SPEAKER_02 0:19

Welcome to the F3 Podcast, where we talk food, football, and fantasy football.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Alright, welcome back to another episode of the F3 Podcast. And that's right, we're getting into it again, talking about football, food, and all the fun things that happened in fantasy football this week.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

That is right. It has been an interesting week this week, both uh through football, fantasy football, and then just, you know, getting into the season as well. It's always entertaining, and you're a little sick. I was away traveling, so this is a fun episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Oh, I s I had an amazing week. I was up in Pemberton at Cook's Camp with 300 chefs from BC. So we cooked up some feasts and I learned some stuff that is definitely going to play into this podcast going down.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Oh, I like it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yes, for sure. So we just finished up week two of All Games, and we're looking at week three coming up next week. And our team of the week this week is the Dallas Cowboys.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

There you go, Peter, our producer, huge Dallas Cowboys fan.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yes, exactly. And I know he's gonna be on us to get this podcast up, and he is going to pick it apart. So let's make sure we do a good job today.

SPEAKER_02 1:35

And I am giving him fair warning in advance that he probably won't like what I have to say. So that's okay. We can still be friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

That's that's a good call. That's awesome. So we are getting into great things that are happening with uh the Dallas Cowboys. Where am I going with that? That's okay, you're sick. It's fair too many teams in Texas. It's fine. That's right. I don't even know where I am right now. But we do have some exciting things about the Dallas uh Cowboys who are in Texas.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Yes, who are in Texas, but not for the next game.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

No, they are going away doing an international game, which is super exciting.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yeah, the NFL is really big on these international games, and I know in the past they've had one or two per year, and this year they just, you know, recently came back from Australia when the Rams played the 49ers a couple of weeks ago, and that was kind of neat to see. And then we're heading not too far away from Texas this time down to Brazil, and they will be playing the Baltimore Ravens this time around.

SPEAKER_01 2:37

Yes, and that's always exciting to see these games branching out around the world and just seeing getting more people interested and and you know, bringing the excitement that we both love about this game to threaten center.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Absolutely love the fans in Brazil. I mean, I remember just watching them watch various sporting events, and it's extremely passionate and emotional and intense, so I'm really curious to see how they will uh be with an NFL game.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

That's awesome. And of course, we're gonna be talking about food today. And you know how much I love food, and we're talking about Texas, we're talking about Southern food by far, because we're talking about good old smoked meats. That's what I really want to get into. Now, of course, I did my research and I looked at a whole bunch of other dishes. So we're gonna break it in and see what comes out as our pick of the week.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Oh, let's go!

SPEAKER_01 3:25

But let's start diving in and let's talk a little bit about fantasy, where your team is and what's happening in fantasy right now.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Yeah, it's week two, sort of lineups are getting settled a little bit. You're figuring out whether your picks were good picks at this point. Um, you know, week one is always a little bit rough because as a lot of teams show, like you could see with a lot of teams last week, they were kind of just finding their rhythm with their starting lineups and things like that. Maybe people weren't quite a hundred percent at their top physical mid-season form. You know, they're kind of just figuring things out. So week one is always a little bit of a hit and miss in terms of your fantasy lineup. Sometimes you can get lucky, but I find like week two, three is where we kind of get into figuring out whether those picks that we made were the right ones or whether it's already looking at some of the bench players, which unfortunately uh, you know, sometimes happens at this time of year, and which is something I kind of wanted to touch on with fantasy because injuries, of course, play a huge part of it. There's been oddly enough a lot of quarterback injuries so early on in the season so far. So I'd be curious to see how that's affecting some fantasy managers. If there did pick some quarterbacks to sit on your bench, you know, obviously, unfortunately, now is the time to start bringing them out if if you have one of those injured quarterbacks. But I, you know, I was taking a look at my fantasy uh league a little bit and some of my teams that I'll be playing in the next week or two, and seeing their quarterbacks are possible injuries, you know, not sure how long they'll be out and looking at their benches, and they don't have any backup quarterbacks. So we'll see how that plays out, which is always a little bit interesting at so early in the season.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

So let's look at your list. Who are you concerned about? Are you losing any any players right now?

SPEAKER_02 5:10

I mean, right now I'm okay. Uh, I'm always, yeah, you know, you've heard me preach this before about I always go a little bit quarterback heavy, um, making sure I've got a couple, you know, Matthew Stafford. Uh I had him last year, I have him this year. Didn't have his best performance last week. Let's say that. Right. Um, you know, still have a little bit of faith that uh he's going to perform well this week, Mr. You know, MVP. I think he's got some potential left. But if he falls a little short this week, I will start having a couple of questions. And then uh, you know, I've got Jared Goff as well. I speaking of traveling, I was in Montreal earlier this week and watched the uh the game against Detroit and Buffalo uh in French because I was uh didn't have the English language station. So that was always quite amusing to watch an NFL game three quarters in French, but then have the refs come on and speak English. So saw that, but because of the uh time change difference, I was only able to watch the first half of the game and Goff was not performing well. So I went to sleep very, very concerned about my fantasy lineup and then woke up to him scoring, I think, three touchdowns. So I got a bunch of points uh when I saw my score in the morning, so I was quite happy. So he's still on my roster, but I mean, if you're the team I was playing against this week, or the person I was playing against with Daniels going down or perhaps questionable with an injury, there's some potential there. Um, there's a lot of, you know, Caleb Williams getting injured. That's a couple of big quarterbacks. Joe Burrow has a back issue, so it'll be really interesting to see how this plays out. And it's the fun of fantasy.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

That's right. Well, let's uh take a little bit into take a quick look at maybe the cowboy angle. Is there any players on that team or that bench that you're kind of like, hey, these are guys you should have on your list?

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean uh again, always goes back to my I sound sometimes like a bit of a broken record, but always going back to Dak Prescott. I he had a really good week this week. So if you had him on your fantasy team, I think you're doing well. I you know, it's the Cowboys, America's team, or I like to say America's disappointment, because every year they get so close and yet they never cross that finish line. So I have a lot of opinions on Dak Prescott, which we can get into a little bit. You know, he's I I think he will do well. I think if you have him, uh especially as a fantasy manager, I think you'll be you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

He's a he's an alright guy.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

He's a he's a solid pick. I'll say that. Right, right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

May not be the best or give you the most good, but he's consistent, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:44

Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Excellent. Well, let's see. There you go. Well, let's talk a little bit about the Dallas Cowboys and let's actually talk about the team because they are at the ATT stadium in Arlington, Texas.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Yes, that's right. Absolutely. I mean, yeah, Dallas's ho boy. Like I said, poor Peter. I'm I apologize in advance. Although they did perform very well this week against Washington, but they are, you know, his history speaks for itself. They've they've been so close and they've just disappointed so many times. And yeah, and I think it's one of those situations where you have such a oh, I don't even know the right word, flamboyant, integrated, I'm trying to be really diplomatic here, owner with Jerry Jones, who really likes to get involved with team operations. And yeah, it's just those iconic press conferences after the game where he uh doesn't really hold back very much, and it's a very uh unique position to put the team in. But and getting back to their quarterback, of course, Dak Prescott, who has been a really solid quarterback, like I said, a B you know a solid B B plus quarterback. Some people consider him in the elite category, but I think the argument can definitely be made that despite his excellence in terms of how he does throughout the season, he has never made it deep into the playoffs. And if the Dallas Cowboys ever had an Achilles heel, that would be it, is the fact that, you know, they've come so close and so close and they just cannot make it into the playoffs, particularly with their quarterback. So say what you want to say about him, good, bad, but I think you know, ultimately people judge how well a team is by how many Super Bowl rings they have or how close they make it to the Super Bowl. And if consistently, year after year, you fall short, you gain a reputation in the league. So I'm sorry, Peter, but you know, Dak is maybe a good one to have in your fantasy roster, but that might be as best as it gets.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Okay, well, now, and we spent a bit of time talking about the game coming up in Brazil, and of course, we've got the Ravens, and of course, the Ravens have beat them six out of the last seven times I've met. Absolutely. What is your prediction for being out of the country?

SPEAKER_02 10:06

I'm gonna say it's seven now. Oh, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

All right. Well, maybe we'll put some money on that. I like that happens. One of us will cook dinner. How's that? I'm really hoping that it's you, even though if I lose or win. Well, let's get into this because now I wanted to talk a little bit about the food because Texas has a little bit of thing for a food region, right? We want to think Texas Barbecue, Tex Mex, Southern Comfort Food, right? Tail Gaining, and I mean, this is a place where game culture comes from, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yes, and that's you know, you think of the deep south, you think of all of those delicious things you just mentioned, and and a bunch of fusion as well, right? With the southern border to Mexico being so close, and just it's like a great food scene.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Exactly. And so a lot of the things that get into my head when I start thinking about there is looking at smoked meats, you know, chili, queso, you know, nachos, sausages, you know, even tacos, and uh big trays of food for sharing. Definitely. Definitely, definitely, definitely. So, of course, thinking around game day treats and stuff like that, I really took some time to sort of look into some of the fun foods that I like from that area. And I don't think we can even talk about Texas without talking about a test Texas brisket. Right. Right. That nice beef brisket, you know, is a centerpiece of Texas barbecue. Taking the whole brisket, usually seasoned, often just simple with salt and pepper, and then smoking it for many hours over wood until the meat becomes, you know, very tender and develops a dark, you know, crusty bark on top of it. And now I think that is the whole reason of what makes brisket in Texas so incredible. And if you can hit a brisket in Texas, you have got a beautiful piece of meat for sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

So being the perennial vegetarian that I am for nearly 30 years, I don't know much about meat or smoking, but all I know is low and slow.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

Low and slow, for sure. And that is what a Texas brisket's all about.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Uh, another thing I looked at was a Frito pie.

SPEAKER_02 12:33

It sounds like it's made of chips, but I am very curious.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, so Frito corn chips combined with it. No, it's not. Yes. No. With chili covered with cheese and baked, you know, serving it with some diced onions, jalapenos, salsa, and hot sauce. Like that is a feast of all feasts.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

That is like Americana 2AT right there.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Of course. You know, salty, crunchy, spicy, cheesy, and messy, right? You cannot get any better than that. And I know this is a favorite of yours, is queso and chips.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Oh, sign me up. I'll pass on the mead, but I will get the queso and chips anytime.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

You know what? That creamy cheese dip uh with tortilla chips, right? Uh little green chilies, you know, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions. And if you want to go crazy, throwing some nice ground beef on there is always a nice one. So that was another one I was thinking about. Uh and then I was looking also like kalachas, which is a Czech immigrant dish that's come in. It's usually nice little sweet pastries with fruit, poppy seeds, cheese, or prunes in it. And then, of course, Texas Way, I guess that's the southern Texas Way, is throwing it with a filling it with a sausage filling, which is for me more meat and pastry. How can you go wrong, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:47

I love the way that these kind of immigrant communities from the past have really shaped the food scene of all these very specific areas within the US. And I find that so fascinating. Like, this is a great example. Like, when you think of Texas, you don't think of sort of Eastern European influence whatsoever. But it's amazing to hear that that's what's there. And like, you know, when we I know I remember when we talked about Minnesota last season, you know, there's such a Swedish influence there. Like, it's incredible to hear these little pocket influences that different populations have on food culture.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Exactly. And a lot of it's just bringing in the finding the local food that's there to work with, right? And then using your traditional recipes that from your home country or whatever, yeah, and just creating a whole new atmosphere, right? Yeah, it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Wait until they have them filled with Fritos.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

That's the next that's this year's challenge. The other thing I was looking at is chicken fried steak. Yes, which is definitely not chicken. I never understood that.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

So please tell me more.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

So it's basically the style of cooking a chicken style of frying frying meat. And so what you're gonna do is you're gonna take a usually a piece of beef, usually a cut, so it could be either a bottom round, chuck, or top rounds, and you're gonna tenderize it, cut steaks out of it and tenderize it. And so that with it basically saying it's a cube steak, which is you run a knife through it and mechanically tenderize it, and then bread and fry it, just like you would do a chicken. And of course, you got steak, great way served with a bunch of gravy on top of that, delicious and a great fan favorite.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

I like it now.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

Because we're football. Yes, because we're talking Texas, you know what I thought? This recipe I was going for, we're doing smoked brisket nachos. Go big or go home. Go home. So, you know, I'm looking at having a good, you know, pound of cooked smoked beef brisket, you know, chopped on some tortilla chips, lots of shredded cheese, like some cheddar and Monterey Jack. Uh, we're gonna put some black beans on there, pickled jalapenos, some red onions, maybe a touch of barbecue sauce just to bring it up, and of course, sour cream and fresh cilantro. And, you know, a squeeze of lime is always gonna make bring all those flavors just together for sure.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Sounds like Texas on a plate.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Oh, exactly. And I just thought, you know, this is the perfect dish to really, you know, shake showcase that area because you got the smoked meat, you've got the nacho chips, and the cheesy goodness. So nothing better than sitting on a tailgate or sitting at home in front of the TV to sit there and enjoy and just have a great time.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

That sounds excellent. Minus the meat, but that sounds the meat.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

All right. Well, you know what? And yeah, I think this has been a good episode for us.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah, I'm really excited. I I love this part of the season because, like I said at the beginning, you know, everything's fresh and new. You're kind of seeing what players are going to have a good season. You have sort of dealing with some injuries at this point, and you're seeing how the rookies are doing again, and so you're just kind of like figuring your way out into the season. So it's really exciting, and I'm looking forward to what week three and beyond will hold.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Alright, well, we've come to that time again that I have to reach up here. I've got my hand up, I've got the wheel, and I am spinning.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do.

SPEAKER_02 17:15

Oh, I like this. So we aren't going that far away, but we are going over a little east to Indianapolis.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Indianapolis? I like it. Oh, that is a challenge.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

We're gonna chat about the Colts next week.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

The Colts. I like this. I think we're gonna come up with some great, amazing dishes.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

I'm curious.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

As well as learning a little bit about the players from the area.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Definitely. You know, when I think of Indianapolis, there's no like definitive food that pops into my mind. So I'm curious to see what you're gonna bring.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Challenge accepted. Done. Well, that's another episode of the F3 Podcast. Thank you for joining us. We're hoping you're loving watching this season as it gets going, and we've got so much more to come in this season for sure.