(upbeat jazz)
- Hey everybody, it is Jesse from the Tasty team
and today I am going to be making four famous
celebrity turkey recipes to see
which one is actually the best.
On today's line up we got recipes
from Guy Fieri, Alton Brown, Martha Stewart,
and Ayesha Curry.
We measured out all of the ingredients,
read the recipes completely to make sure everything is fair
and I got three of my friends
to taste them in a blind taste test.
So, which celebrity has the best turkey recipe?
Let's find out!
(upbeat jazz)
- [Jesse] First up is Guy Fieri.
He starts by making a brine for his turkey
by combining water, salt, bay leaves, garlic,
black peppercorns, red pepper flakes,
and agave to sweeten it.
Stir that all up so the agave is nice and combined
and pop it on the heat.
You want the salt to be completely dissolved.
Once heated, we're going to add a bit more water
to cool it down super fast
and we're going to take it off the heat.
Pop your turkey right in the brine
and Guy Fieri's brine didn't quite make enough to cover it
so we made a few more batches just to keep things fair.
Poured it over.
if it starts floating up, weigh it down
with a plate and pop in the fridge.
The next day, heat some oil in a pan
and you're going to add diced peppers, add garlic,
cilantro and green onions, and cook it just until wilted.
Add ground cumin.
Season up with a bit of salt and black pepper,
and add lime zest as well as lime juice.
Then, at the very end, we're going to deglaze
with tequila, cause this is Guy Fieri after all.
Take it off the heat.
Transfer it to a plate and spread it nice and thin
to cool it off super fast.
Bring back your turkey you brined, dry it off,
and season it with salt and pepper.
Prop the turkey up in a bowl just to make things easier,
and use your hand to get underneath the skin.
Make sure you don't rip it.
So go nice and slow.
Stuff it with that green mixture you just made.
Try and get it as even as possible.
Bring in a roasting tray.
Put the turkey right on it.
And stuff it with onions, limes, and some more cilantro.
Tie the legs together, just so it roasts nice and even.
Tuck those wings under, and roast it.
There you have it!
Guy Fieri's Mean Green Turkey Machine.
- Very interesting.
It's immediately has a super dark skin,
which makes it seem like it'll taste really good.
But I don't know what the green stuff
is kind of around the edges.
- I'm going to have some of this skin
because hi that's where the best part is.
- I'm actually pleasantly surprised with that.
That's delicious.
- Super juicy for white meat.
- This is pretty good.
Mmm.
It is the white part so, it's a little bit drier, but.
- It's definitely not what I would consider
like a regular turkey,
but the winner is definitely the skin.
The skin is very tasty.
- It's just enough.
There's not an overwhelming amount of seasoning,
of crazy flavors, it's just
like let's bring the best out of this turkey.
It already died for us, might as well celebrate it
cookin' it right.
I like it.
- [Jesse] Next up is Alton Brown.
Just like Guy he starts with a brine,
this time using veg stock and a lot of veg stock this time.
To that, you're going to add salt, black pepper,
allspice, candied ginger, and brown sugar.
Mix that up and pop it on the heat so it all dissolves.
Take it off, and to this you're going
to add some ice water.
Take your turkey and put it right in.
And weigh it down with a plate if it starts to float up.
This one made enough brine, so in the fridge it goes.
The next day, combine apples, onions, a cinnamon stick,
and some water in a glass bowl and pop it in the microwave.
Once that's steamy, bring in your turkey,
some aromatics, some oil.
If there's plastic bits, just remove those from the cavity.
And stuff the cavity with those aromatics.
Add fresh herbs, he uses rosemary and sage,
and coat the whole thing in oil.
This will help it brown.
Tuck those wings under, ties the legs,
and into the oven it goes.
There you have it, Alton Brown's Golden Turkey.
- Thank you, you're so kind!
- It looks super traditional.
- I like the color of the skin.
- Turkey!
- I gotta say, just from the eye,
the breast is looking a little dry.
- This is like my mom made this.
There's nothing to it.
I'm sorry mom!
You know your cooking skills kind of suck!
- It tastes like, very 50's, southern,
everybody's eating around the table.
- Not my favorite flavor, right off the bat.
- You know, some just like threw the turkey in the oven
and hoped for the best.
- This white meat is definitely drier.
- Very dry!
- I've come to appreciate the simplicity
of this in the juicier part.
- Very, how we say, conservatively seasoned.
- I already think this one has a little bit
more flavor than the last one,
just because I know it's, like, trying to be
a turkey and not trying to be something else.
- [Jesse] Up next is Martha Stewart.
She starts by combining white wine
and a ton of melted butter in a large bowl.
Mix that up and take a large, square, piece of cheese cloth
and soak it in this buttery mixture.
Push that to the side, and bring in your turkey.
Season the turkey, inside and out,
with salt and black pepper.
This turkey has a little rip in the skin,
so don't fault Martha on that.
Take some butter and rub it over the whole entire thing.
Season it once more with salt and pepper.
Tie the legs together so it roasts nice and even.
And bring back that buttery cheese cloth.
We're going to drape this right over it.
This is Martha's hack for making
this skin nice and crispy and brown.
Make sure it's all over and pop it in the oven.
There you have it, Martha Stewart's Classic Turkey.
- Yum!
- Alright, holy!
- I got what looks to be some pepper flakes in the skin.
- Oh, I definitely like the skin on this one!
- What's up with that?
- The bland, little bland, little bland.
- This one's a little drier,
like, I'm struggling to chew it.
- And I'm just not getting anything out of it.
It's just nothing, nothing, okay?
- Kind of wish it was a little bit more.
- It has a lot of broth on it, or something?
- I mean, turkey breast is notoriously dry so, I don't know.
I don't want to put it on the chef!
- I feel the grease from the poor animal,
but not even salt!
- And I immediately don't really want to eat the dark meat
because it definitely looks a lot drier.
- Like come on guys, the bird deserves some salt!
- It's definitely very plain.
I'd say I'm not a fan of this one.
- [Jesse] Last, but not least, is Ayesha Curry.
She starts by making a compound butter
out of softened butter, garlic, shallots,
green onions, cloves, pepper,
thyme, allspice, and salt.
Blitz that all together, until it's a bit smooth
but still chunky.
And take it off.
Bring in a turkey.
Separate the skin from the turkey, trying not to rip it.
Put in some of that butter you just made,
and smooth it out all around.
Use the remaining butter to spread all over the turkey.
Which sounds easy, but we learned it's pretty hard.
I mean, the turkey's wet and cold
and the butter is room temperature
so this proved a bit challenging.
But, we got there with a little help.
Anyways.
Stuff the cavity with anise, limes, thyme, and garlic.
Season the whole thing with a bit of salt.
Tie the legs together so it roasts even.
And fill the roasting pan with broth and soy sauce.
Pop in the oven, and that's it.
Ayesha Curry's Jerk Turkey.
- Alright, last one.
- This one looks good.
This looks like a classic turkey.
- Ooh this already smells different.
- This one looks promising.
- Garlicy, ooh, okay.
- Ooh!
Got a little surprise under the skin there!
Some color, color usually equals flavor.
- I feel like I want to eat this with like pho.
- Oh there's something sweet in here.
- Oh that's nice!
- Definitely saltier.
- Almost like a jerk chicken taste.
- Whatever you guys did with the garlic and the honey,
which may not even exist in there,
is being absorbed by the meat.
The juiciest part is just like, bathed in this.
- I've been doing it wrong the whole time!
I need gotta season mine like this!
This is nice.
- It feels like a very plain,
just slightly over salted turkey.
- Best one I've tried so far today!
- [Jesse] So who has the best turkey recipe?
Let's find out.
- My favorite is number two, because I feel like
it was an extremely classic turkey that I could do a lot
with the left overs,
I could mix it up with mashed potatoes,
and sweet potatoes, and green beans all on my
thanksgiving plate, and don't necessarily
need to eat it alone.
- Number four is absolutely my favorite
because it managed to bring some kind
of sweetness and the flavor of garlic, I think, was there
yet it was simple enough for me to enjoy the meat,
appreciate the juiciness, the softness,
the beautiful texture of this turkey meat.
It was just amazing.
It was perfection.
- Yeah, number four is definitely my favorite one
that I've tried out of all of them.
I gotta say, because, like I said, that jerky taste
that it have.
Kind of like a jerk chicken, like a Caribbean-y taste.
It was delicious and I haven't really ever
tried turkey like that before.
- [Jesse] So there you have it.
Ayesha Curry has the best turkey recipe.
Which recipes should we test next?
Let us know in the comments!
- Oh yes!
(upbeat jazz)