Genevan in TV turkey duel

When Food Network called, thank goodness Renee Ferguson's husband answered the phone.

She would have thought it a prank by a friend.

But he believed it was legit: The popular cable TV network wanted to tape a segment with Ferguson, an ex-Butterball Turkey Talk-Line expert, about how to cook a turkey.

The author of "Talk Turkey to Me" gladly signed on.

"That is such a privilege to be chosen by Food Network," she said.

A camera crew followed her one Sunday around Geneva's French Market as she picked out vegetables for side dishes and then to Great Harvest Bread Co. for stuffing ingredients. The crew filmed her making the dishes in the kitchen at Past Basket in Geneva. (After just having moved into her 100-year-old house, the kitchen wasn't "Food Network worthy," she said.)

The next day she showed cooking students at Kendall College in Chicago how to prepare the bird.

Surprise ingredient

"The next thing I know, Bobby Flay is walking in. At that point I knew what was happening."

She was yet another victim for "Throwdown! With Bobby Flay." The celebrity chef and restaurant owner challenges people who are experts in various dishes that he can make them better. Judges then decide whose is best.

"We went turkey leg to turkey leg," Ferguson joked, making turkey and stuffing.

Her dressing was more traditional. His? "More chef-y," she said, noting it contained goat cheese and chorizo sausage.

She's not sure how Flay cooked his turkey, since he prepared his in a kitchen a floor above her. Ferguson went with her favorite: an open-pan roast. A little butter on the skin, but no basting. ("It has no impact," she said, since the skin is sealed after 20 minutes of roasting.)

And she won't know who won until the show airs tonight.

"I prefer mine. (But) his was very good," she said.

Flay "was really nice, but we did not get to talk much." Students were firing questions at them, cameras were in her face, and she was trying to make sure she didn't burn the turkey.

Turkey tome

Food Network chose her because of her book, released in late 2006. It has 20 ways to cook turkey, 80 recipes for side dishes, and plenty of questions from her time on the Turkey Talk-Line.

You might have seen her promoting the book on QVC Thursday. She also offers free recipes at her Web site, www.talkturkeytome.com.

Ferguson spends Thanksgiving at a cousin's or sister's house because she has been too busy to host. Her contribution to the meal is the "turkey trauma" stories she's heard from callers and at various functions.

"Thawing really confuses a lot of people," she said. People don't realize a frozen turkey needs two to three days to thaw, that you can't just pop a frozen turkey in the oven in the morning and expect to eat it at 2 p.m.

A Talk-Line caller once asked her if you had to put your hands in the turkey to stuff it. "Yes!"

Though she isn't working the Line this year, Ferguson still collects stories. At a trade show in Atlanta, a woman from Louisiana told Ferguson her mother-in-law defrosted a turkey in the outdoor swimming pool because she didn't have room in the refrigerator.

"Don't you dare eat any turkey or dressing," the woman told her husband and children.

"I think if you laugh, you can learn," Ferguson said.

Talkin' turkey with Renee Ferguson

Age: 54

Family: Husband, three children

Lives in: Geneva, as of two months ago. Had lived in Glen Ellyn for 18 years.

Works as: Author and freelance marketer. Spent 14 seasons as an expert on the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line.

College degree: Home economics from Southern Illinois University.

How to get her book: It is available in stores and online at Amazon.com, QVC.com and her own Web site, www.talkturkeytome.com.

Meet her and taste samples: 9-10 a.m. Nov. 18 at Inglenook Pantry, 11 N. 5th St., Geneva. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 18, Fuller's Hardware, 35 E. 1st St., Hinsdale.

Food Network air dates for her 'Throwdown! With Bobby Flay'

7:30 tonight

2:30 a.m. Sunday

7:30 p.m. Thursday

3:30 a.m. Friday

6:30 p.m. Nov. 18

9 p.m. Nov. 18

Midnight Nov. 19

Trimmings

Fresh or frozen turkey: Prefers fresh, because it is a little drier, but likes both.

White or dark meat: White

Stuffing baked in a pan or in the bird: In the bird. "If it is handled properly, you are OK," she says of food-safety concerns.

Mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes: Mashed, made with garlic-herb cream cheese.