Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 420 of Sneaky Dragon. It’s a significant number, but I’m not sure why. I am kind of hungry though.
This week on the show: blaze it: we can’t stop talking; Dave’s favourite pizza; old-timey; Christmas tree shortage; decorating; 2008 trivia; weird Christmas movie; A Christmas Carol; overblown traditions; baby Santa Baby; creepy Christmas Carol; sensible Dickens novels; horse antics; powerful crotch; lepers; comedy; throw mediocrity out; a package from Australia; taste-testing; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; Whamaggedon; ghoulish Beatles songs; cooking Turkey opinions; family Christmas; and, finally, chewing.
Question of the Week: How do you do your turkey? Fixings, etc. And if you don’t do turkey, what do you do?
Sub-question: Fill in the blank: All I want for Christmas is __.
Department of Corections:
Dave was incorrect in his naming of the children huddled under The Ghost of Christmas Present’s robe. They were Want and Ignorance, not Want and Hunger (which is a little redundant).
Thanks for listening.
Here is the animated Christmas Carol that gave young Ian the willies:
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First of all, I’m sorry for being complainy-pants in the comments lately.
Second: I’ve had three very moist turkeys in my life. Two of them were smoked, and the other was brined. Every other turkey I’ve had has been pretty dry.
Also I just noticed a typo in one of the tags and it’s delightful
Holy balls that vampire Beatles song is the best thing I’ve heard all year.
Since I’m leaving too many replies, I’ll respond to a question of the week:
My family stopped doing turkey years ago. We have snow crab legs instead — one leg per person. We also don’t celebrate thanksgiving (since we’re Japanese) so the only time I get to have turkey these days is if I go to a Christmas party or buy a pre-made turkey meal at Safeway for Thanksgiving. Though, this year for Thankgiving, I went to What’s Up Hot Dog and had a Space Wiener and can of PBR.
Chicken seems to do everything turkey does except pretend you’re Friar Tuck with a huge drumstick. Still making one tomorrow for the family. Still nervous.
My Dad brines his turkey and it comes out perfect!
Down here in Texas, plenty of folks enjoy setting up a huge deep fryer outside which can lead to disaster. Rednecks love taking their lives into their own hands when it comes to fried food.
https://youtu.be/IP3qh6Qym40
A couple of years ago, someone told my mom that a turkey stays moister if you roast the turkey with the breast down so she’s been doing it that way ever since. You flip it over for the last hour of cooking. That way, the juices run down from the dark meat and keep the white meat from drying out.
Cooking stuffing inside the turkey is safer if you use a mesh turkey stuffing bag, then pull it out before you carve the turkey. If you leave stuffing in too long while the turkey cools, bacteria can start growing in it as the cavity doesn’t cool off as fast as the outside of the bird. Also, do not overstuff. My mom does some of the stuffing in a foil packet in the oven and some in the bird, then mixes it all together so there is plenty of stuffing for all.
All I want for Christmas…is good physical and mental health, or at least good medical care, for my family and friends who are experiencing pain and loss of enjoyment of life.
Not sure if that description was clear but to clarify, you start out with the bird breast side down, then flip it over. There are descriptions on the internet of how to do it.
Ended up going with this recipe and it turned out very well. https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/charliebrownthanksgiving
And I’m wishing great health for us all in the new year too!
Can’t go wrong with Charlie Brown! Great health and Peace of Mind to the entire Boothby clan!
You’ve already got two of the best tips for roast turkey, Ian – herb butter under the skin and placing the bird breast side down to begin with.
A third one is to place a layer of thickly cut onions and carrots on the roasting tin, pour in enough apple juice to cover, then sit the bird on top. This not only prevents any accidental frying where the turkey touches the tray, it also helps prevent dryness and makes a fab base for gravy.
Now that my meat eating days are behind me, our family will be settling down to a mushroom wellington – portobello mushrooms smothered in a fancy kind of nut roast and wrapped up in puff pastry – plus all the usual trimmings. Tried this last year and it was great.
Some more spooky Beatles songs:
Love me, Boo!
Things we bled today
The ghoul on the hill
All you need is blood
Eleanor Rigormortis
You know my name (look up the number of the beast)
Happy Christmas!
Oops – I see I was too late with the recipe tip! Well, there’s always next year, and the veg trick works for chicken too…
Seasons greetings Ian and David,
Thanks for the fab shout out in episode 420. Hope you enjoyed the Australian snacks.
Regarding Christmas turkeys, they are not quite so much of a tradition here in Australia as it is generally blisteringly hot on Christmas Day and a roast meal becomes something of an endurance test – especially right now with half the country literally on fire. (Please send some snow.)
However I had a bad turkey experience as a child which turned me off it for life.
At a family Christmas lunch, a distant aunt had pre-cooked a turkey and brought it along cold. However the turkey had not been properly plucked and was covered with long hairs which resembled (I later realised) pubic hairs. Added to this, the turkey was rubbery as hell, so the effect was pretty much like trying to chew a rubber scrotum (I imagine, anyway.)
I tried to discard the drumstick I was eating after one bite, but my parents insisted that I eat the whole thing so as to not insult the aunt who had ‘cooked’ it.
Strangely enough, I have never had any craving for Christmas turkey since that day, almost 40 years ago.
Hope your turkey experiences are better than this one!
Mick
(PS: Am sending you a little Christmas artwork via email.)
Your food discussions make me so hungry guys but I cannot speak for myself since I’m not much of a cook. My Dad, who’s Grandfather was a renown chef in Chicago, can cook just about anything. His secret to the holiday turkey(s) is to inject butter under the skin, then brine the bird with a brine kit he uses. He swears this is the trick to a tender, juicy turkey every time and it’s a simple and easy solution. Dad says people tend to overcomplicate food, keep it simple…like the mashed potatoes David mentioned, Dad only uses butter, milk and a little salt and they’re perfect every time. We had a 20 lb. turkey this past Thanksgiving my Dad made and brought over…letting it continue to cook on it’s way over.
I remember that animated Scrooge cartoon!! And I also remember those nightmarish children under the ghost’s robe! I tried watching the FX version of A Christmas Carol with Guy Pearce this last week and it kind of bored me a bit. I’m actually more curious about the effect Dickens’ story has had on the holiday than the story of A Christmas Carol itself. You guys peaked my interest when you mentioned that.