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Episode 62

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Published on:

25th Nov 2024

WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: We're talking about things to do with leftover turkey!

If you're like us, you end up with leftover turkey at the holidays. (Bruce has a poultry theory: You start with one chicken per person and build from there.) After twenty-five-year career in the cookbook business, we've got lots of ideas for leftover turkey.

We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough, authors of three dozen (and counting) cookbooks. We've published tens of thousands of original recipes in our career. So yep, we know a thing or two about turkey.

Thanks for joining us. Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:

[01:09] Our-minute cooking tip: Salt burger patties after you shape them.

[03:37] What to do with leftover turkey: recipe ideas for after the holiday feast.

[17:07] What’s making us happy in food this week: Burgers topped with sweet pickle relish and chili crisp as well as air-fried cauliflower florets and sliced fresh jalapeño chilis.

Transcript
Bruce:

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast

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Cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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Mark: And I'm Mark Scarborough, and

together with Bruce, my husband, we have

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written thirty six three dozen cookbooks,

not counting the ones for celebrities,

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who I probably can't mention, ahem, Dr.

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Phil, and others on the air.

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That's a whole story of why I

actually can say the words Dr.

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Phil.

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Somebody forgot to have us sign

a non disclosure agreement.

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Bruce: Those words leave

a bad taste in my mouth.

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Mark: Oh, they do anymore.

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Uh, he's really kind of smarmy,

but, uh, anyway, so, um, we've

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written 36 of our own books.

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We fixed a lot of cookbooks

in our life and ghost written

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several others for celebrities.

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We have ourselves published, oh, in

the tens of thousands of original

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copy written recipes over 25 years.

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And this is our podcast about

that passion for food and cooking.

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And we're glad you're here with us.

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We've got a one minute.

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cooking tip about hamburgers,

about making hamburgers.

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We're gonna tell you what to

do with all of those turkey

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leftovers after the holidays.

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And we'll tell you what's making

us happy in food this week.

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So let's get started.

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Bruce: Our one minute cooking

tip when you're making burgers.

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Hold off on the salt until

after you shape your patties.

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Don't season the meat first.

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Season the outside.

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And here's why.

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When you put salt into ground

meat and mix it up, you're

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changing the texture of the meat.

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It becomes more like sausage meat.

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You know, that springy

You're not changing the

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Mark: texture as you do it.

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You're changing it as it cooks.

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Just to be absolutely

proper as a writer, right?

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It's what's going to happen to it

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Bruce: When it cooks, the salt

inside the meat is going to

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make it tighter and springier.

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bringy here and it's almost

going to be like sausage meat as

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opposed to a lovely tender burger.

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So salt all you want,

but salt the outside.

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Don't salt the meat before

you shape your patty.

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Mark: Yeah, that is absolutely true.

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And I tell you, Bruce

is the burger master.

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And I also have to tell you, if

you don't know that basically,

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uh, I like my hamburgers so that a

good vet could still save the cow.

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So, um, for me, I don't ever want springy

sausage texture inside my hamburgers.

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I like

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Bruce: it.

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You like my burgers.

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Believe it or not, well done.

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I like steaks, really rare, but I

like ground beef, either raw and

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cold, like steak tartare, or once

you heat it up, go all the way.

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Mark: Yeah, well, I love steak

tartare, and we should say, now we're

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prolonging this one minute cookie dip,

I should say that, uh, just to clarify

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myself, um, we buy our meat from a

local farm here in rural New England.

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It's an organic farm.

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We know where the meat comes from.

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I believe it.

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These are the cows that produce the meat.

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But if I go elsewhere, let's say I'm in a

diner on a road trip, I don't know, we're

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in New Jersey, and we're on a road trip,

we stop at a diner for lunch, and I get a

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burger, okay, there I order it well done.

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Because I don't know where

that meat comes from and I want

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it cooked completely through.

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Do you know in, in New Jersey, Canada,

our Canadian listeners know this.

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You can't even get a burger

anyway, but well done.

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Bruce: Well done is the only way

ground beef can be served in Canada.

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It's a national law and

it saves a lot of lives.

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Mark: Yes.

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Okay.

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Before we get to the next segment

on what to do with all those turkey

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leftovers after the holidays, let

me say that we would appreciate it.

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If you could subscribe to this podcast, if

you could rate it, and even if you could

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write a review, many platforms allow you,

like Apple Podcasts, to write, a review.

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That would be a terrific thing to help us.

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We choose not to be supported by

any underwriter because we want to

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say exactly what we want to say.

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Um, because this is just basically

our passion and we want to keep it

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there at our passion rather than our

business, but it would be great if

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you could help us out by rating the

podcast and even writing a review.

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Okay, up next, what to do with

all of those turkey leftovers.

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After the holidays.

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Bruce: This week, millions of turkeys are

going into millions of ovens across the U.

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S.

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I

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Mark: wonder what the actual stat

is on that, but okay, we'll look

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at it with millions and millions.

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I wonder what

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Bruce: the actual smell of all that is.

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Gross.

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Mark: God.

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Why do you always have

to freak out the podcast?

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Okay, go on.

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So

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Bruce: And think about all that millions

of pounds of turkey grease going

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down drains and into sewer systems.

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No, that's

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Mark: not good.

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I can't think of

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Bruce: anything.

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Oh, that's gonna be fatbergs everywhere.

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Oh, goodness.

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Mark: Um, okay.

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So, anyway.

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Please stop.

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So, what do you want to talk about, Bruce?

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I want

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Bruce: to talk about the millions

of pounds of turkey leftovers

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and what to do with them.

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You know, our careers as food magazine

writers actually started with an article

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on what to do with turkey leftovers.

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Yeah.

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Mark: It was a long time ago.

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I think 20 plus years ago.

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And we pitched Cooking Light, and we

were newbies in the food business.

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We were such newbies

that they accepted us.

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We accepted our pitch at Cooking

Light for leftover turkey,

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uh, dishes after the holidays.

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But they forced us to write

the whole thing before they

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would actually accept it.

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And that's, that's not anything that

happens once you're established.

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But when you're established, you

can pitch something and then go

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away and write it once they buy it.

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But in this case, we had to

actually write the article.

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And I have to tell you, we both,

I remember this really well.

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We were staying at a friend's house.

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in the Hamptons.

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They'd offered us their

house while they were away.

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We're out in the Hamptons and, um, we

got this, uh, this to write an article.

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Of course, you know, magazines

were working six months ahead,

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so it's probably like April or

May for the Thanksgiving issue.

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And we got this assignment,

and we, Both actually stopped

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and said, should we do it?

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Because they were asking us to write the

whole thing before they would even agree

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to the article and accept it or pay us.

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So it was a whole thing, but we did it

and it actually started an entire magazine

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career with Cooking Light, Eating Well,

Wine Spectator, and all these magazines.

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And

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Bruce: writing for food

magazines was an issue.

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I want to talk about that before we even

get to these recipes because as Mark

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said, you're writing these months in

advance, sometimes six months in advance.

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Sometimes

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Mark: a year.

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Well, a

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Bruce: year is actually easier

because you can get all the

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ingredients because it's seasonal.

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But if you're writing an article on

Thanksgiving leftovers and turkey,

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and you're writing it in June or

May, you aren't necessarily going

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to find a lot of turkeys available.

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Or if you do, they're going

to be really expensive.

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It's like writing an article in January

that's going to appear in August for

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fresh corn and fresh tomato things.

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Where are you going to get these things?

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It's a real problem.

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I

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Mark: distinctly remember writing an

article in in November or December

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for eating well, and it was an

article in which rhubarb was a central

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ingredient in many of the things.

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And do you know how hard it is

to find rhubarb in November and

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December in rural New England?

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It's almost impossible.

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Bruce ended up having to Order it

from some really expensive cooking

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food supply place because we

couldn't get rhubarb in December.

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It was just impossible.

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There was a

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Bruce: restaurant supply place that

shipped it in and it was like 26 a pound.

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That's the old days.

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Okay.

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Mark: So here's what I suggest you do.

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One of the things I'm going to suggest

you do with your turkey leftovers, and

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that is Call in, call in some cold soba

noodles from a local Chinese American

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restaurant, call in cold soba noodles

and just mix chopped up turkey into them.

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You have an instant cold soba

noodle with turkey dinner.

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Now, you can make your

own cold soba noodles.

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And

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Bruce: you're talking about, like,

with the peanut dressing, right?

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The sesame sauce and all of that.

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The sesame

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Mark: or peanut dressing, yep, exactly.

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You can make your own, and you

can find lots of dressing recipes

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on the web for peanut and sesame

dressings for cold soba noodles.

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But you can actually just order it

in and add chopped up, deboned, of

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course, turkey, and I would say skin

off turkey to those soba noodles.

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Listen, okay, you're going to go crazy.

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Add some celery or some scallions

chopped up and then you've

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got really a whole complete.

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Wow.

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Bruce: Call it in.

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Wow.

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I was going to say, let's give the whole

recipe for it, but that's really amazing.

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Okay.

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I am a fan of curried turkey salad

and I prefer to use the leftover

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breast meat as opposed to the dark

meat for chicken and turkey salads.

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And so Basically, it's so simple.

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It's mayonnaise, or fat free yogurt,

sometimes a combination, a little dollop

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of mango chutney for sweetness, some

raisins, scallions, I like to put chopped

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walnuts in it, that's always a good

thing, and a sprinkling of curry powder.

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And you mix all that into chopped up,

cooked, leftover turkey breast meat.

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It's super simple, and it's delicious.

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So good.

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Mark: If you want to actually use the dark

meat, I would suggest you try and we have

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tried a kind of deviled turkey spread.

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You know, that deviled ham

grossness from Underwood.

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Oh, God, I grew up.

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Basically, it's

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Bruce: the it's the cat food for

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Mark: people.

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Gosh, I grew up on that.

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My parents love that stuff.

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They love that.

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And they know What we

called Vienna sausages.

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Oh,

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Bruce: that's dog food for people.

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Mark: Vienna sausages, Vienna.

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And I can still hear my mother saying,

as Bruce well knows, don't scrape off the

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jelly, that's where all the flavor is.

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Okay, so anyway.

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Here's how Christian I was raised, Vienna

sausages on white bread with mayonnaise.

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So, there you go.

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I think that's as fundamentally

Christian as you can.

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But, you can make a devil turkey spread.

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I'm going to go to this.

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So, in this case, I would

say skin the dark meat.

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Don't use the skin.

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And chop up, debone, chop

up some of the dark meat.

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And then put it in a food processor.

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Yes, a food processor.

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There you go.

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with some mustard, some vinegar,

don't use, uh, just white vinegar,

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use like white wine vinegar or

even balsamic vinegar, and a few

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Bruce: teaspoons, not, not a whole lot.

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Mark: And then some capers and a

few shots of Tabasco or a hot sauce

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and a bunch of fresh herbs, whatever

kind of fresh herbs you like.

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And then here's the kicker.

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And I know you're going to scream,

but one or two tinned onions.

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Absolutely can't make

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Bruce: it without their

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Mark: necessary for this underwood flavor.

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And so you put that in the food processor

and then whiz it up and you're going

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to end up with a thick, chunky spread.

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You can put it on cucumber slices.

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You can put it on sandwiches,

you can put it in celery sticks,

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you can dip carrots into it.

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It's an underwood turkey spread.

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You can add, if you wouldn't even want

to go crazy, a little mayo to this to

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make it smoother, but you don't need it.

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Um, it's just kind of a.

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Basic recipe for a deviled turkey spread

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Bruce: Wow that actually I'm torn

between thinking I want to eat

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that and Between I want to throw it

out because I can't decide so I'm

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gonna let you make it this year.

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No, I'm gonna make it Cuz

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Mark: really honestly, even though we're

saying this my favorite way to eat turkey

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is to take a knife to the refrigerator And

stay in there with the refrigerator slice

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off pieces of turkey, so that's probably

the way I'm going to eat left over turkey,

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but uh, that's, that's one of the ways.

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Okay, so what's another thing?

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Bruce: At this point, everybody knows

that I am a fan of Chinese cuisine and

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that I love to cook Chinese food and

I'm going to tell you about a really

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interesting way to make what I'm calling

XO Turkey, something like you'd expect

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right out of that old TV show Iron Chef.

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So whether it's in a skillet or a

wok, put a little sesame oil and saute

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some minced up ginger and scallions

and garlic, add some water chestnuts,

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and then the kicker is a heaping

tablespoon of XO sauce, which is a

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jarred sauce you buy in an Asian market.

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It's a Fishy kind of fermented sauce

that's spicy and got crab stuff in it.

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And then you add the chopped up turkey.

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You can use white meat or dark meat.

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And if you want to put a little

bit of soy sauce, you can at that

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point, it may need a little water to

moisten it and serve that in lettuce.

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Mark: And don't forget, while Bruce is

talking about sautéing and stir frying

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exo turkey, which is a great idea, don't

forget that we all love turkey sandwiches.

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And while a lot of people will make

a turkey sandwich with lettuce and

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tomato on toasted bread, of course

toasted, because I want the crunchy,

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um, toasted bread, or some people go

all out and make a turkey sandwich.

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turkey club with bacon and sliced turkey.

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Don't forget that that you can

also easily make a turkey Reuben.

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Take the skin off the breast, slice

the white meat turkey into thin slices.

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Then just add purchased sauerkraut

and, uh, some kind of melty cheese.

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Jarlsberg is good.

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Munster is good.

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Good.

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Put it on toasted rye with

mustard or Russian dressing,

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either way, whichever you like.

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And you can make a turkey

Reuben in no time flat.

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Bruce: Just remember to squeeze

the sauerkraut dry because the

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juices are going to make your

bread mushy and you can do it the

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way Mark said by toasting the rye.

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It's really easy.

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I'm Mark.

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Or go a little more traditional, build

the sandwich and then grill it in a

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skillet with a little oil or butter.

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And that way you'll have, you know,

like a grilled, cheesy, rubiny thing.

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Yum, yum.

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Mark: Okay, what else you got?

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Bruce: I love to make soup out

of leftover turkey carcasses.

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And in our last episode, Mark

talked about my turkey rice soup,

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which is one of our favorites.

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But there is a Brazilian

soupy stew called vatapa.

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I love to do that with turkey instead

of the traditional shrimp, and I take

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the leftover turkey and it is some extra

turkey stock and some coconut milk and

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chopped peanuts, maybe even a little

beer is thrown in, onions, ginger, canned

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tomatoes, and you just cook that down

until it's thickened and stew like.

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Needs heat.

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Again.

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Needs

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Mark: lots of heat.

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It

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Bruce: needs some chili.

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So again, you're getting turkey,

coconut milk, a little beer.

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Peanuts, onions, garlic, tomatoes, all it

is really an amazing flavor combination.

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And

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Mark: let me also say, since we're just

throwing out ideas here, that sliced,

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especially dark meat turkey, slice it

really thin and chop it up and then get

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yourself, you can buy it already sliced,

some sliced mango at the grocery store

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and a jar of roasted red peppers, right?

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So drain those.

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You've got your sliced mango.

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You've now got your chopped up turkey,

and now you can just make quesadillas.

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They're cheese free quesadillas.

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You put that, those three things,

the chopped up dark green turkey,

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the mango slices, and the drained

roasted red peppers between tortillas.

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Put them in a skillet.

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Uh, you can even use a dry nonstick

skillet without any oil and then, you

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know, just heat it until one side of the

tortilla gets a little brown, not crunchy,

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but a little brown, and then flip it over.

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You need a big spatula for this.

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Flip it over and you basically, after

another minute or two, you have these

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really simple turkey quesadillas.

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They are

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Bruce: so delicious.

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And if you want cheese,

you can add it, right?

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You can.

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Of course.

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You can keep it cheese free, or you

could dump a whole ton of shredded

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cheese on there, which actually

makes it a little easier to flip.

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But I, to be honest, I like it

without cheese, but some people won't

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have a quesadilla without cheese.

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Right.

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I think

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Mark: the mango stands in for the cheese

because it gives you that creamy texture.

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It does.

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That's actually a

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Bruce: really good idea.

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You know,

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Mark: um, to each his own.

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Okay, so what else?

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Bruce: Well, there's another soup we

could talk about, and this is doing

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a sort of Mexican style Yucatan soup.

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And we take chicken broth, and we infuse

it with garlic and onions and a big

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splash of lime juice, put in some diced

potatoes, some drained canned corn,

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some hot peppers, and that cubed turkey.

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And you've got a

delicious, delicious soup.

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hearty lime garlic onion infused soup

with turkey and potatoes and corn.

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Mark: Well, these are lots of

different ways that we have for

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using up those turkey leftovers.

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There are so many possibilities

here that you can look for.

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I mean, we did this again 20 plus years

ago for Cooking Light and these recipes

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to me still seem to hold up a bit.

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They're kind of do it yourself.

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They're not, I mean, yes.

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Did CookingLite publish actual

recipes with ingredient lists?

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Yes.

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But from just listening to it, you

can figure that these are pretty

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much go at your own way recipes.

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It's really a good way to use up that bird

and not just necessarily throw out those

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leftovers, but keep them for what's ahead.

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No,

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Bruce: do not throw them out.

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In fact, if you're not ready to

make a dish with the leftovers,

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wrap up that carcass, wrap up that

leftovers, throw them in the freezer.

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And the next time you make any dish.

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Any kind of soup, like a

split pea or a tomato soup.

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Throw some in.

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Why not?

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Mark: Okay.

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Before we get to the last segment

of the podcast, what's make kids

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happy eating food this week?

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Let me remind you that it would be great

if you signed up for our newsletter,

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which is an unconnected to this podcast.

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It comes out once or twice a month.

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You can do that on our

website cooking with.

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bruceandmark.

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com or just bruceandmark.

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com.

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Just scroll down the page, you'll see

a place to sign up for the newsletter.

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I don't capture email.

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I don't have it so I can sell it.

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I don't permit the provider

MailChimp to do that either.

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And you can always

unsubscribe at any moment.

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The newsletter is disconnected

sometimes, not always, sometimes

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from this podcast and has recipes.

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Book ideas, all kinds of things included.

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Okay.

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Let's move on to the last

segment of this podcast.

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What's making us happy in food this week.

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Bruce: We started with a one

minute cooking tip on burgers.

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So what's making me happy is the burger

I made for dinner this week, which is

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Just the meat salted on the outside

as we say to do but my favorite burger

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topping has become a Combination of sweet

pickle relish and Lao Gan Ma chili crisp

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and man that combination is killing me

I just slather it But the thing is, we

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like to use cloth napkins around here.

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I can't, not with that burger.

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It's a roll of paper towels because

it's an oily, greasy, delicious mess.

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Mark: And I think that what made me

heavy in food this week is something

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that happened with that burger, which

is first made a side dish of lots of

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of air fried cauliflower florets with

a sliced up jalapeño, a fresh jalapeño.

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And so we air fried cauliflower

florets, spraying them, of

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course, and air frying them.

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And in there, amongst all those

florets, was a fresh jalapeño

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chili that had been thinly sliced.

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And it was so tasty.

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I ate it.

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Ate it down more even

than I wanted my burger.

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I wanted that crunchy cauliflower

with those hot jalapenos.

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Best dinner ever.

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It was so unbelievably delicious.

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Another reason you should have an air

fryer and maybe, okay, egregiously self

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promotional, have our book, The Look

and Cook Air Fryer Bible, in which every

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step of every recipe is photographed.

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Check that out.

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It's even a good holiday gift.

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That's our podcast.

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For this week.

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Thanks for being part of this journey.

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Thanks for being with us.

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Thanks for spending time with us.

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We appreciate your being here each week

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Bruce: and each week.

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We tell you what's

making us happy in food.

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So please go to our Facebook

group, also called cooking with

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Bruce and Mark and share what's

making you happy in food this week.

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You'll see a post where I ask

that question every Monday.

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So please tell us what's making

you happy in food this week.

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Cause we want to know here at

cooking with Bruce and Mark.

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About the Podcast

Cooking with Bruce and Mark
Fantastic recipes, culinary science, a little judgment, hysterical banter, love and laughs--you know, life.
Join us, Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, for weekly episodes all about food, cooking, recipes, and maybe a little marital strife on air. After writing thirty-six cookbooks, we've got countless opinions and ideas on ingredients, recipes, the nature of the cookbook-writing business, and much more. If you've got a passion for food, we also hope to up your game once and a while and to make you laugh most of the time. Come along for the ride! There's plenty of room!

About your host

Profile picture for Mark Scarbrough

Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!