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From Serious Eats

How to Make Turducken in Under 24 Hours

I have been making them since the early 80's when Paul Prudohme's book first came out. I had a few questions and I called New Orleans. The Chef called me back and answered all my concerns. I am a fan now.

I usually start the week before with stock making, I get my butcher to get me all the pieces he has for the stock and make that. The stuffings, yes three including my secret White Castle , are made two nights before and stored in the referigerator. Since the Birds must be boned and kept as cold as the stufing, we bone them the morning before we stuff. I used to start with a big turkey, about 35 lbs when I could get one that size, as we would have about 100 friends the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Now that my son, the budding chef helps out, we bone two sets of birds starting with a 20 lb. turkey. The first time I boned the birds, it took me about 3 hours including defrosting my fingers every so often. Doubling the stuffing recipes give me enough for two birds plus extra for the table. We have enough ovens to do two birds and they cook for about 12 hours. We put them in about Midnight the night before we eat and they come out about noon the next day. Since they will rest for a while, it gives me those two oven s for what ever needs heating and cooking.
One last thing, since I used to use such a big bird , I used two ducks and chickens in each bird. Still do. Makes a really nice layercake effect.
Using an electric knife to cut the birds keeps the slices from coming apart.

From Talk

Please, tell us where you're from...

Hell - I forgot!! Just a simple Jew from Brooklyn.

From Talk

Please, tell us where you're from...

I just turned 68 yesterday and eat at Shopsins at least once a week. I am a State investigator and travel throughout most of NYS.Last year we bought a new kitchen and although we now have Five star 6 burner stove, set of double wall ovens, pot filler and sink with comercial sprayer, my wife' picked the cabinets which cost more than the aforementioned. Oh yeah we had to put the white refer in the basement because it clashed with the chrome stuff. New 3 door thing also that you can't hang anything on/.
My friend Sam and I have a small BBQ team and his bar has all our trophies.
I like to eat crap and will pick up food anywhere when I am hungry. I like Wo Hop at three in the morning especially early on Sunday morning. Feeding my friends,about a hundred once a year is a blast, and since the bride does not like to let dishes stand for long, am asleep before she finishes cleaning.

We get to New Orleans at least once a year and eat well there. You don't have to make a reservation a month in advance.
I am supposed to watch my diet but screw that.

From Talk

"I only have 1 item. Can I sneak ahead of you?"

Just once I want to see a cashier tell the person in front of me to loose an item or two if they are over the limit. I am on the road a bit and frequently see a shopping mommies group with the three kids each put all their crap on that small counter for the 12 items or less and then start to sort out their stuff. Then maybe they have a price problem, check, or not enough cash, WIC checks, Federal food program, or just either decide to send a kid back for an extra box of Cheetos when they are "buy one, get another one for free" of worse yet, decide they don't want the item the cashier rang up and want it off the bill. Get the supervisor to use the special key.. THEN they haul out the coupons, and then the 400 pound key ring with the 35 courtesy cards.
I carry a firearm on my job and I think the "battered spouse defence" might apply.

Oh yeah, once in a while they run back down the isle because they need one more thing so that they can make something for the old man to keep him happy . One day I am going to push all their shit back into the cart.

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From A Hamburger Today

simplejew answered "Yes; I'd eat it again." to Have You Ever Eaten a Doughnut Burger?

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simplejew answered "Yes! Love 'em!" to Do you do white pies?

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simplejew got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Breakfast Foods?

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simplejew got 33% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

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Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

How to Make Turducken in Under 24 Hours

I have been making them since the early 80's when Paul Prudohme's book first came out. I had a few questions and I called New Orleans. The Chef called me back and answered all my concerns. I am a fan now.

I usually start the week before with stock making, I get my butcher to get me all the pieces he has for the stock and make that. The stuffings, yes three including my secret White Castle , are made two nights before and stored in the referigerator. Since the Birds must be boned and kept as cold as the stufing, we bone them the morning before we stuff. I used to start with a big turkey, about 35 lbs when I could get one that size, as we would have about 100 friends the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Now that my son, the budding chef helps out, we bone two sets of birds starting with a 20 lb. turkey. The first time I boned the birds, it took me about 3 hours including defrosting my fingers every so often. Doubling the stuffing recipes give me enough for two birds plus extra for the table. We have enough ovens to do two birds and they cook for about 12 hours. We put them in about Midnight the night before we eat and they come out about noon the next day. Since they will rest for a while, it gives me those two oven s for what ever needs heating and cooking.
One last thing, since I used to use such a big bird , I used two ducks and chickens in each bird. Still do. Makes a really nice layercake effect.
Using an electric knife to cut the birds keeps the slices from coming apart.

From Talk

Please, tell us where you're from...

Hell - I forgot!! Just a simple Jew from Brooklyn.

From Talk

Please, tell us where you're from...

I just turned 68 yesterday and eat at Shopsins at least once a week. I am a State investigator and travel throughout most of NYS.Last year we bought a new kitchen and although we now have Five star 6 burner stove, set of double wall ovens, pot filler and sink with comercial sprayer, my wife' picked the cabinets which cost more than the aforementioned. Oh yeah we had to put the white refer in the basement because it clashed with the chrome stuff. New 3 door thing also that you can't hang anything on/.
My friend Sam and I have a small BBQ team and his bar has all our trophies.
I like to eat crap and will pick up food anywhere when I am hungry. I like Wo Hop at three in the morning especially early on Sunday morning. Feeding my friends,about a hundred once a year is a blast, and since the bride does not like to let dishes stand for long, am asleep before she finishes cleaning.

We get to New Orleans at least once a year and eat well there. You don't have to make a reservation a month in advance.
I am supposed to watch my diet but screw that.

From Talk

"I only have 1 item. Can I sneak ahead of you?"

Just once I want to see a cashier tell the person in front of me to loose an item or two if they are over the limit. I am on the road a bit and frequently see a shopping mommies group with the three kids each put all their crap on that small counter for the 12 items or less and then start to sort out their stuff. Then maybe they have a price problem, check, or not enough cash, WIC checks, Federal food program, or just either decide to send a kid back for an extra box of Cheetos when they are "buy one, get another one for free" of worse yet, decide they don't want the item the cashier rang up and want it off the bill. Get the supervisor to use the special key.. THEN they haul out the coupons, and then the 400 pound key ring with the 35 courtesy cards.
I carry a firearm on my job and I think the "battered spouse defence" might apply.

Oh yeah, once in a while they run back down the isle because they need one more thing so that they can make something for the old man to keep him happy . One day I am going to push all their shit back into the cart.

From Sweets

Serious Eats Staff Picks: Favorite Chocolate Candy Bars

I guess I am old enough to be one of the Seniors in the house. Remember when the guy in the candy store stuck a popsicle stick in the Milkey Ways and froze 'em? Lasted at least a half an hour.

From Talk

How do you like your Grilled Cheese?

With a pound of deep fried bacon. I use 6-8 slices of bacon between the bread and eat the other while the sandwich is grilling. Oh yes, I use a cast iron pan to squish the thing flat enought to slip under the door. Lipitor with my jello for desert.

From Talk

"Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded."

Minetta Tavern - They say make a reservation a month in advance. Hell, I don't know if I will still be upright in a month.

From Talk

How to prevent the sides my pot from scalding over a gas range?

I got a piece of 1/4 inch steel plate 12x12 as big as the burners on my
5 Star. My wife still uses the bitsy Farberwear she got when we got married ... a long time ago. Ues that flat plate under your pot as a diffuser. It will smooth out the heat under your pot. Get some restaurant pots of heavy gauge meta with a heavy bottom. That will also help.

From Talk

...and speaking of ketchup

Closet. Why cool down freedon? fries or a good burger?

From Talk

Do you browse SE at work?

State Employee !!!! What do you think?

From Talk

What's the story behind your SE screen name?

Back before the Beatles, I found myself without a bed at college as I had been kicked out. Guy on campus found me at a bar nursing a beer and asked me what I was going to do when my folks found out. I told him I would have to beat it out of the City when my story gat back home.
He somehow bought the beer for the rest of the evening and I soon found myself on a bus to Virginia, where I was hired to throw stuff into and out of airplanes. Did some other things for my meger pay and since I thought I was a legend in my own time, I became known as The Legend. Later in the mid 80's I worked for a politician and spent a lot of time working elections and other stuff. I was still known as the Legend.. This person became a NYS Assemblyman and he was asked on occasion, "where's the Legend?". He came to me one day and said "Last Name" there is only one F****n legend in this Assembly district and I am that legend.
So I got a new monicker The Simple Jew From Brooklyn. Every one knows there is no such thing as a simple Jew.

From Talk

sauerkraut - i'm expanding the search!

Guss's Pickles moved to Boro Park I hear. They had two kinds of kraut. Regular & Sweet. The sweet is made with Sweet & Low the last time I bought their stuff. They were still on Essex south of Delancy. I think you might call the pickle stand there now. I think they are called the Pickle Guys.. Mean to stop every time I go to Shopsins which is two blocks up on Essex. Pickle store is next to pizza shop on corner. There is a hydrant and I sometimes see a traffic agent lurking in the shadows. Find a spot. There are meters on both sides of the street.

From Talk

Fairway Cafe UWS slated for closure

Just heard news item on WINS NY that more markets are following the Wegmans, Fairway cafe trend. How come they are closing? Doesn't make sense. It is the market draw that brings in people who eat first and shop secondly. I do. What dumbness to remove the attraction of good fresh eats for stuff that the MAJORITY of shoppers don't buy. Has the UWS gone high end. I used to shoot pool for a meger living on BDWY about 10 blocks from the market. Long time ago, but now the market has became a draw for us, and we fill the car before taking in a show at the Beacon. Maybe Fairway should just buy another building next door.

From Talk

Does this sound too disgusting to eat?

We have been feeding that sandwich to our kids forever. Oooey, goey.

From Serious Eats

Taste Test: The Best Fast-Food Breakfast Sandwiches

Once in a while I stop in at Mickey D's for a sausage biscuit. I ususally order 2 for a buck each and lose the top on each one . One day I decided to add cheese. With tax $2.78. Geez, thirty cents plus tax each for a small slice of processed yellow. Next time I ordered the sandwiches , I brought my own film encased curd and requested that they add my cheese to their sandwiches. The counter person who had trouble making change for three bucks refused because she DID NOT KNOW HOW TO OPEN THE WRAPPER.

Their biscuits are not that great. Usually hard on the outside. I will sometimes order a biscuit sandwich from Duncan Donuts. They will toast and butter for a few cents extra. Not all stores have biscuits.

From Talk

What do you wear when you're cooking?

Back when I was recently seperated, I had the urge to fry up some bacon. Living by myself, I did not see the need for clothing. Big mistake.. NEVER FRY BACON IN THE NUDE.

Later that year, I was making chili. Cutting numerous peppers, I need to use the facilities. Bad move.

From Talk

On the Road Upstate PA Route 81

Mile Marker 194 has a Waffle House about 3/4 of a mile past all of the other FF joints. BUT go to exit 219 the Penn Cann diner Sausage Biscuits and Gravy 24 hrs a day. Other diner favorites. I travel that route regularly.. Exit 191 has a Wegman's Market with some great made salads, deli and fruit, bakery and all sort of food stuff to eat on the road. Buy some plastic and plates.

From Talk

Help! My KA is sick, what should I do?

There is a place on 86th Street in Brooklyn. Solomon's repair. Not cheep and a deposit is required.

From Talk

What is Your Absolute Favorite "Ethnic" Cuisine?

Brooklyn Jewish
My old neighborhood (Avenue J had two kosher delis betweeen East 15th Street and Coney Island Avenue and then there were three on Coney between Avenues I & K.. Pastrami, corned beef, tongue, knishes, pigs in blankets, kasha vanashkes, mushroom farfel with gravy, stuffed derma (kishka) brisket, potted meatballs, french fries, dill pickles, stuffed cabbage, pot roast, coleslaw, potato salad, Dr Brown soda, spritzer bottles of seltzer, strudel. And then........ the waiter gave you - if you were a kid - a small monkey dish with a cookie that had a glazed cherry on top.. Walking home, if the old man had any change left, a charlotte russe for a dime.

From Talk

Hot Dog Toppings

@allot - that the joint on Smith Street in Poughkeepsie? State trooper investigator told me about a dog joint at that location. Damn diet. I am going to have to postpone my visit.

From Talk

Hot Dog Toppings

An undercover detail in Queens gave me an opportunity to eat a hot dog with Ciolumbian fixings. Actually, I ate a bunch of them over the number of times I worked that neighborhood. Basic hotdog boiled, then reheated in a toaster over. strips of bacon, melted cheese, mustard, ketsup, mayo, some kind of red sauce like russian dressing, then the whole thing is covered in crushed potato chips and then some raspberry jam is squirted on the top. Got to be a 5-7 napkin thing. Northern Blvd and 81st St.

Crifs in the village does a thing with a toasted roll, bacon deep fried dog and cream cheese. Temptee dog .Too bad I am on a diet.

From Talk

Roux Troubles

Paul Prudohme writes or is it Emeril? two beer drinking time. Use a WELL seasoned pot. Don't blink or it's toast.

From Recipes

Dinner Tonight: Sausage and Biscuit Sandwich

Make a cream gravy from the sausage grease and crumble one patty into it. Pour it over the sandwich and grab a fork. Make some grits as a side. Hot sauce a pleasant addition. Heaven!!!

From Talk

Have you ever just been completly insulted preparing a meal?

OH YEAH, I FORGOT. WHEN MY FIRST GRANDSON WAS BORN, MY SON ASKED ME TO SMOKE SOME PASTRAMI FOR THE PARTY WHERE THE BABY WOULD BE NAMED AND CHRISTENED. OK I LOAD UP THE SMOKER WITH FIVE CORNED BEEFS ALL RUBBED WITH OUR SECRET BLEND. PUT ALL THIS MEAT THROUGH THE GLOBE SLICER, PUT THE MEAT IN HEAT SEALED BAGS AND GO THE THE BEST KOSHER BAKERY IN BROOKLYN AND ORDER 3 SEEDED RYES, 3 UNSEEDED RYES AND 2 CORNRYE BREADS. ENOUGH FOR THE 40 LBS OF MEAT. I BRING THIS STUFF TO THE KID'S HOUSE, TELL HIM TO HEAT THE MEAT IN A POT OF WARM WATER AND NOT TO OPEN THE BAGS BEFORE THE MEAT IS HEATED.

HE OPENS THE BAGS AND PUTS THE WHOLE 40 LBS. IN THE OVEN.
THE BABY GETS A HEBREW NAME, GETS SPRINKLED WITH HOLY WATER. THEN MY GENIUS PUTS ALL THE FOOD OUT, A LITTLE DRIED AS IT WAS. THIS IS GREAT KOSHER STYLE MEAT. THE FOLKS IN MY DAUGHTER IN LAW'S FAMILY ASK THEIR SON IN LAW FOR WHITE BREAD, CHEESE AND MAYO. THE NEW FATHER GIVES THEM ALL THAT CRAP AND THEY PROCEED TO SHOVEL THAT CONCOCTION INTO THEIR MAWS ALL THE WHILE TELLING ME HOW GOOD IT TASTES. GOYIM!!!

NEVER AGAIN.

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Recent Posts

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From Talk

Long Flights - BYOF?

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Polls

From Serious Eats: New York

simplejew answered "On a Cone" to What's Your Favorite Ice Cream Treat?

From Slice

simplejew answered "No f****n' way!" to Pineapple Pizza: Way or No Way?

From A Hamburger Today

simplejew answered "Yes; I'd eat it again." to Have You Ever Eaten a Doughnut Burger?

From Slice

simplejew answered "Yes! Love 'em!" to Do you do white pies?

From Talk

simplejew answered "No" to Do you put noodles in your matzoh ball soup?

From A Hamburger Today

simplejew answered "Eat at a restaurant" to Do You Prefer to Eat Burgers at a Restaurant or Make Your Own at Home?

From Talk

simplejew answered "Butter and syrup" to How Do You Top Your Pancakes?

From Talk

simplejew answered "No" to Do Beans Belong in Chili?

From Serious Eats

simplejew answered "Wegmans" to What's Your Favorite Grocery Chain?

From A Hamburger Today

simplejew answered "Without cheese" to Do You Prefer Burgers With or Without Cheese?

From Serious Eats: New York

simplejew answered "Jackson Heights" to What's New York's Best Food Neighborhood?

From Serious Eats: New York

simplejew answered "Di Fara" to What's Your Slice of Pizza in New York?

From Serious Eats: New York

simplejew answered "You missed the best!" to What's Your Favorite New York Pizza By The Pie?

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Quizzes

From Serious Eats

simplejew got 30% correct on Quiz: How Much Do You Know About French Fries?

From Serious Eats

simplejew got 40% correct on How Much Do You Know About Food TV and Its Personalities?

From Serious Eats

simplejew got 62% correct on How Much Do You Know About Breakfast Foods?

From Serious Eats

simplejew got 33% correct on How Much Do You Know About Condiments?

From Serious Eats

simplejew got 88% correct on How Much Do You Know About New Orleans Food Culture?

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About simplejew

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Location:

About: Married to a woman whose meatballs could break dishes and drowns 'em with Ragu brand (buy 2 get one for free) sauce. . State (NY) investigator mostly undercover for the past 2 years, Eat at all manner of dives. Friend of Kenny Shopsin.

Favorite foods: Bacon. Pastrami (my own) Bacon. Oreos. Any thing within reason except organ meats. Cookies, cake, HOT DOGS.

Last bite on earth: A good cigar dark wrapper.