[music] Hey, what's up guys, welcome back to Binging with Babish, where this week we are taking a look at Snoopy's Thanksgiving dinner. Which I don't think is that bad, as long as you eat around the black licorice jelly beans. I'm kind of a pink man myself. Just kidding. Of course, we are making pumpkin pie and Snoopy's whole roast turkey. If your whole fresh turkey has one of those "pop out when it's done" things, take that out. We don't need that where we're goin'. And our first of many steps is to loosen the skin from the body of the turkey which we're gonna do by shoving our begloved digits between the meat and the skin until it resembles the skin around your elbows Eurgh. Sorry that's gross, it's just the most accurate comparison I've got. Next up, we're combining about a quarter cup of kosher salt with maybe a tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper - we are seasoning the cavity and the meat underneath the skin. Then once all the meat is nice and seasoned, and we've used up about three-quarters of the mixture we're going to add about a teaspoon and a half of baking powder to make a seasoning for the skin itself. This is going to lower the temperature at which the Maillard reaction occurs and give us a more brown skin. So once we've got every inch of this bird deeply seasoned in baking powder, we're going to let it rest uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours. Which I dare say is plenty of time to get to work on our pumpkin pie. For this, we are going to need one sugar pie pumpkin (I'm using two because I need extra puree because I'm making pumpkin pie for my family Thanksgiving) But if you're just making one pie, you just need one pumpkin, sliced in half and removed of its seeds and guts. Then we're placing these cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and roasting at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. Which I dare say is plenty of time to make our pie crust. Into the bowl of a food processor goes six and one quarter ounces of all-purpose flour, 10 tablespoons of very cold, chilled unsalted butter that we're gonna pulse together until it resembles something between tiny pebbles and wet sand. We want little tiny chunks of butter that can be just barely distinguished by the human eye. We're then pouring this mixture into a medium bowl, adding the 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar that we should have added in the food processor, mixing those together and then sprinkling some ice water over top. I'm starting with three and a half tablespoons - that gives me about a half a tablespoon of leeway if the dough is too dry. We're gently folding that together, trying to mix as little as possible, turning out on to our work surface - we're just trying to make sure that all of the flour is hydrated. Once it forms a cohesive mass, we are wrapping it in plastic wrap and refrigerating for at least 30 minutes. Which I daresay is plenty of time to make our pie filling. I'm sorry, I promise that's last time I'll say that. Our pumpkins are out of the oven, and we know that they're done because a paring knife can pass through them without resistance. So we want to peel the skins off these pumpkins and allow them to let off a little steam, Like a co-worker at an open bar Christmas party, but while it's still warm I want to put about two cups into the bowl of a food processor. This is going to help it combine more easily with one cup of packed brown sugar and optionally a tablespoon or two of maple syrup. We are processing that together for 60 to 90 seconds until very smooth. And then we're going to start adding some spices. I'm going with two teaspoons of cinnamon, two teaspoons of ground ginger, a quarter teaspoon each of allspice and ground cloves, and a generous grating of freshly grated nutmeg. This is the one that makes all the difference, trust me. Plus we're adding a half a cup of milk and three quarters of a cup of heavy cream. And now that we've got some nice cold stuff in there, we can add our eggs without cooking them - four eggs in total, and then we are processing everyone together for an additional minute until smooth and creamy. Then get that out of the way because it's time to lightly flour our work surface, hands, and rolling pin, and prepare our freshly refrigerated dough for its enwidening. Yes, I know that is very far from an actual word. Regardless, we are rolling this guy out to about two inches wider than our pie pan and we're going to use our rolling pin to roll the dough up and then unfurl into said awaiting pie pan. And you might notice that mine looks pretty bad And at this point you need to make a decision. What's more important to you? Light, flaky, crispy layers or perfectly (???) pastry? If your answer is the former then patch it up as best you can and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Trust me, it's gonna end up looking just fine. Poke a whole bunch of holes in the bottom with a fork, press down a layer of aluminum foil into the bottom of the pie crust and fill with your desired pie weights. I'm going with brown rice and we are par baking this crust for 15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit on a preheated pizza stone. This is going to help accelerate the browning and prevent soggy bottoms. Then into our hot pie shell goes the pie filling. We're giving the whole thing a little tappy tap to get rid of any stubborn bubbles and baking for about 25 minutes until the crust is brown and the filling is set, but jiggly. Just a little jiggle like that. Then we are refrigerating overnight. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get some sleep. [music interlude] You can tell it's the next day because my shirt is ever so slightly different. And we are cutting up some bread for our stuffing. Because today is turkey day. And into a 225 degree Fahrenheit oven goes about three-quarters of a loaf of white sandwich bread cut to one half inch pieces tossed occasionally and baked for one hour until completely dry. Then here we have the base elements of stuffing And don't worry, I'll go over this on the stove top. Into a high-walled sauté pan goes about 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter that we're gonna get all nice and melty and foamy before adding 1 medium finely chopped Spanish onion. We're just gonna sauté this for a few minutes or until soft and translucent. Then we're going to add 2 ribs of finely chopped celery very slowly for dramatic effect, I guess. Sauté for an additional minute just to introduce some heat to the celery and then we're gonna start adding some chopped herbs, 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped sage, and 1 teaspoon each chopped thyme and rosemary all of which we're gonna sauté for another 2-3 minutes to let those flavours, I don't know, get to know each other. Then we've got our cooled off bread cubes in a large bowl, to which we're going to add about a tablespoon of finely chopped parsley, and our onion, celery, herb mixure. Along with about 2/3 of a cup of fresh turkey stock. If you want to see how to make turkey stock, go check out the moist maker sandwich video In the upper right-hand corner, right now. We're tossing everything together, seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. And we want to reach this consistency where everything is sticking together but there are still individual cubes of bread. That's looking perfect so here comes our air chilled turkey The inside of which we're going to line with a couple layers of cheese cloth I know that sounds weird but this is gonna make it really easy to get all the stuffing out of the bird which we're going to want to do because by the time the stuffing is properly cooked the bird will be overcooked So we're shoving as much stuffing as will fit in our bird's... ass. I don't know what you call it Cavity? They both sound gross Tying the cheese cloth shut behind it and then tying the legs over top using a piece of butcher's twine, then it's time to set this guy up on a roasting rack but what if you don't have one? Not to worry! Like most problems in life, this can be solved with aluminium foil. We're just going to roll up some cylinders of aluminium foil and line the bottom of the pan just enough to elevate the turkey off the bottom of the pan. We are placing this breast-side down for the first half of cooking, and lining the bottom with bacon. I'm gonna add a sort of cross-strut here for additional turkey support, and into a preheated 325 degree Fahrenheit oven she goes, for two to two and a half hours until the thickest part of the breast registers 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Just enough time to prepare for phase two of cooking, which involves the deployment of root vegetables, which it looks like Snoopy used to serve the turkey on. So we're placing these turnips, parsnips, carrots, and pearl red onions into a bowl, seasoning with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, giving them a drizzle of vegetable oil, and seeing if we can toss them in a bowl that's too small for the job. Here we go, one - uh, we lost a couple, alright - One! Two! Okay, we lost a carrot, no biggie. Eventually, you'll get these evenly coated, and the turkey will emerge from its slumber once it's reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit. And look at that, bacon curved into a perfect smile for your congee breakfast bowl from Mulan. Once we have removed our bacon blanket, it's time to make a new bed for our beast. Into a rimmed baking sheet go our root vegetables, topped with a wire rack, and on top of that goes our turkey, this time, breast side up, because it's time to both quickly roast our vegetables and brown this sucker. First, we have to remove our stuffing from this situation, so cut open the legs, and really disgustingly retrieve our poultry parcel, which we're going to set aside because now it's time to give our bird a butter bath. In clarified butter, to be precise. Clarified butter doesn't burn at the same temperature as regular butter, it's easy to make, and it's going to give us a really deeply brown skin. So once you've brushed every square inch of this guy, it's going into an increased, 425 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 45 minutes, during which time we can finish preparing our stuffing. We're going to combine the cavity stuffing, ew, which we're going to combine with the rest of the refrigerated stuffing, which should cool it down enough to add one egg, beaten, into a quarter-cup of turkey stock. This is just gonna help bind everything together, and get everybody to the right final consistency. We're just giving that a cursory mix before dumping into a generously buttered casserole, in which we're going to spread the stuffing evenly, cover, and set aside, until the turkey comes out the oven. Here's the time where you can finalize any cranberry sauce or gravies, because once that turkey hits 160 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the breast, it is time to take it out and admire its shatteringly crisp skin. We're taking our turkey, Tom, off the rack, so we can retrieve any accumulated juices in the pan, for gravy enhancement. We are then letting our turkey rest for 30 minutes, at room temperature, uncovered. I know I've said to cover turkeys in the past with aluminium foil, do not do it, or you're going to ruin this beautifully crisp skin. We're then giving our vegetables a little toss, and returning them to the oven along with the stuffing for about 20 minutes, until both are fully cooked. Last up, I need to make whipped cream for the pumpkin pie, I can't find my hand mixer, so I'm left with only one choice, which is to mix by hand. Today was bi-'s and tri-'s day at the gym, so, needless to say, this was a challenge. I can really only recommend it in the most desperate of circumstances, like these. Once you've got some nice stiff peaks going, it's time to plate up. After a short break, of course. Oh, my God, I have never felt more my age. A little taste to make sure we've added enough sugar, you can add vanilla if you'd like, and then onto a large serving platter go our roasted root vegetables, on top of which, just for that sort of Norman Rockwell effect, we're going to place our whole turkey. I can't really recommend this, it's way more difficult to carve, but I get it, it's traditional, and we're serving that up with our gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. I know Snoopy didn't serve all this stuff, but what the hell is turkey without gravy? We're topping our pie with a healthy layer of whipped cream, and there you have it. I gotta say, it looks a hell of a lot better than jellybeans, toast, and pretzel sticks. And while a whole turkey certainly looks good, it's very hard to carve at the table, so I would enthusiastically recommend carving it beforehand. First we've gotta take off the drumsticks, and then we've gotta remove the wishbone. Not only because it's going to make it easier to remove the breasts, but because we get to make a wish. Whoever gets the longer side gets to - oh. If it breaks in the middle, what happens? Some kind of wish stalemate. Anyway, we are cutting down the side of the breastbone, and then cutting underneath the breast to remove it for easy slicing. Try to keep the skin as intact as possible, it's going to make for a better presentation, slice to your desired specifications, plate up, and then dark meat is where it gets kind of tricky. I kinda like to just remove the whole thigh and shred the meat. And there you have it. Way easier to carve up beforehand, and I think that makes just as handsome a presentation. And legally, after having turkey, you have to have some pumpkin pie. If you are allergic to or afraid of pumpkins, apple is an acceptable substitute. Now I've gotta say, this is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. It's light and smooth and creamy, but that being said, I've gotta save room, I mean, it's not even actually Thanksgiving yet. Hey guys, I just wanna wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and share the all new Binging with Babish Spanish channel with you. The link is in this video's description, it's a place where you and your Spanish-speaking friends can enjoy over-dubbed episodes of Binging with Babish every Wednesday. The Moistmaker episode goes live tomorrow, check it out, have some turkey, have fun with your friends and family, and cook something for someone you care about.
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I'd be curious to see which turkey method u/OliverBabish prefers between this one and the butterflied turkey from the Moistmaker episode.
Damn that turkey looked perfect. Almost looked fake.
"clarified butter, to be precise"
outstanding
I think this is the first time I've seen him interact with fond without making A Simple Pan Sauce
My favorite part of his videos is quickly becoming whenever he realizes the bowl he’s chosen is too small but commits to using it anyway. This form of living dangerously really adds to the show👌
Beautiful turkey, and awesome everything else.
Turkey looked great, but I cannot get into this whole white bread stuffing situation. Cornbread dressing us a delicacy that should be enjoyed.
Had an Austin Powers flashback at 1:17.