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Tips from Chef Peter Bruni

• Cool meat, let it “rest,” so birds and well-done meats stay together, and all meats stay moist. “When you cook food it forces fluids out, but resting allows the juices to come back in, get locked in.”

• Warm meats to room temp. “It’s not going to hurt, even a chicken, to sit out 30 to 45 minutes to get to room temperature — unless you set it in the sun or next to a hot stove.” this helps meat cook more evenly.

• The key to his gravy is wine, whatever will go with the meal. (He used a white wine for the turkey.) For the dinner he started with a gravy mix in the turkey drippings and any morsels left after a pan of sliced meat was finished, then he added poultry seasoning, parsley and black pepper. All to taste.

• He said he only tells people the ingredients in recipes, not the amounts of each ingredient, because there are too many variables in how strong spices are. “If the ingredient has sat in the cupboard for six months, it won’t be as strong as it was when freshly bought at the store.”

• He also has a cool pocket sewn into the sleeve of his white chef’s jacket, near his shoulder, that is basically a plastic spoon holster, with several spoons tucked in the slots. If he needs to taste what he’s cooking, he uses then disposes of the spoon to avoid mistakenly double-dipping.

 

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