TV The one where we made Rachel's beefy Thanksgiving trifle from Friends EW tests out the unusual combo of English trifle and shepherd's pie that Ross said "tastes like feet." By EW Staff Published on November 28, 2024 10:00AM EST Comments "What's not to like? Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Good." Although Joey (Matt LeBlanc) was enthusiastic about the beefy dessert Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) once made on a Thanksgiving episode of Friends, the rest of their squad wasn't so sure. In the season 6 episode "The One Where Ross Got High," Monica (Courteney Cox) lets Rachel handle dessert, but it turns out the cookbook pages are stuck together and what she thinks is a traditional English trifle is combined with a recipe for shepherd's pie, including a layer of "beef sautéd with peas and onions." In the episode, which aired on Nov. 25, 1999, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) gets out of trying the unusual combo on account of being a vegetarian, while Chandler (Matthew Perry) dashes off to "enjoy it on the balcony." Ross (David Schwimmer) kindly shovels his all in to spare Rachel's feelings, but the second she leaves the room he exclaims, "It tastes like feet!" Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller on 'Friends'. NBCU Photo Bank/Getty How to watch 2024 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, featuring Santa and Wednesday Addams So when Hello Fresh put out Rachel Green’s Trifle meal kits in honor of Friends' 30th anniversary this year, our first thought was: Could we BE any more excited to test out this recipe? We enlisted one of Entertainment Weekly's most culinary-skilled staffers (a.k.a. our resident Monica), editorial director Gerrad Hall, to tie on an apron and cook up Rachel's recipe for us to try out. See images of how it went below. Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more. Yes, chef EW's Gerrad Hall. Gerrad Hall Here come the meat sweats! Hello Fresh's specialty kit included ingredients and step-by-step recipe cards to create both a shepherd’s pie and a classic English trifle. Bowled over The Rachel Green Trifle Kit from Hello Fresh. Gerrad Hall Oh. My. God. It also included a Friends-themed apron and a special dish with a center divider so that we didn't technically have to mix the sweet and savory flavors if we didn't wish to. Sauté away Sautéing the veggies. Gerrad Hall Carrots, onions, and what Phoebe would call "regular celery" help get your veggies in. Mixing it up EW's Gerrad Hall mixing. Gerrad Hall How you doin'? Of the cooking process, EW's Chef Hall said, "I love getting in the kitchen for a bit of culinary therapy, so I was really excited to make this dish for my work friends. The step-by-step instructions make this so incredibly easy to prepare — and even replicate on your own later." Do the mash Scooping in the shepherd’s pie. Gerrad Hall If you don't like meat and potatoes, this is all a moot point. The beef? Rachel admitted that "was weird" to her too in the episode, but she explained of the English, "These people just put very strange things in their food." Cheese please The shepherd’s pie side. Gerrad Hall Something's on fire. Oh, you know what, it's probably just your burnin' loins! No, wait, actually it's this delicious broiled cheese. Browning some cheddar on top of the potatoes made us feel more gratified than Joey that time he read Rachel's "dirty book." Ta-da! EW's Gerrad Hall. Jillian Sederholm Just so you know, perfecting Rachel's Thanksgiving trifle is not that common, it doesn't happen to every guy, and it is a big deal. "Admittedly, I was very skeptical how the two would taste together, but the combo of sweet and savory worked in ways that it really shouldn't," Hall said of the meal. "Is it better than the classic combo of bacon and maple syrup or French fries and a Wendy's Frosty? I wouldn't rank it that high, but it was surprisingly better than I expected." The 15 best Thanksgiving movies to feast on this holiday season So, what was the final verdict from everyone else? Although the dish featured the recipes separated as if they were on a break, we decided to go it true Rachel Green-style and mix things up once they were plated. The combo had one or two detractors, and a whole lot of enthusiasts. In fact, we even saw a couple of folks go in for seconds — but they don't know that we know they know we know. Check the video at the top of this post for more reactions from the EW staff, and get the recipe to try out yourself here.