BORDERLINE SALTY

On this episode, hosts Rick Martinez and Carla Lalli Music share how they stock their fridges to make the most out of leftovers, discuss baking with hot hands and at high altitudes, and give their rapid-fire advice for getting the crispiest potatoes in the oven.

Also, they tackle a different kind of “oyster” in the latest "No, Thank You, Please". 

This week’s recipe book:

As always, we’d love to hear about your cooking conundrums at 833-433-FOOD (3663). 

Find us on Instagram @borderlinesalty

Find full episode transcripts and more about the podcast on our website borderlinesalty.fm. 

If you can’t get enough of our hosts – we don’t blame you! Subscribe to Carla's newsletters here and find links to her Instagram and YouTube channel at www.carlalallimusic.com. 

You can order Rick’s cookbook “Mi Cocina: Recipes and Rapture from My Kitchen in Mexico here, watch the companion Mi Cocina video series here, and find all of his socials at www.rick-martinez.com

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION

Rick Martinez: Hi. I'm Rick Martinez. I'm a cookbook author, video host, and my go-to to gas station grabs are Topo Chico and Sour Skittles Classic. 

Carla Lalli Music: Ugh, classic. I'm Carla Lalli Music. I'm also a cookbook author, former restaurant person, and my go-to grabs are lemon lime seltzer and a big bag of Fritos. 

Rick Martinez: Ah, family size.

Carla Lalli Music: That I will not be sharing with my family. Rick and I have been solving and laughing our way through food problems together for more than a decade in test kitchens, in videos, and at magazines. 

Rick Martinez: And now we're doing it here on Borderline Salty, the show where we take your calls, boost your confidence, and make you a better, smarter, happier cook just like us. 

Carla Lalli Music: Today will weigh in on baking with hot hands.

Rick Martinez: Hot hands! 

Carla Lalli Music: Making cakes at high altitudes. 

Rick Martinez: Altitudes! 

Carla Lalli Music: And discuss how to sort through all the food bullshit were inundated with.

Rick Martinez: Bullshit.

Carla Lalli Music: So much. But before we dive in, Rick, tell me something good. 

Rick Martinez: Well, Carla, I was in Mexico City recently, and I met some friends at a bar. And one of the things that I was really surprised to find, especially since this was this bar was known for its mezcal, they actually had a Mexican sake. 

Carla Lalli Music: Wow. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah, I was really shocked. I was slightly skeptical, but I wanted to try it just to see what it was like. And I had a group of friends that had said that it was really, really good. Apparently, this Mexican couple had gone to Japan and were just obsessed with sake. 

Carla Lalli Music: I love sake so much. 

Rick Martinez: It's so good. And they wanted to basically bring it to Mexico. 

Carla Lalli Music: Neat.

Rick Martinez: So they actually hired a soccer master to come and help them create a sake that could be produced in Mexico that would appeal to a Mexican palate. 

Carla Lalli Music: Cool. 

Rick Martinez: But it was much more floral than I was used to, and it was a little bit sweeter than probably other sakes that I've had. I actually prefer probably on the drier side, but it was a really, really beautiful sake 

Carla Lalli Music: That's so cool. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. And apparently, like, so this couple lives in the northern part of the country, which is drier and hotter. And so rice doesn't grow in that area. And so they actually import a lot of their rice from the United States. They use rice that’s grown in Minnesota to make the sake. But it was a really, really beautiful sake. 

Carla Lalli Music: Rad. I have a whole theory about sake doesn't give you hangovers that I've been testing for quite a while. 

Rick Martinez: We'll save that for another show. So why don't you tell me something good? 

Carla Lalli Music: Well, it's funny you mentioned rice, because recently I took my first trip to Charleston, South Carolina, which is like an amazing food town. I don't really know how I hadn't gone before. It's a two hour flight, like, I joked about this while I was there, as like as a classic New Yorker. It's like New York and California and then everything in the middle. I'm like, it probably takes 5 hours. Like, I have no idea. It's so, it was so close. It was a two hour direct flight and had some actually very delicious rice. I mean, carolina rice. 

Rick Martinez: Carolina rice. Yum. 

Carla Lalli Music: Like the craft of rice making at every place that I had rice, you could tell, was, you know, really thoughtful. I had crab rice at one place and then at this other restaurant, Chubby Fish, I had a delicious fish curry that was over rice. But the other thing I had there truly blew my mind were wild South Carolina oysters. 

Rick Martinez: Ah.

Carla Lalli Music: That the friend I was with was like, I'm good on oysters because we'd had oysters there twice already. That day I was like, Oh, I'm not. We're having more and more oysters. And the local oysters were kind of on the bigger side, which can sometimes be like a lot. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah.

Carla Lalli Music: But they were so cold, so beautifully presented and so salty. Creamy. Couldn't recommend highly enough. 

Rick Martinez: I want coconut rice. 

Carla Lalli Music:  Mm. All the rice. 

Rick Martinez: All the rice. 

Carla Lalli Music: Drink the rice. 

Rick Martinez: Eat the rice. Dry the rice. 

Carla Lalli Music: We just love rice. 

Rick Martinez: It's time for questions. 

Caller 1: So I'm Sydney and I am absolutely terrified of any recipe in which butter needs to stay cold. So any, like laminated pastry because I have chronic hot hands and the butter melts no matter what I do every time because I'm handling it and I have really hot hands. 

Carla Lalli Music: I mean, the good news is Sydney would make an amazing masseuse. 

Rick Martinez: You would perhaps you should switch from laminated pastry to masseuse. Yeah. No, actually, laminated pastry is amazing and you need to be making it. It's so delicious. I'm all about the pies and croissants. So here we go. Hot hands, put gloves on. Basically just a good latex glove will insulate and keep the heat on your hands and not transfer it to your butter and your flour. If they're super, super hot, which it sounds like they may be, you might even want to consider a bowl of ice water next to you. And so put your gloves on, dip them in a nice little ice bath. And once you feel it on the inside, then dry them off, and then start working with your butter. But I also think there are a few other things and this is sort of just general good practice whenever making anything with cold butter, you want to make sure that everything else is cold. So when I start making a pie or a pastry, I put the bowls in the fridge, I put my board and, you know, preferably a board made out of marble or some kind of stone works best for pastries. Crank up your AC. Make sure that your kitchen is as cold as it can possibly be. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah, you can also cool down the flour even. 

Rick Martinez: Exactly. Keep your flour in the fridge. It's just general. Good practice. But I also think be good to yourself or go easy on yourself because there are a lot of reasons why pastry can not work. Well, it doesn't have to just be your hands like so for me, I live at the beach and so it is always warm here. But if I try and make something that requires cold butter in the summertime, I have a very limited window of time that the butter is going to stay hard. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right.

Rick Martinez: And so the way that I cope is I just work in very small increments. You add your butter in your flour together, super cold, process it a little bit. And then when it starts to just feel like it's getting ever so slightly soft, throw it in the freezer. Let it freeze for about five, 10 minutes. Get it out and do it again. And even if you have to do this back and forth for, you know, a few minutes, it's going to ensure that it doesn't melt. 

Carla Lalli Music: I think you can also keep like a freezer bag filled with ice cubes and some water, and that way you can lay that flat on your board. Or if you start rolling out the crust and you see that the butter is starting to melt, you could lay that cold bag right on top of the dough and do it that way if you're afraid of moving it, if you're afraid it's going to fall apart. This is a real thing. Hot hands happen. Everyone's beautiful body and beautiful anatomy should be celebrated. It's better to be a hot handed person than a cold handed, cold, cold hearted. 

Rick Martinez: Almost dead. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah, I'd rather have lovely warm hands than just terminally like cold witch's fingers.

Rick Martinez: Ew, ew!

Carla Lalli Music: So I would also say that in this I think again, we put pressure on ourselves to master certain techniques that maybe are going against our own natural setting. Right? And so instead of being the Sisyphus of pastry preparation for the end of days, you can just acknowledge, like, I struggle with this, I get bad results. It makes me sad and anxious. Perhaps by your puff pastry. It's really okay. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah, buy the pie crust. And make the most incredible fillings ever. 

Carla Lalli Music: Exactly.

Rick Martinez: Hello caller, you're on the line. 

Caller 2: Hey, Rick and Carla, this is Peter from the Detroit area. I work a lot and commute a lot. And so I love meals that you can put in the fridge and eat later. Love overnight oats. Love a big pot of chili or soup. Love a big pot of rice and beans with chorizo or other meat that make good leftovers. So I want to know your favorite fridge meals. Can you help me round out? Cause I'm getting pretty bored of the chili I make. Expand my mind, expand my repertoire. What's your favorite fridge meal? Thank you so much. You two are awesome. Thanks for being you and adding spice into the world. 

Rick Martinez: Aw! 

Carla Lalli Music: Cute. 

Rick Martinez: We like Peter, we need to help him. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah, I think this is someone who likes to cook but doesn't want to cook that often. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. 

Carla Lalli Music: That's what I'm hearing. Because he's making chili, he's likes to eat, he likes food, but maybe not as the every day. 

Rick Martinez: It sounds like he's probably making complete meals. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yes. 

Rick Martinez: And keeping him in the fridge as opposed to thinking of it more like the components of potential meals in the future. 

Carla Lalli Music: Exactly. Yeah, that's really key because I am not a meal prepper and I don't like to think about the entire week's worth of meals in advance, but I do definitely believe in giving yourself a leg up and having components for meals ready. And sometimes that's just about having lots of really great condiments so that it's a shorter road to the finish line. But I think he's on the right path here. Thinking about chili or braises, other meaty things that actually get better if they sit for a day or two. And if he's bored of that type of chili, then think about braises maybe from other cuisines or other repertoires that you haven't made before. Maybe he's made braised short ribs, but hasn't ever made something like Kimchi-jjigae which is a Korean pork and kimchi stew that is going to use those same skills that he's already developed, but will be a very different flavor profile and could be a nice change up without having to learn how to make something completely new. 

Rick Martinez: You know, what I normally do, this is the opposite of cooking, for one. But as a person that lives alone, I am happy to make that thing that serves eight like a lasagna. And, you know, like, I'm going to eat it for a few days. I mean, truth be told, I'll probably eat the whole thing, but in my mind, I will save half of it and put it in the freezer. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right. 

Rick Martinez: And I think your freezer is your friend. Yeah. You want to keep it stocked. And so at any given moment, I have my freezer full of both complete meals like soups, like stews or braises. But then there are also the components like quarts of beans, quarts of cooked rice. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yep.

Rick Martinez: Quarts of sauces or half pint containers of leftover salsas. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah. And if you're cooking these bigger meals and choosing maybe a weekend day where you want to stock up the fridge or stock up the freezer, do a few things at once in that cooking marathon that you're doing. So make a pot of grains, make your braise or whatever that's going to be, and then use some of that inactive time while those things are simmering away and make the big batch vinaigrette, make some of these salsas and sauces. 

Rick Martinez: Carla, what's one of your favorite big batch recipes you like? 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah, I actually have our house vinaigrette recipe that is appropriately called big batch vinaigrette. It's in 'That sounds so good.' And this is the vinaigrette that my mom has been making since I was just a wee a wee lad. And it's been sitting on the kitchen counter in her house, like since I was little. And now I just keep a big bottle of it on my kitchen caddy and it never goes bad. And it's always like you just have dressing ready to go. 

Rick Martinez: And that's amazing. Just FYI, everything I make is big batch. So I never say that it's big batch because you're just going to know it's like 6 to 800 people this dish will serve. But there's a special section in my book that is all salsas. It's like 16 amazing salsas. I have a ton on Food52, but you know, some of my favorites are just really quick and easy blender salsas where you take, yeah, tomatoes, tomatillos, whatever you have laying around in your fridge and just throw them in a blender with something spicy, like a serrano or a jalapeno or dried chilies and blend it up. And then you have not only enough for whatever you're doing right at that moment, but then you get to freeze the rest. 

Carla Lalli Music: You know, people underestimate condiments. 

Rick Martinez: Oh, condiments are everything. 

Carla Lalli Music: 70% of my fridge is condiments and like pickles and sauces and like little things like that. And then you can have the most basic preparation of any protein, any grain, any green, and then you just jazzed it up. 

Rick Martinez: The other thing too, is if that day of making big batch things sounds intimidating or maybe just like overwhelming, what you can do is turn it into a party. 

Carla Lalli Music: Oh, I love this. 

Rick Martinez: Invite all of your friends that are really into big batch cookery. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah. 

Rick Martinez: And just everybody make something big. So, you know, like Peter, maybe you're going to make the braise and then somebody else makes grains and somebody else makes beans and, you know, like, just turn it into something that's really, really fun, and everybody bring some Tupperware, and at the end, you divide everything up, and then you all go away with a freezer and a fridge full of really delicious ingredients to make meals for your entire week or longer. 

Carla Lalli Music: Oh, genius. I love that. 

Rick Martinez: Also invite us. 

Carla Lalli Music: We'd like to come. 

Rick Martinez: Come. Yeah. Caller three: Go ahead. 

Caller 3: Hi, guys. My name is Lauren and I'm calling because I live in colorful Colorado. Love baking, love cooking. But the last couple of times I've been trying to bake my family birthday cakes, it sinks in the middle. I'm assuming it's because of the altitude, and I just haven't been able to master changing the ingredients and the measurements on my favorite recipes to adjust to the high altitude here. So I would love to hear your thoughts and learn just a little tips and tricks on how to adjust my recipes. 

Carla Lalli Music: All right, sugarman, this is for you. 

Rick Martinez: Okay, [phonetic Lauren]. So here's the thing: A sunken cake in the middle is usually the sign of being under-baked. And I think you're right, it probably is because you live in a high altitude area. There are a number of things that you have to do to adjust, frankly, any recipe, whether it's, you know, boiling pasta or baking a cake. High altitude means lower air pressure, which means water evaporates faster. So at sea level, your water's boiling at 212, depending on how high up you are, it can go down to 195. So that means that, you know, when you're baking, if you set your oven at 350, you're going to lose a lot more moisture. A lot more of that water is going to evaporate in an hour bake time than if you were baking at sea level. 

Carla Lalli Music: Among the reasons why I'm going to stay here at Brooklyn sea level is like I have too many variables as it is. 

Rick Martinez: Can you imagine boiling pasta for like half an hour? All the water evaporates and still you've got al dente, almost crunchy pasta. 

Carla Lalli Music: No! 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. 

Carla Lalli Music: No. Up is up and down is down to 12 is boiling. I can't. I can't. 

Rick Martinez: But so there's a pretty I mean, it's not an easy fix, but this is what you need to do. Well, I mean, the first thing I would suggest is look for recipes that are specifically adapted to high altitude baking. That would be the first thing. And there are a number of local cookbooks, local websites in Colorado, especially where the altitude is, you know, up to a mile or higher. And those recipes will have been tested for high altitude. But what you can do to convert is, you want to increase your temperature of your oven about 15 to 25 degrees. A normal cake could probably go up to 25 degrees, something that's maybe a little bit more delicate. You might want to just start off at 15 and then you want to decrease your bake time. So the theory here is that you're going to bake at a higher temperature for less time. The higher temperature is going to set your starch more quickly. Let's say that, you know, you put your cake in what would normally be at 350 oven, you put it in 375, the starch sets, so it's not going to sink and then you're going to get a lot more water evaporating and it's essentially going to cook faster in less time. That is the theory. The other thing that you can do, because a lot of times and this happened to me a few days ago, in fact, I've been making this pound cake. I put it in the oven, I forgot to set my timer. And so I kind of guessed at how much time had elapsed, which was a mistake and I shouldn't have. And I checked it using a metal cake tester. But a lot of times when they're metal, if the batter has like a higher fat concentration or once the batter is warm, it doesn't stick to the metal, so actually toothpicks or wooden skewers are better for cake testing because even a wet batter will stick to the wood. Anyway. So I checked it. It seemed like it was ready. I pulled it out and like 15 minutes later it's sunk in the middle. So I made it again and this time I did pull out that thermometer. And so what you're looking for in the very center of the cake at the top, it needs to get to at least 200 degrees. 

Carla Lalli Music: I don't know why more recipes don't call for this. It's like we're calling for internal temperature of all kinds of things all the time. And once I learned that, I was like, I don't understand. Why are we constantly, like, checking for things to spring back within 3 seconds? It's like such a good measure. 

Rick Martinez: Exactly. The center of my cake was 200 and the outside edges were a little bit higher. They were probably like 205 and the cake was starting to pull away from the pan. So I think you want to make sure that you're checking all of those things and then your cake should be done. 

Carla Lalli Music: Amazing. I'm going to stay over here at 60-foot. 

Rick Martinez: I know. I'm like, I'm happy here by the sea, the end. . 

Carla Lalli Music: Who's next? 

Caller 4: Hey, guys. My name is Max, and I have a conundrum. One of them is trying to get crispy potatoes in the oven without necessarily having to boil them, trying to just get them nice and crispy. Is there a way to do this? Thanks. 

Rick Martinez: Carla. Shall we do a crispy oven potato rapid fire? 

Carla Lalli Music: Yes, we shall. I'm going to start off with high heat. 

Rick Martinez: I'm going to come in with lots of fat. 

Carla Lalli Music: I am going to suggest cutting the potato to create a flat side. 

Rick Martinez: I am going to raise you with, if you have a convection, turn that fan on. 

Carla Lalli Music: And if that weren't enough, we're going to flip these bad boys halfway through to expose both sides. 

Rick Martinez: And if you really, really want to get a good sear on the bottom, put your rack on the lowest position closest to the heating element and cook them there. 

Carla Lalli Music: Don't forget to salt. 

Rick Martinez: Lots of salt and pepper too. Can we do one more call, please? 

Carla Lalli Music: Let's get that last caller on. 

Caller 5: Hi, this is Emma Wood. My fear is more like a general fear. I see so much on media about, like, toxins in food and, like, Big Food, and it just seems to be like a lot of conspiracy around food recently. And, like, cutting out this is important and not eating that is important. And it's just so much false information that it frightens me. And also so many people are spreading it. Maybe this is too deep of a topic. 

Carla Lalli Music: Huge issues being brought up here. 

Rick Martinez: This is a really big issue. There's a lot to unpack here. 

Carla Lalli Music: The clean eating thing really touches a nerve with me. Clean eating implies that there's dirty eating or that food could be clean or dirty. And I think that that is so tied up with the reason why Americans especially have so many problems with food and hang ups around food and disordered eating and guilt around eating and just sort of straight out of the gates, it's a false premise. You know, food shouldn't be thought of as being clean or dirty because we all need to eat to live. It's just something that I would love for everybody to get over. Are there some foods in the U.S. that have additives or chemicals in them that are banned in the EU? Yes, country by country there are differences, but food is still extremely tightly regulated in the United States. And the reason you're going to get sick from food is not really about an additive or something like that. It's going to be an unsafe handling of the food that is more likely to make you ill. But they are also very rare. 

Rick Martinez: I completely agree with that. I really dislike those terms because they also are used to describe a lot of foods that are unfamiliar to Americans. But I think specifically, you know, in regards to this question, I think for me it comes down to trust. When I shop, I try and know the source of the ingredient. So, you know, at a very base level, I will go to a farmer's market or in my case, the market near my house. And I know the vendors. I try and know the farmers. I try and know the ranchers. I did the same when I was in New York. That's not to say that, you know, I exclusively shopped at these places because in the US the farmers markets tend to be a lot more expensive. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yep. 

Rick Martinez: You know, so I've certainly gone to my grocery store across the street and bought that broccoli and the lettuce and the bacon. But I also try and make friends there as well and try and find out where things are. And I know what tastes good. I know what brands I think are better just by looking at the ingredient label. And I have very specific sources that I feel like I can trust. It's a very short number of places that I go for information. I do my research when I need to, and then I just make some common sense decisions. Occasionally, I might be grabbing that humanely raised animal. I might also then go to the farmer's market and buy those beautiful mushrooms But then, you know, there are other moments where I'm going to have to go to the grocery store, and that's totally fine. 

Carla Lalli Music: Totally. 

Rick Martinez: I think it's a very deeply personal decision, and there are a lot of things to consider. And I think ultimately you have to be happy and comfortable with your decisions. And to me, that comes from being an informed shopper, understanding how much you're willing to do, knowing how much you can afford to spend, and then just finding the best available fruits, vegetables and proteins.

Carla Lalli Music: Again, it does come back to personal choices. I decided a long time ago that, you know, I can't buy organic all the time. It's too expensive. But I really do choose to buy organic dairy because that matters to me, matters to my family. My family consumes a lot of dairy. So in the weighted, you know, scale of all of these things, that make sense. But right now, food prices are going astronomical. It's part of, you know, everything else that is happening tied to inflation. And there are some things that I truly have sticker shock over right now. And it might be that certain types of protein or certain types of dairy are going to be out of reach financially. And we're going to have to kind of readjust either you're going to consume less of that thing or it's going to be okay to do local dairy that may or may not be organic. So I just think about the 80/20 rule like look down into your shopping cart and is 80% of it make you feel like you're making good choices and 20% is like something you want and you're going to have and you're not going to feel weird about it. Then great. I've got pastured eggs in my fridge and I have, you know, Ritz crackers and like, they can exist together. It's fine. 

Rick Martinez: Right, and I think ultimately it's all about happiness. Like, I love Cheetos and Doritos, and you know what? Like, I'm going to buy those and I'm going to eat them, and they're going to make me happy along with that beautiful, organic tomato. 

Carla Lalli Music: Totally. Before we go, it's time for my favorite segment, No, Thank you, Please. 

Rick Martinez: Well, Carla, earlier you talked about oysters. 

Carla Lalli Music: I did. 

Rick Martinez:  But this week, we're talking about a different kind of oyster. One that I think might be a little more fun. 

Carla Lalli Music: I mean, I love a fun oyster. 

Rick Martinez: You're going to love Rocky Mountain oysters. 

Carla Lalli Music: Oh, I've heard of these. 

Rick Martinez: What have you heard, Carla? 

Carla Lalli Music: Well, this is one of, like, the greatest sort of marketing naming. You know? Like, it's all how you sell it. So a Rocky Mountain oyster isn't an oyster at all because the Rocky Mountains are landlocked, are they not? 

Rick Martinez: They are. 

Carla Lalli Music: So what kind of oyster might you find? 

Rick Martinez: Ooh, I just don't know. 

Carla Lalli Music: For those who may not know, a Rocky Mountain oyster is ... 

Rick Martinez: Wait for it. 

Carla Lalli Music: A bull's testicle. 

Rick Martinez: Delicious. 

Carla Lalli Music: Are they served on the half sack, though? 

Rick Martinez: It depends on where you get them. 

Carla Lalli Music: So I have to admit, I've heard about them. I know what they are. Have never had. 

Rick Martinez: I've had them. 

Carla Lalli Music: You have? 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. I mean, I think if it's cooked properly and tender and, you know, there are ways to extract a lot of the very minerally, very irony, very sort of off flavors. And one of the I think this is sort of a universal trick is soaking it in milk. Okay. I have heard some people say that they like to soak it in a very light baking soda-ish brine. 

Carla Lalli Music: Okay. 

Rick Martinez: Again, it's just to pull out all of those sort of off flavors. 

Carla Lalli Music: And I feel like they're often fried. Am I making that up? 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. I mean, I think the thing is and we've talked about this before, it's like one of those things where you need to take away the bad as much of the bad flavor is or the offending flavors as possible. And then you need to layer on top of it a lot of other flavors that are going to mask any like, you know, fear that you might have of tasting whatever the whatever. 

Carla Lalli Music: Whatever it is that you're tasting. Yeah. And I also think if you're at a place that is serving Rocky Mountain oysters, then they hopefully know what they're doing with them. 

Rick Martinez: Yeah. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right?

Rick Martinez: Yeah. 

Carla Lalli Music: Like, don't do it as a gag. 

Rick Martinez: Right. You have to respect the animal. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right. 

Rick Martinez: You know, in a lot of cultures, most cultures on this planet, if you slaughter an animal, you can eat and use every part of the animal. People that are used to driving cattle and have, you know, large herds of animals. If an animal goes down, you're going to use it. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right. 

Rick Martinez: And also, the oysters are big. 

Carla Lalli Music: So when you said large herds, I definitely thought you were going to say. And they're used to driving large testicles. 

Rick Martinez: There are a lot of large testicles on the range. Just to be clear. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yes. Yes. I've seen those movies. 

Rick Martinez: Brokeback Mountain. 

Carla Lalli Music: I was going to say. You're breaking my balls over here.

Rick Martinez: I mean, balls are eaten everywhere. 

Carla Lalli Music: True. True. 

Rick Martinez: You know, like and everybody puts their spin on it. But, you know, like, I think the key is just having an open mind and and find a place that you think that they're going to do it well. And so, like the places that I've had them are cafes and diners in Colorado. 

Carla Lalli Music: Right. 

Rick Martinez: They realize that people are going to just try it because of the novelty of it. So it's probably going to come at you as an app. Get the app. It's probably going to be fried. It's probably going to have a tasty sauce with it. It's a fried food. Just take a bite and you may be surprised. 

Carla Lalli Music: I'm convinced. So, you know, I hope other people will be too. 

Rick Martinez: Try it, you might like some balls. And that's it for this week's episode of Borderline Sulky. But don't you worry, we'll be back next week. 

Carla Lalli Music: In the meantime, you can find recipes and recommendations from this week's episode in our show notes. 

Rick Martinez: And if you have a question or a fear you want us to help you through, you can always leave us a voicemail at eight three, three, four, three, three food. 

Carla Lalli Music: That number again is 833-433-3663.

Rick Martinez: Borderline Salty is an original production by Pineapple Street Studios. We're your hosts. I'm Rick Martinez. 

Carla Lalli Music: And I'm Carla Lalli Music. You can find links to our work in the show notes for this episode. 

Rick Martinez: Natalie Brennan is our lead producer. 

Carla Lalli Music: Janelle Anderson is our producer. 

Rick Martinez: Our managing producer is Agerenesh Ashagre. 

Carla Lalli Music: Our assistant producer is Mari Orozco. 

Rick Martinez: Our head of sound and engineering is Raj Makhija. 

Carla Lalli Music: Mixing and Engineering by Davy Sumner and Jason Richards. 

Rick Martinez: Our assistant engineers are Sharon Bardales and Jade Brooks.

Carla Lalli Music: Original music from our very own Raj Makhija. 

Rick Martinez: Additional music from Vincent Vega, Spring Gang and Glovebox Box courtesy of Epidemic. 

Carla Lalli Music: Sound Legal Services for Pineapple Street are provided by Bianca Grimshaw at Granderson de Rochers. 

Rick Martinez: Our executive producers are Max Linsky and Jenna Weiss-Berman. 

Carla Lalli Music: We appreciate Sydney, Peter, Lauren, Max and Emma for calling in this week. 

Rick Martinez: And thanks to you for listening. Talk to you next week. 

Carla Lalli Music: Yeah. Talk to you next week. 

Rick Martinez: Obsessed! I don't know why I said that. 

Carla Lalli Music: Just leave that phone line open and we'll talk all night. 

Rick Martinez: Call me.