As you can see, we took our show on the road today,
or at least to the road, outside here,
from our studio on 57th Street in New York.
And it's time for a special
outdoor edition of Cookbook Club!
The notion that great barbecue only comes from the South
was debunked by this former bodyguard
turned pitmaster from Brooklyn.
So here to show us how to switch up our Thanksgiving spread
from the kitchen to the smoker,
the owner of Hometown Barbecue, please welcome Billy Durney.
(audience cheers)
Hi Billy. Thanks so much
for having me today.
Oh, I'm so glad that we could do this together.
I'm so excited and I'm so excited to get you
amongst our smoky little fire here.
It's pretty perfect for the holiday.
So the most successful turkey I ever made
for Thanksgiving was brined. Yes.
And that is, I think, a crucial step
in a very flavorful, juicy, amazing turkey.
And I'm really excited to demo a brine,
because sometimes when it's just words
on a page or in a book, I am a very visual person.
So that's why I even wanted to pour the water.
'Cause sometimes I'm like, how much water are you talking?
A bucket, a cup, what?
Right, so for here we're gonna use
a half a gallon or a gallon of water for one breast.
So we could just throw that in over the turkey.
Can we do that now?
Yeah, we can just throw that in right over the turkey.
So half of this?
We can put the whole gallon in.
All right, let's do it!
(audience cheers)
Yeah!
Beautiful, so it's fully submerged.
The turkey's fully submerged,
is basically what we're going for.
I'm a fully submerged turkey. (Billy laughs)
All right, so now, most brines start
really simply with salt and sugar.
So we have sugar and salt, I would-
And how much would you say?
I would say a cup, so I'd say,
yeah, another little snudge.
I dunno if snudge is a word, but today it's a word.
All right, so like a generous cup.
Generous cup, and then equal parts,
I like to put equal parts, sugar and salt.
And then we like whole peppercorn in ours.
I think the brine I did...
All of them? No, no that's good.
That's good? Yeah, about half a cup.
I think the one I did had like an anise?
Yeah, anise is good.
So a lot of people use juniper berry
and like other floral things.
But I like to keep it more savory
and herby. Yeah.
And I love garlic, tons of garlic, so we could-
Okay, the whole thing?
I would throw the whole- Yeah!
I'm not messing around. Let's do it!
Yeah! Exactly.
And then we throw the herbs in.
Throw the herbs in. I throw 'em in whole.
You can bruise 'em, so you can kinda break 'em if you want.
But we like using the whole thing,
not taking anything off the stems.
And that's it, we just...
Drew, I love you, you're getting in there,
not messing around. Well,
I wanna love the bird.
The bird is being tenderized
by Drew Barrymore, that's beautiful.
Yeah, it's a baby, I wanna love the bird.
Exactly, this will just sit, essentially, cold-
24 hours?
Even 12 hours would be enough, but 12 to 24 hours
would be plenty enough for this one breast.
And don't exceed 24 hours?
I wouldn't, because then it gets over-salted.
And then it like almost keeps
all the water in when you're cooking it.
Exactly it's the reverse.
So instead of when we cut the birds that are coming
off the smoker today, it'll be a little more chewy
and it won't have the same tenderness and moistness.
It's just like me after a lot of takeout, the next day-
(laughs) Shriveling up.
It's like you could squeeze me,
and it would still just keep coming out of all my pores.
(laughs) I love that.
So that's how the turkey looks going into the brine.
And now we can open the smoker.
Let's see what it looks like.
And then we'll see what they look like cooked, right?
And my friend calls me Epcot,
because she says I eat like I'm traveling the world.
The world, I like that.
Can I call you Epcot?
Please. Oh, thank you.
That's why I told ya.
(laughs) So we're gonna lift this guy up.
Wow.
And we're gonna pull this bad boy out.
Wow. It's really hot.
And I'm gonna put one of these turkeys on your board.
Wow. For you, and then-
Here, I'm gonna move my brine.
I'm gonna put one of these turkeys on here for me.
And now we're gonna talk about how do we cut this bad boy.
So we're gonna go...
Normally we'd start, but what I want you to see the opening.
So we'll go a little further in.
And I kinda like to use my hand as a guide,
and then kinda cut it through there, so.
Wow.
So you could see all the pink around the turkey.
So that's an indication that it was smoked on wood.
All right, so go ahead and cut.
You can cut right into it.
Yeah, it's not gonna be too hot for ya.
There you go, beautiful.
Oh my gosh.
So you see, it's super, super tender.
And then again, you have
these smoke ring we're talking about.
And then, if I just did a little squeeze,
you could see all this beautiful moisture coming.
Wow. So it's nice
and tender and moist. Wow.
And then it depends, do you like it thicker?
Do you like it thinner?
What kind of slices do you like?
You know, for like
a Thanksgiving turkey, I go a little thicker.
So like on a sandwich, I like a thinner,
but if you're gonna have like Thanksgiving turkey,
a little thicker. Good, I love it.
It smells like nothing I've ever smelled.
It's so beautiful.
I don't know if this is possible,
but like I can smell the juice.
Perfect, so I'm gonna taste a piece.
Cheers. Cheers bud.
Oh my gosh.
It's super tender, moist, not over salty,
because we didn't leave it in the brine for too long.
The texture is very, like it's not dry.
No, no. That's why
it's so delicious. It's really wet.
Really wet and moist.
I'm happy with it. That's incredible.
Thank you, bud.
I've never tasted anything like that.
I appreciate that.
I feel bad eating in front of everybody.
This is horrible.
I know, I wanna feed everybody.
Like you said you were so nurturing,
I just wanna start feeding the crew, but I-
I know I do too.
I also have to like try this cornbread.
Wait, wait, wait.
I have to help you with the cornbread, though.
We gotta put honey butter on it, Yeah.
So corn bread, honey butter,
and then just a drop of salt.
Taste that one. Which one, this?
Yeah, this guy.
I'm gonna keep cutting,
just in case anybody gets tempted here.
So Billy, today for Cookbook Club, I wanted to present you
with "The Melon" by Amy Goldman.
Amazing.
What I love about bringing you this book today,
is I think that sometimes you want a little sweetness,
or you want a little freshness,
and I love the way that melon pairs with meat.
Isn't this beautiful?
So this is from my personal collection.
And I just thought, oh, what a great pairing,
barbecue and melons, so I present you-
Well, thank you, my darling.
I actually brought you a book as well.
Two of my great friends from
the beautiful country of Canada, Montreal,
and they own the famous Joe Beef restaurant there.
This book is called "Surviving The Apocalypse".
Well, did it come out this year?
No, it did not.
And essentially what this book is all about
is how to be really amazingly indulgent,
and if there was an apocalypse, what you would make.
So for instance, deer belly, they have crispy frog legs.
I hope as 2020 gets past us,
if you ever have to survive the apocalypse.
Thank you very much, if we survive 2020, then...
Thank you so much, which we will, we absolutely will.
So thank you, thank you so much.
And Billy Durney, you are amazing.
This was such a special experience.
Definitely not something any of us are going to ever forget.
And thank you for joining us right here on 57th Street.
We'll be right back.
Thanks Drew. Thanks Billy.
Thank you so much.
(upbeat music)