Starfield and a McElroy surprise!
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Listen to this week’s episode
Todd and the gang have cooked up another big ol' game for us: The outer space frontier explorin', space ship buildin', dude blastin' open world RPG known as Starfield. How well does Bethesda's formula apply to the infinite cosmos? We have some thoughts.
And after much listener demand, yes, this is this newsletter includes an original Justin McElroy recipe! Scroll down to find it.
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Games discussed:
Starfield, No Man’s Sky, finity.
A Justin McElroy Original Recipe:
I don't have a name for this, because it doesn't matter. Call it "Literal, Actual Poison" if you want, it'll still be gone by the end of the party. I've adapted it from this number, but the small tweak I've made is that mine absolutely fucks. When you look at the ingredient list, please note that I've separated required and flexible. Don't mess with the first group, but feel free to get nasty with the second, swap nuts, cereals, spices, whatever, it all works. Just try to keep the approximate volume the same. I've tried it maybe 15 different types and it always whips. The only mix ins I'd avoid is melty stuff like chocolate. Well, not the only. Like, don't put gum in it. Or olives. Or lag bolts.
Ingredients
REQUIRED:
½ cup butter
¾ cup white corn syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbs. kosher salt
FLEXIBLE
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup almonds
1 (12 ounce) package Crispix
2 tsp pumpkin spice or cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
2. Grab a big roasting pan and spray some non-stick cooking spray on it.
3. Dump dry remaining ingredients in your big roasting pan and give them a stir up with a big spoon. Set this spoon aside, his work isn't done.
4. In a medium-size microwave safe bowl, mix butter, white corn syrup and brown sugar. No need to stir. Put the bowl in the microwave and cook 2 minutes, or until butter melts. I usually stir around the halfway point. After it's all melted is when I stir in my salt and spices, if you're using them.
5. Then grab your melted butter mixture and pour it over the cereal and nuts. Give it an thorough but gentle mix. It may not be thin enough to coat every single piece, that's fine.
6. Pop it in the oven for an hour, but give it a good stir every 15 minutes. I like to keep my spoon on a spoon rest near the oven, just to avoid the mess/washing it after every stir.
7. OK, this is the one place you can fuck up. Once it's out, you have to stir it, and for a few minutes, or it's gonna harden into a big lump. Once you've stirred for around 5 minutes, it should be cool enough that you can just give it a stir every 30 seconds or so. If you think you're done, wait two minutes and see if it makes clumps. If not, you're good to go. If yes, get back to stirring. I like to sprinkle a bit of flaked sea salt on at this point, but I'm fancy.
7. OK, now eat it. ... Right? What did I tell you?
Have questions for The Besties?
Drop them in the comments! We aren’t able to respond to every question, but we read all of them and answer some in episodes!
Next week on The Besties:
Bonus links:
Polygon’s Starfield review and dozens of guides, including what to do first!
Digital Foundry’s verdict on the technical side of Starfield.
The first steps to a "Justin's Kitchen Whips Ass" cook book! Finally!
There is something really delightful about Justin writing recipes. It reminds me of comedians writing their biographies - where you can actually hear them reading it in your head. Would love a Justin written-ASMR instructional for how to install a bathroom fan.