Welcome to Barbecue Nation with JT and Leanne After Hours.

The conversation that continued after the show was done.

Hey, everybody, it's JT and this is a special version of Barbecue Nation.

It is brought to you in part by Painted Hills Natural Beef.

Beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.

That's Painted Hills Natural Beef.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome to After Hours here on Barbecue Nation.

I'm JT along with my co host, Leanne Whippen, hall of famer, I might add, and meathead Goldwyn from AmazingRibs.com or as he just likes to be referred to as Meathead.

This is After Hours and as I promised in the regular show, I'm not even sure where I found a lot of these.

These are Thanksgiving trivia questions, a lot of statistics.

So like, I.

I promised there would be a test, so here you go.

But they're kind of fun.

Are you ready?

No.

Okay.

How many balloons were featured in the 2023 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Those are those big Bullwinkle things.

I don't know how many were in, but I've been seeing these commercials for that insurance company.

Oh, yeah, and they do a balloon thing.

They better goddamn not have that emu.

And the guy with the mustache in the Thanksgiving.

I'm not watching it ever again.

I would say that they have 40.

Wow.

Meathead.

I'll take the under at 30.

You're closer.

25, actually.

Wow.

Yeah, that's a lot of blooms.

When I was a boy, I lived on Long island and my grandpa would take me to the Macy's Parade.

That was.

And it was the coolest thing and the one memory that sticks in my mind is there was a guy walking a turkey on a leash and the turkey's feet were bleeding.

Oh, yeah.

Just, you know, a 10 year old kid.

This sticks to your mind and see it.

But he was marching down, I guess Fifth Avenue, whatever it is.

Okay.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I flew into New York between Thanksgiving and Christmas and spent three or four days and it was one of those weird weather breaks where it was in the 70s and there was no slush and there was no snow.

But, oh, if you've never been to New York during the Christmas season, you have to go.

Oh, yes, city is alive and colorful.

And I don't care how you could be in a foul mood.

You could be mourning somebody you love.

It is just uplifting.

And Leanne, if you go, you've got to go see the windows at Bergdorf Goodman.

Oh, my God, are they spectacular?

Yeah, I actually lived in Manhattan for a while, so.

You lived everywhere.

It was a wonderful experience being in New York during the holidays.

I bet it was New Year's Eve.

Of course, but yeah.

Okay, well, here's one I'll see.

Test your knowledge here.

According to a recent poll, what Thanksgiving side dish is the least popular among Americans?

Least popular?

Cranberries, Green bean casserole.

Green bean casserole it is.

Wow.

I like it.

I love green bean casserole.

I love the Durkey's onions, the crunchy.

In fact, I've been known to buy a can of those and just munch them.

Yeah, yeah.

They sell them in bulk at Sam's Club.

I'm the only human on earth who's never been in Sam's Club.

Oh, yeah.

Okay.

On average, you get jars of it.

I think it's not durkies anymore.

It's.

Yeah.

On average.

How many questions does the Butterball turkey talk line field from callers during the holiday season?

Bazillion.

10,000.

Well, Leanne's actually closer, but, yeah, go ahead.

I think that's.

They're based here in the Chicago area, and they hire, like, a hundred ladies.

They.

They average a hundred thousand.

Oh, my w.

According to lendingtree.com.

why the hell they're doing a survey?

I have no idea.

How many guests, on average, does a Thanksgiving host expect to serve?

And this was a survey was done in 20?

23.

8, 6, 11.

Wow.

I am bombing every question.

Okay, meathead, you're a dog guy.

So with 15 best in show tit, what dog breed has had the most wins at the National Dog show, which airs on Thanksgiving Day?

What breed?

I don't know.

And I have watched this show, and it's never the same breed twice.

I mean, if I were judging, it would be Golden Retrievers.

Well, of course.

But I don't think I've ever seen them win.

And I've had a number of labs whom I'm madly in love with.

I think some of the large poodles may have one.

I'll go with them.

Okay.

Leanne, what about the infamous whippets?

Oh, there you go.

Well, you both tanked on this one.

It's a wire fox terrier.

Oh, okay, easy one.

Here are pumpkins, technically a fruit or vegetable.

They're fruit.

Yeah.

Okay.

How many.

How.

How many calories?

Yes.

How many calories are in a typical Thanksgiving holiday dinner?

A bazillion.

There you go with that bazillion again.

2500.

Close.

3000.

I'll give you the win on that, Leanne.

Here you go, meathead.

Should get this one.

Referred to as the pumpkin capital of the US what town is home to the Libby's pumpkin canning plant?

I don't know the town, but I think it's here in Illinois.

Yeah.

Morton, Illinois to be.

Morton, Illinois.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Illinois is also the world capital of horseradish.

I did not know that.

No.

They grow more horseradish here than anything anybody else.

Huh?

Okay, okay, here's a.

Here's a.

If you don't know this one, you can't be on the show anymore.

What temperature should a turkey be cooked at for safe eating?

165.

There you go.

That's what USDA says.

And I think we're not going to get into the science.

Nope.

I think 165 is a bit too high for a little dry.

I recommend 160.

I think they've changed the rules.

If you have.

If you hot hold a Turkey at 160 for X amount of time, it's still safe according to exactly something.

Yeah.

Anybody who's done sous vide knows it's not just temperature, it's time and temperature.

And if you pull it at 160, it's going to stay there for long enough to be safe.

Right.

When was the first Thanksgiving feast held?

I want to.

I want a year.

The first Thanksgiving feast held.

So go back to your history class in grade school.

I know for me, it was a long time ago.

Well, I've read some really interesting stuff about the version that we were all taught in the school and what really happened?

That's the next question.

So don't the Wampanoags.

And, you know, did they really share and stuff like that and.

But I.

It was.

It was in the 1500s, wasn't it?

Early 1500s, Leanne.

1626.

God, you're close.

1621.

Damn.

Yeah.

Did you Google that?

No, my eyes have been peeled to you.

I haven't.

I haven't looked down.

Okay, well, what was on the menu of the first Thanksgiving?

I believe they had deer, among other things.

I don't think turkey was on the menu.

I think there were boards and the things that they had grown.

Yeah.

Like corn.

Yeah.

They had venison, goose, duck, fish, and porridge or bread made from corn.

Yeah.

They wouldn't have had fresh corn because it's done by then in New England.

Right.

Fresh corn in November.

What hurricane made landfall on Thanksgiving Day in the year 2016?

I didn't know this one, Leanne.

Nope.

I'VE never had one name after me.

We'll fix that.

Well, I'm writing.

I'm writing to the weather bureau or whoever names that we need a hurricane.

Leanne.

Yeah.

I have no idea.

Otto.

Hurricane Otto.

O T T o.

Yeah, well, they do that.

We had just had Milton years.

It was just women.

Right.

But what.

What us Founding father referred to turkeys as a bird of courage.

Oh, it was Ben Franklin.

There you go.

Oh, good job.

Well, he tried to make it the national bird, the.

The eagle.

He did.

Interesting.

Which two NFL teams have played a game on Thanksgiving Day since 1966?

This easy one.

I know the answer.

I'll give Leanne a crack since I've been shooting off my mouth too fast.

How about my boys, the Giants?

No, no.

When you said boys, you were close.

Yeah.

Okay.

Dallas and Detroit, there's only 36 teams to choose from.

That is correct.

Me, dad.

Dallas and Detroit, they're always on Thanksgiving.

Well, that's not going to be a good game.

Detroit's going to destroy them.

Well, they don't play each other.

They play other people and play other teams.

Yeah, because if they play each other.

Usually Detroit gets the Bears.

And your Bears, they're hanging in there.

They're hanging in, but Detroit's going to crush them.

They're going to fire the coach this year.

Yeah, but there's.

The building blocks are here.

I think they'll be pretty decent next year.

There you go.

How long should leftover turkey be stored?

I mean, like, how long can you keep it in the fridge till you shouldn't eat it?

Well, if it's smoked, it's going to last longer, if we want to get technical about it.

But I would say, I don't know, three days, four days.

Yeah, three or four days is probably really safe.

Possibly you can push it to a week.

The key here is, and to digress slightly, is everybody needs to check the temperature on their refrigerator.

Right.

As well as their oven.

Their oven is not accurate.

I guarantee that if you've got a good thermometer, get it in your fridge.

Get it in your oven.

But your fridge needs to be between 33 and 38.

And if it's in that range, things will keep longer.

But if you go up over 40, they're going to deteriorate faster and possibly be unsafe.

So I actually have a little.

I bought it from Thermal Works.

They sell a little tiny fridge thermometer that suction cups on the side and.

Because the setting on my fridge is inaccurate.

Okay, that's a good idea.

How many of the original pilgrims survived the first winter in America?

That.

Oh, not many.

I.

I don't know, but I.

It was a small number, I think.

Just give me a percentage.

You don't have to give me a exact number.

Yeah, 20.

Okay.

Leanne.

25.

Half of them did.

Wow.

Yeah.

Bill, that's a lot of dead bodies.

That's a lot of bodies.

Which founding father once proclaimed, no citizen of the US shall refrain from turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

This question doesn't make sense, but you can give me your answers.

But it doesn't make sense.

It wouldn't be anybody who was hanging around during the Depression.

No, no.

So it's not Hoover or.

No, the answer is way before that.

Oh, really?

Lincoln.

Before that.

Really?

Andy Jackson.

Getting closer.

Alexander Hamilton.

But, you know, Thanksgiving wasn't proclaimed a holiday.

Whoa.

Did you say President?

No, I said Alexander Hamilton.

No, but was the question president?

No, Citizen.

Oh, citizen.

He said Hamilton was never president.

Right.

It just said, which founding father once proclaimed, no citizen of the US shall refrain from Turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

But Thanksgiving wasn't a national holiday till Lincoln was president.

Lincoln made it a national holiday.

So 100 years later, more or less, I would.

I would flush that question.

I will, I will.

Yeah.

Anyway, I wanted to say this in the show, and I forgot to.

And we talked about this a little bit before.

When I get a turkey, and if I can't get a frozen fresh turkey, I get a frozen turkey like everybody else.

And you're supposed to leave it in the fridge for three or four days, whatever.

Different people say different things, but it's a long time.

Like Leanne pointed out, I actually jump start the thawing process.

I leave it on the counter when I get home for a couple of hours to kind of get that process started, and then I go throw it in that spare fridge where the pie is going to ultimately reside for just a few minutes.

But that's because if you don't, I mean, if you buy your turkey this coming Tuesday and Thanksgiving is two days away, you're going to have.

There's no way.

Because if you get like a 22 pound bird, that thing is going to take a week.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

The rule of thumb is, I mean, there are a whole bunch of guides out there about how many days for how many pounds.

And of course, that depends on the temperature of your fridge.

Just make sure you've got the bird in the fridge thawing at least Sunday at the latest.

Saturday would be better.

That gives you four or five days.

And by the way.

Little known fact, the USDA says turkey at 26 degrees can be called fresh at 26 degrees.

I call it a bowling ball.

I agree.

Yeah.

I mean, this whole idea that it's a fresh turkey, it's frozen at 26 degrees.

Yes, it is.

That's.

That.

That is disgraceful.

And the USDA needs to change their rule on this.

But I.

There is actually a place not far from me where you can walk in and you can point at a live turkey strutting around and say, I want him.

And I've done that.

And it was terrible.

And you know why?

It went through rigor mortis and I didn't know it would.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, they killed it.

And then I had it for dinner the next night.

It was just hard and awful.

And.

Oh, meat animals go through rigor mortis after slaughter.

Oh, yeah.

And they need several days to.

For the enzymes to break loose, tenderize and break down.

And I didn't know that.

And it was just the worst turkey I ever had.

Wow.

Okay.

I thought I was going to end for the best.

Which US President was the first to officially pardon a turkey?

I think it was later, I'm going to say Reagan.

Pretty close.

Pretty close.

I was going to go with Truman.

It was older.

Bush.

George H.W.

Really?

In 1989.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, which retailer.

Now you both should know this.

Which retailer was the first to host a Thanksgiving Day parade?

And I'll.

I'll give you a hint.

Macy's was not the first one.

There was another big retailer.

Gimbals.

Gimbals.

It was Gimbals.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that was a wild guess because Miracle on 34th street was competition between Macy's and Gimbels.

Right, Right.

Good call.

Okay, here's some more history here.

How many passengers were on the original Mayflower?

None.

Passengers.

Yeah.

No, you're not counting.

You're not counting.

Still working, but do pets count?

75.

Marvin, get in here.

That's right.

There were animals on there, too.

I thought it was a trick question.

No, well, it kind of is, actually.

There was 102 people on the Mayflower when we came out.

And I don't know if when the last time y'all went to Boston, but a few years ago, I was like, I took the Mayflower tour.

This is a life size replica of the Mayflower.

And you know, I'm six foot tall.

Okay.

I had to duck going into every threshold type thing like that.

But I couldn't.

And they told us then too.

You know, there was 102 people on the.

On the ship.

I couldn't see putting 102 people on that ship.

You would have had, like, 4 square inches of movable area per person, because it's not a very big ship.

And can you imagine?

I mean, the slave ships.

So what's the answer?

What's the answer?

102.

102.

Oh, yeah.

What notable American.

Native American.

Excuse me.

Served as an interpreter between the pilgrims and the Native Americans.

Oh, I know this Pocahontas's boyfriend.

Captain Smith.

I can't remember his name.

Johnson.

Squanto.

Oh, oh, right.

Yeah, Yeah.

I would not have known that.

Okay, a couple more here and we'll.

How many calories are in a half cup of bread stuffing?

This.

And folks, if you're listening to this, this does not count.

Leanne's meatheads or my stuffing.

Cause this is very undervalued here.

But how many calories are in a half a cup?

I don't want to know.

I'd say only like 210.

Sounds like a good number to me.

I don't want to know.

I mean, you know, I'm not counting.

Nobody count.

That's.

In fact, that's a rule.

Nobody counts calories on Thanksgiving.

Yeah.

Against the law.

Well, it's un American.

How much?

118.

Oh, not bad at all.

That's way undervalued.

That's way undervalued.

Well, that's probably just.

Well, if you think about it, a half a cup of bread is probably, you know, like a slice of bread.

And you're using stock.

They're really.

And carrots.

Celery.

It's really kind of low calorie from that point of view.

Years.

So I.

I get it.

Yeah.

Slice of bread is under 150.

So I put a little butter in mine, though.

Okay.

Which state raises the most turkeys did in 2023?

West Virginia.

Country roads.

Take me home.

That's an interesting guess.

Well, Iowa's pork.

You're not far from it.

North Carolina.

Oh, Iowa's close.

No.

Meathead is Minnesota.

Yes.

Wow.

Jenny O.

Turkeys.

Yeah, There you go.

Okay, last question.

This one's open for discussion in a way.

What are the four ingredients go into making a basic pie crust?

Well, I'll let you do this one.

Okay.

Flour.

Yep.

Does water count like ice water?

Okay.

And then you've got to have your either butter Crisco or your greasy stuff.

And salt.

And salt.

Perfect.

Yeah.

You.

You nailed it.

You nailed it.

You ever cook?

You ever bake a Pie with lard, Leon?

No, but I've wanted to try one with bacon grease.

A pecan pie with bacon grease.

There was a restaurant that did that, and I have to this day been wanting to try that.

Ooh.

You know, we.

We save bacon grease.

And I'll bet you guys remember.

I don't know if young kids have.

As my mom always had a tin can sitting next to the stove.

Yep.

And the bacon chocolate.

Yeah, the old chocolate.

You know, they still make chock full of nuts.

Coffee.

My wife buys it.

It's not bad.

But we always had a can that was.

I.

It was a vegetable.

Can I not talk?

But sitting beside the stove and all the.

All the grease went and it sat at room temperature.

Isn't it amazing we're all alive?

Well, you.

We use.

Hey, look, we use that on the farm.

You could use it to put some grease in the pan, so to speak.

Or if you had a boo boo on your finger or the dog had a little cut, that bacon grease would go right on there.

No kidding.

Yeah, that's.

That's true.

That's very interesting.

Yeah.

So I think people would freak out if they.

Well, if you went out in the desert to the ranches and stuff, they probably.

The cooks probably still do that.

But if you're in a metropolitan area.

Then I'm sure Kent Rollins has a.

I'm sure he does.

Can of bacon grease sitting in.

Yeah, right next to the other can next to the axle grease for his wagon.

Yeah, Know, type thing.

But it's.

And if your listeners don't know who Kent Rollins is, go to YouTube and look him up.

Kent Rollins.

Yeah, he also.

He'll.

You'll fall in love instantly.

He also goes by the Cowboy Cook, and we've never had a problem with that.

And he does some great work there.

Okay, last.

Last goofy question, and then I'm done.

What movie holds the record for the highest grossing weekend in Thanksgiving history?

What movie holds the highest.

The record for the highest grossing weekend in Thanksgiving history?

Jurassic Park.

I don't know.

She's probably close.

No, no, it would be one of the.

It would be one of the crit.

You're talking about on television, right?

Or no, in a movie theater and movie theaters.

Yeah, but now would have to be a new release.

Yeah.

Miracle on 34th Street?

No.

That's a good guess, but no.

It's a Wonderful Life.

No, I'm afraid Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

You're actually in St.

Louis.

Okay, hold on to your biscuits here, folks.

It's frozen Two.

Oh, that's surprising.

I've never seen either of one or.

Sometimes because I saw Frozen one.

That's kind of on the same plane as when our daughter was little.

I watched that goddamn Free Willy movie a million times with Merce.

She loved it.

And then I was doing some work in Beaumont, Texas, doing a show in Beaumont.

And we came back to Houston and gather her and Shelly up and then my brother and sister in law, their daughter, and we are driving up, we go through San Antonio and we go to SeaWorld.

Right?

Go to SeaWorld.

She's all excited.

She's going to see Free Willie and all this.

And we get there and they let the big whale out and he's kind of warming up and right in front of us in the tank, he kind of goes shooting out of the water.

That kid ran so fast as a two or three year old.

However she was, she climbed up over me, over the seats behind me, ran up the stairs and she was booking it.

She was scared to death.

That big freaking.

Oh wow.

And going to SeaWorld with, you know, eight people is not cheap.

And I think I've told you I had bought a smoked turkey leg there.

That was the only thing that I was looking forward to on that whole day was eating that smoked turkey leg.

And she takes off.

I go grab her.

Shell says we can't take her back in there.

She's scared to death.

We head to the car, we get in one of those Texas monsoons.

The kid knocks the turkey leg out of my hand and I watch it float away in the parking lot.

Oh my God, the $20 turkey leg.

And that was not a good day for dad.

So anyway, it has a long lasting memory.

It.

That it does.

That it does.

Here's a, here's some help for you.

Those turkey legs are all from Tom turkeys, which tend to be bigger than the females.

And most of them are produced in a factory in Texas.

And they are cured the same way you would cure a ham with sodium nitrite, right?

And they come out sort of pinkish and they taste kind of hammy.

And I have the recipe for them on AmazingRibs.com they're not hard to make.

You go out and buy yourself some turkey legs.

They don't have to be Tom's and follow my recipe and you can make Disney turkey legs.

Yep, there you go.

You can.

And that's my last question.

This is more of a food question.

Do you guys.

I buy extra legs because the crew that comes here, even though they're not this Year likes dark meat.

So I always go to that store I spoke about earlier and I buy two or three, sometimes more.

They're usually two in a package of the larger tom turkey legs and I smoke them.

Plus when people go to take leftovers home, I notice they tend to take more of the dark meat home than they do the breast meat.

Your crowd's pretty sophisticated.

Well, they're just finicky.

And so I always have.

Right there next to the pecan pie, I've got two or three turkey legs smoked in the other fridge.

That because my favorite sandwiches, dark meat, white bread, mayo, you know, whatever other stuff you want.

Put some of the cranberries or whatever.

Do that.

That's my fave.

So do you guys cook extra turkey legs?

No.

Okay.

Now my brother in law does the biggest turkey he can find, fills it with stuffing.

And I do.

I think we.

My wife picked it up today, a 16 pounder.

And I'm gonna break it down and smoke it and more than enough of everything.

Everybody brings this.

I mean always.

Everybody's going home with foil packets and carry out boxes and.

Right.

Go.

Go to the dollar store and go to the dollar store and spend 10 bucks for their.

Yeah, that's what you told me you do.

Yeah.

Plastic tubs.

And I don't want them back.

You know, I don't want them back.

Just take it.

That's a great idea.

Little Christmas gift ahead of time.

Anyway, we're gonna go meathead.

Thank you, folks.

Don't forget to go to AmazingRibs.com Leanne, good to see you again, my dear.

It's been a couple weeks since we actually did this.

And you can go to pigpowder.com and find the pig powder there.

And a new flavor coming out after the first year.

Spicy one.

Yep, absolutely.

And you can check our good stuff.

I love our rubs.

Oh, thank you.

Great.

And you can check us out on barbecue nation jt.com I'm thinking about combining all the different websites I have to make it a little easier on me, but we'll work on that later.

Anyway, we help for the three of us.

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends.

Don't forget why we do it besides just eating a lot and watching football games.

But go out there, be kind and take care everybody.