If You Like Frozen Food at Midnight: Birds Eye Voila! Cheeseburger Skillet Meal (Ep 72)
This week: Birds Eye Voila! Cheeseburger Skillet Meal. The Bros finally escape with the Godfather of Frozen Food, Clarence Birdseye.
The story: Birdseye learned about flash freezing from the Inuit people in Canada and brought the process home to Gloucester (Glawstah), Massachusetts. In 1929, he sold his company to Postum Cereal Company and Goldman Sachs. Today, it’s a Conagra brand. But, before he was done, Birdseye also designed freezer display cases and patented over 300 other inventions.
Plus: Noble Mick’s Pina Coladas. Cauliflower pop tarts. Hartford Whalers and the Carolina Hurricanes. Carvel flying saucers. Ötzi the Iceman and some horrifying news about 5,000-year-old sourdough starters.
In the closing segment: Max navigates a cheesy 1970s dive bar escape room filled with piña colada trivia. If Max loses, Darren places a classified ad for a new co-host. If he wins, Max gets to write a classified ad for Darren to read.
WATCH THIS EPISODE
FROST BITES
Knead to know. A sourdough starter is a living culture made from water and flour and fermented by yeast and bacteria. The bacteria creates the sour flavor; the yeast makes the bread rise. It’s fed regularly by adding more flour and water, which can keep the culture living forever. Families pass them down like heirlooms for generations, and some claim to be over 100 years old. Even though the flour and water is new, there's an unbroken living line connecting back to the original starter.
Let’s not gloss over this. Max was right to call out Darren on the Gloucester pronunciation. No self-respecting New Englander would pronounce that “r” or say Glouse-ter. Phonetically, it’s GLAWS-tah or GLOSS-tah. The name comes from the Old English Glēawceaster, which combined a Celtic root meaning "bright" with the Roman suffix -cester (meaning fort or town). Was Darren ribbing Max? Or did he think he was playing Shakespeare, as in Earl of Gloucester in Lear. At least he didn’t say Glou-chester.
The 100 Ingredient Question. Darren counted on mic and this Birds Eye's cheeseburger skillet meal has over 100 ingredients. We’d told you we’d compare to a past review, and Zatarain's Cajun Chicken Carbonara has just over 50 ingredients. Both are pasta with cheese sauce and seasoned meat. Birds Eye adds tomato and onion; Zatarain's adds bacon. Neither is much simpler than the other—they're just different puzzles for food scientists to solve. So why the massive ingredient gap? Maybe Zatarain's figured out a freezing method that doesn't need all those gums, starches, and stabilizers. We think Clarence (or can we call him Bob now?) could do better.
Escape artist. Escape (The Piña Colada Song) was the final #1 hit of 1979 and the first pop song to top the Billboard charts in two different decades. Rupert Holmes is technically not a one-hit wonder; Him hit #6 in 1980, but who knows that. Few people also know that Holmes is playwright and theater composer, winning two Tony Awards for The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1986. Why does anyone really know his name though? Because they like piña coladas…
Whale, there goes Hartford. Pro-NHL team the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes. They won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and again this year in 2026. The Canes keep their connection to the past by wearing Hartford throwback jerseys multiple times per season. This past season they wore them three times—including against the Colorado Avalanche, who also broke out their Quebec Nordiques throwback uniforms. That’s a proper '90s NHL rivalry remix for a team that left Connecticut heartbroken.
Have you been in an escape room? What’s your record for getting out. And most importantly, what kind of classified ad should Max make Darren read on the next episode?
Hit us up on the Let's Chill page and let us know!
Your support means the world to us and keeps our freezer stocked. Every tip and donation helps us discover more frozen finds, cover production costs and improvements, and continue bringing you weekly episodes. Thank you for being part of Froze Nation!
And if you like us, RATE US WHERE YOU LISTEN—and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Fro yo' later!
Whale, there goes Hartford. Pro-NHL team the Hartford Whalers moved to North Carolina in 1997 and became the Carolina Hurricanes. They won the Stanley Cup in 2006 and again this year in 2026. The Canes keep their connection to the past by wearing Hartford throwback jerseys multiple times per season. This past season they wore them three times—including against the Colorado Avalanche, who also broke out their Quebec Nordiques throwback uniforms. That’s a proper '90s NHL rivalry remix for a team that left Connecticut heartbroken.
YOUR COLD CUTS
Be honest. Would you eat sourdough from a 5,300 year old starter? Would you eat this hamburger skillet meal? What if you were held at gunpoint and had to eat one of them?Have you been in an escape room? What’s your record for getting out. And most importantly, what kind of classified ad should Max make Darren read on the next episode?
Hit us up on the Let's Chill page and let us know!
ENJOYING THE POD?
BUY US A COLD ONEYour support means the world to us and keeps our freezer stocked. Every tip and donation helps us discover more frozen finds, cover production costs and improvements, and continue bringing you weekly episodes. Thank you for being part of Froze Nation!
And if you like us, RATE US WHERE YOU LISTEN—and TELL YOUR FRIENDS!
Fro yo' later!
