Turkey Confidential 2019

PAGE UPDATED: Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2019 at 3:15 p.m.

Thanks to everyone who listened to and called into our Turkey Confidential 2019 show live today. You can now listen to our Turkey Confidential 2019 show on the episode's podcast page or via your favorite podcast app.

Here is a rundown of the topics and questions from the calls broken down by half-hour:

First Half-Hour
Francis with Melissa Clark

• Chat: Melissa Clark runs the Turkey Trot

• Call: Why should we slather our turkey in mayonnaise?

• Call: Pets got into the peeled potatoes and Brussels sprouts! Should we still use them?

• Call: Turkey is still partially frozen. Quick fix for finishing the thaw?

• Call: Using new pie recipes, and they just will not cook!

• Call: Side dishes that need to travel – make ahead or take ingredients and prepare them there?

• Call: Making small adjustments to the same dish for multiple Thanksgiving meals throughout the day?

Second Half-Hour
Francis with Kwame Onwuachi

• Chat: Kwame’s family fest menu for the holiday (jerk turkey!)

• Call: Spice suggestions for a savory seafood bread pudding

• Call: Turkey is already done but doesn’t get served for three hours. How to hold temp without overcooking?

• Call: Tips for timing and prep for the large meal.

• Call: How to fix over-seasoned gravy.

• Call: How long can sausage balls sit at room temperature before being dangerous to eat?

• Call: Suggestions for sweet potatoes.

Third Half-Hour
Francis with Samin Nosrat

• Chat: Samin’s Thanksgiving on the Northern California coast

• Call: Mushroom suggestions for vegan stuffing

• Call: Suggestion for a cranberry glaze.

• Call: What can I grab from a gas station that will be worthy of a Thanksgiving feast?

• Call: Suggestions for cooking sliced turkey (where the cooking instructions on package don’t seem correct).

• Call: Fixing lemon bars that are quite right.

• Call: Oiling turkey for crispness, rack or no rack, and cooking giblets

Fourth Half-Hour
Francis with Shauna Sever

• Chat: Shauna’s new book, Midwest Made, and what defines Midwest baking

• Call: Suggestions for non-pie desserts made in a pizza oven

• Call: How to get last-minute spicing into/onto your turkey

• Call: Tips for properly caramelizing onions (it’s going to take more time than you think!)

• Call: What fats are best for pie crusts?

• Call: Are all chocolate flavor extracts created equally?

Turkey Confidential, The Splendid Table's annual live Thanksgiving call-in show, is Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 12 PM-2 PM ET. Join us as host Francis Lam takes calls and comes to the rescue of Thanksgiving cooks, kitchen helpers, and dinner guests alike on the biggest cooking day of the year. Francis will also be joined by special guests Melissa Clark, Samin Nosrat, Kwame Onuachi and Shauna Sever to talk about their favorite Thanksgiving dishes, memories, quick fixes, and to join Francis in answering your questions.

Have a question (or disaster story) to share with Francis and our guests? Submit it via our Contact Us form. You can also tell your Thanksgiving tale or ask a question at our our via Facebook, Twitter, or call in during the live show to 1-800-242-2828.

Looking for Thanksgiving recipes for turkey, veggies, sides, dessert and cocktails? See our page: Thanksgiving Recipes, Menus, and More!

FEATURED GUESTS

 

Melissa Clark

Melissa Clark is a food writer, author, and host of our new podcast Weeknight Kitchen with Melissa Clark. She is a food columnist for The New York Times, and has written for Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Every Day with Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart. Melissa has written more than 35 cookbooks, including Dinner: Changing the Game, Dinner in an Instant, and Comfort in an Instant. Other books include collaborations with some of New York City’s most celebrated chefs, including Daniel Boulud (Braise), David Bouley (East of Paris), Andrew Feinberg (Franny’s), Claudia Fleming (The Last Course), Bruce and Eric Bromberg (Blue Ribbon Cookbook), and former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses (The Perfect Finish). Her work has been honored with awards by the James Beard Foundation and IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals), and has been selected for the Best Food Writing series. Melissa is a regular guest on the Today show and Rachael Ray. She has also been a judge on Iron Chef America.

 

Samin Nosrat

Samin Nosrat is a cook, teacher, and author of the James Beard Award-winning New York Times Bestseller Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. She is an Eat columnist at The New York Times Magazine and the host and an executive producer of the Netflix original documentary series based on her book. Nosrat has been invited to speak about food, art, culture and cooking at venues as diverse as the Oakland Unified School District Nutrition Services, UC Berkeley, Yale University, SFMoMA, St. Mary's College, University of San Francisco, the Orange Institute, the Headlands Center for the Arts, the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), and Artechef, the Cuban national cooking school. But mostly, she lives to cook and eat with friends, surf, sleep under the stars, read and write, and listen to good music.

 

Kwame Onwuachi

Kwame Onwuachi is an award-winning chef and author. He is the chef of Kith and Kin restaurant in Washington, DC. This year, he won the 2019 Rising Star Chef award from the Beard Foundation. He was also named Best New Chef by Food and Wine and made the Time 100 Next list. His memoir, Notes from a Young Black Chef, was published this year and received high praise from both journalists and the food industry; the book is a finalist for Goodreads best food and cookbooks of the year. Onwuachi was born on Long Island and raised in New York City, Nigeria, and Louisiana. First exposed to cooking by his mother, in the family’s modest Bronx apartment, he took that spark of passion and turned it into a career. From toiling in the bowels of oil cleanup ships to working at some of the best restaurants in the world, he has seen and lived his fair share of diversity. Onwuachi trained at the Culinary Institute of America and has opened five restaurants before turning thirty. A former Top Chef contestant, he has been named one of Food & Wine‘s Best New Chefs and a 30 Under 30 honoree by both Zagat and Forbes. Listen to The Splendid Table episode featuring an intimate conversation with Kwame Onwuachi.

 

Shauna Sever

Shauna Sever is a regular contributor to The Splendid Table, for which she was nominated for an IACP award in 2017. As a writer, Shauna’s work is best defined by several baking-centric cookbooks. Her fourth and newest book is Midwest Made. She has also contributed food stories, recipes, and expert tips for numerous outlets including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Food52, Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, Fine Cooking, Food and Wine, Bake from Scratch, O Magazine, and many more. She began developing and writing recipes when she launched her award-winning baking blog Piece of Cake in 2007. After more than 12 years of California living, Shauna, her husband, and their two sweet-toothed kids returned to her hometown of Chicago, where she now bakes, writes, and is always on the hunt for great old-school Midwestern bakeries.