YouTube sensation Andrew Rea (aka Binging With Babish) is back at it with an homage to all of the food (and drinks) from FX’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. In the past, he’s given us how-to videos on the “Moistmaker” from Friends and the strudel from Inglourious Basterds (among others). He chose the perfect time to highlight the exotic, downright terrifying food and drinks from the hit show because a few weeks ago, the show began its 11th season.
The show is like a modern day version of the Little Engine That Could. When it premiered in 2005, few people would have believed it would still be on the air twelve years later. Not that it wasn’t hilarious and ground breaking right away. It was just that the characters are so deplorable and anti-social that it didn’t really seem like the kind of dark humor that would catch on with larger audiences. Well, it did and it’s still on. Critics are even lauding this as one of the best season’s yet. There’s no “jumping the shark moment” on this show because it seems that the gang jumps the shark literally every week. What other show would have a whole episode revolving around the mystery of who pooped in a bed?
With all the strange premises and storylines, food and drink is almost as important a character as Mac, Dennis, Dee, Charlie and Frank. Obviously, beer is important to the show since the characters run a bar. But exotic treats like “Rum Ham” and “Milk Steak” are heavily featured in episodes.
In most of his videos, Rea sticks to one specific recipe. In this installment, he does his best to make (some version of) each and every famous food and drink from the show. What follows is the strangest collection of “food” ever assembled.
“Rum Ham”
Rea makes it just the way Danny DeVito’s character Frank Reynolds makes it on the show (probably). He literally cuts off a big slab of ham and soaks it in rum overnight. Knowing how horrible it will be, he decides to make an actual ham with pineapple rum sauce. He does give the rum ham a try later, only to refer to it as “really really disgusting”.
“Riot Juice”
At no point does anyone in the group actually explain what this neon, blue-colored beverage consists of other than it is mostly made up of grain alcohol. As Mac says, “Whenever there’s a potential riot, I’m getting blasted on grain alcohol”. Rea mixes together grain alcohol and blue Gatorade. He quickly realizes that is isn’t very palatable and decides to make up his own drink consisting of grain alcohol, blue curacao and pineapple juice.
“Fight Milk”
Mac calls Fight Milk “the first alcoholic, dairy-based protein drink.” Rea makes his with milk, quail eggs (it’s pretty hard to get the crow eggs described on the show) and vodka. After trying the putrid combination, he notes that it really doesn’t taste very good (an understatement?) and opts for a “makeshift eggnog martini” instead.
“Grilled Charlie”
The Grilled Charlie, as you might have guessed, is the very strange version of the grilled cheese that is enjoyed by Charlie Day’s character on the show. Rea makes his with cheese, chocolate syrup and peanut butter. The strangest part is that the cheese is on the bottom for some reason, although that’s still an improvement from Charlie’s version, which places the cheese on the outside of the bread. Surprisingly, Rea admits that even the original is good enough for more than a few bites.
“Milk Steak”
Few foods are more synonymous to the show than Charlie’s favorite food, Milk Steak. It’s referenced (and eaten) in multiple episodes. If you don’t know what Milk Steak is, don’t worry, nobody besides Charlie does. But Rea tries to replicate it, anyway. He boils milk, drops a steak in to cook, and then, after cooking drops a handful of jelly beans on top.
How does it taste? Well, rea immediately spits it out and refers to it as “the stuff of nightmares,” so you’ll have to be the judge of that. Rea’s own version, made with bacon, short rib, milk, and spices is infinitely more edible.
There’s no doubt that most of these foods are not fit for human consumption, but, wouldn’t it be awesome to tell your friends that you’ve made (and eaten) “Milk Steak”? Well, now (Thanks to Andrew Rea) you can. So, finish up your game of “ChardeeMcDennis” and grab a can of wine because you’ll need it to wash these disasters down.
