At least six towns claim they invented the hamburger — and the one the Library of Congress actually crowned still won't serve it on a bun or with ketchup. Which raises the real fight we spend the episode having: what even makes a burger a burger?Just in time for the Fourth of July, we trace it from the Hamburg steak to the smash era, then go round after round on the things that actually matter — the bun, the cheese, the sauce, and the doneness most people get wrong. There's the counterintuitive salt rule that decides whether you end up with a burger or a sausage, three ways to cook booze straight into it, and a running argument that neither of us fully wins.For the glass, the American Trilogy — rye whiskey and applejack, two of America's oldest spirits, built like an Old Fashioned for the most American holiday.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-areUnderberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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

Five Paris chefs claimed to have invented Steak au Poivre in the early 20th-century. Four of them wrote letters of complaint to the same 1950 culinary magazine. The fifth had the best story.We dig into the origin fight, Julia Child's surprising position on the flambé, the chemistry behind why pre-ground pepper is inferior, and a red wine pairing that mirrors the pepper on a molecular level.For the glass, Americans in Paris — an Armagnac sipper built off the Vieux Carré, finished with a fresh crack of pepper over the top.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week’s partners:El Ateo Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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

Clams Casino has a paperwork problem. A Rhode Island maître d' named Julius Keller claimed to invent the dish at the Narragansett Pier Casino in 1917 — but a January 1900 menu from the Central Park Casino in New York City, held in the New York Public Library, predates him by 17 years. And neither one was a gambling house.We dig into both origin claims, the Portuguese-American "stuffies" tradition in Rhode Island that may pre-date both, and how to take a working man's ingredient and dress it up — a three-way move on the pork, a strong opinion on breadcrumbs, and a rethink of which booze actually belongs in the topping.We pair it with the Central Park Casino — an aquavit dirty Martini with a pureed olive brine, named for the 1900 menu that started the argument.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Mezcal Ultramundo: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/ultramundo/Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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

Nobody agrees on barbecue. Memphis wants a dry rub, the Carolinas want vinegar, Kansas City wants a thick sweet sauce, and Texas thinks the conversation should be about beef. This week we listened to every region, picked apart what each one gets right, and then did the one thing two New Yorkers could honestly do: we poured a Manhattan into the sauce.We also trace how ribs went from a discarded cut in 1850s Cincinnati to one of America's defining dishes, with the story running through the Black pit masters who built the canon. Henry Perry opened the door in 1908 Kansas City, Charlie Vergos defined Memphis style starting in 1948, and Aaron Franklin and Rodney Scott carry the torch today. We also settle some home-cook arguments along the way. The membrane comes off, the wrap stays off, you cook by temperature not time, and hickory is the wood for the job.The drink is a Mint Julep made the proper way, with high-proof bourbon, demerara syrup, plenty of crushed ice, and a mint plume tall enough that your nose touches it on every sip.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:El Acabo Raicilla: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brandsUnderberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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

Drunken Noodles is misnamed twice. There's no booze in the dish, and the original version had no noodles either. The only word in the name that's accurate is the eater.This week, four etymology theories, the noodle-less origin, the holy basil vs Thai basil debate, the wok hei science, the LA pastrami variant — and why we ended up with no booze in the dish.Two cocktails: The Krapow — gin, lime, palm sugar, holy basil, topped with ice-cold lager. And Thai Sabai — Mekhong, lime, Thai basil, blended over pebble ice.For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.podThanks to all of this week's partners:Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-areUnderberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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