[the scene opens up with AB at the table AND with
many sized
jack-o-lanterns laying around in just as many designs, his hand
is poised with a knife as he's about to carve a fresh one]
Oh, hi. Alton Brown, here. As
you can see, I enjoy carving pumpkins. I pretty much carve them from Halloween
right through New Years to Valentines Day. It's, well, it's very relaxing. You
know, of course when you carve as many pumpkins as I do, you do accumulate some
seeds. Heh. Lots and lots of seeds. Now, I used to just throw them away. Now, I
eat them thus extracting their potent nutritional power. It's kind of like
absorbing those little pumpkin souls. [indicates the jack-o-lanterns around him]
Ha, ha!
All right. Step one, is, of course, cutting off the top of
their lucky little heads ... gourds. Heh, heh. I use a small saw from the
hardware store for the job. But a serrated knife would do just as well.
Now anyone who has ever carved a Halloween pumpkin knows,
there's a lot of "stuff" in there which we'll have to scoop out. I like an old
fashioned ice cream spade for the job, but any big metal spoon with a short
handle will do. As far as separating the seeds from the pulp, I go with a nice
big sink of cold water. Get enough water in there, and the seeds will float to
the top and you can simply strain them off. Now these have got to be dry before
they can be cooked. So put them out, just spread them, onto paper toweling or a
lint free tea towel to dry.
The next day, fire up medium heat, put down a 10 inch
skillet, 2 teaspoons of olive oil go in. And when that's good and hot, one cup
of our seeds along with some seasoning in the form of kosher salt—˝ teaspoon—and
a few good grinds of pepper. Now just toss that, almost constantly, for about 5
minutes or until the seeds reach medium brown darkness and smell nice and nutty.
Then, just dump them into a bowl lined with paper towels and wick away all of
the excess oil.
Seal in air tight containment
and consume within, I'd say, a week. Or you could freeze them for up to a month.
Or you can simply consume immediately. Though if you do, you might want to at
least turn these guys [the jack-o-lanters] around. Yeah.
SNACK
That's -O- all
LANTERN
Transcribed by Michael Roberts
Proofread by Michael Menninger
