Hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner ever. Help!

Cafe Society
1

So, in a fit of what was possibly misplaced altruism, I decided to invite all my fellow grad students who weren’t going home for the holiday to my house for dinner. So far, one couple has accepted and are bringing between two and five friends. One other student has accepted barring a conflict with her in-town family’s dinner.

I have a small turkey (between 7-9lbs) ordered. It’s smaller than would probably be appropriate for even a gathering of this size, but at least two people who are coming are vegetarians, so I’m not super worried about that. I also have Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” to help me make the turkey, so I feel pretty confident about that as well. What I’ve found with roasting chickens is that his advice is spot on, but his roasting times tend to be low. Now I make super yummy chickens without a lot of fuss!

I am also responsible for the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie and apple cider. I’m thinking of making this recipe for the sweet potatoes, without the spice oil topper (because I would hate it and then it would kill me). I’m not concerned about making the mashed potatoes. I’ve made them several times with Bittman’s book, and think I’ve got it under control. The cider is going to be purchased from the local farmers’ market on Tuesday, when I pick up the turkey. At that time, I can get more potatoes, sweet potatoes, apples, broccoli, spinach, lavender and who knows what else. But not vanilla beans, so I have to figure out where to get one or more of those, if I’m going to make those sweet potatoes.

I am also fully capable of making applesauce, but I haven’t done so, or planned to. I will probably make pumpkin bread and freeze it some time this weekend.

Things that are being brought include green beans in some form, cranberries, gravy (the vegetarian woman would like to make it so she and her husband can eat it), dressing and bread products of the rolls variety (maybe, I’m not clear on that last one).

So, some questions. First, what am I missing? I have several days basically or nearly free to cook and clean, so I feel up to the task of making things ahead of time. Is this enough food for between 6-10 people? On that note, how do I judge how many potatoes I need per person for mashed potatoes? At least four of us are mashed potatoes fiends, if that has any bearing on the situation. I think I’d like more green veggies, or something like that, but I don’t know how difficult that could be, since they’ll have to be made day of.

That leads to the second question. How do I manage to get everything to the table “on time”? This means, at roughly the same time, safely (no food-borne illnesses is a good goal), and yummily. I have two ovens, though I rarely use the top one, but it works. We’re planning to do dinner at ~5:30pm, if that makes a difference in the advice.

What should I have behind the door marked “in case of emergency, break glass”? My father thinks we need 14,000 types of pie, but he won’t be here. That said, how many pies of what types do I need?

Oh, and do I need a specialized roasting pan for the turkey? I just use a small flat rack in a 13" x 9" pan for chickens, but all the pans I see for turkeys are much deeper.

Basically, what might a first-timer be missing?

2

Getting food to the table on time is easy. The turkey probably takes the longest, so start that first. Prep the rest of your food (peel the potatoes, season the veggies, etc) and cook those during the final minutes of the turkey. So if the turkey takes four hours to cook, and the potatoes one hour, start cooking the potatoes three hours after you put the turkey in the oven.

Cook as much as you can the day before, like the desserts. I would also have some appetizers out, chips, nuts, that sort of thing, but not too much to the appetite is spoiled.

You forgot drinks. Someone needs to bring drinks, and someone needs to bring napkins.

3

:eek:

Vegetarian gravy?

You are much braver than I…

4

Actually, I didn’t exactly forget drinks. I forgot to mention that at my proposal defense I brought several two liters of differing sodas, and nobody even opened them. So I decided we’d use them here.

I’ll have a gallon of apple cider, maybe a half gallon of pear cider, a gallon plus of milk, a two liter of Dr Pepper, a two liter of Diet Coke and 2 two liters each of Coke and Sprite, as well as some cans of Fresca and Cherry Coke.

The Kangaroo_in_Black and I don’t drink at all, so we’ve told people to feel free to bring any they may want to consume, but that we don’t have any on hand.

Do I need more drinks than that?

Napkins, however, you’re totally right. I forgot about them. I’ll have to see 1) how many cloth napkins I have on hand (since we’re all tree-hugging types) and 2) if I can grab the recycled paper napkins I bought for the grad office some time next week.

Thanks!

5

I hate gravy, so it doesn’t matter to me. However, I was thinking about attempting to make some via Bittman’s recipe for the people who aren’t vegetarians but do like gravy. (Like, say, my husband.)

6

You might want to provide something to nibble on. I don’t know about you and yours, but all the smells of the food cooking make everyone very hungry. Even if it’s simple, like cheese and crackers, your guests will appreciate it. If you want to go a little fancier, there are great dips out there. Artichoke and hot crab dip are two of my favorites.

7

Alton Brown (my secret boyfriend) says gravy without meat drippings is not gravy, it’s sauce.

So, there will be vegetarian sauce.

For dinner, make sure you have music playing. I like something instrumental; it’s a nice background to conversation.

You didn’t mention alcohol among your drink choices. Are wine and beer out?

Oh, ice. You cannot, repeat CANNOT have too much ice. Buy some bags of ice if you have to.

8

My tip would be to make sure you have enough butter for the mashed potatoes and we always run out of gravy. I will make about a gallon of gravy this year.

Don’t overcook the Turkey and make sure you have enough water in the pot you’re using to cook it in. I usually fill the container (Granitewear) 2/3 full leaving enough room for the natural juices to fill the rest. I empty the gravy and giblet packets into the pot also and let everthing cook together, then I make the gravy out of the juices that I siphon out of the pot right before we eat (the gravy and potatoes are the last thing to be made). I keep the turkey covered till about 1/2 hour left, so the skin gets crispy without burning.
You can also make stuffing and potatoes ahead of time. The stuffing you can throw in the oven while your trimming the turkey to get it warm and the mashed potatoes you can pre-cook (the skinned potatoes) and then mash them when you take the cover off the bird.
As far as the rest, I usually wing it every year - as far as spices, snacks, stuffings, etc., so no two dinners are the same in our house.
Oh, one last tip that I really think works for me;
Turn the oven down about 25 degrees from the suggested cooking temp. It only takes a little longer to cook but the turkey comes out much more tender. It gets more evenly cooked this way and stays juicy.

9

And use a flour and butter rouge, only use corn starch if you’re desperate.
If you use flour and butter make sure whatever your going to thicken is boiling pretty good and stir aggressively with a wisp to keep lumps from forming.

10

Beer and wine are in no way out, but I don’t personally intend to buy them. My husband and I don’t drink alcohol at all, and would have basically no knowledge of what’s tasty and good and what’s not. However, people are more than welcome to bring anything they’d like. (I left out the word alcohol in my previous post.)

I will get extra ice, though. That’s a good call. And between my husband and I, we have tons of good instrumental pieces of music to listen to.

Between Uncommon Sense’s posts, and my cookbook, it’s looking like I will need a bigger pan to cook the turkey in. So now I have to decide if I want to get an aluminum “disposable” one from the grocery store, and plan to try to recycle it, or go to Bed, Bath and Beyond, and buy their special one that’s $9.99 after mail-in rebate, and figure out what to do with it when we’re done.

Blech.

11

With all due respect to Mark Bittman if you want the best turkey you have ever tasted wander over to this thread and read the OP.
I have cooked turkeys for over 30 years, Alton Brown’s recipe is hands down the best ever. IMHO my improvements make it even better. Trust me on this you will be a turkey godess if you make the bird this way.
As far as roasting pans go, around here you can buy disposable turkey roasting pans for about $1.50. Plenty big and no clean up.

For munchies try carrot sticks, broccoli, and black olives. (or any kind of olive, black was traditional in my house) Also deviled eggs can be made ahead if you wish.

12

I could try to find brining bags, but how do you keep the ice filled ziploc on the breast for that first 20 minutes?

Bittman recommends, for a small turkey like mine, to roast it for the first half upside down, then flip it over for the second half.

As it stands, I’m basically already going to be a grad student goddess for even making a Thanksgiving meal. I want to do the absolute best that I can, but I’m going to have to try one way. Your way looks yummy, but Bittman’s is already akin to what I do with the chickens (and thus has familiarity going for it). However, I don’t have to baste my chickens, and I have to baste the turkey according to him, so I’m in new territory however I do it.

Deviled eggs, eh? My husband would appreciate that. I should find a recipe.

Thanks!

13

I seem to recall finding brining bags in the supermarket last year. As far as how to hold the ziplock bag on the breast, gravity has always seemed to work for me. I just kind of lay it up there and it stays.

I have never turned a turkey over half way through, far too much like work, and a real risk of burns.
YMMV of course

14

Rick, I just have this vision of the baggie of ice sort of sliding down the front of the bird. Due to that very gravity thing!

Turning the turkey might put me at a risk for burns, no doubt. I do turn my chickens all the time, and there is the occasional grease splatter. However, a far greater amount of the time there is no problem.

15

Just an aside - but be really careful with the turkey. In my experience, they’re pretty easy to dry out compared to a chicken.

Of course you could just dry it out, pour on a gallon of gravy, and have Thanksgiving Dinner a la Uncommon Sense.

:stuck_out_tongue:

I kid! I kid!

But seriously - don’t dry out that turkey! Watch the pop-up carefully or get a good meat thermometer.

16

OK, I may sound like an idiot here, but I just want to be clear on this, because I was a bit confused when I read your recipe in the other thread, Rick.

You mean to ice down the turkey breast before putting it in the oven, right? So that it starts out at a lower temp than the rest of the bird and therefore takes longer to cook. Not icing down the bird in the oven, which is the way I read it the first time.

17

I read it as icing the bird down in the oven as well, so I guess it’s a good think you ask.

18

A good trick to keeping the breast moist is to slide some butter in between the skin and the breast. Reach up in between the skin and breast with your hand and loosen the skin carefully, then place 2-3 pats of butter on each breast.

Don’t forget, precooked sides can also be reheated in the microwave!

19

:eek: :smack:
I guess I did not make myself clear there. After the bird has warmed up, and before you place it in the oven ice the breast for 20 minutes. This will bring the breast temp down by about 10-12 degrees F.
This will make the breast and dark meat get done at the same time.
About the turning thing, I usually do 20 lb birds. Wrestling a 20 lb bird in a roasting pan that is 350 degrees, is not something I want to do if I can avoid it.

20

Delores, I have a friend who does that with his turkeys, but I’ve never been to Thanksgiving at his house! He said he did a butter/rosemary/something batch once that was wonderful.

Thanks for clearing that up, Rick. That’s why I was so worried about the ice bag falling off. I wanted to say, “But doesn’t the bag melt?”, but I figured you meant that the ice kept it from doing that.

For the record, I’m getting a Burbon Red Heritage* turkey. My impression is that it’s harder to dry out one of these guys.

*Sideways PDF warning.