Amanda Shapiro: Okay, so by now you have probably definitely seen TikToker and now food influencer, Emily Mariko's microwaved salmon and rice bowl on the internet. She takes out the salmon, she puts it in the bowl, she puts the rice on top, she makes it look nice, she adds a little ice cube, she covers it with the parchment. I could go on and on. Well, about a week before that recipe went completely viral, we decided to do an episode of _Food People_ about viral TikTok recipes. Specifically, we wanted to ask people on staff to cook some famous recipes from the app for an entire day. Only the recipes from the app for an entire day. And talk to us about what it was like. So we somehow cajoled two very intrepid _Bon Appétit_ staffers into the challenge. The first, June Kim, who is the Head of Video for BA and a passionate, but call it amateur cook. And then our Senior Food Editor, Christina Chaey, who I would call a very accomplished cook, less knowledgeable TikTok user. Hey you two, welcome to the show. Christina Chaey: Hello. June Kim: Thanks, hi. Amanda Shapiro: First, before we get into the actual day of cooking, I want to talk about just TikTok period. So, June, talk a little bit about your experience with TikTok and food TikTok in particular. June Kim: Yeah, definitely. I am a consumer of TikTok, I will say that. I'm not like a creator on TikTok. I've tried once and it took four hours, so I gave up. But, um... Amanda Shapiro: Did you ever publish it or was it just like a draft sitting somewhere? June Kim: Probably a draft sitting somewhere. I think I tried to like make a spaghetti making TikTok and I was like, this is so much work. I cannot do this right now. But I love to watch TikTok and I like that you can kind of fall into different rabbit holes. That's what TikTok is known for. I will say, like I've recently fallen into BeeTok where I've learned so much about bee hives and queen bees and how they're fed royal jelly. Which is, you know... Amanda Shapiro: That bee lady. June Kim: Yeah, am my richer having this information, who knows? Amanda Shapiro: What about FoodTok though? Christina Chaey: Wait, is this how people refer to the sub niches? You just say the topic and then you add, Tok to the end? BeeTok? Amanda Shapiro: It's kinda different. There's like, it's different for every little niche, but I call it FoodTok. June Kim: I think if it works, it works. Like I do think it's BeeTok and FoodTok. Amanda Shapiro: The Gen-zers right now are probably just like rolling their eyes at this. June Kim: Truly, truly, um... Christina Chaey: Whatever I'm not playing that I'm any generation other than old. June Kim: Yeah. Same. But yeah, FoodTok is really fun. I think obviously we're really familiar with the ASMR type content, but what I really like about it is how real it is when you compare it to like Instagram, which is like chasing perfection. It's perfectly lit, the perfect amount of pistachio on top of your smoothie bowl, but with TikTok, some of the most viral videos are horribly lit kitchens in nighttime, and like the food is just slapped together. And I kind of appreciate that. Amanda Shapiro: Yeah. So, Chaey, tell me about your relationship with TikTok. Christina Chaey: Okay. So I, I don't have TikTok. I don't anticipate that I will, but also frankly, like at this point, I feel like you can't escape TikTok, right. Even if you don't have TikTok, you kind of have TikTok because it's on Instagram, people text TikToks all the time to me. So I just need good friends who remember that I refuse to download TikTok and will take the time to text me TikToks separately. Amanda Shapiro: Totally, I think that's a very particular feeling toward the app, but I want to dive into the recipes that we asked you both to cook. So, the challenge was to cook three recipes from TikTok over the course of the day. You each tackled the same three recipes. And I want to hear both of your perspectives. Let's start with breakfast. So June, why don't you start paint the picture for me? You're on West Coast time, you roll out of bed. You probably already have a meeting that you're late to, right? June Kim: Yes, classic. Amanda Shapiro: You're trying to figure out how to make breakfast. June Kim: Yeah. Amanda Shapiro: And the recipe we asked you to make was the Pesto Eggs popularized by Amy Wilkowski, which is basically frying eggs in pesto. How did it go? June Kim: I think it went totally fine. I don't know what you did Chaey, but I did make the original recipe. So the original recipe is not only pesto eggs, but she serves it on a piece of toast with ricotta, topped with avocado, topped with the pesto eggs, topped with honey, topped with red pepper flakes, which is wild. Amanda Shapiro: That is so extra! Christina Chaey: Do you like see my face right now? June Kim: It's like mushy on mushy, mushy, you know? I also noticed that there was no seasoning. She didn't salt the eggs, she didn't salt the ricotta or avocado, which to me was kind of a miss, but overall flavor wise, okay. Texture wise, not the biggest fan. Amanda Shapiro: So walk us through just the actual pesto egg part. Like how are you making these? June Kim: So nonstick skillet, over medium heat. I dropped in a tablespoon of pesto. Let that melt down. Start to get the oil separated. I cracked two eggs in... Christina Chaey: Guys I had no idea there was like an, an original. I'm so sorry I did this all wrong. June Kim: No, no interpretation. Amanda Shapiro: Chaey's like, I did not complete the assignment. Christina Chaey: Someone on this recording is like mad at me right now, probably, but in true cooks fashion, I was just like, "Oh, pesto, eggs." I guess this is what it is. Amanda Shapiro: Well, I that's why I wanted you both to do this because I really was curious to see like, June followed the recipe. Chaey did not, but I bet you still have some opinions, Chaey, about this whole concept. So tell me? Christina Chaey: Yeah, I have some thoughts on this. So I essentially did everything that June did for the first five seconds of her description. I heated a tablespoon pesto, which I used store-bought pesto. And you know how when you buy it, the oil rises to the top, the sediment floats to the bottom. So I mixed it up first. And then I put that in the skillet, heated it up, added two eggs, and then cooked them. I was sort of finding that they took longer than normal to cook. And so what I ended up doing was something I will occasionally do with eggs if I'm just frying them anyway, which is to baste them with some of the pesto oil right at the end. And that was really just like using a spoon, tilting the skillet toward me just slightly so that the oil pools on one side and then spooning some of that over and over the egg whites. Just the whites, because that's the part that I feel like needs the most help. And you don't want it to remain kind of jelly like. Amanda Shapiro: Hmm. Christina Chaey: And then I just ate those plain because that's what I thought we were doing. Sorry. June Kim: You don't need ricotta and avocado and honey on top of pesto eggs, in my opinion. Christina Chaey: No. Amanda Shapiro: Well, that's true. In a lot of the versions I've seen have been pretty straight forward. Like throw it on toast or eat it with whatever you would normally eat eggs with. So I'm curious, like let's ignore the original recipe and just talk about the idea of frying your eggs in pesto. What do we think of this as a concept? Would you do it again, June? June Kim: You know, it's just not going to crisp up your egg as well as just plain olive oil. And I think the whole point of a fried egg is a crispy fried egg. So I almost prefer to just put a pesto or a chili oil on top of the egg after you've gotten it to that lacy edge, you know, really crispy, fried egg. Amanda Shapiro: Yeah, Chaey what about you? Christina Chaey: Okay. So I, a hundred percent agree with this. And the additional point that I would make is, I mean, not to be a downer, but I was not about this from the beginning. Even before I had tried it... Amanda Shapiro: You were a hater. Christina Chaey: Kind of, and I will tell you why. It's because, you know, the whole point of pesto is to enjoy the fresh verdant, super vibrant taste of basil. Fresh. basil, right? That's what it's all about. It's why it's something that's best eaten the day you make it. Amanda Shapiro: And we rarely call for cooking it. It's usually mixed into your pasta at the very end. Christina Chaey: Well, that was what I was going to say, is as with any herbs that you cook, it's going to lose so much of its potency in the cooking process. And so to me, sizzling out all of that basil in that oil with the eggs for a few minutes, just totally negates the entire point of calling for pesto at all. And so to that end, I feel like from what I can remember, it was a hint of pesto, you know? June Kim: And it's not even like a time saving hack. It doesn't matter if you put the pesto in while you cook it, it's not saving you any time. Amanda Shapiro: Um, okay. Rank this recipe on a scale of one to 10, June. June Kim: Oh, I have to go first? I think I would give it a 5.5 out of 10. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. June Kim: Yeah. It's edible. It was fine. I think I would have made other decisions and tweaks if I were to make it again. But yeah, it was edible and fine to eat. Amanda Shapiro: Chaey, what's your, what's your rating? Christina Chaey: I'm giving it a two. I think this is a crime against pesto. Amanda Shapiro: On behalf of pesto... Christina Chaey: And had I made my own pesto, I would have been way more pissed. June Kim: Then it would have gone into one territory. Christina Chaey: Yeah. Amanda Shapiro: All right. Let's let's talk about lunch. So what are your feelings going into lunchtime knowing that lunch is the wrap hack. Christina Chaey: Oh, I was so excited. I was so excited about this one. Amanda Shapiro: Chaey had a real turn of feelings here. Christina Chaey: Well, primarily It is because I am very excited by tortillas. In fact, the best story about me that ever surfaced from college was this one summer I was living in this house with seven people and we had a subletter who just stayed for the summer. She was like straight from Ireland. And the first week that she moves in with us, there's barely anyone in the house. I come back at like two in the morning, and then I apparently went straight to my bedroom, turned on all the lights, I had a tortilla, like a cold tortilla in each hand. And I was playing music really loudly. And then I guess she comes home right after me and she walks by my bedroom and she just sees me sitting up in my bed, asleep, holding tortillas with the lights on and music blasting. Amanda Shapiro: And your love has only continued since then. Okay. How are you feeling about this one June? And then why don't you talk about what exactly you did with your wrap hack? June Kim: Yeah. I was excited to try it. I feel like there was, there's so much hype about this one. And again, as a viewer of TikTok, I've seen this through so many iterations. I've seen spam musubi inspired wrap hacks, where they use Nori and rice and spam. So I was just excited to try it. I've never cooked it because I never had a reason. I decided to do kind of a twist on a cubano or cuban sandwich. So I did four quadrants. One quadrant swiss cheese, one quadrant smoked ham, one quadrant sliced pickles, and then another quadrant spicy mustard. Christina Chaey: Nice. Nice. Amanda Shapiro: Chaey's like making her mental map. Christina Chaey: Well, can I ask which quadrant were you starting from when you were narrating that? June Kim: Okay, so this is what was so tricky because I did like a practice fold because I wanted to make sure that the meat and the cheese were on the most outer parts of the quadrant. Amanda Shapiro: It's kind of bad for people who don't have high spatial intelligence like me. June Kim: Correct. And I did not... so I planned it out and then I did it and then somehow I folded it wrong and I was like, "No, what happened?" And so the cheese was on one outer edge tortilla. So that worked great. But then the other end was the pickle, which wasn't ideal as an outer quadrant for me. Amanda Shapiro: Too hot, nobody wants a hot pickle? June Kim: Yeah. And like pickles are wet, you know, I didn't want it to sog through. But overall it was pretty good. Amanda Shapiro: And what kind of tortilla? Flour? June Kim: Yes. Chaey and I were Slacking before this challenge of just like, "We got to buy some mega tortillas. We need some, some of those big burrito size." Amanda Shapiro: Yes. I was going to tell you the one time I tried to do this recipe, I was like, "Oh, I'll just use what I have on hand," which were like fajita size and it was a total disaster. Everything fell out. And then when you fold them, they come out to be like itty bitty. June Kim: Right. Amanda Shapiro: So how does it taste? June Kim: I think it tasted good. I think I would've preferred it on a sandwich, but maybe that was just my own mistake in the direction I chose to take it in, but I thought it was good. I think the key is just making sure it's so crispy on the outside. Amanda Shapiro: Extra fry, like extra long time in the skillet. All right, Chaey, you had super high hopes. How did it go? Christina Chaey: Well... Amanda Shapiro: Uh oh. Christina Chaey: I had some, I had some issues. Well, okay. Hang on. So I wish I had stayed with my original concept, which was going to be a crunch wrap supreme inspired wrap hack, right. June Kim: Love that. Amanda Shapiro: Oh, so classic. Christina Chaey: It was just what I wanted to eat. And I was envisioning, you know, one layer would be kind of like crunchy. Maybe I would do like crunchy tortilla chips. One layer would be like shredded lettuce, tomatoes. One would be like seasoned ground beef. And cheese. One, I ran out of quadrants, and two, we were also told later on to not feel shy about thinking outside the box. Right. So then I was like, I guess I should do something a little bit more, whatever, unorthodox? Amanda Shapiro: No, we just meant like, you don't have to watch the video, follow the video. June Kim: Yeah we know Chaey didn't do that from pesto. Christina Chaey: Okay. So here's what I ended up doing. I went a little bit differently from you June, because I was trying to do something that would have already been conducive to being in a tortilla. June Kim: Smart. Christina Chaey: Like don't stray too far from what's good, you know? So, I ended up doing this really bizarre mashup of, I would say moo shu pork and like peking duck. Amanda Shapiro: Yes, this looks so good. Christina Chaey: Which you might recognize. Okay. So here are my quadrants and I will narrate them starting from my bottom right quadrant, which is actually a riff on this BA recipe that we have on the website called hot sausage and cabbage stir fry. And it's really good. It's just like sausage that you crumble up and brown. And then you add shiitake mushrooms and thinly sliced cabbage. There's garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar. It's really yummy. I make it often. Amanda Shapiro: I love that you turned the hack into literally making like three different recipes instead. Christina Chaey: Well, it was lunch. Amanda Shapiro: No, I love it. This is why, this is why you're doing this. Christina Chaey: So that is my bottom right quadrant. Then directly above that, so top right, is hoisin sauce that was store bought. I had a vision of making it, but then I was like, no. Then top left quadrant is thinly slivered cucumbers, and finally bottom left quadrant is thinly sliced scallions. In that baton style that you get at, like the duck houses, you know? Amanda Shapiro: Such an overachiever. Okay. So you have a cooked item, a sauce, and then two fresh items. Were you thinking about the order in particular about like what was going to end up on the inside versus the outside? Christina Chaey: Well, considering I started the fold with the bottom right quadrant, clearly no. Because the two things that ended up on the outside were the cucumbers and the scallions. June Kim: Yes, this was my issue with the pickles. Christina Chaey: Except I didn't say I don't have like existential crises about these things. I feel like I'm just too chaotic and I'm just like, it's happening. And then I... Amanda Shapiro: It's all ending up in my mouth. Christina Chaey: Yeah, and then I do it and then I'll just be like, "Okay, I guess I shouldn't have done it that way." And then I also griddled it after that. Right. So got the two sides of the tortilla crisp. And I guess my thoughts on this would be, if I had to do it again, which I think I actually would, I would not go for more than one, if any fresh, vegetable ingredient. Especially if you're going to heat it. I guess if you're not going to heat it, that's a different story. But, I was actually not too happy with the tortillas that I got. There were just like too papery thin and kind of dry. And so it would just have been kind of unpleasant to eat unheated. So I would say like, if you're heating it up, generally don't use something that's going to taste weird hot. Like hot lettuce. And then if you're going to eat it plain, like uncooked, then I feel like you can use whatever. Does that sound right? Amanda Shapiro: Yeah. June Kim: Hard degree. Amanda Shapiro: Temperature is a, is an issue to consider. All right. So June, how would you rank wrap supreme? I'm sorry, how would you rate... June Kim: This is becoming a wrap supreme episode. I love it. Amanda Shapiro: We're actually just talking about Taco Bell. How would you rate the wrap hack on a scale of one to 10? June Kim: Okay, I'm going to give two ratings one for mine, because I think that I wrapped it wrong and the pickles were on the outside and started dripping out and it wasn't ideal. So I think for my version, I'd give it a five out of 10. Five is my edible baseline, clearly it's not for Chaey. And then I think for the potential of the wrap hack, I'm going to give it a seven. Because I do think it's kind of fun and I'm all for like eating things in new ways, you know? Amanda Shapiro: Yeah. Okay, Chaey. One to 10. Christina Chaey: Okay. I would give my personal rendition maybe like, I don't know, a four? It was perfectly edible, but it was just kind of weird. Amanda Shapiro: You're a really tough critic on yourself. I think that. That looked delicious. Christina Chaey: Yeah. That's a different podcast, different show. Um, I think the potential of the recipe, I'm gonna say like a 7.5, maybe? Amanda Shapiro: Hell yeah. Christina Chaey: Here's what I like about that recipe that makes it feel genuine to call it a hack. I think that rolling a wrap in the traditional style can actually get kind of dicey. Amanda Shapiro: Messy, yeah. Christina Chaey: Yeah. And so I think there is some ingenuity there with the folding technique because in the end, it all stayed together like pretty well. I was impressed by that. June Kim: Definitely. Amanda Shapiro: And what about the eating experience? Like, I feel like with burritos or wraps, sometimes you just end up with like the juices all over your hands and everything is like spilling out. Do you feel like this is a cleaner way to eat it? June Kim: Yeah, I feel like it's like convenient to eat. Like I could totally see myself making it quickly and taking it out the door with me without issues. Amanda Shapiro: Okay, we're going to take a quick break here. And when we get back, we will get some great TikTok creators to follow, and then we're going to hit the most viral recipe of all. Okay, so we're going to take a quick break from the day of TikTok cooking and check in with BA's associate editor, Bettina Makalintal. Bettina has written a lot about internet food trends, including TikTok since the app first came on the scene. So if you're bored of mac and cheese ramen or Gigi Hadid's vodka pasta, and want to shake up your algorithm a little bit, Bettina has got the recs. Hey Bettina, thanks for joining _Food People_. Bettina Makalintal: Hey, thanks for having me. Amanda Shapiro: Tell the listeners about yourself and how you first went down the TikTok rabbit hole. Bettina Makalintal: So I am just sort of like a food obsessive. I write about it, I cook a lot, I'm constantly watching food content online. And I think like TikTok creates a lot of space for all types of content, whether it's a lot of very professional stuff, but there is also this very like amateur stuff that feels very sort of DIY and people are just shooting with their cell phones and it, you know, it takes off. Amanda Shapiro: And the numbers behind these videos are really staggering in terms of viewers and people engaging with them. Tens of millions of views for these food videos sometimes. But I'm really excited to hear about who you're excited about on TikTok right now. So give me, give me your first recommendation. Bettina Makalintal: So, one thing I find really exciting about TikTok also is how it sort of broadened who's making food videos. I have noticed that it's really allowed younger cooks to have space for food content. So my first one is probably Eat with Chris. And they're a 17 year old creator in Malaysia who posts vegan cooking videos. I like them because they have a very positive and wholesome energy to them. And like, I don't think this is a creator I would have stumbled across on other platforms. So I think this is a good example of how TikTok's algorithm sort of finds the content that you'll like even if you, yourself, not have found it on your own and gone looking for it. Amanda Shapiro: I'm gonna make myself sound so old, but I just love seeing people that age cooking with such ambition and enthusiasm. Okay, who's next? Bettina Makalintal: Okay. So are you familiar with cottage core? Amanda Shapiro: Oh, how could I not be, but please explain it for those who might not be. Bettina Makalintal: So a big trend on TikTok is cottage core, which is sort of this idea of like escaping into this romantic ideal image of rural life. And so one TikTok creator who I really like in this niche is OldTimeHawkey whose videos seem to be set in a cabin in the woods. The narration is really calm and it's quiet. And the setting of this like cabin feels very kitschy and nostalgic. Sort of like you're going on a camping trip as a kid. The food on the account is basically all really simple. So it's stuff like stove top mac and cheese, and sometimes it's paired with a movie. So in one video, it was like tacos with the 1993 Western, _Tombstone_. Amanda Shapiro: Okay, great. Let's do one more. Bettina Makalintal: So the last account that I really love is Sxmply-Ni, and it's simply with an X. This is a creator who shows off the beautiful meals he makes for his roommate, which I think is sort of an intriguing premise because the roommates I've had have like mostly caused me grief in the kitchen. So there's very mellow music and like ambient cooking sounds and really high quality visuals. And overall it gives me this feeling of being like transported into this perfect distilled moment. And the food is just a very beautiful. He uses stencils to make shapes on plates using cocoa powder. And he like makes lattes with lavender that he smokes himself. Everything has just like in the perfect sunlight and it just feels curated in a way that I really appreciate. Amanda Shapiro: Yeah. So I watched this one after you told me about it a few weeks ago, and I kept finding myself annoyed at the roommate. I wanted to be like, What is the roommate doing for you? Bettina Makalintal: I know. I mean, it leaves a lot of questions. Like how often is this happening? Like does the roommate like it? Cause sometimes it's, sometimes it says that like the roommate doesn't like it and I'm like, "interesting." But I mean, I feel like part of the appeal is also just that you can be the person who like, "I wish my roommate did this for me," you know? Amanda Shapiro: Oh, absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I, my algorithm is already way better than it was. I was getting far too many sad dog videos these days. Bettina Makalintal: Thank you for having me. Amanda Shapiro: All right. Talk to you soon, Bettina. Okay, great. Dinnertime. How are you guys feeling at this point? Like you've cooked two TikTok recipes with various levels of success. You know, you have the über viral recipe of TikTok on the horizon. Are you like fatigued, excited? Christina Chaey: I didn't know that. Amanda Shapiro: Chaey had no idea. June Kim: We're working up to the most viral. Amanda Shapiro: Yeah. How are you feeling, June? June Kim: I mean, first of all, it's just nice to have a day where your meals are planned out. Amanda Shapiro: Oh yeah, in theory. June Kim: In theory. So I really appreciated that and I think that's pretty consistent throughout all these TikTok recipes and why they go viral is because is it an easy way to get food on the table. So at this point I'm like, "Yeah, I'm ready to try the most viral of them all." Amanda Shapiro: I think that's such a good point. And like, that's what kept me away from it for so long was I was like, "Oh, these are just hacks for like college kids with no kitchens," but there is something actually really satisfying about seeing something and being like that looks delicious and dead simple. Okay, Chaey, how are you feeling coming into feta pasta knowing only what I've texted you about it. Christina Chaey: Okay. So for this one, I actually did some research into it. I watched this video that June sent me of Kenji cooking through it on his cooking show. And then I also read through most of that blog post from the original Finish blogger. Amanda Shapiro: Wow. You did do homework. Christina Chaey: Yeah. And I mean, I think it's funny because, generally speaking, I think when you're fluent in reading recipes, you can kind of tell when something's going to work. And between those two pieces of info I had going into it, I was pretty sure this one was going to be a knockout. Amanda Shapiro: Wow. Okay. Um, before we dive in June, give us a little bit of background about this recipe. How viral did this recipe go in the states or like on TikTok in your mind? June Kim: In my mind, this is the most viral recipe that I've ever come across. So many people made it. The New York Times wrote about it, Vogue wrote about it. And it caused actual feta shortages in the US which I think is so crazy. A spokesperson from Kroger is quoted in the, in the article of just how it shifted their sales, so this is a really impactful recipe in that way. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. So let's talk about how you both tackled it. June, do you want to go first? June Kim: Sure. I mean, so Chaey and I were Slacking about this. And there are some issues with the heat and temp. So I got a little freaked out because the recipe says to bake it at 400 and then to put it on the broiler setting. Christina Chaey: I didn't do that. June Kim: And Chaey wrote me and said... yeah, I didn't do that either. Cause I was like, I don't want to burn my house down. Sorry, _Food People, _not worth it. So I just baked it for 30 minutes at 400. I bought a bunch of cherry tomatoes, a big block of full-fat feta cheese, covered it in olive oil, added four cloves of garlic. That's all true to the recipe. I added sliced shallots because I just like an oniony flavor in my pasta. And then baked it for 30 minutes. Um... Amanda Shapiro: No other spices? June Kim: I had, oh yeah, red pepper flakes was also included. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. And did you add salt because I've seen the original recipe, add salt, and feta is so salty already that the one time I made it, I was like, "This is way too salty." June Kim: I did not add salt for that reason. I mean a whole eight ounce block of feta for two people is so much anyways. So it was like, "You know what? I think this recipe is fine." And then I made it and it does create this sauce. You know, when you pull it out of the oven it does emulsify well together. I think it was a pretty good recipe. It was a fine recipe. I think it was a little bit overpowering with the feta. If I were to do it again, I would probably add more tomatoes and less feta. To me it's just too much feta. Amanda Shapiro: God I never thought such a thing would be true, but I hear you. Christina Chaey: Well, I was going to ask June, what kind of feta you used? Did you use Greek feta? June Kim: I did. Christina Chaey: I wonder... I don't know enough about the different types of feta, so that would primarily be like Bulgarian, French, and Greek would be the most common ones that you would find. I don't know enough about how they cook, but I do know that like, you know, a French feta, for example, will be a lot milder in flavor then a Greek feta, which is typically just that really sharp, super salty briny. Like, think about uh, Greek salad kind of greek feta. Amanda Shapiro: I will also say that some fetas do not melt the same way. And I've noticed that the higher quality, the feta, the more creamy it gets when you cook it versus the most common store bought versions will often not fall apart at all. Christina Chaey: Yes. Which is a point that Kenji made in his video. He was saying, I think that you have to use a primarily sheep's milk based feta because the cow milk feta just won't have that melting quality. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. So Chaey, what was your feta pasta method? Christina Chaey: So what did I do? I guess in full transparency, I did not really measure anything for this recipe. I feel like I understood it conceptually enough that I was just like, "Okay, I'm going to run with this." So I did add some salt. Just a little bit. I think, cause I was just nervous about the tomatoes and then I used four big cloves of garlic sliced in half. I also did not do the broiling method. I've just roasted it straight through at 400 for 40 minutes. The other good tip that I think Kenji had for this recipe was to throw some pasta water in there. So yeah, I was really pleasantly surprised at how much the feta just immediately breaks down and becomes super creamy and just in all it emulsified really well. I thought it was delicious. Here's what happened. I made this for dinner for my partner before I went out to dinner. So... Amanda Shapiro: So you had like an appetizer portion? Christina Chaey: Yeah, but I ate kind of like a little too much. Amanda Shapiro: Because it was good? Christina Chaey: Because I thought it was really good. And I think my only critique of this is that I think there was a little too much oil for me. However, I don't know if that's fair to say, because I didn't measure. Amanda Shapiro: Well it's a healthy pour when I see the, in the video, the original video, it's a lot of oil. June Kim: It's a lot of oil. Christina Chaey: It's a half a cup, a third of a cup or something like that. And to June's point, like, I think we both made this for two people. And that is, I mean, if you're not careful, you will definitely finish it. And that was the point at which I was like, "Oh, I feel a little bit sick." Amanda Shapiro: Oh yeah. June Kim: Agreed. Amanda Shapiro: So there's been so many takes and rests on this recipe. The one that I've actually made and really enjoyed is Deb Perlman's, the blogger of Smitten Kitchen and cookbook author, and BA contributor. She did a version that has chickpeas and it's actually served as a dip. So instead of it being like a main course with a pasta, it's the feta, the tomatoes. You add I think two cans of chickpeas, which really fills it out and makes it serve more people. So it's not like a heavy, cheesy pasta main. It's just basically party food, which you could serve with pita or even some veggies or bread. And that's kind of the way that I've enjoyed eating this the most. Christina Chaey: That sounds really good to me. June Kim: It does. And kind of perfect. You're not eating so much feta. Christina Chaey: Yeah. I mean, I think in the end, the technique I think is worth talking about here is the slow cooking, almost like confiting of the vegetables. Which I bring up, because I think you can apply it to so many different kinds of vegetables. Like, certainly this was delicious with cherry tomatoes, but you could definitely do it with eggplant. You could do it with summer squash. You could do it with peppers. I liked the idea too, of roasting that garlic in there because it's coated in enough oil that it's not gonna burn, you know? And it just is so delicious. Like anything with that soft sweet roasted mash garlic is so good. June Kim: So good. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. Wait, we got to get to the rankings. June rank this dish, one to 10. June Kim: Okay. Again, I'm going to do my execution versus the potential of it because I don't think I added enough tomatoes. So I think for my recipe, I would give it a solid 6.5. Like we enjoyed our dinner. And then, the potential, like if I were to do it again and add a lot more tomatoes, then I'd say it's a solid dinner. It's a solid, like eight for me, I think, because it was so easy to make and I would make it again for sure. Amanda Shapiro: Cool. I agree. As a template, I give it like a solid 8, 8.5 myself. Chaey, how about you? Christina Chaey: I give it an 8.5. Amanda Shapiro: Hell yeah. Love the decisiveness. Christina Chaey: I was a little disappointed that I had to go to dinner afterward. Okay, and I will say what I liked about this, like my partner's not much of a cook and I was excited because I was like, "Oh, you can do this. You can hundred percent do this." So that is a win in my book any day. Amanda Shapiro: Okay. So Chaey as our Senior Food Editor, which of these recipes, if any, would you, if adapted, run on _Bon Appétit_. Christina Chaey: Is this a trick question? Am I going to have to develop this for BA? Amanda Shapiro: We'll see. Christina Chaey: Um, unequivocably the feta pasta. Amanda Shapiro: Got it. I agree. All right. June, as our resident video genius, are these recipes just eye candy, or are any of them truly make-able and delicious, and would you recommend to a friend? June Kim: I would say, no shade on pesto eggs. I think wrap hack and the feta pasta are definitely more than just the eye candy. They're both so easy to do. You can get inventive with them. I think, especially for the wrap hack, it makes sense. Amanda Shapiro: Okay, bonus question for you, Chaey. Did any of this convince you to download TikTok? Christina Chaey: No, but you are all welcome to continue texting me. June Kim: Perfect. Amanda Shapiro: Well, thank you both so much for joining me and thank you for taking it on. It was a lot of TikTok cooking in one day. June Kim: It was fun. Thanks for having us. Amanda Shapiro: Thank you to our guests Christina Chaey and June Kim for being great sports on the show today. And to Bettina Makalintal for all of the FoodTok insights. If you want to follow these creators or just check out their recipes, all the links are in the episode's show notes. And while you're online, give Chaey, June, and Bettina follow. On Instagram, Chaey is @seechaey, that's C H A E Y. June Kim is @maytojune, as in the months. And Bettina is @buttina, that's B U T T I N A on Instagram and on TikTok, you can find her recipes @bettinamak. That's her first name and Mac spelled M a K. If you love the show, be sure to rate, review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. It helps keep us _Food People_ in business. And you can follow _Bon Appétit_ on Instagram @bonappétitmag and on Twitter @bonappétit. _Food People_ is produced by _Bon Appétit_ in partnership with Pod People. Vishnu Vallabhaneni is our senior producer, Ginny Bloom is our showrunner, Madison Lusby is our production manager, and Morgane Fouse and Jessica Jones are our associate producers. This episode was engineered by Trae Budde and the music is by DJ Nu-Mark. June Kim and I provide editorial direction for the series. Special thanks to Matt Sav, Nico Steele, and Julie Shen. I'm your host, Amanda Shapiro. I'll see you next week.