November 18, 2024 • 30 mins
It's that time of year: turkey time! Or at least in the U. S. But really anywhere, given that a roasted turkey is such a treat, summer or winter. Great for sandwiches, great for hot meals on cold nights.
We're here to help. We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, the authors of more than three dozen cookbooks (not counting the ones ghost-written for celebrities). We've been talking Thanksgiving for a long time in our career. We've got some tips and tricks to make that turkey the best it can be.
Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:
[01:07] Our one-minute cooking tip: Keep the gravy warm in a thermos. (Seriously?)
[03:54] How to cook a turkey: with a brine, from frozen, in a deep-fryer. Plus, alternatives to turkey for Thanksgiving.
[27:47] What’s making us happy in food this week: turkey-rice soup and pear jam with almond butter.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Bruce (00:01):
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast
cooking with Bruce and Mark,
Mark (00:04):
and I'm Mark Scarborough.
And together with Bruce, wehave written 36 cookbooks are
now finishing up the 37th.
We'll be telling you about that in 2025.
It's going to bepublished in July of 2025.
We'll be telling you about that later.
It's a very exciting book for us, a bookthat we have so badly wanted to write
(00:25):
the sort of book even that we have sobadly wanted to write for a long time.
But more on that later.
This is our.
podcast about food and cooking.
Our passions for 25 years nowthrough tens of thousands of
copywritten and original recipes.
In this episode, we're going to betalking about Thanksgiving again.
(00:45):
We started, um, a coupleepisodes ago, right?
Wasn't that right?
We taught
Bruce (00:49):
with drinks.
What a serve.
Yeah.
Mark (00:51):
So.
That's right.
And now we're going to talk aboutthe main event, the bird itself, and
what to do about that bird leadingup to the big holidays ahead of us.
So let's get started.
Bruce (01:07):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Keep your gravy warm without takingup valuable burner space on your stove
during the holidays by using a thermos.
Mark (2) (01:17):
What?
Oh.
So you,
Bruce (01:20):
you take your hot gravy.
off of the stove andpour it into a thermos.
That way,
Mark (01:26):
do I have, what if it's chunky?
What if I use one of thosepress down thermoses?
Does it vomit?
Bruce (01:32):
Okay.
Let me reiterate.
Okay.
Okay.
Let me restate that.
Mark (01:35):
Yeah.
The writer wants clarity.
Bruce (01:36):
You can't use a pump thermos.
It has to be one of those old fashionedthermoses where you unscrew the
Mark (01:42):
top.
Bruce (01:42):
Well, you.
Then you have your choice.
You could bring the thermos tothe table and let people pour
the gravy from the thermos.
Mark (01:48):
Camping, then.
Bruce (01:49):
Or, at the last minute, you could then pour it from
the thermos into a gravy boat.
But either way, youhave a free burner now.
Rather than keeping a little pan onwarm, you probably need those burners.
Mark (02:00):
Okay, so how do you get the gravy stink out of your thermos?
Bruce (02:04):
Oh, now you're asking for lots of information.
I do!
I want to know more!
Well, I would Probably try a little bakingsoda and let it soak a little vinegar.
Maybe that, okay, here's the thingthat becomes your gravy thermos.
You can have a coffee thermosand you have a gravy thermos.
Mark (02:22):
Are you from the South that you would have a gravy thermos?
Um, okay.
Uh, that's, that's the wildest oneminute cooking tip I've ever heard.
I don't write these.
Bruce, the chef in ourduo writes them and he's
Bruce (02:36):
very clever.
Mark (02:36):
And.
If he says so himself Yeah, so I don'tsee these before we record these podcasts
and they always take me by surprise Butthis would particularly a gravy thermos.
Okay, I'm just Seeing grandma plopit out of the thermos under a plate.
I've got a living vision of what thislooks like Okay, before we get on
(02:56):
to the turkey tips for the holidays.
I want to say that we have anewsletter It comes out maybe two
times a month sometimes once a monthtwo times a month You can Find it
or subscribe to it by going to ourwebsite, cooking with Bruce and mark.
com or just simply Bruce and mark.
com.
There's a signup form toward the bottomof the landing page for the website.
(03:18):
Uh, you can sign up there.
And again, I've, I say all thetime, I don't capture your email.
I don't even see it.
And I don't let the providerMailChimp capture it.
So your email cannot be capturedand sold to other lists.
And you can always.
unsubscribe at any time.
That newsletter is sometimesconnected to this podcast.
We did a newsletter recently about treesyrups and where to get them because
(03:39):
we talked about them on the podcast.
And we'll have some comingup for the holidays.
So you can check that outas well as this podcast.
All right, let's get goingon our big turkey tips.
for the holidays.
Bruce (03:54):
Making a turkey freaks a lot of people out, and I don't really understand
why people worry it's going to be too dry.
People worry that it's notgoing to come out right.
People practice making Thanksgivingdinners because they so,
year after year after year.
Isn't Thanksgiving itselfpractice for the next year?
Mark (04:11):
Let me tell you my best Thanksgiving.
Tip, if you're worried about cookingdinner for Thanksgiving, just make sure
you have a dozen eggs in the house,and if everything goes south, you can
always make scrambled eggs, and okay, sowhat, it's not traditional Thanksgiving,
but you know what, you have a fallbacksafety measure with a dozen eggs in
the house, and you make scrambled eggsor fried eggs, and everybody, I don't
(04:31):
know, make sure you have some bacon too,and okay, you got bacon and eggs, and
there you go, there's your Thanksgiving.
Okay,
Bruce (04:36):
Mark is telling you that because we actually had to do that once and we'll
get to that why that happened and itactually has to do with our first question
about turkeys should you brine a turkey.
Now let me say Does everybody evenknow what brining a turkey means, Mark?
Mark (04:51):
Well, no, maybe not.
Brining is working with the meat such thatyou induce osmosis with a salt solution.
So why do you want to do this?
Because by allowing salt to invadethe cellular structure of the meat,
you're actually pushing moisture.
The salt is carried in water.
You're actually pushing moistureinto the meat itself, and you're
(05:14):
making the meat more tasty becausethe salt is burying into the cellular
structure, but you're also trappingmoisture in there, and it helps not
overcooking the bird you have brined it.
Now, there are two, uh, two, uh, moments,two exceptions to this rule about brining.
Terry, yeah, thanks.
The chef helps the writer find the word.
(05:35):
Two exceptions for not brining.
So what's one of those?
Two exceptions.
Bruce (05:40):
Okay, the first one is near and dear to my heart, it's what my grandmother
always made, which is a kosher turkey.
Mark (05:45):
Okay, and why don't you brine a kosher turkey?
Bruce (05:48):
To kosher a turkey is to salt it.
That's part of it.
And the way it's raised, the wayit's killed, and all of that.
But a key, key ingredient to kosheringa turkey and making sure that it
lives up to the laws of kashrut, itmust be salted after it's killed.
That is brining.
So it is already a salt filledturkey, and if you add more salt,
(06:11):
it is not going to be very good.
Mark (06:13):
No, you can't brine this thing because, again, it is, as it were,
pre salted from the kashrut process.
And the other time you shouldn'tbrine a turkey is If, and now you have
to look at the package your turkeycomes in, if it says the turkey may
contain up to a percent, sometimesthat's 15%, sometimes it's 10%, a
(06:33):
percent of a broth or a solution.
Just look at the packagingand it'll tell you that.
What that basically is, is abroth or water brine that has
been injected in the meat.
And that turkey essentially is pre brined.
And in fact, we might evenargue it's over brine.
Bruce (06:51):
Yeah, turkeys that are labeled sometimes even self basting,
that's what they mean, they'reself basting because the base has
already been shoved into the meat.
Right.
Mark (07:00):
So if you have any of those kind of turkeys, either the ones
that say contains up to X percent ofa broth or a solution, or a kosher
turkey, you don't want to brine it.
But otherwise, we would recommend highlybrining a turkey, particularly if you have
bought an organic turkey, or if you arelucky enough to be serving a wild turkey.
(07:20):
at your Thanksgiving table.
If you have either of those, anorganic or a wild turkey, or you find
out your turkey wasn't injected witha broth or a solution, as it says
on the packaging, then you probablyshould brine it for the best results.
So how do you do that?
Bruce (07:37):
So the way you brine it is by making a salt solution.
The volumes are a gallon of water.
Mark (07:45):
Wait, let me just say, for anyone listening not in the U.
S., we're using only volumes right here.
So just be careful.
This is volume talk.
Bruce (07:54):
A gallon of water to a cup of salt and a quarter cup of sugar.
And you stir that upuntil it is dissolved.
If you want to add spices, whichsome people do, they like to throw,
you know, all spice and cloves,bay leaves and Pickling spices.
I've even seen
Mark (08:11):
people put a thinly sliced lemon in there.
Bruce (08:14):
If you do that, you must bring that mixture to a simmer, then let
it cool back to room temperature.
That way you're infusing all thenatural oils from those spices.
Mark (08:25):
Let me say one thing about this before we get, because there's more to
this than just a gallon of water, a cupof salt, and a quarter cup of sugar.
Let me say, uh, that salt shouldpreferably be kosher salt, not table salt.
You can use table salt.
Kosher salt is better.
Bruce (08:39):
So you have all of that salt solution now and you might as well mix
it right up in the largest stock potor soup pot you have in your house.
But before you do that, make sure yourturkey is going to fit in that pot because
there's nothing worse than doing thebrine and then putting your turkey in
and realizing only half the turkey fits.
If that's the problem, youcan go to the cooler method.
(09:03):
And the cooler method is todo this all in a big cooler.
Problem there is you got to makesure that cooler is meticulously
clean and almost sterilized.
It's going to have
Mark (09:12):
to stay cold.
And this is part of the problem.
You have to figure out howto keep that cooler cold.
Now, if you live as we do in New England,it's less of a problem because you can
keep the cooler So you can leave itopen for a long time outside and it
gets cold and then you can basicallyleave it out on your back porch.
Although where we live, the bears wouldbe on it in about a half a second.
(09:34):
But still, nonetheless, yougot to figure out where to put
this thing to keep these cold.
And the reason you don't want tonecessarily put ice water in the
cooler is because the ice water willimpede the osmosis process of brining.
Bruce (09:46):
Okay, so now you've got the turkey and you've got that
brine solution in your giant pot.
Mm hmm.
What happens if your pot's so big nowthat the turkey's not even submerged?
Then add more fresh water, butdon't add more salt because it is
better to be a little undersaltedthan a little over salted.
(10:07):
Right.
And if you over salt it, you end upwith the problem that happened with us.
Oh, I should say with me.
Not with me.
I didn't do anything.
On that famed Thanksgivingwhere we served omelets.
Because my own recipe in our own book,The Ultimate Cookbook, tells you how
to do this, how to brine a turkey.
And I follow my own recipe.
I open the book and there's theinstructions on the bottom of the
(10:30):
right hand page about doing that.
And I saw that the liquiddidn't cover the turkey.
So I made another brineand I poured it over.
And I made another brine.
I kept doing that.
Oh, gosh.
Well, that turkey was.
Inedible.
Oh, it tasted like the
Mark (10:43):
Dead
Bruce (10:44):
Sea.
And I said to him, It's our recipe!
I had checked it.
So he opened the book, and we getto the bottom of that right hand
page, and he turned the page.
And what does it say on thetop of the left hand page?
Add more water.
Just fresh, plain water.
Not more brine.
even
Mark (10:58):
read his own recipe that he himself had developed and that I had
written for The Ultimate Cookbook.
Hey, if you don't know TheUltimate Cookbook, just to be, uh,
egregiously simple, self promoting.
The Ultimate Cookbook is thisbook we wrote a while back.
Oh, I don't even know how far back.
It was
Bruce (11:14):
in 2006.
Mark (11:15):
Yeah.
And it's 900 recipes.
And I think still to this day, Bruceclaims it's the way he cooks for himself.
It's this 900 page compendium.
No photographs, I'll admit,because back in the day, you didn't
photograph cookbooks necessarily.
Think about Julia Child and her books.
So, um, anyway, he didn't read his recipe.
Well,
Bruce (11:35):
wait, wait, Bette Midler gave us a nice quote for the cover of that book.
So let's, let's add that to that.
They both gave us a lovely quote.
So,
Mark (11:44):
so, um, that's just egregious on the self promoting front, but okay.
Anyway, um, you, so you get thisturkey in this pod and then what you
want to do is you want to cover itwith water, fresh water from, uh, more
than the brine as much as you need.
And then you want to put it in the fridgeand you want to brine it for 12 hours.
But no.
More than 24 hours.
(12:05):
Here's why.
Because the longer you brine it,the softer the meat will get.
And you can reach this disgustingstage of pudding turkey.
So you do not want puddingturkey under any circumstances.
So my advice is 12 hours.
You can do it up to 24.
And let me just say what we'resitting here on brining a turkey.
You can imagine that this worksbetter with a smaller bird.
(12:28):
And personally, in my personal opinion,uh, birds that are 12 to 14 pounds are
about as big as they should be, maybe 15.
Once you get above 15 and you get up tothose 19 pound birds, 20 pound birds.
Those birds to me don't cook evenly,the meat tends to be very tendon filled,
(12:49):
the legs have super giant tendons inthem, as do the thighs, they're just not
to me as successful as smaller birds.
If you need more turkey,uh, Make two turkeys.
Don't get just a bigger bird.
I
Bruce (13:02):
agree with Mark.
Two
Mark (13:03):
12 pound turkeys are better than one 20 pound
Bruce (13:06):
turkey.
I would much rather havea 12 pound turkey any day.
And if you're going for just a turkeybreast, which in fact I roasted the
other night because I wanted someturkey and it was just the two of us.
It's hard to find turkey breasts.
that are not pre brined,that was a problem.
And in fact, it was funny becauseI roasted this turkey breast
and we ate it and Mark's like,Wow, you really salted this.
(13:28):
I said, I did nothing to it.
I thawed it, I shoved it in aroasting pan and I put it in the oven.
And that's how salty pre brinedand injected turkeys can be.
So really be careful about that.
Mark (13:39):
Okay, so next we want to move on to talking about cooking turkey from frozen.
I don't think a lot of people know this.
that you can actually shove a frozenturkey in your oven and it will get
done the same as a thawed turkey.
But before we get to that point, Iwant to make a side point and take a
little detour here and say that if forany reason you are free on the evening
before Thanksgiving in the United States,so Wednesday evening, you should get
(14:03):
yourself to the supermarket that evening.
Because let me tell you, theturkeys will be on absurd.
sale.
They're
Bruce (14:11):
almost free.
We wandered
Mark (14:13):
into a large supermarket in a town about 20 minutes away from us a
few years ago because we went up forpizza on the night before Thanksgiving.
And so we wandered into thesupermarket and the turkeys were
like 79 cents a pound on theWednesday night before Thanksgiving.
So just go Go and grab yourselfturkeys, and if you have a chest
freezer, as we do, stock up.
(14:34):
I think we bought three,
Bruce (14:35):
because
Mark (14:36):
we threw them in the chest freezer in the basement.
We bought
Bruce (14:38):
three 12 pound
Mark (14:39):
turkeys.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a great way to save money.
And
Bruce (14:41):
turkey is good other times of the year.
Mark (14:43):
So let's talk about how to cook a turkey from frozen.
How about why?
Well, why?
Because you don't have the time tothaw it, because you bought it on
Tuesday and it won't thaw in time,because you bought it on Wednesday
and it won't thaw on time, becauseyou went for that sale on Wednesday
night and it didn't thaw on time.
There's no way.
And don't you dare thaw it on the counter.
(15:04):
You thaw it in the oven.
And the fridge.
And remember, it takes about, oh, this isa rough, but about a day for every four
pounds for the thing to thaw in a fridge.
Bruce (15:16):
Three days for that twelve pound turkey.
That's right.
And you may not haveremembered in time, so.
You have a frozen turkey.
Yes, you can cook it frozen,but you have to do a few things.
And the first, it seems so obvious.
Unwrap it, you'd be surprised.
So, you'd have to peel thatplastic wrapper off the turkey.
Mark (15:37):
Yes, you do.
And that's, uh, let me say that it'sfrozen, so mostly what you have to do
is chip and strip and chip and strip,because it's not going to come off evenly.
And also, you should remember that whenit's frozen, there are those giblets
in that bag inside the turkey cavity.
Remember this?
And they could actually bein both ends of the turkey.
There could be some in oneend and some in the other.
(15:59):
So they're still in there.
Don't worry about it.
Just leave them in there.
And now stick it in the oven.
And what temperature dowe want that oven to be?
Bruce (16:07):
You're going to do it just the same way you normally
would, which is either 325 or 350.
Don't alter the temperatureof the recipe you're using or
the recipe you usually use.
If you don't have a recipe, I'mgoing to tell you, put it at 325.
Mark (16:20):
Okay, and let me also say that if you have followed one of those
recipes that are popular about cookinga turkey at a very high temperature,
like 404, 425, this will not work.
work with a frozen bird.
It will burn on the surfacebefore the interior gets good.
So, okay, you're goingto put it in the oven.
Now, come back a couple hours later.
In a couple hours, those gibletswill have loosened from the
(16:42):
frozen material inside the turkey.
Now, get yourself some long handledtongs, some kitchen tongs and take out
the jibblers and do check both ends.
Now remember this thing ishot so you can't just touch it
even though it's been frozen.
It's starting to get hot so you're goingto either want to wear silicon oven gloves
(17:03):
and you're going to wash them later afteryou touch the turkey or you somehow want
to Stabilize the turkey, uh, even witha clean kitchen towel, but then you've
got to immediately throw it in the wash.
Well, not immediately, but you'vegot to throw it in the wash.
You just can't use it anymore.
So you stabilize the turkey anduse those tongs to probe around
and pull out those giblet packets.
Bruce (17:21):
If the giblet packets are in a paper package, even pulling them out
then might tear some of the paper.
And you know what?
In the end, the paper's not goingto damage or hurt the turkey
if it stays into the cooking.
If those giblets are in a plasticcontainer, you have to get it out.
You do not want theplastic sitting in there.
(17:41):
If you leave the
Mark (17:41):
giblets in the whole cooking, it leaves that red,
disgusting muck everywhere.
And you also get a littleliver flavor in the turkey.
Well, I like that.
Most people don't like that.
Now, here's the otherthing you should know.
If you're going to shove a frozenturkey in the oven, of course you
can't get a marinade to adhere to it.
You can't really geta rub to adhere to it.
So you're going to have to forego all ofthat and go with the cranberry sauce or
(18:04):
chutney or something else at the table.
And, A frozen turkey takes longer to cook.
Bruce (18:09):
It takes about 50 percent longer to cook.
So let's say we had a 10 pound turkey,and it took 3 12 to 4 hours to roast.
You're going up to 165 degrees.
Mark (18:21):
Fahrenheit.
Bruce (18:22):
Fahrenheit.
Fahrenheit.
So if it's been frozen, so now you'retalking almost six hours, right?
If you had a 20 pound turkey, ohmy goodness, it was already going
to take you six or seven hours.
Now it's going to take nine or ten hours.
So again, especially if you'recooking it from frozen, go with
the smaller ones if possible.
Mark (18:40):
And no matter how you cook it, Cook a turkey, but particularly
if you cook it from frozen, justremember that you've got to get it
to the right internal temperature.
You need an instant read meat thermometer.
Now is the time to order one.
If you don't have one, orderit now for same day delivery so
you have it for the holidays.
And what you want to make sureis that the turkey is at, as
Bruce says, 165 Fahrenheit.
(19:04):
in both the breast and the thigh.
And how do you check that temperature?
Bruce (19:08):
Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat down as far
as you can go without touching the bone.
So you're gonna go into the thickest partof the thigh, the thickest part of the
leg, the densest, thickest part of thebreast meat without touching the bone.
And once it's at 165,it is perfectly safe to
Mark (19:26):
eat.
Let me just add one more thing beforewe go on to stuffing said turkey.
Uh, I'll say two things.
Actually, two things.
One is, if you have one of thosefancy laser thermometers in the
kitchen, this does not work.
That's a
Bruce (19:38):
surface temperature only.
That's
Mark (19:40):
right, that's only going to take the outside surface temperature.
And two, this cooking of a frozen turkeyworks better with turkeys under 14 pounds,
14 pounds or under again, not so good forthe giant turkeys because they will start
to overcook, particularly in the breast.
So again, let's say I said 14, let'seven say 15, 15 pounds or fewer.
(20:03):
That's the absolute bestway to cook a turkey.
Okay.
Let's talk about stuffing a turkey.
And by the way, you cannotstuff a frozen bird.
Bruce (20:12):
And let me also suggest that you don't ever stuff a bird.
And that's a personal.
Personal preference, I know.
In
Mark (20:18):
any circumstance.
Bruce (20:19):
Some people like to stuff a bird.
Here's the problem.
When you make a stuffing,you're never going to fit it
all into the bird anyway, right?
There's always going to be extrathat has to go in a baking pan.
Everyone at your table only wants whatwas in the baking pan because it's got
a crunchy top, because it puffs up.
more because it hasdelicious, delicious flavor.
If you like it in the turkey because,well, it soaks up more of those turkey
(20:41):
juices, you could drizzle those turkeyjuices afterwards over the baked stuffing.
Mark (20:46):
I'm gonna just tell you that I am not a fan of stuffed turkeys because,
A, what I like is, um, the distinctionhere is between stuffing and dressing,
and dressing is bad for your brain.
baked separately in a pan.
And the only part of the dressingI really like are all the crunchy
bits at the corners and on top.
So, you never are going to getcrunchy bits when you stuff a turkey.
My ex, before I met Bruce, thatfamily always stuffed a turkey with
(21:13):
sausage and eggs, like a raw eggmixed with sausage and breadcrumbs.
And I swear to gosh, what came outof that turkey was meat pudding.
Ew, gross.
And I found it so disgusting.
I couldn't even get near itbecause it was so gross to me.
It's, it's too wet and oily and Idon't ever get any of that crunch,
(21:35):
which is all the part I want.
I'd much rather bake dressingin a pan on the side.
Bruce (21:39):
And not only bacon in a pan, here's a tip.
For people who enjoy the crunchybits, like Mark and I do, Don't use
a nine by 13 pan for that stuffing,press it into a sheet pan, right?
Use a really big, likea 13 by 18 sheet pan.
You're going to have so muchcrunch and so much surface area
and it will take less time to bake.
(21:59):
So when the turkey comes out andis going to rest for almost an
hour, which a 12 to 14 pound turkeyneeds almost an hour to rest.
That's when you could put thesheet pan of dressing in the oven.
It'll come out crunchy and rememberthe one minute cooking tip.
You will have lots of gravyin a thermos that you could
pour on top of that dressing.
(22:19):
If you like it a little softer.
Mark (22:21):
Uh, for your grou why don't you just get a fountain and have a gravy
fountain in the middle of the table.
Wait,
Bruce (22:27):
now
Mark (22:27):
that's an idea.
Oh God, help me.
Um, okay.
So.
Let's talk about one more thingabout turkeys and that is for the
people who want to deep fry them
Mark (2) (22:37):
This is of course
Mark (22:38):
a thing of having the turkey to be deep fried and as you well know you
must Not deep fry a turkey indoors.
You must take it outdoors Becauseof the fire hazard involved.
I'm sure you've seen it EndlessInstagram reels and Tiktok videos
of people burning their housesdown when they deep fry a turkey.
(22:59):
So, let's just say that you need aturkey deep fryer, which is a whole
propane driven gadget in and of itself.
Bruce (23:08):
Make sure that what you're using is good.
made for deep frying a turkey.
So rule one, as Mark said, outside.
Rule two, that turkeymust be completely thawed.
There cannot be anyfrozen bits and no ice.
And you want it dry.
Mark (23:23):
Why is that?
Because if you want to reallykill yourself, just throw an
ice cube in a pan of hot oil.
No, don't do that.
No, don't do that.
Bruce (23:30):
And
Mark (23:30):
it will explode all over your kitchen.
Disclaimer, don't do that.
No, don't do that.
ever do.
So the
Bruce (23:36):
same thing would happen if your turkey had ice or had water.
You even want to pat it dry,
Mark (23:41):
even on the inside.
Absolutely.
Get your hand in there
Bruce (23:44):
now.
There is a problem that most peoplerun into when they deep fry turkeys,
and that's the oil overflowing.
And that is also endlessly online videos.
So, Mark, how do we avoidthe oil overflowing?
Okay, so
Mark (23:56):
what you want to do is you want to, um, you want to actually put
the turkey in the pot and then addthe oil that you're going to need.
Now, the turkey is now going tobe covered in oil, I realize.
Okay, great.
So, take it out, put it on,like, an aluminum baking pan.
Okay, great.
Yes, it's now covered in oil, but justconsider this part of the problem.
And now you know how much oil cango in that pod to fry that turkey.
(24:21):
And remember the oil that comes outon the turkey, you know, when you pull
it back out, there's still oil in it.
Don't worry about it because actually,because of the way the oil will
boil, you need slightly less oilin the pot than even at this stage.
So now, you know.
How much oil to bring tothe proper temperature.
It
Bruce (24:41):
always amazes me when I see people deep fry a turkey and they
fill a giant cauldron to the top withoil and then try and put a turkey in.
And they burn their whole house down.
And they're surprised by the displacement.
Come on, it's basic physics, right?
You put a boat in waterand the water is displaced.
That's how the boat floats.
Well, you put a, you putyourself in a bathtub.
(25:03):
What happens to the water in the bathtub?
Mark (25:04):
Don't fill a bathtub to the rim and then get in
Bruce (25:07):
it.
So do the same thing with the, think aboutthat cauldron of oil as a bath for the
turkey and you don't want to overflow.
And remember this, oil's
Mark (25:14):
going to get up to 325, 350 Fahrenheit.
Mm hmm.
And so it's super heated and trustme, it will explode if you let it fall
down on the propane flame or if yousomehow have a wet, water wet bird
or an icy bird, it will explode andyou just don't want this to happen.
(25:36):
Let me say that if you're deepfrying a turkey for the holidays,
they sell turkey deep fryers.
Get one.
Don't eat it.
improvise on
Bruce (25:43):
this.
I have one other tip before we leavethis section, what to do with turkey.
If you're still afraid of making aturkey, or you're so nervous about it,
check your supermarket flyers every week.
I've talked about this so oftenon this podcast about getting
deals and looking for coupons.
Our local supermarkets havealready started this week.
Ready.
(26:03):
Cooked turkey deals for theholidays with like 20 off, 30 off.
If you buy the whole turkey withthe cranberry sauce, there's
nothing wrong with bringing it in.
If you don't want to make it.
Mark (26:14):
And remember also too, if you're afraid of roasting a whole
turkey, you can always roast parts.
You can always buy a packageof turkey legs, turkey thighs.
You can buy as Bruce did aturkey breast and roasted.
You can even add.
air fried turkey tenderloins.
Remember, you don't have to make awhole turkey for Thanksgiving to have
(26:36):
turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner.
You can actually buy parts.
In fact, I can tell you thatbraised oven braised turkey thighs
are one of my favorite things.
You braise them in red wine with lots ofshallots and garlic like you're making a
Bruce (26:49):
cocoa van with turkey.
Exactly.
And
Mark (26:51):
I love it.
braised turkey thighs.
So and you brown them like crazy.
And then again, you build this saucewith broth and red wine and lots
of herbs and garlic and shallots.
It's delicious.
It can't be better.
And you can get away from doing thewhole turkey if you don't want to.
Okay, that's our entire video.
(27:12):
turkey segment for this episode.
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
And let me say it would be greatif you could subscribe to this
podcast or if you could give it arating on any platform you're on,
you can give it a number of stars.
Can we ask for five?
Sure.
And if you're on, Idon't think they do that.
And if you're on Apple podcasts,you can write a review.
(27:32):
Even a simple review like a greatpodcast is a fine way to help
support this otherwise unsupportedand willfully unsupported podcast.
Okay.
Let's turn as is traditionalto our last segment.
What's making us happy in food this week.
And I'm going to start out.
(27:53):
Okay.
So my thing is that turkey rice soup,because Bruce made this turkey breast.
And then, uh, I said, when heroasted the turkey breast, I said,
Oh my gosh, this means the promiseof turkey rice soup, which is one
of my favorite things in life.
And you made this, uh, fresh tomatosoup with the turkey in it, right?
(28:13):
For the turkey meat.
And you cook the rice separately.
Bruce (28:15):
I'm so crazy.
I cook the rice in the rice cooker.
And the reason you do that isyou don't want the rice absorbing
all that delicious broth, right?
From the soups.
You cook the rice separately.
It will still absorb more, but okay.
Then not only that, I had a pot onthe stove where I sautéed my onions
and my celery and then the freshtomatoes and I poured in turkey
(28:38):
stock which I found at Whole Foodsin a container and I let that go.
The turkey carcass, believe it or not, Iput in the instant pot with water to make
my own own fresh turkey stock and meat andthat all got dumped in minus the bones.
That whole thing went Not all the bones.
Not all the bones.
There were a few in my bowl.
I picked a couple out
Mark (28:56):
of my mouth,
Bruce (28:57):
but okay.
And boy, was that good.
Yes.
But yes, I did it in threeseparate pots at once.
Mark (29:01):
Uh, yeah, okay, that's insane.
I would never make turkey, uh,soup, rice soup that way, but it did
make me very happy after this week.
Okay, your turn.
Bruce (29:09):
What's making me happy is the snack of choice that my sister has
introduced me to, which Pear jam, whichI make sometimes just for her with almond
butter and you know, I had never reallythought about it, but I sent Julie a box
of jars of pear jam that I made just forher and she sends me back pictures of
(29:32):
the spoon going back and forth betweenthe almond butter and the pear jam.
And the pear jam.
I'm like, Oh, that looks good.
And that is making me happy.
Almond
Mark (29:40):
butter is a really amazingly good thing.
It's very good.
I don't know.
I listen, I am a peanut butter boyfrom early childhood, but almond
butter is still a really nice thing.
It's soupier, stickier than peanut butter.
It's
Bruce (29:56):
oilier.
I guess almonds are oilier?
I don't know.
I don't
Mark (29:59):
know.
It's oilier and soupier and so it doesn'tsit on toast very well, in my opinion.
But, you know, I still dip the pieces ofbread in it because it's so tasty and,
uh, I don't really do it with the pear jamas Bruce does, but hey, to each his own.
So that's it.
The podcast this week.
We hope this is to your owntoo, or this is to your liking.
(30:21):
Thanks for being partof this journey with us.
We appreciate your spendingtime with us each week.
Bruce (30:26):
Every week we tell you what's making us happy in food.
So please go to our Facebookgroup, also called Cooking with
Bruce and Mark, and tell us what'smaking you happy in food this week.
We want to know what is goingon in your kitchen here at
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast
cooking with Bruce and Mark,
Mark (00:04):
and I'm Mark Scarborough.
And together with Bruce, wehave written 36 cookbooks are
now finishing up the 37th.
We'll be telling you about that in 2025.
It's going to bepublished in July of 2025.
We'll be telling you about that later.
It's a very exciting book for us, a bookthat we have so badly wanted to write
(00:25):
the sort of book even that we have sobadly wanted to write for a long time.
But more on that later.
This is our.
podcast about food and cooking.
Our passions for 25 years nowthrough tens of thousands of
copywritten and original recipes.
In this episode, we're going to betalking about Thanksgiving again.
(00:45):
We started, um, a coupleepisodes ago, right?
Wasn't that right?
We taught
Bruce (00:49):
with drinks.
What a serve.
Yeah.
Mark (00:51):
So.
That's right.
And now we're going to talk aboutthe main event, the bird itself, and
what to do about that bird leadingup to the big holidays ahead of us.
So let's get started.
Bruce (01:07):
Our one minute cooking tip.
Keep your gravy warm without takingup valuable burner space on your stove
during the holidays by using a thermos.
Mark (2) (01:17):
What?
Oh.
So you,
Bruce (01:20):
you take your hot gravy.
off of the stove andpour it into a thermos.
That way,
Mark (01:26):
do I have, what if it's chunky?
What if I use one of thosepress down thermoses?
Does it vomit?
Bruce (01:32):
Okay.
Let me reiterate.
Okay.
Okay.
Let me restate that.
Mark (01:35):
Yeah.
The writer wants clarity.
Bruce (01:36):
You can't use a pump thermos.
It has to be one of those old fashionedthermoses where you unscrew the
Mark (01:42):
top.
Bruce (01:42):
Well, you.
Then you have your choice.
You could bring the thermos tothe table and let people pour
the gravy from the thermos.
Mark (01:48):
Camping, then.
Bruce (01:49):
Or, at the last minute, you could then pour it from
the thermos into a gravy boat.
But either way, youhave a free burner now.
Rather than keeping a little pan onwarm, you probably need those burners.
Mark (02:00):
Okay, so how do you get the gravy stink out of your thermos?
Bruce (02:04):
Oh, now you're asking for lots of information.
I do!
I want to know more!
Well, I would Probably try a little bakingsoda and let it soak a little vinegar.
Maybe that, okay, here's the thingthat becomes your gravy thermos.
You can have a coffee thermosand you have a gravy thermos.
Mark (02:22):
Are you from the South that you would have a gravy thermos?
Um, okay.
Uh, that's, that's the wildest oneminute cooking tip I've ever heard.
I don't write these.
Bruce, the chef in ourduo writes them and he's
Bruce (02:36):
very clever.
Mark (02:36):
And.
If he says so himself Yeah, so I don'tsee these before we record these podcasts
and they always take me by surprise Butthis would particularly a gravy thermos.
Okay, I'm just Seeing grandma plopit out of the thermos under a plate.
I've got a living vision of what thislooks like Okay, before we get on
(02:56):
to the turkey tips for the holidays.
I want to say that we have anewsletter It comes out maybe two
times a month sometimes once a monthtwo times a month You can Find it
or subscribe to it by going to ourwebsite, cooking with Bruce and mark.
com or just simply Bruce and mark.
com.
There's a signup form toward the bottomof the landing page for the website.
(03:18):
Uh, you can sign up there.
And again, I've, I say all thetime, I don't capture your email.
I don't even see it.
And I don't let the providerMailChimp capture it.
So your email cannot be capturedand sold to other lists.
And you can always.
unsubscribe at any time.
That newsletter is sometimesconnected to this podcast.
We did a newsletter recently about treesyrups and where to get them because
(03:39):
we talked about them on the podcast.
And we'll have some comingup for the holidays.
So you can check that outas well as this podcast.
All right, let's get goingon our big turkey tips.
for the holidays.
Bruce (03:54):
Making a turkey freaks a lot of people out, and I don't really understand
why people worry it's going to be too dry.
People worry that it's notgoing to come out right.
People practice making Thanksgivingdinners because they so,
year after year after year.
Isn't Thanksgiving itselfpractice for the next year?
Mark (04:11):
Let me tell you my best Thanksgiving.
Tip, if you're worried about cookingdinner for Thanksgiving, just make sure
you have a dozen eggs in the house,and if everything goes south, you can
always make scrambled eggs, and okay, sowhat, it's not traditional Thanksgiving,
but you know what, you have a fallbacksafety measure with a dozen eggs in
the house, and you make scrambled eggsor fried eggs, and everybody, I don't
(04:31):
know, make sure you have some bacon too,and okay, you got bacon and eggs, and
there you go, there's your Thanksgiving.
Okay,
Bruce (04:36):
Mark is telling you that because we actually had to do that once and we'll
get to that why that happened and itactually has to do with our first question
about turkeys should you brine a turkey.
Now let me say Does everybody evenknow what brining a turkey means, Mark?
Mark (04:51):
Well, no, maybe not.
Brining is working with the meat such thatyou induce osmosis with a salt solution.
So why do you want to do this?
Because by allowing salt to invadethe cellular structure of the meat,
you're actually pushing moisture.
The salt is carried in water.
You're actually pushing moistureinto the meat itself, and you're
(05:14):
making the meat more tasty becausethe salt is burying into the cellular
structure, but you're also trappingmoisture in there, and it helps not
overcooking the bird you have brined it.
Now, there are two, uh, two, uh, moments,two exceptions to this rule about brining.
Terry, yeah, thanks.
The chef helps the writer find the word.
(05:35):
Two exceptions for not brining.
So what's one of those?
Two exceptions.
Bruce (05:40):
Okay, the first one is near and dear to my heart, it's what my grandmother
always made, which is a kosher turkey.
Mark (05:45):
Okay, and why don't you brine a kosher turkey?
Bruce (05:48):
To kosher a turkey is to salt it.
That's part of it.
And the way it's raised, the wayit's killed, and all of that.
But a key, key ingredient to kosheringa turkey and making sure that it
lives up to the laws of kashrut, itmust be salted after it's killed.
That is brining.
So it is already a salt filledturkey, and if you add more salt,
(06:11):
it is not going to be very good.
Mark (06:13):
No, you can't brine this thing because, again, it is, as it were,
pre salted from the kashrut process.
And the other time you shouldn'tbrine a turkey is If, and now you have
to look at the package your turkeycomes in, if it says the turkey may
contain up to a percent, sometimesthat's 15%, sometimes it's 10%, a
(06:33):
percent of a broth or a solution.
Just look at the packagingand it'll tell you that.
What that basically is, is abroth or water brine that has
been injected in the meat.
And that turkey essentially is pre brined.
And in fact, we might evenargue it's over brine.
Bruce (06:51):
Yeah, turkeys that are labeled sometimes even self basting,
that's what they mean, they'reself basting because the base has
already been shoved into the meat.
Right.
Mark (07:00):
So if you have any of those kind of turkeys, either the ones
that say contains up to X percent ofa broth or a solution, or a kosher
turkey, you don't want to brine it.
But otherwise, we would recommend highlybrining a turkey, particularly if you have
bought an organic turkey, or if you arelucky enough to be serving a wild turkey.
(07:20):
at your Thanksgiving table.
If you have either of those, anorganic or a wild turkey, or you find
out your turkey wasn't injected witha broth or a solution, as it says
on the packaging, then you probablyshould brine it for the best results.
So how do you do that?
Bruce (07:37):
So the way you brine it is by making a salt solution.
The volumes are a gallon of water.
Mark (07:45):
Wait, let me just say, for anyone listening not in the U.
S., we're using only volumes right here.
So just be careful.
This is volume talk.
Bruce (07:54):
A gallon of water to a cup of salt and a quarter cup of sugar.
And you stir that upuntil it is dissolved.
If you want to add spices, whichsome people do, they like to throw,
you know, all spice and cloves,bay leaves and Pickling spices.
I've even seen
Mark (08:11):
people put a thinly sliced lemon in there.
Bruce (08:14):
If you do that, you must bring that mixture to a simmer, then let
it cool back to room temperature.
That way you're infusing all thenatural oils from those spices.
Mark (08:25):
Let me say one thing about this before we get, because there's more to
this than just a gallon of water, a cupof salt, and a quarter cup of sugar.
Let me say, uh, that salt shouldpreferably be kosher salt, not table salt.
You can use table salt.
Kosher salt is better.
Bruce (08:39):
So you have all of that salt solution now and you might as well mix
it right up in the largest stock potor soup pot you have in your house.
But before you do that, make sure yourturkey is going to fit in that pot because
there's nothing worse than doing thebrine and then putting your turkey in
and realizing only half the turkey fits.
If that's the problem, youcan go to the cooler method.
(09:03):
And the cooler method is todo this all in a big cooler.
Problem there is you got to makesure that cooler is meticulously
clean and almost sterilized.
It's going to have
Mark (09:12):
to stay cold.
And this is part of the problem.
You have to figure out howto keep that cooler cold.
Now, if you live as we do in New England,it's less of a problem because you can
keep the cooler So you can leave itopen for a long time outside and it
gets cold and then you can basicallyleave it out on your back porch.
Although where we live, the bears wouldbe on it in about a half a second.
(09:34):
But still, nonetheless, yougot to figure out where to put
this thing to keep these cold.
And the reason you don't want tonecessarily put ice water in the
cooler is because the ice water willimpede the osmosis process of brining.
Bruce (09:46):
Okay, so now you've got the turkey and you've got that
brine solution in your giant pot.
Mm hmm.
What happens if your pot's so big nowthat the turkey's not even submerged?
Then add more fresh water, butdon't add more salt because it is
better to be a little undersaltedthan a little over salted.
(10:07):
Right.
And if you over salt it, you end upwith the problem that happened with us.
Oh, I should say with me.
Not with me.
I didn't do anything.
On that famed Thanksgivingwhere we served omelets.
Because my own recipe in our own book,The Ultimate Cookbook, tells you how
to do this, how to brine a turkey.
And I follow my own recipe.
I open the book and there's theinstructions on the bottom of the
(10:30):
right hand page about doing that.
And I saw that the liquiddidn't cover the turkey.
So I made another brineand I poured it over.
And I made another brine.
I kept doing that.
Oh, gosh.
Well, that turkey was.
Inedible.
Oh, it tasted like the
Mark (10:43):
Dead
Bruce (10:44):
Sea.
And I said to him, It's our recipe!
I had checked it.
So he opened the book, and we getto the bottom of that right hand
page, and he turned the page.
And what does it say on thetop of the left hand page?
Add more water.
Just fresh, plain water.
Not more brine.
even
Mark (10:58):
read his own recipe that he himself had developed and that I had
written for The Ultimate Cookbook.
Hey, if you don't know TheUltimate Cookbook, just to be, uh,
egregiously simple, self promoting.
The Ultimate Cookbook is thisbook we wrote a while back.
Oh, I don't even know how far back.
It was
Bruce (11:14):
in 2006.
Mark (11:15):
Yeah.
And it's 900 recipes.
And I think still to this day, Bruceclaims it's the way he cooks for himself.
It's this 900 page compendium.
No photographs, I'll admit,because back in the day, you didn't
photograph cookbooks necessarily.
Think about Julia Child and her books.
So, um, anyway, he didn't read his recipe.
Well,
Bruce (11:35):
wait, wait, Bette Midler gave us a nice quote for the cover of that book.
So let's, let's add that to that.
They both gave us a lovely quote.
So,
Mark (11:44):
so, um, that's just egregious on the self promoting front, but okay.
Anyway, um, you, so you get thisturkey in this pod and then what you
want to do is you want to cover itwith water, fresh water from, uh, more
than the brine as much as you need.
And then you want to put it in the fridgeand you want to brine it for 12 hours.
But no.
More than 24 hours.
(12:05):
Here's why.
Because the longer you brine it,the softer the meat will get.
And you can reach this disgustingstage of pudding turkey.
So you do not want puddingturkey under any circumstances.
So my advice is 12 hours.
You can do it up to 24.
And let me just say what we'resitting here on brining a turkey.
You can imagine that this worksbetter with a smaller bird.
(12:28):
And personally, in my personal opinion,uh, birds that are 12 to 14 pounds are
about as big as they should be, maybe 15.
Once you get above 15 and you get up tothose 19 pound birds, 20 pound birds.
Those birds to me don't cook evenly,the meat tends to be very tendon filled,
(12:49):
the legs have super giant tendons inthem, as do the thighs, they're just not
to me as successful as smaller birds.
If you need more turkey,uh, Make two turkeys.
Don't get just a bigger bird.
I
Bruce (13:02):
agree with Mark.
Two
Mark (13:03):
12 pound turkeys are better than one 20 pound
Bruce (13:06):
turkey.
I would much rather havea 12 pound turkey any day.
And if you're going for just a turkeybreast, which in fact I roasted the
other night because I wanted someturkey and it was just the two of us.
It's hard to find turkey breasts.
that are not pre brined,that was a problem.
And in fact, it was funny becauseI roasted this turkey breast
and we ate it and Mark's like,Wow, you really salted this.
(13:28):
I said, I did nothing to it.
I thawed it, I shoved it in aroasting pan and I put it in the oven.
And that's how salty pre brinedand injected turkeys can be.
So really be careful about that.
Mark (13:39):
Okay, so next we want to move on to talking about cooking turkey from frozen.
I don't think a lot of people know this.
that you can actually shove a frozenturkey in your oven and it will get
done the same as a thawed turkey.
But before we get to that point, Iwant to make a side point and take a
little detour here and say that if forany reason you are free on the evening
before Thanksgiving in the United States,so Wednesday evening, you should get
(14:03):
yourself to the supermarket that evening.
Because let me tell you, theturkeys will be on absurd.
sale.
They're
Bruce (14:11):
almost free.
We wandered
Mark (14:13):
into a large supermarket in a town about 20 minutes away from us a
few years ago because we went up forpizza on the night before Thanksgiving.
And so we wandered into thesupermarket and the turkeys were
like 79 cents a pound on theWednesday night before Thanksgiving.
So just go Go and grab yourselfturkeys, and if you have a chest
freezer, as we do, stock up.
(14:34):
I think we bought three,
Bruce (14:35):
because
Mark (14:36):
we threw them in the chest freezer in the basement.
We bought
Bruce (14:38):
three 12 pound
Mark (14:39):
turkeys.
Yeah, exactly.
It's a great way to save money.
And
Bruce (14:41):
turkey is good other times of the year.
Mark (14:43):
So let's talk about how to cook a turkey from frozen.
How about why?
Well, why?
Because you don't have the time tothaw it, because you bought it on
Tuesday and it won't thaw in time,because you bought it on Wednesday
and it won't thaw on time, becauseyou went for that sale on Wednesday
night and it didn't thaw on time.
There's no way.
And don't you dare thaw it on the counter.
(15:04):
You thaw it in the oven.
And the fridge.
And remember, it takes about, oh, this isa rough, but about a day for every four
pounds for the thing to thaw in a fridge.
Bruce (15:16):
Three days for that twelve pound turkey.
That's right.
And you may not haveremembered in time, so.
You have a frozen turkey.
Yes, you can cook it frozen,but you have to do a few things.
And the first, it seems so obvious.
Unwrap it, you'd be surprised.
So, you'd have to peel thatplastic wrapper off the turkey.
Mark (15:37):
Yes, you do.
And that's, uh, let me say that it'sfrozen, so mostly what you have to do
is chip and strip and chip and strip,because it's not going to come off evenly.
And also, you should remember that whenit's frozen, there are those giblets
in that bag inside the turkey cavity.
Remember this?
And they could actually bein both ends of the turkey.
There could be some in oneend and some in the other.
(15:59):
So they're still in there.
Don't worry about it.
Just leave them in there.
And now stick it in the oven.
And what temperature dowe want that oven to be?
Bruce (16:07):
You're going to do it just the same way you normally
would, which is either 325 or 350.
Don't alter the temperatureof the recipe you're using or
the recipe you usually use.
If you don't have a recipe, I'mgoing to tell you, put it at 325.
Mark (16:20):
Okay, and let me also say that if you have followed one of those
recipes that are popular about cookinga turkey at a very high temperature,
like 404, 425, this will not work.
work with a frozen bird.
It will burn on the surfacebefore the interior gets good.
So, okay, you're goingto put it in the oven.
Now, come back a couple hours later.
In a couple hours, those gibletswill have loosened from the
(16:42):
frozen material inside the turkey.
Now, get yourself some long handledtongs, some kitchen tongs and take out
the jibblers and do check both ends.
Now remember this thing ishot so you can't just touch it
even though it's been frozen.
It's starting to get hot so you're goingto either want to wear silicon oven gloves
(17:03):
and you're going to wash them later afteryou touch the turkey or you somehow want
to Stabilize the turkey, uh, even witha clean kitchen towel, but then you've
got to immediately throw it in the wash.
Well, not immediately, but you'vegot to throw it in the wash.
You just can't use it anymore.
So you stabilize the turkey anduse those tongs to probe around
and pull out those giblet packets.
Bruce (17:21):
If the giblet packets are in a paper package, even pulling them out
then might tear some of the paper.
And you know what?
In the end, the paper's not goingto damage or hurt the turkey
if it stays into the cooking.
If those giblets are in a plasticcontainer, you have to get it out.
You do not want theplastic sitting in there.
(17:41):
If you leave the
Mark (17:41):
giblets in the whole cooking, it leaves that red,
disgusting muck everywhere.
And you also get a littleliver flavor in the turkey.
Well, I like that.
Most people don't like that.
Now, here's the otherthing you should know.
If you're going to shove a frozenturkey in the oven, of course you
can't get a marinade to adhere to it.
You can't really geta rub to adhere to it.
So you're going to have to forego all ofthat and go with the cranberry sauce or
(18:04):
chutney or something else at the table.
And, A frozen turkey takes longer to cook.
Bruce (18:09):
It takes about 50 percent longer to cook.
So let's say we had a 10 pound turkey,and it took 3 12 to 4 hours to roast.
You're going up to 165 degrees.
Mark (18:21):
Fahrenheit.
Bruce (18:22):
Fahrenheit.
Fahrenheit.
So if it's been frozen, so now you'retalking almost six hours, right?
If you had a 20 pound turkey, ohmy goodness, it was already going
to take you six or seven hours.
Now it's going to take nine or ten hours.
So again, especially if you'recooking it from frozen, go with
the smaller ones if possible.
Mark (18:40):
And no matter how you cook it, Cook a turkey, but particularly
if you cook it from frozen, justremember that you've got to get it
to the right internal temperature.
You need an instant read meat thermometer.
Now is the time to order one.
If you don't have one, orderit now for same day delivery so
you have it for the holidays.
And what you want to make sureis that the turkey is at, as
Bruce says, 165 Fahrenheit.
(19:04):
in both the breast and the thigh.
And how do you check that temperature?
Bruce (19:08):
Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the meat down as far
as you can go without touching the bone.
So you're gonna go into the thickest partof the thigh, the thickest part of the
leg, the densest, thickest part of thebreast meat without touching the bone.
And once it's at 165,it is perfectly safe to
Mark (19:26):
eat.
Let me just add one more thing beforewe go on to stuffing said turkey.
Uh, I'll say two things.
Actually, two things.
One is, if you have one of thosefancy laser thermometers in the
kitchen, this does not work.
That's a
Bruce (19:38):
surface temperature only.
That's
Mark (19:40):
right, that's only going to take the outside surface temperature.
And two, this cooking of a frozen turkeyworks better with turkeys under 14 pounds,
14 pounds or under again, not so good forthe giant turkeys because they will start
to overcook, particularly in the breast.
So again, let's say I said 14, let'seven say 15, 15 pounds or fewer.
(20:03):
That's the absolute bestway to cook a turkey.
Okay.
Let's talk about stuffing a turkey.
And by the way, you cannotstuff a frozen bird.
Bruce (20:12):
And let me also suggest that you don't ever stuff a bird.
And that's a personal.
Personal preference, I know.
In
Mark (20:18):
any circumstance.
Bruce (20:19):
Some people like to stuff a bird.
Here's the problem.
When you make a stuffing,you're never going to fit it
all into the bird anyway, right?
There's always going to be extrathat has to go in a baking pan.
Everyone at your table only wants whatwas in the baking pan because it's got
a crunchy top, because it puffs up.
more because it hasdelicious, delicious flavor.
If you like it in the turkey because,well, it soaks up more of those turkey
(20:41):
juices, you could drizzle those turkeyjuices afterwards over the baked stuffing.
Mark (20:46):
I'm gonna just tell you that I am not a fan of stuffed turkeys because,
A, what I like is, um, the distinctionhere is between stuffing and dressing,
and dressing is bad for your brain.
baked separately in a pan.
And the only part of the dressingI really like are all the crunchy
bits at the corners and on top.
So, you never are going to getcrunchy bits when you stuff a turkey.
My ex, before I met Bruce, thatfamily always stuffed a turkey with
(21:13):
sausage and eggs, like a raw eggmixed with sausage and breadcrumbs.
And I swear to gosh, what came outof that turkey was meat pudding.
Ew, gross.
And I found it so disgusting.
I couldn't even get near itbecause it was so gross to me.
It's, it's too wet and oily and Idon't ever get any of that crunch,
(21:35):
which is all the part I want.
I'd much rather bake dressingin a pan on the side.
Bruce (21:39):
And not only bacon in a pan, here's a tip.
For people who enjoy the crunchybits, like Mark and I do, Don't use
a nine by 13 pan for that stuffing,press it into a sheet pan, right?
Use a really big, likea 13 by 18 sheet pan.
You're going to have so muchcrunch and so much surface area
and it will take less time to bake.
(21:59):
So when the turkey comes out andis going to rest for almost an
hour, which a 12 to 14 pound turkeyneeds almost an hour to rest.
That's when you could put thesheet pan of dressing in the oven.
It'll come out crunchy and rememberthe one minute cooking tip.
You will have lots of gravyin a thermos that you could
pour on top of that dressing.
(22:19):
If you like it a little softer.
Mark (22:21):
Uh, for your grou why don't you just get a fountain and have a gravy
fountain in the middle of the table.
Wait,
Bruce (22:27):
now
Mark (22:27):
that's an idea.
Oh God, help me.
Um, okay.
So.
Let's talk about one more thingabout turkeys and that is for the
people who want to deep fry them
Mark (2) (22:37):
This is of course
Mark (22:38):
a thing of having the turkey to be deep fried and as you well know you
must Not deep fry a turkey indoors.
You must take it outdoors Becauseof the fire hazard involved.
I'm sure you've seen it EndlessInstagram reels and Tiktok videos
of people burning their housesdown when they deep fry a turkey.
(22:59):
So, let's just say that you need aturkey deep fryer, which is a whole
propane driven gadget in and of itself.
Bruce (23:08):
Make sure that what you're using is good.
made for deep frying a turkey.
So rule one, as Mark said, outside.
Rule two, that turkeymust be completely thawed.
There cannot be anyfrozen bits and no ice.
And you want it dry.
Mark (23:23):
Why is that?
Because if you want to reallykill yourself, just throw an
ice cube in a pan of hot oil.
No, don't do that.
No, don't do that.
Bruce (23:30):
And
Mark (23:30):
it will explode all over your kitchen.
Disclaimer, don't do that.
No, don't do that.
ever do.
So the
Bruce (23:36):
same thing would happen if your turkey had ice or had water.
You even want to pat it dry,
Mark (23:41):
even on the inside.
Absolutely.
Get your hand in there
Bruce (23:44):
now.
There is a problem that most peoplerun into when they deep fry turkeys,
and that's the oil overflowing.
And that is also endlessly online videos.
So, Mark, how do we avoidthe oil overflowing?
Okay, so
Mark (23:56):
what you want to do is you want to, um, you want to actually put
the turkey in the pot and then addthe oil that you're going to need.
Now, the turkey is now going tobe covered in oil, I realize.
Okay, great.
So, take it out, put it on,like, an aluminum baking pan.
Okay, great.
Yes, it's now covered in oil, but justconsider this part of the problem.
And now you know how much oil cango in that pod to fry that turkey.
(24:21):
And remember the oil that comes outon the turkey, you know, when you pull
it back out, there's still oil in it.
Don't worry about it because actually,because of the way the oil will
boil, you need slightly less oilin the pot than even at this stage.
So now, you know.
How much oil to bring tothe proper temperature.
It
Bruce (24:41):
always amazes me when I see people deep fry a turkey and they
fill a giant cauldron to the top withoil and then try and put a turkey in.
And they burn their whole house down.
And they're surprised by the displacement.
Come on, it's basic physics, right?
You put a boat in waterand the water is displaced.
That's how the boat floats.
Well, you put a, you putyourself in a bathtub.
(25:03):
What happens to the water in the bathtub?
Mark (25:04):
Don't fill a bathtub to the rim and then get in
Bruce (25:07):
it.
So do the same thing with the, think aboutthat cauldron of oil as a bath for the
turkey and you don't want to overflow.
And remember this, oil's
Mark (25:14):
going to get up to 325, 350 Fahrenheit.
Mm hmm.
And so it's super heated and trustme, it will explode if you let it fall
down on the propane flame or if yousomehow have a wet, water wet bird
or an icy bird, it will explode andyou just don't want this to happen.
(25:36):
Let me say that if you're deepfrying a turkey for the holidays,
they sell turkey deep fryers.
Get one.
Don't eat it.
improvise on
Bruce (25:43):
this.
I have one other tip before we leavethis section, what to do with turkey.
If you're still afraid of making aturkey, or you're so nervous about it,
check your supermarket flyers every week.
I've talked about this so oftenon this podcast about getting
deals and looking for coupons.
Our local supermarkets havealready started this week.
Ready.
(26:03):
Cooked turkey deals for theholidays with like 20 off, 30 off.
If you buy the whole turkey withthe cranberry sauce, there's
nothing wrong with bringing it in.
If you don't want to make it.
Mark (26:14):
And remember also too, if you're afraid of roasting a whole
turkey, you can always roast parts.
You can always buy a packageof turkey legs, turkey thighs.
You can buy as Bruce did aturkey breast and roasted.
You can even add.
air fried turkey tenderloins.
Remember, you don't have to make awhole turkey for Thanksgiving to have
(26:36):
turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner.
You can actually buy parts.
In fact, I can tell you thatbraised oven braised turkey thighs
are one of my favorite things.
You braise them in red wine with lots ofshallots and garlic like you're making a
Bruce (26:49):
cocoa van with turkey.
Exactly.
And
Mark (26:51):
I love it.
braised turkey thighs.
So and you brown them like crazy.
And then again, you build this saucewith broth and red wine and lots
of herbs and garlic and shallots.
It's delicious.
It can't be better.
And you can get away from doing thewhole turkey if you don't want to.
Okay, that's our entire video.
(27:12):
turkey segment for this episode.
Thanks for being a part of this journey.
And let me say it would be greatif you could subscribe to this
podcast or if you could give it arating on any platform you're on,
you can give it a number of stars.
Can we ask for five?
Sure.
And if you're on, Idon't think they do that.
And if you're on Apple podcasts,you can write a review.
(27:32):
Even a simple review like a greatpodcast is a fine way to help
support this otherwise unsupportedand willfully unsupported podcast.
Okay.
Let's turn as is traditionalto our last segment.
What's making us happy in food this week.
And I'm going to start out.
(27:53):
Okay.
So my thing is that turkey rice soup,because Bruce made this turkey breast.
And then, uh, I said, when heroasted the turkey breast, I said,
Oh my gosh, this means the promiseof turkey rice soup, which is one
of my favorite things in life.
And you made this, uh, fresh tomatosoup with the turkey in it, right?
(28:13):
For the turkey meat.
And you cook the rice separately.
Bruce (28:15):
I'm so crazy.
I cook the rice in the rice cooker.
And the reason you do that isyou don't want the rice absorbing
all that delicious broth, right?
From the soups.
You cook the rice separately.
It will still absorb more, but okay.
Then not only that, I had a pot onthe stove where I sautéed my onions
and my celery and then the freshtomatoes and I poured in turkey
(28:38):
stock which I found at Whole Foodsin a container and I let that go.
The turkey carcass, believe it or not, Iput in the instant pot with water to make
my own own fresh turkey stock and meat andthat all got dumped in minus the bones.
That whole thing went Not all the bones.
Not all the bones.
There were a few in my bowl.
I picked a couple out
Mark (28:56):
of my mouth,
Bruce (28:57):
but okay.
And boy, was that good.
Yes.
But yes, I did it in threeseparate pots at once.
Mark (29:01):
Uh, yeah, okay, that's insane.
I would never make turkey, uh,soup, rice soup that way, but it did
make me very happy after this week.
Okay, your turn.
Bruce (29:09):
What's making me happy is the snack of choice that my sister has
introduced me to, which Pear jam, whichI make sometimes just for her with almond
butter and you know, I had never reallythought about it, but I sent Julie a box
of jars of pear jam that I made just forher and she sends me back pictures of
(29:32):
the spoon going back and forth betweenthe almond butter and the pear jam.
And the pear jam.
I'm like, Oh, that looks good.
And that is making me happy.
Almond
Mark (29:40):
butter is a really amazingly good thing.
It's very good.
I don't know.
I listen, I am a peanut butter boyfrom early childhood, but almond
butter is still a really nice thing.
It's soupier, stickier than peanut butter.
It's
Bruce (29:56):
oilier.
I guess almonds are oilier?
I don't know.
I don't
Mark (29:59):
know.
It's oilier and soupier and so it doesn'tsit on toast very well, in my opinion.
But, you know, I still dip the pieces ofbread in it because it's so tasty and,
uh, I don't really do it with the pear jamas Bruce does, but hey, to each his own.
So that's it.
The podcast this week.
We hope this is to your owntoo, or this is to your liking.
(30:21):
Thanks for being partof this journey with us.
We appreciate your spendingtime with us each week.
Bruce (30:26):
Every week we tell you what's making us happy in food.
So please go to our Facebookgroup, also called Cooking with
Bruce and Mark, and tell us what'smaking you happy in food this week.
We want to know what is goingon in your kitchen here at
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
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