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// Now You're Cooking With Gas!  Smoky Gas! 
// Story: The Best of Twilight Sparkle's Twilight Time 
// by Greatmewtwo 
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	Sci-Twi was going through the food questions that were asked when she thought about when Sweetie Belle cooked breakfast for her that one time recently.  She was reflecting on an incident when she went to an amusement park with the rest of the Canterlot High gang for an impromptu trip.  
While they were having a blast, eating turkey legs, meeting walk-around characters such as Wilhelm the Wombat, enjoying the nauseating F-Twelve 3D Experience sponsored by Kellsher Pharmaceuticals, and sitting in on a taping of Splatfest Live, she had been hearing distressing rumors that the turkey legs were actually emu.  A forensic science project eventually inspired Twilight to save specimens of the alleged emu meat for DNA testing, wherein she applied her understanding of polymerase chain reactions to prove once and for all that the meat served at the park was bona fide turkey.

"Well," Twilight began as she recorded her wraparound, "this one is notable.  Turkey legs and how we smoke them.  I remember one time when we went to an amusement park and I had heard that the turkey legs they had were made with emu.  Of course, that wouldn't have been a bad idea, but the rumor was enough to inspire a science experiment where I applied DNA profiling techniques.  The results of which were published in the school newspaper and inadvertently inspired 19 annual passholder sales.  So now we go to this one:"

"Another food question comes to us on Twilight Time, from @lyra.hstrings, who says:"



Dear Twilight,
@sweetiebons and I were at an amusement park in the eighth grade, we were on this ride, having a blast, and then we got this big turkey leg. So I snatched it, and wondered how they cook them up.



"Well, I've been to amusement parks a few times to know that they cook them with what is called low-temperature cooking; smoking, to be exact."  She said while turning the camera to get herself into focus.  "Low-temperature cooking involves cooking with heat practically at or below the boiling point of water. Just as we cook most meats to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees, the same level of doneness can be achieved with lower heat over a longer period of time, even with certain tenderizing and flavoring effects."
Right then, the shot changed so that she was able to project pictures of meat smokers and ovens typical of standard kitchens.
"We are still cooking the meat in such a way where the meat is tender, the germs and microbes are killed off, and the flavors are all infused. Low-temperature cooking, however, usually will yield a more flavorful product because there was time for the meat to absorb the essences, especially of the wood chips that are burned or steamed to smoke the meat. So, for example, instead of baking chicken in an oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour, said chicken can also be cooked in a meat smoker at 250 degrees for about 4-5 hours and will still be cooked enough to be edible."
"Methods of slow cooking," she continued, "are not all that removed from other conventional methods. Just as you have smokers, you can also use a specially-designed slow-cooker, sit the food on a grill at equally low heat, poach your food over several days in a water bath under vacuum seal, or even dig yourself a pit and roast the beast in its entirety like how people have for centuries. It's all a matter of checking that turkey every so often so that it would be safe and delicious...and so bony.  Personally, I always wondered why they can't do the same with emu or ostrich. But, everyone likes turkey."