# MythBusters and Alton Brown **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257 "2012-11-17T00:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/21 "2012-11-19T16:27:53Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Why did they need the police escort to drive around? They said they always need that, but I’ve never noticed it before. > I was wondering if it’s because they had so many things on the car that could potentially fall off that they wanted someone to be able to stop traffic if that happened. Nominally it’s for “safety,” but really there is no reason for it. It is a make-work handout for off-duty police officers, required in California for production companies. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/22 "2012-11-19T22:26:58Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > That last picture with Grant, Tory, and Kari makes it look like they’re tackling the “tastes like chicken” myth. Yep. First they had the food samples all fried up like fried chicken. But Tory, who could mostly tell them apart, said it often on texture over flavor. My complaint about that technique is that the cooking style can mask the flavor of the meat itself. You’re tasting the batter and spices and marinade. A bland meat with a little flavor one way and a bland meat with a little flavor another way will come out tasting spicy the same. Second round was a better test IMO. They ground the meats to remove texture cues, and fried them up as patties on the grill, sans seasoning. Thus you get the meat flavor. And the busted the hell out of the myth. All I know from personal experience is frog legs do not taste like chicken. They have a similar texture to chicken, but have a stinky fish flavor on top. Similar to fried oysters. > [@billfish678](#): > > I’m just trying to figure out what food explodes, could possibly explode, or needs some sploding. Popcorn. They discussed how popcorn works. Then tested a pressure popper made in china that uses high pressure, then repid release to force the pop. Not exactly a big boom (but they were prepared just in case), but did make a mess with slightly scorched popcorn all over the lab. > [@billfish678](#): > > I think they need the police escort because they had a second car doing the filming of the first. Probably a California thing. That’s what they said, but they’ve never done that before, like when doing the tailgate up/tailgate down/no tailgate myth. Or the only right turns better than left turns myth. Or any others I’ve ever seen on the show. This is the first time they’ve shown cop cars escorting the filming. Is it a new law? > [@](#): > > I thought the show was cute. I found the triptophane? thing a bit weak science wise. They did pretty well. They have a huge dinner with turkey, a huge dinner with the same amount of calories but no turkey and substituting protein powder without tryptophan, and then they had a smaller dinner with the same amount of turkey as the first meal. Pretty conclusive that overeating made them sleepy, but eating a reasonable amount with turkey did not. The performance reaction test results were fairly clear. A larger sample size might have been more thorough, or blood screening for tryptophan levels, but really the test covered the basis of the myth. > [@](#): > > The taste like chicken one was pretty good. But I wish there had been a bit more of “yeah, it didn’t taste like chicken but I found X, Y, and Z to be pretty good in its own way”. Yeah, a bit more on descriptions of the flavor differences might have been nice. > [@](#): > > Which brings up an aside. Gawd, I remember back in the day when most people cooked the everliving shit out of turkey. You NEEDED the gravy to choke down that dry assed turkey balsa wood. Sure am glad we finally got over that cooking fad and most people can cook something edible on its own these days. Goes to cooking techniques. First, they brined the turkey, i.e. soaked it in salt solution for 24 hours. NOVA had a TV show that discussed how this works. The salt forces open the cells, and the water is absorbed into the turkey meat. Then when you roast the turkey, it retains more moisture. Vs old style where you take the bird as is and roast it, and all the moisture cooks out. Second, apparently they cooked the drumsticks in a funky french way. Soaking in sauce in a bucket? Side note: that NOVA show also explained why dressing is made with stale breadcrumbs. The key to good dressing is reducing the moisture in the mix. Fresh bread has too much moisture, making the dressing mushy. Stale breadcrumbs baked to dry out prior to mixing the dressing makes it crispier, with that crust most people like. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/23 "2012-11-19T22:37:49Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Second, apparently they cooked the drumsticks in a funky french way. Soaking in sauce in a bucket? [Confit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit) > [@](#): > > Confit (French, pronounced [kɔ̃fi] or in English “con-fee”) is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavour and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months. Confit is one of the oldest ways to preserve food,[citation needed] and is a speciality of southwestern France. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/24 "2012-11-19T23:02:44Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Confit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confit) More importantly: > [@](#): > > Confit of goose (confit d’oie) and duck (confit de canard) are usually prepared from the legs of the bird. The meat is salted and seasoned with herbs, and slowly cooked submerged in its own rendered fat, … It is a method of cooking in fat at a temperature lower than frying. They weren’t interested in confit as a method of preservation. I gotta try confit of duck some day - [Tom Colichhio’s recipe](http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Duck-Confit-102313). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/25 "2012-11-19T23:21:06Z")
Mr. Sali jeered at Kari, ditzing around grinding up the frog, peacock, etc. “she’s 40 and acts like she never handled anything gross before”. Well, 38, but I did enjoy the image of her trying to stuff a whole boa constrictor into the grinder! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/26 "2012-11-20T00:17:25Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Have you not seen [exploding food photography](http://www.designboom.com/art/exploding-food-photography-by-alan-sailer/)?! **WhyNot** - That’s just the coolest site! Thanks! StG ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/27 "2012-11-20T01:13:26Z")
I find Alton Brown increasingly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/28 "2012-11-20T02:52:21Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Mr. Sali jeered at Kari, ditzing around grinding up the frog, peacock, etc. “she’s 40 and acts like she never handled anything gross before”. Well, 38, but I did enjoy the image of her trying to stuff a whole boa constrictor into the grinder! She’s had some similar reactions to meat before; she’s a vegetarian, and I wonder if that had something to do with her reactions. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257/29 "2012-11-20T06:00:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > She’s had some similar reactions to meat before; she’s a vegetarian, and I wonder if that had something to do with her reactions. Yeah, she’s had strong reactions to meat on the show pretty regularly. The first time they brought in pig carcasses she hurled. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mythbusters-and-alton-brown/641257.md?page=1)