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Sauced

The Coaster

What happens when two former chefs — now leading voices in the drinks world — turn the mic on their favorite topic: cooking with booze and drinking with food? That’s Sauced, a new weekly podcast from Tim McKirdy and Sother Teague.

Each week, Tim and Sother unpack a single dish: its history, the techniques that make it sing, and the drinks that belong alongside it. From Beef Bourguignon to Crêpes Suzette, we're exploring the classics — and the booze that gives them their identity.

Tim is a drinks writer, editor, and podcaster who's spent years covering cocktails, wine, and spirits. Sother is one of New York's most respected bartenders and the author of I'm Just Here for the Drinks. Together, they bring chef instincts, drinks expertise, and the kind of meaty conversation you'd want to partake in over a great meal.

New episodes every Thursday. Premium subscribers get bonus content, recipe cards, and early access to live events at https://sauced.supercast.com.

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S1 · E35
Yesterday · 1 hr 11 min
Bonus Episode: Mashed Potatoes
This is a bonus episode that first went out to our premium subscribers in January. 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, or historical deep dive. Mashed potatoes might be one of the simplest dishes to make, but getting them right? That's another story. We're breaking down where things go wrong (gluey textures, waterlogged spuds, the "point of no return") and how the pros avoid them. Along the way, we unpack Joël Robuchon's legendary 50% butter ratio, debate the ricer vs. food mill, and settle on the definitive preparation for Sauced mash. Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod
S1 · E34
Thursday · 1 hr 31 min
Beef Wellington
The hardest part of a Beef Wellington isn't the beef. It is getting a crisp pastry shell and a rare, rested center out of one hot oven, both finishing at the same moment, and one wrong move ruins the whole thing. We take the build apart so it finally stops being intimidating. We trace how a French classic wearing a British hero's name became the most obsessed-over showstopper on the internet, right up to the chef who turned it into a meme. Then we get into the one cut of beef that works, the pile of small techniques that make it feel harder than it is, and where we land on the mustard, the barrier that keeps the pastry from going soggy, and the temperature you actually pull it at. The booze runs through the dish too, so it runs into the glass. This week's cocktail is The Wellington Manhattan, built on overproof rye and the same Madeira that goes into the mushrooms, with a mushroom bitter to tie the glass to the plate. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-are/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/ Wines 'Til Sold Out: https://www.wtso.com/ Buy this episode's wine: https://www.wtso.com/shared/product/ID89439/ Celebrating 20 years. Use code PAIRING for $10 off orders of $100+. One-time use. Cannot be combined with other discount codes and may not be valid in conjunction with special sales.
S1 · E33
August 20 · 1 hr 15 min
Chicken Piccata
Chicken Piccata puts the bird in its title, but the capers run the show. Pull out that hand-harvested flower bud, too precious to come in a normal-sized jar, and two professional chefs will tell you the dish stops being itself. So how did an ingredient you can barely fish out with a spoon, one that people swear once cost more than gold, become the thing a weeknight classic lives or dies on? This week we get into what a caper actually is and why it comes in six market sizes almost no one has heard of, the word everyone uses for this dish and no one can define, and how these little buds landed in a recipe that started without them. We settle the non-negotiables (the brine beats the bird, apparently), make the case for vermouth over wine, and land on lemon three ways that keeps it all light and bright. The caper even makes it into the glass. This week's two drinks both take a hit of caper brine: the Piccatini, an Italian gin martini with dry sherry and a touch of Bianco vermouth, and the Dirty Limoncello Spritz, homemade limoncello lengthened with Prosecco and sparkling mineral water. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: G4: https://pkgdgroup.com/g4-tequila/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/ Wines 'Til Sold Out: https://www.wtso.com/ Buy this episode's wine: https://www.wtso.com/shared/product/ID92321/ Celebrating 20 years. Use code PAIRING for $10 off orders of $100+. One-time use. Cannot be combined with other discount codes and may not be valid in conjunction with special sales.
S1 · E32
August 13 · 1 hr 13 min
Osso Buco
The same thing that ruins osso buco is the thing that makes it. The tough silverskin wrapped around a veal shank starts shrinking at about 140 degrees and cups the meat into a hockey puck. Cook it low, hold it long, and that same collagen melts into the gelatin that turns a cut the butcher couldn't give away into a special-occasion plate. This week we get into the two moves that keep the shank from cupping, why veal sends the whole dish white instead of red, and the trick that makes the texture better the day after you cook it. We land on gremolata as a non-negotiable, walk the low-and-slow window that separates spoon-tender from fall-apart, and find room for a little cinnamon nobody saw coming. There's a French streak running through this Italian dish, so this week's cocktail is the Ponte Vecchio, a brandy Boulevardier with Amaro Nonino and Punt e Mes, stirred over a rock with a lemon twist to echo the gremolata. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: El Ateo Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/ Wines 'Til Sold Out: https://www.wtso.com/ Buy this episode's wine: https://www.wtso.com/shared/product/ID93777 Celebrating 20 years. Use code PAIRING for $10 off orders of $100+. One-time use. Cannot be combined with other discount codes and may not be valid in conjunction with special sales.
S1 · E31
August 6 · 1 hr 27 min
Lobster Rolls
Lobster used to be fertilizer. Coastal tribes buried it in the fields, colonists let it wash up in piles two feet deep, and prisoners complained they were being fed bugs. In 1634, William Wood wrote that a heap of lobster shells by your door marked you as too poor to eat anything else. This week we follow that same animal to a fifty-dollar tray of cold lobster salad on a buttered, griddled bun, and figure out how the cockroach of the sea got its glow-up. We take opposite corners on the only debate that matters, Maine (cold, a little mayo, celery) against Connecticut (warm, drawn butter, nothing else), get into why the sweetest meat isn't the tail, how to pull it off the heat the second before it turns to rubber, and why a new-shell lobster seasons itself from the inside. There's no booze in the dish, so this one is about what you drink beside it. Sother's cocktail is the Maine Dispatch, an agricole rum Daiquiri with celery juice and tarragon. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all this week's sponsors: Asil Raicilla de la Sierra: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/ Wines 'Til Sold Out: https://www.wtso.com/ Buy this episode's wine: https://www.wtso.com/wine-search?terms=93%20Pt.%20Talbott%20Vineyards%20Sleepy%20Hollow%20Vineyard%20Chardonnay%202023/ Celebrating 20 years. Use code PAIRING for $10 off orders of $100+. One-time use. Cannot be combined with other discount codes and may not be valid in conjunction with special sales.
S1 · E30
July 30 · 1 hr 6 min
Chicken Teriyaki
You might think teriyaki is a sauce, but it's a cooking technique. Teri means the shine, yaki means grilled, and the name describes what happens when you lacquer meat over fire, a move the Japanese have been making since the 1600s. The bottle didn't arrive until 1961. This week we trace it from an 1813 shrimp dish to the supermarket aisle, and make the case that the real version, four ingredients reduced in a pan, beats anything you can buy. We get into why almost everyone still reaches for the jar, and how a Japanese grill dish quietly became Seattle's default cheap lunch, outnumbering the town's McDonald's. Plus the one fruit that will wreck your chicken if it sits too long. Sother's cocktail this week is the Pina Yaki, Japanese whisky with yuzu, a roasted pineapple syrup, and a little of the teriyaki sauce shaken into the glass. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Mezcal Ultramundo: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E29
July 23 · 1 hr 22 min
Ratatouille
The most famous ratatouille in the world isn't a ratatouille. The dish that makes the critic weep in the Pixar film is a confit byaldi, thin sliced and fanned in a pan, designed by Thomas Keller off a recipe Michel Guérard published in 1976. What Provence actually makes is a stew, and this week we make the case that the stew is the better dish. We trace the word back to the Occitan, where it meant a coarse stew of odds and ends and wasn't a compliment, through to the 1930s when the version we recognize finally became canon. Then we get into the argument that decides the whole dish: cook every vegetable separately, or throw it all in one pot. Julia Child says separately and takes three hours over it. Jacques Pépin says one pot and pay attention to the timing. We settle where we land, and why texture is the entire game. Traditional ratatouille has no booze in it at all, so we built some in. French dry vermouth, cooked down with the onion and garlic until it has completely evaporated, leaving the acidity and the herbs and none of the liquid. Sother's cocktail this week is the Hugo Spritz, elderflower and sparkling wine in a big goblet, garnished with dried lavender to tie it straight back to Provence. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Arriesgado Ancestral Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E28
July 16 · 1 hr 29 min
Baja Fish Tacos
The Baja fish taco didn't come from a San Diego beach. It was born in the late 1950s at a black market in Ensenada, and the first ones were grilled shark. This week we trace it from that fish stall across the border to the college kid who turned it into a SoCal staple, then build the deep-fried version everyone pictures. Along the way we make the case that the corn tortilla matters as much as the fish, get into the 3,500-year-old process that makes a real one, and argue out the non-negotiables that separate a Baja taco from just fried fish in a shell. Beer in the batter is a given, so we push the booze into a few places you wouldn't expect. Then we settle the fish question, the batter question, and how you build the thing in four bites. Two drinks this week, head to head. Tim's Baja Old Fashioned, a split of añejo Tequila and Mezcal with maple and a few drops of bourbon-barrel-aged fish sauce. And Sother's Panic at Hibisco, añejo Tequila with hibiscus, pepita orgeat, and a four-citrus blend. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: El Acabo Raicilla: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E27
July 9 · 1 hr 7 min
Bolognese
Real Bolognese is a meat sauce that happens to contain a little tomato, not the tomato sauce with meat that most of us grew up on. That's only where the misconceptions start. It's never served on spaghetti. And Bologna guards the real thing so closely that the city registered the official recipe, right down to the exact width of the pasta, with the Chamber of Commerce. We trace it from a cardinal's cook in the 1700s, whose ragù had no tomato in it at all, through Pellegrino Artusi's 1891 version to the recipe Bologna finally codified. Then we argue out every non-negotiable, from red wine versus white, to the surprising dairy that goes in before either (and the order that turns out to matter), to the fresh pasta the sauce was actually built to grip. There's even an ingredient the official recipe flatly bans that you'd never think twice about adding. For the glass, The Academy, a gin Martini with fresh tomato water stirred in, named for the very institution that codified the sauce. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Tequila El Viejito: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E26
July 2 · 1 hr 46 min
Burgers
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-are Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E25
June 25 · 1 hr 22 min
Paella
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: G4 Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/g4-tequila/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/ Check out Wikipaella: https://wikipaella.org/
S1 · E24
June 18 · 1 hr 12 min
Steak au Poivre
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.pod Thanks to all of this week’s partners: El Ateo Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E23
June 11 · 1 hr 12 min
Beer Can Chicken
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.pod Thanks to all of this week’s partners: Asil Raicilla de la Sierra: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E22
June 4 · 58 min
Clams Casino
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Mezcal Ultramundo: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/ultramundo/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E21
May 28 · 58 min
Tiramisu
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Arriesgado Ancestral Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E20
May 21 · 1 hr 29 min
BBQ Ribs
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: El Acabo Raicilla: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E19
May 14 · 1 hr 10 min
Jerk Chicken
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Tequila El Viejito: https://pkgdgroup.com/#our_brands Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
S1 · E18
May 7 · 1 hr 20 min
Drunken Noodles
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.pod Thanks to all of this week's partners: Palomo Mezcal: https://pkgdgroup.com/post/palomo-who-we-are Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/
May 3 · 1 hr
Bonus Episode: Garlic
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
S1 · E17
April 30 · 1 hr 18 min
Bananas Foster
Bananas Foster was invented in a single night in 1951 to honor a man fighting French Quarter police corruption, inspired by an Irish-American breakfast, and made with a banana that vanished from American supermarkets in the 1960s. Seventy-five years later, Brennan's still flambés 35,000 pounds of bananas a year for it. This week, we dig into the Big Mike-to-Cavendish swap that quietly rewrote what the dish tastes like, the Paul Blangé method of sauce building, and the science of why the vapor burns, not the liquid. Two cocktails: The Commissioner — a Godfather riff with Jamaican rum, crème de banane, and Sother's Driftwood Bitters. And The Big Mike — a hot caramel-cream-foam Irish-coffee-style closer. For the full recipes and more, become a premium subscriber at https://sauced.supercast.com/ Follow us on Instagram: @sauced.pod Thanks to all of this week’s partners: G4 Tequila: https://pkgdgroup.com/g4-tequila/ Underberg: https://underbergamerica.com/

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