How to Throw a Thanksgiving Feast that Everyone Will Love

Hi, thank you all for stopping by. And what a very special edition of our Thanksgiving special it is. I'm talking about not just a Turkey or not just a side dish. I'm talking about the complete meal. We're going to be so full by this time tomorrow. Me and the Beagle be bellied up like dead carp in the sunshine. We're going to jazz it up a little today and what are we going to start out with? We're going to smoke that Turkey a while. Then we're going to bring it over here and we're going to deep fry it. But there is a special injection that goes in there. We have to inoculate this Turkey. I'm not going to tell you what it's with yet. And some of our favorite side dishes that'll grace our table. Let's talk about the star of the Traction on Turkey Day. What is it is that that's what I'm talking about, that goblin bird, that thing that's going to sit on the table. Not to get the most I look, I called up a loo instead of a Turkey. So to get the the Turkey, the tenderest that it can be, I think you really need to brine that Turkey 1st. And you see me mixed it up with really just water, kosher salt, some Rosemary, some Bay leaves, some thyme, some lemon squeezed in there. Mix it up in there with some allspice and stuff, stir it up. You got to let this simmer first before you put that Turkey in there. When you've got it, do you know everything is mixed? Well, bring it off there, let it cool a minute, then go to add an ice to it because we don't want to put that Turkey in anything that is hot. But don't forget when you first start and all them turkeys you buy now, unless you're raising your own, it's got this little red deal that's sticking right over here in this side of the breast. And what is it? It's a pop O matic, folks. Them things don't fare well in a deep fryer, I promise you. So make sure you take that thing out of there. Lay that bird down in there gingerly. Don't let him do no swan dive right out of your hand. It'll splash in your face. It will make sure that he is fully covered. And then what? We're going to set him in the ice box for at least 24 hours. Well, we got the Turkey deep fryer courtesy of my oldest son, Jace. And Lou says she's thirsty, she's going to have to have a drink. Would you get out of that? That is Turkey water. And you're thinking to yourself, why do we need Turkey water? Well, every year about Thanksgiving time, you hear on the news. What are they talking about? House burnt down, garage burnt down. Folks, you got to figure how much grease you need in there before you just pour it in there. What we're going to do right now is go ahead in here and see if we can fish this bird out, drain that water out of him and see some of them good herbs is still on there. Now, if I was just going to smoke this, maybe just trying to eat the bird. Easy mate. So just go ahead and lay this in here. So we're going to go ahead and put us some water in here and see what it takes to fill this thing up to where we can fry. I'd say that was close enough. I would. Bird is out here. Come the pencil. We got a little shaking going on there, but we're just going to sort of guess right along in here. That is oil level. So let me pour this out. We got to dry this out because hot oil and any kind of water don't mix at all. Now, when you're frying a Turkey, I really recommend peanut oil. Well, the hasty Bake is going. It's about half full in the fire box, a Fogo hardwood lump, which is oak. We're going to try to run a temperature of about 2:25 to 2:50. Make sure your bird is really good and dry. I don't know why somebody ain't done this already, and if they have, all I can tell them is thank you because I never seen it before. So we have two items here that I think we really need. One is bacon grease and the other one is melted butter. I think I'm going to mix the butter with the bacon. Smell that duker. Don't that smell good? I don't know why somebody hadn't already made a butter bacon ice cream machine. And when you're running this in there, just stick it. See the hole right here in the needle? That's the first one, there's the second one. So you got to get it deep enough in there that they're both there. Give it a little squirt, move it around in there a little, give it another, turn it to another angle, give him another. Pull that out, put a Band-Aid on it. OK, go back here, do the same thing. Get them drumsticks, see if we can't give them wings just a little, 'cause I do like to gnaw on a Turkey wing. Now, we couldn't be doing this if was going straight to the deep fryer, but since we're going straight into smoking, go ahead and get the rest of that bucket, bacon and butter and just layer in there. Go ahead and rub that around there to where everything's sort of paying attention and then let's season it well. So we're just going to sprinkle it on there fairly well and even all the way around, get a hold of the slimy Turkey. Now hold him up here, gently lay him over. So we try not to lose too much of that cinnamon, cinnamon seasoning on the front side. All right, folks, it is time to open up the Hasty Bake. All the coals are in this end. Come on there, Herman. Let's go over here. You see, he's got a little sizzle to him. Tuck him wings in there best you can. Shut the lid. We're going to add some apple wood to that and be good to go. Well, was on a smoker about 48 minutes, had the oil heating. We want to get up to about 2:50 to 275 when we first let that Turkey down in there because we've we were heated all the way to 325 or 350°F and you'd let it down in there. It's going to start frying as soon as it hits and it's going to try to boil up and maybe even boil over. Let her down in there gently, and then let's bring that oil temperature up to 325°. Moved out there deep fryer in the barn because it got so loud I couldn't even hear what I was doing. But one of our favorite recipes too that graced our table. It's oh so easy and I can't remember a Thanksgiving that we didn't have it. And that is really our what we call our creamed corn. Now you can buy creamed corn at the grocery store in a can, but folks, it don't hold a light to this. All it is, is it's frozen corn, about two tablespoons of butter. Go ahead and get her down there to the bottom and to that cream. Yes, you heard me. If you're going to have creamed corn, you got to have cream. So I like to add just a little to start out with, and then we'll go back and see how much more we need when we get her to going. So I'm just going to cook it right here over them good coals. I remember serving this on ranches sometime and Cowboys would say we could have that for dessert. I mean, this stuff is so good. They'd request it for breakfast and then I've seen them poured over biscuits. So it is some good eating. It's easy. It's really it's in our first cookbook too. The taste of cowboy. If you don't have that, page 181. I can remember I looked it up a while ago. The cream has warmed plum through. So folks, it is time to add a little sweetness. So just dump it in there. I would say that was pretty good. But since I'm really feeling pretty sweet, I'm going to put that attitude bunch in there. We're going to let this come till it gets to a simmer and we're going to thicken it with a little flour, stir it one more time and we're going to serve it. You know, you can't have Thanksgiving without having mashed potatoes. So when we're doing mashed potatoes, I usually, you know, always used to use like russet potatoes, but I really love to combine russet and Yukon Gold. I think you're going to get really a better blend there. And a lot of people too, when they go to boiling potatoes, you, they cut them uneven so you're not having an even boiling time when you're trying to get them taters really soft enough to mash and you can peel them or not peel them. Now, I do love a dirty mashed tater. Leave that peeling on there. But the thing that really hurts a potato to me is it sits there and it stings and it just gets more moisture back in and it ain't ever going to whip upright. Take that lid off and that steam's going to date. I need you to do one thing real quick. Put them back over low heat. Let's dry all that water out of the bottom. We're not going to cook them. We're just going to make sure that all that steam in that water evaporated and is gone. And I mean, we going to whip them with that mixer up on full blast turbo speed. And if you need a little more help than that, just remember there is a video there on the perfect Mashed potato. It'll walk you through all them easy steps, tips and tricks to make your mashed potatoes the fluffiest things ever. So we had mashed potatoes, but folks, isn't it pretty customary on Thanksgiving that you have sweet potatoes of some form or fashion? Now, I know they're probably good, but I never was a great fan of them. Sweet potatoes that was sliced like scalloped potatoes and then had them marshmallows all over them. I'm going to doll my sweet potatoes up. I'm going to make them a mashed sweet potato. Then we're going to add some butter. We're going to add some brown sugar. We're going to add some half and half, but we need to make a really nice topping that doesn't involve marshmallows, No. So we're going to take about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of cornbread mix. Let's get us a cup of brown sugar and put in there, put some pecans in there and we're just going to spoon this over the top and dollops and spread it out really well. So when you make this topping to go on there and we bake it, it's like it's got a crust on top of it. Like it's sort of a a pecan pie in a way. When you got this in a Dutch oven and say you're going to cook it outside. Remember them sweet potatoes are sitting right there on the bottom and they've done been cooked once. So you're going to use very little heat down there on the bottom. Be sure and check out that video on our favorite sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving. It'll help you walk you right through the process. Well, when you get her out of there, folks, full it so we can get that temperature to go ahead and rise because we was about 165 there and I want it to rise up to 170. And you, you're probably thinking to yourself that's a little dark. It is a little dark on the legs and stuff. The mistake was had some company pull up about the time I'd put that on the smoker. Got to visit. You probably want to go. Instead of me telling you 45 minutes, let's cut that smoke time down a little. Let's run about 25 minutes Max, and that's about 240° on that smoker. And then when we're able to deep fry, I don't think you're going to get this darker color, but it's probably going in there and frying for I'd say about 2 1/2 minutes a pound. So 24 to 28 minutes along in there. Just make sure that you got that good temperature probe and you pull him up out of there and you check him everywhere just to make sure that you get into that 165. Folks, I'm just going to tell you right now, if I had to sit down at that Thanksgiving table and everything was empty and I'm thinking I can only pick two dishes to have it Thanksgiving, well #1 would be Mama's cool cranberry salad and #2 would be the sweet potatoes with the little pecan crust on top. So remember when you get them cranberries and you get them all chopped up, whether you use a food processor or you use one of them slap choppers, whatever you do, put them in that bowl, put the sugar with them and let them set at least 12 hours. Now to get this cream to even set up faster and whip, take this bowl when it is empty and put it in the freezer. Let it chill for about an hour. Then when you go to make that whipped cream, it's going to set up oh so quick. Just dump them in there and oh, I can already tell you, we're going to stop and eat this here in just a second. A cup of chopped pecans. So bear with me for just a minute while I take this and drain these pineapples because you want to make sure they drain, get the crust. So I'm going to pour half of them in there. I'd say whoop, that's 3/4, but I guarantee you it'll be all right to that mini marshmallows. And I want y'all to look at something. We should have gotten a big old bowl. Shan wants me to transfer everything that's in here into here. I can remember when I was so young and Mama made this for the first time. I told her. I said, is that dessert, Mama? She said you've got to have this with a Turkey called traditionally you had cranberry with Turkey. Now, how many of you remember the the cranberry that come in here and it was a jail. You dumped it out and you sliced it off. To us that was cranberry goodness, about as high on the hog as you could get. And when my mother started making this, I knew she was the best cook ever and something that I always sample 1st and I always eat at least three to four helpings. We have made it to dessert. Let's give everybody a round of applause for sitting around the table and feeling like they have eaten more than they should have eaten in their entire life. But they're saving room for dessert. Don't quit now. Don't quit now. The most classic dessert of all served at Thanksgiving for all time and generations. Raise your hand. Let's give a shout out. Pumpkin pie and get you 100% pure pumpkin Libby's from Libby and is it pumpkin chin or pumpkin? There's an M in there. There is an M sort of like in salmon, right? Huh. No, it's silent. Yes, but I've had a lot of emails already, folks. People are going to make too our salted caramel apple pie for dessert and we'll have you link down there to where you can find that it is a great pie in its own self. You can't get it out. What? You're going to need a spoon. What? That is pretty clean right there. Oh my gosh, yes. I went to the hen house. I did and I told the girls I said I need 2 large eggs. Nobody was in the mood. So they were making mediums today or even sometimes small. So when they do that to me, I just use three. So let's get this mixed up really well right here together. Evaporated milk folks. I use more of this on ranches than probably anywhere in the world because it was something that I could keep forever. Now, I don't want you to dump it in there, just dump it. I want you to just pour it in there gradually and go slowly. A cup and about 3/4 of sugar. That's what I call pretty close. A pinch of salt, which is about a teaspoonful. Now to that we're going to add some want cinnamon. Be careful if the wind's blowing 'cause you don't know everywhere it's going to go. Some ground nutmeg, ground ginger, ground cloves. Oh, I smell it. Yeah. Don't it smell good? I mean, it smell like pumpkin pie. It does. It's pretty good. I got in there. I wouldn't show them faz you. What is it? But it looks like fly. So you went there. No, that's just the that's just the OR the nutmeg or cinnamon. That's good deal. Now the pie dough that we use is the same thing. We used it for our salted caramel apple pie. Now this does make 2 crust. You can see that's probably a little thicker than what them store bought pie crusts are. That's sort of the way I want them. I could cook this pie directly in that Dutch oven, but it's so hard to slice them and get them out of there. And we need that pie to be able to cool about two to three hours before we even serve it. This would be a good time to tell you that we already got some hardwood lump Fogo charcoal in there that is cooked down in the hasty bake that we can use to bake this in. Is it all going to fit? It's going to be oh so close. Because that looks good and you'll make it. Well, we added a special touch to it. We did right there at the last. What was it? We drizzled on some Maple syrup. So let me get to Leonel Fair. This one. We're going to go straight. I'm going straight to it. Yes, ma'am. It will be a miracle if I can get it there without spilling the pumpkin pie. The pie in there. And No, no, no. OK. Or the pumpkin. OK, tip. Here's the tip. Now the tip is put the pie shell in there and then pour the pumpkin in it because I'm going to have to take it out now to wipe up the pumpkin that is spilled on the bottom. I felt like I was dealing with nitroglycerin there for a minute. You've seen that We coated the bottom there with some good spray or oil. You need to oil that because when metal is right against Dutch oven and it's dry, it's pretty hard on cast iron. So give it a little spray there. We're going to put the lid on it. Now, if you're cooking this in the house, Preheat the oven to 425, but for 15 minutes, we're going to cook it at 4:25 in the oven and then we're going to turn it down to what I don't know, 350. What a thought. If you're looking to cook a pie in a Dutch oven, this is probably the easiest way if you're just starting out because we're in a pie pan in a Dutch oven, so we got a little heat buffer there. But if you think you need more than that, take your horseshoe, take you two or three washers, and sit in there to where you've got a little air barrier in there too that you're creating more space. Now, remember we said we was cooking extra hot in the oven for 15 minutes. So you see me loaded up hot on top, really hot on the bottom, and they're scooted really close. Well, we've been on about 10 or 12 minutes, I would say. And when I took that lid off, I could see a little bubbling in there in the middle and that crust is beginning to set and brown a little there on top. Now remember, we could always take all that heat off the top if we need to and then target heat later. But we scooted it back from the bottom and I may even have to rake them further than that. And we rake the coals back on the top as well. So we could slow that down. This is like turning it down in the oven with a knob. We rake the coals back to pull it back to slow it down out here. Well, we've been on about 25 minutes. I pulled the heat a little further away from it from the bottom, but you also, you see me right, most of the heat off top and then pull some coals right up in the middle. Now we're targeting heat because when you're cooking something like this that has a lot of liquid, so you want to get done around the outside edges first and then it's always going to be a little jiggly in the middle. Now, if we give that a little gentle kick, you can see there is still a little jiggle there. So we need to target the bottom 2 right in the center of that Dutch oven, but we're going to go ahead and put three under there. If I was guessing, I'd say that was about 15 minutes out and that'll be pretty close. But then rotated it again, top one way, bottom the other, and we're just going to slowly cook it till it's done. The now folks, there are some things that we can do the night before and that is the pumpkin pie because it's going to need to cool and then I really prefer my pumpkin pie chilled. So let's put them cranberries on. Let's get that to going. Then we're going to pull them out the next day about noon. Mix all that up, stick it back in the fridge and let her set. We can make that dressing the night before, Make it all in there. Put it in that casserole dish. Don't cook it, just slip it in that icebox and refrigerate it. Next day you can take it out, take it out early, let it come to room temp, and then we can bake it. The creamed corn as well. Go ahead and just put it together. Let's cook it, then let's let it cool in the icebox, get it out the next day and let's rewarm it. And hey, we're money ahead. Now, the day of Thanksgiving, let's start cooking them sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. Let's get that Turkey out, let's get him smoked and let's get him to deep frying. Let's go ahead and put that green bean casserole together. Let's go ahead and make them rolls, any kind of bread that you're making. But I really like to do our jalapeno cheddar biscuits and we can let them rise and then we can put them in there right where they come off at meal time. But let's get as much as we can outside. That way we're freeing up that oven. We're creating a faster time for you to get there. And if you're living in a warmer climate, we need heating the house up. What is the meaning really of Thanksgiving? It is to be thankful. Now, I'm not talking about just on Thanksgiving Day. I'm talking about all year round. Let's be thankful that we have the food to nourish us with, but the friends that are gathered and the family around our table that is going to nourish our heart, give us encouragement. So when you join hands at the table and you get ready to bless that Food First look around and be thankful for all those there. But as always, and I am very thankful and it is my honor to salute all the servicemen and women and veterans. And there's a lot of them, folks that still may be active duty that ain't going to be with their families gathered around the table. So folks, be thankful for those folks because they're doing a job while we're sitting around that table for flying that old flag that we do. We just salute you all. Folks, I need to ask you a very special favor, and this one's for me. I have a procedure the Monday after Thanksgiving and I just ask y'all to pray about it, just to pray that the the doctor has the knowledge to take this all in and to get it done and pray for me and Shannon that we have a really safe journey. This goes well and we'll be back next week to make another video. Get on in here and we'll give you a big old Thanksgiving hug. We're glad y'all joined around the table with us. God bless each and everyone of you, and I hope you have the happiest blessed Thanksgiving ever.