"Why," you may ask, "do they love this greasy
meal sandwich so much?” No one was sure what was in those patties that made them so delicious.
And frankly, no one cared, except for Plankton And me. I also cared. But unlike Plankton, I
figured it out. And today I'm here to share it with all of you. The Krabby Patty secret formula
is mine! And it's nothing like you'd expect. Hello, Internet. Welcome to Food Theory, the
channel that's here to correct the culinary mistakes of our past. In case you've been living
under a rock, which honestly would be on theme with this particular franchise, SpongeBob
SquarePants is the iconic Nickelodeon cartoon all about a yellow sponge flipping burgers for
minimum wage. It's got musicals, it's got memes. But most importantly of all, it's got the single
most legendary food mystery in all of television: The Krabby Patty Secret Formula.
See SpongeBob isn't just flipping burgers, he's flipping THE burger. The be all end
all in underwater quick serve concoctions. It's a burger beyond compare, a patty so good
that it holds together the fabric of reality. The Krabby Patty is what ties us all together! Without it there will be a complete breakdown of social order. Dark times are ahead! Dark times indeed. Seriously? Aren't you overreacting a bit? No restaurant has ever seen lines this long. 'Scuse us, we'd like 3,000 Krabby Patties please. Unless, of course, you're talking
about Mr. BeastBurger. But then again, that's because every bag has like a chance of
containing, what, $10,000 in it or something? The Krabby Patty is able to do it on flavor alone.
This thing is to die for. Literally based on this guy who's about to die from consuming too many of
them against doctor's orders. I mean, if you love it so much, why don't you marry it, right? Oh,
wait. That's actually less of a joke than I think. But what makes this patty
so good? Well, in the show, it's kept as a secret. A secret that not
even the loyalest of employees knows. How can we make more Krabby Patties without the secret formula? You've got to have that formuler memorized by now! The employee handbook clearly states, and I quote: "No employee may in part or in whole Commit the Krabby Patty secret formula to any recorded, written, or visual form including memories, dreams, and/or needlepoint. "Curse you fine print!" Now at face value this shouldn't be too hard to
figure out, right? I mean, it’s just a hamburger, get yourself some ground meat, slap some
seasoning in there and call it a day. Heck, the show even tells us exactly
how to assemble the burger. I can't put a patty on a bun with lettuce, cheese, onions, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, pickles, and top bun all together in that order! But remember, we're not talking about
the condiments, but rather the patty itself. That is the lingering mystery
in this thing. And for not just one, but two decades, the truth behind the Krabby
patties managed to elude even the best minds. Rival business owners are risking life,
limb and cute teeny antennae in their attempts to find out what makes this
perfect patty stand out from the rest. I'll take on secret formula. . . to go. And today I've got it. Call me Plankton,
but I think I solved it after reviewing all the footage as well as reading tons of
interviews, I think I've got it locked in. The definitive recipe for the patty.
Let's just say we've all been wrong about what's inside of it for a long time.
Now, if you're subscribed to my other channels, you've probably noticed this isn't my first time
taking a crack at the old Krabby Patty mystery. And if you're not subscribed to those, here's your friendly reminder to do that now.
I actually covered this exact topic over on Film Theory a few years ago, but to be honest, I wasn't
all that happy with how the episode turned out. At the time, I concluded that the whole
secret ingredient thing was just hype, a god tier level of marketing genius coming from
none other than Mr. Krabs himself. But it just never sat right with me. I mean, no amount of
marketing is ever going to make someone do this. At least I hope not. But we're older
now, wiser, and most importantly, we have ourselves a legitimate food
channel. It is now my literal job to figure out how recipes work. Which means I'm
ready. I'm ready. I'm ready to finally tackle this topic with fresh eyes. Step aside,
Mr. Krabs, because your secret is out. Let's start by looking at the moments in the show
when we've seen the secret formula on screen. in the episode Spy Buddies we actually get this look
at the supposed secret formula. It's got math. It's got molecules. It's a formula all right, but
for what? The formula reads “quantity X minus 2 plus 1 equals Krabby Patty”. The variable here,
though, is X, not Krabby Patty. And if you solve for x, we actually get this “x equals Krabby
Patty plus 1” - Krabby Patty plus something. This isn't a formula for Krabby Patties,
it's the formula for something made with Krabby Patties. I'm assuming it's the
Krabby Patty with cheese. Something that we can clearly see is offered by
the Krusty Krab for the real Krabby Patty secret formula, we need to turn
to a different episode: Krabby Road. In this episode, we get a direct look at a
portion of the ingredients list and, it is absolute gibberish. I'm not kidding. One teaspoon
of xuogfjiel, four cups of ghsgehsg, chopped dhfhgh You might think that all these random
letters are a code or a cipher, but no, it's not. I've tried. The Internet's tried. It really
is just someone slamming their hands on a keyboard. Well, hold your seahorses, because when
asked if the crew purposely hid the names of the ingredients to not reveal their true identity,
executive producer Vincent Waller said this: “Yes”
He did say more than that, though he continued with “the formula shall always remain secret”.
This is huge because it confirms that while these gibberish words aren't the real ingredients,
this is the real recipe with real measurements. Looks like someone may have overplayed their hand
there. Mr. Executive Producer So let's break it down, shall we? At first glance, these mysterious
ingredients may look to be unidentifiable, but look again. Four cups of ghsgehsg? That
is a lot of whatever that ingredient is. Clearly, four cups of something is going to be
the patties base. Next up, we have dhfhgh chopped. Well, I'm no expert in dhfhgh, but I have read
enough recipes at this point to know that it's actually really common to see a whole onion
listed as just “Onion” instead of “one onion”. And what do you know, but onions are normally seen
as chopped when used in patty recipes. That then leaves us with the ingredient that only needs one
teaspoon. Surely I can't tell what it is just by looking at the formula.Right?
Right?? Right. Yeah. Honestly, there's no way to tell
what this is based on the scene. However, we're not just limited to this one scene.
There's plenty more information at our disposal. In the episode Friend or Foe, we flashback
to the origins of the Krabby Patty. You see, this miracle food began as something known as
the Plab Patty, a patty co-created by both Mr. Krabs and his once business partner turned
rival restaurateur Plankton. In the episode, we learned that the pair worked tirelessly to
craft the perfect burger and the result was awful. “The Plab Patty was proven to be
disgusting, dangerous, and diabolical” However, in a stroke of pure luck, a
series of ingredients fell into the mix, which would turn this bad paddy into a fab paddy,
and thus culinary history was made. But what were those secret ingredients? Well, it's at this
point that I should probably mention Bikini Bottom Mysteries, an official SpongeBob
spin off uploaded here on YouTube.com that investigates some of the most mysterious
parts of the show's lore. Seems like a good source of information, right? It is an official
extension and all. Well, that's what I thought. So I decided to check it out. In their episode
covering the Krabby Patty’s Secret Formula. They focused a lot on this moment
of the ingredients falling in, but their conclusion wasn't what you'd
expect. They say that the Krabby Patty formula never changed from the
original Plab Patty formula. “That’s right, The Plab Patty
batter was never changed at all!” The narrator then goes on to say that
none of the ingredients that fell into the goop actually mixed with the original formula. They were never even taken out of their bottles. Never able to mix with the rest of the batter. Excuse me? We know for certain that at least
some of them did. Look at that open bottle. Look at the new reaction that people have
to the reformulated burger. It cannot be the same. The narrator then has the gall to tell
us that there were six mystery ingredients that fell into the Plab Patty mixture, when clearly
there were seven bottles in jars on the shelf. But newly uncovered footage reveals a shocking truth about those six ingredients. In short, the evidence heavily suggests
that this guy is an unreliable narrator, withholding information and outright
lying to us to protect the secret formula. He's gaslighting us in the
hopes that we lose the Patty's scent. So let's instead take a closer look
at what we actually see fall into the Plab Patty mixture. First, we can
clearly see that the Krabby patty contains chili peppers. Notice the long
red here with the little caps of green. This tells us that the Krabby Patty is
going to have itself a bit of a kick. Next, we have ourselves a bottle with lit fire
on it. While this could certainly be an additional hot sauce. Those bottles tend to
feature pepper imagery more than fire imagery. When it comes to fire, that more frequently
appears on bottles of liquid smoke, which would give these grilled patties a bit
more outdoorsy wood fire flavor. Next up, this one right here has got to be breadcrumbs.
Not only are they a common binder used in the patty making process, but more importantly,
look at the structural difference between Plankton's Chum Burgers and the Krabby
Patty. Plankton’s tend to ooze around and are generally shapeless blobs of ground
meat. The inclusion of breadcrumbs, though, would help the Patty maintain its structure,
which now leaves us with four, four unidentifiable ingredients that literally give us no
clue and look practically interchangeable. If only there was another episode out there that
mentioned four almost identical ingredients. Oh, wait, there is. In the episode The Great
Patty Caper, because apparently the first episode titled Patty Caper wasn't
enough. The ingredients turmeric, salt, flour and barnacle shavings were explicitly
confirmed to be part of the Krabby patty recipe. We start with flour. Next we add barnacle shavings. We do the next one together eh? Now one of those things is clearly not like
the others. Barnacle shavings? What's going on there? Well, believe it or not,
but while it sounds pretty gross in reality Barnacle shells are just calcium and
calcium is actually really good for fish. This is what's known as fortification,
and it's no different than your eggs having added vitamin D or your water
having added minerals. Like humans, fish need calcium to build their bones. Not a
lot, but some. Like, say, maybe a single teaspoon. Thought I'd forgotten about that one hadn't you?
Well, I didn't. And a small amount of barnacle shaved calcium can go a long way. So that then
takes care of our gibberish ingredients list, as well as the seven jars that we
see fall into the Plab Patty vat. Which leaves us with the last and possibly
most disturbing ingredient to be hiding in your Krabby Patty: Chum. In the episode Friend
or Foe, we see that it's definitely part of the recipe. Even in Bikini Bottom Mysteries, they
close out their episode with the reveal of chum. Is that each contain an entire pinch of chum. That's right! The very same repulsive ingredient used at the Chum Bucket. Now if you aren't up to date
with your fishing lingo, chum refers to the ground mixture of fish
and blood that's used to attract larger, more predatory animals like sharks. Which just
doesn't seem right, does it? Is Mr. Krabs really selling his customers the ground up remains of
their fellow fish? Are fish secretly cannibals? Is that why they love the Krabby Patty so
much? No, no and no. A very small minority of fish will eat fish parts. Cannibalism is
only present in approximately 1% of all fish, and the Krabby Patty clearly
casts itself a wider net. But even more importantly, we
have irrefutable evidence that the Krabby patty is vegan. The patty
itself, mind you, the actual sandwich is vegetarian because it contains cheese.
Anyway, according to the show's creator, the late Stephen Hillenburg, the
Krabby Patty contains no animal parts. It's also been confirmed by a current executive
producer. And if you have any doubt about it, here in the Sponge Out of Water movie,
we get a closeup of the Krabby Patty being made in real life. That right there has
the signature puck shape of a veggie burger, meaning that the base of the Krabby patty isn't
beef like everyone tends to assume. Instead, those four cups of ghsgehsg are more likely to
be beans. Faba beans, to be exact. According to Dr. Gavin Ramsay, fava beans have the
potential to be great protein sources for fish. But just like we see with be too much
of a good thing is not always a good thing. Other studies have shown that eating too much
faba beans can actually be bad for fish. Sound familiar? Like maybe someone getting sick enough
that they die from consuming too many Krabby Patties against doctors orders? This does
leave us with one major question, though. How could the Krabby Patty be a plant
based patty but still contain a pinch of chum? Those two facts seem directly
contradictory, but both are coming from irrefutable sources. Well, even though the
word chum refers to a mixture of fish guts, by definition it can also refer
to chopped up vegetable matter. Vegetable matter like the true
secret ingredient in all of this: Red Algae. You see, one of the main problems with
the Krabby Patty being vegan is that plant based patties lack the natural juices that come
from meat patties and without added sugar. It's also challenging to get those patties to
Brown. But both of these are well-established characteristics of the Krabby Patty. They're
juicy. They brown nice. So we know that there's got to be something more at play here,
and that is where red algae comes in. Thanks to research out of Yemoja, a
marine ingredient startup based in Israel, vegans can now experience all the
crisping browning and bleeding goodness that make meat lovers go wow. By
using a specific strain of Porphyridium, a type of red algae, Yemoja has created a
plant based meat substitute known as Ounje. When cooked, Ounje changes color from red
to brown, emits a meaty aroma and has meat like juices that don't just congeal, they
crunch. That is to say, the outside of the burger develops a pleasant, crisp texture when
cooked, just like we see happening in the show. Also, this is far from being the first time
that we've heard of red algae being consumed for food. If you're a fan of sushi,
you're probably familiar with Nori, the thin black sheets of seaweed
commonly used in sushi rolls. This seaweed is actually a type of red
algae. In fact, in the episode Friend or Foe, they outright confirmed that seaweed sauce
is part of the Patty’s original recipe. You're the one who put too much seaweed sauce in the burger. So why is Mr. Krabs so dead set on keeping
the Krabby Patty secret formula a secret? Is it to avoid competition? Or is it because
he's scared of what his customers might think? Mr. Krabs is far from a fool when
it comes to business and he knows that people are notoriously skeptical when
it comes to plant based meat products. He wants to make sure that his
burger stays the success it's always been for all these years hence
why it's all a big secret. What they don't know won't stop them from buying
burgers that taste delicious after all. So the fact that his patties are plant based is
something that he'd rather keep under wraps. This is why he's not afraid to pull out all the stops
if it means no one finds out about the Krabby Patty’s juicy secret. But is it really necessary?
I mean, could it be possible that fish actually like red algae and thus would be receptive, if not
intrigued by a burger containing it? Well, yeah. Yeah, they do. Some fish are known to actually
enjoy red algae as part of their daily diet. In fact, fish are actually known to enjoy and even
benefit from many of the ingredients listed in the Krabby Patty: Beans, chili peppers, onions. Even
turmeric. All are things that fish have been known to eat, making it no surprise that they ended
up in a successful formula for the Krabby Patty. So there you have it, Theorists. That is what's
in a Krabby Patty. Four cups of faba beans, one chopped onion, enough breadcrumbs to
bind it liquid smoke, chili pepper, turmeric, one teaspoon of a calcium supplement, flour, salt,
seaweed sauce, and lastly the big secret; red algae extract and of course, love. The love and
pride that one yellow sponge has for his little baby burgers. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going
to live out a childhood fantasy by frying up a double Krabby Patty with the works. 14 year old me
has been wanting to try this one for a while now. In the meantime, remember, if you have yourself
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