Episode-1472- Chef Keith Snow on Making Thanksgiving Dinner Awesome

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Check Out Harvest Eating for More Great Stuff from Chef Keith Snow.

Tune in today for a special edition of The Survival Podcast with Chef Keith Snow. Keith is the creator of HarvestEating.com which focuses on eating seasonally and cooking with food you can grow in your backyard of obtain locally.

He is also a daily listener to our show and shares many common ideals with the Survival Podcast audience.

So I thought who better to bring on the air in preparation for Thanksgiving then Chef Keith.

Whether you are going though having the “in laws” over for the first time or just want to have the best Thanksgiving meal you ever cooked, today’s show is for you.

Today we discuss the way to get a perfect turkey every time, how to make potatoes that are perfectly fluffy and other “non survivaly stuff”. The key though is that family is important and this is a time to pause, enjoy each other and just relax. So instead of some hard hitting Tuesday show let’s just all enjoy the kick off to the holiday season with Expert Council Member Keith Snow.

Tune today to learn…

Simple steps to a perfect turkey
Easy great gravy without the paper envelope
Perfect and simple mashed potatoes
Root veggies beyond the potato – parsnips, turnips, etc.
Awesome roasted sweet potatoes with special secret ingredient
A great way to do green beans
Greens and Brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving, yep
Sweet Potatoes – without the marshmallows

Resources for today’s show…

Join the Members Brigade
The Year 1472
Join Our Forum
Walking To Freedom
GenForward.com
TSP Gear
PermaEthos.com
AgriTrue.com
Harvest Eating – (sponsor of the day)
Western Botanicals – (sponsor of the day)

Chef Keith Snow’s Links

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The tree makes an attractive ornamental tree as well. Pawpaw plants are easy to grow. Find this plant and more at Bob Wells Nursery. Bob Wells Nursery specializes in anything edible: fruit trees, berry plants, nut trees, as well as the hard to find specialty trees. Find them at BobWellsNursery.com

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

Also remember we have an expert council you can address your calls to. If you do this you should email me right after your call at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with expert council call in the subject line. In the body of your email tell me that you just called in a question for the council and what number you called in from. I will then give the call priority when I screen calls.

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The show made me hungry as usual. I felt compelled to make a comment in reference to the brief Christmas tree discussion, because some of the comments that were made were a bit off.

I worked the xmas tree fields in north west Michigan off and on through high school, and for a harvest season after leaving active duty. The “live” xmas tree you buy has been on quite a journey, time wise.

Starting in late August and September, the the trees to be cut that year are selected, and painted with a special green paint (there are a few species which are not painted). Then starting around the first of October, the trees start getting cut, shook by a tree shaker (a vibrating cup powered by a small gas motor or PTO) to reduce dead and loose needles, and baled by being forced through a cone which folds the branches up, then wraps the tree in twine. Then the trees are moved back to the main farm and stacked up in a holding area. I was on a 3 man baling crew, and our goal was to bale 1000 trees a day. We harvested until about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, when loading season started. The trees would be loaded either onto flat bed trailers, or into standard box trailers, and shipped to wherever the farm was having their tree lots. Ours did mainly Ohio. On thanksgiving weekend the tree lots were already set up to sell trees. I never worked a tree lot, other than to unload the trees just before thanksgiving. When the rest of the crews were on the lots, I stayed behind and made mad money loading trailers for other farms on a per truck basis. I was averaging $800 to $1000 a day loading those trucks (I only worked 3 days a week by choice), and making people hate me in the process, cause I would work their crew into the dirt. Seriously, it got so bad people would occasionally quit when they saw my truck pull up. We loaded and shipped until about 2 weeks before Christmas. If only I hadn’t drank away most of that money.

Moral of the story, is go ahead and buy the tree when they first come available, cause if they come in from Michigan, they were cut in October, and would be brown were it not for the paint.

Comments

Episode-1472- Chef Keith Snow on Making Thanksgiving Dinner Awesome — 7 Comments

Karim Ali on November 25, 2014 at 1:36 pm said:

Seriously LOVE the Chef Keith Snow gravy recipe…. I have floored my mother in law with being able to make better gravy than she can and she has more years experience cooking than I have being alive 😛
Rick Allen on November 25, 2014 at 4:13 pm said:

Does Chef Keith rock the house? Yes, Chef Keith rocks the house! Great show guys. Problem now is that Im starving. 😮
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
jeff on November 26, 2014 at 12:38 am said:

basting comes from Cooking in the 1800’s and 1900’s when birds where commonly cooked in front of a fire. I just saw a video showing this on youtube. Without basting the birds skin might well burn.
Peace in Christ
Jeff
Eric on November 26, 2014 at 6:25 am said:

For years, my dad would smoke a ham and a turkey using a Brinkmanm charcoal smoker. For about 12 hours, the ham would sit on the top rack basting the turkey on the bottom rack. Some people will tell you to use beer instead of water. I say don’t waste the beer. I really don’t think it makes a difference. Be sure to use hickory or applewood chips.
Bryan on November 26, 2014 at 7:10 pm said:

Planning to dazzle my parents and their guests with the cranberry recipe. They said “just pick some up at the deli”. Um, no.

Also, just placed an order with Chef Keith for stocking stuffers for the cooks I know. I almost can’t smoke without Low N Slow now.
trekker111 on November 28, 2014 at 9:52 am said:

The show made me hungry as usual. I felt compelled to make a comment in reference to the brief Christmas tree discussion, because some of the comments that were made were a bit off.

I worked the xmas tree fields in north west Michigan off and on through high school, and for a harvest season after leaving active duty. The “live” xmas tree you buy has been on quite a journey, time wise.

Starting in late August and September, the the trees to be cut that year are selected, and painted with a special green paint (there are a few species which are not painted). Then starting around the first of October, the trees start getting cut, shook by a tree shaker (a vibrating cup powered by a small gas motor or PTO) to reduce dead and loose needles, and baled by being forced through a cone which folds the branches up, then wraps the tree in twine. Then the trees are moved back to the main farm and stacked up in a holding area. I was on a 3 man baling crew, and our goal was to bale 1000 trees a day. We harvested until about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, when loading season started. The trees would be loaded either onto flat bed trailers, or into standard box trailers, and shipped to wherever the farm was having their tree lots. Ours did mainly Ohio. On thanksgiving weekend the tree lots were already set up to sell trees. I never worked a tree lot, other than to unload the trees just before thanksgiving. When the rest of the crews were on the lots, I stayed behind and made mad money loading trailers for other farms on a per truck basis. I was averaging $800 to $1000 a day loading those trucks (I only worked 3 days a week by choice), and making people hate me in the process, cause I would work their crew into the dirt. Seriously, it got so bad people would occasionally quit when they saw my truck pull up. We loaded and shipped until about 2 weeks before Christmas. If only I hadn’t drank away most of that money.

Moral of the story, is go ahead and buy the tree when they first come available, cause if they come in from Michigan, they were cut in October, and would be brown were it not for the paint.
Agoraculture on December 5, 2014 at 10:59 am said:

I always look forward to this episode!
I am making stock for the next turkey dinner with the carcass of Thanksgiving’s turkey – an organic, free-range, heirloom bird. These birds have far more flavour than mass production turkey, but use that if that is what you have. Be sure to request the feet, if available, to throw into the stockpot (or crockpot!) as the feet really make a difference. I have about a gallon of rich, flavourful stock, even after a second infusion of the carcass. We are going to pressure can the stock. The stock is also a nutrient-dense survival food (and comfort food), if the situation arises, as it did for us last week when we were without power for four days!