How to Carve a Turkey and Make Turkey Gravy

Male Speaker: How are you doing? We are at Christian Sherill's house. I have had four glasses of wine. So, we are at Christian Sherill's house this afternoon for Thanksgiving, and what I like about Christian Sherill besides being our good friends, they make making food look effortless. We'll come over here and all the food is done, and which I think is amazing. So, tonight, they are having Thanksgiving and we're going to learn how to carve the turkey and how to make some gravy, because they just do things that amaze me, and I can't do, or it takes me a day-and-a-half, and they just do it in an hour. So enjoy. Watch! Male Speaker: Here's the turkey, the unveiling of the bird. Male Speaker: Wow! Nice. Male Speaker: We covered the -- I put a little bit of tin foil over the extremities because it was bit burn out -- not burned, but they would brown a little faster than the center. So it's just slow the process a little bit. Now it's all even and nice. Female Speaker: It looks a little bit like it's burnt, but it's not, it's the herbs. Male Speaker: We have a secret herb paste on top. Male Speaker: Which you won't tell us? Male Speaker: We will not tell you. This actually came from my grandfather, I don't think he ever used it. Fancy, huh? Male Speaker: Nice. Male Speaker: Nice. Male Speaker: Very nice. Male Speaker: Very nice, very nice. I think the best approach here is to remove the outer pieces here so we can get to the breast. So we're going to remove the wing and the breast. Let's just start here. So we are just going to launch in here. Look at that, it's just coming right off. Look at that, nice. Male Speaker: If the turkey is cooked properly, then it's not a problem. Male Speaker: Then it's not a problem at all. Again, I am just massaging that one bulge right there, off comes, nice. Male Speaker: So what kind of background do you have to be an expert in this? Male Speaker: Well, my father is a scientist. We did not brine this bird, we didn't. You know, they -- Male Speaker: Because that's our Christopher Kimball's big on brining the bird. Male Speaker: Yeah, you know, there's a couple of camps on that I think. And I think one way or the other, as long as you keep pasting, is one of the keys. Keep pasting it all throughout the cooking process. Male Speaker: And it's a 15-pound bird. Male Speaker: 15 pound bird from Ottomanelli Meat Market in New York, an old butcher, at least a 100 years old. We had -- I ordered it last week, then they put your name on -- they have this big, what do you call that stuff? The paper. Female Speaker: Brown paper. Male Speaker: Brown paper. Put brown paper on the wall, they put everyone's name up on the wall, now we're numbered 94. It was very exciting of several hundreds. Male Speaker: That's like a lottery number. Male Speaker: You come in, you have to look up, you find your name, you go, there I am, I am number 94. They get the pen out, they cross you out. This is interesting, Eric. So, it's steaming. It's been in the oven for over an hour. Male Speaker: Did you stuff your turkey? Male Speaker: We did not. I believe it cooks a little faster. Male Speaker: It does. I mean, in your childhood, there was a science to this? Male Speaker: Well, I wouldn't say there was a science, but there was a scientist behind it. Now I find once you get half the turkey carved here, so we have another breast to get. Have some wine. Female Speaker: Excellent over that. Male Speaker: Very nice. Male Speaker: I love Brussels sprouts, and Sherill is making them with bacon and -- Female Speaker: And you love bacon. Male Speaker: I love them both. Male Speaker: That is nice. Male Speaker: Very nice. That's good. It's moist? Male Speaker: It is moist. Male Speaker: There is an egg beater going on behind that you can hear of. Male Speaker: Now I stuff the bird with some onion, a lime, a quarter, and I did a sprig, I tied together rosemary, thyme and sage. We've carved. Now, we are going to have a soup course. The meat is at a really nice temperature, so I am going to just put a tin foil on top to help to maintain its temperature. It won't affect how well done it is or not. We are good to go. Male Speaker: Sherill is going to show us how to make the gravy. I am trying to catch up with them, it looks chaotic here. Female Speaker: I just need a little bit of flour. Male Speaker: This is called the rue? Female Speaker: We are going to make a little rue. That's the chicken stock we made yesterday. With the turkey in that. Male Speaker: So that's a finely measured flour. Female Speaker: Yes, it is. You have to be very careful because the exact measurements are what counts here. Male Speaker: So this is butter that we melted and flour, with a whisk. I never use a whisk, I have a thing, a tool, it's called a fork. Female Speaker: We have those for a while like here. Male Speaker: So I see a little brown in that -- Female Speaker: It's exactly where you want to be. Alright, now -- Male Speaker: So this has kind of a buttery burning smell. Female Speaker: Well, that's a nutty smell. Male Speaker: Nutty smell. Now I put in that chicken turkey-- Female Speaker: Yeah, exactly. Male Speaker: It's okay. I've got some turkey stock that might be -- it's okay. So this is -- Female Speaker: The turkey pan. Male Speaker: The turkey was cooking in this foil. Female Speaker: Here's the secret. We are adding some pear juice to our dressing. Male Speaker: Note the centerpiece, it's a turkey. Now, we are going to do something here. We are going to squab it out for the meal because this is actually a soup tureen. Now we are going to have our soup out of here. Put in anticipation. We've prepared a second centerpiece. So this is going to come to the side bowl with all the soup. We are going to place it, note the pumpkin. Very nice, very nice. Male Speaker: The gravy is cooking. Female Speaker: What we are going to do is we are going to make it a little slurry because I don't think that's going to thicken up now. Male Speaker: The soup is going in the turkey tureen. Female Speaker: That's correct. Male Speaker: This is like softened butter. Female Speaker: Yeah. So, I guess technically this is a little slurry. Male Speaker: Is this what they call a Beurre Marie or --? . Female Speaker: We are giving it a bain-marie which is a water bath. And this is not technically that but -- Male Speaker: This is a Beurre Blanc. Female Speaker: This is something with butter, in fact, we can verify that. Male Speaker: It's butter and flour that you are mashing together. Female Speaker: Something with butter and flour. Male Speaker: You are going to cut the flour into the butter. Female Speaker: That's right. Then we are going to add it to my -- Male Speaker: With a fork. Female Speaker: That's right. Male Speaker: My favorite tool. Female Speaker: Kind of like a whisk, only smaller, sometimes more useful. You know what, the thing about adding butter to your gravy at the end is that it gives it that glossy color. Male Speaker: So this is thickening up nicely. Female Speaker: Here we go. Male Speaker: It's thickened. Female Speaker: Silver platter on the chair right by you. Male Speaker: Nice, nice. There we go, that's our gravy. The stove is empty, it's time to eat. So enjoy! What I do wrong? Female Speaker: No, no, we're going to check them. Male Speaker: Okay. Female Speaker: Last minute checking. Male Speaker: Checking up, alright. Male Speaker: Anyway, that's a simple way to carve the turkey and how to make your gravy. So enjoy your day. Alright!