Romancing the Bird— A Good Eats Thanksgiving - Recap

Alton starts with a trip back through his family history. It’s crowded with dry, overcooked turkeys and unpleasant holiday meals. This motivates him to improve.

Back in the present, he explains how Thanksgiving evolved. Sarah Hale, disenchanted with the Industrial Revolution, ran a forty year long campaign of letters in favor of a holiday about family.

Alton also takes sister Marsha through the virtual looking glass. There he and nutritional anthropologist Deb Duchon explain exactly what kind of Thanksgiving fare those settlers ate. Most of our Thanksgiving fare wasn’t on their menu. And some of their menu items , like swan, most of us have never eaten (and probably never will).

Chuck the butcher appears to lecture on the meanings of the terms "frozen", "refrigerated", "fresh" and "Grade A" as they apply to turkeys. These terms have specific meanings defined and enforced by the Department of Agriculture. Alton selects a fourteen pound frozen bird – it will feed eight to ten diners.

Back in the kitchen Alton describes a slow way to thaw a turkey, and a faster way, that involves immersing it in water. Proper thawing is prevents bacterial food poisoning.

Basting adds no flavor and slows cooking (too much opening the oven door). Alton chooses to brine his bird instead. Food scientist Shirley Corriher and her "Mystery Food Science Theatre 3000" slideshow explain brine. It's all about osmosis – water carries salts into the cells where they moisturize and flavor the meat.

Stuffing cooked inside the bird is Alton’s next target for debunking. It draws moisture from the meat and dries the bird and it provides a place for bacteria to grow. The right things for that cavity are aromatics like rosemary, apples, and onions. (Alton’s mantra “stuffing is evil” is a series theme until in a later episode he finally concedes that some stuffing is okay.)

Finally it’s time for the oven. Alton departs from tradition again; tradition suggests low and slow baking. Alton starts with a high temperature bake, and then backs the oven down – technique that browns the bird and preserves the flavor. And don’t rely on pop-up timers. Not only are they inaccurate, but they reflect someone else’s idea of when your bird is done – someone who isn’t anywhere near your kitchen. Instead, purchase and use a probe thermometer. Just put the probe into a meaty part of the bird near the center. Be sure you don’t pierce the bird completely or touch a bone; doing either will produce an inaccurate reading.
Alton builds a cranberry dipping sauce – not the can shaped jelly most people think of, but a sauce. He also shares a cornbread pudding recipe so easy he makes it blindfolded! But remember, he’s a professional – don’t cook blindfolded at home!

Finally, he explains the right way to freeze the leftover meat so that it will not succumb to freezer burn or collect funky flavors and aromas from its chill chest companions.

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