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Tis The Season
Thanksgiving Hosting Guide
From turkey to the trimmings, everything you’ll need to know to have a enjoyable festive Thanksgiving without all the hassle.
How to Plan the Menu
First things first: Who will be at your table, and what are you going to eat? Here are some suggestions on how to build a successful Thanksgiving plan, whether this is your first holiday as the cook or your 10th.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Planning a really good menu is the stealth approach to being a really good cook. What leaves an impression is not only the dishes you can make, but also how they taste, look and feel when assembled into a meal.
• Avoid repeating ingredients. If you are serving pecan pie for dessert, don’t put out spiced pecans as an hors d’oeuvre. Both may be fabulously delicious, but the pie just won’t be as appealing by the time dessert rolls around.
• Consider variety, especially as those at the table may have different tastes, allergies and aversions. If there are vegetarians and vegans present, you can and must plan for them, too.
• If you’re unsure how to start, think about colors. Thanksgiving is heavy on dishes that are white (mashed potatoes, creamed onions) and brown (turkey, stuffing, gravy) dishes. It needs the ruby red of cranberry sauce, the warm orange of pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes, to make it interesting. Add something green and snappy.
• Next, think about texture. If you already have a creamy vegetable side dish, add one that’s roasted or caramelized.
• Finally, throw in a surprising flavor. Be truly daring and add a seriously spicy dish like our fiery sweet potatoes. Pickles and relishes like piccalilli or chutney add a puckery note.
The GUEST LIST
• If you’re hosting a small group this year, you get to make a much more interesting meal. Since you don’t have to cook in bulk, try out recipes that are a little more creative than classic. Have a guest bring the mashed potatoes, so you can make a sweet potato gratin instead. Buy some puff pastry and play around with it to make cheese straws, pumpkin turnovers or an apple tarte Tatin.
Roast a turkey breast and use the extra oven space to bake a dressing that’s new to you. (If you already have a signature dressing, make both — having two is a Thanksgiving dream.) Take the opportunity to fuss over the table and the guests a little more than usual. Get out the linen napkins, polish the candlesticks, dust off the ramekins and serve individual stuffing cups or vanilla custards to each guest.
STRIKE A BALANCE
It is possible for one cook to satisfy both Thanksgiving traditionalists and progressives, but it requires some ingenuity. Adding new ingredients to the old favorites is not the way; instead, add one or more new dishes to perennials on the table, and make sure they have modern, fresh flavors. Here’s how to proceed.
• Some things should not be messed with. Glazing a turkey with pomegranate or rubbing it with chipotle won’t change anyone’s mind; people either like turkey or they don’t. Adding celery root, Cheddar and the like to the classic mashed potatoes is risky. These days, plain, buttery, homemade mashed potatoes are a treat that everyone seems to look forward to at the holiday.
• Make sure there’s a creamed vegetable on the table. It doesn’t have to be onions. Also have a jellied cranberry sauce (canned is fine), so the reactionaries will be happy.
• For the neophiles, add a sprightly green vegetable, whether raw, roasted or blanched. A little salad of fresh herbs, pictured above, is very refreshing, but broccoli, string beans or spinach can also nestle in nicely on the table.
• Prowl for recipes that use ingredients from different culinary traditions: Asian condiments, Moroccan spices, Middle Eastern syrups. These can add a welcome note of surprise to an all-too-familiar menu.
Make a list, and check it twice!
To jump-start your planning, make a good shopping list, the most critical tool for the forward-looking cook.
Some items on the Thanksgiving shopping list are obvious: turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes. (About that turkey: Buy one pound per person, or a pound and a half per person if you’d like to have leftovers.)
But there are several other ingredients that will prove invaluable to have on hand. Buy them early if you can. Running out to the supermarket the night before Thanksgiving is the last thing any cook, novice or experienced, will want to do.
Butter, lots of it. Choose European-style high-fat butter for pie crusts, and regular unsalted butter for everything else.
Stock. If you haven’t made your own, look for homemade stock at the same butcher shop where you buy your turkey, or in the freezer section of your supermarket. The canned and boxed stuff should be a last resort. Buy at least three or four quarts. You’ll need it not only for gravy and deglazing your roasting pan; it’s also good to have on hand for braising vegetables. Make sure to get some good vegetarian stock for anyone who isn’t eating meat. Leftover stock freezes perfectly.
Fresh herbs. Not only do they add freshness and flavor across your Thanksgiving table, but they’re also pretty, lending a touch of green to a meal heavy on earth tones. Choose soft herbs (parsley, dill, basil, mint) for garnish, and sturdy, branchy herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaves) to throw into your roasting pans, stocks and gravies.
Garlic, onions, leeks, fresh ginger, shallots. An assortment of aromatics keeps your cooking lively and interesting. You’ll need them for the stuffing, for stock and gravy, and for many side dishes. Grated fresh ginger and sautéed shallots are a nice and unexpected addition to cranberry sauce; simply stir them in with the berries while simmering. And you can perk up plain mashed potatoes by folding in sautéed garlic and leeks with the butter.
Fresh citrus. Lemon, lime and orange juice and zest contribute brightness to countless Thanksgiving dishes, from the turkey to the gravy to the cranberry sauce to the whipped cream for pie.
Nuts. These go a long way to give crunch to otherwise texturally boring dishes. (Ahem, sweet potato casserole.) Keep a variety on hand to throw into salads and side dishes, or simply to offer before the meal begins. They can also help bulk out your meatless offerings.
White wine/vermouth/beer. Even if you’re not drinking any of these spirits before or during the meal, they can be splashed into gravy or vegetable dishes, or used to deglaze the turkey roasting pan. (Bourbon and brandy work well as deglazers, too.)
Fresh spices. If you can’t remember when you bought your spices, now is a good time to replace them.
Light brown sugar, molasses, maple syrup. These sweeteners are more profoundly flavored than white sugar, and they have an autumnal richness. Try using them to sweeten whipped cream, your coffee-based beverages and pies.
Heavy cream, sour cream, crème fraîche, ice cream. You’ll need these for topping pies and cakes.
The Menu
• For vegetarians or vegans at the feast, optics can send a powerful message. If you’re not going to have a turkey on the table, or if the turkey on the table is just for those guests who have not yet seen the light of a plant-based Thanksgiving feast, take care to serve a main dish that has some of the visual and sensory firepower of a giant roast. Something demonstrably large and in charge, like a mushroom Wellington, or a whole roasted cauliflower or two, or a platter of stuffed squash.
• Dressing is an easy way to provide visual appeal and flavor to the Thanksgiving menu. You can make a version with meat, and one with no meat. We also have an excellent gluten-free dressing made with wild rice, cranberries and sausage (pictured above), and another that’s entirely vegan.
Melissa Clark’s recipe for stuffing with mushrooms and bacon can be adapted to use gluten-free cornbread. (If you leave out the bacon and use vegetable stock, that stuffing recipe can also be vegetarian.)
• Whatever you do, try to avoid any truly arcane ingredients, or foods you’re uncomfortable cooking with. Some cooks just don’t want to use tempeh, textured vegetable protein or xanthan gum, and that’s O.K. Pretty much everyone can eat roasted autumn vegetables with garlic and herbs, and will be pleased to do so. And chances are that that vegan gravy recipe with nutritional yeast, mushroom powder and Marmite added isn’t half as good as a simple version you can easily make yourself.
What’s a simple method for roasting a turkey? You don’t need to brine, stuff, truss or baste a turkey to get delicious results. Try this recipe for starters.
How much turkey should I buy? Buy one pound per person, or a pound and a half per person if you’d like to make sure you have leftovers. If you’re ordering your turkey from a butcher or farmer, you’ll need to do so a few weeks in advance.
How long does it take to thaw a frozen turkey? Allow one day for every four pounds of turkey (i.e. a 12-pound turkey will need three days to defrost). Thaw your turkey in the fridge and make sure to put it in a bowl or on a platter because it may drip. It will defrost faster if you remove the neck and giblets from the cavity as soon as possible. (You may need to defrost it for at least a day first before you can do so.)
Can you safely defrost a turkey at room temperature? A large turkey should not be defrosted at room temperature. Thorough cooking would kill microbes, but not necessarily all the toxins they may have produced. And the skin may start to go rancid.
How long does raw turkey keep? According to the Agriculture Department, fresh turkey can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two days. A frozen turkey will last for up to a year if kept frozen continuously.
Should I brine my turkey? Whether you brine your turkey is a matter of personal preference. Brining advocates say that brining guards against dryness and overcooking. Detractors argue that it is a messy and inconvenient way to ensure moist and evenly seasoned meat (you need to store the turkey in the liquid overnight and keep it cool); a dry rub, sometimes called a dry brine, is less messy and also produces moist meat. (Here’s a great recipe for dry-brined turkey.)
Where can I safely store a turkey while it brines? Your best bet is to take everything out of the refrigerator and store the turkey in there. That way you can be sure the temperature will be low enough. You could also store the turkey in a cooler, but you have to worry about keeping the temperature below 40 degrees. If you do use a cooler, make sure it is well packed with ice or ice packs.
Should I truss my turkey? If you do not stuff your turkey, you do not need to truss it. Allowing untrussed wings and legs to have hot air circulating around them helps them cook faster, so the white and dark meat will all be done at the same time. If you do stuff your bird, trussing helps keep the stuffing in its proper place and it makes for a neater presentation.
Is it dangerous to cook the stuffing inside the turkey? The Agriculture Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend cooking stuffing separately from the turkey. The concern is that cold or frozen stuffing, sometimes sold already stuffed into packaged birds, won’t reach a high enough temperature to be eaten safely. To be safe, take its temperature; like the turkey, it must reach 165 degrees.
Do I need a roasting rack to roast a turkey? A rack allows the heat of the oven to circulate around the turkey; also, if the turkey is resting on the bottom of the roasting pan, the skin there will be flabby and moist. You don’t need a specially designed rack for your roasting pan, but you need something to lift the bird above the bottom of the pan. Balls of aluminum foil work perfectly well; you can also use upside-down ramekins.
Do I need to rinse off the turkey before I start cooking it? You don’t need to rinse your turkey. Any bacteria that’s on it will be cooked off in the oven.
Should I baste the turkey? Not for the first hour. You want the heat of the oven to do its work tightening the skin of the turkey and helping to seal in the juices that will run at the breast. Afterward you can baste on the half hour, using the fat and liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan to burnish the skin and, some say, to help keep the entire bird juicy within.
How will I know when the turkey is done? Take its temperature. A digital thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should read 165 degrees.
How long do I roast the turkey?
| Size of turkey | Approximate cook time at 350 degrees |
| 9 to 11 pounds | 2½ hours |
| 12 to 14 pounds | 3 hours |
| 15 to 17 pounds | 3½ hours |
| 18 to 20 pounds | 4 hours |
| 21 to 23 pounds | 4½ hours |
| 24+ pounds | 5+ hours |
How do I cook a turkey in a convection oven? Convection ovens are equipped with a fan that circulates the heated air within the cooking chamber, and using one generally means roasting your turkey at a lower temperature, for less time, than in a conventional oven. It is not an exact science, but the general rule of thumb is to decrease the oven temperature called for by the recipe by 25 degrees, and to lower the cooking time by roughly 10 or 20 percent. Use a rack and a shallow roasting pan, so that the skin of the bird has maximum exposure to the heated air. And don’t worry about turning and basting the bird. With a convection oven, the result is generally a moist bird with a crisp and crackling skin.
The other Thanksgiving dish that seems to cause home cooks anxiety is pie, though there is no reason to fear it. Here are some frequently asked questions about the final flourish to the feast. (To learn the basics of making a pie crust, visit our guide.)
Craig Lee for The New York Times
- Can I make pies in advance? You can make the dough up to three days ahead and refrigerate, or up to one month ahead and freeze. (If frozen, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight.)You can make pumpkin pie and pecan pie fillings up to five days ahead, but don’t mix in the pecans until just before baking. Store in the fridge.You can roll out the crust and line your pie plate a day before baking it. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. You can also blind bake your crust a day ahead. Just leave it on the counter and cover it with a clean dish towel once it has cooled. (One idea: Bake the crusts and make the fillings the day before, then assemble and bake the pies before the turkey goes into the oven on Thanksgiving morning.)You can freeze a whole, unbaked fruit or pumpkin pie for up to a month. Or you can fully bake pies the day before Thanksgiving, though they will be considerably less ethereal when you serve them. Store them at room temperature, not in the fridge.
Do frozen pies need to defrost before they are baked? Bake them while they are still frozen, adding about 15 minutes onto the baking time. Do not thaw it first or you could lose flakiness in the crust.
Why does my pie crust crumble when I roll it out? You’re probably not adding enough water. The dough needs to be moist enough to roll out without cracking. Try adding a little more water the next time you make the dough. Start with a few drops at a time, and when the dough no longer feels crumbly, stop there.
If I don’t have pie weights, what else can I use to blind bake the crust? For those who haven’t heard the term before, blind baking is when you pre-bake a pie crust before the filling is added; you simply line the raw crust with foil or parchment, then fill it with weights and bake. If you don’t have pie weights, use dried beans. If you don’t have those, the most effective weight to use is another pie dish. And if you don’t have another pie dish, cover the crust and rim with aluminum foil and fill with popcorn kernels, or uncooked rice or tiny pasta (messier than dried beans, but equally effective).
How can I keep my pie crust from shrinking when it’s baked? Try freezing the crust for 20 minutes before baking. This helps a lot, and it also helps the crimped crust hold its shape.
How do I use lard in my pie crust? Lard makes a slightly flakier pie crust that’s a little easier to handle than an all-butter dough. You can substitute lard for other fats in your favorite pie crust recipe, or use our version, which combines butter for a rich flavor and lard for its incomparable texture.
Lard varies in flavor depending upon how it’s rendered. Sometimes it’s completely flavorless, and sometimes it has a slight porky funk to it, which can be part of its appeal. Its mild savoriness goes well with pecan and pumpkin pies, and the gorgeous, airy texture makes apple pies seem lighter.
Make sure to seek out rendered leaf lard from a good butcher or specialty market, or try your farmers’ market. Avoid processed lard from the supermarket; it has been hydrogenated to increase shelf life and can have an off or mildly rancid flavor, not to mention the dangers of hydrogenated fat to your arterial health.
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Cheesecake
What to Drink
Thanksgiving hosts must obey two important rules in providing wine.
First, do not run out! It’s a feast of plenty, and the wine should reflect the same spirit of generosity and gratitude. A good rule of thumb is one bottle per drinking guest. It may sound like a lot, and you may well have leftovers. But too much wine is just fine. Not enough is not an option.
The second rule is one of courtesy: Provide both reds and whites. Otherwise, wine is the easiest chore you will have. All will go well, because it almost always does. But certain characteristics in the wines you select can help to enhance the meal. Here are some tips for choosing wines and serving them. And you need not serve wine, of course — cider and beer are good alternatives.
• With a meal this large and varied, painstakingly matching specific wines to particular foods is virtually impossible. So don’t sweat it. Instead, look for limber, versatile wines that will go with many different flavors. By that, I mean you want fresh and lively rather than heavy, tannic and oaky. Wines with generous acidity will be more refreshing than low-acid wines, which tend toward flat and enervating.
• Over the years The Times has recommended a wide variety of whites and reds: bottles from the Loire Valley, cru Beaujolais, California red field-blends, Oregon pinot noir and pinot gris, dry, earthy Lambruscos, Muscadet and Chablis, reds and whites from Mt. Etna in Sicily, Spanish reds from Ribeira Sacra, Finger Lakes rieslings and syrahs from the northern Rhône and California. But these aren’t the only wines that will work. Don’t hesitate to seek guidance at your local wine shop. That, by the way, is an excellent piece of general advice: cultivate the merchants at the best wine shop nearby.
• Avoid high-alcohol wines at a long and tiring feast. It’s best not to serve wines that are above 14.5 percent for Thanksgiving. Such powerful wines are no problem if you are just having a glass or two, but I like to drink more than that, so I want wines that won’t be fatiguing. For me, wines ranging from 12 to 13.5 percent are ideal. Moderately sweet wines like German kabinett and spätlese rieslings can be wonderful Thanksgiving accompaniments, and they may be as low as 8 percent alcohol.
• Add wine glasses to the list of things not to worry about. If you have enough stemware, go ahead and use it. But if you don’t, juice glasses, tumblers or whatever will do just fine. Glass beats plastic every time. Better for the wine, better for the environment. But if you must use disposable vessels, do not use cheap plastic stems. They will fall apart, the wine will spill, things will be stained, and you will be unhappy. If compelled to go disposable, steer clear of the stems.
• Serving temperature is worth controlling if possible. Whites should be cold, but not icy. Reds should be cool rather than room temperature. If refrigerator space is precious, you can store the wines outdoors, assuming its cool enough. No outdoor space? Perhaps an ice chest?
• Are there good alternatives to wine? Of course. Cider, in both its hard and non-alcoholic guises, is a natural, seasonal and historic. The United States is making some great dry ciders these days. Beer, too, is fine, though, as with red and white wines I would provide some choices, say a crisp pilsner and a dark porter, or a pale ale and a stout. As with wine, so, too, with cider and beer. Don’t run out!
