The Culinary Works

As you may have heard, our two Chef’s, TCW founder Mark Parker and the ‘young upstart’ (that’s me, super young), Jennifer Whitmire, battled it out on the turkey front! The Turkey Battle was intended as a way for us to have some fun and present you with two entirely different ways to cook a turkey. Here is how it went.

Something you should know about chefs is that they are seriously competitive. Even me. I don’t think of myself as a competitive person but start talking and throwing out challenges, watch out! Once, a large group of chef’s and I went bowling. It was supposed to be a team building event but it turned into a blood battle for the right of supremacy.It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. More than one of us went to work the following day with strained muscles, FROM BOWLING! But that’s how serious it gets. Chefs are just weird like that.

So, it goes without saying that the competitive nature in Mark and I came out. The next thing you know, there’s a little smack talk, a little prodding “What are you going to do”, “Are you going to use the smoker?”, "Too bad you don't know how to cook". I knew I was in trouble when Mark asked, “Is there any limit to how much bacon I can use?” Not because he asked about bacon but because I said, “NO, use bacon, I don’t care”. UGH, what was I thinking, I can’t beat bacon with a turkey!?

We did our turkey shopping together and it was quickly apparent that neither one of us wanted to give up our secrets too soon. As we threw random ingredients into the cart, some to just throw the other person off, Mark tossed in a package of Tofu…WHAT?? Knowing him as I do all I could do is laugh, in a sinister kind of way perhaps.

The day arrived and I must admit to a few things here. The previous night I pulled the girlfriend card and he brined my turkey for me. Hehe. Also, I went into this knowing that if I perhaps 'suggested' he do a smoked turkey, Mark, being Mark, would take it to a whole other, super complicated level. I also knew it would be fabulous, BUT, I still took the opportunity to spend the first few morning hours reading on the patio while he made sausage, poblano corn stuffing, and deboned his turkey, got the smoker going etc etc. Eventually he figure out my tactic though, guess he knows me too. He could be heard all over the house imitating me, “My turkey takes 15 minutes to get in the oven, Marks turkey takes 2 hours to prepare, I’m just going to sit on the patio drinking a mocha, reading a book while Mark runs around”. Whatever!

Eventually we both had our turkeys cooking, mine a traditional style turkey roasted with aromatic vegetables, wine and fruit, with a lovely compound butter stuffed under the skin; Marks deboned and stuffed with a sausage and stuffing roulade in the smoker. The house smelled AMAZING!

We managed to get them both done at the same time and whipped up some potatoes and gravy for the tasting, because lets face it, it’s a sin to eat turkey without potatoes and gravy!

Many people were clearly not going to choose one of us over the other. But my intelligent son, who eats nothing, voted for me. He said my turkey was the best! It felt great when Marks best friend voted for me, but that was quickly dashed when my MOM voted for Mark!! WHAT! In the end, the feedback was that for a traditional turkey dinner, my turkey was flavorful and very moist. For a spin on traditional, Mark’s turkey was AMAZING! Ok, so I havn’t admitted it yet, but I actually liked his better….the smoked turkey was just amazing and the presentation was beautiful, not to mention the stuffing on the inside. It wasn’t spicy per se; it was very balanced with sweet and savory with a tiny hint of roasted poblano chili. I secretly voted for Mark too. SHHH, don’t tell him!

For leftovers though, my turkey held up better.It had enough moisture to, which is good because we are still eating it.

I have conceded defeat and I'm ok with that because I am way cuter than Mark and always will be. HAH! Thank goodness I didn't wager anything major, like washing his car or something.

I hope you all enjoyed our little adventure. My recipe is posted and Mark promises to have his up next week. If he doesn’t, feel free to harass him via email, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Happy Turkeyday!