XZIBIT: It’s the Lasagna Ganja Podcast. I am Mr. X to the Z, XZIBIT.

Tammy: And I’m your girl Tammy, a.k.a. The Cannabis Cutie.

XZIBIT: And we are very blessed today.

We have someone coming on the show that is very good with cannabis and cooking food. A dope marriage.

We got Chef Wendy in the house. Chopped 420 champion, by the way.

And we have lasagna on the show. I’ve heard she has a beautiful lasagna for the Lasagna Ganja Podcast.

Tammy: I feel like it’s complete now.

XZIBIT: Maybe we have to rethink not having food on the show!

Tammy: I think that would be a good idea. Outside of smoking cannabis, I think eating would be my next favorite thing.

XZIBIT: They go together!

Speaking of cooking, this last weekend I made some cannabis butter.

I got three sticks of butter. I ground up an ounce and put it in the butter. I sauté’d it for a second, then I transferred it to a mason jar.

Then I put it into a crockpot and let it sit there for 5 hours.

Then I strained it and then I had this awesome cannabis butter.

And I’ve been using it on everything. I’ve been high all week!

But I’ve been sleeping a lot better. I’ve been a little more relaxed. I feel really good.

Now I don’t know if I actually got shit done this week, but I feel fucking great.

Tammy: How strong is that butter? How much do you use in one serving?

XZIBIT: I don’t know. The first thing I did was make brownies with it. I’d say I cut a nice ‘sharpie’ size strip with it.

I was laughing at everything the first night. In the morning, I made toast.

Tammy: You did nothing.

XZIBIT: Oh, it did something.

Tammy: No, you did nothing. Because you said you put an ounce into three sticks of butter. I’m just like, “How are you even functioning right now?”

XZIBIT: Like I said, I feel great.

Tammy: Your eyes look like you feel great.

XZIBIT. Hell yeah. Let’s get to it.

We have Chef Wendy in the building today. We’re very thankful for you being here today. We just started this podcast. And we’re calling it ‘lasagna’ because there are layers to the conversation.

But now you look at the logo and you see the mic, the fork, and the spoon. We have to incorporate food.

So we’re going to get it together. The listeners are going to grow with us.

So the first step to making a peace offering to Tammy is to say thank you for bearing with me. I’m open to change.

Chef Wendy, thank you for being with us.

Chef Wendy: Thank you for having me. I was watching the trailer and you said there was no lasagna, so I knew I had to come on.

XZIBIT: Yes, thank you! Give us a little background on who you are and how you got into being a chef.

Chef Wendy: Yeah, sure. So I’m an immigrant. I grew up in China, in the city of Chengdu.

It’s such an amazing culture. It’s actually called the ‘Land of Plenty’ because it’s got such a diverse geography and an abundance of different ingredients.

So we have a real ‘foodie’ culture, such that there is no such thing as a ‘foodie.’ Everyone is into making food, eating food, having opinions about what the best eating spot is.

My grandpa always cooked on the weekends. We would have these big family meals. From a very young age, I saw that grandpa was bringing everybody to the table with his cooking skills.

So when I moved to Memphis at the age of 10, there wasn’t a big Asian population there. So my parents found different friends.

XZIBIT: That was a big culture shock. Memphis from China?

Chef Wendy: Yeah!

XZIBIT: You gotta take us there. So your whole family came?

Chef Wendy: Yeah. Me, my mom, and my dad. We came because my dad had a fellowship at the University of Memphis studying geophysics.

But I came and made all these different friends. They showed me all these different foods. I fell in love with soul food and barbeque.

XZIBIT: So it was a positive experience?

Chef Wendy: Yeah. I loved it.

And then I started making food that was a fusion of Southern food and Chinese food. You don’t really see that.

But once you start eating it, things make sense because there is a deep culture in the South of bringing people together with food. It just made sense to me.

Coming to California, I also got exposed to the diverse foods here. And the weed.

XZIBIT: Yes. That’s an amazing journey. You’re 10 years old and from China. They don’t have weed in China, do they?

Chef Wendy: No. I mean, maybe?

You will see on the news that there are people with bongs getting busted in their apartments. And when I was young, I just thought that was bad.

Tammy: So was your first experience with the plant in Memphis?

Chef Wendy: Yes. But it was nothing like what we have out here in California.

It didn’t even look the same-especially what I was getting when I was younger.

Tammy: Yeah, back in the day it used to be compressed a bit. Lots of seeds, sticks, and it tasted really bad. But it got you high.

XZIBIT: Then Chronic came around. It was just ‘Chronic.’ They had no other name for it.

Tammy: And there was Popcorn. That’s in-between. It’s a little better than the dense, brown, Mexico weed.

XZIBIT: So what is your first experience with cannabis and how did you incorporate it into cooking?

Chef Wendy: My first experience with cannabis is a little personal, but I guess I’ll share.

There was this kid that I had a crush on in art class and he was called ‘The Muffin Man’ because he made weed muffins.

So we got to talking and started kicking it after school. And he was the first person to give me some weed to try.

I tried it and it was really good. But then I was also feeling kind of awkward. I ended up going in for a kiss. It was kind of awkward but kind of cute, too.

So that was my first experience. I have not shared that with many people.

XZIBIT. Hey, listen, this show goes out to a lot of people. So Muffin Man-if you’re out there…are you single?

Chef Wendy: No, I’m married!

XZIBIT: You missed it, Muffin Man! You didn’t even know what you had right there!

Tammy: Wow. They say ‘liquid courage,’ but you had ‘muffin courage.’

XZIBIT: So you smoked or was it an edible?

Chef Wendy: I smoked and tried a muffin.

But I did experiment with making brownies in college. Back then, we didn’t have the wonderful knowledge about dosing we have now.

So in my mind, we smoked eighths all the time, so I just put an eighth in what I was cooking. But knowing what I know now, I’m like, “Wow, that is a lot.” And we were smoking while we were making it, too.

Then I had a brownie and I was down and out. I remember staring at the ceiling going, “Is this going to be forever?”

XZIBIT: So I’ve got some questions. So you heard my story earlier about making butter. Did I do it wrong?

How do you make it strong? How do you know what you’re making?

Chef Wendy: Well first you’re going to start with the THC percentage that’s in your bud.

XZIBIT: …which I did not do.

I just took a whole bunch of jars I had and dumped them in.

Tammy: Wait, you made a mix? Oh my gosh.

XZIBIT: Yeah.

Chef Wendy: Well there you go. That’s your first mistake.

I also heard that you cooked it for 4 hours. I don’t think you need to cook it that long.

XZIBIT: No, I put it in a crockpot and had it on low.

Tammy: It’s a different method.

Chef Wendy: Yeah, that’s a method. It’s very old school, but you get messy with it.

XZIBIT: Well what is the best way to make cannabis butter?

Chef Wendy: I recommend using a french press.

XZIBIT: Look at me. Do I look like I have a french press?

Tammy: Why not? It’s 20 dollars on Amazon.

XZIBIT: What is it?

Tammy: Do you drink coffee?

XZIBIT: Yes, but it’s a Keurig.

Chef Wendy: Ok, so mason jar? You know what a mason jar is, right?

XZIBIT: Yes. Now you’re speaking my language.

Chef Wendy: Ok, but first you have to decarb it to activate the THC. Because when it’s in the bud it’s actually THC8, so you have to decarboxylate it.

XZIBIT: You have to put it in the oven?

Chef Wendy: Exactly.

XZIBIT: But then your house is going to smell like weed.

Chef Wendy: That’s fine.

Tammy: Or you can do that part in a crockpot, right?

Chef Wendy: No, you have to do that part in the oven.

Tammy: So there are devices that will decarboxylate your flower. One actually looks like a french press.

So a french press is a small pitcher. You put your coffee and water in there together. When you’re done, you press down and when you lift up, your coffee and water are separate, with the coffee above.

With weed, you do the same thing with the french press as you do with coffee. When you push the bud down, you just have the butter.

Chef Wendy: Then you just strain it out and there’s no mess.

I have the Ardent Cooking System. It’s a professional device that you can buy to do this. The oven and the french press is just an easily accessible way to do this.

The Ardent is much more precise. And with it, you can decarb and extract with the oil, all in the same device.

XZIBIT: So how much weed can you put in the device?

Tammy: I feel like it can hold up to about an ounce. I usually do an eighth.

XZIBIT: That’s it? You’re chicken.

Chef Wendy: Well I’m cooking for other people, too.

XZIBIT. I’m trying to gauge whether I am doing it right. So I’m not decarbonating my flower. Did I say that right?

Tammy: No.

Chef Wendy: Close enough.

Tammy: Decarboxylating.

XZIBIT: Exactly. But I’m trying to figure out how to make it the strongest. I’ve cooked on the stove before.

That’s the fire truck episode we had a while back. I made some butter that was really strong. And I just took a big chunk and ate it on a bagel. It knocked me on my ass.

I closed my eyes for a second and then the fire department was in my house. The blood drained from my face, my ears were ringing, and stuff like that. I wanna make that butter.

Chef Wendy: Well for most people, I recommend 1 gram to 1 cup or 10mg per tablespoon.

But you can easily up the amount you’re putting in.

Another way to make sure you’re maximizing potency is controlling the temperature. And not cooking for too long because the THC can de-nature over time.

I like to do 45 minutes at 220 degrees to decarb.

And then once I put it in a mason jar or french press, I put it in a boiling pot of water so it’s not directly touching the heating source, which means it’s not going to get burned off.

This way you’re preserving the plant flavor, too, so it tastes better. I do that for about an hour at 160 to 200 degrees. Then you’ll have butter that smells nice.

Tammy: Alright, so you use a cookie sheet. Then you put it in a french press. Then put the french press in a pot of boiling water for an hour.

Chef Wendy: Yes. And usually you have a thermometer in there to make sure the temperature is right.

Tammy: Let’s talk about your Chopped 420 episode. You won that, right?

Chef Wendy: It was the premiere episode. I was the first winner.

Tammy: Can you tell us anything about that episode that we wouldn’t see on the show?

Chef Wendy: Sure. I was definitely the underdog. Probably the youngest and least experienced. But I knew a lot about weed, which I think gave me the competitive edge.

We filmed during COVID, so they built this outdoor kitchen set, which was amazing because I prefer to cook outdoors.

In addition to your stash or ‘chop basket,’ they had a greenhouse in the back. Inside it, there was a bunch of weed products.

They had all different types of plants. You could work with the plants themselves.

I made my infused sichuan chili sauce. I did not expect to win, I just didn’t want to be the first one eliminated.

I just tried to keep a mindset of having fun. I can get in my head so much and be an overachiever. That's not when I’m my most creative.

And knowing what the challenge was, you have to be so creative on the fly.

XZIBIT: Did that experience open doors for you?

Chef Wendy: Yeah. I made friends with the other chefs. The network has been amazing.

Also I am working more with brands. When brands are trying to launch a product, they’re trying to de-stigmatize weed and build new associations. I love doing that.

XZIBIT: How far do you want to go with cooking? Are you interested in having your own brick & mortar store one day? Where do you see this going?

Chef Wendy: I’m glad you asked that. Having a commercial place right now is really difficult. It’s cost prohibitive with the different licensing that’s involved.

As a chef, I was doing some underground places, like clubs, and creating consumption friendly spaces.

But it’s tough because you have to have a new venue every time. Every time I’d be a little bit disappointed.

When you have a new space, you don’t get to control all the elements of the environment. And also you don’t know if the owner is going to understand the intention of what you’re going to do.

So I really wanted to build my own space. For the last three years, me and my husband have been building a farm-to-table space on our property.

It’s not a commercial space, but it is an event space where we’ve been doing a lot of really cool things. We have a garden where we grow a lot of Asian-specific veggies. We compost, too.

For the people attending, they’re going to be dining next to the plant that they’re smoking and eating. It’s an immersive environment—you can’t help but create a new, meaningful community-oriented association.

XZIBIT: When you go around to different places, do you serve alcoholic beverages or is it all about the cannabis plant?

Chef Wendy: It depends. If it’s a private thing, I obviously can’t tell people what they can and can’t do. But if it’s my own pop up, I like it to be just cannabis.

What I really want these experiences to do is to de-stigmatize the plant. I also want it to empower people to learn how to dose themselves and have the experience they want to have.

And even within cannabis, I want to teach people, for example, what happens when you mix CBD mocktails or what happens when you do some pairings and infusions.

XZIBIT: Do you have an outdoor kitchen?

Chef Wendy: Yes, I have an amazing outdoor kitchen. I built it so that it can be a community space for all types of cannabis friendly events.

Most of my events are collaborative. It’s not just about me. It’s really dope when you can show an array of how different people are inspired.

Tammy: What gadgets do you have for the outdoor kitchen?

Chef Wendy: I had to get a wok burner because I want to make veggie fried rice.

XZIBIT: How do people get invited to these events?

Chef Wendy: I’m building a website right now that will be attached to my existing catering website. It’s called drizzle.catering.

I’m building an extension on that website where people can see a bunch of different calendars for events. Whether you’re into backyard barbeques or fine dining experiences, you can find something for you.

I also announce things on Instagram. You can follow me @wenyerhungry. Lots of new and exciting things are going to happen.

Tammy: And chefs-can they book the space to create? Can they hit you up to host their own private parties?

Chef Wendy: Absolutely. They can do a collaboration with me or do their own thing. It’s really centered around what the chefs love.

They get so happy when they walk into the outdoor kitchen because every other kitchen they go to is not designed with the chef in mind.

XZIBIT: So I’m trying to infuse a turkey. What’s the proper way to do it? I want to inject it into the turkey. I know they do that with butter. Same thing?

Chef Wendy: Yeah. You do have to think about how long you bake the turkey because if you bake it too long and at too high of a temperature, the infusion isn’t as potent. I know you like it really potent.

You might want to use it more as a finishing butter to pour over it before you cut it. Or you can put your very potent butter and rub it all over the turkey.

XZIBIT: I’m trying to find alternatives to smoking. I’m trying out edibles now.

Chef Wendy: What about drinking?

XZIBIT: I don’t like that.

Chef Wendy: You don’t like drinkables? What if you make it yourself?

I make this cannabis sugar…

XZIBIT: Too many steps!

Chef Wendy: I’ll make you some cannabis sugar. You can put it in everything. I’ll make it super potent.

XZIBIT: Ok, I’m with that. How do people contact you?

Chef Wendy: They can reach out to me through my socials, like Instagram @wenyerhungry. They can use the email on my website, drizzle.catering.

XZIBIT: Awesome. Chef Wendy, thank you for joining us. Lasagna Ganja podcast, we got another one. Boom.