- Is cooking in the oven really better than the microwave?
- Let's talk about that.
(upbeat music)
- Good mythical morning.
- If you want your mythical gifts
to arrive before Christmas,
the last day to order from the Mythical store domestically
with standard shipping for guaranteed arrival
on December 25th is today.
Go to mythical.com for all your last minute
holiday shopping.
- And today, we wanna recognize Perry Spencer,
no he's not our new intern,
he's the man who made the man who invented Bagel Bites rich.
I'm talkin' about the inventor of the microwave.
- Microwaves cook food miraculously fast,
but the general assumption is that
they do not make food miraculously tasty.
You gotta throw it in the oven if you want that,
or do you?
- That's the question.
Are the extra minutes it would take to cook things
in an oven truly worth waiting for?
Is the oven superior to the microwave?
Or are we fools to question the work of Mr. Perry Spencer?
It's time for Worth the Wait, Late Night Snack Edition.
- And we wanna give a shout-out
to mythical beast kdawgwoody who pitched this idea
that we're doing for this episode in the comments.
See, we read the comments.
We do the ideas.
- Sometimes.
Okay, kdawg, we have decided to test late night snacks.
Each round, we're gonna taste one item
that's been prepared both by the microwave
and the conventional oven,
and then we'll try to guess
which one was cooked in the oven.
- Yeah, we'll find out if we're right, and then we'll decide
if the oven version is really worth the wait.
In the end, the winner will win a microwave from David Hill.
- Well, thank you, David.
- I could use a new microwave.
- Round one.
- As you can see, we can't.
- [Stevie] And what you're not seeing is Bagel Bites,
which is, arguably, my favorite late night snack.
- Is that right?
- [Stevie] To make eight of these,
it would take one minute and 45 seconds in the microwave,
or 14 minutes at 425 degrees in the oven.
So taste away, fellas.
- Okay, that's a good Bagel Bite.
I've actually never had a Bagel Bite.
- Well, ya have now.
- Huh, where have I been biting that bagels haven't been?
- Oh, this is easy man.
- Yeah, I'm inclined to base it on the rubberiness
of the bread in one of them
versus the crunchiness in the other one.
- No, but you can't rely on that too much.
No, no, no that's not a good indicator, Link.
- But besides that, the taste is pretty similar otherwise,
and I kinda like things more chewy.
- Cause you're a strange man.
- But I'm not choosin' which I like more yet,
I'm choosing the oven one, right?
- [Stevie] Yeah, so you're gonna put your hand
over the one you think is in the oven,
or came from the oven, in three, two, one.
- Boop. - It's gotta be this one.
- [Stevie] You are both correct,
you may remove your blindfolds.
- Oh, and they look totally different,
hence the blindfolds.
- They got a little crispy, I mean,
I know you like chewy stuff,
but I'm just tellin' ya, crispy bread, man.
Like this is what the average person would prefer, right?
- If you're gonna toast a bagel,
you want it to have a little heft.
- They're so different because the bread product,
and I think that's really what really sends it over the top.
It's the fact that you've got one whole side
that's just bread.
- It's not that this is horrible, 12 minutes, 15 seconds,
plus preheat time of the oven, adds even more time,
but I mean, it's still less than 15 minutes.
- You could read a book, there's lots of little things
you could do during that 12 minutes.
- So are the Bagel Bites worth the extra 12 minutes
and 15 seconds, plus preheat time with the oven?
Yes. - Yes.
- Because of the bread.
- Because of the bread. - That's what you said.
- Round two.
- [Stevie] Before you, you have Tyson hot wings.
- Oh, I can smell these from a mile away.
That's not a wing, that's a finger.
- [Stevie] Six of these take about four to five minutes
in the microwave, or 18 to 20 minutes
at 400 degrees in the oven.
- We enjoy these in my house,
and I've done 'em both ways.
- Have you?
That's a tasty wing.
- So I feel like, oh yeah,
I feel like I know the difference here.
- I feel like one of these is dramatically better
than the other one.
- Dramatically.
- And I'm emphatically pointing at the one that's better
which I'm gonna vote for,
and now I'm pointin' at the other guy,
who's probably gonna vote for the same thing,
cause I feel like this is obvious.
- [Stevie] Just FYI, Rhett has like cleaned all of the meat
off of his bones in a way that is very impressive.
- Awesome.
- Dude, you are a food eatin' maniac, man.
- I can't help it, man, you put a wing
in the Rhettster's mouth, and it's gonna come back bones.
- [Stevie] All right, hands over the ovened wings,
in three, two, one.
- Gotta be this, yeah.
- [Stevie] Yeah, you guys are both right,
you can remove your blindfolds.
- This is dramatically different.
If you order a wing from like a pizza joint,
you know like how Domino's and them other places,
they'll wrap 'em in foil?
- Them other places, man?
- And then they'll deliver it to your house,
and it's just soggy?
- In fact, this almost seems gross.
It's just spongy, and there's no crisp to it at all.
- If you're starving, and it's like 1:00 a.m.,
and you can't wait 16 minutes, maybe.
- No I would wait, I'd wait half an hour.
- I'd wait half an hour too.
- I'd wait 45 minutes.
- No, I would not wait more than 29 minutes and 59 seconds,
but the prescribed 16 minute additional wait,
is totally worth it, right?
- Yes, Tyson hot wings, worth the extra 14 to 16 minutes?
Yes. - Yes.
- These need to be thrown out.
Round three.
- [Stevie] Next up, we have El Monterey beef
and cheese taquitos.
- Taquitos.
- [Stevie] These take one minute and 15 seconds
in the microwave, or 12 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven.
- They're long, longer than I thought.
- Taquitos have gotten longer.
- That is a good snack, y'all.
- Lots of things in the world are gettin' worse,
but taquitos are gettin' longer.
(laughs)
- I'm feelin' you.
And you know what that means.
- Things are lookin' up. - Yeah, baby.
- Oh, hold on a second now.
This is not immediately obvious.
- Well, yeah it is.
- Well, it is now that I took a bite.
- Right, I mean, it just seems
that you can't match the crispness in a,
what you laughin' at?
- Christmas?
- Crispness Christmas. - Is it Christmas?
- Crispness at Christmas that you can't in the oven
in a microwave, but you know what?
I think there's a big question mark
on the back end of this one.
- Okay, I think I know where you're goin',
but let's guess first.
- [Stevie] Hands over the oven in three, two, one.
Yeah, you guys are nailin' this one.
- Get those glasses on.
- Interestingly, well, I gotta see.
Were you gonna make fun of me for havin' to see?
- No I'm just sayin' it was like,
I didn't think about the fact that you'd been blindfolded,
and it was like a man getting ready to read like something,
it was like, all right, I gotta dig in here.
- I mean I can see without it, but.
They don't look that much different,
but they're considerably crunchier,
and there's a 10 minute, 45 second differential here.
And when I tasted this one first, it made me happy,
and if I didn't have this to go to and compare it to,
I'm just sayin', I was in a happy zone.
- Are you saying that the crisp of a taquito is not
as important as it's length?
- Which is the same in either way.
Let me ask you this, how many taquitos could you eat
in 11 minutes?
- How many come in a box?
- Right, you could eat the whole thing in the time
that you'd be waiting.
So am I swaying your opinion because
- Here's what I'll say. - It's not as good.
- A crispy taquito is something that should be enjoyed
at least fortnightly.
- But the other nights.
- Man, this isn't, yeah, this isn't about crispiness,
this is about gettin' that taquito in your mouth
and goin' to bed.
- And you know why?
Because it's like the difference between a crunchy taco
and a soft taco.
A soft taco is still a legit thing.
- Right, a soft uncrispy wing is nasty,
but tortilla it's good either way.
Are these taquitos worth the extra 10 minutes
and 45 seconds?
No.
- Oh, yeah, no, that's right.
Round four.
- [Stevie] You guys have some Ore-Ida tater tots
in front of you.
- Oh, tater tots.
- [Stevie] The full bag takes about three and a half minutes
to microwave, or 25 minutes at 450 degrees in the oven.
- That's a big differential.
- Oh gosh, what's happenin' over there?
- They're stuck together over here,
not that that would tell you anything.
Okay.
So what brand are these, Josh?
- [Josh] That is Ore-Ida brand tater tots,
it's actually the only brand in the world
that can use the term tater tot.
- What, seriously?
- [Josh] So you'll see competitors using terms
like tater crowns or golden rounds.
- Tater, what, rounds?
- Tater tot is exclusive to Ore-Ida?
- All right, I'm ready to vote.
- [Stevie] Okay, three, two, one.
- There you are again. - [Stevie] Nailed it.
- Yeah, it's easy to tell, but again
- Hold on a second, listen,
this is something's weird's happens.
(laughs)
I messed up two parts of that sentence
because there's a lot happenin' in my brain right now.
These are very clearly from the oven and they're crispy,
but they don't taste good.
These are mushy, kinda stuck together.
- They taste more potato-ey.
- They taste better.
- Did you know that?
- [Josh] I'm actually a tater tot microwave
Evangelist myself, so. - Really?
- Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent.
- Well what's happening,
there's something scientifically happening.
- They taste more legit potato-ey.
- It's like something was revealed,
something in the tater tot was trying
to hide was revealed in the oven.
- [Josh] You're losing too much moisture in the oven,
when it all kinda steams together, that's the magic.
- It's moisture, these are too dry.
That's what's happening.
I might wait 21 extra minutes for the microwave ones.
(laughs)
- I think, what about re-frying, is that legit?
- It is legit, but I'd say let them thaw,
again, I eat a lot of tater tots.
Let 'em thaw before you re-fry 'em,
otherwise they get too dark.
- All right, so are these tater tots worth
the extra 21 minutes and 30 seconds?
- No. - Absolutely not.
- The microwave is better.
- Unless you wanna do like a frying thing,
which we're not talkin' about.
- Yeah, who's that?
Round five.
- [Stevie] Finally, we have broccoli
and cheddar Hot Pockets.
One of these takes about two to three minutes to microwave
or 28 minutes at 350 degrees in the oven.
- Why is this one so short?
- Have you halved 'em?
- [Josh] They've been halved so you can bite
right into the cross-section.
- Okay, and Rhett, we're goin' for the queen sweep,
double queen sweep.
They stink too, boy, that is a stinky treat.
- This is a bad flavor, y'all.
- Does anybody eat these Hot Pockets?
- [Josh] I do.
- There's like 473 flavors of Hot Pockets.
- It almost tastes like fish.
- And I think there are 472 better than the one
that you chose.
- [Josh] These are my favorite Hot Pockets.
- It's nasty.
- I've lost all respect for you, Josh.
- I'll say one of them is marginally acceptable,
and the other one is just nastiness personified
and pocke-fied.
I'm ready to vote.
Ew.
- [Stevie] Okay.
- You ready to vote?
- [Stevie] Three, two, one.
- For the queen sweep, yes we agree, are we right?
- [Stevie] You have done it.
- Whew. - All right.
- Thanks for the applause, guys.
Queen sweeps don't happen every day.
- [Stevie] I said you have done it in a big way.
(applause)
- But here's the thing, is it worth the wait?
And I gotta say, I'm definitely having
a difficult time making this decision
because I hate both of them.
- It's almost half a hour for somethin' that is still nasty.
- What if it was a Hot Pocket
that was worth eating, you know?
What if Josh had decided to give us a different flavor
of Hot Pocket for this one?
- Like one that doesn't have like,
Satan's stalk in it?
- Satan's stalk, that's somethin' else.
- Broccoli.
- But, hold on, we're also talkin' about 26 to 27 minutes,
I mean, that is like, that's a television show.
I mean, like, you know, a half hour comedy.
Are you willing to sit around for that long?
That's a long time, in 2019,
26 to 27 minutes, that's a long time to wait.
- Absolutely not, it did get marginally better, but
- And it isn't like this isn't crispy,
you know what I'm sayin'?
- Cause they have that special pocket
that makes it crispy.
- When I bit, exactly, it's that thing.
- [Josh] The crisping sleeve.
- When I bit into this,
I wasn't immediately sure that it was from the microwave.
It was when I bit that,
that I knew that it was from the oven.
- So are Hot Pockets worth the extra almost half an hour?
- No, not a chance. - Absolutely not.
- And here's the newsflash, we got the queen sweep,
both of us, so we both win our microwave from David Hill.
Come on out David, bring us those microwaves.
- You saw it?
Ya see it?
- Listen, I feel ripped off.
- Thank you, David.
- That wasn't worth it, let me just say.
But we also, what we did also learn today,
is that the only two things that we tasted
that are worth the wait in the oven
are the Bagel Bites and the wings,
with the wings being especially worth the wait.
The other stuff, you can get by with a microwave.
- Thank you for liking, commenting, and subscribing.
- You know what time it is.
- I'm Spider-Man, I'm in Iceland right now,
so it's pretty cold, but it's time to spin
the Wheel of Mythicality.
- I've never seen him in a turtleneck like that.
- Or with that accent.
- Click the top link to watch us debate
if an item should be re-heated or not in Good Mythical More.
- And to find out where
the Wheel of Mythicality is gonna land.
Keep us close to your heart with our Mythical necklaces,
available now at mythical.com.