Be thankful for this recipe. You’re welcome.
Mark Best and Shane Osborn share their Thanksgiving Turkey Burger recipe
There has been no cooking show like Netflix’s The Final Table. The reality TV series featured 24 extraordinary chefs, who were paired with and, finally, pitted against each other. The competition was hosted by Bon Appetit editor Andrew Knowlton in a massive arena, made even more grand with the sensory overload of Hollywood lighting, music, sound effects, and breakneck edits. Real blood, sweat, and tears were involved, and the contestants seemed more like gladiators than chefs.
They were fighting to win a seat at The Final Table, a gathering of legends whose collection of stars and awards make up the astronomical map any chef must navigate to find his place in the culinary world. In each episode, the cuisine of a selected country took centerstage. Three cultural ambassadors (usually celebrities and a proper food critic) decided what their nation’s signature dish was. The bottom three teams had to cook off, and showcase a local ingredient that was chosen by the country’s most celebrated chef, who happened to be part of The Final Table. The least successful team was voted off.
The fan favorites were Australian chefs Mark Best (Marque and Pei Modern) and Shane Osborn
(Pied a Terre, Arcane, and Cornerstone), who served their dishes with a heaping helping of bromance and dad jokes. They were one of the final two teams before they were broken up and were told to compete as individuals, tasked to prepare a defining dish that should “cause ripples around the culinary world.” Best was the runner-up, an upsetting loss to
Timothy Hollingsworth (The French Laundry and Otium). The season was released last year.
It took almost a year, but the American dream continued on board the Genting Dream, the inaugural ship of Dream Cruises. “Since the show, I’ve gotten more heavily involved with Dream Cruises and Genting. We opened up another ship, the Explorer Dream,” Best said. The fleet’s latest addition will be homeported in Sydney and Auckland until March 2020.
The duo were at sea for five nights, cruising from Singapore to Vietnam and back. They also curated a special four-hands six-course menu for guests at Seafood Grill by Mark Best, a modern surf-and-turf restaurant located at deck eight. The collaboration also marked the first post-show partnership between them, and Osborn’s first time to be on a cruise.
“This is the first time I’ve been on a cruise ship. I’m absolutely loving it. I had an amazing sleep last night, and woke up with the windows open, the fresh air coming into the room. I had coffee on the balcony,” Osborn narrated.
“I looked over Shane’s balcony, and he was relaxing in a pair of underpants while drinking his coffee. He said it was only 8:30 a.m.. I said, ‘You have literally nine minutes to get ready.’ Just a warning to everyone, ship’s time is Singapore time (one hour ahead of Vietnam),” Best interrupted.
Osborn rushed to get ready for the 10 a.m. interview and cooking demonstration of the famous Thanksgiving Turkey Burger that was complemented by Hollywood stars Dax Shepherd and Colin
Hanks. Episode six featured the US, and the cultural ambassadors didn’t choose just one dish, they chose an entire meal.
“In one hour, we had to cook something that usually takes 24 hours. We married two things that are quintessentially American, which is Thanksgiving and fast food culture, the hamburger,” Best said. “[There was] Dax Shepard, a famous Hollywood actor, and husband of Kristen Bell. Sam Sifton is the head critic of the New York Times, and next to him is Colin Hanks, Tom Hanks’ son, and a famous actor in his own right. That shows you the level of the show. At this stage, Sam Sifton was questioning the texture of the turkey burger, saying it was not what he was used to, and Dax said to him, ‘I think you’re allergic to a good time!’ He picked up the burger and ate it in about three mouthfuls.”
If genius is not too big a word for their talent, that’s how many (including the two chefs) described the dish.
“What’s great with this dish is that it’s something that the typical American person like Homer Simpson can eat while holding the remote control of the television. It’s fast food, it’s all-in-one. You can pick it up and eat it…I think that just sums up American cuisine,” Osborn said.
As a treat, the two chefs shared the recipe with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle.
‘In one hour, we had to cook something that usually takes 24 hours. We married two things that are quintessentially American, which is Thanksgiving and fast food culture, the hamburger.’