A viral sensation from this past weekend to cleanse the, uh…

I was going to say “cleanse the palate.” But your palate is about to experience many sensations and “cleansed” isn’t one of them.

My reaction after watching is that this is the most fun 11 hours you could possibly spend in the kitchen. Why, it’s basically an introduction to cooking all in one meal. There’s roasting, frying, grilling, baking, virtually everything except sous vide. They should have cured and smoked the chicken too purely in the interest of putting the chef through the broadest possible array of techniques.

I’m calling the FBI pic.twitter.com/X2jIlJmfEt

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) August 24, 2019

Has anyone ever spent this much time making comfort food? There are occasions in which you might devote half a day to slaving over a hot stove, like Thanksgiving, but you’re only doing that if you have guests coming over. And if you have guests coming over, you sure as sh*t aren’t serving them “Deep Fried BBQ Chicken Stuffed Pizzadilla.”

This is the sort of thing you would only make on a dare.

Which is exactly what Shay Spence, People magazine’s food editor, did after the clip went viral. He went to the grocery store, bought all the ingredients ($80), came home and put it all together, starting at 6:22 p.m. and finishing after midnight. You can follow his progress step-by-step in this Twitter thread or just watch the second clip for when he finally dug in. Estimated total calories: 7,275. Not including the calories resulting from frying.

We are a fallen people, doomed to eat pizzadillas in a vale of tears. Exit question: Is it grosser than meatless KFC? Jury’s out for now.

This is it. The moment you’ve been waiting for all night. pic.twitter.com/Lo8Lc89zYz

— Shay Spence (@chezspence) August 26, 2019