040 Holiday Feasting with Chefs Janet and Alekka

(00:39) Unlock the secrets to crafting a memorable holiday feast with insights from our pros, Chefs Janet Loughran and Alekka Sweeney. With a wealth of experience in meal delivery, teaching, and kitchen spaces, these culinary experts offer invaluable tips and techniques for navigating the joys and challenges of holiday cooking. 

(08:34) Eager to make your Thanksgiving turkey the talk of the table? We explore innovative techniques like spatchcocking for even cooking and using bacon for effortless basting. You'll also hear about the debate of different brining methods. 

(20:42) Discover how to bring unexpected flavors to your table with alternatives to cranberry sauce or surprise guests with individual-sized pies and poached pears for dessert. We also share creative ideas for using leftovers, including a savory twist on monkey bread and breakfast bake recipes. 

(34:05) Plus, Catherine Montest guides our wine selections for the holiday meals ahead. With imaginative and resourceful ideas, your gatherings are sure to be memorable, ensuring every guest leaves with a smile and a full heart...and belly!

Transcript

Holiday Feast Preparation Tips With Chefs

Doug 0:01

Welcome to The Pittsburgh Dish. I'm your host. Doug Heilman, do you have the privilege of hosting a big holiday feast in the coming weeks, or maybe you're just contributing a little something to the meal? Well, this episode is for you. From timing and turkey to desserts and more. We're getting the inside advice from a couple of pros. We're getting the inside advice from a couple of pros. And what bottles are you pulling off the shelf or out of the chill chest for your next big feast? Resident wine expert Catherine Montest gives us some guidance. All that ahead. Stay tuned. Hey everybody, we're joined today with two of our favorite prior guests and I'll let them reintroduce themselves, and then we're going to talk about holiday dinners and some of the fun stuff that folks encounter with that. Would you go first?

Janet 0:53

Sure, my name is Janet Loughran. I've been a chef for almost two decades and actually my counterpart here. We are kind of similar in what we do, so there might be some overlap. I have an Instagram page Chef Life Hacks that I love sharing tips and tricks and recipes. I'm on KDKA Talk Pittsburgh once a month. I do cooking classes and then I also have a meal delivery service called Red Wagon Meals Provide meals for families each week A mom of two and a wife, so yeah, it's a lot, Janet.

Doug 1:22

you have nothing going on. Well, we talked a few months ago. What have you been doing since we talked last? Any big things happening?

Janet 1:30

Well, I've gained some new clients, which is nice because they're kind of spreading the word. If you are a busy working parent and you want to have ready to heat meals, that's just kind of blown up. I've really gone strong into cooking classes. I've really loved the interaction, the questions that they have. You know you don't realize what you know until people ask you questions, and it's nice to share. So, yeah, it's one of my favorites. That's why you're here today, yeah love it.

Doug 1:56

Can I add one more thing? Sure, I noticed you doing a lot of stuff for the Kaufman Apartments downtown. Oh, yes, it's like a really cool gig.

Janet 2:03

Oh my gosh, the apartment store that was there was huge in my life growing up. It was like a mecca for us for Christmas and you would go to Santa's Secret Shop and you know, have breakfast there and everything. So what they've done whenever that closed down is they basically blew out the center of the apartment the I keep saying apartment department store and so it's like a nice courtyard for the apartments. They have windows and everything. Huge, beautiful rooftop with a lot of amenities. But yeah, I'm their resident chef. I do a lot of cooking classes there. If they have a happy hour I'm there, so it's been fun, super fun.

Janet 2:33

Yeah, I love it. Pinch myself moment every time.

Doug 2:37

And let's move over to our second guest of today.

Alekka 2:40

Hi, doug, I am Chef Alekka. Just like Janet, I am a private chef. I do lean into a lot of the cooking for people's special events. I also teach cooking classes too. I've used Janet a lot for my private events when I need an extra set of hands because she is a monster in the kitchen. I love it.

Janet 3:04

We work well together. Yeah, we work really well together. Yeah, we have fun.

Alekka 3:08

I'm on Talk Pittsburgh twice a month and I also just started teaching again at Phipps Conservatory.

Doug 3:14

I have seen these classes.

Alekka 3:16

I love them so much.

Doug 3:17

Yeah, so I was going to ask, same as Janet, like what you've been up to, but these are sort of a new thing you've been doing this summer, right, yes, Anyway, what's the audience? Is it adults, Is it kids?

Alekka 3:27

Well, the summertime I did do the kids summer camp, which I love. Like I said before, I love teaching the kids and at night it's adults.

Doug 3:36

Any special topics that you guys have focused on over at Phipps.

Alekka 3:39

Just, we're all over the all over the board, all over the board, but they do like to focus on, you know, using the stuff from their garden and keeping it healthy.

Doug 3:47

I think I just saw you outside of Phipps picking stuff to use.

Catherine 3:53

It looks so cool.

Alekka 3:54

So cool. Oh my gosh, I just got chills. The big news is my shared kitchen space is open in Mount Oliver.

Doug 4:03

So exciting, thank you. Do you have a name for this space yet?

Alekka 4:12

It's called the Mount Oliver Shared Kitchen. Oh, okay, yeah, so I'm the manager of it, and it's been a long journey, as you guys have know about and if folks want to know more.

Doug 4:18

I don't know if you're filled up yet with the capacity there, but this is a commercial space that if you're doing cooking you could sort of join into and do your cooking in the legal way the health department cleared way and take that food elsewhere. Or does it even have space to do dinner there?

Alekka 4:38

Yeah, so there's a little event space in the front and then right around the corner, in the hallway, there's a shared kitchen.

Doug 4:46

Like, if people want to learn a little bit more about this, like where should they reach out If this is interesting to them?

Alekka 4:51

We actually have an email now. Okay, I'll have to tell you in a minute. I have to look it up. Sounds good.

Doug 4:58

So, friends, we're actually here to talk about holiday meals. We're in that sort of fall season where folks start to gather for the big turkey meal, or maybe into the holidays in December, into January, and I think it'd be really interesting to get your takes on some of the questions that you get and just share some of that knowledge. Sound like a plan, yeah.

Janet 5:19

You got two good people to do that.

Doug 5:21

Well, let's just throw it out there first. When you are dealing with maybe some of your clients or just folks in life and they're saying, oh my gosh, I have to prepare this big meal, it feels like a lot of pressure. What are some of the common questions or pitfalls that people bring to you?

Janet 5:38

I think the biggest thing is timing making sure that all of these things that you want to make for that holiday party are going to come together. Be hot and ready at the same time. My biggest tips, number one try to pawn some items off on your guests.

Doug 5:53

Share the work right. A lot of times they say what can I bring?

Janet 5:57

Let them bring something. Maybe it's something that they feel comfortable making it's their family meal. Or if you say, hey, I really just need mashed potatoes, can you make those for me and bring that? So pawn off if you can. If not, try to do as much ahead of time before the day of your party as you can. Those mashed potatoes can be made up to four days ahead of time.

Janet 6:14

You know, those, those casseroles can be put together and and even probably par cooked and then finished cook on the day. You know, obviously, if you're having a turkey or something like that you want to do that day of. But try to look at the menu that you've written down and say, what can I do ahead of time? Dips, a lot of appetizers can be done ahead of time so you don't have so much on your plate that day and you can enjoy your guests. You can not be rushed. You know we're not on the bear, remember that bear episode with the mom just going crazy.

Janet 6:41

You don't have to be like that, it can be a lot more relaxed.

Doug 6:43

You want to enjoy it. I'm right there with you and I've gotten some of these tips from my mom. She makes several things ahead. She peels her potatoes a day ahead. I like to pawn off the appetizers and sometimes the dessert, because that way, if I do have a menu in my head that you know, people don't have to bring that casserole that might interrupt the flavor, but appetizer and dessert are those bookends that people can also join into.

Alekka 7:10

That's a great idea. You pawned that off on me. So, aleka, what would you say? Mine is and I said this last night in my cooking class is go shopping now for what you can use for the holidays, because I always know in my house my dad is always the one running out that day. You know stuff for gravy or like a miscellaneous item. So I say, right now, throw away your baking powder, your baking soda. Oh yeah, get all new. You know you can freeze flour. You can buy a couple bags of flour. You can get your pumpkin pie filling now. You can even, if you want, to buy the bread for the stuffing.

Doug 7:46

Yeah, all the non-perishables, all the non-perishables, you know, get them now. If you've got the room in the freezer, you can put a lot of things in there.

Alekka 7:53

When it's like the Hunger Games, like right before Thanksgiving, and people are, you know, like raiding the stores. You can get all of that now. Yeah, the shelves don't need to be bare. If you buy your stocks or your spices, get it now.

Doug 8:10

I think you make a really good point too. This is a great time of year to go through your cupboard and refresh all of the baking items, because I can tell you right now, my flour in this cupboard behind me is like a year old. Yeah, it needs to go Right. You don't want to make that pie. That's supposed to be special with old stuff, with questionable flour.

Janet 8:26

Exactly, or yeast, you know, if it's not going to bloom for you.

Thanksgiving Turkey and Vegetarian Options

Doug 8:29

Yeah, no good. So since we're kind of leaning into that shared gathered meal, let's go ahead and talk a little bit about Thanksgiving and specifically about turkey. For some reason, I think personally it's not that hard, but people seem to make a big deal about roasting the turkey and whether to brine it or not brine it. I'll throw it back to you again, janet. You know what are some of the questions you get and what are some tips you would tell folks about roasting the turkey.

Janet 8:56

I think the biggest thing is people don't know how to gauge what the temperature is of the turkey. If it's done properly, not undercooked, what you need to do is not use one of those poppers that you sometimes can see when it comes in the ones that they're embedded in the turkey breast.

Doug 9:10

Yeah, pull it out, throw it away, throw it away. Yeah, I don't really like cooking with plastic in the item and while we're at it, take the giblets and stuff out of the center because they're in a plastic bag. Yeah, for sure, yeah.

Janet 9:24

They're not accurate, those poppers, so you just want to use a thermometer, put it in between the drumstick thigh area of the turkey and then, where it meets, the chicken breast, the white meat, and 165 is what we're looking for.

Doug 9:37

And where it meets the turkey breast Did I say chicken breast, you did.

Janet 9:41

For Thanksgiving Poultry, the poultry breast, and just want to insert it where it meets the turkey breast and get the 165 degrees there.

Doug 9:48

All right. Any other tips for keeping the turkey moist and delicious while it's baking?

Janet 9:54

I have a couple. There's something called spatchcocking. If you've never heard of that, I know it's a funny name that we're all turning 12 years old right now, but what you basically do is just cut out the vertebrae of the uh turkey and then lay it flat yeah, okay, yeah, right um, and then you lay it flat so that all has an even cooking time, because dark meat takes a long, a little bit longer than white meat.

Janet 10:15

That's why white meat can be a little bit dry. Speaking of that, how to maybe keep that not so dry for the turkey breast is you actually can lay over slices of bacon and that fat that renders out goes into the turkey breast Sounds like the best way to baste a turkey.

Doug 10:30

Why not?

Janet 10:31

Seriously hands off basting. I didn't even think about that. And then the drippings that you get from that for the gravy with the bacon flavor in there.

Doug 10:37

A different smokiness. I'm hungry now. I know, aleka, what about you? And talking turkey, is there any other tips that you have?

Alekka 10:46

So my trick is I put the turkey in at a high temperature first to get that crispy, that browning on the top, that browning. But, everybody forgets about the underside of the turkey.

Doug 10:58

Yeah, it gets kind of anemic looking because it might be sitting right against the juices.

Alekka 11:03

So after that first initial high temperature, everybody turns the oven down. So I flip my turkey over, so the breast is facing down, and then you get that color on the bottom. That's for about 20 minutes. 30 minutes Per pound, yeah.

Janet 11:20

Per pound. But I also like that idea too, because you're putting the juicier dark meat on top of the white meat, so all those juices are filtering down exactly. They have a better. What is it called whenever the heat is you?

Alekka 11:32

know, on it, it has more uh exposure there's more exposure to the heat, and my dad is like the king of gravy at our house, so he puts the turkey on like a cookie rack and puts all the veggies underneath.

Doug 11:46

Aromatic veggies, yeah, so all the fat drips on those veggies.

Alekka 11:50

I mean I eat half of them during the day.

Doug 11:52

Yeah, we're talking like carrots and onion and maybe celery.

Alekka 11:56

Garlic celery. He incorporates that into his giblet gravy.

Doug 12:00

Delicious. Are you pro stuff the turkey or not stuff the turkey, not stuff. Yeah, I think we don't do it either. We don't stuff, we do the stuffing dressing in a totally different pan or something.

Janet 12:11

I didn't grow up that way. My grandma always put the stuffing in but, I, think as I get older I realized that you have to have the middle of that stuffing at 165. So, what temperature is that outside, dry? You know turkey right now.

Doug 12:24

Yeah, Because you know, for foodborne illnesses you have to make sure that that inside temperature is 165.

Janet 12:31

And so you're drying out the outer actual meat, the good stuff, yeah to get that stuff in cooked?

Doug 12:34

No good, no, all right. Last question Do you brine your turkey or not brine it? What camp are you all in? I'm in camp brine.

Alekka 12:42

Me too. Oh, I'm not, but that's my family, yeah.

Doug 12:45

Oh, so how do you do it, Alekka?

Alekka 12:47

I just do the salt water peppercorns bay leaf and then I do the salt dried or like whatever.

Doug 12:55

And what's your kind of time horizon there? Do you do?

Alekka 12:57

it 24 hours, 24 hours.

Doug 12:59

Yeah, all right. You're not like my parents who go really big and they'll brine for a couple days, whoa.

Janet 13:04

Wow, does it change the texture of the meat?

Doug 13:07

Yeah, we've loved it more because we used to not do that. We also roasted on a countertop roaster and it just turns out amazing. We don't go for like the whole crispy skin brown, but all of the meat is super, super juicy and so that's sort of been the winner way for, oh my gosh, the last 10 years with them. Cool, what about you, Janet?

Janet 13:27

Well, I don't know. I feel like it's more time consuming. You have to have some sort of pot or receptacle that's large enough to hold that turkey to there's displacement with the water.

Janet 13:36

Oh we should maybe talk about displacement of oil If someone's going to fry their turkey. There's a lot of issues with that. We could go back to that. Anyway, it just made me think about that. But yeah, I me personally, I feel like it maybe changes the texture of it a little bit. I might be a little bit high maintenance that way, but if you guys love like, I'm not one of those people that say this is the way I do it and the way you do it is different and it's wrong no, if that makes you happy and you have the results that you want, great, yeah, cool.

Doug 14:02

If you've got the fridge space, yeah, and you like the way it tastes and texture doesn't change for you, go for it. Now, Janet, since you are not in the camp of like a wet brine, do you do like a copious amount of salt and pepper on the bird, like how do you season it up?

Janet 14:17

I actually will make a compound butter which basically is just butter with ingredients added to it.

Alekka 14:22

You put that underneath the skin, under the skin, yeah.

Janet 14:25

If there's someone who's a little squeamish about chicken, don't have them in the kitchen at that point, because it's not a pretty process.

Doug 14:31

You are talking about my husband. He would pass out watching you do that.

Janet 14:34

Yeah, but it's actually easier than you think to separate the skin from the flesh and then, you know, put whatever stuffings you want in there.

Doug 14:40

Oh, it's so good.

Janet 14:41

And then it's like you know, it's basting itself.

Doug 14:43

Take your rings off. Watch your fingernails. Have really clean hands. Yeah, get under there and just do it. Or wear gloves, yeah, or wear gloves yeah, all right, and we've probably thrown some vegetarians on pause right now.

Alekka 14:56

Yeah, welcome back come back.

Doug 14:57

Well, yeah, let's do that. So what if we have some folks coming to a meal and we know they're vegetarian? So many folks do that from a lifestyle choice, but they also sometimes have to do it for health reasons. Is there another?

Alekka 15:18

dish that you have made or seen that really works well as a vegetarian offering and doesn't necessarily make them feel left out.

Doug 15:22

I think Thanksgiving would be like a vegetarian's dream with all the sides. Just go for all the sides, yeah.

Alekka 15:26

I mean they're so you know. Just eliminate the, replace with vegetable stock. One thing that I made for a secret menu social that I'm going to do this Thanksgiving is a marinated zucchini. So you marinate it in olive oil, so I do champagne vinegar, some red pepper flakes and then you grill it, you saute it till it gets nice and caramelized. I put that on a bed of herbed ricotta and some hazelnuts and some mint.

Janet 15:58

That sounds delicious. Yeah, I bet the mint really brightens up.

Alekka 16:00

Yeah, it does, because you know you don't want like a table of brown food either.

Doug 16:05

Yeah, yeah, I think, getting some acid things, some fresh things. I like the idea of some grilling things, because we can still do that even in the cold months. Go out to the grill, do a little smoky char on something, yeah.

Janet 16:23

Yeah to the grill. Do a little smoky char on something. Yeah, yeah, I grill in the winter all the time.

Janet 16:25

Me too, my neighbors think I'm crazy, but I love it. It still works. My thinking is, if you have someone that would like a main item, not just all of the sides, if you take acorn squash and par, bake it for 30 minutes, you can easily cut through that. It's not going to have any resistance to it. Scoop out those seeds, literally fill it with whatever you want. Oh, that's good. I've done a quinoa, kale carrots, maybe even some vegan cheese if they're vegan or you can do. Parmesan, if they're vegetarian.

Alekka 16:46

Nuts in there or something. Oh yeah, pine nuts. Oh my gosh, a little bit of crunch.

Janet 16:49

Or you can make it a sweet and savory. I've added dried cranberries to it, so they basically get a half of an acorn squash as their main item and it's quite filling because you scoop it's kind of like a baked potato, yeah. You know you scoop the flesh in and kind of keep the skin intact. The other thing I've used in the past is a portobello mushroom.

Janet 17:05

I was just going to say that, yeah, the portobello mushroom you got to scoop out those gills and then you can put, you know, a breadcrumb filling in mixture with some vegetables. It kind of tastes beefy and it's filling. So those are my two thoughts.

Doug 17:19

I love those ideas and I also like the idea that maybe if you're doing a Friendsgiving, you could go vegetarian for that whole thing, skip the turkey and make these mains like you're suggesting stuffed squash, stuffed portobello mushroom and everyone's eating the same thing and still enjoying themselves A dinner of carbs, I know totally fine.

Janet 17:35

I feel like so many people hear vegan and vegetarian and they think flavorless and you know tofu and there's so many options. A lot of the things you're eating every day are vegan and vegetarian already so it's not that far-fetched um to me to get out of your comfort zone. I like spaghetti squash I do too I love to do that too. I'm a big squash fan. People think that they're just decorations, but they're tasty if you do it right.

Doug 17:57

This time of year they're all fresh and then, even if you buy some, they last for like a couple months. I know, they're like your rations for the winter.

Janet 18:10

Hi, this is Janet Loghran of Chef Life Hacks.

Alekka 18:13

And this is Alekka Sweeney of Chef Alekka PGH.

Janet 18:17

And you're listening to The Pittsburgh Dish.

Doug 18:21

You both sparked another question too and I think it's important to talk about. It comes up more with the Thanksgiving meal, but it should not just be all brown food and we should have some pops of flavor in there. The one thing I hear about that folks struggle with with the Thanksgiving meal is maybe incorporating acid or some freshness. I know we get that from the cranberry sauce, but are there any other sides or casseroles that you like to incorporate to make sure that you have those different notes of flavor and it's not just that one heavy brown food plate?

Janet 18:53

I think a lot of times it can maybe come from a vinaigrette on a nice salad.

Janet 18:57

Oh yeah, you know, get some hearty vegetables and vegetables really that aren't cooked. You know, I think a lot of times it can maybe come from a vinaigrette on a nice salad. Oh yeah, you know, get some hearty vegetables and vegetables really that aren't cooked. Yeah, you know, basically I would think maybe a balsamic would be nice, like if you do a roasted butternut squash with some sage and shallots and have some balsamic on there Like a balsamic drizzle on top. Nice little yeah, nice little pop I like that I do.

Alekka 19:17

instead of croutons, I do like a fried goat cheese crouton.

Doug 19:22

On a salad, on a salad.

Alekka 19:25

But you have to freeze the goat cheese first. I can put it through a little breading procedure.

Doug 19:32

While it's chilled, while it's chilled freeze it.

Alekka 19:35

And then you can either bake it or fry it and then put that on the salad with the acid, so you have that crunchiness in the ass.

Janet 19:44

Look at your face dog it is. I've had it. It's delicious. She made it for me.

Doug 19:48

I'm also envisioning it back to that squash recipe that, jan, you know, maybe put a little block of that on the end.

Janet 19:54

Yes, goat cheese on anything is good for me. I little block of that on the end. Yes, goat cheese on.

Alekka 19:58

anything is good for me. I love goat cheese, but it's very important to freeze it first before you do anything to it, because then it's just going to ooze out everywhere yeah. But it's got that tang, it's got that sort of acidity to it, yeah, and people don't expect it.

Doug 20:09

A couple of years ago I started making an Ina Garten recipe and you braise carrots, parsnips and I think it's shallot in orange juice and they look bright, the colors are good. I do cook them to their soft. There's a little thyme in there as well, but that acidity that was like a new add to my plate and that was like, yes, we're going to keep this.

Janet 20:28

I like that. Yeah, because everything's really rich that day, yeah, so this is a cleaner flavor.

Doug 20:33

A little citrus in there always seems nice.

Janet 20:36

Cool.

Holiday Dessert Suggestions

Doug 20:37

Well, I think we've hit the holiday meal and especially we talked turkey and now some sides. I'd like to talk about the sweets or the desserts For Thanksgiving. I'm pretty much a pumpkin pie guy. If you ask me for Christmas or another Friendsgiving, I don't know, I'm kind of up in the air. I feel like it should be special and I start thinking about apple things or spicy things like a spice cake, what do you all like for holiday desserts or what are your specialties?

Alekka 21:08

So I always gravitate towards more individual desserts. So, for example, I show my people, my people, I show my students. Instead of making five or six full-size pies where people bring them, I make my pies in cupcake pans. Oh my gosh, that's genius. That is genius.

Doug 21:29

Yes.

Alekka 21:30

So you can do like three pecan, three pumpkin, a couple apples, some cranberry, and everybody gets their own little individual little pilot or whatever you want to call it.

Doug 21:42

I just had a vision of a pie charcuterie board with all these little pies why, not yeah, and a lot of people like the crust, so it sounds like you get more crust to filling ratio with all these little guys and you don't have to commit to a big piece that's

Alekka 21:54

right you have a little one maybe go on another one.

Janet 21:56

maybe have a buddy that's going to have one. Yeah, Share one with you.

Alekka 21:58

So you can satisfy everybody you know in like two cupcake pans.

Janet 22:02

Love it Genius.

Alekka 22:03

Another thing I'm gravitating towards and kind of putting on a menu is poached pears. Oh, yeah. This is pear season. It looks beautiful if you poach it in some red wine.

Janet 22:16

Tell them how easy it is to poach a pear. It is stove top, only right it's all on the stove top right yeah

Alekka 22:19

you have to hollow out. I use a melon baller to hollow out the bottom of the pear and then you cut a little foot on it. Remove the skin. Yeah, remove the skin. The trick is, when you put it in your poaching liquid, is to put a piece of parchment paper on top to keep those. Keep them down. Listen to you. You're my cartoon.

Doug 22:41

I know what I'm talking about. This is a fancy chef time, so the parchment paper keeps them way down below the surface. Yeah, so you can.

Alekka 22:49

You don't want to occasionally turn them around. You get like an even so.

Janet 22:52

Then you cook it until I take a paring knife, until it's the consistency of like potatoes for potato salad Just go in Like the knife goes in and out clean and then I reduce that poaching liquid to a sauce, so it's like one pot dessert, and then it becomes like a glaze kind of, as you let it evaporate some of that liquid.

Alekka 23:12

It's sort of like some creme fraiche or some vanilla ice cream.

Doug 23:16

Here's what I love about this it doesn't involve the oven. Some people don't have that capacity and want to do that. It doesn't sound like high flying, like pie dough rolling. All of that's eliminated. Do you have any idea how long you typically do simmer the pears?

Janet 23:32

It depends on the pear, I feel like, if you're using Asian pears. They're like an apple or a.

Doug 23:35

Bosc pear, it's a little bit skinnier, so I would say what 30 minutes to an hour, depending on how thick it is, like a simmer simmer you don't want to boil it because the outside's going to be mushy.

Janet 23:44

Yeah, and then the inside's going to be raw almost and those can be held in the refrigerator and either served cold or reheated day of. I mean with that sugar outer coating it. It's in a preserve. It's so good yeah.

Alekka 23:57

And then the leftovers you can cut up and use in a salad.

Janet 24:01

Oh, my gosh With like goat cheese and walnuts, yeah.

Catherine 24:04

So it has multi-task, multi-uses.

Doug 24:06

I love the poached pear idea. Alekka, if people don't want to use wine, have you ever done this in like a brown sugar syrup or something else like non-alcoholic? Yeah, Can I do that?

Alekka 24:16

There are some really good Open Road here has some really good non-alcoholic wines you can use.

Doug 24:22

Yes.

Alekka 24:22

My advice on desserts for Thanksgiving. I know a lot of people want to really impress your guests. Really, don't try to do something brand new, no Right?

Doug 24:34

I think that's a good rule for anybody. Yeah, you want to practice first anyway.

Janet 24:39

When you're entertaining guests, you're stressed already. You want the house to be nice. You want everything to come together. Don't try something new that you've never made before.

Alekka 24:45

It's likely not going to turn out perfectly the first time and you can buy pre-made pie dough Mm-hmm.

Doug 24:52

You can buy the dessert.

Alekka 24:55

I'm starting to make my pie doughs now for the holidays, because you can freeze unsalted butter for three months, going back to like my buying stuff for the holidays. You can buy your butter now and keep it in the freezer, oh, okay. So going back to the shared kitchen space, I'm going to be doing a class there a couple of days before Thanksgiving, called I Forgot to Make a Pie. Good name.

Doug 25:21

I like this.

Alekka 25:21

So you either bring in a pie pan or I'll provide one and we make pies and I'll show you how to make homemade pie dough.

Doug 25:28

So this is like a pie emergency. Yes, if I don't know how to do it, I forgot to do it. I promised I'd do it and never did it. You're going to help me do it.

Janet 25:35

Yes, cool.

Doug 25:37

I love these ideas of mini pies or the poached pears, and I could see those working on any type of holiday meal, not just Thanksgiving, Janet. What about you when it comes to dessert? Any tricks, tips? You could do it, girl.

Janet 25:51

I look at Alekka for this.

Doug 25:52

I was going to say didn't you say, this isn't always your forte.

Janet 26:01

It's not my although I am interested and will attempt, I'm more of a savory cook, not so much a pastry chef. I think it has similar techniques and you know things that you have to keep an eye on but, she shines in that world Alekka of Alekka of this, yeah.

Janet 26:12

I mean, I can't even hold a candle to what she can make in terms of baked goods. So I just I can't even hold a candle to what she can make in terms of baked goods. So I just, I go to the experts for that and I don't want to. So you would buy your desserts. Yeah, I know Probably from you.

Alekka 26:27

People just invite me, knowing that I'm bringing dessert, perfect Good thing to know.

Doug 26:32

I think we've talked through the whole holiday meal, but why don't we just sort of open it up? Are there any other tips or techniques that we didn't land on that we should tell folks? I tell people to make ice Ice. Yes, days ahead, days ahead. Do it now. Well, maybe not.

Alekka 26:52

It's a little early maybe, but you think about what I've learned in catering. Maybe you too. Janet is to cut the alcohol or whatever you're drinking in half and double the amount of food, because people always seem to run out of food and they have way too much to drink. That's what I found. And then the rule for appetizers is everybody eats two and a half.

Janet 27:11

Yep Two and a half.

Alekka 27:12

Three options, little bites, little bites for calculating the amount of food you're going to cook.

Janet 27:18

And the more appetizers you have, less than that, because they're not going to have one of each. Exactly, if you have 30 people, you're not going to have 30 tartlets.

Alekka 27:25

Right.

Janet 27:26

Maybe. Yeah, kind of spread it around. I like these tips. I have one for you. Go for it. So if you are low on oven space and you want to keep things that are hot, you want to keep them warm, you take a cooler, regular cooler that you would usually put, you know, pop and water and beer in. Okay, get really hot tap water and pour it in the bottom of the cooler, close the lid for five minutes, use the little spigot on the bottom, remove that. You now have a warmer. The entire cooler stays warm.

Janet 27:54

So you can put those food items that are already hot, take them out of your oven, put them right in the cooler. Now what I would do is maybe I would put a box, or something like that, on the bottom, because you don't want to maybe melt anything if it's too, too hot.

Doug 28:06

And if you fill it up with stuff, it's really going to maintain that temperature.

Janet 28:08

It is the residual heat from all the items in there will kind of act like a thermos but it's a huge space and out of the oven.

Doug 28:15

That's brilliant. I don't have a second oven. I am going to do that someday.

Alekka 28:20

Oh, here's my tip Don't use blue yarn to truss your turkey. I ran out of butcher twine one year, no way.

Janet 28:29

And guess what happened? There were like blue marks all over it oh you poor things.

Doug 28:34

You only do that once. Kitchen twine all the way yeah.

Alekka 28:37

Oh my gosh.

Doug 28:39

Is there anything else that you guys would like to share with the listeners that we didn't hit today?

Janet 28:43

I have an amazing breakfast for if you have guests at your house and you want to feed an army and you don't want to be slaving over the stove.

Doug 28:49

Well, you're leading me to my next question. I was wondering if you guys had a recipe to share. So I love this, because we're always thinking about the meal but we're not thinking about people that might be coming in from out of town and staying over. So this is a breakfast dish.

Janet 29:03

So what I call it is a breakfast bake and it leaves it very open to what ingredients you want to add to it. So the basis of it is bread, eggs, either heavy cream and milk, whatever meat you want or no meat, whatever veggies you want or no veggies, and then whatever cheese you want. So I've done cubed up either focaccia or sourdough or I mean something that might be going bad. You can use this. You put it in a nine by 13 pan. Just use enough to fill the bottom with the bread.

Janet 29:32

You use literally six eggs, that's all you need, and then add your heavy cream or your milk, and I usually will do either ham or breakfast sausage or, if I have some bacon leftover, I'll sprinkle that on, put some cheese on top and then you just put it in the oven, 375 for about, I would say, half an hour to 40 minutes. You just want to make sure that the center of it, the eggs, are set and then you can just set it out. People take a little slice when they want to and it's hands-off. It's wonderful.

Doug 29:59

Oh, here's what I like about this too. If they came in for a different meal and you had leftover bread, or you had a leftover veggie that would work, or ham, here's a way to get rid of that stuff and reinvent it into something completely new.

Janet 30:10

Exactly. We call it cross-utilization, don't we In the kitchen.

Alekka 30:20

No, I'm such a nerd. I'm sorry it's using an ingredient in a lot of different ways. I'm speaking your language.

Doug 30:24

Janet, I have one Go for it Alekka.

Alekka 30:25

Mine's kind of like a savory monkey bread. Oh, I like that Because you know people I do. I buy sometimes those biscuits in the can and make a monkey bread, but this one.

Doug 30:38

Really quick. Alekka. If folks aren't familiar with monkey bread, in our group we called it bubble bread, and this is just sticking little dough balls all together, usually in a bundt pan right.

Alekka 30:47

Yes, okay, so mine is a savory version using your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Janet 30:52

Oh, I like that.

Alekka 30:53

So you're going to take the biscuit and then I put it in again, some if you have any leftover salad dressing, or just like olive oil, some herbs. That would be the first layer and on top of that you would do cut up little turkey and then more of the biscuits, and then a layer of cranberry, more of the biscuit. So you're like layering the biscuits with your Thanksgiving leftovers, and again you're just using the biscuit dough that you pop open out of the biscuit. So you're like layering the biscuits with your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Doug 31:18

And again you're just using the biscuit dough that you pop open out of the tube and you cut those biscuits into like what fours? Or something, and are you dipping them in butter as well, or are they just good on their own?

Alekka 31:29

You want to dip them in some type of butter, especially to get it out of the pan too.

Doug 31:35

That sounds delicious and people are just snacking at it.

Alekka 31:37

Yes, or you can cut it like a slice of pie or cake to see all those layers. What do you call this? Monkey bread? I'm just going to make it up right now Thanksgiving monkey bread.

Doug 31:49

Oh, there you go, there you go, we're inviting the monkey to Thanksgiving. Well, thank you both so much. I think you've given our listeners great advice, some new things that I've never heard of before. I cannot wait to use my cooler as a warmer.

Alekka 32:05

I know that was brilliant, Janet.

Janet 32:08

I wish I remember where I saw that. It was years ago. I like to give people credit where credit's due, but I can't remember where I saw it.

Alekka 32:12

But yeah, it works well really well, yeah, because we were usually running to our neighbor's house like, do you have space in your oven?

Doug 32:18

Oh my goodness, this is why you are Chef Life Hacks.

Alekka 32:20

I know.

Doug 32:22

And with that let's go ahead and do a little bit of a plug. Sign off. We'll start with you, janet, can you give everyone where they can find you and follow you, if they aren't following you already?

Janet 32:32

Sure, so mainly I'm on Instagram and TikTok, a little bit on Facebook, but on every platform it's Chef Life Hacks and there are dots in between. But if you just put Chef Life Hacks, it'll work well too. I don't have a website at this point. I actually dove into that and realized I can kind of pass along some cost savings to my clients if I don't have a website at this point, but it is in the future. So that is my main point of contact. If you would just find me on one of those social media platforms, if you want me to do any cooking classes or catering with you or provide meals for you for the week, just let me know.

Doug 33:04

Wonderful. So, Alekka, let's turn to you as well. If folks want to find and follow you, and if they want to find out more about that new kitchen space, where can they find you?

Alekka 33:20

So the information for the kitchen space is Hilltop Shared Kitchen at gmail. com. All right, If you want to find me, I am Chef Alekka PGH on the gram the Instagram the Instagram on my website is Chef Alekka. com.

Doug 33:33

All right.

Alekka 33:34

And I will be either shopping or cooking or calling Janet for help for the next three months. I know.

Doug 33:42

You guys get busy.

Alekka 33:43

Or teaching.

Doug 33:44

Aw Well, thank you both so much for coming back on the show and sharing all of your knowledge we appreciate it so much.

Janet 33:50

You're awesome. Thank you for having us, my pleasure.

Reliable Wine Picks for a Holiday Meal

Doug 33:52

All right, thanks, ladies. If you want to revisit the full deep dive interviews with both Janet and Alekka, you can check out Janet on episode eight and Alekka on episode 17. Up next, wondering what bottle goes with your next big meal, we sit down with wine expert Catherine Montest of Your Fairy Wine Mother to get a little guidance from her. Catherine, we're getting into the holiday season and Thanksgiving is coming up. I have to be honest, my family, we don't do a lot of wine with dinner, but I'm sure a lot of people do, and so I'm wondering what wines are you pulling out of the cupboard or out of the chill chest for Thanksgiving.

Catherine 34:34

Thanks for asking, Doug. Pittsburgh is a turkey town for Thanksgiving. Thanks for asking Doug. Pittsburgh is a turkey town for Thanksgiving. Yes, and the number one wine to pair with turkey is Pinot Noir. Yeah for red wine, Pinot Noir with turkey. It's a total no-brainer. The wine has nice, bright acidity and it's really versatile on the table. It makes it a great choice, not just with the turkey, but for all of those side dishes that we love so much at Thanksgiving time.

Doug 35:02

I do want to just interject here. We're talking Pinot Noir is a red wine, Correct. Turkey is poultry. And sometimes in the past we've sometimes heard that old rule that like reds go with meats but whites go with lighter meats. Are we just throwing that out the window nowadays? Yes, Okay.

Catherine 35:19

Those are guidelines and not necessarily rules. And even if they were rules, rules are made to be broken. Of course, the Pinot Noir I'm really partial to right now is from Ponzi Vineyards and the nose on it has a really nice warm raspberry jam, a little touch of chili pepper and maybe even some notes of gun smoke and red clay. It's just the mouth feeling is as long it has dark tannins, cola, maybe a touch of white pepper, and you might even get a whiff of a little anise flavor in the finish on the wine.

Doug 35:55

All of these things are reminding me of sort of perfect autumnal notes for any meal that we're having in the chillier months.

Catherine 36:04

Absolutely yeah. Pinot Noir is super versatile and it's a great pairing with turkey. And good thing, the Ponzi Vineyard Pinot Noir. It's available at over a hundred of the fine wine and good spirit stores here in Pennsylvania. Okay, so easily accessible, widely available here in PA.

Doug 36:21

So, Catherine, if we're getting a little past the Thanksgiving season and now people are thinking about Christmas and that sort of end of year. I know a lot of families do Feast of the Seven Fishes. Is there something you like to pull out for that?

Catherine 36:34

Great question, Doug. Champagne.

Doug 36:37

Wow, you know what, Catherine? You grab champagne more often than I ever thought you would.

Catherine 36:43

Well, there's a good reason for that, Doug. Champagne is absolutely the most versatile wine for pairing with food bar none. I did not know that. It's very well documented and it has never disappointed me, except for pairing it with red meat. They're not friends, okay, so don't put them at the table together. No, champagne and red meat not friends.

Doug 37:06

But most of our poultry and some seafood. So if we're doing Feast of Seven Fishes, champagne would maybe be a good option.

Catherine 37:12

Champagne is going to take you all the way from your clams and oysters and scallops right through to your lobster, crab and flounder and sole.

Janet 37:22

I love this.

Catherine 37:24

And because it's a special occasion, just please splurge and get champagne Like the real French defined champagne Real French champagne.

Catherine 37:34

But I've got a little caveat. French champagne, but I've got a little caveat. What I want you to do there, instead of looking for those big, bold brand names that everybody's aware of and who, by the way, spend a lot of their income on advertising so that their names are top of mind for you, avoid those guys. Look for smaller champagne houses. You may not have heard of them before, you may not see them advertised. You probably won't see them advertised.

Doug 38:02

I don't think I know what a small champagne house is.

Catherine 38:05

Well, it doesn't have one of the big names on it.

Doug 38:08

Can you just give me really quickly like two or three of the big names, Because I don't know those either.

Catherine 38:13

Well, Moet Chandon, oh yes, Clicquot, Bollinger, these are all the big guys.

Doug 38:19

Those are big, big guys there. Okay, so we don't have to go in that direction, not at all. Go for like a smaller operation.

Catherine 38:25

A smaller operation and the reason that I'm recommending a smaller operation is to college champagne. It has to be grown in the champagne region in France. Right, we've talked about this before. It's got to be specific grapes. The winemaking method has to be exactly the winemaking method authorized by Champagne. France has got a lot of rules around putting Champagne on the label, so you can be assured that if it's made its way all the way to our shelves here, it's really good quality If it still has that word champagne on it, exactly.

Catherine 39:02

And you can get some pretty good choices for right around $50.

Doug 39:06

So your recommendation look for the bottles that have the word champagne, but also look for the price range that works for you with that label champagne.

Catherine 39:14

Absolutely Okay.

Doug 39:16

Catherine, thanks so much my pleasure. Doug. You can find out more about Catherine on her website, www. yourfairywinemother. com. That's our holiday show. We want to thank all of our guests and contributors, and to Kevin Solecki of Carnegie Accordion Company for providing the music to our show. Happy holidays, everyone. We'll be back in a couple of weeks with another fresh episode. Stay tuned.