Terry Crews' Favorite Chips, Pizza Memories & Formula 1 Food

0:00The best dancers from across the globe are about to join me for the audition of a lifetime. ABC Mondays. Do they have what it takes to compete and be the next Dancing with the Stars pro? I'm here to win. Nothing is going to stop me. Our star judges will decide. This is what hunger looks like. It was 100 % the wrong choice. Robert Irwin hosts. The next era of Ballroom starts right here on Dancing with the Stars, the next pro. All new Mondays, 8, 7 central on ABC. Next day on Hulu. I remember being in a Red Bull paddock and they're slicing imbyrical ham with the giant slicer. And I'm going, what?

0:38I'm having lobster. I'm having everything. The finest of the finest. And I'm going, this ain't wingdings and nachos.

0:45Terry Crews:Hi, I'm Joe Salty, editorial director of Delish. And welcome to Snacks, the show where we talk to your favorite stars about their craziest cravings. Today, our guest is someone you will definitely know from some of your favorite shows, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine, America's Got Talent, and now 100 Cooks on the Food Network. Please welcome Terry Crews. And we'll be right back.

1:10Terry Crews:It's really annoying, I'm sure, when people tell you that they're fans, but I have to be honest. I like base everything in my life on if my kids think I'm cool. And when they heard you were coming on Snacks, you were the pinnacle of excited for them. And they're like cool age. Like my oldest is 20. Like it's 2016 and 13. So like these are cool ages. And they think you're cool. First of all, I could not be more shocked. Oh, no. And honored. That's very sweet. At the same time, I mean, I am 58 years old. You look amazing. When Sabrina Carpenter invited me to be on stage with her at Coachella, and listen, you got to understand, my kids think I'm nothing.

1:59They're like, you got everybody fooled. You got everybody fooled. Everybody cares about you. And then Sabrina called, they're like, you might be somebody. I was like, I told you. I told you I was a legend. And you didn't believe me. I pay for everything you do, you little brats. and now they were like oh you're the man you're the man i'm like yeah you know what get in line yeah yeah exactly i told him i'm saying you know what you're lucky i gave you a ticket oh my god that's amazing i belong on this coachella stage oh my god wait how many so you six five kids five kids but i have a 16 year old granddaughter so it's almost six so it's so beautiful wait so how old are your kids oh my god all ages my oldest is actually 38 all the way down to 21.

2:45My youngest, he'll be 21 actually next week. Wow. And everything in between, four girls, one boy, and the granddaughter is 16. My wife and I have been married 37 years. God bless. And it's beautiful. It is a beautiful thing.

2:59Terry Crews:Alright, so I have to ask, because we're on snacks, were you a cool snack dad? Did you have cool snacks in the house? Oh yeah. Okay, I need to hear it. First of all, my wife, I irritated her because here's another thing. I spent a lot of time out of the house working on, you know, I'll be four months in whatever country doing a movie. So I have a lot of guilt. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I wasn't there. I missed that. But I brought home this. You know what I mean? I come showering people with all the snacks you want. What was the best thing you brought home? What would you bring home?

3:29You know what? First of all, I introduced my family to the Garrett mix. Oh, God. See, they didn't know this. They had no idea because it's the Chicago mix.

3:38Terry Crews:Well, listen, I got to tell you, we did our snacks. We did our snacks research, and I got you a Garrett's mix. You see? I literally got it for you. I know. Look at this. You got to open it. I introduced my family to this. Because, you know, again, I'm on the road. I'm running around. This is a weakness. This reminds me of the, I was saying, Garrett reminds me of the Chicago airport. Honestly, I don't know why. I'm just like, yeah, it smells like popcorn when I get in here. Listen, you know what I'm saying? Can we open it? We got to open it. Oh, please. I go to do, I'm on my intermittent fasting right now.

4:07I wish I could have some. Oh, my God. Look at this. You're not going to eat this with me? Okay. The cheese, the caramel. You're intermittent fasting. And I introduced this thing. We're watching a movie and they're like, what is this? And then, you know, then you get the stains, right? It's a mess. There's a whole nother Garrett stain. First of all, they need to make a special tie called Garrett Mix. A hundred percent. That gets the cheesy goo off your hands.

4:30Terry Crews:He's wearing a very beautiful white shirt and a beautiful jacket. I'm wearing white jeans. I'm wearing the opposite of what one should be wearing for Garrett, the Garrett Snack Mix. But it's perfect for summer. I know it is good. Well, I'm going to have to eat this all by myself now. because... Okay, we have more for you. Yeah, you have to take some with you. No, I'm going to take it on a plane. Listen, you got to say, at 2 p.m. is when I start to eat. And I would love to take some at home. You're going to take some home. You're going to take the whole thing. I'm going to... Well, if you'll save me a cup, maybe I'll take a cup.

4:59You get a cup out of that and I'm going to take that home and let everybody know what I did.

5:03Terry Crews:Okay, so I want to get back to the snack dad thing, but I do have to ask intermittent fasting. So what do you eat in a day? I mean, you look incredible. I eat tons of protein. I really, really, I'm super, super, I do a lot of protein shakes to supplement. What's your protein shakes? Protein shakes to supplement. But I try to get everything that I need every day. You know what I mean? I do a lot of ground turkey, ground chicken. Do you cook? Do you cook? I cook it simply because you prep it. Because this is the thing, eating on the road is hard. Yeah, yes. And you can get off track very, very fast.

5:38And then you get a lot of cortisol, which makes the stress of traveling, makes you want bread, it makes you want a comfort.

5:44Terry Crews:For young people listening who don't know what cortisol is, wait until you turn 40. Yes. And then you will know how horrifyingly sad it is. It's one of those things that makes you, it's that little twitch in your eye, that's cortisol. But also, the reason you can't sip your jeans up sometimes, that's also cortisol. All of it. It just makes your metabolism come to a grinding hall. It does. Everything. But what I learned is how to counteract. Yeah. And get ahead of it. And what I learned, eat the protein first. Mm-hmm. Get it in. Eat the protein first. Because if you have the other stuff first, it's endless.

6:31Right, right. I'm a potato chip nut. What's your flavor? Okay. I love these plain chips, but there are these chips. I ordered them. I can't remember. Oh, my God. I'm blanking out on what it is. If I could look at my Amazon. Sarita's going to get it.

6:46Terry Crews:Sarita's going to get it. It's these chips they make. Oh, my God. If I look them up, man, I don't have my phone with it. They're really like natural, gluten-free, very, very hardcore chips. They're made in Orange County. They are really, oh, my God. Do you love that you have a research team right here? I know, I know. And they're very, very good. Rusty's. Rusty's, yes, you are good. Rusty's. Now, you got to understand, I order boxes of Rusty's. What's your, so plain Rusty's? Plain, but they just salt. Plain salted flavor. Holy cow, the crunch. Somehow, as you get older, you need more crunch. I don't know what it is.

7:29More crunch, more salt. More crunch, more salt. If I don't get a crunch in the day, I feel like I haven't eaten. You know what I mean? I need something that goes, you know what I mean? I think it's primitive. You know, it's like it's got to be a bone. You got to feel like you're eating something. You got to dig in. Because I eat all the people chow. You know what I mean? When you have a lot of ground turkey, roasted sweet potatoes mixed in with spinach, and it feels good. But it's people chow. You know what I mean? Listen, my little dog, he has food. I got my little plate. My wife says, look at you.

8:01You're like a little puppy. Oh, my God. It's so funny.

8:05Terry Crews:That is what Patton Oswalt will call a slop bowl. It's just like a bowl of whatever. It's just all things. People chow. I like to call it people chow. It's so good. Because it's so healthy. It's good for your mane. It's good for your skin. Oh, my God. It's just like your doggy. So I have to ask you, do you feel like you ate better? Okay, this is a weird question, but I really think about it. Do you feel like you ate better as a professional athlete or as a professional actor? I eat way better now than I did as an athlete. Really? You know, there's some people who think they're in shape. Nope, you're just young.

8:35That's it. You're not in shape. You're just young. So what were you eating back then? Oh, anything. Everything. Pizzas and burgers. And then you look at it like, I'll work it off. Because that was the thing. You worked out like crazy. So you're hungry. So you just, you did. Now, another thing, though, is that we know more. Yeah. Yeah, that is. Actually, because I've been in this thing. I stopped playing football almost 30 years ago. Right. So back in the day, you didn't really know a lot of food science and how things worked. I didn't know about high processed. It was just food.

9:09Terry Crews:Yeah, it was just food. Also, like, we, I mean, we know so much more, but also we're being deliberate. I was a Wonder Bread guy. Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. And now I'm an Ezekiel Bread guy. I mean. You see what I mean? You were like really, you've leveled up a lot of levels. I just learned. And you just learn and you go. But also I do work out to eat. Like I do enjoy when I know it's a cheap meal, when I know it's a snack. And the knowledge is everything. I know. And now you're free. You have, you know, discipline is freedom. So you discipline yourself so now you can enjoy. But it's when you don't have the discipline, when things get out of control, that's what you got to be careful.

9:50Terry Crews:Well, I also find, too, as I've gotten older, I'm sorry to make this such a downer. I'm sorry to the people. But it's like, you know. But I will say also I feel like I feel not good after I eat not well. And that wasn't like when I was young, I could eat garbage and just be like, okay, then I just ate garbage. But now I'm like, why did I eat that? Drinking, I'm like, I guess I can't really drink wine anymore. I just like, are you a drinker? No, I don't drink at all. I don't drink anything either. I'm not an alcohol guy at all. I don't like the way I feel. And forget the drinking buzz. I can't sleep.

10:28I'm just like cranky. But when you're young, you can do all these things. There's no bloating. No, what? It's bloating. I ate three pizzas. I don't feel nothing. Look at the abs. All of a sudden, I'm like, I have one bite. I'm like, why did I blow up? You know, my wife calls me. She said, you have a food baby. Yes. I'm like, oh, don't say that. No, don't say that. It's your food, baby. No, no. And I'm like, stop. You're messing with my ego. It's so good. She said, it's so cute. When is it going to be born? And I'm like, you, oh, I love you. Nothing puts Terry Crews in check more than his wife calling him his food, baby.

11:06Are you kidding me? I mean, that is the ultimate. It hurts my heart. I mean, she found your button. She does, and she presses it, like, nonstop. She's got to, like, she's on the pedal of my button.

11:19Terry Crews:That's how she keeps you in check. All right. I have to ask you a couple of things. Tell me about 100 cooks. 100 cooks. My goodness. First of all, the best thing. One of the best things I've ever done. You can't say that to someone, a Brooklyn Nine-Nine fan. You can't say that to me. Uh-uh. Okay. It's two different things. You can have two great things. I said that both can be true. You know what I mean? You can get married and you can have kids. That's true. Two of the best things. Absolutely right. You know what I mean? So there you go. Absolutely. Totally fair. So there it is. But I have to say this.

11:47I am a big Food Network fan. When I'm on set, when I was on set in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I was keep the Food Network on. What was your show? Diners, drive-ins. Have you ever met Guy? To watch Guy Fieri bite into a sandwich. I know. It's the most satisfying. And he would feel his little cheeks. And you just watch Guy Fieri. The hair spiked up. You want to go with him. I'm hungry. This is my friend. Have you ever met him? Yes. He's the best. He's my homie. He's the best. And I just love the—and then he would go to—see, and this is another thing, too. I don't like food that's too fancy. Yeah. Okay?

12:26My thing is, you know, there became this culinary thing where you're not eating properly. Yeah. I don't like that. I like, to me, everything can be an art form. Yeah. And he really showed how Americana—like Americana and the food, it's an art. Yep. You know what I mean? this is the pizza. They double fried this chicken steak. People were just having fun.

12:49Terry Crews:They were having fun making it. It was just like it wasn't serious and precious. Let the cheese drip. Totally. It's not about the plating. In fact, the plate must get messed up. Absolutely. We call it a friendly raccoon here. We like when things look a little bit like a friendly raccoon got into it. You see what I mean? I love this. I love that. I love barbecue showdown. All the barbecue. and watching these guys burn and cook. I love one thing. When all of a sudden the meat is on flames, and it's great, and it comes out delicious. Yes, you're like, they're screwed. Oh, no, they're going to be ruined.

13:26A hundred percent. No, it's got a nice char on it.

13:29Terry Crews:So good. But they all know what they're doing. You're like, how many mistakes did you have to make to learn to get it right? And this is another thing. What I love is that cooks are like musicians. Yeah. You know what I mean? And doing this show, it's like watching people in their instrument. And one thing, wonderful thing about this show is that it's all of America. We had cooks that came from, you know, the Boston area, the Florida, Pacific Northwest, all the way back down to L.A. and everything in between, from Idaho to Montana and all these different styles. And then you had different ages and you had nanas, you had firemen, you had homemakers, You had every kind of person.

14:13It was a stadium full of people who loved to entertain. And so are they cooking against each other? What's the premise? That's the premise. The premise is we are looking for the number one home cook in America. Wow. But here it is, though. The heart of a home cook,$250 ,000 at stake. Wow. But nobody cared about the money. Right. All they wanted to do is want you enjoy it. You know what I mean? When you see somebody who really knows how to cook and they just, listen, you could pay them, but they're like, forget the money. Did you like it? You see what I'm saying? Like, did you enjoy it? I just, I mean, that's, did you grow up, did you grow up in a good food house?

14:54No. No. Listen, I love my mom, but the problem was, and I'm going to be real, this is not a downer. Oh, no, we're going to, yeah. There was a lot of domestic violence. My mother did not like my father. So, but he, she was made to make him food. Right, right. And it was a chore. It was no love because he was very mean. And she was like, this was a requirement. You don't love me unless you make my food the way I like it. And he would yell at her. And I watched her soul just deflate as she made this food. And then we had to eat what was there. And you're like, oh, oh. So it made it very... And I have to say this.

15:35Because as I became a teenager, I started to introduce a lot of things to make up for that. So I would cook certain things. Like I would remember making her a bread pudding that she would love. Like, oh, this is so good. Because I wanted to show my love to my mother through the food that I cooked. Yes. You know what I mean? And I learned to kind of get that recipe just to make her happy. Because I saw how food made her happy. But it was a weird context. context you know what i mean yeah because remember now food tells your story a hundred percent yes yes and so for me this joy of cooking and the joy i said i had to learn how to make this the or i go other people's homes i'm like this is delicious how did this happen yeah you know and i did have a great great aunt her name was mama z the mama that's the greatest name ever

16:28Terry Crews:It integrated Mama Z. Her name was Zella, but we called her Mama Z. So good. And she put real butter on everything. She did not play. It was lard in the pan. It was like, oh. As God intended, let's be honest. And everybody's now figuring out, hey, lard is okay. Yes. But yet Mama Z would make us this food. I'll never forget her. What'd she make? Her grilled cheeses. And she would make this chicken soup out of stock. Now, she had chickens. and this was the first time I ever saw her like actually kill a chicken she went over there and I was like oh my god what did she just do she wrung that sucker and the chicken was like I was traumatized traumatized and I was like I can't oh my god and I looked at her and I was mad at her I remember like mama see you mean is she plucking this chicken And I'm like, how could you do this?

17:30And then by the time she fried that sucker up, and I'm biting it, I'm like, I'm so sorry, chicken, but you're just... I love it, Mama. The sacrifice this chicken had to make. After that, I was like, I get it. You're like, worth it, worth it. I get it, and she would make chicken soup, and she would take that chicken, take the stock. We had to fry chicken the day before, but then she would make soup. Oh, my gosh. And grill cheeses out of that the next day. Oh, my gosh. And I said, and she would have iron pans and all that original stuff. Yes. You see what I mean? There was no nonstick.

18:04Terry Crews:No, there was no nonstick. And actually, I was just, you know who was just on was Regina King. And she was saying that it was those pans. She's like, those pans are what made their food so good. They didn't have, like, it had all of those years. The taste. Yes. It's in the pan. Yes. You know, and right now, even now, all I do, hot water, steel wool. and you leave the rest of that in that pan. The soul is in that pan, the seasoned pan. I don't mess with my pan. If you put soap on my pan, stop, stop. I'm like, I would weigh in here with my husband and be like, you don't do the dishes. Like, just be real.

18:40Terry Crews:Like, just don't even pretend like you washed a pan in the last, like, you're, I have to go back to what you were saying, though, about food as communication, because I do think that's something that people don't really think about. And I grew up Jewish, you know, and I always make the joke of like, food is how I tell you I love you. Like, I don't know how else to say this. And when I don't know how else to say this, I'll bake you something or I'll, you know, make you a dinner or, you know, when you're learning how to find your voice, like food is a love language. I mean, and you obviously as a teenager for you to do that for you.

19:13I mean, come on. Let me tell you, it was. And you got to say this. I'm going to tell you. I grew up also enjoying fast food. Right. What was your fast food go to? McDonald's. Wait, I'm 58. McDonald's was like, I'm from an era where you didn't go out to eat. Right. Yeah. There was no, like going out to eat was super duper special. We went out to eat one time, maybe at a smorgasbord in Frankenmuth, Michigan. You know what I mean? And you're like, whoa, the pink cottage cheese. And you're just running around and you're like, whoa. So, and going out to eat was special. Yep. And this is back when McDonald's was in a little white bag and a little yellow circle.

19:55And you get the cheeseburger and the fries and the whole thing. And it was like, whoa! And the big arches. Like, I just remember as a kid. The big glow-in-the-dark arch. And you're like, we're going out to eat. We're going out to eat, you know? So special. And then another thing was, we had a pizza place that was down the street. Oh, my God. And they would give you the pizzas. It was so good. It would be in this little cardboard box. But then they would put paper over the top and seal it over with the paper. And let me tell you, my father was a gambler. So when he would hit the illegal lotto, he would hit the number, right?