Sauced

Paella isn't the rice — it's the pan. Or at least, that's where the name comes from. And in Valencia, where the dish was born, there's even a body that certifies which versions have earned the name and declares the rest "crimes against rice." Yet the seafood paella the whole world orders? The purists barely count it.We get into the authenticity war, the official ten-ingredient list, why a whole category gets written off as "rice with stuff," the one ingredient that starts fights, and how a field worker's lunch became a prince's dish. Plus the no-stir rule behind a crispy socarrat, and the dry Sherry that goes in the pan before it goes in the glass.For the glass, the Tonic con Cosas — a low-ABV cooler of Manzanilla Sherry, dry Spanish vermouth, citrus, and tonic, built off a Rebujito and a Bamboo and finished with a rosemary sprig.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:G4 Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/g4-tequila/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/Check out Wikipaella: https://wikipaella.org/

Beer can chicken is the dish that defies its own science. The most credible American barbecue scientists tested it and concluded the beer in the can does almost nothing the cook thinks. Backyard chefs from Memorial Day to Labor Day have kept doing it anyway — and so will we.Today, we dig into the contested origins — including a 1993 Houston Chronicle article that puts the technique in former President George H.W. Bush's kitchen — the science that quietly buried it, the geometry that actually makes the bird crisp, and a thought experiment about a Mexican spirit at the right strength.We pair it with Coq au Can — a beer-cocktail highball in light and dark.Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:Asil Raicilla de la Sierra: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

Tiramisu's origin is contested. One claim puts it in a Treviso restaurant in 1972. Another places it in Friuli, more than a decade earlier. But zabaglione — the dish's direct ancestor — has always been defined by sweet Marsala. The booze was the family inheritance dropped at Tiramisu's birth, and added back by everyone since.This week: the 1972 Le Beccherie story, the rival Friuli claim that pre-dates it, why the original was kept deliberately sober, egg-safety concerns, and where we actually land on the booze.The cocktail: The Red Hook — Vincenzo Errico's 2003 Manhattan variation from Milk & Honey NYC, with a coffee-bitters thumbprint that ties it back to the dessert.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Arriesgado Ancestral Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

Most cooking woods are fuel. For Jerk Chicken, pimento is the seasoning — it's the smoke, not just the marinade, that gives this dish its defining flavor.This week, we dig into the Maroon origin in smokeless underground pits to evade British patrols, the scotch bonnet vs habanero deep-dive, the Boston Bay tradition that dates to the 1940s, and why Red Stripe — not rum — earns its spot in the marinade. The rum we save for the cocktails.Speaking of which: The Jamaican Jerk Daiquiri — Wray & Nephew Overproof, Allspice Dram, lime, demerara, pimento bitters, rimmed with the leftover dry rub. And the Lion's Tail — a 1930s classic: bourbon, Allspice Dram, lime, demerara, Angostura.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Tequila El Viejito: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brandsUnderberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

This is a bonus episode that first went out to our premium subscribers in March. We're dropping it in the public feed today so you can hear what bonus episodes are like. They typically feature deep dives into a single technique, ingredient, or side dish, and the subject of this episode is garlic.Garlic changes more dramatically based on how you process it than almost anything else in the kitchen — crush it and you get a pungent, volatile hit; slice it thin and it softens into something almost sweet; roast it and it turns into spreadable butter; confit it low and slow and it becomes unrecognizable from where it started.We break down the science behind why, walk through six preparations, bust multiple myths, and debate whether the garlic press deserves its bad reputation. Plus: the 10-minute rule that might change how you prep garlic forever.Want more like this? Premium subscribers get bonus episodes, ad-free weekly episodes, digital recipe cards, and early access to live events and tastings. Sign up at sauced.supercast.com.Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod

The name says shrimp twice — except it doesn't. "Scampi" is Italian for langoustine, making shrimp scampi a translation accident that's been hiding in plain sight on every red sauce joint menu in America.This week, we unpack the dish that Italian immigrants rebuilt with a different crustacean in a new country. The real identity behind the name, why the sauce is actually a beurre blanc, the salt-and-baking-soda cure that changes everything about shrimp texture, and the 90-second window where it all comes together or falls apart.The cocktail: Lo Scampo — gin, fresh Ruby grapefruit juice, marjoram syrup, and seltzer. Garnished with a brûléed grapefruit slice.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:El Ateo Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

A Flemish dish with a French name. A stew named for coal, where nothing is cooked over fire. And a thickening technique that involves floating mustard-slathered gingerbread on top of the pot. Carbonnade Flamande is Belgium's answer to Beef Bourguignon — same method, different drink, entirely different class.This week, we break down the beer-braised stew that fueled Flemish laborers for centuries — why it's all beer and no stock, the ossobuco-cut shanks that give it body, Julia Child's wrong beer choice, and the peperkoek bread lid that makes this dish unlike anything else in the European canon.The cocktail: Le Charbon — aged Jamaican rum, Falernum, dry curaçao, and a ginger-molasses syrup.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:Mezcal Ultramundo: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/ultramundo/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

The most iconic dish in British cuisine was invented by a 13-year-old Jewish refugee, popularized by Italian immigrants in Scotland, and served with vinegar that — at most chip shops — is almost certainly fake. Fish and Chips is an immigrant masterpiece, and the real story is wilder than anyone gives it credit for.This week, we dig into the batter science that makes everything shatter: rice flour, ice cold vodka, and lager all working against gluten in different ways. The chips get a double fry. And we settle the great condiment debate — malt vinegar, ketchup, curry sauce, or the tartar sauce most Brits quietly ignore.The cocktail: The Good Companion — gin and dry vermouth with a homemade malt vinegar shrub, garnished with a Hayward's pickled onion.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:El Acabo Raicilla: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

A storm forced an English merchant into a Sicilian port in 1773. The wine he discovered there ended up defining one of Italian America's most iconic dishes.This week we trace Chicken Marsala from that shipwrecked merchant to the red sauce joints of New York, unpacking how a fortified wine became the backbone of a one-pan classic. We break down Marsala's DOC classifications, debate why pounding chicken is pointless, and make the case for three types of mushrooms — quartered, never sliced. Plus the cooking order most recipes get wrong.The cocktail: an Italian Margarita — tequila, amaretto, citrus, and agave — built around the nutty, oxidized notes that bridge right back to the dish.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-are/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

A 1974 Italian cookbook, a Bologna nightclub, and a dish that earned the nickname "disco pasta" — Penne alla Vodka has no codified recipe, no agreed-upon ingredient list, and was once called "disgusting" by the president of the Italian Academy of Cuisine. So why does it persist?This week, we're tracing the dish from its murky Italian origins to its Italian-American identity crisis — and devising our own version along the way. We break down why vodka, a flavorless spirit, actually extracts flavor compounds from tomatoes that water and fat can't reach, debate whether cream is a non-negotiable, and talk through why Carbone's famous Spicy Rigatoni skips the vodka entirely.The cocktail: The Disco MiTo — vodka, Campari, Cocchi di Torino, orange bitters, lemon peel. A vodka riff on the Negroni, stirred and served up.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:El Ateo Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

A secret recipe, a snail shortage, and the richest man who ever lived — that's how Oysters Rockefeller came to be. This week, we're tracing the dish back to 1899 New Orleans and Antoine's, the oldest family-run restaurant in America, where Jules Alciatore swapped escargot for Gulf oysters and created something iconic.We're committing to our own version of the secret recipe — compound butter loaded with spinach, herbs, and absinthe, spooned over plump Gulf oysters and finished under the broiler. Plus, Sother's East Coast vs. West Coast vs. Gulf oyster cheat sheet, the case for Panko over Italian breadcrumbs, and why you should always make more compound butter than you need.The cocktail: The Obituary — a gin Martini laced with absinthe, born just down the street from Antoine's at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:Mezcal Ultramundo: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/ultramundo/Atheras Spirits: https://atherasspirits.com/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

Coq au vin — rooster in wine — is one of those dishes that sounds fancy but started as peasant cooking. A tough old bird, past its prime, slow-braised until tender in wine with bacon, mushrooms, and pearl onions.This week, we trace the dish from Julius Caesar's alleged power play against a Gallic chief to Julia Child's 1961 cookbook that made it a global sensation. We debate whether the "vin" must be red (spoiler: there are regional riffs with Riesling, yellow wine, even Champagne), explore why marinating overnight is non-negotiable, and talk through the butchery if you're breaking down a whole bird.The cocktail: The Queen of Cocktails — a Mezcal Pechuga highball inspired by the surprising connection between cock ale, the cocktail's etymology, and pechuga's ceremonial distillation. It's a story you'll want to hear.Premium subscribers get the full recipe card with quantities, techniques, and the cocktail specs. Head to saucedpodcast.com to sign up.Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:El Acabo Raicilla: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brandsUnderberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

A big, steaming bowl of mussels — simple, fast, and impossibly satisfying. In this episode of Sauced, Tim McKirdy and Sother Teague break down Moules Marinière: the classic bistro dish that proves you don't need lots of time or effort to create something beautiful.We cover why PEI mussels are the move (and why green lips aren't), the proper way to clean and debeard, why shallots matter more than you think, and the exact moment your mussels go from done to overdone. Plus, the serving move that makes this a complete meal: crusty bread in the bowl and fries on the side.The cocktail: The Bouchot — a Calvados-forward sipper with Suze and Cocchi Americano that nods to Normandy without overpowering the briny sweetness of the dish.To sign up for a premium subscription, head to: https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-areAtheras Spirits: https://atherasspirits.com/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/