#110 | How to Prep, Cook and Carve a 🦃
Walt Whitman Says...
Hello!
"This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body." —Walt Whitman from the preface to Leaves of Grass
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. If you’re new here, welcome to EAT.DRINK.THINK., a newsletter spotlighting seasonal recipes, the latest SF Bay Area food news, poetry and more!
👉 ICYMI: The most-clicked link from our last newsletter was the recipe for Anna Voloshyna’s Pumpkin Millet Kasha.
Do you know someone who loves a good Pisco Chilcano? Send them this newsletter!
Nafy Flatley’s 🇸🇳 Senegalese Maafè with California Halibut: In our latest issue, @georgiafreedman talked to Nafy Flatley about the maafè she serves at @terangafoods. The classic Senegalese stew is traditionally made with peanut butter, potatoes and sweet potatoes, tomatoes, tamarind paste, fish sauce and other flavorings. Flately noted her fondness for the dish:
“It’s the last meal I ate before immigrating to this country,” Flatley says. “It always takes me back to that last day, saying my goodbyes to my mom, getting on the airplane and coming to this country for my way of living the American dream.”
Thanksgiving Traditions
The Dry Brine Method: aka, the Judy Bird, so named after the technique chef Judy Rodgers (Zuni Cafe) used to season her famous roast chicken. Russ Parsons (former LA Times food editor) popularized the technique in 2014, and we’ve been using it ever since. No fuss, no mess, the Judy Bird method delivers an exceptionally succulent, well-seasoned turkey. LA Times
The Wet Brine Method: If you insist on drowning your bird, you may as well do it in buttermilk: Samin Nosrat’s Best Thanksgiving Turkey. YouTube
Spatchcocking a Turkey: One of the most popular methods because the entire surface of the turkey is exposed to the same level of heat, which reduces the cooking time by about 75 percent. Here’s a detailed step-by-step with photos, on how to spatchcock a turkey from Plays Well With Butter
One Stop Shop: All the Thanksgiving recipes you need, all in one place. From our friends at Edible Boston
Carve It: Whatever you do, be sure to remove each breast from the turkey in one piece and then slice them across the grain. Slicing the breast while it's attached to the bird most often yields a chewier and drier piece of meat (and no one wants that, right?). How to carve a turkey for beginners with photos and video.
Have a happy healthy holiday week!
Sponsored
La Cocina, the award-winning Bay Area non-profit food business incubator program supporting women of color and immigrant entrepreneurs, will host its only fundraiser of the year on Saturday, December 10, to raise $50K for its incubator program. The event will feature women-owned small businesses selling art and gifts, delicious bites from La Cocina chefs, festive beverages from La Paloma and Fluid Cooperative Cafe, a holiday photo booth, face painting, and winter crafts station. Raffle prizes include an Ooni pizza oven, a duo pan set from Proclamation Goods, a Masala Dabba from Diaspora Co., a knife set from Bernal Cutlery, and many other incredible prizes. Details and tickets are here.
QUICK HITS
5 Things to Read
🐔 Tastes Like Chicken: FDA approves cell-cultivated, no-kill meats from Upside Foods, a San Francisco-based start-up. NPR
📝 Waiting for Kobe: There’s a 30-year wait list for Kobe beef croquettes from Asahiya, a family-run butcher shop in Takasago City in western Japan's Hyogo Prefecture. CNN
☎️ One Ringie Dingie: A woman in Raleigh, N.C. called 911 because she was served pink meat from Clyde Cooper’s Barbeque, which is now marketing itself as the home of the “infamous pink bbq” and creating “PinkBBQ” merchandise. The Washington Post
🧑🍳 Kann Can’t Cook: Celebrity Chef Gregory Gourdet’s Highly Anticipated Haitian Restaurant Kann confirms that television celebrity does not equate to restaurant kitchen mastery. Williamette Week
🥫 Is It Soup Yet? Campbells used analytics inspired by AI to determine when oats would make their way into soups, sauces, bakery items and confections. Food Dive
5 Things to Cook
🤔 Tempted: Molly Baz’s Turkey Marbella for Thanksgiving
🍔 Special Sauce: Rick Martinez’s Miso Veggie Burger
🍴Flashback to School Lunch c. 1975: Eric Kim’s Salisbury Steak
🥔 Not a Fan of Mashed? Nigel Slater’s Roast New Potatoes with Green Sauce
🌶 To Asia, With Love: Hetty McKinnon’s Sheet-Pan Gnocchi With Chili Crisp & Baby Bok Choy
5 Things to Listen to
👀 BTW:
Three headlines: Which one is fake?
One of the largest food safety companies in the United States illegally employed more than two dozen children in at least three meatpacking plants.
Variably described as tasting like "corn nuts," "puppy's breath" and "vomit," mouse has become a fixture of natural wine culture as pervasive as it is misunderstood.
S.F.'s most thrilling new wine destination for industry insiders requires guests to answer a random question from the Master Sommelier Exam to gain admittance.
About That Fake Meat
Headlines:
Real: Child labor 😢
Real: Mousy wine 🐭
Fake: S.F.'s most thrilling new wine destination 🚫
On repeat this week: Jacob Collier’s How Deep Is Your Love.
That’s all for this week.
We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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“The only war is the war against the imagination.”
―Diane Di Prima