A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich - Popeyes vs. KFC ft. Keith Habersberger

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Today, we're joined by Try Guy Keith Habersberger to tackle the two of the biggest fried chicken chains and find out which one reigns supreme! Leave us a voicemail at (833) DOG-POD1 Check out the video version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@mythicalkitchen To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Popeye's chicken is the shiznit. Which begs the question, what about KFC? Are they too, indeed, the shiznit? And I'm Keith. 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. 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 Inaydi. And I'm Keith.

He is still Keith. Keith Habersberger from the Try Guys. Habersberger. Oh my gosh. Is it really Habersberger? Yes. Wait. So many people say Habersberger I don't give a care Today we found out it's Stiefel not Stifel

So that still stuck my head It's such a sicko worker It's hard when you have a long name like Habersberger If you can get three out of four syllables correct I'll give you a passing grade Hendy Zadef 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 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. I tell you,

there are sticklers about those marriage forms. I thought you were going to say rabbis are 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 because 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 your 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 wrong that's what we did do it it's still not screwed up no no it's still not screwed up many weddings i've gone to 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 um you've never seen the movie little nicky. I have, but not in the last 20 years. Not enough to recognize the line, Popeye's chicken is the shiznit. Now I recognize it. Now I get the accent. As soon as you started talking about it, oh yeah, that is from that.

I watched that movie once, and again, not in the last 20 years. So it didn't stick with me like it's stuck with you not a sandler guy i am actually saying like that one wasn't my one i liked um the the all the others i can't remember the name jack and jill the one at the elementary school where he had to go back. Billy Madison! Waterboy! Waterboy was actually 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 will feed your baby? Oh, wow.

That's a good question. I mean, what is the first that they can not choke on and die from? Either way, it's going to 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. Yeah, which is good. An underrated fried chicken. Yeah, a 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. 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. Yes. Popeyes is going clear fried chicken.

Yeah. I've never heard that before. Well, it has so much grease that actually turns paper clear. Yeah. Correct. I loved KFC growing up and I loved grocery store fried chicken. I loved KFC growing up and I loved grocery store fried chicken. And then when I got to Chicago,

we had Popeye's. And Popeye's also had at the time the can't get enough of that Popeye's. And something about that jingle was really the first great thing that I loved. And then they did a lot of like 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, two pieces of chicken, one side and one biscuit for two bucks. I can't even buy gum. That changed the game for me as a broke 21 year old by far to get a $2 lunch. 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 because I would say that I like Popeyes better. I don't know. I don't know. I think memory is often false. You sort of think of things that don't actually exist. I never taste them side by side. Now I'm very curious to see what happens.

Nicole, what say you? What do I say? My father was a KFC man. He was a drinker. Where was he from? We're from Iran. I was born here. My dad like had this affixation with Kentucky Fried Chicken. I don't know what it was, but it was like pure Americana to him.

It is pure Americana, 100%. Just the thought of like 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 Popeye's, I feel like it's more modern and it tastes better. And I don't know why. It just does taste better to me and it looks better.

Yeah, and it smells better. I mean, KFC, one, military industrial complex, right? Colonel Sanders, you know what I mean? Popeye's, 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. So 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'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 that we like that's a lot that's a lot of americana products like pbr was sold as a luxury

beer in japan which was then like in part responsible for marketing PBR as like a hipster beer. Because PBR used to be like the most working class beer out there. Oh yeah. It won a blue ribbon over a hundred years ago. Sure did. When there weren't many competitors. Never letting it go, yeah.

Yeah, so I mean KFC, you have some history with KFC. Didn't you like stay in Colonel Harlan Sanders' bedroom? I did not stay there, but I visited the very mean KFC, you have some history with KFC. Didn't you like stay in Colonel Harlan Sanders' 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. I rattle it off.

He knows everything. You know, you guys 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're sort of like buying things. But what if they could see

a demo room of a hotel? They might be incentivized to stay the night. And then once they had people stay the night, he's like, well, we got to feed these people. So they had their 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 and you would see an example.

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 slash hotel slash kitchen. 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 like a roadside motel that we started at in like 1930, I believe. In Corbin. Corbin. Corbin, Kentucky.

That's right. 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 and Hankster had a lot on the 11 herbs and spices. Yeah. Secret. Secret.

Are they secret? They're seasoned. We could guess them. lot on the 11 herbs and spices. Secret. Are they secret? There's a handwritten note that people have dug up in Colonel Sanders' old house, but it has not been verified, but they have them written down there. It's not proportioned. It's not proportioned, so how could you even guess?

But like marjoram, mustard powder. I don't know if there's ginger in there. White pepper, for sure. White pepper is one of the secret ones it's a lot of it to me comes down to the actual method and there are two very distinct methods of cooking here so KFC one there is like

egg powder and like 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 that probably wasn't the OG for sure 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? Sure, sure, sure.

That probably, that wasn't the OG for sure. It's like a Bisquick. It's like a brownie mix. There's probably not 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. Because when you're working on big scale,

you gotta do that. And then it goes in the water. And you got a bunch of high school idiots doing it. Yeah. Not to diminish the work of high schoolers but it's not average age of a fast food they're just deep in their 30s and it's not even i did not know that it's not even about their propaganda that they're all in high school so they can pay them less it's not even about their intelligence it's about like well i wouldn't also

i also wouldn't be motivated to do a good job same no you spread yourself so thin across all these franchises and it's it's owned by you know's a parent company on a parent company on a parent company. But Colonel Sanders, they invented the pressure fryer, not KFC, but broaster, which you've heard the term broasted 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 this day. I know, right? He wasn't trying to suck on the broaster 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. No, honestly, that was all fast food. in the fifties post-world war two, like cold war starting, sending our best off to Korea to fight. God knows what Americans right there. Just eat it by the bucket.

We won world war two with British intelligence, Russian blood and American steel. 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 like really struggling. I want to talk about. I'm really struggling. I want to talk about Popeye's corporate acquisition of Church's chicken in 1989. Can you do it under three minutes? No, I'll do it under 90 seconds. Okay, go for it. All right, so 1972, Al Copeland in the suburbs of New Orleans.

He starts Popeye's fried chicken. Meanwhile, alternate timeline 1952 is 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, Popeye's had outpaced Church's Chicken at that point. They buy Church's Chicken for $330 million, but it was a very hotly contested, a lot of legal disputes within the acquisition. Three years later, the man goes bankrupt. So suddenly Popeyes

owns Church's, 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 them up so now popeyes is owned by like rbi restaurant brains international which owns tim hortons which owns burger king and churches 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?

Popeye's marinates their chicken for 12 hours. KFC. KFC. They're seasoning fresh in stores. You know what I mean? I think these are two great products. And then finally, Popeye's August 12th, 2019, right? Break the damn internet with their

chicken sandwich. You know, and then that forced Seaton. 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 chicken sandwiches for years. Do you remember KFC's Chicken Littles? Yeah, I remember. I love the Chicken Littles. They were so cute.

They were okay. And 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. They shook up the game.

McDonald's has never come out with an apple pie that made every other restaurant be like, dang, we got to change our pie. That's never happened they made 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 it got worse

I feel like it got worse yeah because well now they have something called the Grand McChicken which is a larger McChicken

so they're hanging their hat on that. But no, Popeye's fried chicken sandwich came about at the exact right time and beef prices were soaring, inflation on the rise, and so chicken is cheaper than ever. Switch 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 Popeye's is the single best sauce I don't think I've even

had it you haven't had it no I'm just I'm sort of I'm just sort of a plain old ranch I normally on my channel say bitch

but here we don't so I'm just a ranch slut that 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 not it's acceptable. I got the tenders from Popeye's. I don't love Popeye's tenders, but I never order tenders. I never order tenders either. 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 give me a sauce to dip it in? KFC tender. Oh, yeah. Take a tendy. If you look at the KFC tender next to the Popeye's tender, Popeye's boasts 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 in kfc you see all these big craggly bits on it if you look at a kfc tender next to a popeye's tender you know the kfc tender is going to taste better it also almost looks like the um popeye's tender was like butterflied to be smaller. The tender on this is massive and this is all fry and a very thin piece of meat. You versus the guy he 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 going to 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. This is a buffalo ranch. Oh, that is a buffalo ranch? I guess that's closer

to the blackened ranch experience. Boneless chicken to boneless chicken. The KFC tender is so much better. There's way more meat. Way more meat. An unbelievable amount more. There's somehow more meat, but also more breading in a way that just makes it better.

What is Popeye's chicken doing? Not good in the tender skin, apparently. 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 like jigging your hands into a pile of food. 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 like kamaian feast. You're always sitting around. You have the banana leaves, a bunch of pork and rice, and you're always eating with your hands. You know Ethiopian food. Sure, sure, sure. You're sitting there and you're a different girl. You're just sharing the grill around each other. Hot pot, dipping your meats in one big old pot.

I love that. I always wonder, I dip the raw meat in with the chopsticks and then is the raw meat not on the chopsticks? But you don't care because you're a hot pot. I recently did it and I just fully did the tongs and I just put the tongs in the pot for three seconds too. And it's all good. It's boiled.

I'm constantly boiling it in between me and the food. All right, let's go. Oh, there's the biscuits on top of the chicken. I like they steam the biscuits on the chicken. Let's go bone-in chicken to bone-in chicken. Is this original recipe? This is original. We did not get the extra crispy.

Nicole, thigh? Oh, thank you so much. I remember we did a drunk fast food taste test. Is it like a breast or a breast is cheating? I love a breast. I love it. You're the breast man. I love it.

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 Popeye's is mine. That's the food of the youth. Chicken of the dad. 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. That was just good eating, man. The breading flavor is really good, but it's also soft and gooey. Yeah. Not.

Or shattering crispy. Not very crispy. You get the extra crispy, which Colonel Sanders himself like disavowed. No way. Oh my God, yeah. So Harlan Sanders like 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 kind of like an old man already. And so, you know, he sells them off. They really blow up really quickly. And then what are you laughing about?

Is 67 old? It is, I think. All my family dies so young. 67, you've outlived. You don't even 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 like 95-year-olds are still going to work every day. 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. Now that looks... That's not just extra crispy.

That looks like unbelievably crispy. I'm going to put my spoon and I'm going to do that thing that they do on Instagram. You're going to go for the... That's the breast, isn't it? I don't know. This looks like a thigh. Way to take.

Why? Yeah, you're right. It's a huge thigh. It's a nice thigh. It's a big, It's a Pixar mom 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 Popeye's 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 it's like bouncing around the table with its friends. It's really good. Oh my God. It's so much better. Oh, it's seasoned better.

Leaps and bounds better. Oh, so much good. Oh, it's seasoned better. Leaps and bounds better. Oh, 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 5 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, um, like the high tier chefs say that their favorite fast food is Popeyes. It's like a very common, like the, yeah, the, the, the chefs of America are like, oh yeah, when I'm going to have to eat fast food, I ate Popeyes because it's really, really good and really consistent. And also because like fried chicken is one of the, it's probably the most popular food around the globe, I think. There's certainly a lot of population that doesn't eat meat, but like you were talking about KFC,

Travel the Globe, even churches is in like 26 different countries. That's crazy. And that's like America's like third or fourth biggest chicken chain. 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. Uh-huh, it would work. You know what I mean? 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. 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 with it. Scary.

Yeah, the Mormons have the largest. They run the Ancestry.com companies. Like 23andMe? Whoa. I didn't know that. They have tabs in that as well. They have the largest catalog of family lineage of the country and maybe the world.

That's what they do now. They like, they, 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 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 a single Mormon. What Mormon's inside you? Not me, but I have a Mormon on the inside. I have 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 is taking a weird turn. Funeral Potatoes? I don't know that. Oh, 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 like cheese And pork products But you have to wait For somebody to die You have to wait For someone 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 they What's the term? Posthumously baptized Holocaust victims. Oh, yeah, they do a lot of that. Yeah, that was not a big Jewish organization. It might have been the ADL sued the Mormon church. Yeah, you can't be wrong.

Yeah, they just take historical figures and say, you know what? They were a Mormon, actually. We're going to 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. Right. And then you actually taste it right next to another one and you're like, oh my god, Popeye's chicken is leagues better. It is indeed. Adam Sandler from Little Nicky, it is the shiznit.

You were right. Right? Okay, so one thing that I wanted to bring up is a thing that has existed once or twice in Popeye's history, and they got rid of it, and it was called ripping chicken. Oh, my God, yes. I've never heard of ripping chicken. The reason I liked it is because it looked like a deep-fried hand.

They basically took a chicken breast, and they sliced it kind of hand-style and breaded the whole thing, so the fun of it was almost like like a Twizzlers bowling field. But yeah, it was like it was like monkey bread. You like pull off a chicken tender and you share. I think you're supposed to eat it yourself. But I'm not sure.

But it's called ripping 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. 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.

And I had that and it was really delicious and it's the fastest I've ever felt heartburn set in. Oh, wow. 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 classic turn-of-the-century, Gilded Age, American French-inspired cookery.

Okay. If you look at chicken cordon bleu. Yeah, it's true. It's bacon, sauce, cheese, and chicken. Or you look at chicken Kiev. You look at, what's the other one that's not chicken Kiev? Kiev chicken. Kiev chicken.

Kiev chicken. No, but it's a chicken breast with sauce, pork products, you know, cheese in the middle. Yeah, 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 because it also is just kind of like what happens at the end of Thanksgiving. 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 is important. They burst like blueberries in a cereal. They really do. The corn is like the most integral part to KFC Famous World. Yes. Innovation to innovation. So we got like,

the tenders at KFC are obviously better, but we all agree that we don't really mess with tenders that much. A lot of people do. I 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 Jr. It's 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 got to eat them. 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 can grill chicken sandwiches. They once put a hot dog and potato chips on top of a hamburger. I remember that!

That was the All-American? The Most American. The Most American Burger. I'm so sorry, Most American. It was a troll. I remember that. That was the All-American? The Most American. The Most American Burger. I'm so sorry. Most American. It was a troll in the food world. The Monster Burger was my first time

enjoying mayo, mayonnaise on a burger. I love mayonnaise. Carl's Jr. is the hottest mayonnaise on their burgers, which is what I love about them. But Carl's Jr.

also hand dips their shakes, which is incredible. Carl's Jr. is the best fast food milkshake out there. Really? They do incredible work. Shake Shack.

Really? Are you eating the classic or the spicy? Classic. Really? They do incredible work. This is unbelievable. Shake Shack's not that spicy. Really? Are you eating the classic or the spicy? Classic. Classic? I'm full already. You guys enjoy. I'm full, but...

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's 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 over. Eat more chicken. 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 Popeye's. We don't need to re-litigate how good the Popeye's sandwich is. Everybody's done that. We've done that. League's better. Wow.

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 Popeye's and my world is like somebody puts like the ability to see colored glasses on me but I was colorblind.

Which are not colorblind. So I don't know. It's Pleasantville. It's Pleasantville. It's like having sex! The chicken is like having sex and seeing color. Keith, make your C face. Oh my God. Make my coming face?

No, I meant chicken, not coming. I don't know what that means. I'm a widow baby. We're asexual here. 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. Oh, you should eat it, though. I mean, really, Nicole. Why not? I'm so full. Please, Nicole. No peer fresh. This is the spicy one you're giving.

Popeyes, the bun is better. The sauce is better. The chicken meat is better. The chicken carapace 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 going to 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 nuts. 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 because they said they went through 30 different bun factories. 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 want to try the sides, or do you guys feel like you've made a definitive decision? You want to 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. Yeah, I'm going to do it. Take some Mac. 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 Popeye's is going to 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 to everybody in our orbit. KFC mac and cheese is bland. The Popeye's 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 with a breadcrumb or some other salt element that makes it better. 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 Popeye's 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. I love, we talk about Tony Sashary's all the time in. Honestly, to me, it was always the Cajun. I love... We talk about Tony Sashary's all the time in the show, and I put it in everything. I just love Cajun food. The side swept.

Just swept. KFC just swept it. 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. You know, Keith loves sports. I love sports.

I like sports too sometimes. Man, that chicken sandwich though, it really makes you 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 you. What do we need to think? Well, fast food salads are always terrible, but I don't care for them to be better.

Correct. 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. Yeah. Drawer. Popeye's wins! It is indeed the shiznit! Popeyes! Alright, 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 Casserole! 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 like 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. Can you do a pig squeal? Me! We!

We! We should start a band. Alright, Becky, 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. Cool. 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 the corned beef and cabbage. A lot of sauerkraut in the Midwest.

I like cabbage. It is good. I run through about a head and a half 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. You can do any raw preparation. I'll pickle a lot of it. It's it holds so much longer than lettuce. You can do any raw preparation.

I'll pickle a lot of it. It's waxy. It's waxy. Purple cabbage, so waxy. Sometimes I'll ferment it. Sometimes I'll just braise it. Sometimes I'll make stuffed cabbage leaves. Bold cabbage. Cabbage and potatoes. Cabbage salad. It's great.

Do you think sushi is overrated, though? 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 is delicious.

It's the best. I love sushi. I eat it often. And I think it's, you know, I think it's nice. It's a nice way to incorporate, you know, fresh, delicious seafood into your diet. We did. 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. Sinner in a show. I 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 Feliz 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 like 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, honestly. 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. 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 because I hadn't had it much. So the first exposure was, I can't afford this. And then so I got something that had tempura. I'm like, this is weird. And I didn't like it, but I don't know anything about this cabbage pancake.

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. Yeah. And they kind of dance in the wind. I'm okay on the bonito flakes. You are. You're okay on the bonito flakes. 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. Oh, my gosh. I love the wiggly.

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 what I don't like. I like this idea, though, of kind of like weeping for the Japanese food that could have been the sushi in America. Yeah, I don't know, but ramen is arguably even bigger.

I also weep for the different East Asian noodle soups that we could have had. Taiwanese beef noodle soup, which is ramen. Bun Ba Hui, Bun Ba Hui, Central Vietnam, shout out, you know, Mekong, Chinese. 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 and I love I love your podcast I love the um voicemail that was great thank you we're very sexy oh it sounds like a phone sex hotline if you call

my unpopular opinion is i like to dip chicken nuggets in chocolate pudding or a chocolate milkshake either way 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 You get it. Thank you for that. Every day. All right. We hate it. 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 weirds me out. 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 can kind of work. I think it has to be such a highly salty meat to work with chocolate. And I feel like I don't know, like chocolate milkshake, how chocolatey is this thing? How chocolate is chocolate pudding and chocolate milkshake are different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very different chocolate questions.

Pudding tends to be more heavily chocolatey than milkshake. Yeah. I'm just trying to think what would be the best chocolate to put on the best chicken. Well, 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? It was called Choco Chicken. Choco, like Choco, but. It was called Choco Chicken. Was this the red velvet chicken? It was called Choco Chicken?

Choco, like Choco, but like Choco, Choco Chicken. And it was started by the founder of Umami Burger, Adam Fleischman. And it was a massive failure, but he was like, this is certainly going to work because we put umami in burgers. Why can't we put chocolate in the chicken? Chocolate. 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? Is it? It's like Korean honey butter fried chicken. Let me tell you. I like honey mustard. 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 going to judge you for it, but don't worry about them. If Kim K can 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, no, no. Kim Kardashian doesn't order 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. I couldn't name people because it's so common to so many people that it would be an insult. There is no way you can tell. You'd just be like, Kevin, Mary.

Yeah, this guy named John I knew. There's no way that people, 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 going to judge you. These guys might, but keep doing you. I think my wife Becky does. His wife Becky. Okay. So just live your life. Put chocolate pudding on it.

I'm not going to judge you. These guys might, but keep doing it. I think it's gross. Yeah, it's crazy. You're a bad person. I'm not opposed to this podcast, so I won't hurt your feelings as much. I think it's gross,

and the people who are staring at you are right. Live your truth. If our brand equity falls, you're just out. You're leaving. You're gone. I can't hurt you. Hi, Josh and Nicole. This is Caleb from South Dakota.

I'm a semi-truck driver. I drive out of Kansas. Firstly, just wanted to thank you for all that you all do on the podcast and the YouTube. I spend 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. And I don't have a microwave like most truckers.

I don't care for them. So I've got an air fryer, I've got a tea kettle, and I've got a propane burner. So I was 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, propane burner. The world is your oyster honestly you can cook anything you can boil you can cook anything yeah you can fry yeah you make

a full english breakfast you can bake black pudding with you what should i take you keep it in the fridge it's hard because if you said like oh i only have a microwave 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 like quick flavorful nutritious keeps you like awake and alert i once made uh red bull pre-workout couscous red bull chicken red bull chicken oh honestly red bull chicken oh you should absolutely make red bull chicken i believe the heat does no it doesn't kill caffeine because let me tell you does kill caffeine 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.

Yeah, no, but here's what you do. You take, you make like a fried chicken, right? You got an air fryer, do air fried chicken. You can even do tendies if you want. Tendies, tendies, tendies. And then in that propane burner yours, you put like a couple Red Bulls in a sauce pot, any flavor Red Bull you want,

but it's got to be full sugar. You boil that down about like to 20%. And then you take butter and you just hit that with butter and a whole lot of salt. You boil that down about like 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 going to ramp up the savory notes. No, no. But you're effectively making, it's going to taste like mango habanero. You put some hot sauce in there. No, I've done this before. I swear to God.

It's going to 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 going to vote. bowl to make fried chicken wings and it was fantastic yeah do this with naked wings and that's a great time um i'm gonna vote 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 them a variety of ways with the options you have presented uh 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 going to want about three pounds of ginger, two pounds of garlic. You're going to want to process that. You're going to want to get a couple of food processors for your truck.

That way you have one just for ginger and garlic, and then you have one for your various checkers. And you probably need one for coffee. Side note, I just want to say thank you to all of the truck drivers of America. You're the backbone of America. I don't care what anyone says. 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 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 and no, it's no, it's absolutely truckers who just define what is going on. And like they drive knowing that

everyone else is going to make mistakes. So they're, they're really the safest drivers there are because they're driving gigantic death machines 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 that flip me off. The ones that you go

honk honk. I get it. You don't have to honk honk every time, but like a look and like a polite, like hey, you're not a child. Maybe 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 hot dog. Sometimes I show truckers my boobs and sometimes they really flip me off, you know?

They don't like it. And so I don't, you know, but most long haul truckers 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 and a sandwich. Keith, that was directed to you, but I said it to the camera. No, thank you so much for joining us on a hot dog and a sandwich. Keith, that was directed to you,

but I said it to the camera. No, I think they joined it too. They will join. They were joined. Everyone's joined. Yeah. At the hip.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Maybe. Well, I feel like I'd be a good Siamese twin. No, you don't say that anymore, do you? That's,

oh my God. Conjoined? Conjoined twin. Yeah, now we don't say that anymore. Who would you want to be a conjoined twin with? I would want to be a conjoined twin with you, Nicole. But we share one digestive system.

And I am the only one with the mouth. Who wants to be a cat dog kind of creature with me? Peggy! Peggy, 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 at Keith. Keith, tell the people where they can find you. You can find me on the Try Guys YouTube channel as well as at Keith Habs all over the internet. I also have a comedy band called Lou Burger.

All the vowels are E's if that helps you out. We have a tour in November where we're performing various parts of the Midwest, some Ohio shows, Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, some just right outside of Chicago, and Indianapolis, unfortunately for me. I don't love Indianapolis, but I can't wait to perform for you there. Indianapolis.

Have you been to Indiana? Never. Yeah. Well, what am I going to do in Indiana? Exactly. 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, do falls. Is that in south dakota i tried cedar falls is in iowa there's no falls in indiana it's too flat well 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. And if you want to be featured on Opinions Are Like Casseroles, you can hit us up at 833-DOG-POD-1. The number again is 833-DOG-POD-1. What? I know it's hot dogs, but we'll see you all next time.