How you doin’? Most families have a designated turkey-carver at Thanksgiving—and the knowledge and skill set often lives exclusively in that person’s head—that would be me. I was invited to one friend’s house for Thanksgiving asking me to be there at 10AM.  I soon realized I was invited over to cook Thanksgiving dinner including stuffing, sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie.
 
But I digress… passing on the secrets of creating a holiday dinner can feel like a well-deserved rite of passage. Picture you’re at the head of the table, knife in hand, and all eyes are on you as you make your first slice into that big, beautiful turkey.
 
But the truth is, anyone can carve a turkey. (Well, anyone who can safely handle a knife.) In my turkey-carving syllabus, I’ll walk you through the process step-by-step, so no one at the table will know you’re a newbie—by which we mean, they’ll be blown away by your deft knife handling skills. Even if you’ve carved a turkey before but are feeling a little rusty, this guide will help you brush up on your skills.
 
A few tips from the Perspectives’ Test Kitchen before you begin:

• Make sure your knife is nice and sharp. It’ll make the whole process much easier. It is safer to cut with a shape knife than a dull one.
• If the turkey is too hot to touch when you go to carve, let it cool a few minutes longer. It’s also okay to take breaks as you carve to keep your hands comfortable.
• Removing the legs and wings from the turkey requires a bit of muscle, but don’t panic. Just take it slow and keep carefully pulling and pressing as you slice downward (watch your fingers!). The legs and wings will come off — we promise.
• Don’t toss all of the remaining bits of the turkey carcass once you’re done carving! Instead, divide them into gallon freezer bags and stash them in the ole icebox so you can make stock for all your winter soups and stews.
• And finally, consider adorning your turkey platter with garnishes, like fresh herbs, cranberries, and orange slices. That’s not really a carving tip, but it will make you look super chef-y — and your expertly carved turkey all that more impressive.

                             Here’s How to Carve a Turkey: Step-by-Step
 
Tools: You’ll need a very sharp carving knife or chef’s knife and a steel for sharpening the knives.
 
Ingredients 
1 roasted turkey any size
 
Directions

• Remove the cooked turkey from the oven and let it rest on the counter for 20 minutes. The turkey will still be quite hot, so handle it with care when carving.
• Transfer the turkey to a large cutting board with grooves, a lip or a towel to catch the juices. Position the turkey with the breast facing you and the legs facing away from you.
• To remove the legs and thighs: Pull one leg away from the body of the turkey and place your knife on the crease between the leg and the body. While continuing to pull carefully, slice down behind the thigh and along the body of the turkey.
• When you hit the joint, firmly pull and press the thigh downward until it’s loosened from the body. You might have to muscle through it a bit. Slice through any remaining meat, following the contour of the body, to fully remove the leg and thigh without breaking it. Repeat with the other leg and thigh. Set both pieces aside.
• To remove the breasts: Find the center “Y” bone, which runs along the top of the turkey’s chest. Place the blade of your knife just to one side of the “Y” bone. Slice downward and toward you, creating a deep, clean cut. Keep your knife where it is and slice downward, following along the rib cage. This will remove the breast completely while keeping the skin intact. Repeat with the remaining breast and then set both half breasts aside.
• To remove the wings: Pull one of the wings away from the body of the turkey and towards you to loosen it. You might have to muscle through it a bit. Slice through the remaining meat, while pulling, to fully remove the wing. Repeat with the other wing. Save the wings and turkey carcass for making stock, if desired.
• Place one breast on a clean cutting board. Starting from the narrowest end of the breast, on the diagonal, slice into half-inch thick pieces, being careful to keep the skin intact. Transfer all of the slices to a warm serving platter. Repeat with the other breast.
• Place one of the legs and thighs on the cutting board. Find the crease between the leg and the thigh. Slice along the leg until you find the joint where the leg bone and thigh bone are connected. Carefully slice between them, separating the leg from the thigh. Repeat with the remaining leg and thigh. Place the legs on the platter.
• On the diagonal, slice the thigh meat into half-inch pieces, just like you did with the breasts. Place the slices on the platter.
• Serve warm with turkey gravy and all your favorite sides.

ChefSecret:  Another way to cook a turkey is the spatchcock method which makes  the juiciest, crispiest roast turkey cooked in a fraction of the time it usually takes to cook a whole turkey. If you've never tried it, spatchcocking is easier than you might think! By removing the backbone and flattening out the bird, you'll reduce cooking time and make carving a whole lot easier, too! Once you try it, you might never go back.

Quip of the Day:  Q. Did you hear about the turkey that plays baseball?  A. It covers first baste.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to  Feeding America, Tunnel to Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.
 
#Entree #TurkeyCarving #HowToCarveATurkey #ThanksgivingRecipes #2024Recipes #HappyThanksgiving #URM #T2T #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #SamaritansPurse #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 
 
                                                                                ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2024

How you doin’? I have worked in the hospitality and food industry for the last 40+ years. I have never publicly professed to lean into any political direction—after all I only have one vote to cast, and I am not sure my views will sway anyone outside my own family. We have a lot of politicians pointing blame at the food industry for high costs of food and overall inflation—it is not true! American food providers supply the United States the safest most plentiful food supply that civilization has ever known. No one should use the food industry as a scapegoat for rampant inflation we are all suffering with.  
 
The Food Industry Association last month found that 69 percent of Americans feel their income hasn’t kept up with food inflation. But who’s to blame? I am always amazed how politicians from both sides of the aisle insert themselves into our food supply and screw things up. These are usually people who know little of what they speak, but that doesn’t stop them.
 
I want to share this reprint of an article by Madeleine Rowley at The Free Press… “Why Are Grocery Bills So High?” Please focus less on the political messaging and focus more on the facts that show what is actually happening with food inflation regardless of who’s to blame.
 
Avian influenza, higher shipping costs, and a drought in the Midwest are real factors. Price gouging? Not so much.

At last night’s (this week’s) presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris told the American public she has “a plan” to alleviate America’s housing shortage, help small businesses, and “address the price of groceries.” That plan, like the rest of her policies, is elusive, but in a recently released “issues page” on her campaign site, she listed cracking down on “on anti-competitive practices” as a top priority. On the campaign trail she has promised that, if elected, she’ll call for “the first-ever federal ban on corporate price gouging on food and groceries” within her first hundred days in office. 

With that line of attack, Harris has certainly tapped into a vein of voter anger: Lots of Americans are upset about their grocery bills, which rose dramatically during the inflation that followed the pandemic and have never come back down. Food prices increased by 11 percent in 2022, Professor Ricky Volpe, of Cal Poly’s Agribusiness Department, told The Free Press. And while they’re only projected to rise 0.7 percent in 2025, those 2022 grocery prices have stuck. Americans still notice when they pay $5.24 for a pound of ground beef that cost only $3.80 a few years ago.

Unsurprisingly, a survey conducted by the Food Industry Association last month found that 69 percent of Americans feel their income hasn’t kept up with food inflation. That group includes significant percentages of older consumers (Boomers and Gen X) as well as people at the low end of the income scale. 

But it’s worth asking: Why have food prices gone up so much? And does price gouging—the practice of jacking up prices during a natural disaster or other short-term emergency--really have anything to do with it? Volpe told me that, in fact, if food prices are rising beyond what consumers feel is reasonable, the food companies themselves play a surprisingly small role in the price hikes. Grocery stores, for instance—even giant superstores—are intensely competitive. Grocery store profit margins are among the lowest in all of American business, often as low as 1 percent. 

According to Volpe, the rising costs of labor, shipping, and packaging have increased more than food prices since the onset of the pandemic and have played a more significant role. Matt Lind, 31, owns a food distribution company, Farmlind Produce, that purchases fresh fruits and vegetables from farms nationwide and trucks them to grocery stores and restaurants on the East Coast. “Post-Covid,” he told me, “freight out of California was around $6,000 this time of year. Last week, I paid as much as $8,400.” 
In addition to freight, Lind’s fleet of 28 trucks has cost more to operate since the pandemic, when he was paying, on average, $2.60 per gallon of diesel. Now, he spends over four dollars per gallon. “Customers might think that the retailer and the wholesaler are taking advantage, but there’s so much overhead in this industry to keep it going,” he said.

To get a handle on whether Harris’s proposal would confront the source of rising prices—or is just pie in the sky--The Free Press looked at what’s behind prices in three staples of the American diet: eggs, beef, and salty snacks. 

ggs: When Hens Catch the Flu
In January 2023, the price of eggs hit an all-time high, $4.82 per dozen on average. The main reason? Millions of chickens were dying from avian influenza, or bird flu. Prices then decreased on average throughout the rest of 2023, hitting a low of $2.07 per dozen in September as the bird flu ran its course, but rose to $3.08 per dozen this July thanks to a second outbreak.

​

The CDC reported that as of August, more than 100 million poultry have been culled since 2022 as avian influenza continues to affect flocks nationwide. This is a basic aspect of price changes in a capitalist economy: If supply (the number of egg-laying hens) goes down, the high demand for the remaining eggs can prompt price hikes.

Why isn’t that price gouging? That’s really a political question more than an economic one. If prices rise quickly, politicians like Harris are quick to blame greedy corporations, whereas economists view it as a natural—even healthy—part of an economy under stress, as we noted in The Free Press several weeks ago. 
But consider this as well: If a chicken farm loses thousands of poultry due to bird flu, it still has overhead to cover, wages to parcel out, and shipping costs to pay. None of these costs go down just because a lot of chickens are dead. Does the avian flu qualify as the kind of unexpected emergency that a politician would call “price gouging?” Or is it just part of the food production cycle, like bad weather? Most economists would say it’s the latter.

Brian Moscogiuri, vice president of U.S. egg supplier Eggs Unlimited (Slogan: “Any Egg. Anywhere”), said in an email to The Free Press that the egg industry is currently operating at 25 million hens below what’s needed to keep up with demand. “Generally, we need about one bird per person to account for normal demand,” Moscogiuri said. “But we’ve seen the avian flu hit biannually since the spring of 2022.” 
Hens lay about one egg per day 80 percent of the time, so to keep up with U.S. demand, the industry needs between 325 million and 330 million hens. If the bird flu disappeared altogether, rebuilding the egg industry to optimal levels would take about six to eight months. And nothing Vice President Harris mentioned in last night’s debate can change that fact.​

How you doin’? With all the visiting with friends and family, and the exchange of gifts like colds, flu and other delights, I thought some sage advice might be in order. And while most of my blogs incorporate complete recipes, I thought I'd highlight some of the many individual ingredients that have health and healing properties on their own.
 
For instance, black pepper reduces inflammation and is considered an antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Garlic has long been associated with health benefits from curing a cold to lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Garlic also contains vitamins C and B6, manganese and selenium but it's a chemical called allicin, a type of antioxidant, which is thought to be responsible for its positive effects on health. It also keeps vampires at bay. Consuming curry powder may boost brain and digestive health, improve feelings of fullness, lower blood sugar levels and provide antibacterial effects. Our ancient civilizations found way to keep health without antibiotics and addictive drugs.
 
Salt (sodium—atomic #11 – symbol Na) is one of the least expensive “chemical” compounds and is plentiful around the globe. One story goes that the earth was hit by a cosmic solid salt meteor billions of years ago that salted our oceans and rained this element down around the globe.
 
Salt has pluses and minuses—too much salt can raise blood pressure and cause some stomach distress but there are many more positive attributes to salt. Salt can draw poisons from open wounds and gargling saltwater can help relieve and prevent infection. It may also help reduce symptoms of other issues affecting the respiratory system such as allergies. Something I remember from my mother and my local dentist, saltwater gargles are a simple, safe, and affordable home remedy.
 
Saltwater gargles are most often used for sore throats, viral respiratory infections like colds, or sinus infections. They may be effective for both relieving infections and preventing them from getting worse, as well. I got my Covid vaccines but still rinsed my mouth out with warm salt water and never got the dreaded virus (study of one).
 
Since it’s also a natural, affordable and convenient remedy, it’s considered a standard go-to home treatment for various ailments. They’ve been used successfully as alternative treatments since before modern medicine. In fact, research and modern medicine still support saltwater gargles today as an effective approach for certain mild health issues.
 
This makes simple saltwater gargles valuable for blocking viruses and bacteria, reducing the chance of infections in the mouth and throat and relieving inflammation in certain cases. These include sore throats, especially effective for colds or flus that cause a mild sore throat. Saltwater gargles can relieve severe sore throats better with the help of acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil).
Studies also show that saltwater may help reduce infection severity, whether it’s from a viral or bacterial infection. This includes colds, flus, strep throat and mononucleosis.
 
Since inflammation of the throat can also occur with certain allergies such as pollen or dog and cat dander, saltwater gargles may also help with uncomfortable sore throat symptoms due to these allergic reactions.
 
Saltwater has been shown to draw out water and bacteria while protecting the gums, so saltwater gargles may be effective for improving gum and dental health. They may also help prevent gingivitis, periodontitis, and cavities. Along the same lines as sore throats, saltwater gargles can alleviate canker sores, also known as mouth ulcers. They may do this by easing the pain and inflammation these sores cause.
 
Making a saltwater gargle is quite easy. It requires only two ingredients—water and salt. It takes very little time to make and apply, and it’s completely safe for children over 6 years old to use and for anyone who can gargle easily. The exception would be children under 6 and anyone who has a difficult time gargling. Just mix about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt for every 8 ounces of water.
 
The water may be best warm, since warmth can be more relieving to a sore throat than cold. It’s also generally more pleasant. But if you prefer cold water, it shouldn’t interfere with the remedy’s effectiveness.
 
Warm water may also help the salt dissolve into the water more easily. Better dissolving salt might be ideal if you’re using coarse sea salts or kosher salts instead of finer iodized or table salts. You can use any type of salt for saltwater gargles.
 
In case you missed the class Gargling 101, gargle the water in the back of your throat for as long as you can stand. Then, swish the water around your mouth and teeth afterward. Spitting it out into a sink is recommended when you’re finished. However, it can be swallowed if you get off on that sort of thing. In the case of infections, spitting out salt water is considered better at keeping the infection at bay. Be careful if doing multiple mouth rinses per day and swallowing too much salt water, as it can dehydrate you. Drinking too much salt water can also have health risks, such as calcium deficiency and high blood pressure. Gargling at least twice a day is recommended. You can safely gargle many more times than that, too.
 
ChefSecret:  If you really hate the taste of salted water, you can improve the taste by adding a little honey and lemon.
 
Quip of the Day:  Q. Why did the pony have to gargle? A. Because he was a little horse.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America, Tunnel To Towers, Union Rescue Mission and/or American Red Cross.

#SpecialEdition #BenefitsOfSalt #Salt #Saltwater #Gargling #Covid19SurvivalBlog #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #T2T #URM #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                          ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

                                                   …a Perspective from Ed Engoron
How you doin’? For the last 3-1/2 years I’ve been writing this Survival Guide Cooking Lesson series. I’ve tried to keep it fun, informative and pithy, yet not let personal or political opinions poison our work. You can see enough of that junk just by watching any of the 24-hour news outlets. I hope you have benefited from all the hard work it takes to put out the recipes and cooking information.
 
I have been in the food and beverage industry for 40 years and love my career choice. I have owned and operated over 350 restaurants, run our consulting company and Choclatique, our high-end chocolate brand. I was the host on Stump the Chef (10 years) and Joan Vieweger and I co-hosted The Food Show and The Super Foodies on ABC (5-1/2 years). We worked with the founder(s) of McDonalds, Pizza Hut and the CEOs of Disney, Sony, Universal, Target, Walmart and so many others all in the food industry. In fact, you could find our company influence wherever food and people come together… I guess we really are the Super Foodies!
 
After reading an article in a recent issue of New York Magazine I felt compelled to write this editorial.
 
It’s now almost impossible to make any sort of purchase without being confronted with a computer screen asking for 15%, 20%, 25% or 30% gratuity. The other day I was prompted for a 35% gratuity at an airport restaurant on top of the cost of a mediocre $29 burger and fries. It’s not just for a cup of joe at your local Starbucks but buying bottled water at the deli or crackers at a specialty grocery store now also prompts the option for tips. This might irritate or confuse you (it does me), but the reality is there are new post-covid social expectations around what is a tip (versus a service charge), what’s it really worth and who gets it. Here is what’s expected.
 
At restaurants, the previous range of socially acceptable and ethically expected tips was 15% to 20%; now, it’s 20% to 25% or higher. That’s when the minimum wage was truly minimum. A lot of these jobs we never created to feed a family of four or more. This goes for whether you’re at a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Olive Garden or Cracker Barrel and whether you felt the service was deserving or not (T.I. P.S. = To Insure Proper Service, an old English tavern tradition—blame the Brits).
 
These days, the expectation--demand—is that the higher your disposable income, the more you should tip, but anything under 20% is just rude—Pay Your Fair Share! Blame this on inflation, COVID, and the heightened awareness that more than half of your servers’ salary probably comes from tips. You are told it’s  just the rules. So, just pay, don’t complain—STFU.
 
At coffee shops, coffee carts, cafés and bodegas, tip at least 20 % even though their pay isn’t as tip dependent for servers as it used to be. The average salary for a barista in New York is just above minimum wage (at Starbuck’s that’s plus profit sharing and a 401K). Baristas are often preparing complicated orders in a tense environment—I want my caffeine now! If your order is only regular coffee, you may tip $1. If you’re buying an item that involves no preparation (a bottle of water, a muffin), it is acceptable, though considered miserly, not to tip.
 
For food delivery, you are expected to tip a minimum of $5, or 20%, whichever is greater, and even more in bad weather according to the “new” rules of wokeness. Because delivery workers are categorized as independent contractors, their employers don’t have to pay them minimum wage. And per a recent survey from the Worker’s Justice Project and the Worker Institute at Cornell, the median hourly wage for an app delivery worker in New York is only $10.94 an hour, or $15.21 with tips. Also, given the history of tips not always making it into the delivery person’s hands, you are expected to tip with cash whenever possible. If you don’t, you may get on the area’s no delivery list.
 
When picking up takeout at a restaurant, it’s easy to understand why you might not tip anything, however you are now expected to tip at least 10 %. The stated reason… a takeout order interrupts the flow of the other work required of servers and hosts who are dependent on tips. BS! Develop a better and fairer compensation plan for your employees and do not tack anything more on inflation-poor customers.
 
At a bar, the conventional wisdom was to tip at least $1 per drink if you’re just getting a beer and 20% for a cocktail. If you’re at a food counter—a cheese shop, a deli counter, or a fast-casual lunch spot where employees are telling you about the items, slicing or mixing you a food bowl—you are now expected to tip something if prompted. Ideally 10 %. At a deli, for instance, the tip pool is divided among the employees who are paid hourly, which means that instead of making minimum wage ($16 an hour), they now take home around $21 an hour.
 
How are you expected to tip Uber drivers? The same way you’d tip a cabdriver—at least 20%. The Uber app can make adding a tip feel like more of an afterthought, but it shouldn’t be. According to new data from the Taxi & Limousine Commission, Uber drivers earn substantially less in fares and tips than taxi drivers (plus the company—Uber—takes more than a 25% cut of fares and deliveries).
 
For everything else—hairstylists, waxers, movers (yes, movers)—you are expected to tip 20% minimum. And, maybe more if you can.
 
Do not be intimidated by having a screen thrust in your face with a demand for a gratuity in the amount of 20% to 35%. My philosophy is to tip what you can afford for the value of the service.
 
Quip of the Day:  Q. Why should you tip the guy at the crematorium? A. Because he urned it!
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Do you have a question or comment?  Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.

#TippingRules #2023Recipes #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                                                                       ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

How you doin’? Are you getting your barbecue cleaned-up for summer cookouts? It’s that time of year to scrape down the grill and dust off the tongs and spatula so you can make those perfect backyard burgers.
 
Here’s a hack that will make your burgers juicy and flavorful every single time. The best part is that it costs you nothing and you can find it in just about any kitchen—regular ice cubes. You simply make your patties as you normally would, then put a single ice cube in the center of each one and fold the meat around it. When you grill the patty, the melting cube keeps the patty from drying out by distributing more moisture throughout the patty.
 
The best thing about using an ice cube is that it’s only plain water and it won't impact the flavor of the seasonings you use in the patty. It's also readily available.
Just place your patties on the grill and then put an ice cube in the center of each patty, pressing it down gently. Then, you just cook the patties like you normally would.
 
It’s best to cook the burgers to at least medium rare if you plan to use an ice cube to keep the patty juicy and safely enjoy your upgraded hamburger.
 
A medium rare burger is a burger that has been cooked to an internal temperature of around 145⁰ F). This means that the center of the patty is still pink and slightly warm, with a crust on the outside that is browned or seared. When cooking a medium rare burger, it should be grilled for about three to four minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the patty and the heat of the grill. You can use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the patty to ensure it has reached 145⁰ F.
 
It is important to remember that consuming undercooked or raw meat, including beef, can lead to food poisoning according to the USDA. Therefore, it is important to cook the burgers until they reach the appropriate internal temperature. To mitigate this risk, many people like to eat their burgers well done.
 
A well-done burger is cooked to an internal temperature of around 160-165 ⁰ F. The patty will be cooked through and through, with no pink or red remaining in the center. The meat is also typically dryer than a medium-rare or medium burger, which is why using an ice cube can really help. It keeps well-done patties a little moister.
 
When cooking a well-done burger, it should be grilled for longer than a medium-rare or medium burger, usually around five to seven minutes per side, once again depending on the thickness of the patty and the heat of the grill. Once the burgers are cooked to your liking, remove them from the grill and let them rest for a few minutes before serving. This allows the juices to settle and redistribute throughout the patty.
 
The-ice-cube-hack-for-ridiculously-juicy-burgers-every-time helps the hamburger retain its moisture and juices when grilling so that the high heat of the grill won’t zap all the natural juices out you your best grilled hamburgers. Grill on!
 
ChefSecret:  If you like a really juicy burger, be sure to buy hamburger meat that is at least 20% fat (80%/20%). Leaner hamburger dries out easier.
 
Quip of the Day:  How did the French fry propose to the hamburger?
Answer: He gave her an onion ring!
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Do you have a question or comment?  Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
-------------------------------------------
To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.
​
#Entrees #Grill #Burgers #IceCubeHack #2023 #QuarantineKitchen #Covid19 #FeedingAmerica #RedCross #PerspectivesTheConsultingGroup 

                                                                                ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023