Chef Steve Reed and the Runaway Turkey

On this episode of Our American Stories, in Carlisle, Iowa, Chef Steve Reed had one job: bring home the Thanksgiving turkey. After years in the kitchen and decades of perfect holiday meals, this one seemed easy. He found the bird, hauled it through a packed grocery store, and tossed it into the back of his truck for the short drive home. There was just one problem...his truck didn’t have a tailgate.

By the time he pulled into his driveway, the turkey was gone. A few streets back, a man in a tweed jacket stood quietly on the curb, staring down at the runaway bird like it had fallen from the sky. What followed was part rescue mission, part comedy sketch, and pure Thanksgiving magic.

Chef Steve joins us for the story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories and our Thanksgiving special.
Up next, a story from Steve Reid about an unforgettable
experience with a turkey. Take it away, Steve.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
My name is Stephen Reid, and I live here in Carlisle, Iowa,
and I would like to share a story about how
I lost a Thanksgiving turkey.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
So just a little bit of a background. I am
a chef and I have.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Worked as a chef for over thirty years now, and
back in two thousand and six, I saw a job
listing for a family that was looking to hire a
private chef. Lo and behold, I was offered the position,
and I was just elated pretty.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Much almost immediately. I bonded with this family and it
was just.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
A joy to show up to work every day. And
in fact, the husband of the family he gave me
the name a master chef, which I had to laugh
because I am not a master chef at all. I mean, yes,
I am a chef, yes I am an excellent cook,
but I am not a master chef at least in

(01:29):
the officials, in the official sense. So I had been
working for this family for two and a half years
and Thanksgiving was coming up, and they were trying to
figure out what they wanted to do for Thanksgiving dinner.
This debate developed between the mother and the father of

(01:54):
the family on what kind of turkey that they wanted
to have.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
The husband, who had done all of the cooking before
I was.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Hired, really had this obsession with really large turkeys. But
the mother of the house was really concerned about eating healthy,
so she really preferred grass fed organic turkey.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
In ten days, this whole argument went on, and.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
So a week before Thanksgiving in two thousand and eight,
the phone rings in the kitchen and it was the
husband and he said, master Chef, don't worry about going
to the grocery store at all. We're gonna have two smaller,
grass fed organic turkeys show up at the house. They're

(02:50):
gonna be delivered to the front door. They're gonna be
all thought out, and they're gonna be all ready for you.
And I'm thinking, oh, that is just incredible. I went
through the weekend just really didn't think anything about it.
And so I came back in to work that Monday
and everything was going normal, and the phone rings and

(03:16):
it is the husband of the family and he says,
master Chef, we've changed our minds, and I want you
to just drop whatever you're doing and go to the store,
and I need you to find a turkey and make
sure that it's around twenty pounds please. And I'm thinking,

(03:37):
oh my gosh, are you kidding me? With it being
the Monday before Thanksgiving, the parking lot was jam packed full.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
There was one spot.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
That I found and it was in the very corner
of the park wor lot, just about as far away
from the grocery store as you could possibly be. And
going to the grocery store, sure thing, you know, it
was busy. It was loaded with people. And not only

(04:18):
did they need turkey, but I also needed some celery.
So I walked in through the store and immediately went
over to the purduce section, grabbed some celery, and proceeded
to the back of the store to where they kept
all of the turkeys.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
And what you know, way down in the bottom of this.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Cooler, there's this huge turkey. And it was just like
the heavens opened up and a chorus of angels were
singing down upon me. It's like, yes, I have found
a twenty two pound turkey. And then I picked up

(05:02):
the turkey I'm I'm walking, I'm walking towards the front
of the store, and I'm switching hands, and obviously there's
lines at every cashier station, so I'm having to hold
the turkey.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Of course, by.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Now my arms are feeling feeling like they're going to be.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Pulled out from my shoulder.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
So I get to my truck and I was just
so tired of carrying this turkey, and so for whatever reason,
I just threw it in the back of my truck. Now,
something that I need to tell you about my truck

(05:46):
at this point, it didn't have a tailgate. So anyway,
I put the turkey into the into the back of
the truck with a celery, and for a moment, I thought, well,
maybe I should take the turkey and I should put
it into.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
The cab of my truck. That got nah, I don't
think that'll be It'll be okay.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
If that thing weighs twenty three pounds, that turkey isn't
gonna go anywhere. So I make it home and go
to grab the turkey and the celery and all I
see is the celery.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
Oh, this horror, this terrible feeling just came over me.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
It's like, oh, my gosh, I have lost the Thanksgiving turkey.
But I had to go back and go find my
turkey wherever it might be. So I only had to
drive maybe three tenths of a mile at it. So
there was my turkey and it was just sitting on
the curb of the street. And when I pull up,

(06:56):
there was this older gentleman. And I'll never forget this
gentleman because he was just standing on the curb just
looking down at my tricky. He wasn't touching it, he
wasn't trying to pick it up or do anything like that.
He was just standing there with his hands in his
pockets looking at it. And this is say I'll never

(07:19):
forget him because he had on like these doctor slacks.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
He had on this really nice tweet sports jacket and
a Derby hat.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
And I obviously I've never met this man before, but
I have to go pick up my turkey. And I
go and it's like, excuse me, sir, but.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
This is my turkey. I accidentally lost it on the
way home.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
And this gentleman says, oh, I don't know anybody has
ever lost a turkey.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
And I just shook my head and said, well until now,
I don't know anyone that ever has either.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
And I put the turkey into the car seat that
I had in my truck and drove home.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
So then I had maybe forty five.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Minutes and would I was just finished up the meal
for their family when they came home. Of course, in
this time, I'm thinking about everything that happened, that happened,
that transpired, and I'm just laughing through myself as like
only you anyway, So the family comes.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
In, you know, the kids come in, and then and then.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
The father comes in, and obviously the first thing he
says is, master Chef, did you find me a turkey?
And I go, oh, I have a turkey, and I
have a story.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
He goes, oh, really, I didn't know whether I should
tell him or not, but let's face it, it was a
funny story. And they were just rolling.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I mean, they could hardly eat their supper they are
laughing so hard.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
And a special thanks to Master Chef Steve Reid how
the Master Chef lost the Thanksgiving turkey? That story here
on our American Story