Meathead - Thanksgiving Special 2025 Afterhours
The primary focus of our discourse centers upon the essential considerations and traditional practices associated with Thanksgiving preparations, as articulated by our distinguished guest, Meathead from AmazingRibs.com. We delve into a variety of topics, including the nuances of selecting an appropriately sized turkey—an aspect often overlooked by many—and the indispensable practice of utilizing a meat thermometer to ensure optimal cooking results. Additionally, we explore the significance of preserving culinary traditions, which enhance the communal experience of the holiday. Our conversation also encompasses the importance of effective meal planning, allowing for a seamless and enjoyable dining experience. Through this episode, we aim to impart valuable insights and techniques that can elevate your Thanksgiving gathering to an extraordinary occasion.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- AmazingRibs.com
- Galloping Gourmet Graham Kerr
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT and Leanne After Hours, the conversation that continued after the show was done.
Speaker A:Hey, everybody.
Speaker A:Welcome to After Hours here on the Nation.
Speaker A:That's Barbecue Nation.
Speaker A:I'm JT.
Speaker A:Today we've got Meathead Goldwyn from AmazingRibs.com or as he likes to go by, Meathead from AmazingRibs.com and of course, Leanne is with us today, freshly back from the Middle east, doing a lot of cooking and some diplomatic work over there showing people that.
Speaker A:Did you, did you do a lot of beef while you were there or did you do beef and pork?
Speaker A:I'm curious.
Speaker B:Pork.
Speaker C:Pork, no.
Speaker A:Pork, yes.
Speaker A:I didn't think so.
Speaker C:So I actually did.
Speaker C:For my demos, I did do a spatchcock turkey brined and smoked, and I did rack of lamb and I did leg of lamb.
Speaker C:So we were told to stay away from pork products.
Speaker C:And of course, Myron did brisket.
Speaker C:Go figure.
Speaker C:And Tuffy did.
Speaker C:He did poultry.
Speaker C:And I forget what the other thing was, but yeah, pork is not.
Speaker C:You have to have a special license to actually serve pork in the restaurants there.
Speaker C:So I thought that was interesting information.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:So we just didn't go there.
Speaker B:I don't do demos anymore.
Speaker B:I'm asked to speak at events and of course, on a book tour.
Speaker B:I do a lot of.
Speaker B:I do a presentation.
Speaker B:I just share information and techniques and facts.
Speaker B:I've gotten to the point where I think demos just are.
Speaker B:They're distracting to me.
Speaker B:I'm too busy cooking to really communicate.
Speaker B:And they're all over YouTube, they're all over all the social media.
Speaker B:And people want to demo, they can get it elsewhere.
Speaker B:And, you know, if you're watching it on YouTube, you can replay it and freeze frame and everything.
Speaker B:So I don't do demos anymore.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:I do a slideshow.
Speaker B:I show lots of pictures.
Speaker C:Well, we did more of like a hands on masterclass.
Speaker C:So even though we had, you know, the stage, everybody had their own personal grill to cook on.
Speaker C:So we were talking about, you know, how to manage your fire.
Speaker C:So it was actually hands on with people prepping, dry, rubbing their meats and actually putting their meat on the grills and cooking it.
Speaker C:So it wasn't necessarily an in front demo.
Speaker C:It was more of a classroom type.
Speaker A:So I guess the big question is, Leanne, did they have M and M peanuts for you?
Speaker C:No, they did not.
Speaker C:You can get them there.
Speaker A:You should put it in your contract.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:Okay, a couple of quick questions here for after hours.
Speaker A:This is start with Meathead couple of oddball Ones, as usual.
Speaker A:But when you get in the car, what is the first song you'd like to hear on the radio?
Speaker B:Oh, well, that's a tough one.
Speaker B:By Thanksgiving, I'm already getting tired of the Christmas music.
Speaker B:I, I, you know, Wynton Marsalis and George Winston and a few others have some lovely musical stuff.
Speaker B:Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Speaker B:I'm not a big Christmas music fan, Leanne.
Speaker C:I thought you were talking about songs in general, so I was going to say the danger zone, but, yeah, whatever you want.
Speaker C:Yeah, that, that gets you going and gets you writing.
Speaker C:So no Christmas music to speak of.
Speaker C:I thought it was funny when I was in Abu Dhabi in Dubai, that that is where I heard my first Christmas song this year.
Speaker C:I thought it was strange to be there and hear the first Christmas song.
Speaker A:As long as nobody ever answers Mariah Carey, All I Want for Christmas, right, then I'm good with everybody's answer.
Speaker B:I'm fond of the one song that I like that they tried to ban is the Baby, It's Cold Outside Ye as the duet.
Speaker B:They have, they have.
Speaker B:Somebody has interpreted that to be.
Speaker B:It's a seduction, but they, they, they, they take it to mean that it's a, a violation.
Speaker B:I, I don't get that.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think that's part of the woke stuff that fell off.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:You know, especially when Dina Martin, and they dubbed her in, singing with her dad, Dean Martin, that song, it was a beautiful rendition of that song.
Speaker B:No, I can see, I can see where this is going.
Speaker B:No, I didn't, I've never heard that.
Speaker A:Oh, no, but it's, it's a good, it's good.
Speaker A:And people lost their minds over it.
Speaker A:Anyway.
Speaker A:What's your favorite color?
Speaker A:Lifesaver.
Speaker A:Meathead.
Speaker B:God, I haven't had Lifesavers in a long time.
Speaker B:Just a block and a half from my house, a candy shop has opened, and they're chocolatiers.
Speaker B:They make beautiful chocolates there.
Speaker B:But they carry all the candies from my youth.
Speaker B:And I was in there recently, and I got Chuckles.
Speaker B:You remember?
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:I haven't had those in 40 years or more.
Speaker B:I can't remember last time I had Lifesaver.
Speaker B:I think cherry might be my favorite, but I got Chuckles.
Speaker B:Oh, boy.
Speaker A:I love those things, Leanne.
Speaker C:Well, I know it doesn't come in the roll, but I like the butterscotch ones.
Speaker C:But.
Speaker C:Yeah, but out of the traditional roll, Cherry.
Speaker A:I'm a, I'm the green one.
Speaker A:I like green.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And I like cherry.
Speaker C:We could be friends and we could share a roll like this.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Because the green ones are the last ones.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can do that.
Speaker A:I don't like the kind of opaque white.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:I. I don't know if that's coconut or what the hell it is, but those are my least favorites.
Speaker A:But a lot of.
Speaker A:I'll eat the green and red ones together.
Speaker B:I'm fond of Werther's originals.
Speaker B:They're not lifesavers, but they're suckers and they're butterscotchy.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I'm in with butterscotch or caramels or anything like that.
Speaker A:That's true.
Speaker A:So here, meathead, this is going to make you think a little bit.
Speaker A:If I gave you a box.
Speaker A:Now, Leanne has already answered this question once or twice, so this is all on you.
Speaker A:If I gave you a box with everything you'd lost in your life, what would be the first thing you reach for?
Speaker B:Oh, well, first of all, it better be a big box, because there's gonna be a lot of socks in there.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:I do.
Speaker B:I do all my own laundry.
Speaker B:I'm not allowed to touch my wife's clothes, but she doesn't do mine.
Speaker B:So, you know, these socks, what's the first thing I reach for that I've lost in there?
Speaker B:Gosh.
Speaker B:Now I've all of a sudden just tripped on regrets.
Speaker B:You know, my.
Speaker B:It's not going to be in the box, but it's a regret.
Speaker B:I have no musical talent.
Speaker B:I took violin and piano for a little while when I was young, and I gave them up for sports, and I played a lot of sports, and I wish I had musical talent.
Speaker B:I wish I could play the piano or the violin or something.
Speaker B:So what would be lost would be musical talent.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And I think, Leanne, you were going to reach for a watch or a cross or something.
Speaker C:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:My dad's watch.
Speaker C:When we were getting out of the.
Speaker C:We had a Chris Craft on our lake, where we grew up, and we were at the docks, and my dad hand me his prized Mickey Mouse watch that he would actually wear in the cockpit, which, as a joke, but he wore it, and he handed it to me and said, take care of this, and there it went right in the water.
Speaker C:And they even took, like, a metal detector thing.
Speaker C:They sunk down there to get it, and we never got that watch.
Speaker C:So I would like to have his watch back.
Speaker B:Oh, I bet that haunts you to this day.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker C:It does.
Speaker B:I think about it because I know how close you were to your dad.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:As you know, I knew your dad peripherally.
Speaker B:We were not intimate, but the very first competition I judged, he was the table captain.
Speaker B:And, yeah, he taught me a few things.
Speaker B:And we.
Speaker B:We dined together, and he was a very cool guy.
Speaker B:And he's the guy that invented pig powder.
Speaker C:That's correct.
Speaker C:It is his.
Speaker B:So that.
Speaker B:That must.
Speaker B:That must hurt.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:What's something that you think that.
Speaker A:And I'm talking about what's on the table.
Speaker A:I'm not talking philosophically now, but what's on the table?
Speaker A:What's something that people tend to overlook for Thanksgiving dinner?
Speaker C:Tend to overlook it, like, forget to.
Speaker A:Put on the dinner.
Speaker A:They just don't.
Speaker A:They don't even consider it.
Speaker A:And maybe it was a tradition a long time ago, or maybe it's something that got lost in the.
Speaker A:In the family lineage.
Speaker B:Well, it's not on the table.
Speaker B:That's because it's lost.
Speaker B:But mincemeat pie used to be tradition.
Speaker B:And goose, Christmas.
Speaker B:Goose, mincemeat pie.
Speaker B:Some of those old traditional dishes from the dickens days, they don't show up on the table anymore.
Speaker B:But I like mincemeat pie.
Speaker C:I would say fine china because, you know, I used to break out the fine china for my, you know, traditional holiday meals.
Speaker C:And I. I just know my daughter doesn't have a set.
Speaker C:I've offered her a set, doesn't want it.
Speaker C:They, you know, it's like Crate and Barrel this, that, and the other.
Speaker C:But I miss the fine china and the sterling silver and the crystal glasses.
Speaker A:I'm with you.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:My mom had this rather large set of china, and my daughter has it now.
Speaker A:But that was the deal.
Speaker A:Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you break it out.
Speaker A:You break it out.
Speaker A:It had its own settings.
Speaker A:We had little place cards that said, uncle Bob sits here.
Speaker A:My father sat here.
Speaker A:My mother sat at this end of the table, whatever, you know, like that.
Speaker A:And they were gold and pearls, and it was really a.
Speaker A:If you allow me this.
Speaker A:It was a classy look to the table.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:And not just your every day stuff off the shelf, like I said.
Speaker B:And it said very loudly but subliminally, this is a special meal.
Speaker C:Yeah, Right.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And everything had to be hand washed at the end of it.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker C:Everybody knew is the word.
Speaker C:It was worth it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:Now, if anybody out there needs some china, we bought a set.
Speaker B:Or we were given a set when we were first married, 51 years ago.
Speaker B:And when her mom died, we got hers.
Speaker B:And when Aunt Ruth died, we got hers.
Speaker B:When my mom died, we got hers.
Speaker B:So we're swimming in China down here if anybody needs them.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Meatheads China shop right there on the corner.
Speaker A:Yeah, I, I think that's true, Leanne.
Speaker A:And I think the.
Speaker A:We had special water glasses, like you said, crystal like that.
Speaker A:We had salad plates, we had bread plates.
Speaker C:The whole table was full of stuff.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And we had butter plates that match the china, you know, like that.
Speaker A:And we would put at least two butter plates on the main table.
Speaker B:You know, you mentioned butter plates, and that just brought to mind something we didn't get to talk about in the earlier segment, and that is biscuits.
Speaker B:I, you know, I know there's mashed potatoes and yams and all that stuff, but biscuits, you got to have biscuits slathered in butter.
Speaker A:Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:And that was the time, too, to always break out.
Speaker A:Of course, my mom canned a lot of stuff, Right.
Speaker A:So we would have homemade BlackBerry jam or strawberry jam or, you know, some raspberry, whatever, because she made all types.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And we didn't, you know, go to the dollar store and just buy something that they had there.
Speaker A:This stuff actually had real flavor.
Speaker A:It was always very sweet, very tasty, but you could taste the fruit in it also.
Speaker A:I miss those things.
Speaker B:Oregon has the best blackberries.
Speaker B:I've.
Speaker B:My first visit to Oregon, I was in the wine business at the time, and I was visiting wineries back in the day when Oregon was not known to be a wine producing region.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:There are only maybe three or four wineries over there out there.
Speaker B:David Lett and a few of the others.
Speaker B:And I knew David.
Speaker B:And I was out walking through the vineyards with one winemaker, and there was a BlackBerry patch, and they're wild blackberries.
Speaker B:And I asked if I could have some, and he said, sure, go ahead.
Speaker B:And I wandered back in there.
Speaker B:I must have been back in there for a half hour.
Speaker B:I just stuffed my face to my hands and my lips were black.
Speaker B:And they are so I can taste them right now.
Speaker B:They were the best.
Speaker C:They were my favorites.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker A:My favorite is Black Caps, which is a black raspberry.
Speaker B:Ooh.
Speaker A:And Black Caps, for those of you who don't know, this was where they got the dye for blue jeans.
Speaker A:Huh?
Speaker B:No.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And they don't grow them much anymore because everything's chemically made and all that.
Speaker A:But Black caps, I have a couple of black cap plants, and they're wonderful.
Speaker A:I love raspberries, too.
Speaker A:I love strawberries.
Speaker A:I, you know, all that stuff.
Speaker A:But Black Caps is.
Speaker A:If you ever see a jar, you can find it on Amazon.
Speaker A:There's a place I get it on Amazon.
Speaker A:It's from the Amish, but it's a black raspberry jam or jelly and it's really, really, really good.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:Those are the things I kind of think we overlook sometimes.
Speaker A:I do get a.
Speaker A:At least one or I get a jar, if you will, for the table.
Speaker A:We don't put it in the jar on the table and I get a Jeff jar that stays in the back of the fridge of the.
Speaker C:The black cap next to your pecan pie.
Speaker C:Next to the turkey legs next to.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:Next to your M M's.
Speaker B:That goes on the sandwich on Friday.
Speaker A:Yeah, it does.
Speaker A:It does like that.
Speaker A:So I think I'm with you, meathead.
Speaker A:That I think.
Speaker A:I love traditions.
Speaker A:My friend Lyle and I, as I call him Mongo, we have a tradition.
Speaker A:The weekend before Thanksgiving we go shopping together.
Speaker A:We do all the food shopping.
Speaker A:Mongo and I do.
Speaker A:He likes to do it because he likes to contribute to the meal so he pays for part of it and all that.
Speaker A:But I love.
Speaker A:Sometimes they're silly like that.
Speaker A:But we have a lot of fun shopping.
Speaker A:The gals in Safeway and Walmart and Fred Meyers aren't always happy to see us when we come in the store, but we have a great time and I'm big on traditions.
Speaker A:Comments?
Speaker A:Not particularly about our shopping.
Speaker B:Not much to comment on.
Speaker B:That's pretty much been the theme of our conversation today is what the traditions we love.
Speaker B:Because this is, you know, I waxed poetically earlier about this being a food holiday and a family holiday and all across the yada, yada, yada.
Speaker B:But it's traditional and that's a big part of it.
Speaker B:It's, it's a connection with the past.
Speaker B:Not just across the country that we're all eating the same meal, but over the years.
Speaker B:I mean, my parents did and their parents did.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Okay, last thing here.
Speaker A:Two items, two tips, if you will, that you want people who are listening to the show to walk away with when preparing their Thanksgiving meal.
Speaker A:We'll start with Meathead.
Speaker B:Use a thermometer on your turkey.
Speaker A:Get rid of the little pop up job.
Speaker B:Yeah, get rid of the pop up.
Speaker B:It doesn't work.
Speaker B:It's inaccurate.
Speaker B:Use your thermometer.
Speaker B:I think 170 for the legs is my favorite temperature.
Speaker B:160 for the breasts.
Speaker B:USDA says 165, but if you take them off at 160, they'll go up to 165.
Speaker B:And there's a big difference between the two temperatures.
Speaker B:And texture.
Speaker B:And the other one is, is, please.
Speaker B:We talked about this earlier in my technique for the gravy.
Speaker B:It's just, it takes it over the top.
Speaker B:Everybody, millions of people have been using this recipe off of my website for years.
Speaker B:Truly millions.
Speaker B:I mean, that page is.
Speaker B:That webpage gets a lot of traffic, and I get a lot of email from people saying, I did your gravy, and it's unbelievable.
Speaker B:Makes all the difference.
Speaker B:Try it.
Speaker A:Very good, Leanne.
Speaker C:Buy the right size turkey.
Speaker C:So a lot of people think that a 12 pound turkey is going to feed, you know, 25 people because it looks like a big turkey, but there's some shrinkage there and a lot of bone involved.
Speaker C:So make sure you do your homework on getting the right size turkey.
Speaker C:And we talked about make sure you buy it early enough so it thaws out on time.
Speaker C:And another thing that helps me is when I'm cooking a big meal is whether it be mashed potatoes.
Speaker C:I'll do a sweet potato casserole, green beans.
Speaker C:I try to make all those sides while the turkey's in the oven and put them already in, like a casserole dish, the serving dish itself.
Speaker C:And then I just pop it in the microwave to give it a little blast of heat before it hits the table.
Speaker C:And then I will do my pans and clean up that, you know, ahead of time.
Speaker C:So I'm not dealing with that at the end of the dinner.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:I do the same thing.
Speaker A:I do, like I told you how I do my.
Speaker A:My yams, half and half and all that.
Speaker A:They're in a 9 by 13 or whatever baking dish.
Speaker A:They're ready to go.
Speaker A:They just need to be warmed up a little bit.
Speaker A:Same thing.
Speaker A:And we have a procession here as Meathead was talking about with the pies.
Speaker A:Once we get to this point, there's people have different job assignments, and I let my friend Ron carve the turkey.
Speaker A:He's a restaurateur, retired, but he loves to do that.
Speaker A:I got no problem with that.
Speaker A:Cut up the turkey, present it.
Speaker C:You know, make sure your carving knife is nice and sharp.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker B:Yeah, good point.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Okay, we're gonna get out of here.
Speaker A:Go ahead.
Speaker B:Leanne said something that got me tripped.
Speaker B:A couple of brain cells.
Speaker B:Buy the right size turkey.
Speaker B:No, buy a bigger one than you think is the right size because you.
Speaker C:Want to send home leftovers.
Speaker B:Leftovers.
Speaker B:That's half the battle is get and have a roll of tinfoil on hand because you want to slice up the turkey and the drumsticks and send it home.
Speaker B:With your guests.
Speaker C:Well, Jeff goes out and buys Tupperware.
Speaker C:Go to the dollar Tree and buy.
Speaker B:That's right.
Speaker A:I remember him.
Speaker C:Tupperware.
Speaker C:And then he's got those to throw all the food into for takeaway.
Speaker A:Yep, I do.
Speaker B:That is clever.
Speaker A:Best $10 you ever spent.
Speaker A:Trust me.
Speaker B:Yeah, that's really clever, Jeff.
Speaker A:Anyway, thank you, Meathead.
Speaker A:I hope you and Lou have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Speaker B:We will.
Speaker A:And Leanne, I hope you and the family and John and everybody has a great Thanksgiving.
Speaker A:We're gonna have a good one.
Speaker A:And for everybody listening, bless you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.
Speaker A:Meathead will be back to do a Christmas show with us in a couple weeks, so don't miss that.
Speaker A:And we've got Gallopy Gourmet Graham Kerr coming up to tell us Christmas stories in that in a couple of weeks.
Speaker A:So until then, go out, have some fun, have some great food at Thanksgiving.
Speaker A:Be kind.
Speaker A:Take care, everybody.
Speaker C:Bye.
Speaker B:Bye, everyone.
Speaker C:Bye.
