This week on Food Network Obsessed, host Jaymee Sire talks about trying the TikTok tortilla hack and what’s on her menu for the big game. She chats with the Sandwich King and larger-than-life personality, Jeff Mauro, about his new show, Kitchen Crash, and the unique challenge the contestants face when raiding strangers’ kitchens for ingredients. Jeff gives advice on upping your sandwich game, his game-day predictions and settles, once and for all, whether hot dogs are sandwiches. Finally, he surprises us with an original Food Network Obsessed song!
This week on Food Network Obsessed, host Jaymee Sire talks about trying the TikTok tortilla hack and what’s on her menu for the big game. She chats with the Sandwich King and larger-than-life personality, Jeff Mauro, about his new show, Kitchen Crash, and the unique challenge the contestants face when raiding strangers’ kitchens for ingredients. Jeff gives advice on upping your sandwich game, his game-day predictions and settles, once and for all, whether hot dogs are sandwiches. Finally, he surprises us with an original Food Network Obsessed song!
Connect with the podcast: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-obsessed-the-official-podcast-of-food-network
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Follow Jaymee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymeesire
Follow Jeff on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffmauro
Find out more about Kitchen Crash: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/kitchen-crash
Learn more about The Kitchen: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/the-kitchen
Mauro Provisions: https://mauroprovisions.com
Learn more about Jeff’s podcast: http://comeonover.com
Find episode transcript here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/jeff-mauro-on-raiding-strangers-kitchens-whether-hot-dogs-are-sandwiches
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAYMEE SIRE: Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Food Network Obsessed. I'm your host Jaymee Sire, and this is a podcast where we dish on all things Food Network with your favorite stars. Buckle up for a great episode because we have Jeff Mauro on the show, and he had me laughing the entire time.
But before we get to Jeff and his fantastic interview, I wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about the big game because obviously, it is coming up this weekend. I don't know about you guys. I am always kind of the go-to de facto host for any of these big sporting event get togethers, especially given my background in sports broadcasting for most of my career, most recently at ESPN, but also just my love for game day food and pretty much anything with Buffalo sauce.
I don't know if you guys feel the same way. I would love to hear your feedback on Instagram or I'm always very open to chatting in my DMs about food and recipe ideas and that kind of thing. But I'll tell you what I'm sort of kicking around for my game day menu, which will be a little bit of a smaller get together this year. I kind of dipped my toe into the tortilla trend/hack that's been going around TikTok. I was very resistant to it for a very long time.
But then I decided to lean in because it is kind of fun, and I did actually kind of a Buffalo chicken version of it. I mean, it's basically a quesadilla folded in a different way, but it's kind of fun. I don't know, I enjoyed it. Check out the video that I put on Instagram. Let me know your thoughts. I also am a fan of Buffalo chicken dip, and I also managed to stuff that inside of biscuits and tried to make it in the shape of a football. I think I need to work on my football forming abilities, but I think that will be on the menu.
And then wings, of course. I love to do them either in the oven or the air fryer, and I love the traditional Buffalo sauce flavors. I also do a miso honey sriracha situation that is a nice twist as well. So anyways, I would love to hear what you guys are cooking up. I'm definitely going to find out what Jeff is making for game day.
Of course, he won season 7 of Food Network Star and hosted the Emmy-nominated series, Sandwich King. He is a co-host on The Kitchen and the host of Kitchen Crash, which is a new really fun show. I cannot wait to talk to him about. He's a Chicagoan and he says his favorite color is pastrami. Would you expect anything else from him? So let's get right to it. Here's Jeff Mauro.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Jeff, welcome to the pod. I think last time I saw you in person, we were making jell-o shots on the set of The Kitchen.
JEFF MAURO: Well, thanks for having me, Jaymee. I'm very excited, and it's probably the most underrated buzz you can get is off-- I mean, it probably takes me 12 to 13 jell-o shots, but once you get there, there's a lovely bit of shame in it, right? And I was working, too.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. On the job, drinking on the job. Jeff Mauro, you are a pro at this. You have your own podcast, Come On Over that you co-host with your sister Emily. What's that like working with your sister? And tell us a little bit about your podcast?
JEFF MAURO: First of all, I'm very lucky because unlike, I don't know, most people I've worked with, we share the same DNA. So we really work well off each other with the banter. But she is an immensely hard worker and just an aficionado at communication. Almost to the point where I'm like, stop communicating with me. I'll get it to you, I promise or whatever. But she's a great producer, and we've learned and grown throughout this pandemic when we started back in March and April of last year.
And she's editing it, we're producing it every week. No matter what, we're churning out a podcast every week, which is pretty great. And I started writing new theme songs. It started with a new theme song every episode and then turned into new songs for each segment and stingers and and theme songs for everything. And it's become this obsession where I have to write new material. So it's just not like a phone-in thing, right?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. I mean, that sounds impressive. So you're doing original songs for every single episode?
JEFF MAURO: Yes.
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean, like what inspired that? Just your love of music in general or just kind of boredom during the pandemic?
JEFF MAURO: I think it's totally 50-50 on that, right? I'm sitting here and I got these instruments and I love to play and I play every day. So I might as well teach myself how to properly record on a computer, which I did throughout this. And it's a great outlet, and it's so therapeutic to write a song.
Even though if you're not a writer or a musician or whatever just force yourself to kind of create this output and put that energy somewhere and use that part of the brain you don't really access. And I don't know, it's just been so therapeutic for me. So I just keep it going. And sometimes there are winners and a lot of times they're not. Oftentimes.
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean, so is life, right? Well, hopefully, you enjoy our podcast as much as your own. It sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun with it. I want to talk about your newest show on Food Network, Kitchen Crash, which is I guess part fridge cleanout, part neighborhood throwdown. Tell us what the show is all about for anybody that hasn't seen it yet. And by the way, we recommend that you do watch it because the finale is coming up very soon.
JEFF MAURO: We're very excited. I'm so sad. And like now you say the finale, I'm like, it's over. I want it to last forever. But people are loving it. First of all, it's the only show I think currently on Food Network where the contestants, the chefs have no idea what the competition is. When I tell them on camera, that's the first they're knowing of it. That's the first they hear the rules. So the fear and the excitement in their eyes is totally organic.
And when I say 3, 2, 1, go. They're gone, and then they're just falling forward, right? So these chefs have no idea. I plop them in any block in any neighborhood in America. We shot a lot on the East Coast, we shot in Texas. And I give them 10 minutes to ambush the neighborhood not only find a house that'll answer the door like this day and age, right? Everybody's afraid to answer the door.
But also agree to play the game, which is you have 10 minutes to fill one bin with enough ingredients to sustain you through three rounds of cooking competition, not in the house, not in a studio, but on a street. The street we're on right now in a makeshift kitchen that we in the culinary team just build from scratch with prep tables and microwaves and grills.
And it's three rounds. The chef wins five grand if they win, obviously. And the family wins five grand. So the family is invested in it, the kids are invested. The kids think if their chef wins, they're going to get a new pool or a swing set or a trampoline in the back. And God forbid, they get eliminated. Not only is the chef upset, the parents are upset.
And that's been the hardest part about this show is like, we need like a set social worker because these kids are like crying and really, really mad at me after I send them home. They're like, that's the bad man. And they're crying. It's good. It makes good TV. And it's so much fun. And we're kind of throwing wrenches into the gameplay the whole time.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. No, it's very, very fun. So wait, so the homeowners or the people that answer the doors, they really have no idea what's going on ahead of time? They're not like curious when they see all these trucks pulling up? They're literally opening the door and finding out about the game for the first time?
JEFF MAURO: It's the number one question I get from fans and the public is, come on, they know what's going on. Yes, of course, they know there's a television crew filming something on their block in their neighborhood. But they do not know it's Food Network, and they certainly don't know the gameplay or that it's a food show. We don't want them shopping for any ingredients ahead of time.
If you walk in to someone who just came from the grocery store knowing that if I can win five grand and have a well-stocked fridge and pantry, more than usual it increases our odds of winning. We don't want that. We want like leftovers, frozen chicken, and questionably out-of-date ingredients, right? So it just makes it fun and more challenging. So these guys don't know.
Now people are like, OK, Jeff, they answer the door. A lot of them are dressed nice. They got makeup on. Their hair, the guys put their pomade in the hair, the kids are wearing their little dresses. That's fine because they know they have a chance of being filmed that day. And that kind of gives them a little preparedness, but not enough for them to go shopping and kind of cheat.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. No, I mean, I think that the concept is brilliant. I think it's so fun, it's unpredictable. When you first heard of this idea for the show from the network, I mean, what was your thought? Were you're like, yes, I'm all in on this.
JEFF MAURO: Of course. They're like, hey, we want you to host a primetime game show, Jeff? What do you think? I'm like, no, let me sleep on it. No, I was so excited because I've always wanted to have my own game show host. I loved the organic reality of this concept, right? I mean, I still live in the neighborhood I grew up in a couple blocks down from my parents, you know, where my parents grew up.
So I'm immersed in the neighborhood, and I feel like even though I'm going to shoot on the East Coast and going here and there and flying and a television guy, I'm still embedded in the neighborhood and I pride myself in that. And this is kind of a block party meets chopped meats a food street brawl. And it was just perfect for me to kind of bounce off all the-- because I got to interact with the guest judges who are great.
We had Marcus. We have Leah Cohen, Nilou Motamed, such great smart people. So I get to interact wit them, I get to interact with the families, the chefs. There's just so much room for play. It's like a big sandbox, this block, right? I'm foot-racing children, or on tire swings out in the front trees. The only thing I didn't do is get on a trampoline. I won't do that.
JAYMEE SIRE: I think that's smart because fun fact, my nose has been broken twice, and the first time was on a trampoline.
JEFF MAURO: Get our of here.
JAYMEE SIRE: So I think that-- yeah, I think that's a smart--
JEFF MAURO: Usually, you break an ankle or a leg or something on a trampoline. How did you break your nose? Did you collide with another child? Or were you an adult?
JAYMEE SIRE: That's a great question. It was-- in fact, the family that I was at, the house I was at, they had a very strict rules so that no one would get hurt. No, this was self-inflicted. I was like, hey, everyone. It was like end of the eighth grade party. And I'm like, I'm going to do a flip. And my knees, my actual own knees over rotated and smacked into my nose.
JEFF MAURO: You kneed your own face and broke your nose?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I broke my own nose. I had to go to the hospital. I came back to the party, though so--
JEFF MAURO: Oh, you did? You're a trooper.
JAYMEE SIRE: --I was a trooper. Yeah.
JEFF MAURO: Now, that's some Van Damme stuff right there. That's some Steven Seagal stuff. Like you break your own nose with a knee to the face and then you go, you get stitched up, and you go back in. Put me back in, coach, I'm ready. Right back to the trampoline. You wanted to do a party bag, right? You wanted that Dum Dumbs and Stickers?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. I mean, if I'm being completely honest, I had a crush that was there. So I had to go back and show him that I was OK. But anyways, I digress.
JEFF MAURO: How'd that work out?
JAYMEE SIRE: Basically-- it didn't, definitely.
JEFF MAURO: Three kids later--
JAYMEE SIRE: No, let's go back. This is so fun. I think this is such a cool concept. Speaking of which, I mean, you do have all these twists and turns that you kind of throw at these chefs. Tell me about the 5-inch tall burger, a very tall order, pun intended. How do you guys come up with things like that or any of the other twists that you throw at these people?
JEFF MAURO: I mean, you would think it's like there's a team of producers in a broadcast truck like monkeys on a keyboard just coming up with all these ideas. But we kind of came up with a lot of them on the fly because it's all depending on what's in their bins. It could be anything. We don't know ahead of time because there's zero shared pantry.
We don't have like Chopped, you got everything, pastas, your breads, your cheeses, everything in-- there's nothing here except for what they pull from the people's houses. So we're like, oh my God, what are we going to do with this one? So that was my idea, obviously. Big dummy like, at 5 inches! Now, I realize when it's time again, for me to judge and try and taste these dishes, I'm like, I can't even bite these things.
And I had the measuring and they're all like-- half of them are falling. And it was actually it was a lot of fun because it was dramatic. It was made for a dramatic composition on television was seeing these five-inch high stuffed sandwiches.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. It has to be Instagram-worthy for sure. That's what the kids want. You know Jamie, it's hard to keep up, man. It is. I also feel this show is kind of the perfect answer to, there's nothing for dinner, I don't have anything in my fridge, I don't have anything in my pantry. What is your advice for throwing together a meal when you're feeling uninspired or maybe running low on groceries?
JEFF MAURO: You know what? This is what I do. I'm like, man, what do I have a taste for? And then I'll Google it and I'll see, oh, a pad Thai where do I have the ingredients? Do I have four out of the seven ingredients? Can I improvise? Can I use two sauces instead of-- I don't have fresh garlic. I don't have a salad. I don't have I don't have the produce I need. How do I manipulate the flavors?
It really is, you don't need as much as you think. And there are so many complicated recipes out there that I think people get trapped. They're like, now I got to go to the store. I got to do an Instacart. I got to wait 2 and 1/2 hours. It's not going to be here till 7:30. I can't start dinner until at least 8:00 because I have to unpack-- no, just go in there, grab a couple things.
And that's the best part about Kitchen Crash. A lot of people sit there and they watch the show and they're like, what if someone knocked on my door right now? Do I even stand a chance at winning because I haven't gone shopping in three days. I got some embarrassing left over clamshells of half-eaten egg rolls or I don't know, cold pizza from two days ago with chunks of coagulated sausage.
There's always something you know. And maybe it does, Chichi. And I freeze more stuff because I feel like a lot of the proteins people use in the show-- we had a lot of very quickly thawed frozen chicken. I'll put it that way.
JAYMEE SIRE: Sounds very food safe. Well, I'm going to turn that question back on you. A contestant from kitchen crash knocked on your door, what is the weirdest thing that they would find in your fridge.
JEFF MAURO: Ooh. What do we have? Right now, we have some pad see ew minus the-- that my wife made last night. It was so good with broccolini. Some garlic, simple. We always do two big batches. If it's something that holds well. You'll find well preserved leftovers that are a day old from last night. And then we'll make the noodles again tonight and mix it all together a la [? manude, ?] if you will.
So that's not weird, but it's like you'll come across this big container of just chicken and broccolini, very well seasoned. Which we really didn't get a lot of repurposed leftovers. I was hoping we'd get more. What we did get a lot of was homemade ingredients, homemade salsas. Homemade pestos. Stuff they got imported from the old country-- their favorite spice or their Indian spices from the store that's in a mason jar that's obviously not mass-produced.
The chefs that use that and paid homage to that cultural connection always did really, really well, I feel like. So, I mean, in my house, you open my fridge, and you'll find four jars of my own giardiniera. That's probably it.
[LAUGHS]
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean, I think that that could be a very helpful ingredient on Kitchen Crash. Obviously, you burst on to the scene when you won Season Seven of Food Network Star. What in your opinion is the secret to success on any food competition show, whether it's Kitchen Crash or Food Network Star?
JEFF MAURO: I think a lot of people would agree with me. Cook what you know. You obviously have to grab from that bag of tricks and repurpose them and make them new and fresh and fun, depending on whatever the challenge is. But just cook what you like to eat. And I think I did that. And the Sandwich King point of view obviously propelled me through that. Because I was a student of sandwiches my whole life, so I was like, this is what I make better than what I think most people, and this is what I know. So everything I'm going to make for you guys is going to be a sandwich.
And I thought that was enough to really give me the edge. But it's very nerve-wracking. And now Jaymee, now you brought this up, but I haven't won crap since Food Network Star Season 11. I've done every competition, every all-star Chopped. I'm 0 for five on Chopped. Cutthroat Kitchen, 0. Guy's Grocery Games, big fat zero on that. All these things I've competed on, I've lost.
And I think I've hung up that hat. I think I'm done competing, I think.
JAYMEE SIRE: Hey, you only need one win in this scenario, and you got the most important one.
JEFF MAURO: You're damn right.
JAYMEE SIRE: Was there anything, though, about that show and how it works that surprised you? Being that this was your first foray into the Food Network space.
JEFF MAURO: How brutal it was. And I would never--
JAYMEE SIRE: Really?
JEFF MAURO: Not a lot of people know this. Listen, I would do it all over again. Right, 100% to get the job. It was a means to an end. I auditioned four times before I finally made it on. It was my goal. I orchestrated my life to that point to be not only going to culinary school, working in restaurants, working in delis my whole life, but also always performing. Doing everything I could to be on stage, in front of the camera. Doing standup. Everything to combine these two worlds to give me enough just substance to be a Food Network talent.
But then you get there, and then you're away. I mean, my son was two at the time. He's now 12. This was 10 years ago. This was in the heyday of reality competitions. Where, I mean, no phones, no books, no music. You have zero distractions or entertainment, and all you have is the competition. And then living in this house with 13, 14 other people fighting for the job. And it was exhausting.
I mean, they'd wake you up at 4:00 in the morning and then there would be only warm water half the time. And then they'd film you brushing your teeth in the morning and before bed. And it was like you were constantly waiting or cooking or stressing about what the competition was. Or standing there like a chooch, waiting for Bobby Giada to either send you home or move you forward. It was constantly stressful. I was constantly homesick. I couldn't wait to get home.
And when I went home, I knew it was in the top two at that point, and we went back and filmed the finale. And I won, and it was-- you go back to life, too, normally. You can't just stop what you're doing. You have to literally go back to your job or whatever and pretend like you were just-- I went back to my job. I was a private chef. It was a large corporation. Just cooking for 300 people.
I went back. People thought I went to rehab or was in jail. Because nobody knew where I went for 2 and 1/2 months. And I couldn't tell them, but I needed to work, you know. But it was two months of working this menial job. I loved it, but it was-- knowing that not only did I win Food Network Star, but I had already shot my first season of Sandwich King. So I was like, I dare you. I dare somebody to yell at me or tell me my food-- I'm going to walk right out of here, because I got-- I already won that show. But nobody knew that.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well I think it's a great testament to just your attitude and the way you approach life and sticking with it, obviously, through the four auditions. And then it obviously paid off. And as you mentioned, you are the Sandwich King on the network and elsewhere. For those who don't stray beyond the PB and J, how can someone elevate their sandwich game?
JEFF MAURO: It doesn't need to be 10 ingredients. Just good bread. Right, good insides. And show some restraint. I think it's proper ratios and showing a little restraint, right. And you don't need big giant deli stack of pastrami. I love that and all, but it's just not-- right, you can't eat it. So I think it all starts with the bread, and I think that's what people neglect. They just throw the bread on there or they throw it in the toaster.
Right, and it gets just brittle and it scratches the roof of your mouth. I am all about treating bread, even if it's a couple days old. Little butter. Little oil. Griddle it, right. Give it a little golden brown crunch. Give it some texture. Reinvigorate it. I think that's where your teeth and your tongue in your mouth start with the bread. And if it's-- could be the detriment of any-- you can have wagyu beef in the middle. And if you have mediocre bread, it doesn't matter that you splurge for the premium insides. It's going to be set up for disaster, so pay attention to the bread, first and foremost.
JAYMEE SIRE: Start with the bread. Well, Super Bowl is coming up this weekend, and you and I participated in a fun little game day recipe demo last week with Eddie Jackson. Well, you guys did the recipes, I just hung out and ask questions. But you made your Burger Bash winning patty melt. So I'm curious if that's on the menu Sunday or something else or both. What are you guys eating for Super Bowl Sunday?
JEFF MAURO: I haven't made wings in a while. And I think what I'm going to do is, there's a great recipe I'll do where you coat them in a little salt, little baking soda, on a wire rack sheet. And you're talking the flats and the drumettes and you dry them out overnight. And then you just bake them.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
JEFF MAURO: The skin is so crispy and brittle like you would deep fry it. But without the mess, without the oil, without having to drain responsibly the oil and toss it at the end. It's such a pain in the butt frying from home. I try to avoid it at all costs. And this is great. And then you get the wings. I'll probably do two dozen. My wife will have one, my son will have three. And I will eat-- what's the math there, Jaymee? What are we at now? I don't know--
JAYMEE SIRE: That's, I think, 20. 20 left.
JEFF MAURO: All right, well that's your quick math. I have a different number-- 39 wings. But I'll do just a classic buffalo with the butter. And then I'll do a honey barbecue, and then I'll do a dry. I'll do three ways. And I'll just sit there and I'll gnaw at wings for three quarters. And then go to bed super, super thirsty.
JAYMEE SIRE: All of the sodium. No, that sounds perfect. I love that you said that in the oven, because that's-- I like to do that that way, too, dry them out in the fridge. It really works perfectly. And you're right, no mess, and you can do all the different sauces. And yeah, it's definitely the winning combo if you're talking about wings. We touched on this question a little bit during the event, but I do want to revisit here just so everybody can hear.
This is something my boyfriend Justin and I fight about a lot-- not fight, we just have disagreements.
JEFF MAURO: Trouble in paradise, Jaymee. It's all right, it happens to the best of us.
JAYMEE SIRE: So I--
JEFF MAURO: Got to communicate, Jaymee. Go ahead, sorry.
JAYMEE SIRE: I'm going to ask the Sandwich King himself, because I feel like this is a question that you can settle once and for all-- is a hot dog a sandwich?
JEFF MAURO: Oh my heavens. So is a hot dog a sandwich is the number one question. I get I say yes, right. It's something on something. I always look at the sandwiches like the animal kingdom classification. It's under the kingdom of sandwiches in the phylum long bun, right, which host a myriad of other long bun based sandwiches, like Italian sausage rolls, or a Polish sausage, or kielbasa. Are those not sandwiches? Yes.
People get very emotional about this, Jaymee, and I don't know why. You know what? I do--
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, I don't--
JEFF MAURO: Yeah, right? I mean, what do you think?
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, here's the thing. I always say it's not, but I have zero good reason to back that up. I just say it's not. And then that gets Justin very annoyed, because he's like-- he has all the reasons that you just mentioned. And then he'll proceed to ask me if I think other things are sandwiches that are similar to a hot dog. And I say, yes. And then he's like, so why isn't a hot dog? I'm like, it's just not.
But I don't feel super passionate about it, I guess. I'm not going to get into real big fights with people about it. And if you think it's a sandwich, you're probably right. But I'm just going to keep going on with this path that I've carved out for myself saying that it's not.
JEFF MAURO: Can't we all just get along? I mean, at the end of the day--
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes, please.
JEFF MAURO: This is still the number one hot button issue in the country. Can I answer this question with a poem, an original poem, that's going to be in my cookbook?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes, please.
JEFF MAURO: Out April 13th.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
JEFF MAURO: Also titled Come On Over. Which is, Jaymee--
JAYMEE SIRE: I'm so excited.
JEFF MAURO: According to my mom, who's read 30% of the manuscript, funniest cookbook of all time. So my mom doesn't lie. All right, in being a lifelong Chicagoan, obviously we're very passionate about our hot dog culture here. So I feel like I'm the man for the job. And here is my answer to your question, is a hot dog a sandwich? An original poem by Jeff Mauro.
Are you a sandwich? Sure, why not? Or better yet, maybe so. But you're in between some bread and I can eat you on the go. Top with onions, peppers, relish, and very generous schmears of muddled ballpark mustard and a side of six light beers. Served on buns steamed into pillowy clouds of wheat. Your natural intestinal casing snapping between my teeth. When you're served wrapped in paper with piles of skin on fries, perfection is achieved, each new bite a tremendous surprise.
But are you a sandwich? Why must we choose? Who gives a flying frank? To me, you're not even food. You're as emblematic as Betsy's fine flag, as Americana as peanuts in a bag. While watching baseballs fly, deep, so deep out of bounds. In fighter jet's sonic boom above sold out Super Bowl crowds. So is a hot dog a sandwich? It's not my place to say. In fact, it's no one's natural born right to try to make that claim. The discussion must be over, sandwich or not. For a hot dog is perfection, and that, my friends, is all we got.
[APPLAUSE]
JAYMEE SIRE: We need the applause sound effects, but this is me clapping. That was fantastic. And if anything was going to sway my decision, I think a poem about whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich definitely has me reconsidering my opinion. And I think you're basically now the Dr. Seuss of sandwiches. So there's that as well.
JEFF MAURO: I'll take it.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well obviously, you got your start on Food Network with sandwiches. But these days, you're on the kitchen. You've been the co-host all-- how many, is 27 seasons are we up to now?
JEFF MAURO: I think so.
JAYMEE SIRE: And you do so much more. Where do you get the recipe inspiration to come up with so many new dishes and recipes on that show?
JEFF MAURO: You know what? I'm like everybody else, right. I'm online. I'm on Instagram. I'm cooking. So those three things, right, just recipe searching, going to the grocery store and being like, oh my god, look at those short ribs, looks so good. Keep this in mind, I make notes on my phone. On my notes, I'd be like, something style short ribs, right. A low braise and then crisped up to under the broiler, and we'll turn that into a great dish. And I'll sell it to the producers when they're like, we need a beefy dish.
So it's a lot of communication with the production, being like, this is what this episode's theme is. What do you got for us? I was like, oh, I got all these ideas. Or I saw this giant pork cutlet on Instagram, and I want to emulate it and put my own spin on it. Or my wife made a wonderful pad see ew. I want to do that but simplify it even more. And instead of rice noodles, we'll use ramen noodles.
You know what I mean? It's constantly drawing from all the information out there. Can you imagine 20 years ago people go to the library? Right? And look up-- or the bookstore, God forbid, and buy a cookbook, right, for inspiration. But we have so much just at our fingertips. We're so lucky, and I think that's why food is just growing and growing and getting more and more interesting every day.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. And I've seen it in action personally. But I feel like you and all of your co-hosts on the show, you guys seem to just really enjoy being around each other. It seems like you're friends in real life as well. And I know you've been quoted as saying that GZ's one of your best friends and mentors. What have you learned from the rest of the cast on the show?
JEFF MAURO: So much. You can draw from everybody's disciplines, right. You got Sonny, who's an immense home cook who takes-- just has an uncanny ability to make everything ooey and gooey and craveable with minimal ingredients. You know Katie is clean and she teaches you what the hell vitamin K is in. It's in everything. And where there's riboflavins. But her food is like-- my wife has made a lot of Katie's recipes, because they're very in sync, right, from a health standpoint and just-- with just a little bit of naughtiness to it, always.
And now with Alex, just being able to watch her cook has been such a joy, especially with us being back in the studio now in person. And it's just, I feel lucky. I know the viewer learned something, but I feel lucky being there and learning every day from these people. And nobody knows everything. I certainly don't. And I am always willing to just get educated. And all my co-hosts educate me on a daily basis. So it's just fun. And we have laughs. It's just so much fun. I love it.
JAYMEE SIRE: And not just with the people in front of the camera. Rumor has it you and some of the crew members actually have a band. Is that true? And what do you guys play?
JEFF MAURO: Oh, we play everything. We do covers, we write songs. I have my own little jam room, which I've commandeered over the years, which was a storage room which I slowly just kept putting instruments in. So I play with a lot of the sound guys, and some of the camera guys come play a little bit of drums, cajones, and bongos and stuff like that. And one of the main sound guys, the guy who mics us, is a very, very talented, well-known musician. And he's the best musician I've ever played with. And he happens to be on set since day one. So he's like, hey, you play? I'm like, yeah. He's like, I'll bring in a guitar. I got one in the car.
And then the next run, I'm like, I brought my guitar. And then the next run, it's like, I ordered an electric guitar off Amazon and an amp. And next thing you know, we have keyboards and drums and everything. But we have our own room. And for me, it's been-- I'm not doing it to perform to anybody, it's all for us. But for me, in between takes, when you look at our schedule, which is two shows a day, 12 acts, six acts per show, there's downtime in between when they're resetting.
And instead of sitting there and getting aggravated answering emails or looking at Instagram and swiping up and doing all this and just numbing my mind, I'm keeping my mind and brain working fresh so I feel like when it's time to Jeff to set and I go to set, I'm hot. You know what I mean? I'm coming in hot. It propels me through the day. And music is such a gift to me that way, you know? I love it.
That was my sport my whole life. I never played sports. I always did theater and acting and comedy. And I was just always a class clown. But unlike most class clowns, yes, I was probably a little disruptive at times. But I always knew how to make the teacher laugh just a little bit to keep them up inside.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's important.
JEFF MAURO: While making the kids laugh without being destructive or mean. And I think that's the goal. Right, because I was always competing with the mean class clowns that were just mean and make fun of people for a laugh. I was never like that. I always loved the comedy and the intricacies of it-- how to try to make people laugh in those parameters. So, I mean, it was just constant. So I was very excited when I got to do this for a living. Get paid to be a class clown.
JAYMEE SIRE: I mean, speaking of which, is there a comedian like living or dead that you would love to cook with?
JEFF MAURO: Ooh. That's a good one. Sebastian Maniscalco. If you're familiar. He actually wrote the foreword to my cookbook.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh, fun.
JEFF MAURO: We've hung out a couple times. But we have not cooked together. And he's just so funny and physical in just a-- yeah, I mean, he's transcended being just an Italian-American comic from Chicago. Now he's worldwide, he's hosting award shows. So I would love to spend a little more time with him and cook for him. Show them a couple of things, obviously.
JAYMEE SIRE: Show him a couple of things. I do feel like there's a lot of ways to improvise in the kitchen, getting creative. And we see that in your show Kitchen Crash, which we talked about. Do you think that that is maybe one of the reasons why you do love doing what you do, being on TV, but also being able to riff a little bit in the kitchen?
JEFF MAURO: Yeah, I love it. The kitchen to me is literally being paid to be a class clown, legitimately, without being sent to the principal's office or getting a demerit, right. Because I just love sitting there. My favorite part about these formats, especially Kitchen Crash now, is it just opens the door for improvisation. Which I'm a student of the Groundlings in LA when I was out there four years. Second City, from third grade to high school, and then beyond.
So I love improvisational comedy. So I've always kept those muscles tuned up. And so I love just sitting there and letting people go and then finding my moment and just hitting them with the zinger. Listen, maybe 60%, 70% ends up on the cutting room floor. But that's the magic of television and editing. They make me look great. But it's just fun. And I love to do that in combination of cooking and teaching people just the fundamentals of the culinary arts. And to be able to do in both those formats is a blessing.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. And you're a busy guy, because you also, like you said earlier, you have a cookbook coming out, and then you have a new brand, Mauro Provisions, delivering these curated boxes to people's homes. Before we let you go, maybe tell us a little bit about that and what you have in the works for Mauro Provisions customers coming up.
JEFF MAURO: Well, we did all our boxes. We just did the St. Valenprime's Day Box with a custom 24 ounce prime heart-shaped New York strip steak. Comes with two eight-ounce prime fillets as well, a bottle of our hot craft jardinera, and a code for a exclusive demo of yours truly teaching you how to make the steak. It's so fun. I did it myself. I shot it myself. I don't know, I just keep piling things on.
That's selling like gangbusters, along with our jardinera. Which, if you guys don't know what hot jardinera is, it's a Chicago staple. It's fermented pickled oil-packed peppers and vegetables. And ours is so colorful, so glorious. People are going through a jar a week of it. And we go through a jar a week of it, and I grew up eating it. It's the best I've ever had. It comes in hot, medium, and mild. And it's only 15 to 20 calories a spoonful. So you can load it up. I mean, that's--
JAYMEE SIRE: So no guilt.
JEFF MAURO: No guilt. And it's, I don't know, it goes good on eggs, pizza, pasta, sandwiches. Everything, we put it on everything. And that sound like gangbusters. I have my black powder rub coming out and my barbecue chip dust coming out, which is like literally licking your fingers after eating the bottom shards and crumbles in your favorite bag of barbecue chips. So I've deconstructed that. And then a cheesesteak cake coming out.
But I'm just proud of it. I mean, it's like me, my one employee, Lisa, who's my sous chef, my recipe tester, my culinary right hand, who we're just running this. And it's grassroots. It's with all family run businesses that are co-packers. Where we pack the meat is in the neighborhood I grew up in two blocks down from the family of butchers that grew up on the same street as my mom and my grandparents. So it's like I started this brand with-- it's not just about selling things, right. It's about providing the world the food I grew up on that I'm passionate about with a brand with my name on it.
So it's not like some of the other things I've done in the past. It's exhausting, right. I'd love to have a team of 12 people. But we're not there yet. I just want to organically grow it. And that's what we're doing. And the product shows. It's all really, really good meat. Great products, great jardinera.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah. It sounds like a passion project in the truest sense, so it sounds awesome. I could go on forever just hearing you tell stories and everything, but we are running short on time. What would be on the menu for your perfect food day? So breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. You can time travel, spend money. Whatever you want. There's no rules. Maybe there'll be some of your Mauro Provisions in there. But yeah, I'll just leave-- I'll open that up to you, and you tell us your perfect food day.
JEFF MAURO: All right. I'm going to start breakfast with corned beef hash, extra crispy, two eggs sunny side up. Maybe a short stack of pancakes on the side and some biscuits and gravy. Just a light start to the day.
JAYMEE SIRE: Just really light, yeah. Really kick it off healthy.
JEFF MAURO: Crispy bacon and patties, sausage patties. And then we'll go to lunch, which I would definitely get from Lingers in Los Angeles. A hand-cut pastrami on rye with a schmear of mustard. And some extra crispy fries. And a Diet Coke. Right. And some room temperature ketchup for the fries only. Of course, not in the sandwich. I'm not an animal, Jaymee.
And then for dinner, I'm going to have probably some good Chicago style thin crust pizza, tavern cut, sausage. Half sausage, half pepperoni. And I'm going to eat that with some nice wing sauce on the side, some ranch. Maybe even a nice chopped iceberg salad. And then a bacon double cheeseburger.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK.
JEFF MAURO: For dessert, yeah, for dessert-- because I'm on dessert now. I can do this, right. I'm going to have some warm-- my wife makes these chocolate sea salt big chocolate chip cookies. Warm. Just warm. Just the cookie. Warm, slightly cooled. Boom, eat that maybe with some ice cream. Maybe not. With a side, because you get thirsty eating cookies, right, Jaymee? So I'm going to have a chocolate cake shake from Portillo's.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh.
JEFF MAURO: Which is a chocolate--
JAYMEE SIRE: OK.
JEFF MAURO: Which is a shake, a vanilla shake, Jaymee, with the whole piece of very, very fudgy chocolate cake blended in it. Because the hardest part about eating cake is chewing it, so now you can slurp it. Because I'll be tired.
JAYMEE SIRE: So there you go.
JEFF MAURO: And I'll have severe gout at the end of the day too, so.
JAYMEE SIRE: I don't think that that's part of the rules. You could eat what you want with no repercussions. So I think that sounds like a fantastic food day. Very much a Jeff Mauro food day. So now I'm hungry. And I feel like I say that after every interview, but I am. I'm truly going to go see what I can find in my fridge and do my own Kitchen Crash.
JEFF MAURO: Well, Jaymee, before you go, I did write you guys-- I wrote you a song for Food Network Obsessed.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh.
JEFF MAURO: I was so honored to be on this. And I just churned it out. OK, it's a song I titled Food Network Obsessed.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK, I'm excited.
JEFF MAURO: And whether you like it or not, I'm sorry if you don't, because I think it's pretty mediocre. Hold on.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(SINGING) One, two, three, four. Bobby got Giada. All [INAUDIBLE]. Got Katie, Sunny, GZ, Karla, Tyler, and all the fame. Scottie, Mark, Jen, and Amanda, Vallery, Tricia, Molly, and Doug. Maybe even that silly clown, oh, Jeff Mauro, he's my crush.
I'm Food Network Obsessed. I watch it night and day. Food Network Obsessed. I'm cooking for real, babe. Food Network Obsessed. Those recipes are great. Food Network Obsessed all day.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh my gosh. That is-- no, I-- can we license that from you?
JEFF MAURO: I got to give you. That's on the house. That's on the house. Yeah.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's on the house. That's amazing.
JEFF MAURO: Now, I was-- so I was sitting there. I was like, oh my god. I was like, OK, I got 42 minutes. I go, can I bang out a song for Food Network? I was like, I want to make it special. So I did that song in less than 40 minutes for you.
JAYMEE SIRE: Amazing.
JEFF MAURO: So I'm going to tune it up a little bit. But I want to gift it to you, because I'm just, I'm honored to be on the podcast. And congratulations to you on being the host of this. This is awesome.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. It's been so much fun just drawing on all of my skills and experience throughout the years. But most of all, my favorite part is hearing the stories and getting to connect with people like you. So thank you. And bonus, amazing music about our podcast. Thank you so much again. This was awesome.
JEFF MAURO: You're welcome, Jaymee. Thanks for having me on.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow. Well I think Jeff has officially set the bar very high for all future guests. He brought to the table an original poem and also an original song. And he sounded great on top of all that and had me laughing, telling great stories as always. So yeah, everybody else is on notice. Also, if you're needing a little meal inspiration or just looking for your next favorite show, you can tune in to the Kitchen Crash finale on February 10th at 10:00/9:00 Central on Food Network. And you can then binge the rest of the show on Discovery Plus, starting February 11th.
Be sure you're subscribed to the podcast. You don't miss out on any of the Food Network fun. And as always, be sure to give us a rating and review. And tell your friends. That's it for this episode of Food Network Obsessed. See you next Friday.
(SINGING) I'm Food Network Obsessed. I watch it night and day. Food Network Obsessed. I'm cooking for real, babe. Food Network Obsessed. Those recipes are great. Food Network Obsessed all day.