Deep in the Heart of Glasgow: Deep Indian Kitchen Chicken Tikka Masala (Ep 62)
Before they dig into their meal, they dig into the history: a dish whose origins are genuinely up for grabs. Did chicken tikka masala begin on a stormy night in Glasgow when a Pakistani chef poured a can of tomato soup over a bus driver's dry chicken? Or is that story all wet?
Whatever the history, a New Jersey family founded Deep Foods in 1977 when a mom started making Indian snacks in her home and selling them to neighbors. The company was named for son Deepak, and deep means lamp and enlightenment in Hindi. Almost 50 years later, every purchase benefits a foundation supporting over 35,000 children in rural India.
Plus: The recalls keep coming. A listener has a frozen waffle emergency with a relationship hanging in the balance. The People’s Choice Awards for podcasting may be over, so are we doing this for nothing?
In a closing segment: it's National Twinkie Day, the snack cake turns 96, and Darren can’t tell 96 from 76. The Bros also polish off their last Girl Scout Cookies of the season, and frozen Thin Mints get vindicated by science.
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FROST BITES
How Curry Conquered Britain: It goes back centuries. British officials stationed in India during the colonial era developed a taste for Indian spices and brought them home. The first Indian restaurant in Britain opened in London in 1810. The real explosion came after World War II, when Britain encouraged immigration from former colonies to make up for labor shortages. Today there are more Indian restaurants in Greater London than in Delhi and Mumbai combined, and the U.K. celebrates National Curry Week every October.
Banana Nah Nah: The Twinkie was invented on April 6, 1930 (yup, that’s 96 years, D) and the original filling was banana cream. During World War II, refrigerated cargo ships that transported perishable fruit from the Caribbean were commandeered by the military, plus German submarines made shipping lanes dangerous. The bananas were still out there. They just couldn't get here. So Hostess switched to vanilla—which is also a tropical product, but not too hard to replicate synthetically. C’mon did you think Twinkies were real?
Research Skills Pay Off: During the show, Darren tried to remember his favorite jarred pasta sauce. He Googled "what's that pasta sauce I like," got nowhere, then added "it's that one with the sweeter tomatoes." Bingo. Mutti is an Italian brand founded in 1899 in Parma that uses tomatoes sourced from over 400 farming families and processed within hours of harvest. It's Italy's number one tomato brand.
We’d Like to Thank Our Agents: Max said the People's Choice Awards for podcasting ended in 2015—leading to an existential crisis about whether any of this is worth doing. He wasn't entirely right. But he wasn’t entirely wrong. The fate of the independent People's Choice Podcast Awards, which began honoring podcasters in 2005, gets murky after 2015, with broken links and uncertain records. Meanwhile, the NBC/E! People's Choice Awards has included a Pop Podcast of the Year category since at least 2020. But there haven’t been People’s Choice Awards since February 2024. The point is: some awards exist, podcasts can win them, and we’re still in the running.
YOUR COLD CUTS
The Bros finally reviewed Indian food. How spicy would you order yours? And what should be next on the international frozen food tour?
Also: frozen Thin Mints got the science treatment this week. What other non-frozen foods might be better straight from the freezer? Let us know at frozebrospod@gmail.com
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