Tips for Thanksgiving Day Cooking
Most people in that think about cooking for upwards of 20 people would think that it’s a daunting task. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be. In my family, the task of cooking rotates year to year. It’s not an every year occurrence for me, but wherever I do go, I usually find myself in the kitchen. So, I do have many years under my belt so I do have some advice to offer.
A huge time saver that people don’t recognize, is that you can prep about 80% of your side dishes the day before. I like to prep my sweet potato dish, any casseroles, or mac & cheese dishes the night before. Get all that tedious cooking out of the way so that you can socialize the day of Thanksgiving with family and friends. The only problem this brings is that you have to juggle the way you reheat your dishes. However, there aren’t as many dirty dishes out the day of Thanksgiving because you’ve already taken care of them the night before.
For the centerpiece of the meal, the turkey. Something that I highly suggest is soaking the turkey 24-hours in advance in a brine solution. However, I like to get it going 48 hours before the big day. Mainly because I like to give the turkey a 24-hour soak and then let it dry for an additional 24-hours. Letting it dry is supposed to give it a crispier skin when you roast it. This step can be omitted if you don’t have space or time to deal with it, it’s merely a suggestion. A brine solution consists of a water, salt, and other flavor-able aromatics (citrus, herbs/spices) that your turkey will absorb which will add flavor to your bird. This liquid mixture will be what you use for the soaking solution for your turkey. Make sure you have cleaned the turkey before you go to all this trouble, meaning rinse it, take out the gizzard and innards etc. Once you’ve done that, a helpful hint, I go to a local home improvement store and buy an empty/unused 5-gallon painters bucket with a lid. I like to use this because it keeps the whole turkey submerged and it also saves having to rotate the bird in a roasting pan or bowl. Also, when it comes to having to move the turkey, it makes it a lot easier minimizing the chance of spilling the brine solution out of the pan or bowl. When you have your brine solution started, be sure to wash out the bucket before you put your turkey in it. When you have your brining solution ready, have your turkey in the bucket before pouring it in the bucket over the turkey. This will prevent you from overflowing the bucket when you place the turkey into the bucket. Now, if you don’t have a refrigerator that can accommodate the turkey, it is important that you keep it cold. Time/temperature abuse with an uncooked product is an easy way to make people sick, especially with raw meat. There are many ways that you can keep it cold, but for me, the easiest way is to get that ice chest down that you will probably use anyways having to serve drinks for 20 or more. Place the bucket in the ice chest and surround it with ice. When it comes time to prep the bird for the roasting pan, be sure to rinse the bird either before you want to set it up to dry or before you prep it Thanksgiving morning. Sometimes salt may clump in one spot and that is undesirable. I like to have a rack in my roasting pan. This will make it easier to move the turkey when it comes time to remove the bird for carving. Additionally, when I roast my turkey, I line the roasting pan with chopped onions, celery, and carrots along with chicken stock. This will add flavor to the turkey as well as give you something to baste your turkey to keep it even moister. I like to baste my turkey every two hours. So now that we have brined our turkey, rinsed it, allowed it to dry, added the chopped onions, carrots, and celery to the bottom of the pan, added chicken stock to the roasting pan, added dressing to the bird if desired, garlic, select herbs & spices, salt & peppered and buttered the skin, then it’s time to cover with foil and put the bird in the preheated oven. I like to set my oven at 325°F and I use the 15 minutes per pound method. However, there are many ways to check this and it does vary if you have a stuffed bird or not.
What’s Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? Now that you have your turkey tucked away for the next six or so hours, you can go back to bed and take a 2-hour nap. After you’ve got back up you can prep the potatoes. Peeling for me is relaxing. It’s something I can do that isn’t too time sensitive and you can talk while peeling, and even have a glass of champagne. Although I do like to use a French Peeler. It’s a peeler that the peeling blade is mounted horizontally. It’s a lot better to use with potatoes because it gives you a lot more control and you’re less likely to catch a fingertip. As you get your potatoes peeled, it is important that you have a bowl or pan of water. If you don’t place the peeled potatoes in the water, they will begin to brown. After you’ve peeled all the potatoes and placed them into the water, you can cut them into smaller cubes and return them to the water. Cutting them into smaller cubes will reduce the cook time later. After you have returned the cubed potatoes to the water, you can store them until you need to complete the dish. When it comes time to start the potatoes, add salt to the water and bring the water with the potatoes to a boil. Once they have become fork tender, about 15 minutes boiling (leave the lid cracked so that it doesn’t boil over), drain the water. This is where you add your seasonings, garlic, cream, and cheeses. Start by mashing the potatoes with either a handheld masher or even a stick blender. I like to keep it traditional with a handheld masher, but if you want, a stick blender works well too. I like to give the potatoes a quick mash before I add any ingredients so that there are nooks and crannies that the ingredients can get into and disperse. Now you can keep it as simple or as complex as you desire, I just recommend that you keep tasting spoons around and continually taste it. Also, if you add butter, cheese, or any other solid melting cream-based item, add in small doses. These items take longer to melt and cheese tends to clump. At this point, you should be fine tuning you tastes and be mashing/mixing until you have the desired thickness. Once you’re satisfied, if you have a crockpot, a tip is to transfer the mashed potatoes to a crockpot so that the potatoes stay warm, which will free up needed cooking space.
Now, for me, when you pull the turkey is the green light for everything to get going. When I have the desired temperature for my turkey and I pull it out, I like to have it rest. Resting any meat allows the meat to reabsorb the juices it has lost. I keep it covered still at this point. With the oven free and the cooktop clear, it’s now go time. By now you should have prioritized the order of what needs to be reheated in the oven and it’s needed times. Longer times need to go in first, obviously.
I have included some recipes that I found helpful. Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. It used to be Christmas, but over the years I have realized that gifts are just temporary items. Time spent with the ones you love, sharing a meal, and enjoying their company is what it’s all about for me. It shouldn’t be stressful to cook for a handful of people, it should be rewarding.
