RJ Jaramillo, the founder of the Cook Like A Dad blog, is officially the first man to take calls on Butterball's "Turkey Talk" line, the company's hotline for answering cooks' questions about prepping their Thanksgiving birds.
The turkey-producing giant invited men to participate for the first time this year when it noticed one in four of its tip-line callers were male, The AP's Candice Choi reports.
But before Jaramillo could field his first Thanksgiving call, he — and every other Turkey Talk expert — had to graduate from Butterball University, a three-day intensive course in Naperville, Ill. where the people who work the phones learn everything there is to know about cooking a turkey.
Freshmen receive a six-inch binder full of how-tos that stays with them throughout their tenure as Turkey Talk Line experts. Every year, all Butterball turkey experts go through advanced refresher courses that take place on days two and three, according to The Chicago Tribune.
According to The Tribune's Emily Bryson York, who attended in 2010, the course includes a review of pre-cooking safety measures, like opening the packaged turkey in a clean sink and preparing it with a rub.
It also touches on the anatomy of a turkey and how to properly take its temperature. The experts practice cooking a turkey various ways, like oven roasting, grilling, smoking, microwaving, and deep frying.
Turkey Talk Line experts-in-training also learn the culture associated with each method, York wrote. For instance, oven roasting is the most popular method overall, while microwaving is popular among college kids.
And finally, they get to taste the fruits of their labor.
