The Food You Should Actually Iron, According To Eitan Bernath - Exclusive

If you get your culinary know-how solely from TikTok, you'd be forgiven for believing that all foods should be deep-fried or ironed. Yes, TikTok will show you how to deep fry your ice cream — for that alone, perhaps we should give it a hall pass. TikTok's infinite culinary knowledge, however, will also give you the keys to deep-frying pizzas, bananas, and Campbell's Tomato Soup. As for ironing foods? The social media platform stands testament to the fact that it's at least possible to pop popcorn with a clothes iron or — if you're on the hungrier side — make a cheeseburger with it. (There's no guarantee the iron will recover from its melted cheese bath.)

Eitan Bernath is no stranger to these phenomena, nor does he knock on them like Gordon Ramsay, who once renamed a deep-fried hot dog hack "50 Shades of Hot Dog." Actually, Bernath's socials are living proof that even $1000 Wagyu steaks can be dunked in hot oil. It's part of his job to partake in the bizarre. Along with deep-frying steaks, Bernath has ironed everything from eggs to quesadillas. That made him the perfect candidate to give us an answer to the all-important question: When should we legitimately be using our clothing irons in the kitchen? 

Eitan Bernath wouldn't recommend using an iron when you've got a kitchen, fully stocked with appliances designed for, well, cooking. But if you're on the road, as Bernath often is, there's no need to limit yourself to cold cuts and takeout. Irons can come in handy, the culinary celeb exclusively told Tasting Table, especially when craving a comfort food classic: grilled cheese.

"If you're ever in a hotel and you have an iron and ... you want an easy way to make yourself some food without having to go buy stuff, you get some sliced bread, some American cheese, and some tinfoil," Bernath suggested. "You could probably even ask your hotel for some tinfoil from the kitchen." The tinfoil will protect your iron from unwanted food residue stains and ensure you can use it for its original purpose well after it has done temp work in the culinary world.

"Wrap it up in tinfoil [and] iron it. Delicious. It's perfectly delicious. That is a good hack," Bernath affirmed. "Maybe if you're camping in your car there, and maybe your car has a plug that is powerful enough for an iron. Plug that in. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when in a hotel room with an iron, an iron does the trick."

Eitan Bernath's first cookbook, "Eitan Eats the World," is available now everywhere books are sold and on EitanEatsTheWorld.com. Keep up with Eitan's latest projects at EitanBernath.com.