Los Angeles and my parents came in to
visit and my dad's said, hey, why don't you go
grab some pork steaks and I'll grill them for you.
And I went and I came home and I called him.
(21:08):
I was like, Dad, they don't have them here. He's like, Jenna,
go ask the butcher to give you some pork steaks.
So I asked the butcher and he just blank face.
He's like pork chop I'm like, no, it's not a
pork chop. It's a pork steak. I don't know anything else,
couldn't get it. Call my dad. My Dad's like, Jenna,
(21:28):
this is not a hard task. So I'm like, I
don't know what to tell you. I asked the butcher.
He doesn't know what I'm talking about. So my parents
came out. My dad went in. He's like, I'll handle this.
He goes in, asked the butcher. I remember him coming
back to my apartment and being like, yeah, they don't
have them here. I'm like, I know.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
So I think it's part of the rump. It's thinner
than a traditional pork chop. I think it's a pretty
cheap cut of meat. But you put that on a
grill and then you put barbecue sauce on it and
it's so good.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So that's a Saint Louis thing.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I'm so hungry for that.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We also have a frozen custard that we're really famous for.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Ted Druce.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Frozen custard upside down and it doesn't fall or something
like that. Ted Ruth, Yes, I've been there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Okay, I'm going to say something very scandalous right now,
it might get me kicked out of Saint Louis. I
prefer just a dairy queen blizzard ooh wow, which also
turns over, right, they turn over the blizzard. I just custard,
like frozen custard that is a little too thick to
(22:41):
me or something or very dairy forward. I barely like
custard as a dessert anyway, So like if to then
freeze it and then add a Snickers to it, that's
a lot for me.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It sucks. Just say it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I don't need to go there. I will hit a
dairy queen preferably the.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Growing list of sponsorship deals that I will not be getting.
You liked it, Yeah, you kind of just crushed my
one food memory from Saint Louis. Kind you kind of
definitely humbled me.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I do have to say, like researching Saint Louis food, like,
there is a lot of like specific items, but some
of them were created on accident, Like was the toasted
ravioli that was an accident?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Sounds like an accident?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And a gooey butter cake?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Oh, how have I not mentioned the gooey buttercake? Was
that an accident? Yes?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Apparently they messed up the measurements. They actually used too
much butter instead of dough. And then because it was
like during the time of the Great Depression, they were like, oh,
let's just sell it and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And it was a hit.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Gooey butter cake will give you a heart attack. It's
like a heart attack and a slice of cake. It
is so good. That was my birthday cake growing up.
Every year my mom would bake us. She would make
us our favorite meal, talk about how food is like
a way that you nurture people and make them feel special.
We got to request our favorite dinner and then whatever
dessert we wanted, we always asked for gooey butter cake.
(24:01):
It is basically made from cream, cheese, butter, powdered sugar
on top of a very thin cake base. So there's
a little bit of cake and a lot of good.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Like the idea of cake, but it's goo forward is
essentially just a slice of goo.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It is. And so I'll have you know. On the
office there were three of us performers who were from
Saint Louis, Ellie kemper Phyllis Smith and myself, and then
one of our directors can Quappus and then our first
ad Rusty my Mood, five of us from Saint Louis
so we would have a little Saint Louis Club. And
(24:39):
we decided one day that we were going to do
a gooey butter cake bakeoff between Me, Ellie and Phyllis.
We all had, you know, our recipes, our version of
the recipe, and then we did a blind taste test.
Guess who won, Jennifisher, maybe me? Wow, next level, I'll
(25:00):
tell you exactly. My mom has a special trick where
about five minutes before it's done baking, you pull it
out of the oven. You give a little shake of
powdered sugar on the top and put it back in
for the last five minutes and that creates almost like
a little crembrew lay crisp on the top of that
gooey layer. Wow, and people flipped out for it.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You should have trademarked that you just gave your secrets
away to the world.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I realize that.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Now, don't give away you know what.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I would rather everybody have the pleasure of that than
keep it a secret.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, there's no point in keeping Mama's tips a secret,
you know, what I mean, Like, I tell people how
my mom makes a good It's a coconut milk bro
and people are like, oh snap. I'm like, you're still
gonna do it like my mom, so it don't really matter.
We went into the fried Ravioli's you you worked as
a fry cook before, right, I thought that this is
really interesting information.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I worked at a Long John Silver.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yes, Long John Silver's. Talk to me about that fry
station life. How was that? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Tell you what. I had to fight my way onto
the fright line because I'm back in the day. The
girls were allowed to work the register. We had to
smile and Greek customers face forward, that's who they wanted.
And then they put all the dudes in the back
on the fryer. But the thing was is if you
work the frier, you got like fifty five cents more
(26:21):
per hour. And I was like, wait a second, that's
like not even fair. I'm like, I want a train
to use the fryer. I want to make more money.
And I had to fight. I had to fight my manager.
I had to give him a big speech about how
I was going to sue this establishment for sexual discrimination.
So he got freaked out. He let me train on
(26:45):
the friar and I'm gonna say it was a mistake.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, how was it changing the oil and not fun? Course?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know what that stuff splatters, It splatters on your hand.
I had like.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Burnt your hair.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Get it's a smell you can't get rid of too.
I mean we were frying fish y'all yeah, and hush
puppies and shrimp scampy.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh snap.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I was back there. It was like day two and
I was like, this.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Is extra fifty cents. Bet, I have been worked, I know.
I'm like, oh, get that extra snickers bar.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I'm like, can I maybe I could just take a
shift up front next week?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Damn? And this is wait.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
This was during high school. So this my very first job.
I worked at a kennel and I wasn't even sixteen yet.
Like my parents had to drive me to that job
on the weekends and I would clean out all the
kennel runs and walk the dogs and feed them and
all that. That was awesome. But then once I was
able to drive, I could drive to Manchester Road, this
(27:48):
is like the big road in the suburb I lived,
and I just sort of worked my way up and
down Manchester Road. I worked at Long John Silvers. Then
I worked at an ice creamery called Victoria's Ice So
I was an ice cream scooper and made all the
shakes and all that stuff. And then I eventually settled
at Mickey's car Wash. That job was so great. I
(28:10):
washed cars.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, man, that was.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Like one of my favorite jobs. I worked there three years.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Wow, that must have been had benefits or some gees.
No car wash, it was like the place to be.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You made your hourly wage plus tips. So I didn't
get any tips at Long John Silver's or when I
was working the soda fountain, I wasn't a waiter, so
I didn't get tips. Mickey's like you could really hustle
on a Saturday. Every car that came through would give
you one dollar, maybe two dollars, and so it really
added up.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Man. So you came to LA and you came to
become an actor. Yeah, how was that grind? I mean,
what was it like to go from Saint Louis to
LA to make this step?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah? Well, I didn't know anybody. There were a few
people I knew out here who had gone to my
same college and they'd come out before I did, so
they graduated before me. That's the only p that I knew.
I didn't know anyone in the industry that I wanted
to work in. But when I was in high school,
we had to take a mandatory typing class. Yes, and
I did very well.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
What was your highest speed?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I could type eighty nine words per minute with ninety
eight percent accuracy.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Wow, that is quite impressive.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's all in the accuracy. I always say that I'm like,
anyone can type gibberish really fast, but like I can
type real words without a bunch of editing. So I
came out here and I just registered for a temp
agency and administrative temp agency, and I had really good
typing skills. So I ended up working quite a bit
as a typist. I did also work in catering, but
(29:39):
I never worked as a waiter or a waitress. But
those were my side hustles were catering and then some
form of typing like transcriber, administrative assistant, receptionists. Like that's
what I do.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
That makes sense because you then you've written a book
about how to survive. Yeah, trying actor, So it's that
skill set kind of came full circle.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yes, more typing, more, more.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Typing, having a good time. Stay flaky, We'll be right back.
(30:26):
All right, all right, let's just jump back in. So
your first book, The Actor's Life, a survival guide, I mean,
a roadmap of sorts, right for people that are aspiring
to act. And I want to Well, I know you're
reels because you talk about taking advantage of buffets, all right,
So like you're straight up talking about like saving food,
(30:49):
Like you know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, how food features heavily in this book. As I
was writing it, I realized it's a very food forward
survival guy.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Your food forward, I think, I am. What are your
thoughts on the LA food scene?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Well, I'll tell you there were a lot of foods
I'd never tried before until I came to LA. I
had never had sushi. I had never had good Mexican food,
like authentic Mexican food.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I Like, you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Like you come to LA and there's just like a
street cart that's the best Mexican food you've ever eaten,
you know, and so like I'd never tasted a lot
of these flavors. I'd never had Indian food before I
came to Los Angeles, either, I learned that my parents
were not very adventurous eaters, is what I realized. Saint
Louis has a very big Italian community. They've got all
(31:38):
these restaurants, we call it the Hill, and so I
had eaten my fair share of pastas and pizzas and
all those sorts of things, a lot of burgers and barbecue,
but I hadn't branched out, and so that was really
exciting to me. Getting to discover all these new ways
to eat food was very cool.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, that's what these big cities do. And it's interesting
how immigrates. Pattern basically dictates like what you eat where
you grow up, right, Like, I'm from New Orleans. You know.
The first time Bridget comes, she's like, oh, we should
order Chinese. I'm like, nah, let's not. You know, of
course there are Chinese restaurants there, but like you know,
when you live in New York City and then you
visit New Orleans, I'm like, I'm definitely not gonna get
(32:18):
Chinese food, you know, just Vietnamese food I will get
because there's a huge Vietnamese community there. So I didn't
know that not a lot of people do some of
the best fu you'll ever have and bond me.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
But La is one of those cities where I mean,
take your pick. I mean you got soul, food, you
got you know, you got, you got everything here. Experiencing
New York and La is just a different animal. It's
just a different beast of the reality of like how
other cultures eat. It's like accessible, Like I could go
eat Albanian food right now. Probably, I think.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
That's what's so crazy. You probably could. Yeah, well where
is where have you eaten your best meal? Me? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Whoa who ever?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I don't know, or maybe just the first one that
comes to mind, like what you think of, like an
amazing meal you had, and you're like it was in
this place, like I know mine. Oh yeah, I know
the one that just popped my head.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, I'll go. I'll go first. So in Hunders there's
a lake it's called the Lago Johoa, And they go
out right there in front of you and catch the
fish and they clean it and deep fry it and
they serve it to you immediately. And it comes with
arosi frijoles black beans and rice with an encortido pickled
vegetable mixture and a little bit of South sign some
crispy fled platanos Okay. The first time I had that
(33:29):
with my mom and my uncle, I mean I was
just completely blown away.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I think I was twenty one because previously in my
hunter's trips, I was a kid, so they just gave
me like sodas and corn flakes, and when he's a kid,
just give him whatever, you know. But at that moment,
I was like twenty or twenty one. It changed my
perception of my culture's food. I realized how culinarily rich
it is there. So I would say off the top
(33:54):
of my head that meal came up immediately, Wow, what's yours.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
So my husband and I were traveling in Tokyo, and
we were so excited to eat and all just like
the fanciest places in Tokyo. Months ahead of time, we
got these reservations and all the meals were great. They were.
But then we heard about this Ramen place deep in
the corridors of this train station.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Ooh snap.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
And we went down there and we waited in a
long line of just like Japanese business people, like everyone's
in their suits, they're clearly on their lunch break. This
line snaked through the halls of this train station. You
get up, you order it from a vending machine. Who
there is no English. I don't know what I'm ordering
(34:44):
it from a picture. There's like a picture and I'm
like this one and I just pressed a button. And
then you sit down at a very cramped little table.
No one's talking, everyone's just eating and slurping. They brought
me my bowl of ramen and it is still to
this day one of the most delicious broths. Like the
(35:05):
richness of every sip. I did not want it to end.
I've been chasing it ever since. You know, I thought,
I was like, oh my god, I love ramen. I
don't love ramen. I mean ramen is fine. I loved
that bowl of whatever that was. Wow, and it makes
me want to go all the way back to Tokyo.
I will eat there every day.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I will eat there twice a day. I'm so jealous
that people are just eating it on their lunch break.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So next time we're together, I'll try to recreate that.
Not I couldn't do it. I died I could ever
recreate that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
You got me thinking, like, do I even know where
ramen is? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Like, I know I'm like I've had ramen. I've had
ramen in New York and there's great places there too,
but no, this was like other level.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
So if y'all out there and see a line of businessmen,
get in the line, we could talk about food all day.
At the end of our podcast, we play our flaky game,
and I think it's time.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Wait, are we at the end of the podcast? I
think I think we're running into it too much fun.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I know, I kind of want to continue to talk
about different culinary traditions and experiences with you, but I
guess we'll just have to have a round two of
some sort.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Have me back.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
All right, So we're here in the flaky game. Now
will she get these questions? Right? Of course, you've already
answered most of them. Really will We will march forward?
So it's multiple choice. Okay, all right, it's all about
Saint Louis food. Okay, let's begin. The pork steak comes
(36:32):
from what butcher's call pork butt. On what part of
the pig? Will you find it on the tush? On
the tush? That's correct, right on the tush.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I thought it was the shoulder. Oh is it the shoulder?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Well, pork butt is the shoulder. Correct.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
This could be why the butcher was so confused when
I was asking, I'm like, it's part of the rump.
I'm it's like your upper thigh into the glute. That
is literally what I thought it was. It was like,
I'm not sure that's the kind of meat you're gonna
want to eat. I think I do, sir, because but
the butt. Why do they call it the butt? Because
(37:10):
if it's a shoulder, this is confusing.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
All of us. But because of that slight confusion, I
believe your answer holds true. It's the butt, which is
the shoulder, which is the rump, which means you're right, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Except in saying it, I believed I was eating at
the butt of a.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Pork, the actual pork.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But yeah, that's what I thought it was. You know
that part that you have to do like a deep
stretch to open up like your your upper hip into
your glute. Yeah, I thought that's what we were eating.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
No, no, no, no, okay, now I'm like thinking of a
pig stretching and trying to figure out what part i'd
be eating. We're gonna move on now. Oh I don't
think we talked about this. What is a famous type
of Saint Louis sandwich. Is it an Italian sub? Is
it a Philly cheese steak? Is it the Gerber special?
Or is it a pushtrami on rye.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Okay, I'm gonna say Italian sub because of all of
the delicious Italian subs I've eaten in Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
You know, I have to default to my statisticians over here.
It's apparently the Gerber special.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
What is a Gerber special?
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Well, what's on that sandwich?
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Gerber sandwich is a hot, open faced sandwich served in
Saint Louis. It consists of a Italian or French bread,
spread with garlic, butter, and top with ham and proval cheese,
seasoned with a sprinkling of.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Petta cheese, sandwich.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
So so ham, proval paprika, and toasted yo It sounds
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
It's sounding a little bit like an Emo's pizza as
a sandwich is frankly.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
And our last question here, which of these is not
something created in Saint Louis? Okay, toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake,
deep dish pizza or fried brain sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
I think the deep dish pizza yes, correct, did Chicago
do that?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Are they just famous for it?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I don't know what the deal is with the deep
dish anymore. Like everyone like talks bad about it.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
People in Chicago are like, we don't really eat that,
we eat we eat the thin style. And I'm like, guys,
I mean, you know, it seems like deep Dish has
been discarded into the.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Abyss too much. Do you need like a fork and knife?
If I can't pick it up with my hands, I
feel like it's not a pizza. I'm just gonna say it.
I love Okay, I'm drawing a line in the sand.
You have to hold it in your hands, I.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You know, listen like a casserole. Yeah. I think pizza
is a flatbread, right, yes, and deep dish pizza is
not a flat bread. It is not hot, I don't
I will say it is tasty though, I mean it's
meat and cheese and sausage. I mean, you know, so.
Of course, finally, here on Flaky Biscuit, we always talk
with our guests about something that's important to the community
or you know, any kind of organization that we use
(39:55):
our successes in life to kind of support to give
back to just bring awareness to so love for you
to talk to me about Mary's Lists and let my
listeners know what they can do to help and support
Sure Well.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Mary's List is an organization that helps recently arriving refugee
families get their footing in Los Angeles. What's really special
and interesting for this podcast is that food is a
big part of Mary's List because having families come in
(40:26):
from somewhere else where, they have really nothing. You know,
everyone I've worked with these families and they come in
and they have a backpack and it's a backpack that
they've had maybe for two years in a refugee camp.
So when they arrive, they don't have much, and so
Marie's List will help set them up with housing and
(40:47):
clothing and help with language, and there's just so many things.
I mean, we've all moved to a different city before,
right like within our own country with our same language,
and I can just you're suddenly like wait, I go
into the grocery store and like where's all the stuff.
And it's stressful and it's I don't have things. When
(41:07):
you have that situation and then you don't know the
language and you don't know the food and everything smells different.
And also the reason you left your house was not
because you were excited about a new opportunity, but because
you were fleeing danger. It just takes on a whole
other level. And one of the things that's really important
to Mary's List is not just like giving people stuff,
(41:31):
but creating a community of support. And one of the
things that they do is they have a supper club
and they will have new arriving families cook their cuisine
and then bring people in that neighborhood together to eat
that family's cuisine and learn about that family story and
why they're now in that community. And it just creates
(41:52):
this excitement in the neighborhood to learn about these people
and create a new work of support. They call it
the behive. You know, you kind of create a hive
around these new families. So it's really really special and
it's been such an honor to get to work with them.
I just love it.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Wow. Yeah, I mean, what better way to make people
feel some form of community than with food through a meal?
Through a meal, and better yet, like cooking what they
like to eat with these new neighbors, right who have
to kind of just like help them integrate into society.
I mean that that's beautiful, Jenna. I mean I really
really appreciate you bringing that up and letting our listeners
(42:33):
know about this. How can we what can we do?
I mean besides like the you know, donate volunteer, I mean,
what are what are the things that can be done
by us, right by me, by these listeners.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Sure? Well, if you go to Mar'slist dot org, they've
got all these different ways that you can support the organization.
A really simple, really easy one that you can do
with your whole family, or even like if your kid's
school is looking for a project, you know, as a
way for kids to learn about being of service in
their communities. Is every time a new family enters Mary's List,
(43:05):
they get a box of supplies, and in that box
they like to have some sort of homemade item, So
something that was made by hand. Maybe it's an afghan,
maybe it's a knitted hat, like something like a housewarming gift.
Because the box of stuff is very impersonal. It's toilet
paper and you know, toothbrushes and things like that, So
(43:26):
how can you put something personal in that box? So
if you like to knit, or if you are a
person who like makes homemade tablecloths or place mats or
something something that we can give that feels like it's
from the heart. You can box those up and send
those off to Mary. But another thing is every box
comes with a handwritten welcome letter, and they even have
(43:46):
examples of welcome letters. Draw a picture on it, whatever
it is. Mary is really amazing because she thinks, what
would I want if I just got somewhere, you know,
what would make me feel welcome. The idea is welcoming
people into the country under these unfortunate circumstances, and so
they like to give those touches. So those are really
(44:07):
easy things you can do from anywhere in the country.
And then you know, if you're local, come on down
to one of the meals. You know, if you purchase
one of the meals, that money goes to the organization
and you'll get to meet the family, and you can
donate supplies. You can help go package up supplies.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
That's here in La.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
That's here in La. My husband and I we found
out about it and we've done a number of deliveries
with Mary to different families. I mean, I have so
many stories of going into their homes and talk about food.
My gosh, most of the families that we've delivered things
to are from Afghanistan or Syria. They always want to
(44:45):
offer you tea or offer you something in return for
you giving them whatever it is that you know you've brought.
And so there's that sense of community of like you're
my neighbor, You're a person who I want to join
this country. That warmth is like a big part of
the organization's philosophy.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Wow, Jenna, we need more than in this country. That's
just buy you need to make me cry. We need
so much of that in this country. And I really
really appreciate all of that work that you're doing. I
would love to start supporting as well. To the listeners.
It's mirrors list dot org. Check all that info in
the show notes. Make sure that you get down with
this because this is super super important for people coming
into this country who are now our family, our brothers,
(45:30):
our sisters, and I appreciate you sharing that with us.
We also appreciate you just being here on Flaky Biscuit.
This was an unreal, surreal, crazy moment to have you
here in chat. We have so much more to talk about,
it seems, whether it's about food or whether it's about
deep frying hushpuppies or changing. I thoroughly enjoy this conversation.
(45:50):
I bet our listeners will as well. And I want
to just thank you so deeply for being on Flaky Biscuit.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Thanks for listening. Fam. If you want to try my
Saint Luisau pizza, you can find it on shandaland dot
com and fam I want to know how it goes.
Share with our community on Discord, tag me Arson Brian,
tag Miss Jennifisher. On Instagram tag Shondaland as well of course,
and post a photo. I'm be very curious. And a
little tip for you. If you can't find that proble cheese,
(46:22):
you can make it yourself by combining white cheddar, Swiss provolone,
and a little liquid smoke. Don't forget to check out
Mary's list at miris list dot org. You can find
my handle and all the links I mentioned in the
show notes for this episode. So if you like Flaky Biscuit,
you know what to do. Leave us a rating or review, share,
subscribe like all of that. Flaky Biscuit is executive produced
(46:44):
by Sandy Bailey alex Alja Lauren Homan, Tyler Klang, and
Gabrielle Collins. Our creative producer is Bridget Kenna, and our
editor and producer is Nicholas Harder. With music by Crucial.
Recipes from Flaky Biscuit can be found each week on Shot.
Subscribe to the Shondaland YouTube channel for more Flaky Biscuit content.
(47:06):
Flaky Biscuit is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Flaky Biscuit is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Flaky Biscuit, where each episode we're
cooking up delicious morsels of nostalgia, meals and recipes that
have comforted and guided our guests to success. Each episode,
(00:21):
I'm creating a recipe from scratch based on my guest
nostalgic moment, hand delivering it to them, and recipes that
I'm hoping you listeners are making as well at home.
Today I have a really really exciting guest. My heart's racing.
I'm like, oh man, this is so crazy. I can't
believe it's actually happening. A fellow lover of bread making.
(00:42):
That's actually what protests close together, which is no surprise
because Bread's is a graysting on the planet. But there's
much more than that. She's an admired podcast host, esteemed author,
and of course you might know her for her role
as Pam in the office. We are welcoming today, Jenna Fisher. Hello, Hello,
Welcome to Blaky Biscuit.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm so exciting. We're having like a mutual nerd out
because we're meeting in person for the first time.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
It's been a couple of years in the making now right, Yeah,
I'm out here in La doing my thing. But you,
a couple of years ago decided to support my first cookbook.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, let me tell you, and I'm not saying this lightly,
you were part of something that really truly changed my life.
You and Bonnie O'Hara Ya, no, Bonnie as well.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, yes, Bonnie is amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You talk about how I got into bread making and
we were dming. This is like one of the perks
of being I guess a public figure is that when
you're in the middle of bread making and you have
a big question, sometimes the person who posted the recipe
will DM you back. It is a nice perk, I'll say, yeah.
But that really started our back and forth. And you know,
(01:51):
I started making bread and it was through Bonnie's book
Bread Making for Beginners. But once I felt like maybe
I wasn't a beginner anymore. I was looking for that
kind of like intermediate thing. But I wanted that same
spirit of I wanted to measure my ingredients. I don't
want any cups and tablespoce. Oh, that's right, let me
say that I weigh my ingredients. I don't want any
(02:13):
cups and tablespoons or any of that business. But also,
you had all of this stuff on your website for
sourdough discard, and I had so much sourdough discard. And
I made your chocolate chip cookies. I made your Johnny cakes.
Your chocolate chip cookies have become like a signature, like
(02:36):
people know me for your cookies. Yes, I get asked
to bring them all that kind of stuff. But here's
the way you change my life. I had started making
bread way before the pandemic. I just want to say
I was not a pandemic breadmaker. I was a pre
pandemic breadmaker. I was ahead of the track. I had
(02:56):
been working full time as an actress, and I was
gone a lot from home, and I was like having
to do that thing where I'm like facetiming my kids
to bed, which I hated, and even though I loved acting,
I was really craving something else. But I didn't know
it until I started baking bread. And as you know,
(03:17):
to bake bread, you have to stay home, you have
to nurture that dough. So I did this thing where
I started baking bread every day for like twenty days
in a row. My husband did have a minor intervention
with me where he was like, baby, are you okay?
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Was there it too much dough on like the cabinets
or something.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
It was just sort of like you started baking bread
and you have not stopped. But what I realized in
that moment I had this epiphany. I realized, Oh my god,
I think I want to be home. Part of this
passion of bread making is because I don't want to
leave my house. I want to be here. This is
my foundation, is my house, and then I want everything
(03:57):
to happen from there. And once I realized that, I
like changed my whole life. I stopped acting. I'm a
full time podcaster, which I do mostly from hume h.
That was an epiphany for me, and you were part
of that epiphany. You and Bonnie we changed changed my life.
I mean it for real, all right, job done? Forget
(04:19):
that amazing and changing lives.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
At the same time, I was just hanging out in
my kitchen one day and all of a sudden, my
phone is just blowing up and I'm like, what is
going on? Like what could possibly be this? Like critical
that people are texting me and say, ooh did you
see see what you know what I mean. It's like, oh,
it's like Jenna Fisher posted about me. I was like
whoa sound, was like what this is out of the blue,
you know. But it did create a lot of awareness
(04:44):
for my work and helped me sell a lot of books,
so I could say the same thing, Jenny, you changed
my life as well. And you know, of course me
and Bonnie had the you know, the we talked to
Jenni Fisher chats on his side like oh yeah, you
know we got the jennif Fisher books. You know what
I'm saying. You know you already know we had them
chat Spinachi. He's a very talented baker. So here we are.
We're behind microphones. Like you said, this is what you
(05:06):
do now for a living? How has that been?
Speaker 2 (05:08):
By the way, I love it so much. I get
to work with my best friend. Yes, Angela Kinsey is
my best friend in real life, and she's my business partner.
You know, she was on the office with me as well,
and we've wanted to work together again ever since the
office ended. And now we get to work together and
it's amazing. We get to set our own schedule, we
get to set it around every family activity that we
(05:31):
want to be a part of. We get to decide
how we prioritize things. It's been really important and special.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. Also, like your content and your merch and everything
about your podcast is exceptional. So you already I'm gonna
need some advice at some point, you know what I mean,
some tips and tricks.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Well, you asked me about starting a podcast, and my
advice to you is don't do it. It so much work.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, but listen. So you're here at Flaky Biscuit and
let's actually let our listeners know why you're even here.
So what did I prepare you today?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You prepared for me a Saint Louis style Emo's pizza.
So I grew up in Saint Louis, Missouri, and Saint
Louis has a style of pizza. It is a very
very thin, crust, crispy kind of wafery sort of thing,
a little bit of tomato sauce, I think, but barely.
It's like almost not. I'm not sure, though you probably researched.
(06:25):
I haven't eaten it yet. But then the cheese is
a pro vel, which is a made up cheese. It
is a blend of I believe provolone and a processed
sort of in the family of saya velvida, but it's
not velvita, some odd cheese mixture. And then what you
(06:46):
do is you only order it. You don't really go
to Emo's and eat this pizza. You either go and
pick it up and then you drive it home in
the box or you have it delivered, because that thirty
minutes in the box is the time when the cheese
turns into a type of a type of plastic yes,
that layers the crispy crust. And this is the part
(07:08):
that non Saint Louisan's are most confused by.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Why enlighten us, I.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Don't know, but this is the tradition of the Saint
Louis style pizza. J Novac from the office. He was
doing a comedy show on Saint Louis and he texted
me and he said, Hey, what like local food do
I need to eat? And I said, you have to
hit an Emo's pizza. You have to. It's legendary. He
thought I was pranking him. When he ate it, he said,
this is like the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten.
(07:36):
F you, this is off, And I'm like, what are
you talking? About I'm like, that was not a joke.
I legitimately love it, and people from Saint Louis legitimately
love it. Like my husband doesn't love it, hmm, but
I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I feel like I would probably like it because the
plastic thing kind of resonates with me. Like I'm a
big fan of American cheese. Yeah, I'm a huge fan
of American cea. I think it's one of the most
delicious and meltiple and perfectly textured cheeses, even and you.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Were with it and it's a processed cheese.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Get this. The other day, I think at Whole Foods
here in Burbank or wherever we were, there was an
organic American cheese.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
What is that? I guess I was just like man.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
And it was seven bucks for the package, and I
was like, bro, the way people sell and market stuff
these days, it's unbelievable organic American cheese.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Were you curious, like, did you want to buy it?
Speaker 1 (08:24):
I did buy it and it was cheddar? No, it
was I swear it was just cheddar. So if you're
in the pizzeria eating the pizza and you didn't take
it away, is there like a perception of people that
sit in there and eat.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
No, because you know, as a kid, maybe you're going
to have your birthday party there. It's okay, like you
can eat it there. You're just if you eat it
when it's too hot, it's not as good.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
How does it say crispy though, I don't know. I
don't know it does, but it does. So you get
home thirty minutes later, and then mug is crispy, Yes,
a little crisp. I just you know, I moved the
pizza that I made, and we all in this room
heard an audible crisp crunch, So I think I might
be in good shape here. When was the first time
you had this dish? Wondering? Actually, like was it a
(09:11):
special occasion?
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Here's the thing. It's one of those things that I
have no memory of it ever, not being in my life.
I was probably so young the first time I had
it in Saint Louis. You just grow up with it.
So I feel like it's just always been the pizza
of my life. But I have very specific memories. This
is the pizza you order when you're cramming for a
(09:36):
chemistry test in high school. This is the pizza you
order after prom. This was your like late night Munchie pizza.
So I think a lot of my memories go back
to high school with my friends. This is the pizza
when you have a sleepover, you know.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Those like formative formative. Yeah, why I'm trying to think,
like I think I went to McDonald's after prom to
be honest with you. Sure, well, I'm going to describe
a little bit of what I did to make this
pizza because we had a conversation I think like two
days ago, and I think I mentioned using yeast. Yes,
but it's not really levened. It's not a leven dough.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
It is very it's a very thing.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
It's a thin dough. So I there was no fermentation
that occurred here. And there's a lot of flatbreads that
you can think of like that, like a Turkish lacoma.
June is actually so the dough is actually kind of
similar to that. You don't really need yeast or fermentation
to develop like a good base. So that was that
and the provo.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Thing, Oh is it to pronounce provoal bro I'm asking youvel.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
No, I have no clue. I didn't even know what
this was until so she was doing the deep dive
Bridget was doing the deep dive on this pizza, and
I make a lot of different pizzas, but I.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Know that was one of the reasons why I picked it,
because I'm like, if anyone knows pizza.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
There's no way he can mess it up. But I
actually was like Saint Louis. I was like, I know
Chicago cracker thin, I know, like tavern style, kind of
Midwest tavern style, like I know a few different styles,
obviously deep dish and all that New York Nepolitan. But
I was like, oh, Saint Louis. I guess in my
head I thought I knew what to do, and then
like a couple of days ago, I was like, wait,
I don't even I don't know what to make. And
then she's like bridges like this thing called provail cheese.
(11:13):
I'm like, oh, like provolone, right, and it's like, nah Son,
it's not.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
There's I think is provolone in it. It's a blend.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yes, So that's what I had to do. I made
a blend of white cheddar, Swiss and provolone, and everything
on the internet said I had to add liquid smoke
to it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I don't know if you do do you associate smokiness
with this? Yes, that track, So I'm on the right
track here. So I made a blend of these cheeses.
I literally added the tiniest amount of liquid smoke, and
I felt like I was like a pitmaster and the
whole house. I was like, yo am, I like smoking
a pork belly back here, something like, what's going on?
It's very smoky. And some Oregonos, you know, some dried
(11:51):
kind of a tendian. I picked up some crushed Bianca
Tonopoly tomatoes and I have the thin crust here, and
I baked it. I just baked it. So I think
it's I think the moment has come.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I think it's ready.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
I think it's it's looking right.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
So have you tried it?
Speaker 1 (12:06):
No?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Oh, this is the first. You don't do a test run.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
No, no, no, no oh, I'm excited. No, this is
real deal. No, bs like, I just made this right
now and this random oven that I've never used before.
So okay, let's do it. Let's see.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Uh, you gotta cut it into this.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
I know I got to cut it and bring it.
I got to cut it into squares. You heard me,
I thank you?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You really did deep dive pisa.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That's her specialty. First, let's see, So did I pass
the esthetic tests? I've seen You've been staring at it NonStop,
so I need I need some thoughts there.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Esthetically, home Run, I give this one hundred percent immediately,
it looks like inn Emo's pizza.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
By the way, Emos is like there are other places
in Saint Louis that do the Saint Louis style pizza.
There's this restaurant called Chercos that my family would go
to all the time, but I think of it as
an Emo's pizza, kind of like how every face tissue
is a Kleenex.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Band aid is a band aid. I don't even know
what else to call it. That's right, youtubs, I mean really, yes,
what are.
Speaker 3 (13:01):
They Emo's pizzas going into like frozen food aisles now too?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
So just oh, so you could get a frozen.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Emos for my thirtieth birthday. My big splurge I lived
out here in LA was that I contacted a local
Emo's Pizza in Saint Louis and I paid them to
FedEx meet some Emos frozen pizza on dry ice, and
I served it for my thirtieth birthday. That's how much
I love this pizza.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Collar.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
That was you know you've made it.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
That's I know you've made it when you bring that
hometown taste to everyone and they're like, what is this.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I had only just been cast on the office pilot.
It had not even been picked up yet. So I
was cast on the Office pilot when I was twenty
nine and we shot it, and then when I I
turned thirty, in a vacuum like, I assumed that the
pilot wouldn't get picked up and I would never see
those people again. So I didn't even invite any of
the cast to my thirtieth birthday. But with my money
(13:57):
that I got from this first job, my first big
deal paycheck, I flew in Emo's pizza like FedEx on
dry ice. It was like, should I buy a new
couch or should I fly in the Emo's pizza? And
I just sat on the floor with my pizza.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, no, I don't blame We'll be back after these
messages from our sponsors, welcome back to Flaky Biscuit. I'm
(14:37):
gonna cut it. I think we heard a crispiness at
some point, But so I got to do the little
squares here. Oh, Yeah, that's crunchy. Let's go look at that.
How was the cow? Was the square size?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Very good? Yes, very good, very very good.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Off the coff freestyle and here here we go. Hold on,
we should do at the same time. Should be cheers, edge, cheers, cheers.
Here we go. Ready, I don't know what I'm looking
for in the taste.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Okay, here we are. That was really good.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Wow you don't like it?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
No, No, I think it's delicious. I'm just waiting for
the for the truth to come out from you. I
think it's phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Here's what I'll say. The crusted is not quite as
crispy as an Emo's pizza. Your cheese blend is really good.
It's kind of better. It's a little more upscale. Okay,
then the cheese blend on an Emo's.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
So I should have put it in a box fitch
for thirty minutes to somehow get it crispy.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
I'm gonna go in for seconds if that's okay.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Okay, seconds is that's a good thing. I actually just
talked to David Chang about this. I was I actually
appeared on an episode of his show, and he was like,
you know, the best way to know how someone is
feeling when they eat is to just watch their face.
They could say anything. I mean, you could say any
word to me, but like watching the face and the eyes.
That's what I was doing when I took a bite.
It wasn't that I didn't like it. I was like
(16:06):
trying to read your expression. I was like, Okay, she's
definitely vibing on this, and you got a second slice.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
So I liked it. And I was afraid you were
having like a BJ Novak response. No, you were like,
what made me make?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
No? Me and BJ gotta have a talk, man, You
gotta let's put some respect on let's let's put some
respect on the emo's name. So to the listeners right now,
what we want to know. You know, we talk about
something called the Proost effect here, which is food triggering memory,
food triggering nostalgic moment. And my listeners right now are
probably at the edge of their seats wondering. She just
(16:42):
took another bite. So y'all gotta be patient. She took
another bite. We about to get the answer in a minute.
I want to know where you went. I want to
know how the smell made you feel the texture of
the flame. I want I want to know where your
brain went when you had that slice.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, so here's why I I'm back in my childhood home,
the house I grew up in. In our family room,
we had like this shag carpet and wood paneling. This
was our TV room, and it's sort of taking me
back to that time. Oh, that time before like adult responsibility.
(17:19):
You know, whenever you would order this, it was either
a treat for like Friday night, Oh, let's get a
pizza and we'll watch a movie as a family, right,
or it was like I'm with my very best girlfriends
and we're at a sleepover. Or when I say, like
after prom or like after a school dance, it's like
(17:40):
really after after, like the boys have left and it's
just the girlfriends downloading to each other over a pizza.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
So those are like the memories that are coming up.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Wow, once again, second time, job done. I'm out, no
matter what the circumstances, no matter what I'm making. It
always makes me feel good when I help someone kind
of just think about moments that are so pure. So
I'm really happy that I allowed you to have that
moment of bliss and relive those nostalgic moments.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
It's true, like it's such a gift to be able
to bake for people or cook for people. There's so
much love that goes into it, you know, and you
feel that when it served to you. I mean, I
can feel the Karen love you took with my pizza.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
O man, boy, feeling good.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I need more of it. I told my kids I
would bring them home a slice. Oh there is, but
I eat one more?
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Yes, do one more? So you know we've talked about emos.
We talked about this pizza. But growing up in Saint Louis,
there's other specialties to eat too, right, I mean, what
are some other Saint Louis food specialties? It's going in
for another bite.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Just gotta just have ruining your podcast.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
No, I'm just giving you all the bite.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
No engineer is like, tell her to stop.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Everyone wants to hear people chew these days. So like,
you know, if there's like a Jenifisher chewing thing that
goes viral, you know it's all good. What was I
even talking about other Saint Louis? Yes, you know I've
been to Saint Louis twice. Okay, I think I had
some good barbecue.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh yeah, right, so yes, So Saint Louis style barbecue
is great. It is not wet. It's like a kind
of like a sticky glaze of barbecue on the meat.
My parents they're friends with a chef in Saint Louis,
and he boils his ribs first, then he puts the
(19:30):
seasonings on, he puts it on the grill, and then
he will do many multiple layers of sauce. But you
want it to get nice and sticky. That's like I
think the Saint Louis style barbecue. That's what I grew
up on. And I've gone other places to get barbecue,
and then I feel confused by, like, how very very
(19:50):
wet a lot of barbecue.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Is most of the East Southern, Eastern Barbara, Texas is dry, right,
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Texas is like a dry rub.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
It's Kansas City. Kansas City is more wet too.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I think Kansas City is more wet. I remember having
some very wet ribs in Memphis. Ones.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh yeah, so barbecue. What else? There's a sandwich, right,
I mean you guys have sandwiches. I mean, like, what
else do we have a sandwich?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
So a really famous one is toasted ravioli. Okay, So
if you go back, you're gonna want to get some
toasted raves, as we call them.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
In the loo.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So it's a meat filled pasta ravioli that like you
could just boil and then you have it with sauce,
but you don't. Instead you bread it and fry it.
So it is a meat ravioli that is then breaded
and fried and then you dip it in like a
marinera sauce. Okay, and it's delish.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Toasted raves toasted. Rating me some toasted rabs, They're.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
Really really good. And then we also do pork steaks.
It is a cut of meat that I did not
know did not exist outside of Saint Louis until I
moved to Los Angeles and my parents came in to
visit and my dad's said, hey, why don't you go
grab some pork steaks and I'll grill them for you.
And I went and I came home and I called him.
(21:08):
I was like, Dad, they don't have them here. He's like, Jenna,
go ask the butcher to give you some pork steaks.
So I asked the butcher and he just blank face.
He's like pork chop I'm like, no, it's not a
pork chop. It's a pork steak. I don't know anything else,
couldn't get it. Call my dad. My Dad's like, Jenna,
(21:28):
this is not a hard task. So I'm like, I
don't know what to tell you. I asked the butcher.
He doesn't know what I'm talking about. So my parents
came out. My dad went in. He's like, I'll handle this.
He goes in, asked the butcher. I remember him coming
back to my apartment and being like, yeah, they don't
have them here. I'm like, I know.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
So I think it's part of the rump. It's thinner
than a traditional pork chop. I think it's a pretty
cheap cut of meat. But you put that on a
grill and then you put barbecue sauce on it and
it's so good.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So that's a Saint Louis thing.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
I'm so hungry for that.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
We also have a frozen custard that we're really famous for.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Oh, I know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Ted Druce.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Frozen custard upside down and it doesn't fall or something
like that. Ted Ruth, Yes, I've been there.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Okay, I'm going to say something very scandalous right now,
it might get me kicked out of Saint Louis. I
prefer just a dairy queen blizzard ooh wow, which also
turns over, right, they turn over the blizzard. I just custard,
like frozen custard that is a little too thick to
(22:41):
me or something or very dairy forward. I barely like
custard as a dessert anyway, So like if to then
freeze it and then add a Snickers to it, that's
a lot for me.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
It sucks. Just say it.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
I don't need to go there. I will hit a
dairy queen preferably the.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Growing list of sponsorship deals that I will not be getting.
You liked it, Yeah, you kind of just crushed my
one food memory from Saint Louis. Kind you kind of
definitely humbled me.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
I do have to say, like researching Saint Louis food, like,
there is a lot of like specific items, but some
of them were created on accident, Like was the toasted
ravioli that was an accident?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Sounds like an accident?
Speaker 3 (23:22):
And a gooey butter cake?
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Oh, how have I not mentioned the gooey buttercake? Was
that an accident? Yes?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
Apparently they messed up the measurements. They actually used too
much butter instead of dough. And then because it was
like during the time of the Great Depression, they were like, oh,
let's just sell it and see what happens.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And it was a hit.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Gooey butter cake will give you a heart attack. It's
like a heart attack and a slice of cake. It
is so good. That was my birthday cake growing up.
Every year my mom would bake us. She would make
us our favorite meal, talk about how food is like
a way that you nurture people and make them feel special.
We got to request our favorite dinner and then whatever
dessert we wanted, we always asked for gooey butter cake.
(24:01):
It is basically made from cream, cheese, butter, powdered sugar
on top of a very thin cake base. So there's
a little bit of cake and a lot of good.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Like the idea of cake, but it's goo forward is
essentially just a slice of goo.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
It is. And so I'll have you know. On the
office there were three of us performers who were from
Saint Louis, Ellie kemper Phyllis Smith and myself, and then
one of our directors can Quappus and then our first
ad Rusty my Mood, five of us from Saint Louis
so we would have a little Saint Louis Club. And
(24:39):
we decided one day that we were going to do
a gooey butter cake bakeoff between Me, Ellie and Phyllis.
We all had, you know, our recipes, our version of
the recipe, and then we did a blind taste test.
Guess who won, Jennifisher, maybe me? Wow, next level, I'll
(25:00):
tell you exactly. My mom has a special trick where
about five minutes before it's done baking, you pull it
out of the oven. You give a little shake of
powdered sugar on the top and put it back in
for the last five minutes and that creates almost like
a little crembrew lay crisp on the top of that
gooey layer. Wow, and people flipped out for it.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
You should have trademarked that you just gave your secrets
away to the world.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
I realize that.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Now, don't give away you know what.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
I would rather everybody have the pleasure of that than
keep it a secret.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, there's no point in keeping Mama's tips a secret,
you know, what I mean, Like, I tell people how
my mom makes a good It's a coconut milk bro
and people are like, oh snap. I'm like, you're still
gonna do it like my mom, so it don't really matter.
We went into the fried Ravioli's you you worked as
a fry cook before, right, I thought that this is
really interesting information.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I worked at a Long John Silver.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yes, Long John Silver's. Talk to me about that fry
station life. How was that? Well?
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Tell you what. I had to fight my way onto
the fright line because I'm back in the day. The
girls were allowed to work the register. We had to
smile and Greek customers face forward, that's who they wanted.
And then they put all the dudes in the back
on the fryer. But the thing was is if you
work the frier, you got like fifty five cents more
(26:21):
per hour. And I was like, wait a second, that's
like not even fair. I'm like, I want a train
to use the fryer. I want to make more money.
And I had to fight. I had to fight my manager.
I had to give him a big speech about how
I was going to sue this establishment for sexual discrimination.
So he got freaked out. He let me train on
(26:45):
the friar and I'm gonna say it was a mistake.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, how was it changing the oil and not fun? Course?
Speaker 2 (26:54):
You know what that stuff splatters, It splatters on your hand.
I had like.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Burnt your hair.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
Get it's a smell you can't get rid of too.
I mean we were frying fish y'all yeah, and hush
puppies and shrimp scampy.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Oh snap.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
I was back there. It was like day two and
I was like, this.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Is extra fifty cents. Bet, I have been worked, I know.
I'm like, oh, get that extra snickers bar.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I'm like, can I maybe I could just take a
shift up front next week?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Damn? And this is wait.
Speaker 2 (27:27):
This was during high school. So this my very first job.
I worked at a kennel and I wasn't even sixteen yet.
Like my parents had to drive me to that job
on the weekends and I would clean out all the
kennel runs and walk the dogs and feed them and
all that. That was awesome. But then once I was
able to drive, I could drive to Manchester Road, this
(27:48):
is like the big road in the suburb I lived,
and I just sort of worked my way up and
down Manchester Road. I worked at Long John Silvers. Then
I worked at an ice creamery called Victoria's Ice So
I was an ice cream scooper and made all the
shakes and all that stuff. And then I eventually settled
at Mickey's car Wash. That job was so great. I
(28:10):
washed cars.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, man, that was.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Like one of my favorite jobs. I worked there three years.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Wow, that must have been had benefits or some gees.
No car wash, it was like the place to be.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
You made your hourly wage plus tips. So I didn't
get any tips at Long John Silver's or when I
was working the soda fountain, I wasn't a waiter, so
I didn't get tips. Mickey's like you could really hustle
on a Saturday. Every car that came through would give
you one dollar, maybe two dollars, and so it really
added up.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Man. So you came to LA and you came to
become an actor. Yeah, how was that grind? I mean,
what was it like to go from Saint Louis to
LA to make this step?
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah? Well, I didn't know anybody. There were a few
people I knew out here who had gone to my
same college and they'd come out before I did, so
they graduated before me. That's the only p that I knew.
I didn't know anyone in the industry that I wanted
to work in. But when I was in high school,
we had to take a mandatory typing class. Yes, and
I did very well.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
What was your highest speed?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
I could type eighty nine words per minute with ninety
eight percent accuracy.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Wow, that is quite impressive.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
It's all in the accuracy. I always say that I'm like,
anyone can type gibberish really fast, but like I can
type real words without a bunch of editing. So I
came out here and I just registered for a temp
agency and administrative temp agency, and I had really good
typing skills. So I ended up working quite a bit
as a typist. I did also work in catering, but
(29:39):
I never worked as a waiter or a waitress. But
those were my side hustles were catering and then some
form of typing like transcriber, administrative assistant, receptionists. Like that's
what I do.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
That makes sense because you then you've written a book
about how to survive. Yeah, trying actor, So it's that
skill set kind of came full circle.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yes, more typing, more, more.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Typing, having a good time. Stay flaky, We'll be right back.
(30:26):
All right, all right, let's just jump back in. So
your first book, The Actor's Life, a survival guide, I mean,
a roadmap of sorts, right for people that are aspiring
to act. And I want to Well, I know you're
reels because you talk about taking advantage of buffets, all right,
So like you're straight up talking about like saving food,
(30:49):
Like you know what I'm saying, Like.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
Yeah, how food features heavily in this book. As I
was writing it, I realized it's a very food forward
survival guy.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
Your food forward, I think, I am. What are your
thoughts on the LA food scene?
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Well, I'll tell you there were a lot of foods
I'd never tried before until I came to LA. I
had never had sushi. I had never had good Mexican food,
like authentic Mexican food.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
I Like, you know what I'm saying, Like, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Like you come to LA and there's just like a
street cart that's the best Mexican food you've ever eaten,
you know, and so like I'd never tasted a lot
of these flavors. I'd never had Indian food before I
came to Los Angeles, either, I learned that my parents
were not very adventurous eaters, is what I realized. Saint
Louis has a very big Italian community. They've got all
(31:38):
these restaurants, we call it the Hill, and so I
had eaten my fair share of pastas and pizzas and
all those sorts of things, a lot of burgers and barbecue,
but I hadn't branched out, and so that was really
exciting to me. Getting to discover all these new ways
to eat food was very cool.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, that's what these big cities do. And it's interesting
how immigrates. Pattern basically dictates like what you eat where
you grow up, right, Like, I'm from New Orleans. You know.
The first time Bridget comes, she's like, oh, we should
order Chinese. I'm like, nah, let's not. You know, of
course there are Chinese restaurants there, but like you know,
when you live in New York City and then you
visit New Orleans, I'm like, I'm definitely not gonna get
(32:18):
Chinese food, you know, just Vietnamese food I will get
because there's a huge Vietnamese community there. So I didn't
know that not a lot of people do some of
the best fu you'll ever have and bond me.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
But La is one of those cities where I mean,
take your pick. I mean you got soul, food, you
got you know, you got, you got everything here. Experiencing
New York and La is just a different animal. It's
just a different beast of the reality of like how
other cultures eat. It's like accessible, Like I could go
eat Albanian food right now. Probably, I think.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
That's what's so crazy. You probably could. Yeah, well where
is where have you eaten your best meal? Me? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Whoa who ever?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
I don't know, or maybe just the first one that
comes to mind, like what you think of, like an
amazing meal you had, and you're like it was in
this place, like I know mine. Oh yeah, I know
the one that just popped my head.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Okay, I'll go. I'll go first. So in Hunders there's
a lake it's called the Lago Johoa, And they go
out right there in front of you and catch the
fish and they clean it and deep fry it and
they serve it to you immediately. And it comes with
arosi frijoles black beans and rice with an encortido pickled
vegetable mixture and a little bit of South sign some
crispy fled platanos Okay. The first time I had that
(33:29):
with my mom and my uncle, I mean I was
just completely blown away.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
I think I was twenty one because previously in my
hunter's trips, I was a kid, so they just gave
me like sodas and corn flakes, and when he's a kid,
just give him whatever, you know. But at that moment,
I was like twenty or twenty one. It changed my
perception of my culture's food. I realized how culinarily rich
it is there. So I would say off the top
(33:54):
of my head that meal came up immediately, Wow, what's yours.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
So my husband and I were traveling in Tokyo, and
we were so excited to eat and all just like
the fanciest places in Tokyo. Months ahead of time, we
got these reservations and all the meals were great. They were.
But then we heard about this Ramen place deep in
the corridors of this train station.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
Ooh snap.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
And we went down there and we waited in a
long line of just like Japanese business people, like everyone's
in their suits, they're clearly on their lunch break. This
line snaked through the halls of this train station. You
get up, you order it from a vending machine. Who
there is no English. I don't know what I'm ordering
(34:44):
it from a picture. There's like a picture and I'm
like this one and I just pressed a button. And
then you sit down at a very cramped little table.
No one's talking, everyone's just eating and slurping. They brought
me my bowl of ramen and it is still to
this day one of the most delicious broths. Like the
(35:05):
richness of every sip. I did not want it to end.
I've been chasing it ever since. You know, I thought,
I was like, oh my god, I love ramen. I
don't love ramen. I mean ramen is fine. I loved
that bowl of whatever that was. Wow, and it makes
me want to go all the way back to Tokyo.
I will eat there every day.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I will eat there twice a day. I'm so jealous
that people are just eating it on their lunch break.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
So next time we're together, I'll try to recreate that.
Not I couldn't do it. I died I could ever
recreate that.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
That.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
You got me thinking, like, do I even know where
ramen is? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Like, I know I'm like I've had ramen. I've had
ramen in New York and there's great places there too,
but no, this was like other level.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
So if y'all out there and see a line of businessmen,
get in the line, we could talk about food all day.
At the end of our podcast, we play our flaky game,
and I think it's time.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Wait, are we at the end of the podcast? I
think I think we're running into it too much fun.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I know, I kind of want to continue to talk
about different culinary traditions and experiences with you, but I
guess we'll just have to have a round two of
some sort.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Have me back.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
All right, So we're here in the flaky game. Now
will she get these questions? Right? Of course, you've already
answered most of them. Really will We will march forward?
So it's multiple choice. Okay, all right, it's all about
Saint Louis food. Okay, let's begin. The pork steak comes
(36:32):
from what butcher's call pork butt. On what part of
the pig? Will you find it on the tush? On
the tush? That's correct, right on the tush.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
I thought it was the shoulder. Oh is it the shoulder?
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Well, pork butt is the shoulder. Correct.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
This could be why the butcher was so confused when
I was asking, I'm like, it's part of the rump.
I'm it's like your upper thigh into the glute. That
is literally what I thought it was. It was like,
I'm not sure that's the kind of meat you're gonna
want to eat. I think I do, sir, because but
the butt. Why do they call it the butt? Because
(37:10):
if it's a shoulder, this is confusing.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
All of us. But because of that slight confusion, I
believe your answer holds true. It's the butt, which is
the shoulder, which is the rump, which means you're right, okay.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
Except in saying it, I believed I was eating at
the butt of a.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
Pork, the actual pork.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
But yeah, that's what I thought it was. You know
that part that you have to do like a deep
stretch to open up like your your upper hip into
your glute. Yeah, I thought that's what we were eating.
Speaker 1 (37:37):
No, no, no, no, okay, now I'm like thinking of a
pig stretching and trying to figure out what part i'd
be eating. We're gonna move on now. Oh I don't
think we talked about this. What is a famous type
of Saint Louis sandwich. Is it an Italian sub? Is
it a Philly cheese steak? Is it the Gerber special?
Or is it a pushtrami on rye.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Okay, I'm gonna say Italian sub because of all of
the delicious Italian subs I've eaten in Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
You know, I have to default to my statisticians over here.
It's apparently the Gerber special.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
What is a Gerber special?
Speaker 1 (38:16):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (38:17):
Well, what's on that sandwich?
Speaker 1 (38:19):
Gerber sandwich is a hot, open faced sandwich served in
Saint Louis. It consists of a Italian or French bread,
spread with garlic, butter, and top with ham and proval cheese,
seasoned with a sprinkling of.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
Petta cheese, sandwich.
Speaker 1 (38:33):
So so ham, proval paprika, and toasted yo It sounds
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
It's sounding a little bit like an Emo's pizza as
a sandwich is frankly.
Speaker 1 (38:43):
And our last question here, which of these is not
something created in Saint Louis? Okay, toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake,
deep dish pizza or fried brain sandwiches.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
I think the deep dish pizza yes, correct, did Chicago
do that?
Speaker 1 (39:05):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Are they just famous for it?
Speaker 1 (39:08):
I don't know what the deal is with the deep
dish anymore. Like everyone like talks bad about it.
Speaker 2 (39:12):
I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
People in Chicago are like, we don't really eat that,
we eat we eat the thin style. And I'm like, guys,
I mean, you know, it seems like deep Dish has
been discarded into the.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Abyss too much. Do you need like a fork and knife?
If I can't pick it up with my hands, I
feel like it's not a pizza. I'm just gonna say it.
I love Okay, I'm drawing a line in the sand.
You have to hold it in your hands, I.
Speaker 1 (39:34):
You know, listen like a casserole. Yeah. I think pizza
is a flatbread, right, yes, and deep dish pizza is
not a flat bread. It is not hot, I don't
I will say it is tasty though, I mean it's
meat and cheese and sausage. I mean, you know, so.
Of course, finally, here on Flaky Biscuit, we always talk
with our guests about something that's important to the community
or you know, any kind of organization that we use
(39:55):
our successes in life to kind of support to give
back to just bring awareness to so love for you
to talk to me about Mary's Lists and let my
listeners know what they can do to help and support
Sure Well.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
Mary's List is an organization that helps recently arriving refugee
families get their footing in Los Angeles. What's really special
and interesting for this podcast is that food is a
big part of Mary's List because having families come in
(40:26):
from somewhere else where, they have really nothing. You know,
everyone I've worked with these families and they come in
and they have a backpack and it's a backpack that
they've had maybe for two years in a refugee camp.
So when they arrive, they don't have much, and so
Marie's List will help set them up with housing and
(40:47):
clothing and help with language, and there's just so many things.
I mean, we've all moved to a different city before,
right like within our own country with our same language,
and I can just you're suddenly like wait, I go
into the grocery store and like where's all the stuff.
And it's stressful and it's I don't have things. When
(41:07):
you have that situation and then you don't know the
language and you don't know the food and everything smells different.
And also the reason you left your house was not
because you were excited about a new opportunity, but because
you were fleeing danger. It just takes on a whole
other level. And one of the things that's really important
to Mary's List is not just like giving people stuff,
(41:31):
but creating a community of support. And one of the
things that they do is they have a supper club
and they will have new arriving families cook their cuisine
and then bring people in that neighborhood together to eat
that family's cuisine and learn about that family story and
why they're now in that community. And it just creates
(41:52):
this excitement in the neighborhood to learn about these people
and create a new work of support. They call it
the behive. You know, you kind of create a hive
around these new families. So it's really really special and
it's been such an honor to get to work with them.
I just love it.
Speaker 1 (42:12):
Wow. Yeah, I mean, what better way to make people
feel some form of community than with food through a meal?
Through a meal, and better yet, like cooking what they
like to eat with these new neighbors, right who have
to kind of just like help them integrate into society.
I mean that that's beautiful, Jenna. I mean I really
really appreciate you bringing that up and letting our listeners
(42:33):
know about this. How can we what can we do?
I mean besides like the you know, donate volunteer, I mean,
what are what are the things that can be done
by us, right by me, by these listeners.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
Sure? Well, if you go to Mar'slist dot org, they've
got all these different ways that you can support the organization.
A really simple, really easy one that you can do
with your whole family, or even like if your kid's
school is looking for a project, you know, as a
way for kids to learn about being of service in
their communities. Is every time a new family enters Mary's List,
(43:05):
they get a box of supplies, and in that box
they like to have some sort of homemade item, So
something that was made by hand. Maybe it's an afghan,
maybe it's a knitted hat, like something like a housewarming gift.
Because the box of stuff is very impersonal. It's toilet
paper and you know, toothbrushes and things like that, So
(43:26):
how can you put something personal in that box? So
if you like to knit, or if you are a
person who like makes homemade tablecloths or place mats or
something something that we can give that feels like it's
from the heart. You can box those up and send
those off to Mary. But another thing is every box
comes with a handwritten welcome letter, and they even have
(43:46):
examples of welcome letters. Draw a picture on it, whatever
it is. Mary is really amazing because she thinks, what
would I want if I just got somewhere, you know,
what would make me feel welcome. The idea is welcoming
people into the country under these unfortunate circumstances, and so
they like to give those touches. So those are really
(44:07):
easy things you can do from anywhere in the country.
And then you know, if you're local, come on down
to one of the meals. You know, if you purchase
one of the meals, that money goes to the organization
and you'll get to meet the family, and you can
donate supplies. You can help go package up supplies.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
That's here in La.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
That's here in La. My husband and I we found
out about it and we've done a number of deliveries
with Mary to different families. I mean, I have so
many stories of going into their homes and talk about food.
My gosh, most of the families that we've delivered things
to are from Afghanistan or Syria. They always want to
(44:45):
offer you tea or offer you something in return for
you giving them whatever it is that you know you've brought.
And so there's that sense of community of like you're
my neighbor, You're a person who I want to join
this country. That warmth is like a big part of
the organization's philosophy.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Wow, Jenna, we need more than in this country. That's
just buy you need to make me cry. We need
so much of that in this country. And I really
really appreciate all of that work that you're doing. I
would love to start supporting as well. To the listeners.
It's mirrors list dot org. Check all that info in
the show notes. Make sure that you get down with
this because this is super super important for people coming
into this country who are now our family, our brothers,
(45:30):
our sisters, and I appreciate you sharing that with us.
We also appreciate you just being here on Flaky Biscuit.
This was an unreal, surreal, crazy moment to have you
here in chat. We have so much more to talk about,
it seems, whether it's about food or whether it's about
deep frying hushpuppies or changing. I thoroughly enjoy this conversation.
(45:50):
I bet our listeners will as well. And I want
to just thank you so deeply for being on Flaky Biscuit.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Thanks for listening. Fam. If you want to try my
Saint Luisau pizza, you can find it on shandaland dot
com and fam I want to know how it goes.
Share with our community on Discord, tag me Arson Brian,
tag Miss Jennifisher. On Instagram tag Shondaland as well of course,
and post a photo. I'm be very curious. And a
little tip for you. If you can't find that proble cheese,
(46:22):
you can make it yourself by combining white cheddar, Swiss provolone,
and a little liquid smoke. Don't forget to check out
Mary's list at miris list dot org. You can find
my handle and all the links I mentioned in the
show notes for this episode. So if you like Flaky Biscuit,
you know what to do. Leave us a rating or review, share,
subscribe like all of that. Flaky Biscuit is executive produced
(46:44):
by Sandy Bailey alex Alja Lauren Homan, Tyler Klang, and
Gabrielle Collins. Our creative producer is Bridget Kenna, and our
editor and producer is Nicholas Harder. With music by Crucial.
Recipes from Flaky Biscuit can be found each week on Shot.
Subscribe to the Shondaland YouTube channel for more Flaky Biscuit content.
(47:06):
Flaky Biscuit is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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