Thanksgiving can be the most stressful day of the year for those of us who are called upon to cook. That’s because we want everything to go right, taste great and for everyone to enjoy themselves. High expectations for sure. Plus we all have either screwed up a holiday dish or two ourselves or at least have witness someone else’s disasters. Well old Chili is here to help you get through the day with at least your sanity intact. Below are a few things I keep in mind whenever preparing food for a large group.
1. Organize your kitchen the week prior. Clean out your refrigerator of the half eaten jars of pickles and all those random leftovers. You will need all the space you can muster come Turkey Day. Plus take inventory of the pots, pans and utensils you may need and make sure you have enough of the right equipment for the job.
2. Create your menu by first considering the people who are attending and their taste as well as you specialties. Don’t try new recipes on Thanksgiving or you are asking for a potential disaster. Finally commit the menu to paper.
3. Create a composite shopping list. You can do this fairly easily in Excel or another spreadsheet program. Break the items into grocery store categories like dairy, and spices for painless shopping. Consider what you can afford as well. Overspending can increase your stress level as well. Oh and shop early. Don’t wait until the day before when all the stores are packed.
4. Print out each recipe on a single sheet of paper and insert them into sheet protectors to prevent them from getting wet or stained while cooking.
5. Create a written cooking schedule and follow it. Not just for Thanksgiving Day but for the entire week. Consider the durability of each dish. Many can either be prepared the day or days before or can be partially completed up to the final step(s). The more you can get done before the day the better especially if you only have one oven.
6. Prep everything before you start cooking. This is very important and can make cooking any meal much easier and more enjoyable. Read through the recipes a couple of times. Chop all your vegetables, measure out all your spices and liquids and locate all the equipment and utensils you will need. You don’t want to be searching for the nutmeg while your other ingredients are burning on the stove.
7. And finally keep your expectations in check. This is probably the most helpful hint I could share. Just remember that things don’t always go as planned and when that happens you need to be flexible. You may have to change directions on a dime. Guest may arrive late or maybe worse, early. You may burn the dinner rolls The turkey may take longer than planned to cook.Whatever goes bump, just roll with it and be sure to enjoy the holiday.
Now breathe. Just get organized, plan ahead and roll with the punches and your Turkey Day meal will be a huge success. And you can enjoy it just as much if not more than those that didn’t cook.
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Twitter: sjula
So my Thanksgiving in whole turned out great! I used your deviled eggs recipe but with less spiciness (not to my liking), but everyone loved them. As for my Turducken it did not come out so great… First it didn’t look like all the other Turduckens I saw online. The duck and “chicken” we not distinguishable inside the Turkey. We slathered the whole thing with a sage and rosemary butter and re-trussed it. We planned on cooking it for around 8 hours at 225. We put some broth in the pan, covered it and let it go for 4 hours. When we checked on it, it was at 180 already! So we let it rest and stay warm until our families arrived. We then put more butter on and browned it at 450. Well the end result was very dry and not too flavorful. I couldn’t find the chicken in it either!!! Well the family enjoyed it and all of our sides turned out great. Thanks for the tips! This is my favorite cooking website.
ha ha I like this list. This Thanksgiving, I’m only making two things. But I am sure it will be frustrating to have to make everything by myself for a lot of people.
Thanks for your tips!
Sook´s last blog ..Thanksgiving Idea 1: Stuffed Autumn Apples
Chili,
Is this your favorite holiday?
Jeremy
I tend to like party holidays such as madi gras and st patty’s day but turkey day is my favorite family friendly holiday for sure.
Thanks for the tips! This is the first Thanksgiving I am doing with my girlfriend and being one to try new things we are making a Turducken. We are going to do side dishes that we have done before. I am going to make the deviled eggs recipe on this site for our hors d’oeuvres. These tips will be helpful and wish us luck on that Turducken. Happy Thanksgiving!
I love Turducken. Let us know how delcious it turns out!
Have you maid Turducken before? Any tips?
I have not made it myself but I know it can take a lot of time to cook. Also I would have the butcher bone the birds. On last thing, I have tried the Emeril version which includes andouille sausage in the stuffing. It was awesome but I couldn’t find the recipe on the net. It was from an old Emeril Live episode.
OK, great. I am having the butcher de-bone the birds, but unfortunately someone one else is making the stuffing. Thanks for you help! I will let you know how it turns out.
Thanks. Good advice. It is easy to get stressed out for sure, but luckily I am not cooking this year!