The Daily Talking Turkey: A Holiday Special Edition
12 snips
Nov 23, 2022 
Join food experts Kim Severson and J. Kenji López-Alt as they dive into the culinary chaos of Thanksgiving turkey preparation. Kim shares quirky historical cooking techniques and the pressure of 'turkey fear.' J. Kenji debunks myths with his foolproof roasting methods, emphasizing the secrets hidden in your fridge. From the deep-fried turkey legacy to the rise of spatchcocking, they explore how cooking styles reflect personal identities. Together, they make turkey cooking approachable and fun, just in time for the holiday!
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Turkey Panic Industry
- Cooking a Thanksgiving turkey is stressful because it's large, infrequently cooked, and prone to uneven cooking.
- This has created a "turkey panic industry" of gadgets, advice, and media exploiting this fear.
Spit-Roasted Turkey
- Early Americans roasted turkeys on spits, requiring constant attention.
- Culinary historian Lenny Sorensen emphasizes the skill and attention needed for spit-roasting, assigning a dedicated person to the task.
Roasting Bag Explosions
- Roasting bags, popularized in the 1960s, promised easy turkey cooking.
- However, they often resulted in pale skin, no drippings for gravy, and sometimes even exploded.
