Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Best Thanksgiving Foods

Episode Date: March 4, 2023

From gaming hosts Paul, Michael and Josh, we're bringing you even more gaming content each week. Gaming Quick Takes are a short series of game recommendations, funny moments, off-topic chat and more. A small dose of gaming to brighten your Saturdays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Offer ends March 3rd, 2025. Terms and conditions apply. invest with RBC. Offer ends March 3rd, 2025. Terms and conditions apply. Invest with RBC today. Hey guys, welcome to this Quick Take episode. We're so excited to have you here with us. In the past, these Quick Take episodes actually were only available to those who financially supported the show through Apple subscriptions and patreon but due to popular demand we have decided to shake up the perks for our supporters and we'll be releasing these quick takes on saturdays to everyone giving you all some extra free content that was previously unavailable to the public and these

quick takes are a little more laid back and they're hosted by just one of us so sit back relax and enjoy this quick take episode shazam boom hey everyone out there thanks so much for helping support the show this is paul with a quick take episode for you all we are right in the middle of the holiday season here, and I thought it would be fun to talk about one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving. Now, Thanksgiving is probably especially important to me because growing up, it was basically the one and only holiday that we celebrated. I was actually raised in a religious cult that did not celebrate Christmas or birthdays.

And that's a whole other story. We won't get into that here now. But Thanksgiving was kind of the one and only holiday that we celebrated. And I am a foodie. I love Thanksgiving foods. One of my favorite holidays throughout the year. And I just thought it would be fun to kind of break down a little bit about, you know, Thanksgiving foods. Which ones do I like? Which ones do I not like? Do I have any tips

for how to prepare these dishes? And I'm just going to get my one and only rant out of the way here in the beginning, which is the fact that turkey is an absolutely terrible meat and has no place at the Thanksgiving table. Every year I have had to prepare whole turkeys because it's what everyone expects. I totally understand that. Turkeys look amazing, but ultimately when it comes to flavor and taste, they just aren't good. You can have excellent gravy and you can just completely drown your turkey in gravy and mashed potatoes and stuffing and whatever else. And I get it. It's delicious. But as far as a standalone meat, it might be the very last protein that I enjoy. I have tried working in other proteins at our family Thanksgivings, bringing in a ham or something like that, something that's just a far better meat.

But Todd and I have even gotten into turkey competitions in years past. Now, obviously, now that he's living in North Carolina, that won't be possible. But I have done wet brines. I have done dry brines. I have injected turkeys. I have done herbs and garlic kind of injections. I've also done things like beer and Tabasco. Anything that you can do to try to get flavor into a turkey is really difficult. And ultimately, turkey breast in particular is just always incredibly dry. So I would say out of all the Thanksgiving foods that I like to eat, turkey is actually going to be at the very bottom. So now that we have that one and only rant over let's just celebrate all the rest here uh let's talk a little bit i'm looking at my list

here let's go into mashed potatoes all right who doesn't like mashed potatoes mashed potatoes are amazing one thing that i learned a few years ago is just put in a whole bunch of parmesan cheese and just let it melt in there. People won't necessarily immediately notice that it has parmesan, but it adds just so much flavor. And I love mashed potatoes. I mean, who doesn't love mashed potatoes and gravy? Classic combination. Also, sweet potatoes. All right. Now, sweet potatoes, I don't think I ever ate until I was an adult. For whatever reason, we never bought them growing up. And once I started dating my eventual wife, Nikki, they would sometimes serve sweet potatoes. And I started experimenting with them a little bit after that. And one of my favorite dishes

I learned from a recipe book that I bought from Adam Perry Lang like 20 years ago. I think it's called Serious Barbecue. But what I learned from him is you can actually grill or roast your sweet potatoes and also do that with a banana also. So have like three or four sweet potatoes and one banana, toss in a whole bunch of brown sugar, a cinnamon stick, butter, you know, stir it all up. It's absolutely fantastic. I think we all know sweet potatoes when they're prepared either with marshmallows or like this. It's really just a dessert, but it's absolutely delicious. You gotta love it. Green bean casserole. I mean, you gotta have some greens. I know that some people aren't huge veggie fans, but I absolutely love the French's crispy onions that you can usually

stir a little bit in there. You cook them, you throw a whole bunch on top, you get that flavor, the crispiness, the crunchiness. I mean, I like green beans on their own, but when you start adding things like this for that texture and flavor, it's just even better. I absolutely love green bean casserole. Also, roasted Brussels sprouts. Now, Brussels sprouts have a really bad name, I think because a lot of people had them growing up prepared very incorrectly. If you've ever had boiled or steamed Brussels sprouts, they just aren't good. They don't smell good. They actually can make your whole house smell weird. And that's not what I'm talking about. You just aren't good. They don't smell good. They actually can make your whole house smell weird. And that's not what I'm talking about. You got to roast them.

So the best thing I have discovered is just take your Brussels sprouts. I like them when they're really small. I like the really small heads. Whenever I go to the store, those are the ones I pick out. And you're basically going to cut them all in half. You're going to toss them with some oil. And you're going to lay them all flat side down on a pan. You're going to toss them with some oil and you're going to lay them all flat side down on a pan. You're going to roast it at, I don't know, maybe like 400 degrees. And that's going to get them nice, like a very nice caramelized bottom where they actually turn almost a little creamy and they're very sweet. And what I also love doing with that is I'll sometimes just dice up some

bacon and a little bit of onion. And I just kind of sprinkle those on top of the Brussels sprouts and then roast them that way. They soak up that flavor from the bacon and then they have that great texture. Nothing at all like trying to boil them. Also cranberry sauce. Now, if we're going to get rid of the turkey like I'm lobbying for, then you don't need the cranberry sauce. I think the only time during the year I ever have cranberries is at Thanksgiving solely because of the turkey. But cranberry sauce, I know that there are some people who really ride for the one that comes in the can where it's basically just jelly. I am not a fan of that at all. Making cranberry sauce is so easy. I mean, you basically just toss some cranberries into a pot. You're going to throw in some things like maybe some

orange juice or apple juice and just a couple other things. And you just kind of simmer it for a while and then it's done. You're definitely going to throw in a lot of sugar in there too because cranberries are so sour. But cranberry sauce is very easy to make. And that's one of those things that you can definitely make a day or two ahead of time and just keep in your fridge. But preferably, let's just get rid of the turkey and the cranberry altogether. And when we're going to talk about dessert, I kind of think that there are like three that are really non-negotiable when it comes to Thanksgiving, you're definitely going to have pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie. It's not my favorite, but I do love it. I don't eat it ever outside of Thanksgiving. I know this might be a little bit of a hot take. I actually prefer

Cool Whip with my pumpkin pie instead of whipped cream. I don't really know why that is. Maybe it's just nostalgia because that's what we ate growing up, But that's the one time a year that I buy Cool Whip for those Costco pumpkin pies. You can make your own, but honestly, Costco's is so big and cheap and delicious. I always just buy it. And my favorite holiday pie is pecan pie. Pecan pie, I, you know, growing up, I was never really a big nut fan. I didn't eat nuts. I never understood why people would put nuts into things like brownies or cookies or pie. But then as I got older, I really fell in love with pecan pie. I mean, it's just so good. It's basically kind of just like a thick brown sugar that you're eating that has just some pecans on top.

So pecan pie is my number one favorite pie. And also you just cannot go wrong with apple pie. I love baking apple pies and pecan pies. You get those flavors in the house, whether it's the spices or the nuts, like in the pecan pie, always makes your house smell delicious. Absolutely love it. And then the last thing that i wanted to mention here which i totally forgot about until i started talking but there is a holiday punch

that i love making every year uh basically i i'm i was trying to find the recipe here while talking but i i don't see it immediately but what you do is you basically mix ginger ale with cranberry juice. Now, you want to be careful that you don't buy the 100% cranberry juice that has no added sugar or anything like that. That's going to give you very poor results. One year, I accidentally bought that. What I always do is I go for the cranberry pomegranate juice, And you're going to mix that with your ginger ale. And then you are also going to add some almond extract and also some additional sugar. And you're just going to gently stir it all so you don't lose all the bubbles from the ginger ale. And then you can basically just wash and put in a whole bunch of cranberries. And so you can have those floating

in there. You can also toss in some wedges of lime if you want and every single year i make that punch for thanksgiving and christmas and everybody absolutely loves it so that is a fantastic punch you can throw together in about one minute and everyone's gonna love that too all right well i hope you guys all have a great holiday season hope you enjoy your thanksgiving christmas is right around the corner hope you guys all have a great holiday season hope you enjoy your thanksgiving christmas is right around the corner hope you're all having a fantastic time and enjoying games in the process we'll see you guys next time happy gaming