Creating That Thanksgiving Meal without Disaster The Accidental Chef Kendra Bailey Morris offers expert advice for any holiday cook who expects to serve many and wants everything to be perfect.
by Kendra Bailey Morris
DEAR ACCIDENTAL CHEF: I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner for eight guests. I cook some at home, but by no means do I consider myself to be chef material. To make matters worse, this will be my first time cooking a Thanksgiving meal for friends, so I want everything to come out perfectly. Any tips or advice for someone like me? - Trembling Over Turkey
DEAR TREMBLING: Oh, where to start on this one. I could share a bevy of turkey-dinner horror stories straight from personal experience, yet my goal is for you to enter this culinary experience with joy in your heart and not absolute terror. I will offer you one critical bit of advice before proceeding: Make sure your turkey is completely thawed before putting it in the oven, or you'll be eating sliced turkey breast and gravy the day after Thanksgiving.
Now that I've given away my worst personal kitchen blunder - and Lord knows, I've had a few - let me get to the business of helping you create that immaculate meal for eight without disaster.
-- First, go with what you know. Outside of turkey, all of the other table goodies are totally up to you. With this in mind, don't make a foie gras terrine if you have no idea what it is. Do friends tell you that your mac and cheese is just the cheesiest best? Or perhaps, it's your famous creamy mashed potatoes that make everyone swoon. Whatever your forte is, stick to it. When entertaining, especially for the first time, venturing into uncharted recipe territory is an overall bad idea.
-- Make other people help you. When you volunteered to host this dinner, you didn't sign up to work yourself to death, so don't. Have your guests bring an easy appetizer or their favorite pie. Even a couple of baguettes or a quart of ice cream will be one less thing you have to worry about.
-- On the day of, don't be afraid to ask for help in the kitchen, especially with cleaning up. As much as you'd like to come across as the love child of master party hosts Martha Stewart and Wolfgang Puck and do it all yourself, you're still just a mere mortal. Get your friends to assist you with cooking, serving and washing.
-- Do not fear the prepared-foods section of your grocery store. You might dread a visit to the grocery store itself (especially the day before Thanksgiving), but you should feel zero guilt supplementing any homemade delights with a few prepared ones. Just bust out your best serving bowls and pour in the goods. Garnish with a fresh herb or two, and no will know (or care) that it's not made from scratch.
-- Timing is everything. I cannot stress how important it is when cooking for a group to plan ahead. This doesn't mean the scrambling around the day before trying to figure out what you're going to make. This means, up to a full week in advance, selecting your menu, reading your recipes thoroughly, creating a detailed shopping list, and making anything and everything you can ahead.
-- Take a few tips from Granny. My granny in West Virginia was the master of preparation. Two days ahead, and she'd already have the refrigerator filled with fully cooked sweet potato casseroles, turkey dressing, jello salads, a couple of pies and pre-made rolls. Everything, except the turkey, had already been cooked, and she even cooked that the day before. Thanksgiving Day was devoted to setting the table, reheating foods, making last-minute sides like gravy, and most importantly, spending time with guests, a part of hosting we too often tend to overlook.
Thanksgiving should be a time for relaxing and enjoying quality time with relatives and friends, so if you happen to be this year's host, go easy on yourself, and remember to be thankful for all the wonderful food on your table, whether you made it all or not.
Kendra Bailey Morris is a Richmond-based food writer, culinary instructor and author of "White Trash Gatherings: From-Scratch Cooking for Down-Home Entertaining" (Ten Speed Press). Send ideas, tips or culinary questions to info@theaccidentalchef.net or visit www.theaccidentalchef.net.
