Here's How Bobby Flay Keeps Food Warm On Thanksgiving
Undoubtedly, one of the most difficult things about cooking and serving the Thanksgiving meal — or any dinner party type of gathering — is keeping everything hot. Many dishes need time in the oven or take up space on the stove top, and that means stacked cooking for some people. So, the major question is how do you keep something that's done cooking hot while everything else is being prepared?
While you can certainly try to organize the order of dishes you cook to try to avoid this problem, chances are, you'll need to reheat a few dishes. Williams-Sonoma suggests using chafing dishes, the microwave, and even the grill to keep things warm. But if you ask Bobby Flay, this isn't even an issue. His ingenious trick for re-heating Thanksgiving food not only makes it taste delicious, it allows him to prepare other dishes ahead of the holiday (via Food and Wine).
Bobby Flay uses this pantry staple to heat things up
In an interview with Food and Wine, Flay described exactly how he manages everything. "The most important thing to my Thanksgiving is having warm chicken stock on the stove to reheat things, like the stuffing and turkey," he shared. "I break down the breast, then I take all the meat off the legs and thighs so it's a pulled, dark turkey meat, like carnitas. The breast is sliced and put on a tray. I have hot chicken stock on the stove, and then I just hit the meat with it, and it brings it back to life."
The great thing about using hot chicken stock to reheat stuffing or dressing is that it will keep the dish moist. "I make indentations in the trays of stuffing with a spoon," he said. "I put the hot chicken stock in it, and it keeps it warm." It's no wonder this is his favorite trick. And coming from a celebrity chef who cooks three 30-pound turkeys each year to feed up to 50 people, it must be worth trying.