Gordon Ramsay Would Want You To Do This With Your Thanksgiving Turkey

Despite the brouhaha Gordon Ramsay caused during a Starbuck's drive-thru prank, during which he asked a server to create a rather complicated "toastie" only to throw the food in the garbage, Ramsay encourages his fans to shun food waste (via UK Metro). Food waste is an ongoing problem in the United States where we throw away 40 million tons of food every year, according to RTS. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that a family of four throws away $1,500 in food every year, and USA Today says when we hit the holiday season, we waste the most. The Natural Resources Defense Council told the outlet that 200 million pounds of just turkey from our Thanksgiving Day feasts will end up in the garbage. Tack onto that the 38 million people who experienced hunger in 2020 in just the US, per Feeding America, and you get a much clearer picture of why we need to curb this problem.

Wasting food is not anyone's end goal, which is why you may want to think about what Ramsay would encourage you to do with your turkey if you are serving up this bird for the big T-Day. The celebrity chef, who made his name with his bad temper and the "Hell's Kitchen" series, would tell you there is one thing you have to plan to do if you are serving up turkey.

Per Masterclass, Ramsay would tell you to plan on using "every part of the animal" if you are cooking turkey for Thanksgiving. And guess what, that includes the carcass, which can be frozen for later use or boiled up to make a stock that can be used for months to come. If you need some inspiration, you can watch Ramsay do just that with a chicken carcass. Ramsay calls this "whole-animal cooking" and in a Youtube video where he is showing young chefs how to cut up a chicken, he advocates for leaving very little meat on the carcass. The same needs to happen when you carve up your turkey.  

But Ramsay wouldn't stop there with the turkey. As you are preparing your Thanksgiving day meal, make certain you are taking full advantage of every part of the vegetables you are chopping up to cook and serve. Masterclass further explains how Ramsay encourages cooks to use the green leafy tops from carrots for soup or salads as an example of using the whole vegetable. So as you are planning your holiday meal, think about how you can use the entirety of your turkey, vegetables, and leftovers to help eliminate food waste and to save yourself time and money.