November 22, 2025 • 43 mins
This podcast episode serves as a comprehensive guide to preparing for the forthcoming Thanksgiving celebration, with a particular emphasis on the preparation of turkey. We delve into the merits of utilizing a pellet grill for achieving a delicately smoked turkey, thereby avoiding the pitfalls associated with heavier woods that can overwhelm the bird's natural flavors. Additionally, we engage in an informative discourse regarding the advantages of purchasing frozen turkeys as opposed to purportedly fresh ones, elucidating the nuances of various preparation techniques. The conversation further extends to the importance of side dishes, with insights into alternative options such as yams versus sweet potatoes, and the art of crafting stuffing muffins for enhanced presentation. As we navigate this culinary landscape, we underscore the essence of gathering with loved ones, highlighting that the company shared at the table far surpasses the significance of the meal itself.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Weston Kia
- AmazingRibs.com
- Kia Corp
- Heritage Steel
- Painted Hills
- Pig Powder
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt so fire up your grill, light
the charcoal, and get yoursmoker cooking.
Now from the Turn It, Don'tBurn it studios in Portland.
Here's jt.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Barbecue Nation.
We've kind of been on a bit ofa hiatus.
Leanne's been flying aroundthe world again doing stuff.
(00:22):
I've been creating some othershows, and Meathead is doing Meathead
stuff constantly.
Anyway, this is our annualTurkey Day fest that's coming up
next week.
So this show will air, youknow, less than a week ahead of Thanksgiving.
But we always have some greatstuff for you.
So welcome to everybody.
(00:44):
And I'm excited aboutThanksgiving this year.
I'm going to open the showwith that.
I'm excited about it because Ifinally got my second pellet grill
repaired and fixed, and now Igot two of them that'll work, and
I can just cook up a storm.
So that's great.
You know, pellet grills aregreat for turkey because it's a very
(01:06):
delicate, mild smoke.
Yeah.
And turkey loves smoke.
I mean, it's like peanutbutter and jelly, but it doesn't
love heavy smoke.
You know, I wouldn't want todo turkey with mesquite or something.
Right.
So pellet grills are a reallysmart way to go for turkey.
Yeah.
I've always had great luckwith them.
You know, we'll talk aboutthis in the show.
(01:27):
I know, but Meatheadspatchcocks or does big turkey breasts
like that, I'm kind of presentmore of a traditional one.
Like, you can see behind me.
And I think Leanne kind ofdoes more traditional ones like that.
But there's room for everybody.
And especially, I think, whenyou use a pellet grill.
(01:48):
I really have, over the years,come to appreciate the, like you
said, the light smoke, easy to adjust.
I'm not battling charcoaltemperatures and things like that,
although, you know, that's fine.
It's just like everybody.
I've got so much going on thatday, I don't want to worry about
it.
And so that's how I came tothat decision.
(02:10):
Anyway, let's get some basicsout of the way.
Most people are going to gobuy a frozen turkey.
Meathead just posted somestuff a couple days ago that even
your fresh turkeys are frozenbecause they're chilled down to 26
degrees, most of them, andthat is below freezing.
(02:31):
What should people Meathead belooking out for when they're, one,
buying a supposedly freshturkey and two, when they do, you
know, a butterball or something.
Well, I buy frozen turkeys andI think they're a better way to go.
I mean, usually the turkey isslaughtered and rapidly frozen.
These new freezing systemsthey have are ultra fast and ultra
(02:54):
cold, and as a result the icecrystals are smaller.
If you throw a turkey into anold fashioned walk in freezer or
refrigerator, it forms largeice crystals which puncture the muscle
cells and you get a lot ofliquid escapes.
Frozen turkey by law, unlessthey've changed law, USDA says can
(03:18):
go as low as 26 degrees, whichthey consider fresh turkeys.
If you've ever picked up aturkey that's frozen or that's fresh
at 26 degrees, it's a bowlingball as hard as a rock.
I don't know how they get awaywith doing that.
It's.
That sounds totally misleading.
But if it was a really,really, truly fresh turkey where
(03:41):
it had been killed, neverfrozen, shipped to the store, I'm
not crazy about going thatroute either because it can take
days in transit.
It can sit in on a loadingdock while they're waiting to bring
it indoors, or we don't knowif the truck is at the right temperature,
(04:03):
how long it's been in thedisplay case.
So I buy frozen turkey andthey turn out okay.
Yeah.
Leanne, what's your thoughtson that?
I agree.
I mean, they've got it down toa science freezing now.
And you know, it's almost like cryovac.
Everything, even really goodfish, sushi grade fish at restaurants
(04:26):
are FedEx over and they're frozen.
So when they, you know, freezethem real quickly, they're as fresh
as that meat can possibly beon a turkey.
You know, like he said, youdon't know where it's been.
If it's been fresh, it's, it'smore risky.
So I agree.
I buy frozen turkeys and makesure you buy your turkey early so
it defrosts on time in the refrigerator.
(04:47):
You know, there's all kinds ofcalculations for how many days for
how many pounds.
Rule of thumb, if the turkey'sfrozen, put it in the fridge a week
in advance.
So Thanksgiving's Thursday.
Put it in the fridge on thepremium previous Thursday or Friday.
That's a little more time thanyou really need.
(05:07):
But sometimes it'sparticularly down in the center there
where the gizzard andeverything is.
There'll still be ice crystalsif you don't get it going early.
So now if you're, if you, ifyou follow up and you forget to start
the thawing early and you getbehind and you realize, oh, I only
(05:28):
got three days.
You can speed it up a littleby putting it in a bucket of water.
Make it cold water, but put itin a bucket of water and that water
removes heat from cold.
Actually, let me, let me rephrase.
Water transfers from the waterbecause it's.
The water is warmer than thebird, transfers heat faster than
(05:51):
air.
So that, that will help if youabsolutely have to.
You can put it in the sinkwith some hot water, but don't leave
it in there more than a couple hours.
There was a great story yearsago about John Wayne.
His wife wanted to, his secondwife wanted to do a big traditional
(06:14):
Thanksgiving dinner.
She went out that morning andbought a frozen turkey.
And she was with hot water.
She actually washed it with soap.
She did all kinds of stuff.
And when the Duke came home,he was just laughing at her.
So he took everybody out to dinner.
(06:35):
Okay, I think they probablychucked the turkey, but she was just
working her little heart outtrying to get that turkey.
Thought I will tell you, andwe talked about this before, I think
I mentioned this last yearwhen I get a frozen turkey, because
I won't get mine till Fridayor Saturday.
All right.
I just, schedule wise, I letit sit out on the counter in the
(06:59):
house for about an hour to anhour and a half, just.
And then I put it in thefridge, I give it that little jump
start and nobody's died.
But I think that's a good idea.
Yeah, just give it a littlekick right there and then follow
the prescribed procedures.
Generally, rule of thumb is ifmeat is kept below 40 degrees, you're
(07:23):
not going to have bacterial growth.
And there's a high likelihoodthere are bacteria on the bird, but
it'll all die when you cookit, so it's nothing to worry about.
But if you let it sit out fora few hours, it's staying below 40.
It's just fine.
Yeah.
Because I leave it in thecryovac package, the whole thing.
I just leave it in there.
(07:44):
Then it goes.
We have two refrigeratorshere, like a lot of people do.
I put it out on the one on theback porch, put it on, on the rack
in there.
There's nothing above it orbelow it.
And I just let it sit there.
And then I, I check it everyday to kind of give it the old finger
test to see if I'm makingprogress, you know, a little bit
like that.
And then, you know, I'll pullit out Thursday morning and take
(08:10):
it out of the packaging, rinseit all out, take the gizzards in
the liver and all that stuff out.
Excuse me.
And, and then again, if it'sstill got a few of those little crystals
in the cavity, I'll let it sitfor a little bit.
Not hours, you know, but alittle bit at room temperature.
A lot of that'll go away.
And then, you know, rinse itoff and get it in the, get it in
(08:34):
the cooker.
Pretty simple for me.
Now here, here's a tip forfolks out there.
If you're serving a big crowd,resist the temptation to buy a massive
turkey.
Buy two small ones.
Two 12 pound turkeys is betterthan 124.
And the reason is, aseverybody should know is the big
(08:58):
problem with turkey is thebreast meat.
And the problem with thebreast meat is it has very little
fat and it can dry out prettyquickly and you go from tender and
juicy to cardboard in moments.
That breast meat on the big 24pounder is bigger than a softball.
It's, it's, it's, that's a lot.
(09:18):
It's a large thermal mass andit takes a lot of energy to cook
it and it take.
And by the time the, the heatpenetrates down to the center so
that it's cooked safely edgeto edge, the exterior is overcooked
and dried out.
So get two smaller birds.
First of all, younger birdsare more tender and more juicy to
(09:41):
begin with.
So get two 12s, cook them andhey, throw one in the oven, throw
one on the smoker, whatever.
And as Jeff says, it gives youtwice as many drumsticks too.
There you go.
We go to my brother in law'shouse, my wife's brother, and they're
the sweetest people.
(10:02):
And there's a bunch of youngones in there and they don't know
the drumsticks are often left over.
I don't know, I don't get them.
Blasphemy.
That's blasphemy.
Yeah, that's the first thing Igo for.
That's why I always buy acouple extras.
We've got a store in.
Yes, right.
I've heard you talk about it.
Your drumstick theory.
(10:23):
Yeah.
You clean out the store of drumsticks?
Well, I, I buy two or threedepending on what size they have
the day I'm in there.
And they also have packages,and this is not for everybody, but
they also have packages ofturkey giblets and I like to put
them in my stuffing.
Okay.
So I'll buy a package or twoof those, depending on the package
(10:46):
size.
I have those, but I have thedrumsticks and I always smoke a couple
extra drumsticks.
And I've said this before, soif I'm being redundant, forgive me,
folks, but I hide them.
So kind of like I make anextra pecan pie and I hide it.
So at the.
(11:07):
When everybody goes homeThursday night and they've all got
their Tupperware containersfull of stuff and you're left with
some scraps of the turkey, soto speak, we have enough for some
good turkey sandwiches towatch the football games the next
couple of days.
That's my theory.
We were talking about freshturkeys earlier and I got a short
(11:30):
story to tell.
I'm in the Chicagoland areaand, and not far from me is a guy
who will sell you.
He has live turkeys on display.
They're all lined up.
It's, you know, it's like yougo to Reno and you go to one of these
places where the girls are alllined up.
(11:50):
You get to, I'll take her.
And, and, and he reaches inthe cage, grabs him by the legs,
sticks them headfirst intothis funnel type device and slits
their throat right in front ofyour arms.
And the message here is, is ifyou can get a live turkey and have
(12:12):
it slaughtered fresh, don'tcook it right away because rigor
mortis sets in.
And after a day, or if youtake it home in that night or the
next day even, it's going tobe hard as a nail.
You got to let it recover fromrigor mortis for a couple of days
at least.
So be very careful about that.
(12:33):
The other thing is, is ifyou've gotten a John Way Elaine's
Wife frozen bird the daybefore Thanksgiving, you can actually
cook a frozen bird.
It's not ideal.
It's not the best way to go.
Cook it at a low temperatureand it will thaw and cook gradually.
It'll take a lot longer thannormal, but it'll be okay.
(12:54):
It won't be great and.
But it won't be awful.
Okay, we're gonna take a break.
We're gonna be back withMeathead from AmazingRibs.com and
the world traveler, Ms. LeanneWhippen and I will be back in just
a moment.
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(13:16):
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Hey.
Everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
(13:36):
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
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Stay cool handles.
It's titanium strengthened.
It's got all the great stuff.
Just go to Heritagesteel usand find out more.
You'll love it.
I guarantee it.
(14:04):
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Yeah, that's us.
And we've got Leanne againtoday with us, as always, and Meathead
from amazing ribs dot com.
Meathead is the only guestwe've ever had on this show to correlate
live turkeys with a brothel.
So I. I just never.
(14:26):
And I gotta tell you, I need.
I need a code of silly.
I have never been to a brothel.
Okay, well, I wasn't gonna ask that.
Question, but I once worked ina liquor store that was next door
to a strip joint.
And the girls, the girls allcame in and bought for me.
So that was kind of fun.
Yeah.
See, life is an amazing thing.
(14:46):
All right, so we've beentalking about the turkeys and, and
that.
And that's, of course, the bigdish people also, other people will
do a ham or whatever.
And I just, like always whenpeople ask me, it's like, just use
your common sense.
The hams are normally precooked, especially if you get a honey
baked ham or anything likethat, you know, you're just basically
(15:08):
heating them up.
If you buy one that's a shankor something or a butt, then you.
You do have to cook that.
But it's not that difficult.
Well, you mentioned that somepeople do a ham, and I know some
people do lasagna and somepeople do prime rib and stuff, but
I think by and large, ingeneral, most people are doing turkey.
And this is.
I'm going to get philosophicalhere for a second, and you may have
(15:31):
heard me do this little spielbefore, because I think Thanksgiving
is the coolest holiday of them all.
First of all, it's a food holiday.
It's, you know, it's a harvest holiday.
It's celebrated about food andaround food, it's.
I mean, we eat great meals onthe 4th of July and Christmas and
Easter and everything.
But this is a holiday designedfor dining.
(15:53):
And not only is it dine fordining, most of us are having the
same meal all across thecountry, regardless of race, religion,
country of origin, politics.
We're having turkey andstuffing and cranberries and sweet
potatoes or variations of the theme.
(16:13):
It's almost as if we're all atone giant table across the country.
Regardless of that whichdivides us, we're together on this
one meal.
And I just think that's poetic.
I'm not aware of any otherculture or country that has anything
similar, and I love it.
(16:34):
The other thing Meatheaddidn't tell you in that little speech
there is that he will be atthe end of the table, closest to
the table that's holding the pies.
Oh, yeah, that's where he's at.
And we're going to get thepies in the next segment.
But yeah, he's.
That's one of the reasons whyyou want to do the cook the turkey
on your grill or your smoker.
So there's room in the ovenfor pies.
(16:56):
Yes.
Now, next Wednesday, thiscoming Wednesday, Meathead will be
banned from the kitchen.
You know this?
Yes, I know this because Lou,his wife and his nieces and all,
they do the whole pie thingall day long and that.
And I think they put up one ofthose police tape things across the
doorway to the kitchen so hecan't get in there.
(17:20):
You know, we have done theThanksgiving broadcast, the three
of us together before, maybemore than once, so we know all our
own, all of each other'sstories and can finish our sentences.
But for those of you whohaven't heard it before, I think
here's another wonderful tradition.
Years ago, I mean, we'retalking 20 or more years ago, my
wife approached her threenieces and said, let's get together
(17:43):
on Wednesday and bake pies.
And they did.
And they.
And as they started havingchildren, the kids started attending
and they had multiple children.
And now many of them havegrown up and graduated.
A couple are getting married,but they still all get together.
And it's a big gang now, maybe15 of them.
(18:06):
And jobs are assigned.
Your job is to cut the apples.
Your job is to roll out the.
The crust.
And they, they have a blast.
And they do it every year.
And they, they bake the threerequired pies, apple, pecan and pumpkin.
And then they usually dosomething creative, something fun
and different.
And the pies are fabulous, butit's just, you know, it's again,
(18:30):
another ceremony, if you will,that makes this holiday so special.
My mom used to take.
There was always that littletrimmings, excuse me, of the pie
crust, right.
And she would take those andshe would put cinnamon and sugar
on them for me.
And she would bake theselittle rounds, but they, they weren't
(18:55):
cut with a cookie cutter oranything like that.
They were just hand pressed.
But she would make those andthat Was my treat on pie day.
Because you couldn't cut intothe pie.
You know, my wife does theexact same thing, because when you're
trimming the.
The crust right, it overhangsthe edge of the pie plate.
And so you.
You.
You.
You snip off that excesscrust, and she does.
She.
She just leaves it.
(19:15):
She kind of makes it like a twist.
Twist.
Yeah, my mom would twist it.
Yeah.
And sprinkles sugar on it.
Occasionally some cinnamon,but usually just sugar.
And it pops it in the ovenwith the pie, and they come out early,
and I love those things.
They're a little.
Oh, yeah, they're greattreats, Leanne.
Now, wait a minute.
I got.
Excuse me.
(19:36):
I got to jump in here.
I gotta.
I know that you bake, Jeff,but I know that Leanne is an excellent.
Oh, she is.
Yeah.
Are you a.
A lard or a butter or.
Or what is your fat of choicein pie crust lately?
Because I actually did make apie lately.
I did half Crisco, half butter.
(19:58):
Worked out great.
Before that, you know, it wasreally lard or Crisco.
Whatever I have in therefrigerator is what I use.
How about you?
I have fear of flour.
I don't do it.
Okay.
It's very messy.
Yeah.
How about you, Jeff?
We're a lard household.
That's the way I was taught.
(20:20):
And I get those little bricksof lard or little buckets, depending
on how many you're going to make.
Doesn't take much, but, yeah,we did that.
It was hot water, vinegar,lard, flour.
Trying to think right off topof my head because I don't do it
enough to know the recipe.
(20:41):
Yeah, but we would do that,and there's lots of recipes out there
for it.
But the lard crust, you justhave to be careful not to, like,
put too much vinegar in itbecause it can get a vinegary taste.
I've done that.
But if you follow the properinstructions, you.
You shouldn't have thatunderlying vinegar.
One thing I heard about was arestaurant in Texas making a phenomenal
(21:04):
pecan pie, and they use bacongrease in the crust.
And I've always wanted to try that.
That makes sense.
You know, that filling, thatgelatin, like, filling.
I think the molasses would goreally well with bacon grease.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And we've all got cans of.
Or at least I think we do.
Of bacon grease.
(21:24):
Yes, we do.
You know, I do.
I do.
I have a jar in the fridgejust like that.
Okay, we're gonna take another break.
We're gonna be back withMeathead from Amazing Ribs, Leanne
from Pig Powder fame also.
She's a big superstar now inthe Middle East.
We'll talk more about thatwhen we come back.
You're listening to Barbecue Nation.
(21:54):
Hey, everybody, it's JT And Ihave eaten.
If you've ever looked at me,you know that.
But I have eaten seafood allover the world, and I can tell you
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(22:18):
Crab Commission.
Check it out.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
If you are listening to thebetween segments, which gets put
out there sometimes, we weretalking about the dress code in Abu
(22:39):
Dhabi.
I can guarantee you that youwould not do that in Saudi Arabia.
I can, absolutely.
Now, when you go in themosques over there, you have to wear
a head covering and you haveto have your arms covered.
But as far as being out in thegeneral public, I really didn't see
any restrictions per se.
The same is true in most churches.
(23:00):
I don't know too much aboutthis country, but in Europe, they
insist that you have nosleeveless, no short shorts.
Right.
So especially if you're goingto tour the Vatican.
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
One thing we didn't finish upon the last segment I wanted to get
to was doing a ham.
You get a pre cook like ahoney baked or one of those some
(23:23):
spiral cut thing.
Leanne, how do you work with that?
Well, honey baked, usuallythey've done everything they are
going to do to it.
When I buy a ham, though, Ilike to put some sort of a glaze
on it, you know, that includesapricot preserves of all things,
and Dijon mustard.
Simple as that.
(23:44):
And just put it on theretowards the end and it'll be beautiful
and tasty, too.
Okay.
Meathead.
What if they just buy a.
Just a, a butt or shanked or something?
Yeah, yeah.
There's different cuts thatthey get for the ham, by the way,
is the hind leg of a pig.
(24:04):
And there, there is somethingcalled a ham from the front leg,
but it's not the same.
So you want to get a real hamfrom the hind leg.
And that's a big thick hunk ofmeat, often with a bone down the
center.
And usually it is part cooked.
I mean, you can get raw.
It's called a green ham.
(24:27):
And you could smoke it justlike you would a pork butt or anything
else.
But usually it's.
And it's injected with saltand Prague powder number one, which
is a pink salt, which is a preservative.
And so that's what makes itvery bright pink, like a hot dog
or a corned beef.
And I'll buy one of those notpre sliced or spiral sliced.
(24:53):
And I'll double smoke it,meaning it comes in smoked already.
It's part.
It's part cooked.
You could eat it raw, but theytell you to take it up to 140.
But I'll throw it on thesmoker and get a fresh smoke, which
is different than the pre smoke.
And it's nice, it adds to it,it doesn't over smoke it.
(25:14):
And you know, maybe an hour ofa very light smoke.
My pellet smoker is good for that.
And then I wrap it in foil anddo the same thing as Leanne with
an.
I don't want apricot and peachwork so well with Anne, but I'll
grab a jar of Smucker'sApricot J them and maybe mix in a
little white wine or a sweetwhite wine and paint it all over
(25:38):
with that and wrap it up infoil, make like a.
It looks like a Hershey's Kissand just let it.
Let it kind of braise andsteam inside that foil for a little
bit and then pour off that liquid.
And that's my gravy.
And slice it up and put thelittle gravy boat in the table and
(25:59):
let people pour some of that.
That lovely apricot and wine marinade.
It's delicious.
I think, and I want to bringthis up.
I think that gravy issomething that a lot of people that
are not used to cooking,especially large meals maybe have
(26:21):
a little reticence about doing.
You've got.
You've talked many times aboutthe drippings that you use.
I do too.
I like gym.
It's in my gravy.
A lot of people don't.
I get it.
Okay, like that.
But you know, the other thingwith gravy too is I remember my mom
(26:42):
would actually start it andkind of have it going.
And then the timing, ofcourse, timing on a big meal is everything.
When you're going to get thebird out of the oven, you're going
to carve it, you're going topresent it, you're going to do all
this stuff.
Any tips from you guys onworking with the gravy?
(27:03):
Okay.
You.
I. I have a gravy technique,and all of this stuff's on AmazingRibs.com
but it's just killer.
It's fantastic.
First of all, I'm gonna smokemy turkey.
Second of all, I typicallyeither spatchcock it or I cut it
up into legs and breast, andI'll cut the breast off the carcass
(27:28):
so it's boneless, and I'llbreak off the thigh and drumstick.
I'll leave them together andtake the wings off.
And now I have a carcass.
Oh.
There's two little hunks ofmeat on the underside called the
oysters, because they're aboutthe size of oysters, and you guys
know about them, and.
Oh, yeah, they're succulent.
They're delicious.
And you want to get those out.
(27:49):
And those are for the chef.
You don't have to tell anybodyout there that you know where they
are or that you cook them.
They're for you.
But I now have a carcass thatstill has a lot of meat and stuff
on it.
And I break it up, crush itdown as much as I can, and I put
it in a pan underneath the bird.
(28:10):
And in that pan also goes allthe skin that I trim from either
cavity.
All of the giblets except the liver.
The liver doesn't go in there.
I save the liver for freezing,and I use that for making a liver
pate or something, or I'lleven give it to the dogs.
But you don't want to mix inthe liver and the gravy or.
Or anything else.
(28:30):
It's just got too strong a flavor.
Yeah.
And then I throw in an appleor two.
I throw in some white wine.
I throw in some carrots, somecelery, some herbs.
Basically, I set up this panunder the bird to make a turkey stock.
And then it.
The turkey cooks and drips,and the drips are smoky and about.
(28:53):
I don't know.
When the turkey gets to about150, I'm shooting for 160 for the
turkey and the.
In the breast.
When it gets to about 150,I'll pull this pan out and dump out
all the solids, drain it,taste it, and if it's thin, I'll
put it on the stovetop andreduce it so it's richer.
Or if it's just right, that's fine.
I keep it warm.
(29:15):
It is absolutely fantastic.
It is rich and delicious, andit's got the smoky flavor.
And if you pour it over breastmeat, it will soak right in.
And and you know, if you addflour or anything else, which is
your traditional gravy, itbecomes thick and it doesn't penetrate.
It sits on top of the meat andit's delightful.
(29:37):
But this way it just penetrates.
And there's this technique.
There's almost always leftoverafter Thanksgiving's over.
I have to do a thing coming upin a couple weeks.
And it's when I go into the TVstation, we shoot two shows.
We shoot a live show, and thenI shoot one that they can use.
(29:57):
And this one is for aninclement weather day, like a snow
day.
You get a lot of snow days in Chicago.
We don't get that many here.
All right.
But they do.
So it's kind of like what's inthe fridge?
That's kind of the workingtitle of these segments this year.
I'm doing one.
I'm messing around with it.
A little off topic, folks, butbear with me.
(30:19):
I'm doing muffins.
Like you're saying like apiece of bread or English muffin
in the bottom of the muffinpan, and then a mixture of eggs,
whatever you would have inyour fridge.
Eggs, onions, cheese, dicedham, whatever.
And then you cook it in themuffin tin like that.
It works out pretty well.
I'm still toying with it, but,you know, it's just whatever you
(30:43):
got.
And I love those kind ofthings that we do.
Whatever you got in thefridge, you got to create something
with it.
It.
So there you go.
I like on day two, Friday orSaturday, I like the stuffing or
the dressing with the gravy.
(31:07):
With my turkey sandwich, whenI'm watching the ball.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And put it right on the sandwich.
Oh, yeah.
With cranberries.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just get after it.
It.
Just get after it.
The other thing I was going tosuggest to people is for all, especially
the hardcore barbecue folksthat might have a two burner, freestanding
(31:28):
propane unit, like, you cookbig pots.
I cook my potatoes and mysweet potatoes outside on the deck
or we have a covered patio.
I cook them out there.
So you don't get all the steamand stuff in the kitchen.
Like that can raise thetemperature all of a sudden, if you're
kind of dressed nicely for theevent and all of a sudden the temperature
(31:50):
goes from 71 degrees in yourkitchen to 103.
And you won't know if yourantiperspirant is really working
until you do that.
So I have found that cookingthat outside just helps as far as
organization of the meal.
And getting stuff prepped.
Well, that's also a good ideafor doing a fried turkey.
(32:12):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
And don't make the mistake ofputting too much oil in your pot
before you drop the turkey in.
So you take your turkey andwater and put it in the pot so you
can see the level of your water.
And then when you take theturkey out, you'll see how much oil
you need based on the line ofthe top of the water.
Every year here, and you'veheard me say this before, every year
(32:33):
there's a story, at least oneof somebody that was doing a fried
turkey in their garage orsomething, and the damn thing blows
up, and then the firedepartment has to show up.
YouTube is full of videos ofpeople setting their garage on fire
when they fry turkey.
I like fried turkeys.
The big advantage is it givesreally great crispy skin.
Oh, yeah.
(32:54):
And they are.
They tend to be moist.
They just don't have theflavor that a smoked turkey has.
No, no.
But they are crunchy and good.
Okay, we're out of time, but acouple things.
What's one tip, Leanne to giveto people that we haven't talked
about for Thanksgiving?
Yes.
(33:14):
Unless you got a Philly in thethird at Preakness or something.
But, you know, how about thestock market?
Yeah.
God.
Okay, we are going to take a break.
Sorry for that littletechnical glitch in the middle there,
folks, but you probably won'teven see it after or hear it after
Dave gets done.
No, we had fun talking aboutyou while you were gone.
Good, good.
Glad somebody is making headway.
(33:35):
We've both seen you naked, so we.
You know, this is a food show.
We don't want to scare people.
Okay.
And like I've said before, ifyou were talking about fish, every
time I'm on the beach,Greenpeace comes by with a pole,
tries to get me back in the water.
Anyway, we're gonna take a break.
We'll be back in a minute.
Don't go away.
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(33:56):
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K Acorn.
(34:19):
Hey, everybody, it's jt.
You know, I talk about PaintedHills all the time, and we always
say beef the way nature intended.
But it's more than thatbecause each bite of Painted Hills
will make your taste buds explode.
Put a big, bright smile onyour face, and whoever's at your
dinner table will have a big,bright smile on their face.
And you can thank me for that later.
(34:39):
Just go topaintedhillsbeef.com and find out
more.
You won't regret it.
Hey, everybody, J.T.
Here.
I want to tell you aboutHammerstahl knives.
Hammerstahl combines Germansteel with beautiful and functioning
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They're part of the Heritagesteel group, which also does their
pots and pans.
So go to heritagesteel us.
(35:00):
Check out the Hammer Stahlknives if you're really into cooking.
I think you're really gonna.
Welcome back to BarbecueNation on JT along with Meathead
from AmazingRibs.com and misswhipping normally.
(35:25):
I kind of flubbed up that last segment.
Leanne, can you hear our new puppy?
She was just barking up the storm.
Oh, okay.
I. I couldn't hear it.
She's in the next room barkinglike crazy.
You use pig powder at all,Leanne, during Thanksgiving?
Yes, I use pig powder on the turkey.
It's awesome on poultry.
(35:47):
Even though it says pig powder.
You think it's only good on pork.
Not true.
It's very good on chicken.
Yeah.
I have the same problem.
I make a rub called MemphisDust, and on the label of the bottle,
it says for pork.
But it's really an all purpose.
Yeah.
And I've had big powder, andit is.
It's.
I mean, in fact, I got to tellyou, I don't think I mentioned this
(36:08):
before.
I put some pig powder on somesalmon and smoked it.
It was really good.
Yeah, it's really good.
I've used it on all kinds of seafood.
I've used it on all kinds of poultry.
Of course, piggies.
I think it's great.
And I've used it on vegetables.
All right, we were.
We got to press this a littlebit here.
(36:29):
Side dishes.
We do kind of a traditional.
I do the stuffing, and ofcourse, I do a green bean casserole.
And I do.
I do yams, not sweet potatoes.
That's just because of thecrew I'm feeding.
I know what they prefer.
Tell the audience thedifference between yams and sweet
(36:49):
potatoes.
The spelling.
The spelling.
You didn't get that joke?
No, I didn't hear it.
I've got a Labrador, a littleLabrador retriever next door making
a racket.
Oh, now I hear it.
Yeah, I heard it that time.
Well, I use yams because Ithink they're actually sweeter.
(37:11):
Leanne.
I use sweet potatoes becausethat's just what I've used over the
years.
But I don't use canned.
I use real sweet potatoes inthe sweet potato casserole I make,
which has like a pralinetopping with pecans and brown sugar
and flour.
It almost tastes dessert like.
And actually in the sweetpotatoes is some coconut, which is
(37:32):
a different kind of a twist.
Not a lot, but just enough togive it a little sweet, unusual flavor.
I just take the yams and I cutthem up into thirds or something
because we get big ones.
And I boil them, I let them cool.
The skin comes right off.
Then I whip them and I putsome brown sugar and some cinnamon.
Sometimes I'll put maybe likesome amaretto or something in it.
(37:55):
Oh, look at there.
Look at the baby.
How long you cook this for?
Oh, that.
That might take a while.
This is Starla.
Hi, Starla.
Hi.
Starla is going to be a leaderdog for the blind if I don't screw
her up.
Yeah.
She is in training.
She is four months old andshe's wiggly baby, and she's adorable.
(38:20):
And that's a hobby we have.
We train puppies and forleader dogs for the blind.
And she's number eight.
We've done.
Oh, good for you.
That's a huge commitment.
So do you.
Do you ever do the marshmallows?
I have people that likemarshmallows on the sweet potatoes.
So I'm a marshmallow fan.
I love them.
And Julia Child loved them.
(38:41):
Yes.
She wrote that.
How much.
We have a niece who does them.
And like clockwork, withoutfail, she burns them almost every
year.
Last year, I think last yearwas the breakthrough.
She actually got them out intime when they were brown and golden.
But she almost always burnsthem them.
Doesn't take long.
No, it doesn't take long.
I. I do half and half becauseof people that don't like them and
(39:06):
they don't have to mess with them.
That's good.
That's perfect.
And the people that do likethem, they can have as much as they'd
like.
Like that.
I think they're so good withmaple syrup.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Any other sides, you guys?
You know, we've kind ofcovered the tradition.
Oh, guess whose hands up again.
Okay, I've talked about this before.
(39:27):
I've talked about this withyou guys before, but it's worth repeating
is I make stuffing muffinsinstead of a big pan.
All right, Definition of turns.
Stuffing is what's inside the bird.
Dressing is what's in the pan.
Okay.
So the stuffing is stuffed.
Strongly recommend you do notstuff the bird.
(39:48):
When you stuff the bird, younow make a bowling ball.
And it is a large thermal mass.
And because the juices fromthe bird do get into the stuffing,
you have to cook the stuffingto 160 degrees to make it safe.
And that takes a lot longerthan cooking a bird with an empty
cavity because warm air goesinto the cavity and it cooks from
(40:09):
both sides, inside and out.
Now, it doesn't get a lot in there.
And if you make a spatchcockbird, which lays out flat, you can
now brown the inside of thecavity and brown as flavor.
And you do the stuffing on the side.
Now, a lot of people will doit in a pan, but I do them in muffin
tins.
I make little muffins out of them.
Now you gotta mix a little eggin there so they hold together a
(40:31):
little better.
I've got the recipe onAmazingRibs.com but they look so
cool.
They, you know, you got themuffin top.
And the cool thing is themuffin top gets crispy and crunchy.
And that's the best part of this.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody wants the crunchymuffin or the crunchy top.
So everybody gets a muffin allthe exact same size and all with
(40:52):
a nice crunchy top.
And they're delicious anddelightful and they're fun looking
at and it's really easy.
So I don't stuff the bird andI do them in muffin tins.
I call them muffins or stuffings.
So when you're putting yourmenu together.
I know, Jeff, you appeaseeveryone that comes to your table
and, you know, serve their favorites.
(41:13):
But don't get caught uptotally in the food.
Just kind of get caught up to,you know, inviting your friends and
family that you want to enjoythe time with first off.
And then food comes secondary.
But once your menu set, it's set.
And I think everybody would behappy just to be together.
I think that's good.
I'll echo that.
What's in the chairs is moreimportant than what's on the table.
(41:35):
Absolutely.
And for another tip, if youwant, I'm a wino and I love wine.
And it's hard to pick wine fora big crowd because everybody's tastes
are different.
But I've learned that Rieslingcabinet style, a slightly off, dry,
slightly sweet Riesling goesbeautifully with the turkey and everybody
(41:57):
loves it.
So that's, that's my choice.
I bring either a California ora Northwest.
A lot of really good Rieslingsout of Oregon and Washington state,
and.
But I bring a German Riesling cabinet.
Okay.
Last thing.
Pigpowder.com for Leanne.
(42:19):
All right.
Currently, we're sold out.
Great.
So I was in Dubai, Okay.
And right before I flew out,my pallets were supposed to arrive
on the day of flying out, so Ihad to delay the delivery.
As a matter of fact, I'mtaking care of that tomorrow.
But it'll soon be online, andthere'll be a spicy pig powder added
(42:39):
as well.
Excellent.
Excellent.
And Meathead's new book, theMeathead Method, is available online
in stores.
It's right there.
He's got two of the bestcookbooks and science books and technique
books.
They.
They cover everything.
And you know what?
If you're looking for a gift,a host gift or hostess gift, when
you go to someone's house forThanksgiving, get the book and give
(43:01):
them that.
They will love it.
And it's also great for the holidays.
How kind of you.
I was going to say get pigpowder better.
There you go.
But you can't.
And you can buy me golf ballsif you want.
Anyway, we gotta get out ofhere for Leanne and Meathead.
I hope you all have a verywonderful Thanksgiving with your
friends and family.
Thank you.
And a happy Thanksgiving toall your listeners.
(43:22):
Yes, happy Thanksgiving, andremember our motto, especially this
coming Thursday.
Turn it, don't burn it.
Take care, everybody.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions and association
with Salem Media Group.
All rights reserved.
It's time for Barbecue Nationwith jt so fire up your grill, light
the charcoal, and get yoursmoker cooking.
Now from the Turn It, Don'tBurn it studios in Portland.
Here's jt.
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Barbecue Nation.
We've kind of been on a bit ofa hiatus.
Leanne's been flying aroundthe world again doing stuff.
(00:22):
I've been creating some othershows, and Meathead is doing Meathead
stuff constantly.
Anyway, this is our annualTurkey Day fest that's coming up
next week.
So this show will air, youknow, less than a week ahead of Thanksgiving.
But we always have some greatstuff for you.
So welcome to everybody.
(00:44):
And I'm excited aboutThanksgiving this year.
I'm going to open the showwith that.
I'm excited about it because Ifinally got my second pellet grill
repaired and fixed, and now Igot two of them that'll work, and
I can just cook up a storm.
So that's great.
You know, pellet grills aregreat for turkey because it's a very
(01:06):
delicate, mild smoke.
Yeah.
And turkey loves smoke.
I mean, it's like peanutbutter and jelly, but it doesn't
love heavy smoke.
You know, I wouldn't want todo turkey with mesquite or something.
Right.
So pellet grills are a reallysmart way to go for turkey.
Yeah.
I've always had great luckwith them.
You know, we'll talk aboutthis in the show.
(01:27):
I know, but Meatheadspatchcocks or does big turkey breasts
like that, I'm kind of presentmore of a traditional one.
Like, you can see behind me.
And I think Leanne kind ofdoes more traditional ones like that.
But there's room for everybody.
And especially, I think, whenyou use a pellet grill.
(01:48):
I really have, over the years,come to appreciate the, like you
said, the light smoke, easy to adjust.
I'm not battling charcoaltemperatures and things like that,
although, you know, that's fine.
It's just like everybody.
I've got so much going on thatday, I don't want to worry about
it.
And so that's how I came tothat decision.
(02:10):
Anyway, let's get some basicsout of the way.
Most people are going to gobuy a frozen turkey.
Meathead just posted somestuff a couple days ago that even
your fresh turkeys are frozenbecause they're chilled down to 26
degrees, most of them, andthat is below freezing.
(02:31):
What should people Meathead belooking out for when they're, one,
buying a supposedly freshturkey and two, when they do, you
know, a butterball or something.
Well, I buy frozen turkeys andI think they're a better way to go.
I mean, usually the turkey isslaughtered and rapidly frozen.
These new freezing systemsthey have are ultra fast and ultra
(02:54):
cold, and as a result the icecrystals are smaller.
If you throw a turkey into anold fashioned walk in freezer or
refrigerator, it forms largeice crystals which puncture the muscle
cells and you get a lot ofliquid escapes.
Frozen turkey by law, unlessthey've changed law, USDA says can
(03:18):
go as low as 26 degrees, whichthey consider fresh turkeys.
If you've ever picked up aturkey that's frozen or that's fresh
at 26 degrees, it's a bowlingball as hard as a rock.
I don't know how they get awaywith doing that.
It's.
That sounds totally misleading.
But if it was a really,really, truly fresh turkey where
(03:41):
it had been killed, neverfrozen, shipped to the store, I'm
not crazy about going thatroute either because it can take
days in transit.
It can sit in on a loadingdock while they're waiting to bring
it indoors, or we don't knowif the truck is at the right temperature,
(04:03):
how long it's been in thedisplay case.
So I buy frozen turkey andthey turn out okay.
Yeah.
Leanne, what's your thoughtson that?
I agree.
I mean, they've got it down toa science freezing now.
And you know, it's almost like cryovac.
Everything, even really goodfish, sushi grade fish at restaurants
(04:26):
are FedEx over and they're frozen.
So when they, you know, freezethem real quickly, they're as fresh
as that meat can possibly beon a turkey.
You know, like he said, youdon't know where it's been.
If it's been fresh, it's, it'smore risky.
So I agree.
I buy frozen turkeys and makesure you buy your turkey early so
it defrosts on time in the refrigerator.
(04:47):
You know, there's all kinds ofcalculations for how many days for
how many pounds.
Rule of thumb, if the turkey'sfrozen, put it in the fridge a week
in advance.
So Thanksgiving's Thursday.
Put it in the fridge on thepremium previous Thursday or Friday.
That's a little more time thanyou really need.
(05:07):
But sometimes it'sparticularly down in the center there
where the gizzard andeverything is.
There'll still be ice crystalsif you don't get it going early.
So now if you're, if you, ifyou follow up and you forget to start
the thawing early and you getbehind and you realize, oh, I only
(05:28):
got three days.
You can speed it up a littleby putting it in a bucket of water.
Make it cold water, but put itin a bucket of water and that water
removes heat from cold.
Actually, let me, let me rephrase.
Water transfers from the waterbecause it's.
The water is warmer than thebird, transfers heat faster than
(05:51):
air.
So that, that will help if youabsolutely have to.
You can put it in the sinkwith some hot water, but don't leave
it in there more than a couple hours.
There was a great story yearsago about John Wayne.
His wife wanted to, his secondwife wanted to do a big traditional
(06:14):
Thanksgiving dinner.
She went out that morning andbought a frozen turkey.
And she was with hot water.
She actually washed it with soap.
She did all kinds of stuff.
And when the Duke came home,he was just laughing at her.
So he took everybody out to dinner.
(06:35):
Okay, I think they probablychucked the turkey, but she was just
working her little heart outtrying to get that turkey.
Thought I will tell you, andwe talked about this before, I think
I mentioned this last yearwhen I get a frozen turkey, because
I won't get mine till Fridayor Saturday.
All right.
I just, schedule wise, I letit sit out on the counter in the
(06:59):
house for about an hour to anhour and a half, just.
And then I put it in thefridge, I give it that little jump
start and nobody's died.
But I think that's a good idea.
Yeah, just give it a littlekick right there and then follow
the prescribed procedures.
Generally, rule of thumb is ifmeat is kept below 40 degrees, you're
(07:23):
not going to have bacterial growth.
And there's a high likelihoodthere are bacteria on the bird, but
it'll all die when you cookit, so it's nothing to worry about.
But if you let it sit out fora few hours, it's staying below 40.
It's just fine.
Yeah.
Because I leave it in thecryovac package, the whole thing.
I just leave it in there.
(07:44):
Then it goes.
We have two refrigeratorshere, like a lot of people do.
I put it out on the one on theback porch, put it on, on the rack
in there.
There's nothing above it orbelow it.
And I just let it sit there.
And then I, I check it everyday to kind of give it the old finger
test to see if I'm makingprogress, you know, a little bit
like that.
And then, you know, I'll pullit out Thursday morning and take
(08:10):
it out of the packaging, rinseit all out, take the gizzards in
the liver and all that stuff out.
Excuse me.
And, and then again, if it'sstill got a few of those little crystals
in the cavity, I'll let it sitfor a little bit.
Not hours, you know, but alittle bit at room temperature.
A lot of that'll go away.
And then, you know, rinse itoff and get it in the, get it in
(08:34):
the cooker.
Pretty simple for me.
Now here, here's a tip forfolks out there.
If you're serving a big crowd,resist the temptation to buy a massive
turkey.
Buy two small ones.
Two 12 pound turkeys is betterthan 124.
And the reason is, aseverybody should know is the big
(08:58):
problem with turkey is thebreast meat.
And the problem with thebreast meat is it has very little
fat and it can dry out prettyquickly and you go from tender and
juicy to cardboard in moments.
That breast meat on the big 24pounder is bigger than a softball.
It's, it's, it's, that's a lot.
(09:18):
It's a large thermal mass andit takes a lot of energy to cook
it and it take.
And by the time the, the heatpenetrates down to the center so
that it's cooked safely edgeto edge, the exterior is overcooked
and dried out.
So get two smaller birds.
First of all, younger birdsare more tender and more juicy to
(09:41):
begin with.
So get two 12s, cook them andhey, throw one in the oven, throw
one on the smoker, whatever.
And as Jeff says, it gives youtwice as many drumsticks too.
There you go.
We go to my brother in law'shouse, my wife's brother, and they're
the sweetest people.
(10:02):
And there's a bunch of youngones in there and they don't know
the drumsticks are often left over.
I don't know, I don't get them.
Blasphemy.
That's blasphemy.
Yeah, that's the first thing Igo for.
That's why I always buy acouple extras.
We've got a store in.
Yes, right.
I've heard you talk about it.
Your drumstick theory.
(10:23):
Yeah.
You clean out the store of drumsticks?
Well, I, I buy two or threedepending on what size they have
the day I'm in there.
And they also have packages,and this is not for everybody, but
they also have packages ofturkey giblets and I like to put
them in my stuffing.
Okay.
So I'll buy a package or twoof those, depending on the package
(10:46):
size.
I have those, but I have thedrumsticks and I always smoke a couple
extra drumsticks.
And I've said this before, soif I'm being redundant, forgive me,
folks, but I hide them.
So kind of like I make anextra pecan pie and I hide it.
So at the.
(11:07):
When everybody goes homeThursday night and they've all got
their Tupperware containersfull of stuff and you're left with
some scraps of the turkey, soto speak, we have enough for some
good turkey sandwiches towatch the football games the next
couple of days.
That's my theory.
We were talking about freshturkeys earlier and I got a short
(11:30):
story to tell.
I'm in the Chicagoland areaand, and not far from me is a guy
who will sell you.
He has live turkeys on display.
They're all lined up.
It's, you know, it's like yougo to Reno and you go to one of these
places where the girls are alllined up.
(11:50):
You get to, I'll take her.
And, and, and he reaches inthe cage, grabs him by the legs,
sticks them headfirst intothis funnel type device and slits
their throat right in front ofyour arms.
And the message here is, is ifyou can get a live turkey and have
(12:12):
it slaughtered fresh, don'tcook it right away because rigor
mortis sets in.
And after a day, or if youtake it home in that night or the
next day even, it's going tobe hard as a nail.
You got to let it recover fromrigor mortis for a couple of days
at least.
So be very careful about that.
(12:33):
The other thing is, is ifyou've gotten a John Way Elaine's
Wife frozen bird the daybefore Thanksgiving, you can actually
cook a frozen bird.
It's not ideal.
It's not the best way to go.
Cook it at a low temperatureand it will thaw and cook gradually.
It'll take a lot longer thannormal, but it'll be okay.
(12:54):
It won't be great and.
But it won't be awful.
Okay, we're gonna take a break.
We're gonna be back withMeathead from AmazingRibs.com and
the world traveler, Ms. LeanneWhippen and I will be back in just
a moment.
Need a vehicle?
Feel hopeless.
Did other dealerships alreadysay no because of credit or negative
equity?
Weston Kia wants to say yesduring the Kia Fall savings event.
(13:16):
Come see Weston Kia, Oregon'sall time leader in Kia sales.
January 1994 December 2025Western Kia sold more new kids than
any other kid dealer in Oregonper Kia Corp.
Hey.
Everybody, it's Jeff here.
I want to tell you aboutsomething really cool.
(13:36):
Heritage steel cookware.
I just got mine.
I do a of cooking and it's.
Got five ply construction.
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(14:04):
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Yeah, that's us.
And we've got Leanne againtoday with us, as always, and Meathead
from amazing ribs dot com.
Meathead is the only guestwe've ever had on this show to correlate
live turkeys with a brothel.
So I. I just never.
(14:26):
And I gotta tell you, I need.
I need a code of silly.
I have never been to a brothel.
Okay, well, I wasn't gonna ask that.
Question, but I once worked ina liquor store that was next door
to a strip joint.
And the girls, the girls allcame in and bought for me.
So that was kind of fun.
Yeah.
See, life is an amazing thing.
(14:46):
All right, so we've beentalking about the turkeys and, and
that.
And that's, of course, the bigdish people also, other people will
do a ham or whatever.
And I just, like always whenpeople ask me, it's like, just use
your common sense.
The hams are normally precooked, especially if you get a honey
baked ham or anything likethat, you know, you're just basically
(15:08):
heating them up.
If you buy one that's a shankor something or a butt, then you.
You do have to cook that.
But it's not that difficult.
Well, you mentioned that somepeople do a ham, and I know some
people do lasagna and somepeople do prime rib and stuff, but
I think by and large, ingeneral, most people are doing turkey.
And this is.
I'm going to get philosophicalhere for a second, and you may have
(15:31):
heard me do this little spielbefore, because I think Thanksgiving
is the coolest holiday of them all.
First of all, it's a food holiday.
It's, you know, it's a harvest holiday.
It's celebrated about food andaround food, it's.
I mean, we eat great meals onthe 4th of July and Christmas and
Easter and everything.
But this is a holiday designedfor dining.
(15:53):
And not only is it dine fordining, most of us are having the
same meal all across thecountry, regardless of race, religion,
country of origin, politics.
We're having turkey andstuffing and cranberries and sweet
potatoes or variations of the theme.
(16:13):
It's almost as if we're all atone giant table across the country.
Regardless of that whichdivides us, we're together on this
one meal.
And I just think that's poetic.
I'm not aware of any otherculture or country that has anything
similar, and I love it.
(16:34):
The other thing Meatheaddidn't tell you in that little speech
there is that he will be atthe end of the table, closest to
the table that's holding the pies.
Oh, yeah, that's where he's at.
And we're going to get thepies in the next segment.
But yeah, he's.
That's one of the reasons whyyou want to do the cook the turkey
on your grill or your smoker.
So there's room in the ovenfor pies.
(16:56):
Yes.
Now, next Wednesday, thiscoming Wednesday, Meathead will be
banned from the kitchen.
You know this?
Yes, I know this because Lou,his wife and his nieces and all,
they do the whole pie thingall day long and that.
And I think they put up one ofthose police tape things across the
doorway to the kitchen so hecan't get in there.
(17:20):
You know, we have done theThanksgiving broadcast, the three
of us together before, maybemore than once, so we know all our
own, all of each other'sstories and can finish our sentences.
But for those of you whohaven't heard it before, I think
here's another wonderful tradition.
Years ago, I mean, we'retalking 20 or more years ago, my
wife approached her threenieces and said, let's get together
(17:43):
on Wednesday and bake pies.
And they did.
And they.
And as they started havingchildren, the kids started attending
and they had multiple children.
And now many of them havegrown up and graduated.
A couple are getting married,but they still all get together.
And it's a big gang now, maybe15 of them.
(18:06):
And jobs are assigned.
Your job is to cut the apples.
Your job is to roll out the.
The crust.
And they, they have a blast.
And they do it every year.
And they, they bake the threerequired pies, apple, pecan and pumpkin.
And then they usually dosomething creative, something fun
and different.
And the pies are fabulous, butit's just, you know, it's again,
(18:30):
another ceremony, if you will,that makes this holiday so special.
My mom used to take.
There was always that littletrimmings, excuse me, of the pie
crust, right.
And she would take those andshe would put cinnamon and sugar
on them for me.
And she would bake theselittle rounds, but they, they weren't
(18:55):
cut with a cookie cutter oranything like that.
They were just hand pressed.
But she would make those andthat Was my treat on pie day.
Because you couldn't cut intothe pie.
You know, my wife does theexact same thing, because when you're
trimming the.
The crust right, it overhangsthe edge of the pie plate.
And so you.
You.
You.
You snip off that excesscrust, and she does.
She.
She just leaves it.
(19:15):
She kind of makes it like a twist.
Twist.
Yeah, my mom would twist it.
Yeah.
And sprinkles sugar on it.
Occasionally some cinnamon,but usually just sugar.
And it pops it in the ovenwith the pie, and they come out early,
and I love those things.
They're a little.
Oh, yeah, they're greattreats, Leanne.
Now, wait a minute.
I got.
Excuse me.
(19:36):
I got to jump in here.
I gotta.
I know that you bake, Jeff,but I know that Leanne is an excellent.
Oh, she is.
Yeah.
Are you a.
A lard or a butter or.
Or what is your fat of choicein pie crust lately?
Because I actually did make apie lately.
I did half Crisco, half butter.
(19:58):
Worked out great.
Before that, you know, it wasreally lard or Crisco.
Whatever I have in therefrigerator is what I use.
How about you?
I have fear of flour.
I don't do it.
Okay.
It's very messy.
Yeah.
How about you, Jeff?
We're a lard household.
That's the way I was taught.
(20:20):
And I get those little bricksof lard or little buckets, depending
on how many you're going to make.
Doesn't take much, but, yeah,we did that.
It was hot water, vinegar,lard, flour.
Trying to think right off topof my head because I don't do it
enough to know the recipe.
(20:41):
Yeah, but we would do that,and there's lots of recipes out there
for it.
But the lard crust, you justhave to be careful not to, like,
put too much vinegar in itbecause it can get a vinegary taste.
I've done that.
But if you follow the properinstructions, you.
You shouldn't have thatunderlying vinegar.
One thing I heard about was arestaurant in Texas making a phenomenal
(21:04):
pecan pie, and they use bacongrease in the crust.
And I've always wanted to try that.
That makes sense.
You know, that filling, thatgelatin, like, filling.
I think the molasses would goreally well with bacon grease.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And we've all got cans of.
Or at least I think we do.
Of bacon grease.
(21:24):
Yes, we do.
You know, I do.
I do.
I have a jar in the fridgejust like that.
Okay, we're gonna take another break.
We're gonna be back withMeathead from Amazing Ribs, Leanne
from Pig Powder fame also.
She's a big superstar now inthe Middle East.
We'll talk more about thatwhen we come back.
You're listening to Barbecue Nation.
(21:54):
Hey, everybody, it's JT And Ihave eaten.
If you've ever looked at me,you know that.
But I have eaten seafood allover the world, and I can tell you
there's no place better thanhere in Oregon and our Dungeness
crab.
If you want to learn moreabout Oregon Dungeness crab, just
go to oregondungeness.org andfind out how to cook it.
How to catch it, where to buy.
It, and the sustainability ofwhat they're doing there in the Oregon
(22:18):
Crab Commission.
Check it out.
Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
If you are listening to thebetween segments, which gets put
out there sometimes, we weretalking about the dress code in Abu
(22:39):
Dhabi.
I can guarantee you that youwould not do that in Saudi Arabia.
I can, absolutely.
Now, when you go in themosques over there, you have to wear
a head covering and you haveto have your arms covered.
But as far as being out in thegeneral public, I really didn't see
any restrictions per se.
The same is true in most churches.
(23:00):
I don't know too much aboutthis country, but in Europe, they
insist that you have nosleeveless, no short shorts.
Right.
So especially if you're goingto tour the Vatican.
Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
One thing we didn't finish upon the last segment I wanted to get
to was doing a ham.
You get a pre cook like ahoney baked or one of those some
(23:23):
spiral cut thing.
Leanne, how do you work with that?
Well, honey baked, usuallythey've done everything they are
going to do to it.
When I buy a ham, though, Ilike to put some sort of a glaze
on it, you know, that includesapricot preserves of all things,
and Dijon mustard.
Simple as that.
(23:44):
And just put it on theretowards the end and it'll be beautiful
and tasty, too.
Okay.
Meathead.
What if they just buy a.
Just a, a butt or shanked or something?
Yeah, yeah.
There's different cuts thatthey get for the ham, by the way,
is the hind leg of a pig.
(24:04):
And there, there is somethingcalled a ham from the front leg,
but it's not the same.
So you want to get a real hamfrom the hind leg.
And that's a big thick hunk ofmeat, often with a bone down the
center.
And usually it is part cooked.
I mean, you can get raw.
It's called a green ham.
(24:27):
And you could smoke it justlike you would a pork butt or anything
else.
But usually it's.
And it's injected with saltand Prague powder number one, which
is a pink salt, which is a preservative.
And so that's what makes itvery bright pink, like a hot dog
or a corned beef.
And I'll buy one of those notpre sliced or spiral sliced.
(24:53):
And I'll double smoke it,meaning it comes in smoked already.
It's part.
It's part cooked.
You could eat it raw, but theytell you to take it up to 140.
But I'll throw it on thesmoker and get a fresh smoke, which
is different than the pre smoke.
And it's nice, it adds to it,it doesn't over smoke it.
(25:14):
And you know, maybe an hour ofa very light smoke.
My pellet smoker is good for that.
And then I wrap it in foil anddo the same thing as Leanne with
an.
I don't want apricot and peachwork so well with Anne, but I'll
grab a jar of Smucker'sApricot J them and maybe mix in a
little white wine or a sweetwhite wine and paint it all over
(25:38):
with that and wrap it up infoil, make like a.
It looks like a Hershey's Kissand just let it.
Let it kind of braise andsteam inside that foil for a little
bit and then pour off that liquid.
And that's my gravy.
And slice it up and put thelittle gravy boat in the table and
(25:59):
let people pour some of that.
That lovely apricot and wine marinade.
It's delicious.
I think, and I want to bringthis up.
I think that gravy issomething that a lot of people that
are not used to cooking,especially large meals maybe have
(26:21):
a little reticence about doing.
You've got.
You've talked many times aboutthe drippings that you use.
I do too.
I like gym.
It's in my gravy.
A lot of people don't.
I get it.
Okay, like that.
But you know, the other thingwith gravy too is I remember my mom
(26:42):
would actually start it andkind of have it going.
And then the timing, ofcourse, timing on a big meal is everything.
When you're going to get thebird out of the oven, you're going
to carve it, you're going topresent it, you're going to do all
this stuff.
Any tips from you guys onworking with the gravy?
(27:03):
Okay.
You.
I. I have a gravy technique,and all of this stuff's on AmazingRibs.com
but it's just killer.
It's fantastic.
First of all, I'm gonna smokemy turkey.
Second of all, I typicallyeither spatchcock it or I cut it
up into legs and breast, andI'll cut the breast off the carcass
(27:28):
so it's boneless, and I'llbreak off the thigh and drumstick.
I'll leave them together andtake the wings off.
And now I have a carcass.
Oh.
There's two little hunks ofmeat on the underside called the
oysters, because they're aboutthe size of oysters, and you guys
know about them, and.
Oh, yeah, they're succulent.
They're delicious.
And you want to get those out.
(27:49):
And those are for the chef.
You don't have to tell anybodyout there that you know where they
are or that you cook them.
They're for you.
But I now have a carcass thatstill has a lot of meat and stuff
on it.
And I break it up, crush itdown as much as I can, and I put
it in a pan underneath the bird.
(28:10):
And in that pan also goes allthe skin that I trim from either
cavity.
All of the giblets except the liver.
The liver doesn't go in there.
I save the liver for freezing,and I use that for making a liver
pate or something, or I'lleven give it to the dogs.
But you don't want to mix inthe liver and the gravy or.
Or anything else.
(28:30):
It's just got too strong a flavor.
Yeah.
And then I throw in an appleor two.
I throw in some white wine.
I throw in some carrots, somecelery, some herbs.
Basically, I set up this panunder the bird to make a turkey stock.
And then it.
The turkey cooks and drips,and the drips are smoky and about.
(28:53):
I don't know.
When the turkey gets to about150, I'm shooting for 160 for the
turkey and the.
In the breast.
When it gets to about 150,I'll pull this pan out and dump out
all the solids, drain it,taste it, and if it's thin, I'll
put it on the stovetop andreduce it so it's richer.
Or if it's just right, that's fine.
I keep it warm.
(29:15):
It is absolutely fantastic.
It is rich and delicious, andit's got the smoky flavor.
And if you pour it over breastmeat, it will soak right in.
And and you know, if you addflour or anything else, which is
your traditional gravy, itbecomes thick and it doesn't penetrate.
It sits on top of the meat andit's delightful.
(29:37):
But this way it just penetrates.
And there's this technique.
There's almost always leftoverafter Thanksgiving's over.
I have to do a thing coming upin a couple weeks.
And it's when I go into the TVstation, we shoot two shows.
We shoot a live show, and thenI shoot one that they can use.
(29:57):
And this one is for aninclement weather day, like a snow
day.
You get a lot of snow days in Chicago.
We don't get that many here.
All right.
But they do.
So it's kind of like what's inthe fridge?
That's kind of the workingtitle of these segments this year.
I'm doing one.
I'm messing around with it.
A little off topic, folks, butbear with me.
(30:19):
I'm doing muffins.
Like you're saying like apiece of bread or English muffin
in the bottom of the muffinpan, and then a mixture of eggs,
whatever you would have inyour fridge.
Eggs, onions, cheese, dicedham, whatever.
And then you cook it in themuffin tin like that.
It works out pretty well.
I'm still toying with it, but,you know, it's just whatever you
(30:43):
got.
And I love those kind ofthings that we do.
Whatever you got in thefridge, you got to create something
with it.
It.
So there you go.
I like on day two, Friday orSaturday, I like the stuffing or
the dressing with the gravy.
(31:07):
With my turkey sandwich, whenI'm watching the ball.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And put it right on the sandwich.
Oh, yeah.
With cranberries.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just get after it.
It.
Just get after it.
The other thing I was going tosuggest to people is for all, especially
the hardcore barbecue folksthat might have a two burner, freestanding
(31:28):
propane unit, like, you cookbig pots.
I cook my potatoes and mysweet potatoes outside on the deck
or we have a covered patio.
I cook them out there.
So you don't get all the steamand stuff in the kitchen.
Like that can raise thetemperature all of a sudden, if you're
kind of dressed nicely for theevent and all of a sudden the temperature
(31:50):
goes from 71 degrees in yourkitchen to 103.
And you won't know if yourantiperspirant is really working
until you do that.
So I have found that cookingthat outside just helps as far as
organization of the meal.
And getting stuff prepped.
Well, that's also a good ideafor doing a fried turkey.
(32:12):
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
And don't make the mistake ofputting too much oil in your pot
before you drop the turkey in.
So you take your turkey andwater and put it in the pot so you
can see the level of your water.
And then when you take theturkey out, you'll see how much oil
you need based on the line ofthe top of the water.
Every year here, and you'veheard me say this before, every year
(32:33):
there's a story, at least oneof somebody that was doing a fried
turkey in their garage orsomething, and the damn thing blows
up, and then the firedepartment has to show up.
YouTube is full of videos ofpeople setting their garage on fire
when they fry turkey.
I like fried turkeys.
The big advantage is it givesreally great crispy skin.
Oh, yeah.
(32:54):
And they are.
They tend to be moist.
They just don't have theflavor that a smoked turkey has.
No, no.
But they are crunchy and good.
Okay, we're out of time, but acouple things.
What's one tip, Leanne to giveto people that we haven't talked
about for Thanksgiving?
Yes.
(33:14):
Unless you got a Philly in thethird at Preakness or something.
But, you know, how about thestock market?
Yeah.
God.
Okay, we are going to take a break.
Sorry for that littletechnical glitch in the middle there,
folks, but you probably won'teven see it after or hear it after
Dave gets done.
No, we had fun talking aboutyou while you were gone.
Good, good.
Glad somebody is making headway.
(33:35):
We've both seen you naked, so we.
You know, this is a food show.
We don't want to scare people.
Okay.
And like I've said before, ifyou were talking about fish, every
time I'm on the beach,Greenpeace comes by with a pole,
tries to get me back in the water.
Anyway, we're gonna take a break.
We'll be back in a minute.
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(34:19):
Hey, everybody, it's jt.
You know, I talk about PaintedHills all the time, and we always
say beef the way nature intended.
But it's more than thatbecause each bite of Painted Hills
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Put a big, bright smile onyour face, and whoever's at your
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And you can thank me for that later.
(34:39):
Just go topaintedhillsbeef.com and find out
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Hey, everybody, J.T.
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(35:00):
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Welcome back to BarbecueNation on JT along with Meathead
from AmazingRibs.com and misswhipping normally.
(35:25):
I kind of flubbed up that last segment.
Leanne, can you hear our new puppy?
She was just barking up the storm.
Oh, okay.
I. I couldn't hear it.
She's in the next room barkinglike crazy.
You use pig powder at all,Leanne, during Thanksgiving?
Yes, I use pig powder on the turkey.
It's awesome on poultry.
(35:47):
Even though it says pig powder.
You think it's only good on pork.
Not true.
It's very good on chicken.
Yeah.
I have the same problem.
I make a rub called MemphisDust, and on the label of the bottle,
it says for pork.
But it's really an all purpose.
Yeah.
And I've had big powder, andit is.
It's.
I mean, in fact, I got to tellyou, I don't think I mentioned this
(36:08):
before.
I put some pig powder on somesalmon and smoked it.
It was really good.
Yeah, it's really good.
I've used it on all kinds of seafood.
I've used it on all kinds of poultry.
Of course, piggies.
I think it's great.
And I've used it on vegetables.
All right, we were.
We got to press this a littlebit here.
(36:29):
Side dishes.
We do kind of a traditional.
I do the stuffing, and ofcourse, I do a green bean casserole.
And I do.
I do yams, not sweet potatoes.
That's just because of thecrew I'm feeding.
I know what they prefer.
Tell the audience thedifference between yams and sweet
(36:49):
potatoes.
The spelling.
The spelling.
You didn't get that joke?
No, I didn't hear it.
I've got a Labrador, a littleLabrador retriever next door making
a racket.
Oh, now I hear it.
Yeah, I heard it that time.
Well, I use yams because Ithink they're actually sweeter.
(37:11):
Leanne.
I use sweet potatoes becausethat's just what I've used over the
years.
But I don't use canned.
I use real sweet potatoes inthe sweet potato casserole I make,
which has like a pralinetopping with pecans and brown sugar
and flour.
It almost tastes dessert like.
And actually in the sweetpotatoes is some coconut, which is
(37:32):
a different kind of a twist.
Not a lot, but just enough togive it a little sweet, unusual flavor.
I just take the yams and I cutthem up into thirds or something
because we get big ones.
And I boil them, I let them cool.
The skin comes right off.
Then I whip them and I putsome brown sugar and some cinnamon.
Sometimes I'll put maybe likesome amaretto or something in it.
(37:55):
Oh, look at there.
Look at the baby.
How long you cook this for?
Oh, that.
That might take a while.
This is Starla.
Hi, Starla.
Hi.
Starla is going to be a leaderdog for the blind if I don't screw
her up.
Yeah.
She is in training.
She is four months old andshe's wiggly baby, and she's adorable.
(38:20):
And that's a hobby we have.
We train puppies and forleader dogs for the blind.
And she's number eight.
We've done.
Oh, good for you.
That's a huge commitment.
So do you.
Do you ever do the marshmallows?
I have people that likemarshmallows on the sweet potatoes.
So I'm a marshmallow fan.
I love them.
And Julia Child loved them.
(38:41):
Yes.
She wrote that.
How much.
We have a niece who does them.
And like clockwork, withoutfail, she burns them almost every
year.
Last year, I think last yearwas the breakthrough.
She actually got them out intime when they were brown and golden.
But she almost always burnsthem them.
Doesn't take long.
No, it doesn't take long.
I. I do half and half becauseof people that don't like them and
(39:06):
they don't have to mess with them.
That's good.
That's perfect.
And the people that do likethem, they can have as much as they'd
like.
Like that.
I think they're so good withmaple syrup.
Oh, God.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Any other sides, you guys?
You know, we've kind ofcovered the tradition.
Oh, guess whose hands up again.
Okay, I've talked about this before.
(39:27):
I've talked about this withyou guys before, but it's worth repeating
is I make stuffing muffinsinstead of a big pan.
All right, Definition of turns.
Stuffing is what's inside the bird.
Dressing is what's in the pan.
Okay.
So the stuffing is stuffed.
Strongly recommend you do notstuff the bird.
(39:48):
When you stuff the bird, younow make a bowling ball.
And it is a large thermal mass.
And because the juices fromthe bird do get into the stuffing,
you have to cook the stuffingto 160 degrees to make it safe.
And that takes a lot longerthan cooking a bird with an empty
cavity because warm air goesinto the cavity and it cooks from
(40:09):
both sides, inside and out.
Now, it doesn't get a lot in there.
And if you make a spatchcockbird, which lays out flat, you can
now brown the inside of thecavity and brown as flavor.
And you do the stuffing on the side.
Now, a lot of people will doit in a pan, but I do them in muffin
tins.
I make little muffins out of them.
Now you gotta mix a little eggin there so they hold together a
(40:31):
little better.
I've got the recipe onAmazingRibs.com but they look so
cool.
They, you know, you got themuffin top.
And the cool thing is themuffin top gets crispy and crunchy.
And that's the best part of this.
Oh, yeah.
Everybody wants the crunchymuffin or the crunchy top.
So everybody gets a muffin allthe exact same size and all with
(40:52):
a nice crunchy top.
And they're delicious anddelightful and they're fun looking
at and it's really easy.
So I don't stuff the bird andI do them in muffin tins.
I call them muffins or stuffings.
So when you're putting yourmenu together.
I know, Jeff, you appeaseeveryone that comes to your table
and, you know, serve their favorites.
(41:13):
But don't get caught uptotally in the food.
Just kind of get caught up to,you know, inviting your friends and
family that you want to enjoythe time with first off.
And then food comes secondary.
But once your menu set, it's set.
And I think everybody would behappy just to be together.
I think that's good.
I'll echo that.
What's in the chairs is moreimportant than what's on the table.
(41:35):
Absolutely.
And for another tip, if youwant, I'm a wino and I love wine.
And it's hard to pick wine fora big crowd because everybody's tastes
are different.
But I've learned that Rieslingcabinet style, a slightly off, dry,
slightly sweet Riesling goesbeautifully with the turkey and everybody
(41:57):
loves it.
So that's, that's my choice.
I bring either a California ora Northwest.
A lot of really good Rieslingsout of Oregon and Washington state,
and.
But I bring a German Riesling cabinet.
Okay.
Last thing.
Pigpowder.com for Leanne.
(42:19):
All right.
Currently, we're sold out.
Great.
So I was in Dubai, Okay.
And right before I flew out,my pallets were supposed to arrive
on the day of flying out, so Ihad to delay the delivery.
As a matter of fact, I'mtaking care of that tomorrow.
But it'll soon be online, andthere'll be a spicy pig powder added
(42:39):
as well.
Excellent.
Excellent.
And Meathead's new book, theMeathead Method, is available online
in stores.
It's right there.
He's got two of the bestcookbooks and science books and technique
books.
They.
They cover everything.
And you know what?
If you're looking for a gift,a host gift or hostess gift, when
you go to someone's house forThanksgiving, get the book and give
(43:01):
them that.
They will love it.
And it's also great for the holidays.
How kind of you.
I was going to say get pigpowder better.
There you go.
But you can't.
And you can buy me golf ballsif you want.
Anyway, we gotta get out ofhere for Leanne and Meathead.
I hope you all have a verywonderful Thanksgiving with your
friends and family.
Thank you.
And a happy Thanksgiving toall your listeners.
(43:22):
Yes, happy Thanksgiving, andremember our motto, especially this
coming Thursday.
Turn it, don't burn it.
Take care, everybody.
Barbecue Nation is produced byJTSD LLC Productions and association
with Salem Media Group.
All rights reserved.
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