-We are joined right now by a legendary chef.
He's an Emmy and James Beard Award winner
and the founder of the Jacques Pépin Foundation.
Everyone please welcome Chef Jacques Pépin!
[ Cheers and applause ]
I love you. Come on. I love you!
Welcome back to the show. I love you.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I was just wondering if you could
show me how to properly carve a turkey because I am a moron.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
-I'll show you how to carve it.
Properly? I don't know. -Okay, alright.
But let's see the way Jacques Pépin does it.
-To start with, when you roast it like this,
you remove the wishbone.
You know, that triangle here? -Oh, okay.
-It's in the way to carve, so you remove it.
See, they remove it before cooking. It's here.
And here, you've got to pull on the other side.
-Let's make a wish.
[ Audience ohs ]
Wow! What happened?
We both got our wishes came true. Yeah!
That was cool.
That's so cool. Look at this.
That just popped off equally.
Oh, my gosh. I'm saving this. Okay, cool.
-So, anyway, so here like this, you can do that.
So here, now you can cut this way directly.
And then you go right down into slice.
[ Audience oohs ]
-Now, see, this is -- I can't do this.
-Of course you can.
You're going to do the other side.
-Oh, oh, my gosh. I actually am going to do this.
-Yeah, do this side here.
Or you can do it maybe bigger.
So, you cut it this way. -Yep. Cut it that way.
Watch out, be careful, I'm not -- around me.
-Lower. -Lower?
-Yeah, that's it. -Right under the wishbone thing?
-Yes. -Go across.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah, beautiful.
-Wow, that felt good. -That's how you start slicing.
-And then slice it like this?
-Yes. Now you go -- Because now it stops right there.
-Oh, yeah.
-Whoa, you're good.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Look at this.
Whoa, look at this! -Perfect.
-Are you kidding me? I'm gonna stop here
just 'cause it looks so good. -Yeah, that's perfect.
Then we remove the dark meat, you know?
Dark meat. I use my hand. It's easier.
-Yeah. Of course, you just get right in there
and remove it with your hand.
-And you take the drumstick and you cut it in half.
And then, now we cut that in two pieces.
Make sure to use the skin because the skin is very good.
-The skin is the best. -Do you want to taste it?
-I do. I would love to taste it. Sure.
Oh, my gosh.
I love just doing anything with you.
Yeah, that was amazing.
I wanted to ask you something.
My favorite part is the next day, or maybe even later
that night when you make a turkey sandwich.
-Oh, yes. [ Cheers ]
-You know what I'm saying? -I love turkey sandwich.
-You do? I was thinking what we could do
is maybe make a sandwich and give Questlove --
You can be our taste tester. -Okay.
-And then he can say who made
the better Thanksgiving sandwich.
You want to have a competition?
-Fine. -You ready for this?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Now, before we start,
we need Quest to put on the dome of silence
so he won't know who made which --
[ Laughter ]
Alright, so, can you -- You can't see, right?
Okay, perfect. Ready to make this sandwich?
He can't hear anything either.
-I can take any bread I want?
Here, okay, here. -You're doing that bread?
-Yes. I have some stuff underneath here.
-You have a secret ingredient?
-Yeah, I have some sriracha, some hot sauce.
-Sriracha? -Yes.
-Alright. -You want some of it?
-No. -Oh, good.
[ Laughter ]
-I think I'm going stuffing all the way.
I really think stuffing is a big hit this year.
-Some mustard here. -Mustard? Okay.
Sriracha and mustard. I'm just going stuffing.
This is going to be real dry though, right?
-I have some olive oil.
-What are you doing? Oh, olive oil.
Oh, yeah, I might use some of that olive oil.
-I have some lettuce too.
-Lettuce is delicious, but, you know.
-Want some lettuce? -No.
Yeah, it looks nice, right? Yeah.
[ Laughter ]
Alright, lettuce is good.
I'll put one -- two things of lettuce on there.
Ooh, look at that.
It's actually gonna be good.
I'm going to do a little gravy on mine.
Should I put it on the bread so the breads --
kind of sops it up a little bit?
[ Laughter ]
-Can I have some gravy too?
-Yeah, I guess so. -Okay.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, you can have some gravy.
Alright, so you're putting gravy too.
How is Questlove drumming while not seeing or hearing?
[ Laughter ]
Alright. Turkey right here.
And then -- -You took the piece I wanted.
-I know I did, right? [ Laughter ]
I took the good one, right? I carved that side.
-No, no, I'm doing only the dark meat.
-I think Quest would think -- -I like the dark meat.
-What is this? What's that?
-Oh, this is the gratin that my mother used to do.
In France, we never do -- we never do sweet pumpkin.
The pumpkin is done with cream and cheese.
You want to taste it?
-Yeah, I do want to taste it, to just check it out.
Sorry.
Oh, my gosh.
-Want to put it in your sandwich?
-Yeah, that's -- I want that recipe.
The gratin. Ooh, Jacques Pépin gratin.
Here we go. [ Laughter ]
Alright, gonna put a little cranberry.
Just a little -- just a little bit.
Just enough. Just enough.
And then look at this.
[ Audience oohs ]
-Wow.
That's sugar, though.
-Oh, wait, it's not sugar, is it?
[ Laughter ]
You got me, buddy. Oh, my gosh.
Alright. Wait, that's all I'm gonna make.
I'm gonna go -- That's it. That's simple.
Is that enough? [ Cheers ]
Alright, audience seems to like --
-Here is mine. -Oh, my goodness.
If I beat Jacques Pépin at a sandwich making contest, yes!
Whoo! I'm excited.
-Can I put that -- [ Laughter ]
-No, whoa, where'd you get that?
-Right there. -Oh, I love you.
Happy Thanksgiving. -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Oh, Tariq, can you let him know?
-Take -- Take -- It's time to take the --
-Stop the song. -Oh, yeah.
Wait. Oh, yeah.
Alright. -I'm ready?
-Yeah.
-Quest. -Here, I'll take it.
-[ French accent ] We have two turkey sandwiches here.
[ Laughter ]
-Okay. -One is made by Jacques Pépin.
[ Normal voice ] Alright, so take a bite and let's see what you think.
-Alright. -Yep. Start with that one.
Okay, alright.
-Hm. -Okay.
-Turkey's great. -Yep, it is good.
Yeah, great. He said "great."
[ Laughter ]
-Someone should hold the tray for him.
-Yeah, no, this is getting good.
-He needs two hands for that one.
-Ooh, ooh.
[ Laughter ]
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
-There's a lot going on with this one.
[ Laughter ]
-Not going down. Not going down.
-Alright. I'll say this much.
Because he's a better cook than I am,
I would have probably made this sandwich.
So, this is more me,
but this one actually tastes a little better.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Wait. Who won?
-You guessed correctly. That's Jacques's.
That's mine. That's mine. That's Jacques's.
That's correct. That's exactly the right choice.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You're the champ. Jacques Pépin!
[ Cheers and applause ]
Go to jp.foundation to learn more about Jacques's
video series "Cook with Jacques and Friends."
More "Tonight Show" after the break.
Stick around, everybody.