General Thanksgiving Plan
If we are hosting, this is a typical plan we follow:
Roasted Turkey in the Big Easy/Airless Fryer
Turducken: we order this as an addition if we have a very big group
Char Broil's Big Easy Infrared Oil-less Fryer
Giblet Gravy: Jill makes, generally uses Mimi’s recipe, but makes in advance if possible and pours some turkey drippings into it. See recipe.
Cranberry sauce: homemade plain sauce with orange zest or also cinnamon
Additions: We’ve tried the dried cranberry chutney, and Sarah is adding Alison Roman’s cranberry relish plate with canned cranberry jelly, oranges, and shallots.
Sweet potatoes: Joy of Cooking’s recipe with a teeny bit of brown sugar, butter, salt, orange juice and orange zest. Pick number of potatoes for your crowd (1 potato per every 2 people) and divide between two casserole dishes. Make ahead; put in freezer; bake on T-giving day. For one of them, pull out warm casserole, put baby marshmallows on top of one of them and run in hot oven for 5 min so they crisp up—if you leave in too long, they will melt.
Stuffing: The dishes that elicits the most passion from people.
*I am attached to Mimi’s cornbread stuffing. It is a particularly flavorful version with lots of parsley and green onion. Trick is it has to look almost like soup when it goes in or it dries out. Easy to make Gluten Free with Bob’s Red Mill GF cornbread mix.
*Introduced to us by Elizabeth Smyth: Alice Water’s Wild Mushroom Stuffing. This is very, very good. Sarah has embraced this as her own.
*Don't argue with people about which stuffing is better. People are attached. Let them bring their own. See notes below.
Mashed Potatoes:
I am not a mashed potato for Thanksgiving person because I see the stuffing as the starch. But good to have guests bring that. OR, if you have a crowd who is insisting, then Epicurious has a make ahead Duchess Baked Potatoes. I also think it adds another last minute thing to do on a hectic cooking day because they are best cooked the day of. But I get it that it is important to people.
Veggies and Greens Options: We vary this part year to year…nice to have variety. WIth a smaller group, just one is fine (brussel sprouts or green beans). Easiest way to have more people is to expand this category.
- Creamed spinach; John Besh recipe. We use this for Christmas and used for Thanksgiving in the 2010-20 years. But watched Alison Roman’s Thanksgiving special who comments on try to balance Mushy food at Thanksgiving with some crispy/fresh stuff. We agree.
- New addition: Kale and green beans with Shallots; can leave out Kale: Sautéed day of. Alison Roman recipe.
- Roasted Brussel sprouts: always a good addition. Plain or with bacon. Elizabeth Smyth made a brussel sprout slaw one year and it was nice and fresh.
- Platter of roasted veggies. We did this every year when kids were young and I was learning to roast every vegetable. Now we generally don’t but love having it and good thing to offer to bring when you are a guest at someone’s home.
- Sometimes we pick up roasted beets with oranges at Black Salt in DC; or the Brussel sprouts with bacon.
- We don’t believe in fresh cold salad on Thanksgiving.
Dessert and Pies:
*must haves in our family are Pecan and pumpkin. The rest vary from year to year and fun to shake it up.
Pecan Pie: Sarah has adopted an Epicurious recipe that includes orange zest.
Pumpkin: We all agree worth picking up…it’s often better than making your own. Stephanie Lowe swears by Whole Food's. Their Gluten Free crust is good as well.
Ina Garten’s Pumpkin Tart in graham cracker crust. Easy to make Gluten free and it is good. We add it occasionally.
Desserts we want to try:
Cranberry curd tart with hazelnut crust (Gluten Free)
And what about apple or pear crisp with cranberries instead of apple pie…? We aren’t an apple pie family.
Burton’s cousin Ann Londergan made custards one year in demitasse cups and it was a really nice treat.
APPETIZERS
There is nothing worse than sitting down to Thanksgiving Dinner already FULL! Keep them light.
*Shuck and/or grill oysters—do this if you can. Adds an activity
*Pickled things: Green beans, okra, carrots, etc.
*Potato Chips: Trader Joe’s makes Thanksgiving flavored potato chips
*little bowls of nuts (nice to make your own spiced pecans early in the week)
*if you do a cheese platter, make it small
*grapes
*dried cranberries
NOTES
*Very good homemade stock makes a difference in your stuffing and gravy. Or do cheater stock by using boxed Turkey stock and adding the neck, giblets, drippings, vegetables to enhance it.
*Notes re: guests and stuffing. If you are having guests, let them know what kind of stuffing you are serving and invite/encourage them to bring any stuffing (or any dish rather) that is meaningful to them. When we went to the Smyth’s for Thanksgiving she said, “Bring whatever is meaningful to you, we want it!” How gracious and I try and do the same.
*Lisel Loy's mom does the Pepperidge Farm stuffing from a bag and that is great, too.
*This holiday is about joining people together, being Thankful for the blessings you have, the country you live in and to experience joy together through cooking, eating, and sharing traditions. Being open to other people’s traditions is how you bond, learn and often adopt new ones.
*Having people bring extra vegetables is a great way to pad the buffet if you are having a lot of guests. Having guests bring pies and wine is also a great help and lightens your load. Then you can concentrate on the basics.
*Involve the kids, involve the kids, involve the kids. Children love traditions. Assign them each a sauce, a pie, making placards, whipping cream. bring them into carving the turkey, setting the table, polishing the silver. My best childhood memories are learning from my Grandmother, Mimi and my Aunt Jane Ann re: Thanksgiving traditions. If you aren't a cook and pick up the meal, make the traditions about setting the table, playing a game, etc. In the year of the pandemic, I made a zoom, “Polish the silver” date with my sister in law, Martha.
*On that note, my friend Stephanie cherishes her "Granny B's" tradition of assembling the pickle plate, which was given to a grandchild to do as an honor. Since pickled vegetables are a light appetizer...try adopting that as your own.
*2018, we hosted 32 people from my husband’s family for Thanksgiving. It was amazing, truly! Burton is from a family of “helpers” and it is a joy to have them. Have never had so much fun. After dessert, the teens organized the game, “Try Not to Dance to This Song” —Highly recommend it.
*My friend Blair always organizes a great post-dinner game of Celebrity…a great multi-generational game.
