SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to the F3 Podcast, Football, Food, and Fantasy Football with Aaron Hallishuk and Chef Jonathan Frasier. F3 Spotlights football teams, matchups, and fantasy football picks, and the tailgate recipes that make watching even better. From locker room talk to kitchen talk, F3 has you covered. Now here are your hosts, Aaron and Jonathan.

SPEAKER_01 0:49

What was the biggest surprise in the NFL in week five? Did a contender stumble? Did an underdog pull off a surprise? Or did a fantasy player have a monster week? I'm Chef Jonathan Fraser. And I'm Aaron Halishtek. Welcome back to another episode of the F3E Podcast. So, quick teaser for this week. All about in football, the biggest winners, losers, and surprises in week five because it's been an interesting week, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

That's a great way of describing it. Interesting, bizarre, weird, just a strange, strange week of football. And I'm really excited to talk about it.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

And of course, in fantasy, we're gonna find out the results of Eren's teams and which teams players helped and hurt her fantasy management this week. And finally, our team of the week. That's right, we're talking about the New York Giants and see what is so promising about their season, if it is at all. And lastly, of course, my favorite part, we're talking about the food of New York. So beyond pizza and bagels, we're gonna talk about some of the foods in the neighborhoods around that community. Let's go to New York. All right, Erin, how are you doing? And I know you've been itching. Yes. Because we've been watching a little football this week.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yeah, you know, it sort of seems like our theme for the past month or so that uh illness has struck. And so nothing better to cure a cold than sitting on the couch watching a whole day of football, which I would normally do even if I wasn't sick, but you know, it just kind of helps that much more. So if you have to be sick, I highly recommend being sick on a football Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Putting that out there. That's true. It works a little bit better. It makes it a little bit easier on the illness.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

It's really nice and distracting. So apologies if we both sound a little nasally and sick this week, but we're battling too.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

It seems like a cold. And you know what? It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada. So it's a joy to we kind of missed out on some family events. We did this, but we're gonna make up for that next week, I think.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, and like I said, you know, if you have to be sick and if it's a long weekend, you've got CFL football, you've got NFL football, it's good.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

There's lots of football hack that there is. So let's talk about some of the games because you're talking about how weird and strange it was this week.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Oh my goodness. This was a really you do get these weeks from time to time, but this one was a really extraordinarily bizarre week of football. And just the games on Sunday were perfect examples of that. Like I think it started quite early. I forgot completely about the London game on Sunday morning. So by the time I rolled around and turned on the TV at about 10 o'clock and getting ready for the early games, it was already the fourth quarter in the um Philadelphia and uh Jacksonville game, which was over in London, and it was just bizarre. You got some objections, and we'll talk about some more ejections as the day went on. And then that came down to a game-winning kick in London. So, you know, the Philadelphia ended up losing to Jacksonville, which was I don't know if I would have predicted that per se, but again, this was just a weird week in football, so anything goes. So that sort of started the the vibe of the day.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Well, it was definitely a lot of very close games.

SPEAKER_02 3:49

Yes, very close games, I think, and we'll talk about the uh the Giants game, but uh a tie, like how rare are ties in NFL football these days? And that just kind of set the tone again for the way that the day went, and that is a very good example. Cleveland and the Jets, like a super close game, 17-12, blowout game from the Packers over the Bears 31-7. Again, I mean, surprisingly, uh New England defeated the Raiders 45-17. Drake May, where did he come from? He had an incredible game, and I know some people who had him on their fantasy lineup that got some great points through that, but did not see that coming. The Vikings still maintain one of two teams plus San Francisco that maintained their 5-0 record. They defeated the New Orleans Saints 23-13. And then, of course, uh, my drama-filled afternoon with the Seahawks and the uh San Francisco 49ers, their closest uh frenemies right there. That was a wild game, too. You know, he had another ejection for a sideline brawl. It was, you know, back and forth super tight, lots of bad blood between those teams, and it did come down to a really weird ending for the Seahawks, where you know, there was a call that was disputed whether the receiver actually made the first down or not as he was going out of bounds, and the Seahawks ended up losing 29-32 to San Francisco, and then of course Baltimore defeated Atlanta in overtime 30 to 23, and that was a weird game. Did not see that one coming either. So it was a really strange, strange day in the NFL.

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Def definitely wanted to keep you on your toes while you're watching. And like, what are some of the biggest stories that we get out of there? Like, let's look at San Francisco.

SPEAKER_02 5:25

Yes, I can't believe, like, I would not have predicted this week five in the season that San Francisco and Minnesota would both be sitting at five and oh. You know, San Francisco is a good team, 100%. They are solid, you know, year after year. I did not think that they would be at the top of the NFC uh West. That was something that I did not see coming. And Minnesota as well at 5-0. That's a big one there. That's uh that's a little wild. And like I mentioned before, Drake May had five touchdowns in the game. I would not have ever, ever predicted that. I mean, if I was a fantasy manager and had him on my lineup, I would have benched him. You know, after that first couple of games of the season and his woeful, woeful performance in Seattle for the uh week one opener, I just did not see much potential in him. So that was a hundred percent a surprise for me to see that.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Sometimes you just have to figure out your stride.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Yes, a hundred percent. Definitely. Yeah, yeah. And then, you know, speaking of teams that were five and oh, there's three teams that are completely sitting with the opposite win loss at zero and five. We've got the Dolphins, the Titans, and the Chargers all sitting with not a single win to their name.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

That's crazy. Because you were a big supporter of the Chargers, weren't you?

SPEAKER_02 6:39

I think, you know, I was just thinking that they have some potential there. And no, not at all. Not at all. So we'll see what the next couple of weeks bring. But uh yeah, those are probably the biggest storylines of the week. And then of course, we've got the Monday Night game coming up, which we're recording, of course, before the Monday Night Game, but Buffalo versus the Rams. That's I think that's gonna be a really good game. I predict high scoring.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Are you? And and who who do you think who's gonna come out on the game?

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Victorious there. Um I think you're gonna see really good, at least I hope you're gonna see a good quarterback battle because you've got two of the league's top quarterbacks right there. I'm gonna say I just don't love Los Angeles, so maybe, and it would help the Seahawks tremendously after that nail biter of a loss yesterday. That if uh if Buffalo can pull out a win, that would be great. And I think Josh Allen definitely has. I mean, they both have him and uh Matthew Stafford both have the capacity to win, and that's what makes me think it's gonna be a very high-scoring game with lots of yards. But I'm I'm gonna say that Buffalo takes it, but it's gonna be again a very close game.

SPEAKER_01 7:39

All right. Well, I'm looking forward to watching that later. So Me too. We'll be we'll be in on that one for sure. So let's do a little slide over to fantasy because how's your team? Who were you up against this week?

SPEAKER_02 7:49

So I was up against m my uh competitor in the league, what's up my homes, and I, you know, again, never want to be cocky coming into a fantasy football game, but if ever I were to had to put money down to predict a win, I think this uh week. I looked at the team going into the week and I was pretty confident that I'd be doing okay. Uh maybe I came back to bite me a little bit because I dissed Aaron Rodgers last week on the podcast. And he has Aaron Rodgers in his fantasy lineup, but uh regardless, it's looking pretty good. I still have Stafford and uh Dallas Kincaid for tonight's game in my fantasy lineup, and so I'm uh I'm slightly ahead with two players still to play.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

So still players.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I think this this week might be victorious as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

So yeah, well and and also like not to trash what's up my home, but I seem to remember someone going that he hasn't even put in a a player for one of his spots.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

He that's right. He had an empty spot until like the very like 11th hour yesterday morning, and he put in, I think it was I can't even remember who he put in, but uh switched out a couple of players. Anyways, they didn't get him a lot of points. So I was feeling pretty confident going in to it, and uh hopefully that will remain and and nobody gets injured tonight and uh get a few more fantasy points.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

But you're looking at a uh win this week.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Yes, hopefully. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

So what are you looking at now? You've got four and one in the field.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Four and one sitting right now, and I'm still in fifth place.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

I still in fifth place.

SPEAKER_02 9:12

So we've got a pretty strong league this year. So that makes it exciting.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

And which players were the ones that really brought you points?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Oh, personally, I was actually this has been a thing for a couple of weeks now, is you know, I've uh I know I think I might have talked about it last week with Matthew, Matthew Stafford, because I do have Bryce Young on my bench that I was thinking about at one point maybe swapping them out, but Jared Goff is my other quarterback who seems to, in the past couple of weeks, have a very slow first half. And I'm looking at my points and I'm looking at him, going, by the first, by the by the half, I only have maybe eight points, if that. And then he seems to really excel. He had a great game second half last night, and really excelled in the second half and got me a ton of fantasy points. I think I got took 29 fantasy points just with him alone. So every time I question it or think about it in my head, maybe yeah, should I swap? No, no, he proves me wrong. So definitely a strong second half quarterback. So we'll not be touching him.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

Awesome, awesome. And I guess the big big surprise of all players out there is Drake May pulling off the five touchdowns. So, like, if he's on your team, you're laughing right now.

SPEAKER_02 10:14

Oh, 100%. Speaking of quarterbacks, I would have benched a long time ago. Um, Drake May, man, I think he got you 42, maybe 43 fantasy points if you had him on your your list yesterday, if you were a fantasy manager. So that's pretty remarkable. Again, I probably would have benched him, to be completely honest, after the start, the dismal start he had this season. And last yesterday just, you know, blew it out of the water. So that's the joy of fantasy football.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

You never know. And and hopefully, if you had him on your team, you didn't bench him this week. That's exactly right. No uh, okay, so I think we've done a nice little cover of our fantasy, what's going on in there. Let's move on to our team of the week. Yes. We don't have many more teams to go, so I think we're gonna be restructuring the podcast a little bit. I still think we want to come back and talk a little bit more about teams because I think there's still a little bit of that history. Maybe we can talk about where they've been and what they've done. But let's talk about the New York Giants, right? Founded in 1929.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

One of the OG teams, that's right, exactly. One of the very original teams, I think, when there were five when the uh when the NFL first started.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Yeah, well, that's a pretty, pretty exciting thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

And one of two New York teams who aren't actually based in New York.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

I struggled with a little bit of this with the foods. Yeah, it's like reading up and doing all New York, and then like, they play in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

That's correct. MetLife Stadium, and I think that was the big thing with uh FIFA this summer, because the final game was held at MetLife Stadium, technically in New Jersey, and it was quite the adventure for people, for fans to get out to MetLife Stadium. But uh that's a whole other story.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Yeah, so what else can you tell me about this team? Some of the players, the coaches.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Yeah, no, I mean they've they've had quite a few uh championships, incredible players, of course, that have come through there. Eli Manning and so many others, but it's it's sort of one of those interesting teams that you haven't heard about probably since, like talked about as a possible Super Bowl contender since both Manning brothers essentially left and retired out of the NFL, especially Eli. They've sort of been like they're like the Jazz, right? Like they're kind of low on the radar. This year, of course, they're at the top of their division, which is surprising. But as somebody said, I was reading some of the reviews or sorry, some of the analytics of the game yesterday, and it was hilarious because I saw one sports commenter say something about because they they tied the game with Washington yesterday, and he's like, Well, it wasn't a loss, so we'll take it. And I think that basically encapsulates the attitude right now, which is crazy to think that like they sit at the top of their division, which is probably the arguably the worst division in the NFL. So yeah, take it for what it is.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Right. Yeah, you're not the top, but you're you're still doing good for your division. Yeah, absolutely. So they're sitting right now three, one in one, is that yes, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

And they had again that weird Sunday yesterday, they had a tie with uh the commanders, so it's uh it was very bizarre. It's really interesting too because this is a I found some strange facts about the Giants, and it says that you Giants fans could ever say that they've seen anything like it because since 1970, the year of the NFL and the AFL merger and the advent of uh modern day stats essentially, the Giants were 0 and 230 when they trailed by 14 points in the final eight minutes of regulation, which they did. So they are now oh two hundred and thirty and one. Isn't that a weird stat? That's incredible. I know. I feel like that's essentially the franchise in a nutshell right there.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah, and now you were saying this is not your favorite team of all three.

SPEAKER_02 13:36

No, I mean I was never I've never been a huge I mean if you think of New York teams, uh just in general and professional sports in general, I've never been a massive New York fan. I'm so sorry, don't come at me. Um definitely a little bit more of a West Coast girl in just professional sports in general. I do like the Yankees, but if they were, you know, when they came to the World Series, um, I'm not gonna cheer for them, let's be honest. So I'm uh I'm not a huge New York sports fan. I mean the Knicks killed it this year, but not my favorite team, but I do enjoy watching them because I love the way that New York fans are so passionate and they're hilarious, right? Like they basically are sometimes they are very self-deprecating, and and I appreciate them for that. So it's a it's a fun team to watch, and especially in weird weeks and weird games like yesterday.

SPEAKER_01 14:24

I bet you they have some amazing tailgate parties and amazing times. And let's just talk about you know, it's New York.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

This is like this is the food capital of the US, essentially.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

So, and you think about it about all these different groups verging on this one area and what has built it as such, I think as a culinary It's like fusion, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Like this is like the mothership and the motherload of of food in the US.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Well, it's it's a city that's built around neighborhoods, immigrating communities, street vendors, corner stores, and people looking for good meals without spending a fortune, right? Especially when you live in New York. That's a that's a pricey place. 100%. So this episode, I sort of want to c you know, concentrate on some of those kind of foods for this area. Because I know we did the New York Jets, and that's yes, so I did a little bit of focus, but I sort of wanted just to sort of spit around. And I was looking at some of those foods that might make, you know, that stick out as sort of like foods that are worth talking about in New York. And I thought, you know, the first one that came to me was the bodega bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich. Right. Like this is a breakfast sandwich made, you know, a bacon, fried egg, melted cheese in a roll or a bag at just a quick refill mill. But you know, that was breakfast, so I wasn't ready for that one to call in. And then I started looking at some other like Jamaica beef patty.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

Uh, right? So that savory patty filled with seasoned beef, you know, enclosed in a golden brown pastry uh with lots of spice on it. And I thought that was a nice one. The kanish. Of course, a kanish, right? Which is a baked pastry, right? Traditionally, like a Jewish or Eastern European traditional food, often filled with potatoes. And I thought, pastry and potatoes, I thought that was right of your world, Eric.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

It feels like a flaky pierogi right there.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

I'm surprised we do not have Kanish in our house every day.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Oh, I know. I'm the queen of potatoes.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

And then, of course, I was looking at some other ones, like the Hellecart uh chicken and rice, which is a nice, you know, like chicken, rice, well seasoned and marinated, little salad, white sauce, or maybe some optional hot sauce on there just to spice it up a little bit. And then, of course, you know, such a huge Italian influence from the area. Right. Especially when I wanted to avoid pizza because it was like it is a great, great option for there. But I was like, there's something different. So it was like just Italian sausage and peppers. You know, a food cart. Yes, like just uh, oh, like what else can you go better with like maybe some, you know, like some nice bell peppers, onions, a little olive oil, and some herbs on there, easy crowd pleaser, all sauteed together, and just a great, great warming food. But you know what? I had to come down, and this was the one this got me kind of excited. Bronx chopped cheese.

SPEAKER_02 17:09

I have heard of this, but I don't actually know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Ah, okay, so now we're talking about this. It's wildly associated with the New York bodegas, but particularly we're looking at Bronx and Upper Manhattan. It's sort of a simple sandwich with ground meat in there that's sauteed off with melted cheese on and then all your and a nice toasty bun. That's the pretty much the particular that I'm going for. And for me, this just sounded like, you know, it's not a hamburger, yeah, but it's gonna give you that beautiful flavor and just nice and light. Just beautiful, I thought.

SPEAKER_02 17:43

I feel like these foods that you've named are like the quintessential New York food because it's just like, I mean, I've only been to New York once, and that was a long time ago. And it just reminds me of like everyone's constantly in a rush, and you pop into a bodego, you pop onto a streetcart, and it's just like grab and go. You want really good food, but you're everyone's always in a rush and going somewhere. So you have to eat it while you're catching the subway, while you're catching a taxi, while you're walking down the street, and you just eat, eat and go. And all of these foods that you've named are exactly that.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

And I feel like this is you're on the rush to the game, you're set up that's gonna put you through. Then you can have a couple of sodas afterwards and you're good to go, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:18

And it and it can't be bad food, and that's the thing with New Yorkers, they will tell you if something is bad. Oh, exactly. They don't hold back. So it has to be good grab and go food. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

And this one just sort of I felt like just filled that in, right? Like, so I mean, for cooking wise, really easy. We get a nice heavy skillet, right? We'll saute some nice fresh diced onions, just with a light caramelization in it, and then we're gonna add our ground beef and break it up as it cooks. And then, of course, we're adding all of our seasoning, some salt, pepper, maybe some garlic, just to bring up those flavors in there. And then, of course, we're tossing that chopped chopped beef and onions together, and then partially cooking it with like this. We're going American cheese, just so it melts in there, and so you get all that melted goodness. Like, we don't want to have a separation between cheese and meat here. We want them all to be one. Uh, and then, of course, just giving that a quick reheat and then just putting that on a nice toasted roll, right? Assembled. Maybe we could put some lettuce, tomato, and a few condiments on there, and you've just got a great, great piece of meat. And the trick is here is it's like actually not steaming that beef. And I know so many make people make this mistake when they're cooking beef. They just take the whole block of beef and throw it in there, you know, and it what happens is you throw it into this pan, especially if it's a light skillet, it starts to steam and boil. And you know what? At the end of the day, that you're losing all that caramelization and flavor out of it, right? So if we can break up that meat a bit, add it a little bit at a time so it actually sears, and then we don't create all this moisture and steam from the meat, we can get that extra flavor. And and so for me, I was just I am like, I want to make one of these just for myself right now. So I thought that would be kind of the the dish that sort of just spoke to me about New York, that quick, easy dish that you get in there and gets you right out to the game.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

And super easy to make on game day.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

Exactly. That's what we're talking about. Super easy. We can put this together at the halftime and we'll be set for afterwards.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

So there you go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Well, I think that uh rolls up a very good episode of the F3 podcast. I think we can look back at a couple things about what we talked about today. What would you say our biggest story of week five in football?

SPEAKER_02 20:20

I would say it's been just a bizarre, wild week. We haven't seen one of these in quite some time with, like I said, tie games, ejections, close calls. It's been an interesting week, and this is one of the reasons why I just love the game of football so much because you think a game might go one way, and nope, it proves you wrong. And again, you know, it it really comes into uh, you know, every literally, as we've seen, every inch really does count, and uh it totally showed that this week.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Team name entered there. There we go. Had to work it in. So in fantasy, that means like never count out your player, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:56

No, 100%. I mean, Drake May, perfect example, proved me wrong right there. One of the probably highest scoring fantasy players this week, which you would have ever heard those words come out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

And then when we're talking about food, let's go out and try a Bronx chopped cheese and just enjoy life and have a good sandwich that we can enjoy while watching the game.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

And one thing I learned don't boil your meat.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

All right. I guess uh I don't even know if we need to.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

We don't really have a spinning wheel this week, do we?

SPEAKER_01 21:25

We need to because we are heading down to Atlanta. That's right. Our last team in our series as we've been going. And I know I think we're still gonna keep this. I want to go. There's stuff I didn't learn about some of the teams, and as we watch more, I get more and more excited. 100%. We're gonna we're gonna keep going, but this will be our last in this one. New introduction to a team. New introduction to the team. So it's gonna be fun to be Atlanta, Atlanta Falcons.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Yeah, and we watched them last night down at uh Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

So and I was actually going for them, and it was just it went into overtime. It did, and just didn't go their way.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

No, no weird decisions, but uh hey, yeah, that was a it was a fun game to watch and a good team to talk about next week.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Well, stay tuned for the next episode of the F3 Podcast. I'm Chef Jonathan Fraser, and I'm Aaron Halchak. And remember, eat well, watch smart, and play to win.