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    PEOPLE Stars of Food Network
    PEOPLE Stars of Food Network
    PEOPLE Stars of Food Network
    Ebook224 pages1 hour

    PEOPLE Stars of Food Network

    By The Editors of PEOPLE

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    About this ebook

    PEOPLE Magazine presents PEOPLE Stars of Food Network.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPeople
    Release dateOct 19, 2018
    ISBN9781547845095
    PEOPLE Stars of Food Network

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      Book preview

      PEOPLE Stars of Food Network - The Editors of PEOPLE

      TV.

      REE DRUMMOND

      So Much to Celebrate

      FOR ALL OF HER TRAVELS, THERE’S NOWHERE THE WORLD-FAMOUS RANCHER’S WIFE-TURNED-PIONEER WOMAN STAR WOULD RATHER BE THAN HER TINY HOMETOWN OF PAWHUSKA, OKLAHOMA

      HAPPY TRAIL I just didn’t think of myself as a person who was on TV, says Drummond. I had a little moment of woman power and thought, why not just try it?

      THANKSGIVING ISN’T THE time for experimenting and veering off the traditional dishes that everybody likes, declares Ree Drummond. The multimedia phenomenon known as the Pioneer Woman might change things up with a new side dish or two, but I always have mashed potatoes, home-baked rolls and pecan pie. Holiday or not, at home near Pawhuska, Okla., the Drummond family is not known for culinary adventure."

      To some 25 million blog readers and legions of Food Network fans, Drummond and her clan are instead known as the wholesome, hardworking costars in a home-and-family saga that Ree has turned into a lifestyle empire, even if the empress rejects the term. "When I hear that word, I think of Julius Caesar in Mel Brooks’s History of the World, Part 1, Drummond says. An empire is a place where you get to sit atop a throne and take in all that you’ve created, and I just don’t have time for that."

      Not with all she’s got going down on the ranch. Readers of Drummond’s five bestselling cookbooks, nine kids’ books and a 2012 memoir know that she has homeschooled her four children—daughters Alex, 21, and Paige, 18, and sons Bryce, 15, and Todd, 14. The 1.3 million viewers of her cheerfully casual cooking show are fully aware that her husband, Ladd—a.k.a. Marlboro Man—is a cattle rancher with eyes as blue as the big sky over the 433,000 acres of prime cattle country that have been in his family for five generations. Visitors to the Mercantile, the restaurant and store the couple opened last fall, have created a tourism boom in tiny Pawhuska (pop. 3,500), where those wishing to spend the night can now check into the Pioneer Woman Boarding House, the eight-room boutique hotel that the Drummonds opened last April.

      But they won’t find them open for business on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Before we opened up reservations at the hotel, I woke up one morning and thought, ‘I don’t want the hotel staff to have to be there Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving Day.’ And so we actually blocked off the dates so the staff wouldn’t miss holidays with their family, says Drummond. Thanksgiving is one of the few days a year that there’s absolutely no work going on at the ranch, so the guys really start amping up and looking forward to it weeks beforehand.

      By Drummond standards, holiday meals at home are almost intimate affairs. It’s definitely under 20 people most holidays, which is nice because we can sit at one big table if we squeeze in and really like each other! she says. Turkey with corn-bread dressing (including some stuffing baked inside the bird for Ree’s father-in-law) is always on the menu, the corn-bread stuffing a recipe from Drummond’s mother-in-law, who passed away in June. This will be the first holiday season without her, so I think traditional foods are going to have extra significance this year, she says.

      Christmas on the ranch means beef tenderloin and some type of hot gooey chocolate dessert for Christmas Eve— that’s our big nighttime meal—and on Christmas morning, biscuits and gravy and fried quail, a tradition that dates back decades in the Drummond family. They used to do a big quail hunt during Thanksgiving weekend, freeze them, then fry them up for Christmas brunch. The quail used to be everywhere, but it’s a little delicacy now because the coyotes have diminished the population.

      After a quiet New Year’s since it’s not something we really hold dear, says Drummond, it will be back to work on a half dozen new projects, including a steakhouse and a pizzeria in Pawhuska—right where she wants them. Cooking has opened up the world a little bit for me, but I’ve also been able to maintain the life that I love here, she says. Life is just an adventure—everything eventually makes sense; you need to go with it and see where it takes you.

      THE SHOW HAS BROUGHT OPPORTUNITIES THAT NEVER WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. . . . BUT MY LIFE NOW IS VERY MUCH THE SAME IN SOME FUNDAMENTAL WAYS

      –REE DRUMMOND

      FOOD NETWORK FLASHBACK

      AT HOME ON THE RANGE—AND ON THE AIR

      Her initial ambition was small—a blog about life on an Oklahoma cattle ranch, written by a home-schooling mom of four at 5 a.m., after the day’s work had begun. Drummond’s self-described enormous digital scrapbook launched in 2006 and was an instant success; it now draws around 23 million monthly readers. As one cookbook after another by the high-spirited home cook rocketed up the bestseller list, folks at Food Network became convinced that Pioneer Woman’s readers would happily turn on their TVs to catch her cooking on air. Boy, did they. An immediate hit, Drummond’s show is the most popular on the network, even if the star admits it initially took time to find her footing. I used to feel like I was just talking to a camera. I had a hard time connecting, she told People. Once I started realizing that I’m actually talking to the people, that really helped me. What else? A lot more makeup than when I cook in real life, she says, along with standing up straight (I probably look a little thinner) and tidying up for her close-ups. My kitchen is a lot cleaner when I cook on TV!

      REE’S THANKSGIVING FAVORITES

      Drummond’s apple cider roast turkey is brined for up to 24 hours and comes out of the oven deliciously tender. If you don’t have a wire roasting rack, line the bottom of a pan with balled-up pieces of foil—lifting the bird away from direct heat allows it to roast more evenly, she says. Allow the pecan pie to set for several hours after baking, but serve it warm. Very often I’ll bake it the night before Thanksgiving; by the next day, it’s perfect.

      APPLE CIDER ROAST TURKEY

      3 large oranges, plus 2 Tbsp. orange zest, divided

      4 rosemary sprigs, stems removed, plus 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary, divided

      3 cups apple cider

      2 cups packed light brown sugar

      ¾ cup kosher salt

      3 Tbsp. tricolor peppercorns

      5 garlic cloves, minced

      5 bay leaves

      1 20-lb. whole fresh or thawed frozen turkey

      1 cup salted butter, softened

      1. Prepare the brine: Remove peel from oranges in large strips. Reserve oranges for another use. Combine orange peel, rosemary leaves, cider, 2 gallons cold water, sugar, salt, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove from heat, and cover. Cool completely; chill 2 hours.

      2. Remove turkey from packaging. Remove interior bags. (If you plan to make gravy with giblets, place bag in refrigerator, and chill until ready to use.) Rinse turkey under cool water; place in a plastic brining bag or a very large stockpot.

      3. Pour brine over turkey. If brine does not cover turkey, add additional water to cover. Seal bag or cover pot; chill 16 to 24 hours.

      4. Remove turkey from brine; discard brine. Thoroughly rinse turkey under cold water. Fill sink with water; place turkey in sink. Soak turkey 15 minutes. Pat dry.

      5. Preheat oven to 275°. Truss turkey; place breast-side up on a wire rack in a large roasting pan. Cover tightly and completely with heavy-duty foil (including bottom edge of roasting pan). Roast turkey in oven 3 hours and 30 minutes (about

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