Your Thanksgiving Cooking Questions Answered, Maintaining Tradition During An Unusual Year

Speaker 1: 00:00 Hospitalizations for COVID in San Diego, hit a record high. Speaker 2: 00:04 Well, we've seen about a doubling in the, um, the share of COVID patients in hospitals. Speaker 1: 00:09 I'm Maureen Cavenaugh with Alison st. John. This is KPBS midday edition Speaker 3: 00:24 Some Speaker 1: 00:25 On caring for your mental health. During this unusually stressful holiday season, Speaker 3: 00:30 People are experiencing the environment outside and the environment on television and in the media to be extra stressful. Speaker 1: 00:40 Had we put a new spin on a Thanksgiving tradition here on midday edition and welcome back chef Pernod for some Turkey talk, Speaker 3: 00:47 Brian, your Turkey made your cranberry sauce, baked your desserts. Get your vegetables ready. Don't forget to get the wine that's ahead. On mid day edition. Speaker 1: 01:01 Even before the Thanksgiving holiday, San Diego hospitals are reporting a record number of COVID patients being admitted. The official County number as of yesterday is 518 beds being used by COVID patients. The hospital association has the count up to 576. Although San Diego's hospital capacity is not being strained right now. And there's a better understanding of how to treat patients suffering from COVID. The concerns are growing about what may be ahead during this holiday season, Johnny muse reporter Paul Sisson, who covers healthcare for the San Diego union Tribune. Paul, welcome back. Thanks for having me. What do public health officials think this rise in hospitalization stems from, Speaker 2: 01:47 Uh, you know, a lot of, uh, masculine activity going on, uh, you know, in the last few weeks, especially right around Halloween, uh, you know, they've said that hospitalizations usually lag infection by three to three and a half weeks. So that would put us, uh, you know, if we're seeing a spike in hospitalizations now, uh, it would stand to reason that a lot of those exposures probably occurred right around Halloween. Speaker 1: 02:14 And what were daily coronavirus diagnosis numbers like three weeks ago? And what are they now? Speaker 2: 02:21 Uh, you know, we were seeing, uh, uh, you know, hospital census numbers, uh, in the, uh, you know, 200 range. We were seeing a new case totals daily in the four to 500 range. Uh, and now I think four of the last seven days have been over 1000, including a new record of more than 1500 cases in a single day coming in yesterday. Speaker 1: 02:45 Now you spoke with, uh, chief executive officer of Scripps health, Chris van Gorder. And he told you that it's fortunate that this particular increase in COVID patients is coming on a holiday week. Why is that? Speaker 2: 02:58 Yeah. You know, if you think it, none of us want to have an elective surgery or a schedule double surgery right before, uh, we, you know, celebrate a holiday. So, uh, you know, I, I hadn't really thought about it that way, but it does make sense that people, if they're able to schedule something might choose to, to schedule after the holiday, rather than just before it. So they're not, uh, convalescing, uh, right during the holiday itself. Speaker 1: 03:20 So even with the surge, the overall hospital bed capacity, hasn't really increased that much. Speaker 2: 03:26 What's interesting is they've been able to keep the total number of patients hospitalized in San Diego County under 80% of overall capacity. As we see a larger number of COVID patients. We're now seeing, I think about 12% of all hospitalizations dedicated to COVID compared to only about 6% on November 1st. So we've seen about a doubling in the, um, the share of COVID patients in hospitals, but it's still nowhere near, um, even a 50% of all hospitalized patients. We've still got a, you know, as of yesterday, more than 4,000 hospitalized patients total and only 518 were COVID that the issue is that you need to take care of everybody. It, you don't want to get into a situation where you're telling people who need surgery, that they have to stay home because you have so many COVID patients that, that you just don't have room to handle both. You want to be able to handle everybody who needs care, not just to COVID patients. That's why they're very nervous about the increasing burden of COVID as we go along, because they could eventually force them to make tough decisions about delaying done COVID care as they had to do in the spring. Speaker 1: 04:38 Now isn't there a threshold of hospital occupancy that's been set by the County and what happens if we go past it? Speaker 2: 04:46 That's right. Uh, the County has said let's reserve 20% of, of hospital capacity for COVID patients. Uh, so if we see the numbers popping up into that, uh, you know, over 80% range of, of overall occupancy, then that's when hospitals are expected to start calling some of their elective cases and delaying surgeries and other procedures to get back down, uh, under that threshold. Um, it's a little unclear to me, uh, you know, if COVID patients are making up a certain percentage of the overall pie, uh, you know, is it okay as long as, um, non COVID cases remain below that, that 80% threshold? So that's a little unclear, it's a little unclear exactly how they're going to finesse this, uh, as we go forward. And it does seem like we're going to continue to see an elevated hospitalization rate. Uh, the very good news I learned from talking to an executive at sharp healthcare yesterday is that they've gotten quite a bit better at treating hospitalized patients. You said their overall length of stay in the hospital has dropped from something like an average of 13 days down to only six. Uh, so that, that allows them to clear patients through the system more quickly, which is very handy in a situation like this Speaker 1: 06:03 In a situation like this with Thanksgiving coming up this week, our hospital's preparing for another influx. Speaker 2: 06:09 Oh, absolutely. Uh, you know, they're doing everything they can to convince, uh, their, their healthcare workers to work as much as they can get them to, you know, and what a lot of the executives have told me is really, um, staffing is the biggest concern, uh, you know, hospitals in, in, in a time when you don't have a pandemic, have to flex their staff up and down based on an unpredictable number of patients coming through the door. So there is this class of healthcare workers called travelers who will work at one hospital, you know, on a short contract and then go somewhere else and work there. And a lot of those travelers have moved East as we've seen massive increases. Uh, in other States, Speaker 1: 06:51 I've been speaking with Paul Sisson who covers healthcare for the San Diego union Tribune. Paul, thank you. And happy Thanksgiving. Speaker 2: 06:59 You happy Thanksgiving to you. Speaker 4: 07:05 This Thanksgiving, officer's whole a unique challenge. How to keep the focus on gratitude, even when under considerable stress, the pandemic has left. Many of us, either isolated and lonely, or on the other hand, overwhelmed by constant contact with the ones we love here to help us with insights on how to stay sane. And remember, the reason we are celebrating is David Peters, a marriage and family therapist who has a practice here in San Diego. David, welcome. Good to be with you. So now according to a CDC study, more than two in five Americans have said, they're experiencing mental health issues associated with the pandemic. Almost half of us. How do you expect these stressors to show up in the coming holiday? Speaker 5: 07:49 Well, I, as I'm observing my clients, I find them to be short on attention short on temper, short on patience. People feel overwhelmed and their margins for relaxation are very, very small. Now people are experiencing the environment outside and the environment on television and in the media to be extra stressful. And I think it's, uh, shortening everybody's ability to relax and to be in a healthy connection with one another. Speaker 4: 08:23 Now, the survey also found that that certain groups are more effective than others. Talk a bit about who is finding this pandemic, the toughest and why. Speaker 5: 08:30 Yeah, well, unfortunately, while some of us are just finding a little bit of a loneliness in our home, while we sit home on the weekend, others are experiencing job losses, a threat of losing their apartment, that they're renting a threat of losing their house. And these are extraordinary stressors for the average family, black and Hispanic citizens around us are more, it'd be essential workers who were exposed to the virus and who are forced to continue working or first to lose their jobs. And so from both ends, they were experiencing extra stressors that are what we call existential threat to the family. Uh, otherwise those who are first responders, medical technicians, uh, doctors, nurses, they're experiencing extraordinary levels of stress coming home from long days and feeling low on hope, feeling low on energy, feeling that they're depleted. So yeah, some of us have minor disruptions such as myself. I continue to work, uh, online, continue to be in good health and there's not a threat, but for others this time is an existential threat, Speaker 4: 09:41 An existential threat. Talk about what's some of the people coming to you for help or telling you about how the holidays make them feel Speaker 5: 09:50 Well. For some they're finding that they have to spend their holidays away from loved ones for the first time where we had plans to be traveling and visiting family, or have family come to see them many are finding themselves just going to be alone at home for the holiday. And that's very, very new for some people, uh, some are wishing they could, uh, be joining their family in another state and other city. And they're deprived of that opportunity. Uh, people are fatigued of finding their friends online or finding their friends by zoom video. And they want to join them. They want to have that gathering, and this is leaving them feeling more isolated. We find that sometimes people spending time in zoom meetings with friends, find it unsatisfying. They, they don't get to hug their friends. They don't get to feel like they're really with them. And even that can be adding the sense of alienation, Speaker 4: 10:53 Right? That feeling of loneliness is tough, especially at Thanksgiving when you're expecting to be with other people. What would you say is the best way to approach feelings of isolation and loneliness? Speaker 5: 11:06 Yeah. For those who are unfortunate enough that they're spending Thanksgiving alone there, particularly my concern, I would say, make a plan for the whole weekend. Don't think about missing a holiday dinner. Think about what do I want to do with the entire weekend? And I'd say, make a list of people you'd like to spend some time with on the phone, make a list of those. You'd like to share a warm conversation with and make a plan for contacting each one of them go down that list. So every day, your spending time sharing, catching up, laughing, telling stories, whatever you can do for some zoom video or something will feel good for others, the telephone might be better, but don't spend this time just laying in of the television or scrolling social media on your phone, spend this time in as much connection as possible with your loved ones. Speaker 5: 12:02 Relationships are really, really important. But also I think for those who are at risk of depression and anxiety in this holiday season, it's really, really important to take care of your brain and take care of your body. So I tell people minimize the amount of alcohol you're using. Don't get lost in a cannabis fog. That's not going to help you take care of your sleep, make sure you're getting to bed in the dark and waking up in the morning and getting some exercise, good sleep and good exercise are some of the best preventions for depression, anxiety that we have short of medications. And so to really be thinking of what can I do, that's going to contribute to my health and wellbeing for a lot of people. You can get outside, especially those of us in San Diego County, you can go on hikes and you can go walk neighborhoods. Speaker 5: 12:54 You can, as long as you're staying away from crowds, you can be outdoors in a park. You can be exposing yourself to beauty at the beach and in the mountains. And to do that allows you to feel more free, feel more active, and feel more connected to the world around us. And also, I think it's important to be thinking of what can I do that is creative. Can you spend time in an art project? Can you spend time trying new recipes, poetry, reading, or writing things that allow you to be creative. Things that allow you to feel herself are those that are going to help you prevent depression and anxiety during this holiday? Speaker 4: 13:35 Let me ask you, should we be forgiving ourselves more this year? If we have a hard time, you know, feeling grateful and find ourselves getting irritated more easily? Speaker 5: 13:44 Yes. Well, when times of stress, what I coach my clients is to practice compassion. Any of my clients will recognize, Oh, David's talking about compassion practice again, but it's really, really important to be practicing compassion for yourself and practicing compassion for one another. Particularly in this time where the politics has been so stressful, the politics has been nearly ugly between families and friends sometimes. And by practicing compassion, what I mean is forgiving people for their short temper for giving ourselves for our limited ability to reach out, uh, forgiving all of us and showing respect and care and gentleness for those around us, but showing respect and care for ourselves. Thank you so much. David go always good to be with you. Speaker 4: 14:32 We've been speaking with David Peters, a marriage and family therapist who has a practice here in San Diego. This is KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh with Alison st. John. So many things are different about this Thanksgiving holiday because of the pandemic Speaker 1: 14:52 Were advised not to travel, not to have large gatherings and to avoid the usual family holiday reunions, but it's still Thanksgiving and we still have things to be thankful for. And one thing we're thankful for here at midday is that we're able to bring you an annual Thanksgiving tradition. Chef Bernard Ghia says here for some Turkey talk. And just to remind you, chef Bernard is the executive chef of the LA Jolla beach and tennis clubs, the shores restaurant, and the Marine room restaurant. Welcome chef. It's so good to speak with you. Speaker 6: 15:25 Most of them are in, it's always a pleasure to be able to share the love on these very special celebrations. Speaker 1: 15:32 I, you know, I'm wondering how different is your preparation for this year's dinner at the restaurant and at your home? Speaker 6: 15:39 Well, I would say that it's very, very different because usually I have the shores under club who have big buffets. And this year there is no buffet and the Marine room is extremely busy with about six, seven, 800 guests. And this year, unfortunately the Marina is closed. So we are focusing on the outside dining at the shores and the club. And, uh, it's looking really good. We will add great celebration. That's the, for sure when it comes out at home, but you know, I am working that day. So my home is my work and I love it. Speaker 1: 16:13 Okay, well, a lot of gatherings will be smaller this year, whether people are working or not, lots of people may want to pair back on their holiday meal. Now we usually have people call in to ask you questions directly chef. But as I said, this year is different. In many ways this year we asked listeners to send us some of their questions. And our first question is from Marissa Cabrera Speaker 7: 16:37 On Jewish chef Bernard. This is Marissa former midday addition producer. And my question is given the pandemic, how would you approach cooking a small Turkey dinner for two people, happy Thanksgiving to you and the rest of the midday team Medici? Speaker 6: 16:54 Well, it is always a pleasure to hear that beautiful voice. And I would say that, you know, dinner for two, uh, I would recommend that you cook maybe like a small Turkey, because remember there's Turkey available around 10 pounds, I would say a 10 to 14 pounds, or you can use the Turkey breast. And, uh, my sister in France, for example, we'll use a Turkey breast because she has a, a small family. And what it would do is she would make the stuffing, but instead of baking the stuffing on the side, she would butterfly the Turkey breast, put the stuffing inside and then slowly roasted in the oven, which is great because it's really a, a one, one pot recipe, I would say because it's really everything in, in one. So it's really, really delicious, keeps it nice and juicy. And of course you have your best team, you know, Brittany, a lot of butter and, and fresh herbs, which is really, really great. It's a great way to do it. How do you make gravy Speaker 1: 17:50 If you're roasting a Turkey breast? Speaker 6: 17:52 Well, um, my recommendation is that you wrote some vegetables, for example, onion, carrot, celery time, Olivia Sage, with a little bit of butter. And then when it's nice and Brown, you will add the same amount of butter and flour to make a rule. So you add your butter. First, you melted with those roasted vegetables, you add your flour. And then if you want to have a really great flavor profile, add some Madeira or Marsala, which is not very expensive wine whatsoever. And then you add some chicken, bone broth, very important bone broth as much more a flavor, and it's richer in flavor. And then what you will be able to do after that is you simulate for about 30 to 45 minutes, and then you strain it and you will have a beautiful, beautiful gravy. Speaker 1: 18:39 We have another question. This one is from Speaker 7: 18:41 Kim. Hi, this is Kim and Lamesa. I was wondering what your best advice is for someone cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year. Speaker 6: 18:52 Well, you have to be, uh, well-organized and make sure that all the recipe that you will do a very easy to put together. So the simpler it is the better it will be. So, um, I would recommend that you already make a list of all of your ingredients that you will need for, uh, for the Fiesta. And then you see what you can prepare today. So you could be able to prepare, for example, your cranberry relish you back your beacon by you can get ready with your, uh, with your stuffing, uh, get your vegetables ready, want to be about add peel trim, and everything goes into fridge. And then tomorrow you just have to put the bird in the oven and just enjoy the beautiful aroma who will take over the old house, which is like, I would say aroma therapy for all your senses. Speaker 1: 19:46 It is, it is, you know, the chef, it's a lot easier to get a small chicken than a small Turkey. Would that be a good substitution? Speaker 6: 19:55 Yeah. Then we did a good substitution, but my recommendation make sure that you buy like a chicken who's going to be, I don't know, five, six pounds. So it's a nice big chicken and organic chicken is the way to do it. What I like to do is I stuffed the cavities with some fresh herbs, and then I put some, maybe some onions and some carrots and some garlic. And if you want, you can even put some fresh herbs, right under the skin and some butter under the skin. And when you cook it, you roast it very, very, I would say slowly at 350 degrees, and it's going to be just, just delicious, going to be awesome. Speaker 1: 20:30 You know, of course I've heard, you mentioned butter several times, which is of course what our Turkey talks are famous for, but I'm wondering, is it the same process of, of butter basting, a Turkey breast as it is a, you know, a regular whole bird? You know, the, the, the technique Speaker 6: 20:48 Is exactly the same, but what do you want to do is you make sure that you cook it at about 325 degrees. Not more than that. So the reason I say that is because you want to make sure that that breast doesn't shrink. So if you could get at a high temperature, that muscle will just shrink a little bit. And, and the juicers usually have a tendency to escape the, uh, the flesh itself. So what you want to do is you cook it at three 25. You baste it every 20 minutes to make sure you don't forget about the Turkey and forget about the base thing. You could have a little timer. So like this you're all set. It will cook much quicker. So I would say at 325 degrees for a seven pound, a couple of hours, and then you, you you're ready to go. You need to make sure that you rest that Turkey breast for about 10 to 15 minutes. If you slice it right away, you will have all the juices will escape and you will have a dry Turkey. So it's very important to give a little bit of resting time to the jerky. Speaker 1: 21:49 I am speaking with shift Bernard. Yes. And we are talking Turkey as our annual Thanksgiving special. And right now we have eclipse, someone had called in, uh, with another question about cooking, hot Turkey, Speaker 8: 22:04 Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. This is as made from USD. And my question is about a hot cooked Turkey where you roasted a four 50 or even 500 degrees uncovered instead of covering in base thing and all the rest of the stuff you do at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. My house, we've done a variation of this for years, and we include a couple of days of dry Browning beforehand. And most of the time, most of the time it comes out great, but every fourth time or so the breast gets over cook, and it doesn't seem to matter what the thermometer says when you pull it out. So that might have got two questions for you. The first is what do you think is starting the bird with the breast side down for 30 minutes or so? So you can get the dark meat going without overdoing the breast. And second, since the juices need to mingle before it gets to temperature and given how fast things happen in a hot cook, how do you know when it's done? Thanks. Speaker 6: 22:59 Well, it looked like it is a Turkey of circa de Solei it's upside down, but the thing is this, when you are, when you're cooking a Turkey breast side down, it's a really great way to do it because it's true that all the juice will go toward a door, the breast, and you'll be able to cook the legs and, and the thighs and all that, all that area. The only thing is there is a little bit of, uh, uh, safety that you have to really be very careful because now you're going to have to have a very awkward to have you have to flip back. So my recommendation is you can, uh, is to cook it at a high heat at the beginning for maybe like, uh, an hour. And then you lower the down to about, um, three 50 or something like this. And then you'll be able to really have everything cook really properly. Speaker 6: 23:49 You need to make sure that you are cooking. The, the temperature has to be at 160 degrees in the thickest part of the thigh, not 180 degrees. So the recommendation is always one on a nanny, but, but by the time it's 190 in the, uh, in the thigh, your breasts will be very overcooked. So you have to remember that this is the bird itself. It becomes almost like an oven. So at 160 degrees, when you take it out, it would continue to cook and go to 180 on its own. So as you're resting it for about 30 minutes, and then you were able to really have all those juicers pretty much flowing all throughout the bird and the bird would be nice and tender and juicy, Speaker 1: 24:37 You know, chef, a lot of people like to fry their Turkey. We have a question about that from Kenneth and Chula Vista. Speaker 9: 24:44 Hi, chef Bernard. I'm planning to fry a Turkey this Thanksgiving, and I'd like to know what ingredients you would use for a marinade to inject the Turkey with. Thanks. Speaker 6: 24:55 All right. So you have to be very careful with the injections when you are doing fried Turkey. Uh, and you have to really follow the instructions if you have too much liquid into the Turkey in those injections. Uh, what will happen is that during the cooking process, that liquid will come out and you have a chance that, uh, when it's released into the oil, the oil can go over the pot and then create a fire. Now, what I would recommend is you use, you do a dry brine. We using your dry brine is your dry spice, the whole Turkey in and out and under the skin. And you will be able to get really great results. Um, when it comes to flavors, I really like, uh, you know, flavor was going to be like this, like some Apple and spices. So like this, you know, you really give you a nice flavor to the, um, to the Turkey. Speaker 6: 25:51 Uh, it's three minutes per pound is very, very quick. Uh, the, the thing to do is making sure that when you are, uh, different your Turkey, that you usually, you make sure that you have all the safety, uh, around that pot. So no kids around, no pets around just mum that cooking it and being very, very cautious that, uh, you have, uh, you know, you don't have a fire on you and nobody gets hurts one year. Some guys come in in front of the Marina room and they fried the Turkey on the beach. It was a sight. So I went to see those guys and that Turkey was just beautiful. So it's a great technique. And you just have to make sure that you keep it safe. Speaker 1: 26:35 Very good advice. We have another question. This one from Dan eaten about carving a Turkey breast Speaker 9: 26:42 Chef Bernard, I'm Dan Speaker 10: 26:44 Eaton legal analyst. I have a very, a non-legal question. How long after removing a bone in Turkey breast from the oven, or should you wait before carving it? And once you do start to carve it, what's the best way to do that? Speaker 6: 27:04 Well, the best, the best way to carve a Turkey is you make sure that you rest your Turkey for about 20 to 30 minutes. And so you take it out of the oven, or you can open the oven, shut down the oven, open the oven, and he will rest in the oven. He means that he will stay nice and hot as well. Uh, and when you are starting to carve your Turkey, you carve from the breast, the breast first, and then you do the, the legs. Um, it's really important to make sure that you are resting the Turkey. So even if everybody's hungry, you have to tell them that maybe they want a little cocktail. Maybe they want to just take a little walk outside, but that Turkey need to rest. So like, this will be just perfect because if you carve it too early, then all the juices will escape the flesh and then it will be dry. So this is, this is the thing that you have to always remember. Time is of the essence. Speaker 1: 28:00 Don't rush it. Now, we always like to talk about vegetarian and vegan options too, for Thanksgiving. What are some of those Speaker 6: 28:11 Well for a vegan vegan option? Of course we have tofu Turkey, right? This is the, uh, this is the to go, but you know, there is so many other things that you can do. You know, this is the time of the year where you can go to your farmer's market, where there's bountiful vegetables available. So for example, if you do some roasted vegetable platter, you can do some wild rice. You can have some Elfie grains. When it, I love to do you, don't like a squash Curry, brussel sprouts roasted with pistachios, um, Canada onions, and maybe a little bit about some syrup cauliflower. You can do a cauliflower GATA, or I did it the other day. I did some, uh, air fried cauliflower steaks in the oven and my neighbors knock at the door because it smelled so good. Of course I had to be the economy of it, but they was so good. Speaker 6: 28:57 We're also at sweet potatoes with honey butter and Cardamone, I love my cardamom wide leak, a casserole celery root mashed potatoes. So we can do a mashed potato we've celery with say, you don't really care about potatoes anymore. So can I do a mash? That would be really, really cool. You're doing it with a silly roots, which is really delicious. And then of course, for that, when you're making those dishes, you can use the vegan cheese, cashew butter, nut milk, oat milk, and all that. Now the interesting thing is from last year to this year, I have been a much more vegetarian or pescatarian than ever. So I've done a lot of research when it comes to, uh, to this, uh, side dishes and not only added research, but I'm cooking at the house. All the, I feel better, maybe look better and love is delicious. Speaker 1: 29:47 Uh, we, you mentioned Russell's for us. We actually have a question about Brussels sprouts. Speaker 11: 29:53 Hi, this is that Couser professionally. I am a political scientist at UC San Diego, and I'm a very amateur home chef. And my question for chef Bernard is about an issue of controversy and I Thanksgiving dinner every year with our extended family, it's divided us. It's polarized us. That is what's the best way to cook Brussels sprouts. We're in two camps, I'm in the whole sprout camp. You cut off the base, maybe make a little X Mark in it, but you cook the thing by itself. But my brother-in-law's mother who always gets the right to cook our brussel sprouts at Thanksgiving slices and dices them. So that they're a little bits and pieces. Now, the dish he makes is amazing, but that's because it has olive oil and garlic and bacon, and that makes everything amazing. But I miss that center that nutty bitterness of a brussel sprout. So chef Bernard, please tell us what is the best way to cook a brussel sprout and, uh, whether it's one way or the other, or if you can find a compromise, a modern compromise in between, uh, save our Thanksgiving. That would be great. Thank you. And hope everyone has a restful and safe holiday. Speaker 6: 31:11 Uh, it's a very good question on Brazos rods. My family is exactly the same. There are some people like a chop, some people like it roast or roasted. So my grandmother will all roast the brussel sprouts we have, of course, she's from Brittany. So you have the butter, you have the garlic and the fresh herbs, and she put in the oven. The only thing is when you cook it that way, it's, um, he has a very, very, uh, strong flavor. And for me, I like to cut it into pieces and then roast them because the more commonization you're getting on that brussel sprouts, the most flavor you will have. So if you count malaise doors, bras, spotless, and roast them, uh, can be roasted in a pan or in the oven. And you finish it with, you know, the legalese, a bit of that sweet. And it'd be that, that sour, those brussel sprouts. So you can have a little bit about some, got a bit of honey or a little bit of honey, a little bit of citrus, and it would be just delicious. So, you know, I may gonna, am I going to have to say, grandma, I love you with your whole bars as well, but guess what? My boss was proud when they cut into, into business tests so much better Speaker 1: 32:22 Improvements. The generations make improvements. Now, some people might want to experiment this year since they don't have to please grandma or other relatives with the same traditional dishes. So this question comes from Krista Bartlett, who asks what's an easy, impressive dish. Speaker 6: 32:40 You know, the thing that I like to do is you take beautiful carrots who are in season now. So Maureen juice, some ginger, a little bit about her, or even a little bit of olive oil, and then you slow cook it on the stove and the caramelize with the sugar, the carrot and the sugar of the oranges and the ginger. It is delicious. You don't even take some yam and you make a gada. And instead of, instead of making it just regular, you can have a little bit of mascarpone and some spice to rum. It is really, really good. Instead of French green beans do sugar peas, we've toasted almonds and, and shallots. Uh, you know, if you take butternut squash, you can cut it into planks. You can roast it. Then you do a Brown butter and Sage with it. We should we be delicious, then mash potato, of course. Speaker 6: 33:29 But if you want to make the best mashed potatoes, you need to start cooking, cook it in cold water with a little bit of salt, then you pass it to a food meal and you finish it with butter, creme, fresh, and a little bit of mascarpone, salt and pepper. You need to put a lot of butter. Butter is the key ingredient into your mashed potato. And I'm not kidding when you are tasting that measure. There you'll be like crazy. The great thing about it is when you have leftover, you can do a little bit of Shepard pie today after with the leftover jerky and leftover mashed potato, which is fantastic. Speaker 1: 34:04 And we have another question. This one from Jade Heineman, our midday edition cohost. She has a question about a special Mac and cheese. Hi, chef Bernard. I'm curious to know what your best recipe is for seafood Mac and cheese also, is it important to saute the seafood before adding it to Speaker 6: 34:22 The Mac and cheese mixture? Thanks. The best seat for Mac and cheese that I like to do is made with crabmeat shrimp and scallops, and a little bit of cream, of course, your pasta and your, um, your cheese. Now, the best use is to use pretty Basque. I like to put together the basket because he has that really creamy flavor. And no, you do not need to cook your seafood in events. Okay, Speaker 1: 34:46 Well, I'll be back with chef Bernard GS in just a moment more Turkey talk is coming up after this short break. First, a few words of wisdom from one of our listeners. Speaker 7: 34:57 My name is Kathy Cullen and I live in Carlsbad, California. It's been so difficult to do the right thing. Uh, I tell you, it took us a while to figure it out. I'm close with my family and we want to be together, especially now, but this year it isn't business as usual. So my sister, isn't coming to Carlsbad from Montana. My daughter, isn't coming from New York city nor my son from Baton Rouge. I will not have a house full of people this year for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Instead on Thursday morning, I'll start my day with yoga in the gardens. And then in the afternoon, I'll meet a couple of friends on the beach. We're going to each bring our own meal and I'll probably bring a sandwich. My family would get to see each other on zoom in the afternoon. So that's awesome. I'm okay with the chains of plans really it's just for now. It's not forever. Speaker 8: 35:57 My name is Diane Dwyer. I live in Cornado, I'll be staying home alone and not observing the holiday. I am a very senior citizen and I'm practicing an abundance of costumes with the intention of thriving for pandemic, Speaker 1: 36:16 Listening to KPBS midday edition. I'm Maureen Kavanaugh here with chef Bernard executive chef of the LA Jolla beach and tennis clubs, the shores restaurant, and the Marine room restaurant. We just heard a comment from listener Diana Dwyer from Coronado, and she's made the difficult choice of staying home alone, this holiday chef. Do you have any advice for people who are making that choice? Can they still get some pleasure from the day and some great food for Thanksgiving? Speaker 6: 36:45 Yes, indeed. But th the thing that you want to do is, uh, um, look at restaurants, for example, who are delivering will have to go, and you are able, and we'll be able to get a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner delivered to your apartment or to your house. I think that's a great way to do it. And also the thing to do is really, um, uh, connecting with your family. You know, you have zoom. Now, you can just give a call. I know that I will be zooming with my, uh, with my mom, for example, in France, even that we don't really have Thanksgiving, but she knows that we have Thanksgiving here. And it is a important holiday for me now because, uh, I leave here and this is my life, and this is my home. And, uh, um, we will talk about all the things that is going on and it's important. And she leaves alone as well. Speaker 1: 37:32 You know, some folks may want to prepare their own meals, but, you know, if they're very cautious about things, they might be a little nervous about heading out to the grocery store. What would you advise? Speaker 6: 37:43 What is a couple of things that you can do? You know, that there is grocery store that you can go online and you can order all the ingredients that you need and they will deliver it to your house. That's one thing that you can do, which is very, very safe. There's also, uh, you can also ordering ahead of time, uh, to the, to that grocery store and they will bring those groceries to your car. Speaker 1: 38:06 I read one article, you know, there've been a lot of articles about this very unusual Thanksgiving. And some people have decided apparently just to have their favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal, only maybe a side dish, or even just dessert. What do you think about that? Speaker 6: 38:22 I think that's a, that's, that's great because it is still part of the tradition. So for example, if you do Turkey breasts, the great thing about the Turkey breast is that you can roast that Turkey breast. You will have all that feeling, that everything, a feeling normalcy, I will say, because you will have the, the Roma and, and, and that cooking process. And, and it's fun to do it. And I think that's, that's, that's a good way to do it. Um, you know, side dishes, you know, people love to do like, you know, that cranberry sauce that you can do many different ways. You can be part of another, only one day, but part of the, of the whole week. So you can really celebrate, uh, from Thanksgiving all the way to, to, to Sunday, by doing some, uh, cranberry Turkey sandwich by doing, you know, so there's so many things you can do with it. So I am for it. Uh, I think that's a great idea stuffing instead of a stuffing, you can do a casserole and a casserole will be, you know, that, that, that it will be a stuffing will be a little bit different. You can put some sausage in your stuffing, for example, and then you will bring a sense of normalcy. Speaker 1: 39:29 Hm. Any recommendations on desserts for Thanksgiving that aren't pies? Speaker 6: 39:35 Well, you know, I still, you still have to talk about pies because would be a pumpkin pie, but you can do a sweet potato pie. You can do an Apple pie. Uh, you can do, you can do so much, but I love to do a pecan pumpkin cheesecake, a coconut cake, a salted caramel cheesecake, uh, Apple tartar, Thai gluten-free chocolate pistachio cake. You can do so many different things. And I think that it's important to, to do some things, maybe it was going to be a little bit different. There is a recipe that I do once in a while, the house, which is a passion fruit, uh, cake, which is so delicious because passion for dogs are really bountiful right now. So you did those fresh passion fruit. I do it with gluten-free flour is made with almond meal. It is delicious a little bit of frosting on top, but not too much sugar. So it really gives in balance. So, you know, I have fun with it. Speaker 1: 40:29 It was wonderful. I was also wondering about adult beverages. You, you have a very special kind of martini that you wanted to tell us about. Speaker 6: 40:38 Well, you know what, knowing that this is a cranberry season, what about if you take the cranberry out of the cranberry sauce and you make it a cranberry martini, you know, is just looking outside the box. And I like to do it with a little bit of lemon grass. I have lemon grass growing in the, at the house, which is really, really awesome, but you know, do a little bit of bubbles and don't, don't forget that, you know, you can do it, those, those shopping cocktail, but there is also the rest of the family. Was there. What about to making some McDowell for the kids? Because like, there's, they are part of the celebration. It is not, it's a family tradition. It is not only for the adults. So this is a great way to do it. Speaker 1: 41:19 Wine. What's a good wine to pair with a Thanksgiving meal. Speaker 6: 41:23 You know, if it's bubbles, you know, a Prosecco or sparkling rosé even, you know, just nice, nice rich chemo, the bull gun would be just perfect, but I love Rosie Rosanna Turkey. It's just, it's just Evan. It is so good. Uh, on the whites, you know, Pinot Grigio, Pinot green, uh, I'm going to say a Chardonnay, a nice Chardonnay, uh, like, you know, Rombauer, for example, it was nice and rich and creamy, which is really good. Um, when it comes to reds, you know, [inaudible] Grenache, you know, uh, a lighter red really worked out really well with that, but some people like to have a beer with it as well. So if you want a beer, I will say, I will go for a red hel or something was, was all Brown now. So I think it was, I would say some white do it. Speaker 1: 42:13 Okay. So people who are listening to this and are going to do their best to prepare a rather traditional Thanksgiving meal, what should they be doing today, maybe right now to get ready for the feasts tomorrow? Speaker 6: 42:26 Make sure your Brian, your Turkey, Brian, your Turkey right now. If it's a whole Turkey, you need to brighten it. Um, yeah, you need to brighten it right away and they won't be Brian, I would say enough, but if you're doing a breast, it will be just perfect. So I would say, Brian, your Turkey made your cranberry sauce, baked your desserts, um, get your vegetables ready. Um, don't forget to get the wine. And, uh, I bake some cookies as well. I mean, you know, it's not only just, you know, a pumpkin pie or any other desserts, but I think that the kids love cookies. I love cookies. Speaker 1: 43:03 Everybody loves cookies. Now I know, I know chef that you're going to be working tomorrow, um, maybe for most of the weekend, but how will you be celebrating this year? Speaker 6: 43:15 Well, uh, as you say, I will be here, but I'm going to celebrate with everyone here. Uh, Delilah vision takes up in the shores because, you know, they are my family. Uh, all the rest of my family is in France. So they are my family and this is what I will be doing. And most likely on Sunday, I will go to Julian for a, um, just a quick maybe Julia and a hopper hard cider just to celebrate the upcoming season of the holidays, not only Thanksgiving, but also Christmas and new years. And just put you in the mood. It's going to be nice and cool in the mountains. Speaker 1: 43:52 It will be, you know, it's, I think it's so important for all of us to remember the things that we're grateful for this year. It's been such a difficult year. I know that I'm grateful for my health, for my family and for the people who listen to this show, what are some of the things you're grateful for? Speaker 6: 44:09 I'm grateful for, for my family. I know they are in France, but you know, we, we, we are closer now than ever because somehow we check on each other much more. I'm grateful that I have more time to really enjoy our region. And, you know, it's a new start. It's a new beginning and we still need to go through this very tough time, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. And I think by spring, next year, we will have a sense of normalcy or will come back and life will be good again. Speaker 1: 44:44 I think we're all hoping for that shepherd. [inaudible] thank you so much. I can't tell you. It's been wonderful to talk with you again. Thank you. Speaker 6: 44:52 Thank you very much and, uh, happy holidays to you and your family and, and, and thank you KPBS.