Episode 5: Banana Flambé and Turducken

"Hello everybody and welcome to our show cooking with Astrid and Hiccup. I'm Hiccup and this is my co-host Astrid." Hiccup introduces as he and Astrid enter on stage.

"Hello everybody. Today is very special. It is the last episode for this month and we'll be having a special guest star with us today" Astrid told the audience.

"We will?" Hiccup asked in surprise.

"Oh yes we will. Our producer asked me to keep this a surprise." Astrid stated. "Now everybody please welcome our guest chef for today Dagur!"

"Dagur!" Hiccup yelled in surprise as said man in question emerged from backstage and waved at the audience.

"Astrid is this such a good idea?" Hiccup whispered.

"It was the producer's idea. You'll have to take it up with them." Astrid simply said as they all moved behind the counter.

"Hiccup so good to see you again." Dagur stated. "You still huffy that my Bourbon Pecan Chicken beat you in the presentation test."

"Oh Dagur it's so good to see you to. Why should I be annoyed. After all my Chicken Makhani beat you in the overall taste test." Hiccup said and returned the glare Dagur gave him.

There was also a growl which came from the audience. Toothless slowly advanced on Dagur.

"Toothless. You can eat Dagur later." Hiccup stated stopping Toothless in his tracks.

"Hey!" Dagur exclaimed while Toothless gave a whine of annoyance.

"Boys stop comparing each other's chickens and let's get cooking." Astrid said with her arms crossed. "And Toothless back to your seat."

Toothless gave one last growl in Dagur's direction before returning.

Dagur and Hiccup stopped their glaring contest and Dagur addressed the audience. "Hello everybody. Today we'll be making two dishes. I will be presenting the first one which will be a Banana Flambé."

"The ingredients we'll be using are 4 teaspoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons butter, 2 whole peeled and sliced bananas, 2 tablespoons banana liqueur, 2 tablespoons brandy, 2 glasses filled halfway with vanilla ice cream, 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup, 4 tablespoons whipped cream, 2 whole strawberries, remove the stem and make a small hole for the cubed sugar, and 2 sugar cubes." Astrid laid out the ingredients as Dagur summed them up.

Hiccup however could be seen whispering something to Fishlegs whose eyebrows shot up. Fishlegs gave a nod and quickly gestured for a stagehand.

"Now in a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the sugar until it becomes liquid. Add the butter and the sliced banana. Cook for about 6 minutes. Then remove the pan from the heat and then add the banana liqueur." Dagur says and then smirked at Hiccup when nothing goes wrong with Astrid. Hiccup merely rolls his eyes and then turns to the stagehand tapping his shoulder. He is handed a small cylinder.

"We now continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat once again, then add the brandy. Once you put the pan back in the heat, it should flambé. Remove the pan from the heat and start spooning the flambéed banana into the ice cream glass. Add the chocolate syrup and the whipped cream. On top of the whipped cream, right in the center, place the cleaned strawberry, then place the sugar cube in the center of the strawberry. Pour a little bit of the brandy on top of the sugar." Dagur stated and stepped next to the dish with a match. He crouched a bit so that he was eye level with the ice cream glass and then said. "Now we carefully ignite it with a match."

As soon as the match hit the brandy a very high flame appeared.

"AAHHHH" Dagur yelled as his hair caught on fire. Dagur let out a girlish scream just as Hiccup used a small fire extinguisher to put out the flame on top of his head.

Dagur spat out the white foam and whipped it from his face when Hiccup grabbed his stomach and began laughing like crazy. The audience who had been watching in shock also began laughing. Especially Toothless who was already on his back.

Dagur quickly picked up an aluminum pan and looked to see that one of his eyebrows had been burned away. He then quickly ran backstage while trying to cover his eyebrow.

"You were expecting that Hiccup?" Astrid questioned with arms folded.

"I thought it was a possibility. He was rather vague about the amount of bourbon at the end." Hiccup simply stated and then addressed the audience. "We'll be right back with our next dish right after these commercials."

When the show returned we see Hiccup smirking while Astrid was looking at him skeptically.

"Now the next recipe will be Turducken. Which is a deboned chicken stuffed in a deboned duck which is further stuffed into a deboned turkey." Hiccup stated showing the audience the three birds on the counter.

"That is the weirdest thing I have heard, and I share an apartment with Ruffnut." Astrid stated as she was still looking skeptical.

"HEY!" Was yelled from backstage but Astrid ignored it.

"Well then I'll prove it to you." Hiccup said with determination.

For this recipe we'll need for the brine 1 cup kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 gallon water, 18 to 21-pound turkey, skin intact and deboned except for drumsticks, House seasoning, Cornbread Dressing, 3 to 4-pound duck, deboned, 3 to 4-pound chicken, deboned, and Paprika."

Hiccup then looked at Snotlout who was filming behind a shield. "Snotlout put the shield away. You won't be hit by a wishbone again." Hiccup stated. "I already had them deboned."

Snotlout who then gave a sheepish look quickly chucked the shield away.

"For the House Seasoning we'll need 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, and 1/4 cup garlic powder."

"To make the Cornbread Dressing we first have to make the Cornbread for which we'll need 1 cup self rising cornmeal, 1/2 cup self-rising flour, 3/4 cup buttermilk, 2 eggs, and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil."

"The ingredients for the dressing consist of 7 slices white bread, dried in warm oven, Cornbread, 1 sleeve saltine crackers, 2 cups chopped celery,1 large onion, chopped,8 tablespoons butter,7 cups chicken stock, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon dried sage, 1 tablespoon poultry seasoning, and 5 eggs, beaten."

"I still don't see how this would work Hiccup." Astrid stated as she finished setting up all the ingredients. Hiccup merely smirked.

"Now to make the brine: Mix salt and sugar with the water. Brine is ready when the mixture is completely dissolved. If the water is heated to quicken the process, make sure it is cooled to room temperature before placing meat in. Let the 3 birds sit in brine in the refrigerator overnight."

"Next preheat the roaster to 500 degrees F." Hiccup stated and then walked to the birds.

"First we lay the turkey skin side down on a flat surface. Dust turkey with House Seasoning and add 1/4-inch layer of cornbread dressing." Hiccup stated and watched while Astrid meticulously dusted the bird.

"Astrid we are not looking for fingerprints." Hiccup stated while lifting an eyebrow but Astrid just send a glare his way.

"Moving on…" Hiccup quickly said then.

"Then we lay duck skin side down on top of dressing. Dust duck with House Seasoning and add 1/4-inch layer of dressing. Repeat this process with the chicken."

"Begin trussing up the turkey at the neck. Insert the metal skewer about 1/2-inch from the edge and up through the other side. Run butcher's twine between skin and skewer and tighten to draw both sides together. Continue down to legs. With every other skewer, draw together the duck and chicken skin. Tie together turkey legs to resemble standard turkey and then dust turkey skin with paprika." Hiccup stated while Astrid was binding the birds.

"Astrid you don't have to strangle them. They're already dead." Hiccup stated.

"Hiccup do you want to sleep on the couch for a year!" Astrid simply said and the Tuffnut couldn't help comment while sniggering. "He's whipped."

Hiccup discreetly coughed and shot a glare at Tuffnut.

"Now we roast the turducken for 15 minutes. Then turn the roaster down to 225 degrees F to finish in approximately 3 hours. Then remove the turducken from roaster once the internal temperature in the chicken reaches 155 degrees F. Let rest for at least 20 minutes before carving." Hiccup stated and got out an already roasted turducken for the demonstration.

"We cut across the middle of the breast completely through. Plate thin slices containing turkey, duck and chicken."

Astrid was looking at the dish as it was being plated.

"Hiccup…" Astrid stated. "You actually got a chicken in a duck and then both in a turkey. Definitely weirdest dish I've seen."

"Well you do have a weird boyfriend." Ruffnut yelled from backstage which caused both Astrid and Hiccup to blush.

"Well that's all for October folks." Hiccup said coming around the counter.

"Yes we hope to be seeing you for an all new season next month." Astrid said while they waved to the audience.

Producer's note: …sshhhhhh

Hiccup: Why are you in a trashcan?

Producer: Hiding… duh

Hiccup: Why?

Suddenly Dagur comes around the corner.

Dagur: There you are! Come back here!

Producer: AHHHHHHHH!

Hiccup: Good thing we have extra health insurance.