The best and worst things on the Spadeas’ Thanksgiving table

We talked about Jodi "Spatchcock" Spadea making sure that the Thanksgiving bird is properly prepared for our favorite dinner of the year.

Thanks to Jersey Traffic South Jill Myra for the nickname!

This is a technique she employs with roast chicken as well and it's a go-to method in our house. We were especially happy that this year we were joined by Charlie the Butcher, who worked with Jodi on the main bird and then prepared something I've never had with bird number two.

Charlie the Butcher’s confit-style dark meat

Charlie separated the legs and the wings so we'd have extra dark meat on the table to cover everyone's tastes. The legs were then cooked in a confit-style, which means cooked in its own fat.

For this Charlie added some duck fat.

Wow.

It was slow-cooked for many hours and came out perfectly. With the spatchcock technique, butter under the skin, the basting, dry brine, and turkeys sourced from our friends at Justfarmed.com, it was a perfect meal.

SEE ALSO: Spadea's gun-to-table Thanksgiving: Shotgun hunts, spit-roasted goat and old-school Jersey fun

The controversial New Jersey staple nobody wants to eat

The worst thing on the table, of course, was the canned jellied cranberry sauce.

It's a Jersey tradition, so I make sure it's on the table every year. Only my daughter tried some this year; everyone else skipped it like they were scared of it.

Homemade sides that put store-bought Thanksgiving dishes to shame

The mashed potatoes in the foreground of the pic were made with raw heavy cream and raw salted butter from the PA Dutch market and two raw egg yolks mixed into the cooked potatoes.

The eggplant parm is a specialty of Jodi's mom and adds the Italian portion of the meal.

Then the stuffing. Yes, I'll share Jodi's recipe ahead of the next holiday.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.

Report a correction 👈

FOLLOW BILL: Join the Bill Spadea's New Jersey channel on our Facebook page.