- Hey everyone, I'm Devon.
- And I'm Jared.
- And have you ever noticed you can tell
a lot about a person by what they choose to eat?
Jared!
- What?
- Did you know that Hitler had a sweet tooth?
- I don't think much about Hitler, honestly.
- Did you also know that Audrey Hepburn
was addicted to carbs?
- Everyone is addicted to carbs.
- And did you know that one of Helen Keller's
favorite foods was a salad?
- No one's favorite food is a salad.
- I know, it's fucked up.
On this show, Jared and I
are gonna recreate the recipes left behind
by our most talked about historical figures
and attempt to spill the tea on their personal life.
- Ooh.
(laughter)
- I bring the stories,
Jared does the cooking because he's beautiful
and he can actually follow directions.
- Girl, get out.
But it's true.
- Some of these recipes are gonna be delicious,
some of them are gonna be terrible.
But I promise you, all of them tell an entertaining tale.
Jared has no idea what these recipes are.
- Very excited to see how this goes.
- Let's dive in!
So this week, we're starting with
Marilyn Monroe's stuffing recipe,
which the New York Times deems as
handsome, balanced and delicious.
Funnily enough, those are the three words
I use to describe Jared here.
- You've never called me any of those things to my face.
- This recipe is especially noteworthy
because it was penned on some stationery
from a title insurance company in San Francisco.
Do you think you can follow this?
- [Jared] I literally can't read any of these words.
Why is it so faded?
- Because it's history, Jared.
Because it's fucking history.
- We shouldn't be cooking from history.
- This recipe was written between 1955 and 1956,
around the same time Marilyn Monroe met and married
playwright Author Miller.
Which brings us to the scandal that this stuffing
is going to un-stuff for us.
Who do we think was Marilyn's true love?
This slip of paper holds the answer to our question
and also details that we have to buy turkey livers.
- You did not tell me that.
- We have to buy turkey livers or hearts.
- I refuse to touch a heart on this show.
- (gasps) You didn't tell me that when we went into this.
- You didn't tell me that when we went into this!
- Jared, this recipe holds the truth.
- Let's go!
So this recipe includes eleven different ingredients,
plus salt, pepper and five different herbs and spices.
- The usual suspects.
- But before we get all of that,
it's time for our first Tea-bit.
- Our first what?
- Tea-bit!
It's like a tid-bit of information,
but it's tea.
- I hate how excited you are about this.
- (laughs) Come on, Jared, let me have this.
- Tea-bit number one!
- Okay, we'll just leave this here, I guess.
- (jazzy instrumental music)
- So Marilyn Monroe was actually married
to Joe DiMaggio in 1954 at the San Francisco City Hall.
- Okay.
- Jared!
- Oh, San Francisco?
Where she wrote the recipe!
- So the recipe was actually discovered in her
New York apartment that she shared with Arthur Miller.
And I just think it's interesting that
it's written down on stationery from
a title insurance company from San Francisco.
Walnuts!
- Is that the only nut we need?
- Hey-o.
Celery!
- Why is it so wet?
- Pine nuts, because we did need more
than just one type of nut.
And you made it weird.
- No garlic.
Raisins.
- Oh, look, cheese. Parmesan.
I can grate it myself, I'll be so nice.
- We should buy it grated.
- No. Okay. Do you want this to taste good?
- Yeah!
- If you shred it yourself, it's way better.
- I didn't know that!
Okay, alright, alright, you're right.
- [Jared] Bread, bread, bread, bread.
- Let's get this man a snack.
(groans)
- What?
- You're eating here?
- I'm gonna pay for it!
- Ready to dip your bread
in some California-grown chicken livers?
- Those are very close to my face.
Just gonna take these away from you
and put them way over here.
(upbeat music)
- We fucking did it.
- Now that we're back in the kitchen,
it's time for Tea-bit number-
(thumps)
- Tea-bit number two?
- This is why I don't cook that much.
- Cooking tip number one is to probably
remove any rings and/or loose jewelry
that might end up in our food.
Okay, time for Tea-bit number two.
Did you know that Marilyn Monroe wrote poetry?
- I have told you so many times
that I don't know anything about her.
So, no, I didn't know that.
- She did, and it was actually very, very good.
Marilyn, if you can hear me, girl,
I just want to let you know
that your poetry is really good.
And don't listen to a thing that Arthur Miller has to say.
- First of all, that drama is just not vibing
with our set right now.
- (sighs) Okay.
- Second of all, what did Arthur Miller say?
- Well, I'll tell you about that later.
But first, let's get to the ingredients.
- Well, so we had the eggs boiling.
First what we're gonna want to do
is prep these fresh ingredients.
We have a lot of chopping to do,
which I'm going to delegate to you.
We're gonna need four stalks of celery,
and I would cut it however finely you'd want to chop them.
- It says four celery stalks
but this is a smaller stalk than this
so I would just chop it up to do five.
Is that not following the recipe?
- So the thing about cooking is that
the ingredient ratios don't make a difference
to whether the dish is actually gonna work or not.
So don't overthink your celery game.
- Let me tell you something about Marilyn Monroe,
now that you mention overthinking.
- Oh, okay, good segway.
- When she first got into
the relationship with Arthur Miller,
she was really overthinking it.
In fact, she wrote a lot of poetry about it.
Girl was in love, very much so.
That said, this is still Joe DiMaggio's recipe.
The sheer fact that she took a recipe from San Francisco,
that was like a Bay Area recipe for Joe DiMaggio,
back to her apartment in New York City
that she shared with Arthur Miller, is a lot.
(laughs) I am wielding this knife.
- (laughs) I was keeping an eye on it.
It makes sense that if she had a recipe that
she was really proud of that she would just keep using it.
- True.
But you think she'd be like
- "Okay, if I'm not marrying Joe DiMaggio anymore
I can add garlic."
- [Jared] I will say yeah.
- [Devon] Alright, I've chopped celery.
Look at me go.
- You've done a great job.
Let's chop parsley.
We need like two whole cups of it.
As I am just handling these nuts, I'm gonna toast these now.
You'll know when it's done just because you'll smell it.
See, can you smell that?
- Ooh, yeah.
- Smells toasty, that's when you know it's done.
Tell me more about Joe DiMaggio.
Other than I love the sound of his name,
I don't really know anything about him.
- He was a Yankee slugger athlete.
But it's feel like that he kind of really fell in love.
- (gasps) What was that about love?
Just kidding, I'm so gay.
- (laughs)
It feels like, from everything I've read about Joe DiMaggio,
that he really fell in love with "at home Marilyn".
She really started to blow up in her stardom,
especially for being a sex symbol.
He had a problem with it.
- I'm not checking my phone.
I'm just checking the timer for these eggs.
- [Devon] I think the eggs are ready.
- Which I didn't even set.
So they're probably done.
(laughs)
- [Devon] Do you think it should be smaller?
Because this is...
- [Jared] This is chopped.
This is Devon's chopped.
I'm insulted.
Do you wanna peel these eggs?
- [Devon] Look at how nicely this is chopped.
- [Jared] Honestly, I can't say a damn thing negative
about that, that looks great.
- [Devon] Thank you.
- [Jared] Okay, you're gonna want to do
one cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
- [Devon] Okay.
- And, in the meantime, I will cut up the onion.
I can already feel this onion trying to make me cry,
that's really fucked up.
- We should soak this bread.
Ooh.
- [Devon] Okay, here we go.
- [Jared] This feels really wrong.
- [Devon] Yeah, it does.
- [Jared] I'm not even doing it.
Oh, it feels so bad already!
Touch it.
- (squeals)
So this has to go for fifteen minutes,
and then we have to boil the chicken livers.
Let's dive right in.
- We don't have to until the water's boiling, we can wait.
We can do the other meat first.
- So as we chop, and saute,
and work with this raw meat,
I want to talk about Arthur Miller.
There was no segway there.
Did you know that he went to University of Michigan?
Go blue.
- I didn't.
Oh, you went to University of Michigan.
- I did.
Did you know that your girl performed
in the Crucible as Goody Proctor on her senior year?
- What does that have to do with this?
- It really doesn't have anything to do with it.
It's not a Tea-bit, it's just a fun little factoid about me.
(laughs)
Honestly, Jared, I used to be such a huge fan
of Arthur Miller because of University of Michigan.
But doing all this research about Marilyn Monroe,
I am low-key changing my mind about him.
Shortly after Marilyn Monroe broke up with Joe DiMaggio,
she met Arthur Miller.
And when I say she fell hard, the bitch fell hard.
That happiness in the marriage didn't last long.
- [Jared] It never does.
- It really doesn't.
In 1956, the couple moved to England, and shortly after that
Marilyn found a diary entry of Arthur Miller's
where he said that he was embarrassed by her
and was disappointed to take her around his friends.
- [Jared] Ew!
That's fucked up.
- [Devon] It's so fucked up.
- But also, what was she doing looking at his diary?
- Okay, but that's not the point of this story, Jared.
(oven dings)
Oh! Timer.
- Our bread is ready!
Something tells me that you're really excited
to tear this bread apart.
(laughs)
- Why, Marilyn?
Why?
I'm gonna start putting this together.
(snaps fingers)
- [Jared] Love it. We're done.
- Ready for the meats? - [Devon] Yes.
- In you go.
Fat and all.
I'm sure Marilyn would have drained that,
but I don't want to do that.
- We've saved the best for last.
- [Jared] Ew, gross.
(groans) No.
- [Devon] Jared!
If Marilyn can work with chicken livers, so can we.
- [Jared] Okay. No.
- [Devon] This is for Marilyn.
(laughs)
- Why are you making direct eye contact with it?
I'm a biohazard now.
- [Devon] (squeals)
- Put a wooden spoon over it, put a wooden spoon over it,
put a wooden spoon over it.
(laughs)
Now that these livers have given us enough trouble,
it's time to cut them up.
- It's so bulbous.
(groans)
- [Jared] (laughs) What's that sound?
Do you want me to take over?
You look really upset.
- [Devon] I'm not upset, I'm just stressed.
- Every moment of my life moving forward,
I'll think of your strength in this moment.
- It's nothing like Marilyn Monroe's strength,
because after her marriage ended with Arthur Miller,
she actually committed herself to a psych ward.
- Oh, shit. It was that bad?
- Well, she committed herself because
she was an insomniac and she just needed some rest,
but then they held her against her will for three days
and she wasn't even allowed a phone call.
Isn't that fucked up?
- [Jared] How is that even legal?
Let's put it all together.
I'm getting tired of standing here with you.
- [Devon] You're never tired of standing here with me.
- [Jared] I'm tired of standing, that's not a lie.
- [Devon] Ooh, it smells so good.
It's so green.
- [Jared] It is very appealing visually.
- [Devon] Wait, should we put an M in it?
For Marilyn?
- [Jared] That doesn't make any sense.
- [Devon] Hear me out, hear me out.
Watch, watch, watch.
- [Jared] That's not going to translate through baking.
- [Devon] Well, she'll know!
- That one's for you.
- That's for you, Marilyn.
- [Jared] Well, alright, let's put this in the oven.
Let's get her done.
- [Devon] Wait, Taste is actually very, very busy today,
so we don't have access to their ovens.
So can we go to your house?
- Yeah, I guess so.
- Let's go!
- My kitchen's not ready to have people inside.
It's kind of dirty.
- Hey, Jared.
- Yeah?
- Don't drop it.
I really thought you did!
- It's really sunny out here in the real world.
Put your phone down!
My keys are at the office.
- Unfortunately we don't have enough time
to go back to Buzzfeed to get your keys,
so we're just going to go to a neighbors.
- Let's do it!
Don't go in the oven.
Bye, stuffing, see you in an hour.
(upbeat music)
Hey, look at that M that you made.
It looks great!
We didn't anticipate how hard it would be
to get a hot thing back to the office,
so I hope this blanket's graded for this temperature
or I'll just get a bunch of melted polyester on my lap.
What a goddamn journey this has been today.
- It certainly has been, Jared.
Before we dig in--
- [Jared] No.
- [Devon] Yeah.
- [Jared] I want it now.
- I have our last and final Tea-bit.
- Okay. Fine, what is it?
- So after Marilyn Monroe was committed
and held against her will in the psych ward,
there was only one person who could get her out.
And that person was Joe DiMaggio.
- [Jared] (gasps) What?
- And they kind of rekindled some sort of romance,
and when she committed herself to the psych ward
he was keeping tabs on her and he broke her out.
How cute is that?
- That's pretty sweet.
- Rumor has it that they were going to get remarried,
but she died shortly thereafter.
- What?
- I know.
- That's the saddest story
that somebody could possibly have.
- Let's dig in!
(laughs)
- I dedicate this dish we made to Marilyn.
- It's to Marilyn.
Serve yourself.
Who the fuck do you think I am?
I'm not your mom.
- [Jared] What?
- [Devon] So whether she loved Joe DiMaggio
or Arthur Miller, the world may never know.
But she loved to cook, which I didn't know
before I started doing research for this episode.
- I didn't know that she loved any of those things
before I was here yesterday.
- Full disclosure, I'm not really a stuffing fan,
but I really do love
the taste and the texture of this stuffing.
- This is actually really good.
- It's very good.
- There's a lot of rich flavors.
- Yeah.
- Like the chicken liver's a really deep, meaty flavor.
The Parmesan's really musky - it tastes romantic.
I suspect that this might be something
that she used to impress every man that she met in her life,
because it would work on me.
- [Devon] I think that I would definitely
make this recipe again just because
it makes me feel closer to Marilyn.
- I mean, she tasted exactly this.
We're sharing a mouth feel with Marilyn Monroe right now.
That's really cool.
I'm actually very excited about this and definitely
want to do this with other people throughout history.
I think this is a really fun thing to do.
- Those Tea-bits aren't too bad, are they?
- They're whatever.
Should we go share this with people around the office?
- Let's do it, let's see what people think.
- Oh my god.
- [Devon] You like it?
- Wait, is there really raisins in there?
That's a cool touch.
- I can see her just putting that on the table
and being so proud of herself.
- If I made this for my boyfriend,
I think he would be really into it.
- Maybe break you out of a mental institution
a couple of years down the line if you needed him to?
- I think so.
- Fuck yes.
- You guys did a really good job.
- And the chicken livers, they don't suck.
- Oh.
(laughing)
- [Woman] Are you serious?
Oh my god.