Thoughts on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite food holiday. I love the memories of Thanksgiving growing up in South Carolina and have enjoyed creating new traditions as an adult. This year will by my first hosting a proper Thanksgiving meal for family and friends. I had a dry run a few years ago, and have made elements of the meal for various pot lucks and pre-Thanksgiving celebrations. All of these have been fun, and relatively simple. With limited oven and stove space, I confess that I am a little intimidated by the prospect of the whole meal happening in my kitchen. I have outlined my menu in a previous post and a few recipes. I hope you'll try some.

The key, for me, to making big meals for large groups of people is cooking as much as possible ahead of time. Cost restraints are sometimes as important as the time crunch, so I also make sure that I follow sales circulars closely, use coupons, and alter the menu based on what's available. I recently saw a Thanksgiving special on the Food Network that featured a turkey covered entirely with white truffle butter. It's a cute idea, but I think I'll stick with Land O'Lakes until I have my own retreat in the Hamptons, complete with barn and cooking show. I am especially proud that I found a sale at Harris Teeter that allowed me to purchase this year's bird for $0.47/lb. I confess that it's not free range, and it probably won't ever meet a truffle, but my guests will love it, nonetheless. 


It occurs to me that some of my readers may be interested in knowing what works well made ahead and what really must be made the day of. Here is my game plan:


2 DAYS AHEAD

• make corn chowder & freeze it
• cub and toast bread for stuffing
• make the brine and soak the turkey
• make the cranberry sauce

1 DAY AHEAD

• make the pies
• chop all the vegetables
• assemble the stuffing, ready to go in the oven tomorrow
• assemble the casserole
  

TURKEY DAY

• roast the turkey
• make the mac & cheese
• make the mashed potatoes & gravy
• bake the stuffing
• roast the broccoli
• bake the casserole
• whip the cream 

Enjoy the meal. That's the most important step of all.