by J. Michael Wheeler
Thanksgiving Tips: Game Plan
There’s no question about it, for me, Thanksgiving is absolutely the best holiday: it’s all about getting together with friends and family and eating a great meal. No Christmas present stresses or New Year’s Eve anxiety. Cook a lot of good food and share it with friends and family. One of my favorite Thanksgivings was when I was in college in San Diego and I organized an “Orphan’s Thanksgiving” for my fellow college friends who wouldn’t be traveling home for the holiday. It was a bit less than traditional, but the spirit certainly was there.
Of course, for the host, Thanksgiving might not be all that stress-free. Still-frozen turkeys, wallpaper-paste gravies, and well, we’ve all got our stories (we’d love to yours). So in the interest of everyone enjoying our favorite holiday, we’re sharing with you some tips for a great Thanksgiving. We’ll start out with an overall game plan that we call, cleverly, T-Day Game Plan.
Break it Down
Sit down with paper and pen well before your first trip to the grocery store (yes, you’ll shop in phases) and starting with the menu, break the T-Day undertakings into steps. This will give you a bird’s eye view (couldn’t resist that one) of what needs to be done and when. As you accomplish each task you can check it off, giving you a measure of your progress, as well as what tasks remain to be done. Learn to love Lists.
Big Helpful Tip: Organize all of the recipes you plan to use ahead of time. Photocopy each recipe from your cookbook, recipe card, or torn out newspaper article and create your own personal T-Day Cookbook for that meal. With all of your recipes together, in one place, you won’t have to flip through several books and different pages.
Hardware
Check your hardware (as Alton would call it). Does that 36-pound turkey fit in your oven? Or even through the kitchen door? Did you ever get that roasting pan back from your neighbor from their dinner party last month? Check your appliances, table and serving wares, and cooking tools. Oops, what happened to our instant-read thermometer?
A List of Lists: Shopping
Way Ahead Shopping: Non-perishables. You can buy your baking supplies, canned goods, spices, foils, plastic wrap, storage containers, mixed nuts, and other items from the list you created in the planning stage. You can buy your wines, soft drinks, and other beverages ahead of time, too. Order your turkey ahead to make sure of size and quality. Need table linens, paper napkins, or candles? Now’s the time to buy those too.
Last Minute Shopping: Shop for fresh produce, breads (not baking your own?), and other perishables the day before. And of course for those “Oops, how did I forget…” items.
Organize Your Time
In the menu stage, consider what needs to be cooked where and when. Does your menu contain lots of dishes that need to be cooked in the oven, at different temperatures, and at the same time your turkey is filling up the oven? Oops. Better plan again.
Look at your menu and use it to make a timetable. What can you prepare two days ahead? The day before? For Thanksgiving Day, work backwards from serving time and make a detailed schedule that includes preparation, cooking times, carving time, serving, clearing courses, and serving the next course. Are you making fresh whipped cream for the pumpkin pie? Your timetable will help you remember to chill down the bowl and whisk, and when to start the coffee to serve with it.
Use your freezer: you can make and freeze many components of your meal. Think soups and stocks, piecrusts, and other doughs.
Use your refrigerator: cranberry sauce, dips, dessert sauces, marinates, and spreads can be made a few days ahead and stored in airtight containers in the fridge. Many of these will actually improve in flavor.
Day before: clean and trim veggies, marinate olives, prep breads for stuffing, and make ahead-of-time desserts. Set up wine, beverage, and drink areas. Find the corkscrew. Get your kitchen ready for the next days cooking. Run the dishwasher and empty it.
T-Day: Put on the morning coffee while you bake the pies. Then chop the already cleaned and trimmed veggies. Prep your garnishes and zip bag them in the fridge. What can be cooked in the morning and reheated? Do it. In your timetable allot 20-30 minutes just to sit down, catch your breath, and have a second cup of coffee. Run the dishwasher and empty it. Again.
So, the turkey’s in the oven, the pies are baked, and casseroles will just need reheating. If you’ve been true to your timetable there will be just a few last minute items to do, like making the gravy, tossing the salad, opening the wines.
But remember, Thanksgiving is to be enjoyed by everyone. Even you. Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Dancing Spoon!
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