WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: We're talking about things to do with leftover turkey!

If you're like us, you end up with leftover turkey at the holidays. (Bruce has a poultry theory: You start with one chicken per person and build from there.) After twenty-five-year career in the cookbook business, we've got lots of ideas for leftover turkey.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen (and counting) cookbooks. We've published tens of thousands of original recipes in our career. So yep, we know a thing or two about turkey.

Thanks for joining us. Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:09] Our-minute cooking tip: Salt burger patties after you shape them.

[03:37] What to do with leftover turkey: recipe ideas for after the holiday feast.

[17:07] What’s making us happy in food this week: Burgers topped with sweet pickle relish and chili crisp as well as air-fried cauliflower florets and sliced fresh jalapeño chilis.

Episode Transcript

Bruce (00:01):
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast
Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

Mark (00:05):
And I'm Mark Scarborough, and together with Bruce, my husband, we have
written thirty six three dozen cookbooks,not counting the ones for celebrities,
who I probably can't mention, ahem, Dr.
Phil, and others on the air.
That's a whole story of why Iactually can say the words Dr.
Phil.
Somebody forgot to have us signa non disclosure agreement.

Bruce (00:25):
Those words leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Mark (00:26):
Oh, they do anymore.
Uh, he's really kind of smarmy,but, uh, anyway, so, um, we've
written 36 of our own books.
We fixed a lot of cookbooksin our life and ghost written
several others for celebrities.
We have ourselves published, oh, inthe tens of thousands of original
copy written recipes over 25 years.

(00:47):
And this is our podcast aboutthat passion for food and cooking.
And we're glad you're here with us.
We've got a one minute.
cooking tip about hamburgers,about making hamburgers.
We're gonna tell you what todo with all of those turkey
leftovers after the holidays.
And we'll tell you what's makingus happy in food this week.
So let's get started.

Bruce (01:09):
Our one minute cooking tip when you're making burgers.
Hold off on the salt untilafter you shape your patties.
Don't season the meat first.
Season the outside.
And here's why.
When you put salt into groundmeat and mix it up, you're
changing the texture of the meat.
It becomes more like sausage meat.
You know, that springyYou're not changing the

Mark (01:30):
texture as you do it.
You're changing it as it cooks.
Just to be absolutelyproper as a writer, right?
It's what's going to happen to it

Bruce (01:37):
When it cooks, the salt inside the meat is going to
make it tighter and springier.
bringy here and it's almostgoing to be like sausage meat as
opposed to a lovely tender burger.
So salt all you want,but salt the outside.
Don't salt the meat beforeyou shape your patty.

Mark (01:53):
Yeah, that is absolutely true.
And I tell you, Bruceis the burger master.
And I also have to tell you, ifyou don't know that basically,
uh, I like my hamburgers so that agood vet could still save the cow.
So, um, for me, I don't ever want springysausage texture inside my hamburgers.
I like

Bruce (02:09):
it.
You like my burgers.
Believe it or not, well done.
I like steaks, really rare, but Ilike ground beef, either raw and
cold, like steak tartare, or onceyou heat it up, go all the way.

Mark (02:20):
Yeah, well, I love steak tartare, and we should say, now we're
prolonging this one minute cookie dip,I should say that, uh, just to clarify
myself, um, we buy our meat from alocal farm here in rural New England.
It's an organic farm.
We know where the meat comes from.
I believe it.
These are the cows that produce the meat.
But if I go elsewhere, let's say I'm in adiner on a road trip, I don't know, we're

(02:41):
in New Jersey, and we're on a road trip,we stop at a diner for lunch, and I get a
burger, okay, there I order it well done.
Because I don't know wherethat meat comes from and I want
it cooked completely through.
Do you know in, in New Jersey, Canada,our Canadian listeners know this.
You can't even get a burgeranyway, but well done.

Bruce (02:56):
Well done is the only way ground beef can be served in Canada.
It's a national law andit saves a lot of lives.

Mark (03:03):
Yes.
Okay.
Before we get to the next segmenton what to do with all those turkey
leftovers after the holidays, letme say that we would appreciate it.
If you could subscribe to this podcast, ifyou could rate it, and even if you could
write a review, many platforms allow you,like Apple Podcasts, to write, a review.
That would be a terrific thing to help us.
We choose not to be supported byany underwriter because we want to

(03:25):
say exactly what we want to say.
Um, because this is just basicallyour passion and we want to keep it
there at our passion rather than ourbusiness, but it would be great if
you could help us out by rating thepodcast and even writing a review.
Okay, up next, what to do withall of those turkey leftovers.
After the holidays.

Bruce (03:48):
This week, millions of turkeys are going into millions of ovens across the U.
S.
I

Mark (03:53):
wonder what the actual stat is on that, but okay, we'll look
at it with millions and millions.
I wonder what

Bruce (03:57):
the actual smell of all that is.
Gross.

Mark (04:01):
God.
Why do you always haveto freak out the podcast?
Okay, go on.
So

Bruce (04:06):
And think about all that millions of pounds of turkey grease going
down drains and into sewer systems.
No, that's

Mark (04:12):
not good.
I can't think of

Bruce (04:13):
anything.
Oh, that's gonna be fatbergs everywhere.
Oh, goodness.

Mark (04:16):
Um, okay.
So, anyway.
Please stop.
So, what do you want to talk about, Bruce?
I want

Bruce (04:21):
to talk about the millions of pounds of turkey leftovers
and what to do with them.
You know, our careers as food magazinewriters actually started with an article
on what to do with turkey leftovers.
Yeah.

Mark (04:32):
It was a long time ago.
I think 20 plus years ago.
And we pitched Cooking Light, and wewere newbies in the food business.
We were such newbiesthat they accepted us.
We accepted our pitch at CookingLight for leftover turkey,
uh, dishes after the holidays.
But they forced us to writethe whole thing before they

(04:54):
would actually accept it.
And that's, that's not anything thathappens once you're established.
But when you're established, youcan pitch something and then go
away and write it once they buy it.
But in this case, we had toactually write the article.
And I have to tell you, we both,I remember this really well.
We were staying at a friend's house.
in the Hamptons.
They'd offered us theirhouse while they were away.

(05:14):
We're out in the Hamptons and, um, wegot this, uh, this to write an article.
Of course, you know, magazineswere working six months ahead,
so it's probably like April orMay for the Thanksgiving issue.
And we got this assignment,and we, Both actually stopped
and said, should we do it?
Because they were asking us to write thewhole thing before they would even agree

(05:34):
to the article and accept it or pay us.
So it was a whole thing, but we did itand it actually started an entire magazine
career with Cooking Light, Eating Well,Wine Spectator, and all these magazines.
And

Bruce (05:45):
writing for food magazines was an issue.
I want to talk about that before we evenget to these recipes because as Mark
said, you're writing these months inadvance, sometimes six months in advance.
Sometimes

Mark (05:55):
a year.
Well, a

Bruce (05:56):
year is actually easier because you can get all the
ingredients because it's seasonal.
But if you're writing an article onThanksgiving leftovers and turkey,
and you're writing it in June orMay, you aren't necessarily going
to find a lot of turkeys available.
Or if you do, they're goingto be really expensive.
It's like writing an article in Januarythat's going to appear in August for

(06:18):
fresh corn and fresh tomato things.
Where are you going to get these things?
It's a real problem.
I

Mark (06:23):
distinctly remember writing an article in in November or December
for eating well, and it was anarticle in which rhubarb was a central
ingredient in many of the things.
And do you know how hard it isto find rhubarb in November and
December in rural New England?
It's almost impossible.
Bruce ended up having to Order itfrom some really expensive cooking

(06:45):
food supply place because wecouldn't get rhubarb in December.
It was just impossible.
There was a

Bruce (06:50):
restaurant supply place that shipped it in and it was like 26 a pound.
That's the old days.
Okay.

Mark (06:55):
So here's what I suggest you do.
One of the things I'm going to suggestyou do with your turkey leftovers, and
that is Call in, call in some cold sobanoodles from a local Chinese American
restaurant, call in cold soba noodlesand just mix chopped up turkey into them.
You have an instant cold sobanoodle with turkey dinner.

(07:17):
Now, you can make yourown cold soba noodles.
And

Bruce (07:19):
you're talking about, like, with the peanut dressing, right?
The sesame sauce and all of that.
The sesame

Mark (07:23):
or peanut dressing, yep, exactly.
You can make your own, and youcan find lots of dressing recipes
on the web for peanut and sesamedressings for cold soba noodles.
But you can actually just order itin and add chopped up, deboned, of
course, turkey, and I would say skinoff turkey to those soba noodles.
Listen, okay, you're going to go crazy.

(07:44):
Add some celery or some scallionschopped up and then you've
got really a whole complete.
Wow.

Bruce (07:49):
Call it in.
Wow.
I was going to say, let's give the wholerecipe for it, but that's really amazing.
Okay.
I am a fan of curried turkey saladand I prefer to use the leftover
breast meat as opposed to the darkmeat for chicken and turkey salads.
And so Basically, it's so simple.
It's mayonnaise, or fat free yogurt,sometimes a combination, a little dollop

(08:12):
of mango chutney for sweetness, someraisins, scallions, I like to put chopped
walnuts in it, that's always a goodthing, and a sprinkling of curry powder.
And you mix all that into chopped up,cooked, leftover turkey breast meat.
It's super simple, and it's delicious.
So good.

Mark (08:28):
If you want to actually use the dark meat, I would suggest you try and we have
tried a kind of deviled turkey spread.
You know, that deviled hamgrossness from Underwood.
Oh, God, I grew up.
Basically, it's

Bruce (08:40):
the it's the cat food for

Mark (08:42):
people.
Gosh, I grew up on that.
My parents love that stuff.
They love that.
And they know What wecalled Vienna sausages.
Oh,

Bruce (08:51):
that's dog food for people.

Mark (08:53):
Vienna sausages, Vienna.
And I can still hear my mother saying,as Bruce well knows, don't scrape off the
jelly, that's where all the flavor is.
Okay, so anyway.
Here's how Christian I was raised, Viennasausages on white bread with mayonnaise.
So, there you go.
I think that's as fundamentallyChristian as you can.

(09:14):
But, you can make a devil turkey spread.
I'm going to go to this.
So, in this case, I wouldsay skin the dark meat.
Don't use the skin.
And chop up, debone, chopup some of the dark meat.
And then put it in a food processor.
Yes, a food processor.
There you go.
with some mustard, some vinegar,don't use, uh, just white vinegar,

(09:34):
use like white wine vinegar oreven balsamic vinegar, and a few

Bruce (09:38):
teaspoons, not, not a whole lot.

Mark (09:40):
And then some capers and a few shots of Tabasco or a hot sauce
and a bunch of fresh herbs, whateverkind of fresh herbs you like.
And then here's the kicker.
And I know you're going to scream,but one or two tinned onions.
Absolutely can't make

Bruce (09:53):
it without their

Mark (09:53):
necessary for this underwood flavor.
And so you put that in the food processorand then whiz it up and you're going
to end up with a thick, chunky spread.
You can put it on cucumber slices.
You can put it on sandwiches,you can put it in celery sticks,
you can dip carrots into it.
It's an underwood turkey spread.
You can add, if you wouldn't even wantto go crazy, a little mayo to this to

(10:16):
make it smoother, but you don't need it.
Um, it's just kind of a.
Basic recipe for a deviled turkey spread

Bruce (10:24):
Wow that actually I'm torn between thinking I want to eat
that and Between I want to throw itout because I can't decide so I'm
gonna let you make it this year.
No, I'm gonna make it Cuz

Mark (10:36):
really honestly, even though we're saying this my favorite way to eat turkey
is to take a knife to the refrigerator Andstay in there with the refrigerator slice
off pieces of turkey, so that's probablythe way I'm going to eat left over turkey,
but uh, that's, that's one of the ways.
Okay, so what's another thing?

Bruce (10:52):
At this point, everybody knows that I am a fan of Chinese cuisine and
that I love to cook Chinese food andI'm going to tell you about a really
interesting way to make what I'm callingXO Turkey, something like you'd expect
right out of that old TV show Iron Chef.
So whether it's in a skillet or awok, put a little sesame oil and saute

(11:14):
some minced up ginger and scallionsand garlic, add some water chestnuts,
and then the kicker is a heapingtablespoon of XO sauce, which is a
jarred sauce you buy in an Asian market.
It's a Fishy kind of fermented saucethat's spicy and got crab stuff in it.
And then you add the chopped up turkey.

(11:36):
You can use white meat or dark meat.
And if you want to put a littlebit of soy sauce, you can at that
point, it may need a little water tomoisten it and serve that in lettuce.

Mark (11:47):
And don't forget, while Bruce is talking about sautéing and stir frying
exo turkey, which is a great idea, don'tforget that we all love turkey sandwiches.
And while a lot of people will makea turkey sandwich with lettuce and
tomato on toasted bread, of coursetoasted, because I want the crunchy,
um, toasted bread, or some people goall out and make a turkey sandwich.
turkey club with bacon and sliced turkey.

(12:09):
Don't forget that that you canalso easily make a turkey Reuben.
Take the skin off the breast, slicethe white meat turkey into thin slices.
Then just add purchased sauerkrautand, uh, some kind of melty cheese.
Jarlsberg is good.
Munster is good.
Good.
Put it on toasted rye withmustard or Russian dressing,

(12:33):
either way, whichever you like.
And you can make a turkeyReuben in no time flat.

Bruce (12:38):
Just remember to squeeze the sauerkraut dry because the
juices are going to make yourbread mushy and you can do it the
way Mark said by toasting the rye.
It's really easy.
I'm Mark.
Or go a little more traditional, buildthe sandwich and then grill it in a
skillet with a little oil or butter.
And that way you'll have, you know,like a grilled, cheesy, rubiny thing.

(12:59):
Yum, yum.

Mark (13:00):
Okay, what else you got?

Bruce (13:01):
I love to make soup out of leftover turkey carcasses.
And in our last episode, Marktalked about my turkey rice soup,
which is one of our favorites.
But there is a Braziliansoupy stew called vatapa.
I love to do that with turkey insteadof the traditional shrimp, and I take

(13:21):
the leftover turkey and it is some extraturkey stock and some coconut milk and
chopped peanuts, maybe even a littlebeer is thrown in, onions, ginger, canned
tomatoes, and you just cook that downuntil it's thickened and stew like.
Needs heat.
Again.
Needs

Mark (13:37):
lots of heat.
It

Bruce (13:38):
needs some chili.
So again, you're getting turkey,coconut milk, a little beer.
Peanuts, onions, garlic, tomatoes, all itis really an amazing flavor combination.
And

Mark (13:49):
let me also say, since we're just throwing out ideas here, that sliced,
especially dark meat turkey, slice itreally thin and chop it up and then get
yourself, you can buy it already sliced,some sliced mango at the grocery store
and a jar of roasted red peppers, right?
So drain those.
You've got your sliced mango.
You've now got your chopped up turkey,and now you can just make quesadillas.

(14:11):
They're cheese free quesadillas.
You put that, those three things,the chopped up dark green turkey,
the mango slices, and the drainedroasted red peppers between tortillas.
Put them in a skillet.
Uh, you can even use a dry nonstickskillet without any oil and then, you
know, just heat it until one side of thetortilla gets a little brown, not crunchy,

(14:32):
but a little brown, and then flip it over.
You need a big spatula for this.
Flip it over and you basically, afteranother minute or two, you have these
really simple turkey quesadillas.
They are

Bruce (14:43):
so delicious.
And if you want cheese,you can add it, right?
You can.
Of course.
You can keep it cheese free, or youcould dump a whole ton of shredded
cheese on there, which actuallymakes it a little easier to flip.
But I, to be honest, I like itwithout cheese, but some people won't
have a quesadilla without cheese.
Right.
I think

Mark (15:00):
the mango stands in for the cheese because it gives you that creamy texture.
It does.
That's actually a

Bruce (15:04):
really good idea.
You know,

Mark (15:06):
um, to each his own.
Okay, so what else?

Bruce (15:08):
Well, there's another soup we could talk about, and this is doing
a sort of Mexican style Yucatan soup.
And we take chicken broth, and we infuseit with garlic and onions and a big
splash of lime juice, put in some dicedpotatoes, some drained canned corn,
some hot peppers, and that cubed turkey.
And you've got adelicious, delicious soup.

(15:29):
hearty lime garlic onion infused soupwith turkey and potatoes and corn.

Mark (15:34):
Well, these are lots of different ways that we have for
using up those turkey leftovers.
There are so many possibilitieshere that you can look for.
I mean, we did this again 20 plus yearsago for Cooking Light and these recipes
to me still seem to hold up a bit.
They're kind of do it yourself.
They're not, I mean, yes.
Did CookingLite publish actualrecipes with ingredient lists?

(15:56):
Yes.
But from just listening to it, youcan figure that these are pretty
much go at your own way recipes.
It's really a good way to use up that birdand not just necessarily throw out those
leftovers, but keep them for what's ahead.
No,

Bruce (16:12):
do not throw them out.
In fact, if you're not ready tomake a dish with the leftovers,
wrap up that carcass, wrap up thatleftovers, throw them in the freezer.
And the next time you make any dish.
Any kind of soup, like asplit pea or a tomato soup.
Throw some in.
Why not?

Mark (16:27):
Okay.
Before we get to the last segmentof the podcast, what's make kids
happy eating food this week?
Let me remind you that it would be greatif you signed up for our newsletter,
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It comes out once or twice a month.
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(16:48):
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from this podcast and has recipes.
Book ideas, all kinds of things included.
Okay.
Let's move on to the lastsegment of this podcast.
What's making us happy in food this week.

Bruce (17:11):
We started with a one minute cooking tip on burgers.
So what's making me happy is the burgerI made for dinner this week, which is
Just the meat salted on the outsideas we say to do but my favorite burger
topping has become a Combination of sweetpickle relish and Lao Gan Ma chili crisp
and man that combination is killing meI just slather it But the thing is, we

(17:36):
like to use cloth napkins around here.
I can't, not with that burger.
It's a roll of paper towels becauseit's an oily, greasy, delicious mess.

Mark (17:44):
And I think that what made me heavy in food this week is something
that happened with that burger, whichis first made a side dish of lots of
of air fried cauliflower florets witha sliced up jalapeño, a fresh jalapeño.
And so we air fried cauliflowerflorets, spraying them, of
course, and air frying them.

(18:04):
And in there, amongst all thoseflorets, was a fresh jalapeño
chili that had been thinly sliced.
And it was so tasty.
I ate it.
Ate it down more eventhan I wanted my burger.
I wanted that crunchy cauliflowerwith those hot jalapenos.
Best dinner ever.
It was so unbelievably delicious.
Another reason you should have an airfryer and maybe, okay, egregiously self

(18:26):
promotional, have our book, The Lookand Cook Air Fryer Bible, in which every
step of every recipe is photographed.
Check that out.
It's even a good holiday gift.
That's our podcast.
For this week.
Thanks for being part of this journey.
Thanks for being with us.
Thanks for spending time with us.
We appreciate your being here each week

Bruce (18:44):
and each week.
We tell you what'smaking us happy in food.
So please go to our Facebookgroup, also called cooking with
Bruce and Mark and share what'smaking you happy in food this week.
You'll see a post where I askthat question every Monday.
So please tell us what's makingyou happy in food this week.
Cause we want to know here atcooking with Bruce and Mark.