S/O: 'Civilized' Holiday How-To

[Anonymous]

I always pull out platters and serving pieces a few days ahead to clean them and decide what will be served with what. Saves a lot of trouble the day of!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of cooking a turkey the day before. I just don't believe it wouldn't be dry, sorry...

One thing I do is make sure that my guests who want to contribute let me know specifically they plan to bring a week out. If people say "I'll bring dessert" you can end up with four pumpkin pies!

My mom does this. SHe cooks one turkey the day before, and slices it and wraps it well and makes the gravy. Then she cooks another turkey the morning of, and heats up the day before's turkey. She brines the turkey so it isn't dry at all. So there's pre sliced turkey ready for dinner, plus the second turkey for presentation.. .and leftovers!

That's kind of weird.

I do this too when I'm hosting (around 20 people). Makes things so much easier, plus you're sure to have enough food and some leftovers.

[Anonymous]

The menu is the same every year, with the exception of dessert, which is always pumpkin pie, another pie, and a kid-friendly plate of brownies, snickerdoodles, or other similar cookies.

Turkey with stuffing
Sweet potato casserole (prep ahead, back day of)
Second dressing/stuffing so there is enough to go around (prep ahead/bake day of)
Butternut squash (make day before and reheat)
Cranberry sauce (made 3 days ahead. add some orange rind and a splash of cointreau to jazz it up.)
Mashed potatoes (done a couple hours ahead of time with extra butter/cream and kept warm in slow cooker, add more cream as needed before serving)
Roux and stock for gravy are prepped night before and turkey juices added before serving

I only have one oven, so turkey comes out and rests about an hour before we eat so other dishes can bake.

Low maintenance, yet attractive linens - no ironing.
Post it notes on all serving pieces to make sure everything is covered.
Guests arrive anytime after 3 to an assortment of hors d'oeuvres. Dinner is served at 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of cooking a turkey the day before. I just don't believe it wouldn't be dry, sorry...

One thing I do is make sure that my guests who want to contribute let me know specifically they plan to bring a week out. If people say "I'll bring dessert" you can end up with four pumpkin pies!

My mom does this. SHe cooks one turkey the day before, and slices it and wraps it well and makes the gravy. Then she cooks another turkey the morning of, and heats up the day before's turkey. She brines the turkey so it isn't dry at all. So there's pre sliced turkey ready for dinner, plus the second turkey for presentation.. .and leftovers!

That's kind of weird.

Doesn't seem weird to me, but it's how it's always been. She hosts about 20 to 25 people each Thanksgiving, so she says she'd prefer 2 smaller turkeys (12 pounders) to one giant turkey (24 pounder). She says that the larger turkeys are harder to cook and keep from drying out. And with 2 smaller turkeys, you get twice as many drumsticks and they are a more reasonable size, too.

Also, she says cooking the gravy last minute (last half hour or so when you have taken the turkey out of the oven and are letting it sit a bit before carving) is always kind of disruptive in her small kitchen as it takes up 2 burners, just when she is trying to reheat so much else. The gravy tastes just as good, if not better, the next day.

Now, maybe if she had a bigger kitchen with 2 stoves and ovens and such, cooking 2 turkeys and attending to last minute gravy wouldn't be a problem -- but she just has a regular sized kitchen.

The smaller turkeys are a lot easier to brine and move around. Everyone likes the presentation of the whole turkey so we still have that -- but we can start passing around the turkey slices quickly and get started eating on dinner so everything isn't cold while we are sitting around waiting for Dad to carve the second turkey.

Anyway, everyone loves her turkey -- it is very flavorful and moist, so I don't think it is weird at all. But, she's my mom!

[Anonymous]

I'm a bit OCD & use excel. ??
One sheet for each recipe: ingredients feed into a master shopping list. One sheet for a retro plan, with timing & oven temperature for all steps included, as well as which serving dish & utensil will be used. It's especially helpful for making sure oven time is used efficiently. Plus, when guests wander in wanting to help, they can easily see what needs to be done. Having it all together makes it super easy to flip between sheets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a bit OCD & use excel. ??
One sheet for each recipe: ingredients feed into a master shopping list. One sheet for a retro plan, with timing & oven temperature for all steps included, as well as which serving dish & utensil will be used. It's especially helpful for making sure oven time is used efficiently. Plus, when guests wander in wanting to help, they can easily see what needs to be done. Having it all together makes it super easy to flip between sheets.

Love this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never heard of cooking a turkey the day before. I just don't believe it wouldn't be dry, sorry...

One thing I do is make sure that my guests who want to contribute let me know specifically they plan to bring a week out. If people say "I'll bring dessert" you can end up with four pumpkin pies!

My mom does this. SHe cooks one turkey the day before, and slices it and wraps it well and makes the gravy. Then she cooks another turkey the morning of, and heats up the day before's turkey. She brines the turkey so it isn't dry at all. So there's pre sliced turkey ready for dinner, plus the second turkey for presentation.. .and leftovers!

That's kind of weird.

Doesn't seem weird to me, but it's how it's always been. She hosts about 20 to 25 people each Thanksgiving, so she says she'd prefer 2 smaller turkeys (12 pounders) to one giant turkey (24 pounder). She says that the larger turkeys are harder to cook and keep from drying out. And with 2 smaller turkeys, you get twice as many drumsticks and they are a more reasonable size, too.

Also, she says cooking the gravy last minute (last half hour or so when you have taken the turkey out of the oven and are letting it sit a bit before carving) is always kind of disruptive in her small kitchen as it takes up 2 burners, just when she is trying to reheat so much else. The gravy tastes just as good, if not better, the next day.

Now, maybe if she had a bigger kitchen with 2 stoves and ovens and such, cooking 2 turkeys and attending to last minute gravy wouldn't be a problem -- but she just has a regular sized kitchen.

The smaller turkeys are a lot easier to brine and move around. Everyone likes the presentation of the whole turkey so we still have that -- but we can start passing around the turkey slices quickly and get started eating on dinner so everything isn't cold while we are sitting around waiting for Dad to carve the second turkey.

Anyway, everyone loves her turkey -- it is very flavorful and moist, so I don't think it is weird at all. But, she's my mom!

Sounds smart to me!

[Anonymous]

Booze it up. Early and often. You'll be amazed by how civilized you think you appear.

[Anonymous]

Until PP appeared, this was the most civilized thread I have seen for a long time. And even PP was only a little snarky

If people present a well thought out and prepared Thanksgiving dinner, they are behaving in a civilized manner. This extends to their description of the dinners

Here's to a return of civility to DCUM

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Until PP appeared, this was the most civilized thread I have seen for a long time. And even PP was only a little snarky

If people present a well thought out and prepared Thanksgiving dinner, they are behaving in a civilized manner. This extends to their description of the dinners

Here's to a return of civility to DCUM

Hear hear!

My tip: I make a Pinterest board for each specific holiday meal, down to the wine. It helps me Visualize everything and see what is missing or superfluous.

Happy holidays, when the time comes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a bit OCD & use excel. ??
One sheet for each recipe: ingredients feed into a master shopping list. One sheet for a retro plan, with timing & oven temperature for all steps included, as well as which serving dish & utensil will be used. It's especially helpful for making sure oven time is used efficiently. Plus, when guests wander in wanting to help, they can easily see what needs to be done. Having it all together makes it super easy to flip between sheets.

This is amazing. I am stealing this!

[Anonymous]

This is a great thread, but I disagree with one thing - making oyster dressing ia not that hard -

First, we stuff the bird. No one has ever gotten sick and it just tastes soon much better.

Make giant vat of stuffing. Stuff internal cavity with most of it. Leave a bunch behind. Add raw oysters to what's left behind, and stuff the FRONT cavity of bird with oyster. Then, tie up/pin skin of neck to cover the front stuffing. Voila! Two kinds of stuffing, no extra bowls, very little extra effort.

[Anonymous]

I'm considering doing the gravy in advance this year. It's the one part of the meal that stresses me out, trying to get it all to come together at the last moment. I figure if I roast a breast or two the day before, I can carve them and freeze the leftovers to throw in pot pies later. Then use the drippings to make the gravy and just warm it the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm considering doing the gravy in advance this year. It's the one part of the meal that stresses me out, trying to get it all to come together at the last moment. I figure if I roast a breast or two the day before, I can carve them and freeze the leftovers to throw in pot pies later. Then use the drippings to make the gravy and just warm it the next day.

Good idea! You could even do this well before, like now, and use the extra meat between now and Tgiving.

[Anonymous]

For the poster who offers a thanksgiving lunch of soup, when do you eat dinner? I feel like our thanksgiving dinner is always at some odd time in the afternoon, and part of the ritual is that everyone is starving because there was no lunch.