The logistics of preparing a large (Thanksgiving) meal

This is the first time that I’m doing an actual Thanksgiving meal, and the logistics of cooking it all has me nervous!

I’ll be doing duck per the Alton Brown method (steam for 45 minutes, then in the oven at high temp for ~15 minutes+).

I’m also making a dish of dressing (with sausage, cranberries and apple).

And of course, I’ll make mashed potatoes.

Lastly, I’ll be heating some greens in the microwave.

I’m wondering if I can prepare the dressing tomorrow night and refrigerate? It seems like it’d be good. That’ll free up a burner/pot for steaming the duck or cooking the potato.

So what I could do is steam the duck while the dressing is in the oven. Then take the dressing out, increase the heat and finish the duck. At the same time I could start cooking the potatoes.

So, how do you others handle the logistics of large meals? Any shortcuts/tricks to share?

You can definitely make the dressing the night before.

What I do to organize a big meal is to write up a timeline. You go backwards - at the bottom of the page, you write down the time you want everything done by. Then start working backwards, writing down the time you need to start things. At the top, put all the prep work that can be done before you start cooking. This really helps when people show up, you start gabbing, you have a glass of wine, and suddenly you can’t remember what you need to do next. You can just glance at the clock and say “Oh, it’s time to start the potatoes!” It’s also handy for figuring out conflicts, so you don’t end up with two things both needing to be in the microwave at the same time, or in the oven at two different temperatures at the same time.

The end result will be something like:

Prep:

Peel and dice 3# potatoes
Clean greens

11:00 take ducks out of fridge, remove from packaging, allow to come to room temperature.
1:30 Season ducks with salt, pepper, herbs
1:45 Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2:00 Put duck in oven.
2:45 Put potatoes on stove to boil
3:30 Take duck out of oven; allow to rest for 20 minutes.
3:35 Mash potatoes, put back in pan to stay warm
3:45 Put greens in microwave
3:50 Carve Duck
Remove greens from microwave, put in serving bowl
Put potatoes in serving bowl
4:00 Serve!

+1 or whatever we’ve elected as the SDMB “Hell, yes!”

I am years past needing a written list (although I have a few very complex recipes that I have written a reverse timeline for), but this is exactly how I approach any dinner more complicated than a pot of spaghetti. It is SUCH a useful tool to keep from screwing up dinner by suddenly hitting some roadblock - prep, cooking time, something - when everything else is marching towards the table. Having to hold stuff until the meat is overcooked or dried out, or veggies are overdone, or pasta is gummy… yuck.

Not just Thanksgiving and big holiday meals - larn yourself to do this automatically with all meals and your blood pressure will go down while your cooking quality goes up.

Also: Prep first. Cook second. Part of the above but I know experienced cooks who will blithely start a dish with a short cooking time before even getting out the onions for the second dish. (We’ll skip what happens when there turn out to be no onions in the fridge.) Complete your prep first, then start cooking.

You’ve forgotten your greens. :wink: Do the greens need to be prepped? Washed, stems removed, trimmed, chopped? You can do all that the night before. (Or even tonight, for that matter.) Do you need onions/shallots/garlic chopped to go with the greens? How about in your dressing? Those can be chopped the night before.

Potatoes can be peeled and cut up and put into the water earlier in the day. Make sure you put them in water once they’re cut though, or they’ll turn brown or grey. Then about an hour before serving time, salt the water and turn the heat on high. OR if you make your mashed potatoes with a lot of fat, then you can do that in the morning, put the mashed potatoes in a crock pot and keep it on low all day. The fat keeps them from drying out, and they’re ready whenever you are. We call these Holiday Mashed Potatoes, because it’s the only time we allow ourselves the indulgence of all that fat in our mashed potatoes. This is very much like our recipe, except that it’s too healthy, so we add sour cream, too. :wink: Ours aren’t baked, but crock-potted to stay warm.

I do a similar thing with the list. I’ve hosted Thanksgiving five or six times, but I’m tweaking some stuff this year. I have an extra convection oven, so I can do more in parallel. And I’m trying a crock pot stuffing recipe. Again, more in parallel. Just means I need to plan it differently.

My plan this time:
Tonight - cranberry sauce
Tomorrow afternoon - Prep and brine the turkey. Put bread out for stuffing, to let it go stale.
Thursday morning - put stuffing stuff in crock pot. Bake apple pie.
Thursday afternoon - put turkey in oven. Boil sweet potatoes. Make sweet potato casserole. Blanche broccoli.

I have more details on my notes, but that’s basically how it’ll go.
-D/a

As long as you’re referring to Alton Brown, remember that organization will set you free. And yes, a Gantt chart can really help you visualize what needs to be done and in what order. If this is one of your first large-scale feasts, over-estimate prep times.

Another pro tip is to rustle up all of your serving dishes and forks, spoons, etc. in advance and label them with index cards or post-its so you know that you have everything you need. This will save panic when you’re about to put everything on the table and you don’t need to dig through the drawers to find another serving spoon for the cranberry sauce.

Crock pots can be quite useful when preparing feasts. Even if you cook the food over a regular burner or in the oven, you can transfer quite a lot of foods into a slow cooker and keep them warm without harm to taste. Some foods will even taste better.

If there is anyone who can and will help you, delegate.

Thanks to everyone for the tips and advice.

I decided to make the dressing tonight, then bake it tomorrow.

I have to say, it has been my most fun time cooking in ever!

Like some advised, I prepared everything before actually starting to cook. So, I got out all my bowls, then started chopping up the required ingredients and setting them aside.

I spent almost 2 hours for everything, but now with it all done, I feel really great. The best thing is, because it was all planned out and coordinated, I was able to clean all dishes and utensils as used, and even had the energy/peace of mind at the end to wipe down the counter tops and mop the floor (not to say I made a mess; just getting a head start on freshening up for the guests).

I have the rest of the meal to do tomorrow, and I’m going to go about it in the same methodical way.

Don’t forget drinks! Maybe some for the guests, too. I used to forget beverages…