727: The Life of a Constipation Consultant with Michelle Rabin

0:00This episode is brought to you by Rezzy and American Express. Rezzy is a digital platform that connects restaurants to restaurant lovers by elevating dining experiences, providing original industry content, and helping to fill some of the country's most exciting dining rooms. Because restaurants have always been more than just places to eat. The amazing world of restaurants is just a few taps away in the Rezzy app and at Rezzy.com.

0:24Michelle Rabin:When you want your spring break to feel like... And your kids' pool day to feel like... And your hotel bed to feel like... Ooh, and room service to feel like... Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like... Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton. For this day.

1:01I don't think that protein is going to take a back seat. I think that big protein is here to stay for a little while. But fiber is going to pop its head in. There's no better feeling than having a bowel movement in the morning. And it will change your mood. This is Taste. I'm your host, Matt Rodbarg.

1:29Michelle Rabin is a Canadian food stylist and recipe developer and has worked as a culinary producer on shows like MasterChef Canada. She also appears in the terrific fever dream of a cooking show, Just a Dash, alongside Chef Maddie Matheson, now streaming on Netflix. I love this show so much, and Michelle speaks about making the leap from behind the scenes to on camera. Just a Dash is weird, visually creative, and highly entertaining. And we talk about how it got made and her budding career as a constipation consultant. I hope you enjoy this episode.

2:10Michelle Rabin, welcome to This is Taste. It's really fun to meet you. Yeah, it's so fun to be here. Thank you. And it's so fun to meet you too. I was binging Just a Dash last night in preparation for this. I saw it on my Netflix screen. I was like, that's cool. Maddie's great. We publish him here. I love his work. And then I see you. I'm like, oh, who's this? Who's this girl? Who's this person? And honestly, I didn't really know much about you. So I did some research. So we'll go over your history. I think you're super talented. And I think the show is really unique. And once it's discovered, and I believe over time it will be really discovered, it's basically like Lucky Peach doing a TV show.

2:49And it's better than Lucky Peach ever could have imagined. I mean, it's just a little bit. It's a cooking. It's a whole new concept, really. It's like a cooking show. It has surreal elements. You don't know what's real. You don't know what's not real. And then and then even though, like, you know, from from my perspective, the food is important. It's taken definitely less of like like center stage in this in the season. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not really like how do you make the lemon chiffon cake. It's basically like how do you devolve and how does Maddie drop a fart during your building of this cake?

3:23But honestly, watching someone make a cake is really boring. Truly. Truly. Like if you are trying to master the art of like, you know, putting fondant on a cake, you're going to watch a YouTube video. You're not going to go on Netflix. Yeah, it needs to be entertainment. Yeah. First and foremost, it's not instruction. Yeah. And you've really cracked the code, you and Maddie Matheson, who I should be saying his last name, and the team. I have a lot of questions about you in like a few episodes. Sure. It's on Netflix. You know, save that show. Give the thumbs up icon. Click. It's great. But before we get to it, you're in New York from Toronto.

4:01And let me ask you, I was checking out your stories. You hit the ground running. You hit some restaurants yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, so usually when I come to New York, I always just go to the same places. And this time around, I was like, let's try new things. And so Haas has been on my list for a little while. Haasdak, yeah. Yeah. It's hard to get into. It sure is. So I had a friend that lives above it. Oh, wow, cool. And she was like, I'll put her name down at 545 and then like, you know, come by when we're ready. And this is snack bar, not bistro. It is the snack bar. Great. How'd it go? It was great.

4:39Everything was like, it hit. It was super tasty. I definitely liked some things better than others, but they had these little eggs with mayo and some trout roe. So delicious. Where else did you go? I went to Rollo's. Damn, amazing. Cool choice. Great restaurant. I the first night that I was here I was staying in Bed-Stuy and I was like have you been like and we were just like let's go Tuesday night at six o 'clock I was like we're bound to get a table and we got a great one. Are you getting recognized yet in New York? So last night was like my first time I was at the restaurant and the server she freaked out and I was like I need this as much as you do.

5:24It's true. She's like can I get a selfie I was like can I get a selfie. Of you selfying yeah. Yeah. And I was like, this is so important. I was like, do you see this? Do you see this, everyone? Like, I'm a big deal. Michelle, you're a rising star. You're so good. And I think the show we're recording this has been out for like a week or two. Yeah. It's just over a week now. Just over a week. I mean, it's getting out there. And it's such a fun show. So are you ready for it? Oh, I've been, this has been like, I've been tasting this for years. Yeah. Because we shot in 2024. before I've been just like waiting for the world to see this and so um you know I don't you know you never know how like someone or like the audience is going to respond to to anything and so I've just been so curious how it's like how it will be received if it will catch on you know and what the future is for just a dash and and for me so the show started as YouTube only right for the first two seasons yeah and and so you were doing this show that was not a traditional cooking show but still had more of a convention to it and then this season you decided to make it more of a narrative it's definitely like fever dreamy and what i really was struck by this idea of like no second passes which you kind of it's like a meta bit within one of the episodes but anyone who's on tv knows that you usually do a couple run-throughs for cutaways and all that But you're like, fuck that.

6:48Right. So, yes. I will. I'll go back a little bit and just talk about the first two seasons. Sure. Just so that people understand, like, what the texture of was of like shooting that. We Maddie and I started working together in 2017 and I'll go back and talk about like how we met and how we started working together, too. But we did a show for Viceland called It's Supper Time. And I was the culinary producer on that show. and when it wasn't renewed, Maddie was like, you know, I want to do my own show. And so he hired like his pals, like four of us, sound, camera A, camera B and me to go and do this show.

7:28And like it was a skeleton crew. We shot in his kitchen. And at the time we were, he was like, I'm making a cooking show, but we really had no idea what we were going to make. And so, you know, slowly it evolved into a cooking show or a show about making a cooking show. and what's going into it. And like, you know, when it comes to making a cooking show for, you know, and I know because I've worked on other ones where there's a very strict template. Like MasterChef, right? Yeah, or like, you know, or just a cooking video. Like Martha Stewart, for example, is, you know, like the magic of television of pulling out like a perfect cake that's been planned and like someone's done all the prep for each segment, you know, And so everything is like, you know, planned where we might plan something.

8:15But then, you know, halfway through the show, Maddie's like, oh, you know, I'd actually prefer to use these noodles instead of these noodles. And so if we had a swap out, it doesn't matter anymore because it's completely different. And so it was very chaotic. And showing that in like, you know, in the first season became the essence of the show. and then in the third season the idea of Maddie being like Mr. Hollywood is very much played up but like between the second season and the third season a lot of time had passed and Maddie's career like really took off during that time he became a bonafide actor like really talented he's being a bear yeah he's and yeah his following him blew up too and you know that comes with some fortune and he renovated his whole house So the kitchen that we had originally done just to dash in, it doesn't exist anymore.

9:11Is it like a study where he has all the scotch whiskeys now? It actually was like the kitchen was extended onto that. So truly that room doesn't even exist. You know, part of the charm of the show isn't like, you know, Maddie cooking in this big fancy kitchen. It's like this big man cooking in this tiny space and trying to move around. Like, that's part of it. And so losing that, we were like, well, you know, we can't really shoot in your house. And also in the previous seasons, we made Trish, who in the second season was seven months pregnant with two kids, like go to an Airbnb for a week. And, you know, she was like, I'm unwilling to do that.

9:56You guys destroy everything. Which is what you lean into in the first episode is Trish basically saying, get the fuck out of the house. Yeah, you're not coming. We're hitting the road, which opens up such a cool universe for the production. For sure. You do some bottle episodes that you play like police investigators. It's so stupid. I mean, which you pull out a king crab, which you fake it or it's real out of a morgue. Yeah. Was that a real morgue? No. Okay, good. Hollywood. Okay. But it was very convincing. Okay, good. Yeah, that morgue is a set. I mean, I have a feeling that there were once dead bodies in those, I don't even know what they're called.

10:31I mean, it seemed like a human size body cooler. And those aren't like those are pretty unique. Yeah. At least you faked it well. But it's like you're pulling on a king crab just to give you a little sense of the energy. You're in a police office. I just I also just want to let it be known that that episode was supposed to be by us prepping for Maddie's biopic. That was the episode that we had until written. Nothing is written. It's completely unscripted. And everything is like we're able to change everything at the last minute because we're just like, I don't like it. Let's change it. And we didn't really have very much planned for Maddie's biopic episode.

11:15And so two days before, they were like, what about Claw and Order? We literally got those costumes and everything that had to do with that episode within 24 hours. That's amazing. So you started with Claw and Order basically because that's like brilliant. The episode is called Call and Order. And you were just like, we should just do Call and Order. Yeah, but that gave me 24 hours to find a king crab in the middle of summer in a small town outside of Toronto. And I was like, how do you expect this to arrive alive? And I was just like, how is this going to happen? Anyways, you know, we make some phone calls and we find one.

11:51um but uh but yeah i remember the night before we shot that i watched one episode of law and order to like understand what legal jargon even sounds like and to be like okay like they said that and this is how they walk like it was like i had i had no idea what i was and again it was completely unscripted nothing we said the plot line like it wasn't planned yeah i mean it's it's brilliant work and there's really an energy there i mean you get a little bit high maintenance i'm not sure if who watched that show on HBO several years ago. Yeah. Felt like, you know, you get a really cool cast together and you just start, you know, messing around in it.

12:26I love that show. Great show. And I think there's a lot of similarities in the production, the way that you're shooting it. And you're doing comedy, of course. This episode is brought to you by Masterclass. You know how on the show, we're always talking to people who've spent decades obsessing over one thing, whether it's modern Korean food, new expressions of the Jewish deli, or the perfect Vampiro taco in South LA. That depth of knowledge is the thing I find endlessly fascinating. And honestly, it's a big part of why I'm into masterclass. There are classes taught by some of the best chefs, writers, and thinkers in the world.

13:01People who've put in the work. And the lessons are short enough that I can actually fit them in. Thought leaders like Michael Lewis, Amy Poehler, and chefs Gordon Ramsay and Roy Choi all teach their own masterclasses. I've been using audio mode on my commute, and it genuinely feels like time well spent. With plans starting at$10 a month, billed annually, you get unlimited access to over 200 classes. And every new membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there's really no reason not to try it. Right now, our listeners get an additional 15 % off any annual membership. Go to masterclass.com slash tastecooking.

13:38That's masterclass.com slash tastecooking.

13:41Michelle Rabin:We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on. But too often, life, or usually price, gets in the way. That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60 % off hotels and up to 50 % off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com and book your next trip today. Go to your happy price. Priceline. So episode three is really good. It's probably one of my favorites I've screened. And that's when you basically take Maddie to his quote unquote former elementary school to do a demo for a bunch of amazing kids.

14:24And you're demoing chopped liver. Okay, so I think that that element of the episode got missed because, you know when someone's like, don't treat me like chopped liver or like, you know, and chopped liver is like thought of as this like bottom of the barrel kind of thing. Well, I think Maddie was kind of playing up that like chopped liver is actually great and it's a compliment to be called chopped liver. Yes. No, I followed that thread completely. Completely. I think you were really celebrating. You're rendering the chicken skin, the schmaltz. You're actually showing a very smart way and you're demoing it to these kids.

15:05But I just think it's like the idea of like third graders buying into the idea of chopped liver. It's funny. I know. It's funny. Of course, like we're going to go in and they're going to be like, ew. Yeah, you knew that was going to happen. Of course. But like, you know, we again, we had planned on like kind of like being like, and OK, OK, like let's just make crepes instead. And like we had everything to make crepes, too. And like we just like never did it. I mean, it works really well. You have a bit with one of the students, a content creator. There's just really funny moments. Oh, my God. The kids were incredible.

15:44Kids were great. Kids were great. And like kids are really hard to like subscribe to on TV a lot of times because it feels really stunty. Yeah. I mean, Mulaney's, like, sack lunch bunch had a bunch of cool kids. And I feel there's a similar energy there where these kids are actually really funny. Yeah, they were there to, like, have a night. Like, it was their honest selves, too. Interesting. Like, you know, there were maybe, like, a couple, like, little probes. Yeah, yeah. A couple, like, ringers in there. Yeah. A couple theater kids in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. But, like, at the end of the day, like, those kids are just being themselves and excited to be there.

16:17Episode four is chaotic. You make coleslaw and it's not really talked about, but it's a wild ass recipe for coleslaw. Yeah. And you're on the culinary side, so you're really dictating a lot of these recipes. And I think the joy of the show is that you're actually learning about technique. You're thinking about cooking, but there's nothing prescriptive at all. It's like you're just like throwing shit together. But clearly it's a recipe. Yeah, it's Matty's recipe. Yeah, yeah. He always makes that coleslaw. It's like— It's good. It looks good. It's not good. No, it is. It is. It's very sweet. He puts sugar in it.

16:51Yeah. And it's like creamy. And so it's like kind of like this sweet. And it's almost like the cabbage is so shredded that you kind of don't have to chew it. You can just kind of like motorboat it back. I just think that the food is secondary, but it always looks good at the end. Like that fish and chips was delicious. Baller. I mean, and hard to do actually for anyone, even chefs, to get that crust and that crunch, which you show, and like the size of it. Even the first episode, the breakfast burrito, which looked pretty gnarly at the start of it. And I'm like, Maddie is great in kind of like the gonzo approach to it.

17:35But then once you actually cut it and wrap it, it's like, damn. I know, right? But he like fucked up and double seasoned it, right? He did. He put a lot of salt in. Or is that a bit? or was that just like in the production he actually forgot? No, he was like literally trying to ask me if he put salt and I was like, what are you talking about? Like I'm out here. Yes. Because it's hard to tell what is a bit and what is actually just like playing around with the camera guys. I think that's the magic of the show. It really is. You know, and I think that's like, you know, what's real. Even the person who loved the show that saw me last night was like, was Trish really mad?

18:13That's amazing. And I was like, girl, she was fucking pissed. Yeah. I mean, did you like Tom Green it a little bit? Where did you actually show up and try to get a response from Trish? Or was that all a bit? Or you don't have to answer. Yeah, let's keep it. Let's keep it. I don't know. Okay. Because I think there's like, I mean, Tom Green's show is definitely, it feels like a little bit of an inspiration to me. It's brilliant. And I referenced it in the opening about you're building this wedding cake and and Maddie, which he has incredible lines. Obviously, if you like him, you get what he's going for.

18:50He refers to his body at the time. And he's like, I think I have a bucket full of diarrhea. And then something happens. He lets wind and there's a natural response in the room. You can see it. Now, that's real. Oh, yeah. Big time. It's disgusting. Like he's sick. It was so bad. Like because, again, those kinds of things are so unplanned. And, you know, I'm someone who like I'm not a fart girl. Yeah. I'm not like going out in the world and like farting. Yeah. Ever. Yeah. It's not your energy. No. It's not your. No, I have manners. You eat manners. It's not the way you go about the world. But Maddie's different.

19:33And so like in that environment where he's like around all his friends and people that he feels comfortable with, like there is humor, I guess. And like, you know, just like being like, this is I ate something. Let's let her rip kind of thing. We've all been there. Like for us who maybe don't bake a lot and we're baking and we're like we're building a cake and our bodies. We're not like pros and we're eating a lot of frosting. We've all been there. We know what happens to our body when we're like making like a lemon curd. And, you know, we can talk about flatulence here openly. A lot of lemon curd and sugar is going to.

20:09As you know, I want to be a constipation therapist. I know it's true. That's a great line from the show. I mean, we know that like sugar breeds bacteria and like gases are created by sugar. So it's not like the meat that's causing these flatulence. It's sugar is going to cause. Sure. I also think that like, you know, gut health, like whatever came out of him on that day, that shouldn't be released from any human. That smells like that was like go to a doctor kind of thing. I feel you have credibility for your journey for a gut health specialist. I do. I think so, too. Yeah, I think you're on your way.

20:45Yeah. I want you to answer a question I've always thought about. Maddie Matheson's style. Yeah. I can't describe it. I mean, it's definitely like he's usually bottom half is clothed and top half is not. But how do you, working with him and being friends with him, how do you describe his personal style? I mean, like he's been recognized by like GQ and, you know, as a style lord. Yeah. And I think that's true. I'm not leading it in a negative sense. I think he's got great style. It's just very unique. It is. And it's effortless. Like, it just comes to him so naturally. You nailed it. And so, you know, like, he'll put on, like, a weird hat and, like, a weird – like, and it just all works really well.

21:32Yeah. And I would say that, like, you know, it's so much easier to dress, like, a tall, thin man that, like, clothes just kind of hang off of. Like – but he dresses himself, like, so well. Well, he knows his angles. He does. And he also just, like – he just has, like, such – he's a tastemaker. Like he knows what's like I he knows what's cool. He does. And I think he's got great, great tailoring and obviously vintage shirts and just ephemera pointed to Canada and other places in L.A. You as well, by the way. Great style. You have great sense. Vintage shirts. Did you when you were going to production, did you did you just have a clutch of shirts that you were just like, these are going on camera?

22:13I'm a big collector. Yeah. And so, you know, I love a paper thin. like a shirt that's been worn so many times that you can see right through it like that's that's what i'm going for when i'm looking for a vintage shirt and then so i have a stack and you know i am like it's not like i'm gonna show up in like a fancy dress or like something that like like we're working and i'm getting dirty and everything smells bad and so it's my those are the things that I work in. So let me ask you this. As a collector, is there like a restaurant T-shirt grail, like a vintage restaurant shirt that you've just like you want, you're seeking out?

22:55You know, a couple of years ago, I found like an Arby's shirt, a vintage Arby's shirt on eBay. And I did end up like spending a little bit of money to get it. So, you know, and also, you know, I used to be, I'd say like I leaned into the vintage much more And now I'm kind of like I'm just about over the hump of vintage. I'm like it's still going to be in my style, but I'm like definitely not as finger on the pulse of like what's going on in the vintage world and what's hot and vintage T-shirts as I used to be. OK, so you're evolving and now you're what's the next phase for you for fashion? Like I'm I'm I just can't believe how much things cost.

23:37Yeah, word. Yeah. It's so expensive out there. and so I'm just always looking for like unique pieces that like don't make me look like everyone else and I think that is actually super challenging yeah I mean what is your background in cooking and this is cool like you grew up in around Jewish food yeah is that something you're interested in yeah I actually like I grew up like a lot of like people that are into food grew up like being very curious yeah and that didn't come to me until much later until maybe university when I like actually had to start cooking for myself. And I was like, oh, you know, like there's so many cool things and, you know, Instagram and I'm old ish, Instagram and all the places that people find recipes and inspiration weren't available to me back then.

24:23And so it was like constantly like leafing through cookbooks. But, you know, my mom was like, I don't know, like, she's definitely gotten a lot worse at cooking so i don't know if i grew up in a family that had bad food or i you know i don't know if i'm remembering it like with like a lot more charm but we ate well and like we went to restaurants and we tried new things and so um but i wouldn't say like my taste for cooking came from my childhood yeah yeah a lot of people like you in the world yeah it came like when i like started traveling and i was like oh my god like the world is such an amazing place and there's so many things and ingredients.

25:02After university, I decided to go to culinary school. So I was like a continuing ed student and I knew I didn't want to work in kitchens. Like that's not where I thought of myself as like being part of this hierarchy and working like 20 hour days and making the same thing every day. That wasn't interesting to me. And I like Martha Stewart and Donna Hay and all these people that were like developing recipes and food styling and making food look so beautiful for cookbooks. Martha Stewart again. It was like, I was like, that's what I want to do. I love that. I love that trajectory. You post at the end of the year on Instagram as many have the ins and outs.

25:41I do it every year. You do it every year. It's a tradition. Great. I've seen a lot of it recently, but if you'd been doing it forever, amazing. Let's go over a few. Okay. Okay. Out protein in fiber. Why? I mean, I just feel like there's a lot of fear mongering out there about whether people are getting enough protein or not. Yeah, it's weird. It's crazy. And, you know, there's like this cottage cheese. I love cottage cheese. Yeah. But there's this cottage cheese trend where people, like you can't even, I spoke to a friend and she's like, you can't even find it in the grocery store in New York anymore.