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Baking a Turkey in a Paper Bag ! ... For Real


Monroe

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When I lived in Florida in the early 80's for a few years ... before satellite tv ... when cable was all the rage with not too many stations even on 24 hrs a day. I enjoyed some of the cooking shows on at that time and there was this one show with a chef from Texas. One episode was all about baking a turkey for Thanksgiving in a brown paper bag in the oven.

After seeing the episode several times I decided to give it a try ... it really worked and the turkey will bake faster to golden brown ... his time was 10 minutes per pound ... the steam in the bag cooks the turkey faster.

You have to get a plain brown paper bag with no ink on it ... no ads. I went to Winn-Dixie and they had both the Winn-Dixie brown bags and plain brown bags ... so I bought two unused large brown bags and peanut oil. I had the directions written down.

Anyway, I thought about all this a few weeks ago and decided to see if I could find anything about the show. I could not remember the name of the show or the chef ... I remembered his face and the fact that he always worked in the kitchen dressed in an ascot and jacket. I used to wonder how he didn't get all splattered with everything ... he must have had several jackets.

The show was out of Dallas ... I could only remember Texas. His name was David Wade and I learned today he has since passed away ... in 2001. Also, he was not "really" a chef ... he was known as a "food presenter" ... I could not rember his name but doing a Google search I remembered him when I saw his face and the ascot and jacket.

"Admittedly, Wade was not a chef but recognized as one of the top "food presenters". That was a term possibly reserved just for Wade as he was no doubt difficult to categorize. But his words stuck with me through out my life. Wade had his own coat of arms."

The above words in quotes are from the article below ...

"Remembering David Wade - the Rembrandt of the Kitchen"

http://cravedfw.com/2014/05/20/remembering-david-wade-the-rembrandt-of-the-kitchen/

Also found this from a woman who saw the show in the 60's I guess ... I saw it in the 80's. This is the recipe ...

"When my husband and I were newly married in the 60's and away from home for our first Thanksgiving I had no idea how to start a Thanksgiving turkey dinner. David Wade's cooking show came on TV and I took notes on how to cook my first Thanksgiving turkey. I have used this wonderful receipe each and every Thanksgiving for 45 years. Everyone raves about the moist and delightful brown turkey. Easy!!! Cooking time 10 minutes per pound - really!!!!! Use a 12 pound or larger turkey. Do not subsitute the peanut oil."

Turkey in a Sack

http://www.food.com/recipe/turkey-in-a-sack-442999

David Wade - The "Gourmet's" Gourmet Chef

http://www.davidwadegourmet.com/#!about/ierjb

So I take you back to days long gone ... before satellite tv ... to a chef or "food presenter" in Dallas baking a turkey in a paper bag. It really works and did work for me ... just for fun and to see if it really did work.
...

Edited by monroe
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When I lived in Florida in the early 80's for a few years ... before satellite tv ... when cable was all the rage with not too many stations even on 24 hrs a day. I enjoyed some of the cooking shows on at that time and there was this one show with a chef from Texas. One episode was all about baking a turkey for Thanksgiving in a brown paper bag in the oven.

Those words are from the article ...

You should put words that are not yours into quotes. I can't tell what is your writing without them.

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I had the quotes there ... I probably should have added the words "above" and "below" ... which I have done so.

 

"Admittedly, Wade was not a chef but recognized as one of the top "food presenters". That was a term possibly reserved just for Wade as he was no doubt difficult to categorize. But his words stuck with me through out my life. Wade had his own coat of arms."

 

The above words in quotes are from the article below ...

 

"Remembering David Wade - the Rembrandt of the Kitchen"

...

Edited by monroe
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So you learned how to bake a bird via a paper bag from a place called Winn-Dixie. Now you realize the person on television was not a real certified chief but a food presentator. But the recipe seems to work great, even if the person was not a chief of any sort. Well that sounds interesting to know. It looks kinda dangerous as well, and from time to time in stores I remember do seeing giant paperbags ( like the ones we would carry our groceries in. Noting you said presentation makes me think about Sushi, as half of that job is not only preparing the food but making it look better then what it is.

.....

Next your going to tell me to use a squirt bottle on my burgers and fries to make them more juicer then they should be. Nice stories anyhows.

Edited by ROTS
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Welcome back ... I've been expecting you !

 

Now to "sort of new" information.

 

I have been searching around for a video of that particular David Wade cooking episode. I have not been able to find anything as yet. It's too bad that episode and a few others are not on DVD.

 

I did find some additional interesting information ... this from the David Wade Gourmet web site dated October 29, 2015 ... the receipe.

 

Turkey-In-A-Sack

October 29, 2015

 

http://www.davidwadegourmet.com/#!TurkeyInASack/xyz27/5632448d0cf2ce5bf432ee7e

 

... then this from 2014

 

David Wade, Gourmet: Have Ascot, Will Travel

by Paula Bosse

 

http://flashbackdallas.com/2014/11/24/david-wade-gourmet/

...

Edited by monroe
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