Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / The Global Thanksgiving Table

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The Global Thanksgiving Table · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: M. This is our 99th episode of 4Q. And we're
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  thankful for that and thankful for you listeners.
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  And today we're going to do something special in
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  culinary medicine. We often focus on the medicine,
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  but today we're going to focus a little bit on
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  culinary and some on medicine. We're going to give
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  you a Thanksgiving episode for the world. Now, for
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  my Canadian friends, your Thanksgiving just
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  passed. And for that holiday, I made a roasted
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  chicken with Swiss chalet sauce. If you know, you
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  know. So thank you, Canada, for Tim Hortons, for
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  Swiss chalet and giving us an early reminder that
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  gratitude goes great with gravy. And also thank
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  you that we have a place we can escape to north of
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  the border if we could ever get over February. For
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  those of us in the United States, it's the fourth
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  Thursday in November, and we're celebrating the
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  foods of the Americas, the ingredients that
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  changed the world. Turkey, corn, potatoes, beans.
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  These foods built civilizations, crossed oceans,
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  and still anchor dinner tables everywhere. And for
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  my listeners in Edinburgh, uh, London, Lisbon.
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  Yes, turkey is an American bird. It almost became
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  our national bird. But the bald eagle looks better
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  on money, and it doesn't drown in the rain.
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  Thanksgiving started as a celebration for
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  survival. And it only happened because my other
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  ancestors, the other half of me, the Native
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  American peoples, were taught early settlers, or
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  pilgrims, as we sometimes call them, how to grow
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  corn, plant beans, and roast this silly large
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  bird. But they also introduced the world to
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  potatoes, corn, and cranberries. So if you're in
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  Europe enjoying fries or cornbread, you're already
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  celebrating a little bit of Thanksgiving. And if
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  you don't have a turkey in Edinburgh or wherever
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  you are, find a bird, any bird. Most m of my
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  recipes will adapt easily to hens, pigeons, or. Or
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  velociraptors. Although I'm still waiting on a
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  source for that. I am your Chief Medical
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  Explanationist, Dr. Terry Simpson, and this is
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  Fork U Fork University, where we bust a few myths
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  and make sense of the madness. Teaching you a
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  little bit about food and medicine.
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  Let's start with the main act, the turkey. This is
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  a ridiculously large bird, and the idea of cooking
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  it like that Norman Rockwell painting, trying to
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  cook it whole is like putting an entire cow in the
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  oven and hoping every part turns out perfect. It
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  simply cannot be done. But I've got a few tricks
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  up my sleeve. One of the great things about turkey
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  is that this large bit of poultry has far less
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  saturated fat than red meat. And if you cook it
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  properly, everyone will be happy. So here's how I
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  do It I cook the breast sous vide style, which
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  means it takes about an hour and a half, and it
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  will be tender and juicy, unlike, um, any other
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  turkey breast you probably ever had. I roast the
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  legs separately until they're golden brown, crisp
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  and full of flavor. And you get that wonderful
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  smell throughout the house of turkey. Skip the
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  brining because it's messy. And if you've ever
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  tried to put a 20 pound bird into a ridiculously
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  large stock pot to make the bird magically
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  moister, several things will happen. You're going
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  to have a mess to clean up on the floor, and the
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  bird won't be that much moisture. It also skips
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  the idea of a deep fryer. Unless your goal is to
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  have a Thanksgiving where all of your stuff burns
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  down and you start fresh. There's nothing more fun
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  than watching the silly fires that we see, because
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  people are trying to put a big turkey into a pot
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  of oil with a fire underneath it. I mean, we've
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  seen what can go wrong. And then there's Tom
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  Colicchio's trick, shoving a bunch of butter under
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  the skin of the breast. Yeah, it helps a bit. But
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  if you want true great turkey breast, you're going
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  to have to do it sous vide. Now, there's another
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  reason not to roast the whole bird. You won't be
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  tempted to stuff it when you fill the the cavity
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  of that bird with bread and broth. You're
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  basically building a campylobacter incubator. And
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  it can take up to a week for that infection to
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  hit. So when diarrhea shows up, you won't connect
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  it with Aunt Marge's famous stuffing. You might
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  even say, oh, you know, I've eaten stuffing out of
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  the back end of a turkey bird for years and never
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  gotten sick. Sure, because it's been so long
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  afterwards, you don't remember that it was the
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  week after Thanksgiving when you were thankful
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  that you had a bidet. Because we know the
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  Europeans know how to treat a backside. So bake
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  your stuffing outside the bird. My favorite
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  version is cornbread stuffing. The perfect way to
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  honor one of the great foods of the Americas.
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  Here's how I make it. Cornbread cubes, sauteed
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  onions, celery, fresh herbs, handful of mushrooms,
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  and just enough broth to moisten. And for extra
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  flavor, I take the turkey skin off the breast that
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  I'm going to sous vide, salt it, poultry seasoning
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  on it, bake it until it's crispy. It is a poultry
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  bacon that you can crumble into the stuffing for
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  the best bite on the table or even into a salad. I
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  mean, some people have salads for Thanksgiving.
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  I'm not sure what that point is. You know what
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  America's treasure is? Potatoes. From the Andes to
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  every single plate, potatoes were cultivated
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  thousands of years before Europeans ever thought
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  to mash one. When explorers brought back, the
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  Italians made gnocchi, the Irish made history, the
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  French made them fancy. For Thanksgiving, I keep
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  it simple. Boiled Yukon Golds, a touch of butter,
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  a drizzle of olive oil, a bit of milk, salt and
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  pepper. Creamy, earthy, perfect. No truffle oil,
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  no bacon mountain. Just real potatoes. Done.
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  Right. Now for the green beans. Now, green beans
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  are another gift from the Americas. They were
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  domesticated about 8,000 years ago in Central and
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  South America, where indigenous peoples planted
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  them along with corn and squash. Also known as the
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  famous three sisters, the beans climbed the corn
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  stalks and fed the soil. Regenerative farming long
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  before we had the term in culinary medicine. We
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  love legumes. They're full of fiber, protein, and
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  phytonutrients that support gut and heart health.
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  Green beans are the new world's contribution to a
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  healthier plate. So let's give the casserole a
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  makeover. Skip this canned soup because it doesn't
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  take that much longer to use. Fresh mushrooms,
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  some whole milk, and a touch of cornstarch for a
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  silky sauce. You can even saute the green beans in
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  olive oil and garlic for a Mediterranean twist.
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  Either way, it's history and health in one dish.
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  Now, before the turkey even hits the table, I like
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  serving cowboy caviar. It's a bright bean based
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  salad from the American Southwest. It's fiber
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  rich, flavorful, and keeps you from diving face
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  first into the mashed potatoes. The quick version
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  is the black beans, Black eyed beans, corn, diced
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  peppers, red onions, avocado, little olive oil,
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  lime juice, and cilantro. Mix it, chill it the day
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  before, watch it disappear. And when you put those
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  corn tortillas with it, it's another American
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  snack. It's what we call in medicine a preventive
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  snack.
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  Now, before dessert, a little science. The food
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  coma, uh, doesn't come from tryptophan, although
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  tryptophan is one of those fun words to say and
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  makes you sound actually erudite. But it comes
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  from the carbs, the portion size, and probably
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  some wine. A big meal floods your system with
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  insulin, helping tryptophan turn into serotonin,
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  then melatonin, crossing the blood brain barrier.
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  And that's some sleep hormone. Add alcohol,
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  travel, fatigue, and suddenly you're drooling
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  through the football game. So eat slower, walk a
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  little after dinner. Save the pie for later. Your
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  pancreas will thank you.
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  Dessert and a confession. True confession. I'm
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  about as talented at baking as I am at gardening.
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  If they were going to name a rose after me, it
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  would be a rose that is dying on the vine because
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  I have a brown thumb. People are amazed when they
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  see me gardening because I have a 15 year old son
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  and how he is alive for 15 years I don't know
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  because I can't even seem to grow an herb garden
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  without killing it. So for dessert I go with
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  Costco Pumpkin Pumpkin. By the way, another
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  American addition and a scoop of vanilla ice
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  cream. Although I do make a killer almond torte.
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  But that's for another episode. Now listen, I
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  didn't do all of this to make you just salivate.
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  I'm doing this because I'm announcing our new live
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  cooking show. Fork you with flavor. We're going to
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  go live on TikTok where I'm rterry Simpson. Um, oh
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  my God, there are a bunch of people imitating me.
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  Rter Terry Simpson is me. I have about 1.1 million
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  followers and probably on Instagram where I'm
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  rterrysimpsonmd where I'm gonna cook together,
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  talk about food science, answer your questions.
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  Here's the thing. For my paid substack
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  subscribers@drsimpson.com, they're gonna get the
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  recipes and the ingredients ahead of time so
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  they're gonna be able to cook along with me live.
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  The regular subscribers will get their recipes and
• 9:08
  replay links later by email. We'll post edited
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  versions on YouTube and TikTok too. So sign up.
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  Paper and optional curiosity required. This has
• 9:22
  been Fork U Fork University and it's been
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  researched and Directed by me, Dr. Terry Simpson,
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  your chief medical explanationist. All things
• 9:30
  audio editing. And the reason I sound so good is
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  because of my friends at Simpler media and the pod
• 9:35
  got himself Mr. Evotera. For recipes, references
• 9:40
  and details about our live cooking show,
• 9:42
  visit4q.com YourDoctorsOrders.com and sign up for
• 9:45
  our newsletter@drsimpson.com they'll all appear
• 9:49
  here live after the show. Some are already up. But
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  hey, if you want to watch me avoid difficulty in
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  the kitchen while setting off my new fire alarms,
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  you just are in for a treat. And remember, I am a
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  board certified physician. But not your physician.
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  This podcast is for education, not all personal
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  medical advice. So wherever you are, the Americas,
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  Europe, Edinburgh, anywhere between, we all have
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  something to be thankful for. And one of mine is,
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  you have a good week and enjoy the show. Hey,
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  Evil. After Thanksgiving, do you nap because of
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  the turkey or because you're trying to avoid the
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  dishes? Avoid the dishes, man. You've met my wife.
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  Come on.