Tips For Your First Thanksgiving

Photo by Flickr User CarbonNYC

I have fond memories of my family gathering for Thanksgiving at what seemed like the never-ending table. Everyone glowed with excitement as we passed heaping plates of delicious food to one another. Once everyone had a full plate, the anticipation for the meal would continue to grow as we waited for the adults to make a toast. And then finally, we could dig in.

As a kid I never thought about the preparation of Thanksgiving dinner. All I was concerned about was that I had a seat in front of the mashed potatoes so I could fill at least half of my plate before anyone else had a go at them. However, creating a Thanksgiving feast for just eight people shed light on how intensive the process is and how quickly stress can build. So, in case you’ll be a first-time Thanksgiving host this coming week, I’ve compiled a quick list of pointers. Then, you’ll actually have enough energy to enjoy the meal!

Create a Game Plan:

About a week (or now, four days) before Thanksgiving, write out a game plan that outlines the prep work. First gather all of the recipes you will prepare and figure out the amount of each that you need, according to the guest list size (check out my recipe for pumpkin pie and tips for preparing asparagus and sweet potatoes here). When in doubt of how much food to prepare, make extra! Decide on some dishes that can be made ahead of time and frozen or refrigerated so all you have to do on Thanksgiving is reheat them.

Write down the number of dishes and utensils you will need for both cooking and serving. If you are short, borrow them or even buy disposable aluminum trays. Beware! The disposables are flimsy.

Make a schedule for the big day to ensure that all the cooking goes smoothly, and that you won’t forget about something. The most difficult part of serving Thanksgiving is having everything ready and at the right temperature for the beginning of the meal.

You will need to allocate oven time for each dish. Keep in mind that the turkey will most likely take up the majority, if not all, of the oven for about four hours.  If you can, ask some of your friends to bring a dish to share that requires minimum cooking before being served, such as dips for appetizers, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie (yum).

Do Your Prep Work:

Your Thanksgiving dinner will come together easily if you do little steps along the way. When you come home with the produce you need, wash all of the vegetables before you put them away. Maintain an orderly kitchen throughout the entire process. Washing the dishes as you go along is especially important in a small kitchen with limited dishes and utensils.

The Big Bad, but delicious, bird:

Photo by Flickr User The Gifted Photographer

Roasting a turkey seems to be the most intimidating part of cooking Thanksgiving. The first step is buying the turkey. Turkeys are most commonly sold frozen, but you can order them fresh ahead of time from your grocer or even online. If you buy a frozen turkey, thaw it in your refrigerator to control the temperature and prevent any bacterial growth.  This will take 2-3 days, so plan accordingly.  If you don’t have that much time, thaw the turkey, still in the wrapper, in cold water for 6-8 hours. Buy a turkey that weighs 1 ½ to 2 pounds per person and you will most likely have some leftovers.

I learned some shortcuts for cooking the bird at Boston University’s C.A.K.E.’s Thanksgiving Cooking Demo led by BU Dining’s Executive Chef, Kim Hannon, and C.A.K.E.’s Michelle Rappoli. It is common to brine a turkey, soaking the bird in a mixture of a liquid (stock, water, cider, etc), salt, herbs and spices for 8-16 hours to yield a moist and flavorful fowl. Another technique often used when roasting a turkey is basting, or coating the turkey with the juices in the pan. However, adding more fat to the turkey can eliminate these steps. Kim Hannon taught us to add slices of butter in between the skin and the breasts of the turkey to give the meat more moisture.  For extra flavor, I combined minced garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme and rubbed the mixture under the skin along with the butter. Then, rub a mixture of granulated garlic, salt and pepper into all of the skin of the turkey.  Instead of stuffing the bird with dressing, which can lead to a dry or unevenly cooked turkey, make your stuffing separately and fill the bird’s crevice with aromatics like onions, celery, carrots, lemon and full sprigs of fresh herbs. Place the turkey on either a rack in a roasting pan, or on top of chopped vegetables so the bird does not cook in its juices. Check out this helpful chart with cooking times from recipetips.com.

After the turkey is roasted, let it rest for 15-30 minutes and then you are ready to carve it! I placed a cutting board inside a cookie sheet to catch any juices. Be sure to use a sturdy and sharp knife for carving. For a helpful video guide to carving the turkey, visit Bon Appetit’s website.

Post Meal:

While I love garlic, I don’t like the lingering scent it leaves on my hands. You can squeeze lemon juice onto your hands, rub your fingers around stainless steel (such as silverware or a faucet) or make a blend of salt, baking soda and water to rub onto your hands to keep the smell at bay.

After you have all stuffed yourselves and relaxed a bit, enlist your friends to pack up the leftovers and wash the dishes. You cooked the magnificent meal so you’re off the hook!

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