Hello, chefs.
It’s been a few weeks! How’s life, how are your kitchens?
I have nothing awesome to report from my time away other than that I’ve simply not been cooking terribly often recently. Time has been tight (well-spent! but tight) and kind of like going back to bed after you’re told it’s a snow day, giving myself permission to not sit down and write for the last few weeks has felt luxurious.
But I’d never leave you high and dry the weekend before the Super Bowl! Some of us enter Thanksgiving week with a decades-old menu that’s been passed down for generations; that’s excellent and I’m happy for you. If you’re like me, though, you have a relatively blank slate, a mystery docket of guests, and a strong desire to just lay down and nap, which makes planning for this meal a bit of a feat.
The nature of the Thanksgiving meal is utterly insane. We’re expected to cook not one but SEVERAL of the most difficult dishes to get right and time them perfectly, and do it all in our home kitchens when even commercial ones might buckle under such a load. It’s bananas. For all of us who have abracadabraed our way to a Thanksgiving table solo, “Fishes” felt familiar. My formula for a Thanksgiving that isn’t entirely spent washing dishes and stressing over the stove is:
Make as much ahead of time as possible so I can enjoy the day off, and
Choose two things to make that are unique, crazy flavorful, and a little more time-intensive. For everything else, don’t stress. My choices for these two things are usually the stuffing and the dessert.
So this week, rather than sharing a couple recipes below, I’m sharing my plan for a Thanksgiving with plenty of time for naps, card games, walks around the neighborhood, and perhaps some Thanksgiving bonnet arts and crafts. May the odds be ever in your favor.
-Faith
Tuesday
7am: Go to the grocery before work so I can get the turkey brining. Buy for:
Buttermilk-brined roast turkey (and brine bag)
Mashed potatoes: the hill I’ll die on is that trying to fancy up mashed potatoes, especially for Thanksgiving, is a fool’s errand. Just make some regular degular ones and make them ahead so they’re extra fluffy.
Green beans and crispy shallots inspired by this recipe
Cranberry sauce (just a bag of cranberries, some OJ and sugar)
Store-bought rolls: listen, I’ve made homemade dinner rolls for the last 10+ years and I’m here to tell you that it’s just not worth it.
Smitten Kitchen’s black bottom oatmeal pie and ice cream
Breakfast on Thursday morning (specifically OJ, which I’ll need for the cranberry sauce)
8am: Brine the turkey
Evening: Fry the shallots, make the mashed potatoes, tear the bread for the stuffing, make the cranberry sauce
Wednesday
At some point, make the stuffing, make the dessert, and set the table. Rotate the brining turkey a few times.
Thursday
Morning: breakfast, take the turkey out to come to room temp for ~3 hours
T-2 hours: Put the turkey in the oven (the recipe I’m using is spatchcocked, so it takes less time to cook. If you’re weary, put it in earlier!)
T-1 hour:
Reheat the mashed potatoes and stuffing
Prep carrots and green beans: these will each cook in about ~10 minutes and are best done just before serving
Slice the turkey
Friday
Eat leftovers on a loaf of sourdough and online shop to my heart’s content.