Share your Thanksgiving cooking flops and successes.

[Anonymous]

Too much salt in our dry brine. Not so bad for the turkey itself but pan drippings were inedible. Fortunately, we did the stuffing on the side. I also had made a stock from the neck before, so I could make gravy easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm due in a week and had this awesome idea to bake a caramel apple pie. I hate pie and have never baked one in my life and did it all from scratch.

The top and first half were cooked perfectly. The bottom was soggy, mushy, and not totally done. Everyone tried to say it was delicious and not make a big deal that it was disgusting, I excused myself to the bathroom and cried a little. I blame hormones.

Yeah you have to cook the crust first--sorry honey!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was setting a piping hot dish onto a trivet on the dining room table and managed to accidentally touch and melt a little spot on the fabric of my brand new tablecloth .

How do you melt fabric? Plastic you mean?

No. It's a nice, red holiday fabric tablecloth. There is a shiny spot where the hot casserole dish touched it. I put it in the wash but I'm pretty sure that the fabric actually melted a little. Didn't hurt the table - thank goodness!

K. Then your "fabric" is polyester. Ergo plastic. Real fabric doesn't melt. Geesh.

Welcome To The Tablecloth Fact Channel! Tonight our experts will discuss whether fabric can, in fact, melt or merely burst into flames. Our first caller is from Akron, Ohio. Go ahead, Akron:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will tell you my SIL's flop. Her tablecloth was so smooth that I got suspicious. While everyone was watching a football game replay, I checked and yes, 100% polyester. The shock! How can she live with herself serving everything on a tablecloth that is not, yes let's admit it, actually fabric?

Do people at long last have no shame my god are we barbarians

[Anonymous]

Too much salt in our dry brine. Not so bad for the turkey itself but pan drippings were inedible. Fortunately, we did the stuffing on the side. I also had made a stock from the neck before, so I could make gravy easily.

Any time you brine, the pan drippings are going to be salty. If you brine you should plan on making gravy from separate stock, not from the drippings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm due in a week and had this awesome idea to bake a caramel apple pie. I hate pie and have never baked one in my life and did it all from scratch.

The top and first half were cooked perfectly. The bottom was soggy, mushy, and not totally done. Everyone tried to say it was delicious and not make a big deal that it was disgusting, I excused myself to the bathroom and cried a little. I blame hormones.

Yeah you have to cook the crust first--sorry honey!

I have never prebaked the bottom crust of an apple pie before. Why would that be necessary?

[Anonymous]

I just found a petrified dinner roll in the oven from last night that somehow got left behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just found a petrified dinner roll in the oven from last night that somehow got left behind.

That must be some roll. How did you "find" it? Did it involve smoke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just found a petrified dinner roll in the oven from last night that somehow got left behind.

That must be some roll. How did you "find" it? Did it involve smoke?

I discovered it after I preheated the oven before putting in all the leftovers for tonight's dinner so it had time to dehydrate during the oven cool down last night. It was totally inedible. Even my carb addicted children refused to eat it even though it was very deep golden brown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just found a petrified dinner roll in the oven from last night that somehow got left behind.

That must be some roll. How did you "find" it? Did it involve smoke?

I discovered it after I preheated the oven before putting in all the leftovers for tonight's dinner so it had time to dehydrate during the oven cool down last night. It was totally inedible. Even my carb addicted children refused to eat it even though it was very deep golden brown.

Paper weight?

[Anonymous]

Everything came out great - though basting every 15 minutes is a pain! However, I had very few fresh/raw vegetables on the menu and I forgot to make them!! No complaints, but still!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everything came out great - though basting every 15 minutes is a pain! However, I had very few fresh/raw vegetables on the menu and I forgot to make them!! No complaints, but still!

We had roast asparagus and a raw veggie plate but the fresh green beans got set aside in favor of the green bean casserole. I had started to make small individual salads for everyone but realized that we didn't have space on the table for the bowls. Ah well, it's once a year.

[Anonymous]

Totally forgot to put the stuffing on the table and everyone was to busy/full/polite to ask. It tasted great for breakfast though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Too much salt in our dry brine. Not so bad for the turkey itself but pan drippings were inedible. Fortunately, we did the stuffing on the side. I also had made a stock from the neck before, so I could make gravy easily.

Any time you brine, the pan drippings are going to be salty. If you brine you should plan on making gravy from separate stock, not from the drippings.

I made stock with no salt from the neck and back ahead of time, then made gravy from that stock. I brushed the excess salt off of the turkey before baking it, and added a bit of water to the roasting pan several times. I added the drippings to the unsalted gravy, and it came out really well!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Turkey took twice as long as outlined in WholeFoods instructions. 6 hours vs 3 hours. Okay since everyone was drunk and lots of appetizers.

Sides were great--especially their sweet potatoe casserole.

Us too! I had to feed the toddler and put her to bed before dinner!