Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE holiday. It’s not about material things. It’s not about gifts. It’s about family and friends. And that wonderful food. For most of us, the menu doesn’t change very much. For me, the food memories associated with Thanksgiving go all the way back to my childhood…even though it appears that I skipped the always-present green bean casserole in 2014! (I’m making it again this year…but using fresh green beans and fresh mushrooms.) Because of those precious food and family memories I decided to re-post these tips for preparing a stress free Thanksgiving feast for those you love. I hope you have a wonderful holiday spent with your favorite folks. I never take that special time for granted…especially after last year!
So enjoy my trip down memory lane, and maybe some of my tried and true shortcuts will make your day even better. Happy Cooking Dear Readers!!!
THANKSGIVING 2014
Here are the dishes I’m preparing for our Thanksgiving dinner. (I’ve added my prep schedule for some of them.)
Roasted Turkey
Dressing/Stuffing
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Pan Gravy
Noodles
Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Balsamic Glaze
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Cranberries
Dinner Rolls
Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
GROCERY STORE (My Shopping is ALREADY DONE)
I made sure I added these items to my grocery list, based on MY menu…
Poultry Seasoning
Stuffing Mix or Bread Cubes
Kluski Noodles (Thick noodles that don’t get “mushy” when cooked in chicken broth)
Potatoes
Bacon
Balsamic Vinegar
Sour Cream (I put in my mashed potatoes with butter and garlic)
Flour (for gravy)
Brown Sugar (For sweet potatoes)
White sugar (for pies)
Butter
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Onions
Garlic
Brussels Sprouts
Carrots
Celery
LOTS of Chicken Broth or Stock
Half & Half or Cream (For mashed potatoes)
Chicken Bouillon cubes or powder
Pie Crusts (if you’re baking pies!)
Evaporated Milk (For Pumpkin Pie)
Whipped Cream
Fresh Herbs-Especially Parsley
Cranberries
A Naval Orange (For cranberry sauce)
Dinner Rolls
Sweet Potatoes or Yams (Canned are fine…Just “doctor them up” as my Mom said!)
Cinnamon
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Ginger
On Tuesday
Set the table!
On Wednesday
Make pies
Cook cranberries
Check your menu and make sure you have all the serving spoons, cooking utensils, etc. you need.
I’ll add butter dish, salt and pepper, glassware, serving platters, serving spoons later…and matches to light candles!
On Thanksgiving Day
I found an AWESOME website (simplebites.net) with great instructions for HOW TO ROAST A TURKEY so I’m sharing that link here. No need for me to reinvent the wheel. Her instructions are almost exactly like I do it. The only step I don’t do is to salt the turkey the night before…but I may try that this year. I can always learn something new, too!
Click Here:
HOW TO ROAST A TURKEY-INSTRUCTIONS
I have a 22 lb. turkey, and I want to serve dinner at 1pm…so here is MY game plan…
TURKEY
7am…Remove Turkey from refrigerator and bring it to room temperature for an hour. DO NOT wash the bird. Simply dry it off with paper towels and rub the skin with salt and pepper, and butter or olive oil. (I make a compound butter and work it under the skin of the breast.) I’ve included some photos from last Thanksgiving to illustrate my point. (And thanks to my sous chef grand-girls for making THAT day so special!) Like I said…This year I may prepare it Wednesday night, so all I’ll have to do at 7am is pull it out of the refrigerator and let it sit until 8am. (And I’ll go back to bed!)
HELPFUL HINT: Remove your rings from the hand you use to loosen the turkey skin from the breast meat. Otherwise you will tear the skin.
BE SURE TO REMOVE THE PAPER PACKET OF GIBLETS FROM THE NECK CAVITY. I put those in a saucepan and add onion, carrots, garlic and celery with water and Poultry Seasoning and some chicken bouillon, fresh parsley, salt and pepper…and I simmer it to make extra broth. I strain and use for gravy…or you can just throw giblet packet away if you’re taking the lazy route and using boxes of chicken broth instead. Make sure you buy two or three boxes so you have plenty on hand. It’s better to have extra than not enough! (Remember…you’ll be using it to make gravy, and to add to your dressing/stuffing too.) And also use the broth from the roasted turkey. Just be sure you know the difference between the FAT in the pan, and the BROTH. You will use them in separate steps to make your gravy.
8:00am…BEGIN ROASTING TURKEY In a shallow roasting pan, put turkey on top of several large carrots and celery stalks, some fresh herbs if you have them, and a quartered onion…and stuff some veggies and herbs into the bird as well. (Sometimes I stuff in a quartered apple or lemon or orange too. And all of that will be thrown away after the bird is cooked.) The veggies on the bottom of the pan will act as a rack, and they will flavor the broth which will eventually become the gravy. Put prepared turkey in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. Then reduce temp to 350 degrees and proceed as directed on the website. If it begins to brown too much, just “tent” the bird in the oven to finish cooking.
Be sure to clean your counter and sink (and hands!) with soap/water/bleach before and after handling the raw turkey!
POTATOES
After turkey is in the oven, peel potatoes and put them in a pot. Cover them with water. Throw in some peeled garlic cloves. Do NOT salt the water until you plan to cook them. You can actually prepare the mashed potatoes in advance of the meal. After the potatoes and garlic cloves are cooked and mashed, add butter, sour cream, and half and half. Then put the covered pot of prepared mashed potatoes over a pot with about two inches of gently simmering water until dinner time. (I have cooked and mashed mine up to two hours before dinner is being served.) Just stir vigorously before serving, and add a little more butter and/or half and half if needed when serving.
While the turkey roasts, prepare all the other side dishes you plan to serve. (You will cook them when the turkey comes out of the oven to rest. And you can also cook some side dishes in slow cookers to save oven space.)
SWEET POTATOES Prepare your sweet potato casserole if you’re serving one. It can sit at room temperature until ready to stick in the oven for 30 minutes while turkey is resting.
STUFFING/DRESSING (You’ll need Chicken Broth for THIS dish too)
9:00am…I make my dressing in a slow cooker sprayed with cooking spray to free up oven space! Works great! Stir several times while cooking. Cook about 4 hours. COOKING TIP: Keep in mind, a slow cooker is a VERY MOIST environment! So you may want to use LESS broth in your stuffing than if you were baking it in a pan in the oven. You can also put 3-4 layers of paper towels across the cooker under the lid to absorb some of the moisture. Just keep an eye on it and do whatever works for you.
Using this turkey roasting method, I’m betting your turkey will be fully cooked by 11:30 or Noon. Test with a thermometer! Do NOT trust the pop up timer inserted in most birds! That timer is set to pop out at about 180-185 degrees…and that is TOO LONG for moist turkey! The breast will be completely overcooked. Make sure the leg/thigh joint is loose and the juices run clear…and you’ll be good to go. (It will continue to cook up to another ten degrees as it “rests” on the platter.)
When the turkey registers 160-165 degrees, remove from the oven, and put tin foil “tent” over bird. You can let it rest for up to an hour! So NOW is the time to make your gravy, and to put your other side dishes (sweet potatoes, etc.) into the oven at 350-400 degrees. You can make your gravy in the roasting pan, or you can pour the FAT (not the broth) into a saucepan.
I hope this timeline will make your day stress free.
After all, it’s a day to be THANKFUL…not stressful. And let me know which tips you used for your special meal!
Hugs to ALL on my favorite holiday!
In the Netherlands there is no Thanksgiving day. This is a typical North American holiday. However our family did celebrate Thanksgiving. Each of our children could invite a friend to come. We would sometimes have it at our house especially when the children were still living at home. This would be quite a happening. I could cook anything I wanted and I would make all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes and then some. We had Thanksgiving for years. Then Covid came and we have had lockdowns right and left. This yr we can only have 4 guests in our house at one time. Once again no Thanksgiving. I have a feeling Christmas won´t be any better. I am sure when we can once again celebrate special holidays together that we will appreciate it much more.
marye
Very helpful advice and just my kind of plan. We are going to be non-traditional this year since my grandson wants ham even though I told him that is for Christmas…maybe we will swap holiday meals this year.