Giada Gives The Audience The Finger Plus Bobby Shows Us A New Turkey Trick

Actually, it was PART of her finger that Giada “gave” us as she sliced through it, while LIVE on the air on the Food Network Thanksgiving special on Saturday. She was slicing a turkey roll while cooking along with Ina, Bobby and Alton when her hand slipped and oops! Lucky for us, we didn’t actually see the event. It happened in the background.

Bobby, Ina, Giada and (ugh) Alton were bopping around the Food Network Kitchens, talking about every possible aspect of the Thanksgiving meal. Then we see Giada (with her back turned) leaning over, actually leaning ON the edge of a sink. A FN chef comes over and it looks as if they’re consulting about something. Giada comes back to the front and admits she cut her finger. Ina puts her arm around her to offer support and that ass Alton decides that’s the perfect moment to ask her some complicated question.

One report said she looked pale and a little weak. I probably wouldn’t have seen that on my own, but she certainly didn’t need to be asked a question RIGHT THEN. Someone else answered it and there was quite a lot of chitchat before they FINALLY went to a commercial. When they got back, Alton announced Giada was getting treated and Bobby and Ina filled in just fine for the injured Italian.

The ironic thing was that Giada was making this rolled up and stuffed Turkey Breast "Porchetta", because it saves heavy-duty slicing just before serving, because you debone it before you stuff it.

You couldn’t help but think of Dan Ackroyd doing Julia Child (SO FUNNY!) and bleeding all over the set, but Giada was far more refined.

This Thanksgiving show did have some decent recipes, but it was annoying, because of Alton constant interrupted everybody.  (Actually, Giada - pre-incision - kept piping in during Ina’s spiels, but she was just being enthusiastic.) They’re repeating the show a bunch of times, but save yourself the 2 hours and just look at the recipes here.

Here was the high point for me: Bobby (and actually the other two too) disagreeing with Alton about brining. Bobby said he doesn’t like the texture of the meat after it’s been brined. Take that Alton! Ina says she likes to put lots of seasoning (read salt) on the turkey a day or two before cooking and it gives a lot of extra flavor. Giada likes what she calls a dry brine, which is an herb rub.

And this was interesting. Bobby did something very different with his turkey. When the breast measured 160°F , (I THINK he said 160, I’d feel better at 165, even though I know it continues to cook) he took the turkey out of the oven and CUT THE LEGS AND THIGHS OFF. Really. (The wings are still attached to the breast and carcass) Then he put the legs and thighs BACK  in the roasting pan, covered them with foil and cooked them for ANOTHER HOUR. I kid you not. That’s pretty radical, right? And he doesn’t give a hoot that he cuts up the bird before presenting it to his audience, friends, guests or whomever.

Bobby covered the remaining turkey (with the breast meat and wings) with foil and just let it rest for an hour. That’s a darn good idea. The only thing I would add is my magic trick of turning the breast upside down as it rests. The juices flow back into the breast, where they’re needed the most. I actually LOVE Bobby’s idea of cutting off the dark meat and cooking it longer. I may have to try it on Thursday, except that I stuff my turkey and the stuffing may not register done (165°F) when the breast does, so I’ll have to keep my options open.

After the show, the Food Network had a “Hangout” with its four Food Network stars. You know, kind of like Andy Cohen’s “Aftershow”.

Some nice young woman from Food Network.com, who never introduced, herself was (I thought) the host of this post-show. She introduced everyone and started the questions rolling. Then she introduced the stars of the new Food Network show modelled (exactly) after The Chew called The Kitchen @ Food Network - Jeff Mauro, Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee and Marcela Valladolid. Exactly like The Chew, there is one super-duper chef taking part, Geoffrey Zakarian, who was not participating in the Hangout. He’s like Mario Batali on The Chew, who, remember, was on The Chew’s first episode from a remote location – a golf course - demonstrating pizza dough. (I haven’t really watched The Chew since then, so maybe Mario is there more…but I kind of doubt it. He probably makes appearances in between his more important gigs.)

Anyway, the annoying part of this “Hangout” was that the nameless host, who WAS sitting at the head of the table, was supposed to be channeling questions from Twitter and the website for ALL the chefs, but Alton could not keep his mouth shut. While Hangout Host Gal gamely looked on, he barreled through the segment asking each of The Kitchen hosts some Thanksgiving related question. Ina looked bored, but laughed bravely when called upon. Giada looked uber-sexy in her heavy librarian glasses, but she should have been home nursing her wound. Bobby didn’t actually seem bothered by obnoxious Alton.

Ah well, it was an interesting show, which would have been made better by a more courtly host (Ted Allen perhaps). I get that Alton has MANY technically proficient recipes to contribute, but couldn’t he do it by remote and only when called upon?

Find the myriad recipes mentioned here:

Clarified Butter
Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Cranberries
Good Gravy
Country Bread Stuffing with Goat Cheese, Kale and Bacon
Cranberry Sauce
Mashed Potatoes with Smoked Paprika and Chives
Roasted Turkey a la Tangerine
Roasted Shrimp in Cazuela
Spanish Cranberry Sparkling Martini
Apple Crostata
Kale and Gorgonzola Salad
Thanksgiving Turkeys
Accidental Turkey
Turkey Breast "Porchetta"
Roasted Figs and Prosciutto
Kir Royale
Mushroom and Leek Bread Pudding
Green Beans Gremolata
Thanksgiving Live Roast Turkey

Super Bowl Food - Paula Grabs The Gusto With A Steak Sandwich; Tyler Enriches Us With A Shrimp And Oyster Po'Boy Plus My Surprising Chicken Wing Guru

I took a look at Paula and Tyler's shows this week to see what football food they were making. Either menu would be pretty amazing. I think I'll concentrate on their sandwich offerings.

Tyler’s Ultimate with Tyler Florence

Ultimate Po' Boys

Shrimp and Oyster Po' Boys

Sweet Potato Matchsticks

Sweet Potato and Praline Pie

Tyler didn’t mention football specifically, but his tribute to New Orleans IS very appropriate for this year’s Super Bowl. His Ultimate Po’Boy would be a great addition to a Super Bowl party feast. In fact, it would BE the feast. He also made sweet potatoes two ways – as skinny, skinny fries and a pie (no store bought crust for him), but today I’m focusing on his po’ boy.

Tyler starts with his sauce - a rémoulade. He mixes together two cups of mayo, 1 cup of sour cream and some “good Creole” mustard He adds hot sauce, “Not enough to blow your head off”, with some cornichons that have been chopped with parsley. He mixes it all together with salt and pepper. Yum. (Add some julienned celery root to that and you have a pretty great version of a céleri rémoulade. That’s reason enough to party...as far as I’m concerned.)

Tyler says peanut oil is his “frying fat of choice”, but first, to flavor the oil, he adds some “woody” herbs to the COLD OIL – sage, rosemary and thyme. Fantastic idea!!! But, Tyler, tell the folks that if they wash those herbs (which I wouldn’t bother with), they HAVE to be dry before you can even THINK of deep frying them!

Tyler also adds an entire head of garlic, with the cloves separated but the papery skin still on. He doesn’t really say on the show, but the recipe tells us to heat the oil up to 365ºF and then remove the herbs.

Tyler fries up his sweet potato matchsticks first. Then he turns his attention to the shucked oysters and peeled shrimp. He adds buttermilk to the seafood with some hot sauce. Again, he says don't add not enough to blow your head off. He puts them back in the fridge.

Tyler is making it really hard for me NOT to talk about the Sweet Potato and Praline Pie. Take a look at it, it’s easy and completely fabulous. And frankly, even though I wouldn’t tell a Southerner, you could sneak some pumpkin in place of the potato and it would be awesome too.

Back to the oysters and shrimp. Tyler pours some spice mix into a shallow bowl and mixes in 2½ cups of cornmeal. He drains the seafood with a sieve to get rid of the extra buttermilk. He gets the oil read as he tosses a few shrimp and oysters in the cornmeal mixture. He turns them over and over to be coated nicely. Tyler drops them carefully into the oil and cooks them for 4 minutes “tops”.

(Oh gosh, praline sugar is going over the pie. Really check THIS out. It looks like a pecan pie now.)

During the commercial, Tyler finished frying all the seafood. The good thing about making this into a sandwich is that the oysters and shrimp don’t have to be super hot.

Tyler slices the French long(ish) roll open, leaving a “hinge” at the back. He smears on a generous amount of rémoulade before piling on the shrimp and oysters. He tops that with lettuce – “the official vegetable of New Orleans” – and tomato slices. He folds the whole thing over and gives it a SLIGHT press. He cuts it in the middle, slightly diagonally and voila. Awesome.

The “killer” sweet potato fries look amazing too and that pie…that pie.

At the end of the show, Tyler does acknowledge the coming football game. He says “I hope your team wins. Have a great game.” But I think his choice of menu leaves no doubt as to whom he’ll be rooting for.

I need to take a run around the block, before tackling Paula’s grilled steak sandwiches, because I have a feeling they’ll be suitable for a league of linebackers. Okay, let’s see.

Paula’s Best Dishes with Paula Deen

Company's Coming

Michael's Grilled Steak Sandwiches

Peppery Coleslaw with Orange Chili Vinaigrette

Crunch Onion Rings

Cherry-Chocolate Coffee Float

Oh goodie, Paula’s in the kitchen with hubbie Michael. They're cute together. She starts with onion rings. Oh, how I love those, but we’ll go right to the steak sandwiches. (Her recipe is a good one, though. The batter has “a sleeve” of saltine crackers and Michael is wearing pink onion goggles.)

I love how Paula says YISS (for yes). And EET (for it).

Jimmy Sikes, Michael’s friend from Vie-Day-Yuh, (Vidalia) is coming over (down? up?) to help him grill. Seriously, can foreigners understand Paula?

Michael sets about marinating the flank steak. Paula and he mix together 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon Dijon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of oregano, a teaspoon of Lady and Sons seasoning and ¾ cup of vegetable oil. They pour it over the flank steak and marinate it for a minimum of an hour or overnight. (I would completely leave out the oil and add a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar.)

Paula rubs the marinade over the steak, while telling us all about Michael’s muscle car - a 1969 GTO Judge. (WHAT IS a muscle car?)

They’re serving the steak sandwich with a cole slaw. Take a look, but let’s get on to the steak sandwich.

Jimmy has arrived. I wonder if he has a muscle car too. Oh, Jimmy isn’t just a weekend barbecuer. He’s the owner and grill master of Sikes Cookers. I’m guessing that gorgeous grill they’re cooking on is one of those.

This is funny. The Food Network put the directions up on the screen: “For a flank steak 1– 1½ inches thick, grill 4-5 minutes on each side.” I wonder if the FN thought we needed subtitles to understand these Southerners. 


Jimmy and Michael put the meat on the barbecue and a huge flame spurts up. ­­

The rolls for the sandwiches also go on the barbecue. (I always forget to do that.) The guys bring in the steak and the rolls to be assembled in the kitchen.

Paula finishes mixing up the cole slaw. Michael says he loves it when Jimmy visits, so Jimmy can show him how to cook on his new grill, which he absolutely loves. (Probably not as much as that car, though.)

They spread chipotle sauce on the toasted bread. I forgot to mention that, here it is. They pile the meat on, add some thickly sliced tomatoes and fold it over. The onion rings and cole slaw look really good with it.

Dessert didn’t look half bad either – a cherry, coffee and chocolate float, y’all. (Each serving had about a pint of ice cream, along with the espresso, cherry syrup, chocolate syrup and whipped cream.) It doesn’t have to be espresso, y’all, it can be regular coffee. Paula signs off with, "Best dishes and love to y’all."

Okay, WHO DOESN’T LOVE PAULA??! Nobody says we have to cook her food, but what a complete doll she is!

More Food Network Game Day recipes that look good:

Sunny’s Interstate Chili

Baked Tortilla Chips - I only saw the first few minutes on the first Mexican Made Easy, but I liked how Marcella made these. Her Guacamole looked good too, but I would use a red onion instead of a white.

The January/February Food Network magazine has TONS of great snack recipes. Believe me, I didn’t think I needed another food magazine either.

Bobby Flay has an amazing sounding Blue Cheese Sauce.

And Alton Brown has a fantastic method for making chicken wings. (Yup, that’s right, he’s not my favorite.) All of you Alton Brown fans have seen this before (from The Wing and I Good Eats episode), but it’s new to me. Alton STEAMS the wings first, sets them uncovered in the fridge to dry out the skin and then roasts them in a hot oven. Sounds like a plan to me.

Have a great Super Bowl. Enjoy the snacks and the commercials. The game? I don’t even know who the Saints are playing, but do you think it would help my football comprehension if I made Gina’s punch?

It’s All About The Turkey - What I Learned From Fantastic Anne, The Reeled-In Neelys, Glorious Paula (When She’s Not Cooking Nekked) Plus...

Peacemaker Sunny And My Gem Of A Contessa

Thanksgiving is all over the Food Network. It started with their newsletter, which includes Bobby’s great way to roast a turkey.

Then, all over the place on Saturday, were Thanksgiving recipes. I skipped Rach’s turkey cutlets and watched Anne brine a turkey; the Neelys deep fry a turkey, and Paula roast one.

Then I wondered what Giada was going to show us. This is weird – a pork roast is what she came up with. Yup, she did a pork roast. Go figgah! And lastly it was home with the Contessa, as she gave us lots of Thanksgiving ideas.

I’m concentrating on the turkeys for each of these shows, but I’ll include the links for all the other dishes, because if you went searching for them on the AWFUL Food Network website, it would take you well into next year to find them.

Let’s get started with Anne’s brined turkey.

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef with Anne Burrell

The Secret to Brined Turkey

Brined Herb-Crusted Turkey with Apple Cider Gravy

Sausage, Apple, and Walnut Stuffing

Anne makes a really flavorful brine – lots of herbs, vegetables and apple cider – and brines her turkey for 3 days. She takes out the turkey, dries it really well and rubs a flavored butter on it anywhere that it will go - under AND over the skin. Then Anne ties it up really well and places it back in the roasting pan.

Before cooking, she leaves it uncovered overnight in the fridge to dry out any moisture on the skin. This helps to get the skin crispy in the oven and it also makes her prep on Thanksgiving a breeze.

Anne warns us not to have ANYTHING in the vicinity of the uncovered turkey while it’s in the fridge, because it’s POULTRY. Yeah, be careful.

Anne roasts her turkey at 450°F for 40 minutes until brown and crusty, and then 350°F for the rest of the cooking time.

I love how she says she and her sister used to cut bread into squares for the stuffing, while they were watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. That was their job. See? THAT’S what Thanksgiving is about.

My kids have great memories like that too. My daughter’s: GET that table set now! My son’s: If you bring one more leaf into the house, you’re eating in the basement! You know, stuff like that…

Anne takes out her turkey and exclaims, “Norman Rockwell!” It IS possibly the most beautiful roast turkey I’ve ever seen. And in her hands, you KNOW it’s going to taste good too, no…great.

It’s only a 14 pounder, which is kind of not a huge trick, and she doesn’t stuff it, which aids even more in the cooking, but I’m still in awe of it. Anne’s cooking IS impeccable, which is perhaps a funny word to use for someone so loosey goosey, but really she is fantastic.

I may add apple cider to my stuffing this year instead of orange juice.

Anne says the crispy skin is from the brine, the lube job and the sitting in the fridge. She tests it. She wants the breast to say 160°F. She let's it rest. She’s not using my trick of turning the turkey upside down.

But here’s the important thing, she IS using the drippings to make gravy, in spite of the fact that she brined her turkey. This is my huge bugaboo to brining a turkey. I’m just not willing to take the chance that the drippings will be unusable.

She skims the fat off the top to use in her roux. Anne makes her gravy the way my mother did, in the actual roasting pan. I use a huge sauce pan or stock pot, because I always make about ½ gallon of gravy.

Gorgeous job. Please tell me about using the brined drippings if you try this recipe…or ANY brining recipe.

On to the Neelys. They’re pretending it’s just four of them for Thanksgiving, which you know with their huge family is highly unlikely, but whatever.

Down home with the Neelys with Pat and Gina Neely

Gobble, Gobble

Neely's Deep-Fried Turkey

Cranberry Chutney

Broccoli with Pecan Brown Butter

Gina's Pumpkin Cheesecake

They’re also starting with a 14 pound turkey. That’s like cooking a big chicken. The Neelys are deep frying it this year.

I would do that if I were cooking 2 turkeys and I was willing to possibly sacrifice one AND if I had someone interested in keeping a close watch on it.

Pat has dried the turkey really well. He seasons it up under the skin AND in the cavity, as well as ON the skin. That’s an excellent idea if you want a non-fat way to add flavor. He says to do that the night before to let the seasoning set in.

They do their other bits and pieces and finally Pat gets to the turkey. He’s using an electric deep fryer outside. He says to allow 3 minutes per pound. That’s just plain funny…that the whole thing will cook in less than 45 minutes.

Pat's frying looked nothing like this. (I love the kid saying, "This was a BAD idea!"

The Neely’s cheesecake recipe looks fine AND there’s no Cool Whip in sight.

Pat takes out the turkey slowly and lets as much oil as possible drain from it. He puts the turkey still in its frying basket on a baking sheet. That’s a clever way to avoid dripping oil all over on the way into the house.

Gina finishes up everything with her girls. Awww, that’s nice. She whips real cream (thank goodness) with flavorings. Pat takes the turkey out. What are they doing about gravy by the way? They don’t seem to have missed it. They’re eating and exclaiming. The girls are a lot quieter than the parents.

They have a nice share our strength promo at the end.

On to Paula’s turkey.

Paula’s Best Dishes with Paula Deen

Turkey Time

Smashed Potato, Parsnips and Rutabaga

Pumpkin Rum Pie

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

Roasted Turkey with Maple Cranberry Glaze

Paula also has a small turkey – 15 pounds. Paula starts by making a butter “paste”. The butter has lots of seasonings, garlic and parsley (That parsley looks so fresh, it looks fake.) She rubs the butter all over the outside of the turkey and in the neck. Paula leaves “the bulk of it” on the top, so it runs down the breast as it’s roasting.

Paula cooks the turkey for a few hours until the dark meat reaches 160°F. (Most other people, including the USDA, say 165°F. I guess Paula likes to live dangerously.) Like the Neelys and Anne, Paula is roasting the turkey unstuffed.

Paula tells a funny story about her cousin Johnnie, with whom she’s cooking today. Johnnie gave her a “mink” apron. We see a clip of an old show with Paula wearing it. She tells us it’s actually the kind of thing you’re supposed to wear when you're nekked, not actually when you’re cooking. They have a good laugh. Of course, even if Paula were alone in the kitchen, she’d find something to have a good laugh about.

Paula adds a can of celery soup to something or other. Okay, I don’t care about this part. Then she toasts Hawaiian bread for stuffing. Now, I like SWEET, but not bread pudding sweet. That WOULD be a good idea for a bread pudding, though...to use Hawaiian bread.

Let’s get to the turkey. Oh, I didn’t know a rutabaga was a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. I always thought of it as a cross between a turnip and…I never actually thought about it before.

We also learn that Johnnie preferred the standard Georgia sweet potato pie to pumpkin pie when she was growing up, but today she’s making a pumpkin pie. I like that her pumpkin pie recipe uses an entire can of pumpkin, so you don’t have that little bit left over.

Johnnie makes an awesome topping for the pumpkin pie – butter, brown sugar and pecans. That would have a place on any pumpkin pie or ANY pie. I was just going to concentrate on the turkey, but it all looks so good.

Paula is making a glaze for the turkey – butter, apple cider, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. She’s funny. Paula says it takes hours to prepare all the food and “ten minutes to knock it all down”.

I like how Johnnie is just spooning HUGE dollops of cream on top of the pie, no piping, and then tops it with those pecan crunchies. She cuts it up and they taste it before the turkey. (I want to live in Paula's world.)

Paula garnishes her turkey on the platter with herbs and cherry tomatoes and all kinds of stuff. Pretty. She spoons over some maple glaze. I guess that's in lieu of gravy.

Why do they have to taste everything on the cluttered countertop? Can’t they sit for a minute? They love everything. Pretty great show. Not too much new stuff about the turkey, but the other dishes were over the top.

Cooking for Real with Sunny Anderson

Thanks-Livin'

Crunchy Sweet Brussels Sprout Salad

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Breast Stuffed with Pear Hash

I appreciate that Sunny starts off by saying there are great debates about stuffing or not stuffing. She totally doesn’t judge those of us who stuff. She wants to make everyone happy, which she does by stuffing a turkey breast. She's going to brine it first. I am so out of it, by not brining. She adds all kinds of goodies to the brine.

Sunny says you can brine the turkey breast for as little as an hour or overnight. She says to remove the tenderloin piece of the turkey and save it for something else.

Sunny sautés finely chopped vegetables for the stuffing. She makes the excellent point that the vegetables should be chopped finely, so the turkey breast will roll up without any lumpy pieces in it. She also has good advice about the pears. Buy firm Bosc ones, because they’re going to cook twice – once in the sauté pan, once in the oven - stuffed into the turkey.

She finishes up the stuffing with bought bread crumbs and stock.

Sunny says to use Kosher salt for the brine. Table salt will make it too salty. She gets loads of paper towels ready and take the turkey breast out of the brine and dries it really well. She cuts open the turkey like a book.

She places the turkey breast on a 2 big sheets of plastic wrap. She places the stuffing in the center and rolls it up really tightly. Then she wraps thick cut bacon strips around the breast and sprinkles paprika over. She wraps the whole thing tightly in plastic wrap to help it keep its shape. She does a second turkey breast the same way and puts them in the fridge for at least an hour.

Before she browns the stuffed breasts, Sunny ties twine around (on the bacon pieces) so they'll stay together. She sears them in hot oil in a cast iron pan and puts them in a 375°F oven for about an hour until they test 160°F. The meat DOES continue cooking, of course, out of the oven, so you probably won't be in too much trouble with that temperature.

She does a nice Brussels sprout salad. I never saw anyone slice Brussels spouts like that. If the stem is the South Pole, she slices them parallel to the equator. Interesting.

Her turkey breasts do look fabulous. She slices them easily into pretty slices. I would do that if I had some of my vat of Thanksgiving gravy left. THAT would actually be a lovely Christmas dinner. Mmm. Check back on the 26th to see if I made that.

Okay, on to Giada. Oh I forgot, She's doing pork. WHY? I guess when you’re having Thanksgiving outside in the beautiful sunshine it’s easy to forget about roasting a huge turkey in a blazing hot oven.

Good for me, I can skip right to Ina. (Today, the FN DID show a Giada Thanksgiving episode from 2008 with a turkey breast recipe.)

Ina is going to give us some recipes and answer some viewers’ questions. She’s stuffing mushroom with sausage stuffing. What a great idea, stuffing and side dish in one! This show definitely deserves its own post. I’ll get to that soon.

So what I have learned from all these shows?

• I’m definitely going to unwrap my turkey the night before and dry it off well and leave it in the roasting pan in the fridge uncovered.
• I’m going to shove something or other under the skin. I often use orange slices, but I like the idea of a spice blend too. Who would have thought the Neelys would give us a calorie-free tip?
• And I’m going to rely on a thermometer to not poison my guests. That’s probably the best plan of all.