Popeyes Chicken is the shiznit. Which begs the question, what about KFC? Are they too indeed the shiznit? And I’m Keith. [Keith, Josh And Nicole] This is “A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich.” Ketchup is a smoothie. Yeah, I put ice in my cereal. So what? That makes no sense. A hot dog is a sandwich. A hot dog is a sandwich. What? Welcome to our podcast “A hot Dog Is A Sandwich.” The show where we break down the world’s biggest food debates. I’m your host Josh Scherer. And I’m your host Nicole Enayati. And I’m Keith. And he is still Keith. Keith Haybersberger from The Try Guys– Habersberger! Is it really Habersberger? [Nicole And Keith] Yes. But so many people say Haybersberger, I don’t even care. That’s so great. Well, today we found out it’s Steifel not Stifel, And so that’s still– Steifel? It’s just a co worker, don’t harass her. It’s hard when you have a long name like Habersberger. In fact, if you can get three out of four syllables correct, I’ll give you passing grade. Honey, Hendizadeh. Yeah. Don’t get me started. Is that still your name? Legally? I don’t think I’m legally married. I feel like you should figure that out. What health insurance is– So long story short, the Rabbi wrote the address of one of my officiants in the wrong spot, so I don’t think I’m legally married. So call me! I tell you, they’re sticklers about those marriage forms. I thought you were gonna say Rabbis were sticklers. I think they are, but no, the California Marriage Department, whatever that is, if you sign outside of the box, they’ll make you redo it. I know, ’cause I signed somebody’s wrong. Wait, same! And then they had to come, and I had to do it again. Why have we all had this experience? My brother didn’t have health insurance for like two months, and he was really mad at me because I messed up the date– You married your brother? No, I didn’t marry my, no, my brother married his lovely wife, but I was the witness because he was like, “You’re next of kin,” but I am also stupid and irresponsible, and he was plying me with cognac the entire night. Number one advice, sign the marriage license before the ceremony. I know it feels wrong. That’s what we did! Do it. And it still got screwed up, no, no, it still got screwed up! Many weddings I’ve gone too, everyone’s like, people are leaving like, “Oh wait, wait, the license!” And everybody’s hammered, and they’re trying to read suddenly a contract and not mess it up. And you’re going to. Yeah, yeah. That’s good advice. You’ve never seen the movie “Little Nicky”? I have, but not in the last 20 years. Not enough to recognize the line– “Popeyes Chicken is the shiznit”? And now I recognize it. Okay, you don’t have to flatter us. As soon as you started talking, like, oh yeah, that is from it. But no, I watched that movie once, and again, not in the last 20 years. So it didn’t stick with me like it stuck with you. Not a Sandler guy? I am actually Sandler guy, but– But not a little Nicky? That one wasn’t my one. I liked all the others. Which I can’t remember! Fair, fair. “Jack and Jill”! The one at the elementary school where he had to go back. Billy Madison. That one! “Waterboy”! “Waterboy” was probably my favorite one. I watched that one a lot, it was great. Keith, you had a baby recently. I did. Oh, mazel! Thank you. What is the first fried chicken that you’ll feed your baby? Oh wow! Hmm. That’s a good question. I mean, what is the first that they can not choke on and die from? Either way, it’s gonna be macerated to not be a good fried chicken experience. So the first fried chicken experience he gets, I think it should be, my first one was probably grocery store fried chicken, to be honest. Which is good! Underrated fried chicken. And yeah, grocery store fried chicken can be really good. And then I had a KFC, and I didn’t have Popeyes at all until I was after college. We didn’t have it in Tennessee very readily available. What was that first Popeyes experience like for you? Were you mind blown? Were you one of the people that started fights in the Popeyes line because of how good it is? I kind of was blown away at how good it was. Same. I was mad that I hadn’t had it, because I really liked fried chicken, and I didn’t realize how much I even could like it until I had Popeyes. Popeyes is what got you to go clear, I believe they use in Scientology. Yeah, yeah. Popeyes is your going clear fried chicken. I’ve never heard that before Well, it has so much grease, it actually turns paper clear. Oh, I see. I loved KFC growing up, and I loved grocery store fried chicken. And then when I got to Chicago, we had Popeyes. And Popeyes also had, at the time, “Can’t get enough of that Popeyes.” And something about that jingle was really the first great thing that I loved, and then they did a lot of spinoffs of the jingle. But there was one not far from me, and they had a $2 Tuesday meal. There was two pieces of chicken. $2? Two pieces of chicken, one side and one biscuit for two bucks. I can’t even buy gum for $2. That changed the game for me as a broke 21 year old by far, to get a $2 lunch? That’s incredible. Maybe it was like $2.22. It was very two oriented. And Becky and I both actually got it almost every Tuesday for a long time. Oh my God. So do you confidently say that Popeyes beats KFC, or are you still on the fence right now? Because we do have a lot of Popeyes in front of us, a lot of KFC in front of us. We tried to mirror the exact orders at each other, ’cause I would say that I like Popeyes better. I don’t know, I don’t know. I think memory is right often false, you know? Sure. You sort of think of things that don’t actually exist. I’ve never taste them side by side. And so now I’m very curious to see what happens. Nicole, what say you? What do I say? My father was a KFC man– Was a drinker and a fiend. Where was he from? We’re from Iran. Well, I was born here. My dad like had this, like a fixation with Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don’t know what it was, but it was like pure Americana to him. It is pure Americana, 100%. So just the thought of getting something from there, and then getting mashed potatoes and gravy. He was like set. He loved it. So I grew up with this in my house, the KFC in my house. But Popeyes, I feel like it’s more modern, and it tastes better? Yeah. And I don’t know why, it just does taste better to me, and it looks better. Yeah, and it smells better. KFC, one, military industrial complex, right? Colonel Sanders, you know what I mean? Popeyes don’t play with that. It’s more modern. But also KFC was like an ambassador for fried chicken around the world. It was, yeah. KFC is the reason we have Korean fried chicken. So that’s huge. We can’t pretend like it wasn’t essential. Iconic. Integral to the success of fried chicken around the globe. And, you know, doesn’t Japan do the Christmas KFC dinner? So there’s something so funny about how KFC is this Americana thing, but also is embraced by these other cultures as a special meal. Sure. When it really is like, you know, a fine meal in America. We like it! That’s a lot of Americana products. Like PBR was sold as a luxury beer in Japan, which was then in part responsible for marketing PBR as like a hipster beer, because PBR used to be like the most working class beer out there but then it flipped. It won a blue ribbon over 100 years ago. It sure did! When there weren’t many competitors. Yeah, so I mean, KFC, you have some history with K F C. Didn’t you stay in Colonel Harland Sanders’s bedroom? I did not stay there, but I visited the very first KFC, which is a gas station. Do you know the whole thing? I’m sure you do, you know everything. Rattle it off, man. He know everything. You know, you always know this more than I do. KFC started as a gas station. He was like, I have a gas station, and he thought that, you know, his real agenda was a hotel, and people stop and the wives come in. They were sort of buying things, but what if they could see a demo room of hotel, they might be incentivized to stay the night. And then once they had people stay the night, it was like, well, we gotta feed these people. So they had his family fried chicken recipe, and they made it in the kitchen of the hotel. But they literally had a dummy hotel room in the gas station. So you would walk in, you’d see like an example. Look, that looks a nice place. Honey, we should just stay the night. We should stop driving, we’re driving so far! And they would, and I visited that gas station/hotel/kitchen, and I saw the original place where they had the secret herbs and spices in jars on the side. I’m sure it was nothing, but it felt fun and I was immersed. But they don’t actually serve fried chicken at that location. You have to go down the street to a close, just normal KFC to get fried chicken. That’s just like a historical museum experience. I did know that. No, I actually didn’t know a lot of that! I knew it was a roadside motel that it first started at in like 1930? Yeah. I believe. In Corbin! Corbin. Corbin, Kentucky. Good old Corbin, Kentucky. And then it was in like 1957, I believe, the first franchise opened. When you’re talking about the difference between KFC and Popeyes, KFC Hanks hangs a lot on the 11 herbs and spices, right? Secret! Secret! Are they secret? We could guess ’em. There’s a handwritten note that people have dug up in Colonel Sanders’s old house, but it has not been verified, but they have them written down there. But it’s not proportioned. It’s not proportioned, so how could you even guess? What are they? Just like Marjoram. Mustard? Ginger? Mustard powder, I don’t know if there’s ginger in there. White pepper for sure– Onion powder, white pepper is one of the six ones. But a lot of it to me comes down to the actual method, and there are two very distinct methods of cooking here. Right? So KFC, one, there is egg powder and milk powder in their actual dry dredge, and then they dip it straight into water. Yes, it’s water, which is crazy, right? It’s a water-based dredge, which I’m sure a lot of it was shelf stability in the restaurants, right? That probably that wasn’t the OG for sure. It’s like a Bisquick? It’s like a brown mix? There’s probably not a leavening agent in it, but it’s, yeah, it’s like a brownie mix where you have the powdered dairy and the powdered egg for shelf stability. ‘Cause when you’re working on big scale. Yeah, and you’ve got a bunch of high school idiots doing it. Yeah. Not to to diminish the work of high schoolers, but it’s not– Average age of a fast food worker is deep in their 30s. I did not know that! It’s not even about their– Yeah, propaganda that they’re all in high school so they can pay them less. Not even about their intelligence. It’s about like, well, I wouldn’t also wouldn’t be motivated to do a good job. Same! No, you spread yourself so thin across all these franchises, and it’s owned by, you know, PepsiCo is the parent company, on a parent company, on a parent company. But Colonel Sanders, they invented the pressure fryer, not KFC, but Broster, which you’ve heard the term roasted chicken? They invented the pressure fryer in I believe 1952, and then 1962, Colonel Sanders files for a patent on his own pressure fryer. And so that’s still to day– Way to go. I know, right? He wasn’t trying to suck on the Broster teat. So they did that. I found out something really interesting about Popeyes. They don’t use a pressure fryer, but they do use a type of fryer that was invented, they call it the ultra fryer, that was invented by Church’s Chicken in 1952. So 1952, Church’s Chicken. Everything’s happening in the 50s. Dude, it’s crazy! No, honestly that was all fast food– Chicken in the fifties. Post World War II, Cold War’s starting, sending our best off to Korea to fight God knows what. American’s, right, there’re just eating chicken. Eat it by the bucket, we’re doing well! We won World War II with British intelligence, Russian blood and American steel. Woo. And now we got fried chicken. Hell yeah! This is taking a weird turn. Anyways, so Churches– I can’t believe we’re not eating this chicken yet. I’m really struggling. I wanna talk about Popeyes corporate acquisition of Church’s Chicken in 1989. Fine, can you do it under three minutes? Let’s do, no, I’ll do it in under 90 seconds. Okay, go for it. Alright, so 1972, Al Copeland in the suburbs of New Orleans, he starts Popeyes Fried Chicken. Meanwhile, alternate timeline, 1952, it’s started by a man named Bill Church, I believe, outside of San Antonio. Church’s Chicken decides that all the fryers are not good enough for commercial spaces. They start a separate company trying to sell their ultra top fryer that they call Far West Foods, or Far West products. And then in 1989, Al Copeland, Popeyes had outpaced Church’s Chicken at that point. They buy Church’s Chicken for $330 million, but it was very hotly contested. A lot of legal disputes within the acquisition. Three years later, the man goes bankrupt. So suddenly Popeyes owns churches, owns this weird industrial fryer company that kind of revolutionized industrial fryers in the restaurant space called Ultra Fryer now, and then all of these like, what are they? Private equity firms come in and they just start divvying ’em up. So now Popeyes is owned by like RBI, Restaurant Brains International, which owns Tim Horton’s, which owns Burger King, and Churches is just owned by some weird investment firm. And there’s Ultra Fryer just sitting in its own independent company as Far West Products right now. I have 60 seconds left, that’s about it. That’s all I wanted to talk about. So I wanted to say that both of them have introduced different sort of innovations into the frying game, right? Popeyes marinates their chicken for 12 hours– Are you clapping for him? Don’t encourage him. KFC. I’ve sort of like clapping– They’re seasoning fresh in stores, you know what I mean? I think these are two great products. And then finally Popeyes, August 12th, 2019, break the internet with their, Keith’s eating, break the internet with their chicken sandwich, you know, and then that forced KFC’s hand to create their own chicken sandwich, despite the fact that they had had chicken sandwiches for years. If you remember KFC’s chicken little? I remember the chicken little! They were so cute. They were okay, and they had way, the sauces were not good and they were too much. But what I loved about Popeyes is they, I’m looking for another company to come through in the fast food industry and affect every other business as substantially as Popeyes did. Popeyes really shook it up. That’s never happened! Like, shook up the game. McDonald’s has never come out with an apple pie that made every other restaurant be like, dang. Pie! Gotta change our pie. They’re like, no, that’s never happened. They improved the conditions of all other fried chicken sandwiches. Bless you, Popeyes. Which is incredible, except McDonald’s is still really bad. Really bad! They just couldn’t do it. I feel like it got worse. Yeah. Well, now they have something called the Grand McChicken, which is a larger McChicken, so they’re hanging it out on that. Ew! But no, Popeyes fried chicken sandwich came about at the exact right time, when beef prices were soaring, inflation on the rise. And so like chicken is cheaper than ever. Which sauce? Let’s eat it, let’s eat it. Let’s eat it. This can’t be won in theory. This is a game that has to be won in practice. Are you buttermilk or blackened ranch? What are you feeling? The blackened ranch from Popeyes is the single best sauce– I don’t think I’ve even had it! You haven’t had it? Holy smokes. No, I’m just sort of a plain old ranch, I’d normally on my channel say bitch, but here we don’t, so I’m just a ranch slut? Slut is acceptable. That’s acceptable? Nicole’s the one who’s allowed to decide whether or not it’s acceptable. I got the tenders from Popeyes. I don’t love Popeyes tenders, but I never order tenders. I never order tenders either. I’m a whole chicken man. They feel like they’re dry, they’re going to be dry, because they’re so thin. They’re dry. Can I have a KFC one? And then can you gimme a sauce to dip it in? Definitely tender? Oh yeah, good. Take a tendy. If you look at the KFC tender next to the Popeyes tender, Popeyes boast the fact that their batter is crispier. But the problem is when you’re doing tenders, they’re boneless, or sorry, they’re skinless. So you don’t get that interaction of batter to skin. And KFC, you see all these big craggly bits on it. If you look at a KFC tender next to a Popeyes tender, you know the KFC tender is going to taste better. It also almost looks like the Popeyes tender was like butterflied to be smaller. Yeah. The tender on this is massive! And this is all fry and a very thin piece of meat. You versus the guy she tells you not to worry about. Sorry, I had to do it. Had to. Nicole! Had to do it to him. What are you dipping it in? I found a creamy orange sauce. I’m gonna try the KFC tender for the first time, and I am excited. I haven’t had a, I don’t know– I’m doing the classic ranch from KFC. A buffalo ranch, this is a buffalo ranch. Oh, that is Buffalo Ranch? Okay, so that’s closer to the blackened ranch experience. Mm! Boneless chicken to boneless chicken, the KFC tender is so much better. There’s way more meat. Way more meat to it. Way more meat, like an unbelievable amount more. There’s somehow more meat, but also more breading in a way that just makes it better. What is Popeyes chicken doing? Not good in the tender’s game. They’re just focusing on their bone in, and I don’t blame them. And the sandwich, the sandwich is also really good. But I like the bone in chicken probably. That’s sort of, to me, the real measure of a fast food restaurant, fried chicken– Bone in chicken? Yeah, the bone in, because it’s harder to cook correctly, and it’s just something about this tearing meat off the bone in your hands experience. Yeah. It’s so fun! It’s messy, it’s greasy. You’re all jigging your hands into a pile of food. Yeah. It’s communal, that’s how people were meant to eat. It’s like ribs, you know? You’re meant to be messy. You go to like a Filipino Kamayan feast. Sure. You’re always sitting around, you have the banana leaves, a bunch of pork and rice, and you’re all eating with your hands. Ethiopian food. Sure, sure. Tearing it– Korean barbecue, even just sharing the grill around each other. Hot pot, dipping your meats in one big old pot. Yeah, yeah. You know, I always wonder, I dip the raw meat in with the chopsticks, and then is is the raw meat not on the chopsticks? But you don’t care, because you’re a hot pot! I recently did it, I just fully did the tongs, and I just put the tongs in the pot for three seconds too, like, then it’s all good! It’s boiled. I’m constantly boiling it in between me and the food. Yep, yep. All right, let’s go. Oh, there’s the biscuits on top of the chicken! I like that they steam the biscuits on the chicken. Let’s go bone in chicken to bone in chicken. Is this original recipe? Original. This is original, we did not get the extra crispy. Nicole, five. Oh, thank you so much. I remember we did a drunk fast food taste test, and like– Would you take a breast, or a breast is cheating? I love a breast. I love it, Keith’s a breast man! I love them, and I remember this being way more flavorful than I thought it was. It’s better than I think you want to give it credit for. I feel like KFC is so old school. Like Nicole said, this to me is like the chicken of my dad, where I’m like, Popeyes is mine. That’s the food of the youth. But whenever I– Chicken of the dads. But whenever I eat KFC, I’m like, those 11 herbs and spices are hitting. They’re good. This breast is overcooked, which is a common problem. It happens. Now this is good eating, man. The breading flavor is really good, but it’s also soft and gooey. Yeah. Not… Earth shattering crispy. This is not very crispy. Yet the extra crispy, which Colonel Sanders himself disavowed. No way? Oh my God, yeah. So Harland Sanders sold off all his restaurants, and he didn’t really start until much later in life, right? Like, he opened it initially when he was 40. By the time it was franchised out, he was like 67. He was kinda like an an old man already. And so, you know, he sells ’em off. They really blow up, really quickly. And then, what are you laughing about? 67’s old? It is, I think. All my family dies so young. 67, you’ve outlived– Don’t you retire at 65? I found that out today, that you’re supposed to retire at 65. Retired people are old. I guess. That’s why they’re retired. I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I know 95 year olds who are still able to work every day– I’m not ageist, it’s a point of fact that he was a bitter old man, and he came back to the KFC franchise, and he had the extra crispy and he was like, this is a bloated dough ball. This isn’t my mom’s fried chicken. Also it’s implying that this was crispy, and it wasn’t. That’s a good point. It’s like extra, now that looks– Now Popeyes looks crispy. That’s not just extra crispy. That looks like unbelievably crispy. I’m gonna put my spoon, and I’m gonna do that thing that they do on Instagram. You’re gonna go for the, that’s the breast, isn’t it? I don’t know, this looks like a thigh. Wait a second, why? Yeah, you’re right. It’s a huge thigh! It’s a nice thighs. That’s a big, hawking thigh. That is a burlesque show. That is a strong swimmer right there. That is.. Oh my God! The KFC fried chicken has, it’s like a skin. It’s like a thin exoskeleton. Yes. And they’re both dry dredges, but this Popeyes looks so much better than the KFC. It looks better and it tastes better. You can imagine it bouncing in the commercial. Oh! You know, you see it falling and like bouncing around the table with its friends. It’s really good. Oh my gosh! It’s seasoned, better. Leaps and bounds better. So much better. It’s not even as greasy, and I can handle a lot of grease. KFC was pretty oil logged. Even though they’re supposed to fry for 10 and then let drain for five. That didn’t happen? And then hold it at 175 degrees. I don’t know if it did or if they just overcrowded the pressure fryer. But this Popeyes, I’ve had more consistent experiences at Popeyes than I have at KFC. Don’t a lot of the high tier chefs say that their favorite fast food is Popeyes. It’s like a very common like.. It is. Yeah, the Chefs of America like, oh yeah, when I’m gonna have to eat fast food, I eat Popeyes, ’cause it’s really, really good and really consistent. And also because fried chicken is one of the, it’s probably the most popular food around the globe, I think. There’s certainly a lot of the population that doesn’t eat meat, but you were talking about KFC, Traveler Globe. Even Church’s is in like 26 different countries, and that’s like America’s third or fourth biggest chicken brand. That’s crazy! Is that like a mission trip that Church’s Chicken did? Missionaries from Church’s Chicken? That’s a pretty smart, like fried chicken diplomacy. It would work! Taste this, this was Jesus’ recipe. If he can do this to chicken, what can he do for you? If the Mormons cooked more flavorful food, imagine how many converts they could have gotten from around the globe. They don’t like caffeine though. I know, that’s what I’m saying? Don’t they not like indulgence at all? I don’t know anything about Mormons. I don’t either, except they know everyone’s history. They know who your parents’ parents’ parents’ parents were, and they won’t tell you. They won’t tell you? No. They’ll use it against you? They just know it. I don’t know what they do– Scary! The Mormons have the largest, they run like the ancestry.com companies. Like 23 and Me? Whoa, I didn’t know that. They have the largest catalog of family lineage of the country, and maybe the world. That’s what they do now, they have everyone’s lineage. Like you can, if you have, if you know a Mormon who’s like a real Mormon, you can be like, hey, can you look up who my great-great-great great grandfather is? And they’ll be like, yes, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to let you know. I have an inside Mormon. I don’t know single Mormon. What Mormon’s inside you? Not me, but I have a Mormon on the inside. A friend who’s on the inside. I grew up around a ton of Mormons. Love Mormon people, love their food, even shout out to funeral potatoes out there. I did find it funny. Listen, this has taken a weird turn. Funeral potatoes? I don’t know that. Aw, someone comment about Mormon funeral potatoes out there. It’s like the singular Mormon dish. It’s just like a bunch of frozen potatoes with cheese and pork products. But you have to wait for somebody to die– You have to wait for somebody to die, Which is fine because they have very big families, so people are always dying and being born. That’s why they love funeral potatoes. That’s not true. But my favorite thing that the Mormon Church ever did is that they, what’s the term? Posthumously baptized Holocaust victims. Oh yeah, they do a lot of that. Yeah. A big Jewish organization, it might have been the ADL, sued the Mormon church. Yeah, they just take historical figures and say, you know what? They were a Mormon, actually. We’re gonna baptize them. Interesting. You know what one funny thing about fast food is to me? What’s up? Every fast food tastes really good when you eat it in a vacuum. Not in a vacuum, more like in a car, but I’m saying not next to another fast food. And then you actually taste it right next to another one, and you’re like, oh my God, Popeyes Chicken is leagues better? It is, indeed, Adam Sandler from “Little Nicky.” It is the shiznit. You were right. Okay, so one thing that I wanted to bring up– Yes. Is a thing that has existed once or twice in Popeyes history and they got rid of it, and it was called Rip’N Chicken. Oh my God, yes! I’ve never heard of Rip’N Chicken. The reason I liked it is ’cause it looked like a deep fried hand. They basically took like a chicken breast, and they sliced it kind of hand style and breaded the whole thing, so the fun of it was almost like a Twizzlers pull and peel, but for friend chicken. It was like monkey bread. You just pull off of chicken tender and you gnaw on it. And you share it? I think you’re supposed to eat it yourself. Oh, well I like sharing. But it was called Rip’N Chicken, and it really looked like a deep fried hand, and that always made me laugh so much every time I saw the poster of it outside. That’s incredible. I only bought it once, and it was kind of like these. It was like a little underwhelming, but man, was it a funny looking product. And KFC, they did the Double Down. They’ve had their hand in ridiculous looking food. And I had that, and it was really delicious, and it’s the fastest I’ve ever felt heartburn set in– Oh wow. Like four bites in, I’m like, oh, my esophagus hurts. It was so much fat. I think the Double Down is to me rooted in like classic turn of the century gilded age American French inspired cookery. Okay. If you look at chicken Cordon bleu. It’s true, it’s just bacon, sauce, cheese and chicken. Or you look at chicken Kiev, you look at, what’s the other one that’s not chicken Kiev? There’s another one. Kiev chicken. Kiev chicken, Kiev chicken. No, but it’s a chicken breast with sauce, pork products, you know, cheese in the middle. It’s good stuff. Turducken. Turducken, that’s a big one. I like the famous bowl, which isn’t represented today– We all love the famous bowl. Which is depressing, but I still really like it. The famous bowl is really fun, ’cause it also is just kind of like what happens at the end of Thanksgiving. Like that’s what your plate just becomes. So I love that they were like, what if your plate started like that? And it works! And there’s corn in it. Somehow the corn’s important. They burst like blueberries in a cereal, you know? They really do, they really do. The corn is like the most integral part to a famous bowl. Innovation, innovation. So we got the tenders at KFC, obviously better, but we all agree that we don’t really mess with tenders that much. But a lot of people do. I mean, I’m not necessarily, when I’m eating fast food, it’s typically in the car. And eating bone in chicken in the car seems counterintuitive. No way, man! You gotta do it. The thing is that the best chicken tenders are surprisingly Carl’s Jr. They have excellent chicken tenders. They’re hand breaded. They’re hand breaded. They’re actually really, really good. Now the rest of their food, I can’t vouch for. Actually their burgers are pretty good. I love Carl’s. Carl’s Jr. is one of my favorite fast food restaurants. But I think their nuggets and their other stuff is bad. Their burgers are really good, and their chicken tenders are the best. Well, I gotta eat ’em. Surprisingly. Carl’s Jr. started hand breading their chicken tenders, which is really tough. I mean, fried chicken places will do that too. But Carl’s Jr., they’re making zucchini, they got crisp cut fries, they’re making grilled chicken sandwiches. They once put a hotdog and potato chips on top of a hamburger. I remember that! That was the All American? The most American– Most, I’m so sorry. The Most American. It was a troll on the food world. The Monster Burger was my first time enjoying Mayo, mayonnaise on a burger. Carl Jr. has the hottest mayonnaise on the burgers, which is what I love about them. But Carl’s Jr. also hand dips their shakes, which is incredible. Carl Jr’s is the best fast food milkshake out there. Really, better than Shake Shack? This is– Really? Are you eating the classic or the spicy? Classic. Classic? I’m full already, you guys enjoy. This sandwich is honestly the best thing at this table. I judge it by the bone in, but this is so much better than the bone in chicken is too. The Popeye chicken sandwich is absolutely phenomenal. Will you eat a bite of the KFC one just for good measure? Yes, of course. Let’s see what it tastes like. Josh, pass it. I love chicken. The KFC chicken sandwich, again, you take a bite and you’re like, this is a perfectly good fast food chicken sandwich. You eat the Popeyes. We don’t need to re-litigate how good the Popeyes sandwich is. Everybody’s done that, we’ve done that. League’s better, leagues, and KFC has had years to come up with it, right? They’ve had years to come up with an answer. You’re right, this is good. I would be satisfied by the KFC. But then I take a bite of the Popeyes and my world, it’s like somebody puts the ability to see colored glasses on me, but I was colorblind. Wow. Pleasantville, Toby McGuire in Pleasantville! It is Pleasantville, it is Pleasantville. It’s like having sex. It’s like having sex! The chicken is like having sex and seeing in color. Keith, make your C face. Oh my God, make my cumming face? No, I meant the chicken, not cumming, I don’t know what that means. I’m a little baby, we are asexual. I have no idea. We respect the asexual community. God, this is so good. It’s so good. I already know it’s good, I don’t need to eat it. Well, you should eat it though. I mean, really Nicole? I’m still full! Please Nicole, no peer presh! This is the spicy on you’re giving. Popeyes bun is better, the sauce is better, the chicken meat meat is better, the chicken paste is better. And there’s no reason that it should be, right? What general manager was in charge of Popeyes, because it was some regional GM, right, they were doing the legwork. They were going to the stores and being like, you, this is how we do that. We’re gonna maintain quality control. This must have been like a Douglas MacArthur level war readiness effort for Popeyes before their August 12th launch of the chicken sandwich. It is unreal good. The bun tastes like cake. The chicken tastes like the most incredible chicken in the world. Look at the size of that chicken. The sauce is– The chicken looks like a cartoon. Yeah, it looks cartoonishly good. And it is cartoonishly good. KFC tried to copy their bun. They’re not baking these buns in house, this is some third party factory. Burger King delayed the launch of their attempt at the chicken sandwich like nine months ’cause they said they went through 30 different bun factories. Popeyes just found it? Popeyes was working on this chicken sandwich since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and they weren’t ready to release it for 38 years, fact. Fact. That’s what I believe. Tear down that sandwich! Someone please fact check this man. Do you wanna try the sides, or do you guys feel like you made a definitive decision? You wanna eat a side? I want to try the sides. Oh Josh. Josh is dipping his sandwich– Josh is Jollibee-ing this experience right now. That is a full Jollibee move. Get some of that, take some of that. I wish Jollibee was here, but we don’t have enough room on this table. Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of options when it comes to fried chicken. I really think Popeyes is gonna crush the side game, but I haven’t had the chicken. The chicken? The mac and cheese. Dipping a chicken sandwich in gravy like a French dip sandwich is not as good as you might think. That’s a public service announcement for everybody in our orbit. KFC mac and cheese is bland, the Popeyes Mac and cheese is… Much better, a very strong cheese flavor. I think it needs more salt and maybe some more acidity, but it is good. Both could use a breadcrumb or some other salt element that makes it better. Yeah, for sure. I am using fried chicken to scoop up the macaroni as I do not have a fork. I have spoons over here– All the spoons are by me. I said I do not have a fork. Okay. The red beans and rice is pretty good. The Popeyes mashed potatoes and gravy is money. Oh my God, it’s that Cajun gravy. That Cajun gravy. Honestly, to me it was always the Cajun. We talk about Tony Chachere’s all the time on the show, and I put it in everything. I just love Cajun food. The sides swept, just swept KFC. That’s like when there’s a hotly contested game, even though you know one team is better, and they go to overtime, and then it’s just like win by 17 points. Keith loves sports. I love sports. I like sports too sometimes. Man, that chicken sandwich though? It really makes me think, oh, you shouldn’t get anything but that, because while the bone in chicken was better than KFC, the difference between the chicken sandwich and the next best thing on this table is so far. You’re right. It’s unreal how good it is. We need to put a challenge out there to every fast food restaurant, just make the next product to try and change everybody else into becoming new. Yeah, what do we need to think? Well, fast food salads are always terrible, but I don’t care for them to be better. Correct. Yeah. What would be the next big best thing? Smash burgers. I mean, Chipotle’s burrito bowl did that. They need to bring Smash Burgers. You’re right, like McDonald’s and Burger King need a real smash burger. A real one. A real one! It’s like actually paper thin and crispy on the edges. Yeah. That would be impressive to me. Yeah, not cooked in like a little microwave steam bath, whatever they do– Not kept in a little plastic cabinet drawer. Popeyes wins, it is indeed the shiznit! Bye bye! We all gotta eat and we’re all gonna die. But in the meantime, check out our Last Meals T-shirt and hat available now at mythical.com. The tee has a sick Last Meals graphic on it– Sick! Excuse me. I’m sorry. A giant, “We all gotta eat, and we’re all gonna die” design on the back. The hat also says, “We all gotta eat and we’re all gonna die.” Are you getting the picture yet? It’s embroidered on the front crown, and last meals written on the back. Get yours now at mythical.com. Or else. I’m not good at threats, I’m sorry. All right, Nicole and Keith, we’ve heard what you and I have to say. Now it’s time to find out what other wacky opinions are out there in the universe. Well, it’s time for a segment we call. “Opinions are like casseroles” What was that? That was inspired, I liked it. It was natural. Oh my God. It was… I’m natural. It was like you were cutting a WWE promo there for a moment. I was trying to go for more of a post-punk, hardcore, like guttural, what did you call it? Mid? Oh, like a mid scream? Mid scream. Yeah, not quite a death growl. No, it was mid scream. Wait, can you do a pig squeal? We should start a band. Peggy, roll that first opinion. Hey Josh and Nicole, this is Dani from Chicago. Love the podcast, love listening to it. Been listening since day one. Thank you! Love the work y’all do. My hot take opinion casserole is that sushi is completely overrated. It’s not very good in my opinion, and it’s completely overshadowed all the other really good Japanese cuisine that I wish had taken off in the United States. That’s a good point. And as a continuation of that, I think the next big thing, like the next major sensation to sweep the States should be okonomiyaki. Midwesterners would go nuts for a cabbage pancake, and I think like that’s just an untapped market. What do you guys think? I think the last part is correct. the Midwesterners would go nuts for cabbage. And mayonnaise! Yeah, the cabbage is big. I mean you have like corn beef and cabbage. Sure. I like cabbage, it is good! I run through about a head nap, to two heads of cabbage a week. I love cabbage. What are you doing with it? Oh, I do anything. I’ll make a lot of salads with it because it holds so much longer than lettuce. So you can do any raw preparation. I’ll pickle a lot of it. It’s waxy. It’s waxy– The purple cabbage, so waxy. Sometimes I’ll ferment it, sometimes I’ll just braise it. Sometimes I’ll make stuffed cabbage leaves. Oh wow! Bowl cabbage? Cabbage and potatoes, cabbage salad. Cabbage. It’s great. Do you think sushi’s overrated though? No. I think sushi in Chicago is probably just not as good. Sushi is not overrated. Raw fish is delicious, rice is delicious, seaweed is delicious, soy sauce is delicious, wasabi’s delicious, it’s the best. I love sushi, I eat it often, and I think it’s nice. It’s a nice way to incorporate fresh. delicious seafood into your diet. We talked about this last podcast, where America has a weird relationship to sushi because we view it as almost religious, right? It’s this very like Spartan thing. Keith, you’re going to an omakase dinner tonight, right? And it’s this whole spiritual experience of, oh, you’re watching the sushi chef, and they’re masterfully preparing each bite with their hands, and yada yada. And that has led to a huge markup in price in America for sushi, because people think they’re experiencing something that’s sacred. You don’t have that about okonomiyaki. Yeah. I mean, I like the sushi stop sushi as well. Me too! I don’t need it to be super expensive. I have my places that I love the most, and they’re kind of pricey, I think? The Sushi Eye in Los Fila is the one I’m referring to. It’s really quite good. I like getting sushi at Nobu, not that I go there. The one time a year I’m going there because I have a friend who works there, I get sushi and it’s great. But I just like sushi everywhere! Even kind of a cheap roll can be very satisfying. I agree. Kroger is now the largest sushi seller in America. There you go. That might be why this person thinks it’s overrated. I mean no, obviously. But I will say that when I was in Chicago, I had very little exposure to sushi. So the first time I had it was there as like a 24 year old, and first of all, very expensive. Yeah. So I was priced out immediately, and I was intimidated by the menu. And then when I had what I got, I was like, this is fine, ’cause I hadn’t had it much. So first exposure was, I can’t afford this. And then so I got like something that had like tempura. I’m like, this is weird. And I didn’t like it. But I don’t know anything about this cabbage pancake, so– Oh my God, okonomiyaki. Oh my gosh, it’s incredible. Yeah, it’s effectively like cabbage. You can add various meats and whatever to it, but it’s like cooked on a flat top, and then you top it with just huge squiggles of mayonnaise, and like a really thick like eel sauce, just a sugary sauce, and then with a ton of katsuobushi. Which is bonito flakes. Bonito flakes, and they kind of dance in the winds. I’m okay on the bonito flakes. You, whoa! You don’t like ’em? I love bonito flakes. Oh yeah, there’s okonomiyaki. It’s beautiful. That does look good. It looks very thick and creamy. I like scallion pancakes, and it gives me that kind of flavor vibe from its appearance. I don’t love those wiggly bonito flakes. There’s so much flavor– It’s like your food is alive, and you’re like, it’s moving! I love it. Maybe that’s why I don’t like it. I like this idea though, kind of like weeping for the Japanese food, that could’ve been the sushi in America. I don’t know, but ramen is arguably even bigger. I also weep for the different East Asian noodle soups that we could’ve had– Right, Taiwanese beef noodle soup, which is ramen, it’s based off that. Bun bo Hue, Central Vietnam. Shout out! You know, Mi Quang, Chinese, it’s great– I love Tom Kha, nothing like those soups, but God, it’s a delicious soup. Next opinion. Hi, this is Marisha. I’m from Connecticut. Hey. And I love, I love your podcast, I love the voicemail. That was great. Thank you, we’re very sexy. Oh, it sounds like a phone– So my unpopular opinion is I like to dip chicken nuggets in chocolate pudding, or a chocolate milkshake, either way. But yeah, I always do that, and then people look at me really weird, and I’m just like, it’s really good! So that’s my unpopular opinion. I hope you guys have a great day. And just so you know, this podcast gets me through work every day. You get us through this podcast every day– Thank you for that. All right, bye! I don’t hate this podcast? We think about Marisha so we can get through it every day. I don’t hate this podcast. Do you hate this podcast? No, I love this podcast. It’s a great time. Maggie, can you believe this guy? This schmuck? It’s not the pudding that we have, it’s the chocolate. How do you feel? Well, the Wendy’s people who do the fries and the frosties can voice their opinions. I’m not one to combine chocolate with meat very often, other than the occasional bacon, it can kind of work. I think it has to be such a highly salty meat to work with chocolate. And I’m not, I feel like, I don’t know, like chocolate milkshake? How chocolate is this thing? Chocolate pudding and chocolate milkshake are different. Yeah, yeah. Very different chocolate– Pudding tends to be more heavily chocolatey than milkshake. I’m trying to think of, like, I’m just trying to think what would be the best chocolate to put on the best chicken? So there was a whole restaurant devoted to chocolate flavored fried chicken in Los Angeles That was very ill fated. It was called Choco Chicken. Was this the red velvet chicken? [Keith, Josh And Nicole] It was called Choco Chicken? Choco, like Choco, but like Choco Choco Chicken. And it started by founder of Umami Burger, Adam Fleischman. And it was a massive failure, but he was like, this is certainly gonna work, because we put umami into burgers. Why can’t we put choco into chicken? And it did not work. Vanilla pudding. I think I would be in with both french fries. That’s just like a very sweetened mayonnaise, right? You know? It’s like Korean and honey butter fried chicken, why not? Let me tell you. I like honey mustard and that’s supposed to– If Kim Kardashian can put honey on her chicken nuggets, you can put chocolate pudding and chocolate milkshake on yours. Now don’t worry about it. People are gonna judge you for it, but don’t worry about them. If Kim K can do whatever she wants, so can you. Lots of people put honey on their chicken nuggets. No, only Kim Kardashian! No, Kim Kardashian does it on her chicken nuggets. The nuggets. Yeah, a lot of people do that. Okay, who else does that? Tell me three more people, don’t say yourself. I grew up doing that. Okay, whatever. I couldn’t name people because it’s so common to so many people that it would be insult. Like Kevin! Mary! This guy named John I knew, Krista– There’s no way that you know more than three people that put honey on their chicken nuggets. Megan from Charlotte, Megan from Raleigh. I think my wife Becky does. His wife Becky. Okay! So just live your life, put chocolate pudding on it. I’m not gonna judge you. These guys might, but– I think it’s gross. Yeah, you’re a bad person. I’m not the host of this podcast. So you know, I won’t hurt your feelings as much. I think it’s gross, and the people who who are staring at you are right. Live your truth. If our brand equity falls, you’re just out. You’re gone. I can’t hurt you. Hi Josh and Nicole. This is Caleb from South Dakota. I’m a semi-truck driver at Drive Outta Campus. Firstly just wanted to thank you for all that y’all do on the podcast and the YouTube. I spent a lot of time by myself driving truck, and I really enjoy the content, so thank you for that. My question is, what do you think I should be bringing with me on the road for food? I’ve got a fridge and a freezer in the truck, small ones. Ooh. And I don’t have a microwave. Like most truckers, I don’t care for ’em, so I’ve got an air fryer, I’ve got a tea kettle, and I’ve got a propane burner. So just wondering what you thought I should bring for food on the road with me? I appreciate you taking my call. Y’all have a good day. Air fryer, tea kettle and a propane burner. The world is your oyster! Honestly, you can cook anything. You can boil. You can cook anything. You can fry! You can make a full English breakfast, take some black pudding with you. What should you take and keep in the fridge. It’s hard because if you said like, oh, I only have a microwave, I’m like, okay, well what’s the best frozen stuff? But this sets like– You can do whatever you want. I’m trying to think what what’s quick, flavorful, nutritious, keeps you awake and alert. I once made a– Red Bull chicken. Pre-workout couscous. Red Bull chicken. Red Bull chicken? Oh honestly, Red Bull chicken. You should absolutely make Red Bull chicken. I believe the heat does, no, it doesn’t kill caffeine. Let me tell you. One time I cooked hot dogs in Red Bull, and it was the worst smell ever, and we’ve cooked some screwed up stuff in here. No, but here’s what you do. You make like a fried chicken, right? You got an air fryer, do air fried chicken. You can even do tendys if you want– Tendys, tendys. And then in that propane burner of yours, you put a couple red bulls in a sauce pot. Any flavor Red bull you want, but it’s gotta be full sugar. You boil that down about to 20%, and then you take butter, and you just hit that with butter and a whole lot of salt. You can add any spices you want, a little smoked paprika, onion, garlic, that’s gonna ramp up the savory notes. No, no. But you’re effectively making, it’s gonna taste like mango habanero. You put some hot sauce in there– It’s not. No, I’ve done this before! I swear to God– It’s gonna smell bad. I used four different flavors of Red Bull to make fried chicken wings, and it was fantastic. Yeah, do this with naked wings and that’s a great time. I’m gonna vote– Chili. Oh, that’s pretty good. I’m gonna vote eggs and bread. Eggs and bread have kept the world fed for thousands of years. Eggs and bread, you can cook ’em a variety of ways with the options you have presented, and they’re always good. You just need salt and pepper. You don’t need much else to make it taste good. And you can have fun with how you want to make your eggs and bread each day. Pakistani hard boiled egg curry. What you do is you’re gonna want about three pounds of ginger, two pounds of garlic. You’re gonna wanna process that. You’re gonna wanna get a couple food processors for your truck. That way you have one just for ginger and garlic, and then you have one for your various jellies. And you probably need one for coffee. Probably need one for coffee. Side note, I just wanna say thank you to all of the truck drivers of America. You really, you’re the backbone of America. I don’t care what anyone says. No, 100%. Truck drivers work incredibly hard, and I respect the crap out of you guys. And I still do, and I used to tour a lot, where I drove like a lot, a lot, like eight hours a day between shows. And we always passed truckers, and I will say that truckers actually are creating the safety of the freeway. Wow. Like they drive very, very safely– Not the police. Highway patrol! It’s absolutely truckers who just define what is going on. Wow, I didn’t know that. They drive knowing that everyone else is gonna make mistakes, so they’re really the safest drivers there are, because they’re driving gigantic death machines. Sure. At the same speed as you, and you have a small death machine. Shout out to all long haul truckers. Except for the ones that when I go, they flip me off, I don’t like that! I don’t like the ones who flip me off. The ones that you go, honk honk! They don’t have to honk honk every time, but a look and a polite hey. They’ll be like, the baby’s sleeping. Have you ever thought of showing them your boobs? I’m making Pakistani egg curry. Showing them your boobs will make them do the honk honk. Sometimes I show truckers my boobs, and sometimes they really flip me off, you know, they don’t like it! But most long haul truckers, I really respect what you do. It’s a hard life. It’s a hard knock. Anyways, thank you so much for joining us on “A Hot Dog Is A Sandwich.” Keith, that was directed to you, but I said it to the camera. No, I think they joined it too. We all joined it. Everyone’s joined. We’re all joined– At the hip! I feel like you’d be a good Siamese twin. You don’t say that anymore, do you? Oh my God, what a racist term! Conjoined twin, yeah. Who would you wanna be a conjoined twin with? I would want to be a conjoined twin with you, Nicole. Yes! But that wouldn’t be possible. One digestive system. Huh? And I am the only one with the mouth. Who wants to be a cat dog kind of creature with me? Maggie! Maggie, get in there with Keith. Keith, tell the people where they can find you. You can find me on The Try Guys YouTube channel, as well as @Keithhabs all over the internet. I also have a comedy band called Lewberger, all the vowels are E’s, if that helps you out. We have a tour in November where we’re performing in various parts of the Midwest. Some Ohio shows, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, some sort outside of Chicago, and Indianapolis. Unfortunately for me, don’t love Indianapolis. But I can’t wait to perform for you there! What? Indianapolis, come on down! Have you been to Indiana? Never. Never. Yeah, well. What am I gonna do in Indiana? Exactly. Nothing! Don’t go unless you’re already forced to be there. And if you are forced to be there, come see me and we can complain about it together. But yeah. Sioux Falls, is that in Indiana? South Dakota? I tried. Cedar Falls is in Iowa. There’s no falls in Indiana, it’s too flat. I learned something new today. Thank you so much for stopping by the podcast. We got new episodes out every Wednesday on your favorite audio only platforms, out on this very YouTube channel, Mythical Kitchen, on Sundays. That’s right. And if you wanna be featured on “Opinions are like Casseroles”, you can hit us up at Dog-Pod1. The number again is Dog-Pod1. Woof! What? I know it’s hot dogs, but. We’ll see y’all next time.