SO, YOU’VE DECIDED TO STEP UP AND HOST THANKSGIVING DINNER THIS YEAR, or perhaps you drew the short straw and had hosting duty thrust upon you. In either case, you want this special family event to come off without a hitch under your watch—or at least without any major catastrophes. Here are some helpful hints that will keep your Thanksgiving feast as enjoyable and stress-free as possible:
Get planning
If you’re a list maker by nature, the planning stage might be fun. On the other hand, if you usually take more of a “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” approach to things, it might take a bit of willpower to get started. Whatever your nature, the best way to start off on the right foot when hosting Thanksgiving is to make a plan and start planning early.
Start by making a guest list so you have a clear picture of how many people you’ll have to feed (including kids). Make sure you have enough seating to accommodate your guests around the main table, around the kids’ table, and in the room where you’ll be entertaining your guests before and after dinner. Find out ahead of time if anyone has special dietary needs or preferences that you’ll have to accommodate. Will anyone require an airport pickup or overnight accommodations? If anyone is spending the night in your home, do you have a plan for where they’ll sleep?
Double check your place settings, silverware, drinking glasses, etc. to make sure you won’t fall short in any of these areas. If you don’t have enough fine china and silverware for all your guests, there’s nothing wrong with putting out nicer disposable ware for the kids.
You’ll also need to make a checklist of all the food items and ingredients you’ll need to pull the meal together. If this is the first Thanksgiving you’ve ever hosted, it’s a good idea to consult with an experienced “old hand” like Mom or Grandpa to make sure you’re not overlooking anything important.
Get cleaning
Let’s face it, considering today’s busy schedules, there’s a good chance your home looks like a train wreck in between cleanings—especially if you have children. But if you wait until the day before Thanksgiving to tackle cleaning chores, you’ll be totally overwhelmed by the magnitude of the project. If your home is a disaster, get cleaning about a week ahead of time. If things get a little messy in the meantime, you can always go back and do some touch-up cleaning the day before or morning of Thanksgiving.
Get shopping
Like housecleaning, you don’t want to put off shopping until the last minute. Otherwise, you might be left with a six-pound turkey when you have 20 people to feed or lacking a vital ingredient, such as the Manhattan-style clam chowder for your patented stuffing. Hit the supermarket at least a week ahead of time (possibly even earlier this year with supply-chain logjams causing supermarket shortages).
“Test drive” new dishes
You don’t want to discover that a new dish is a dud by observing the look of displeasure on your guests’ faces after they take that first wary bite. Even if a new recipe looks fantastic on paper, you don’t want to leave the outcome to chance. Try it out on your own family first.
Don’t be afraid to delegate!
Just because you’ve offered to host Thanksgiving doesn’t mean you have to supply every dish and drink. A good way to minimize your burden—and stress level—is to handle the turkey and a few other major items, such as the stuffing and mashed potatoes, and then let others lend a hand by bringing dishes of their own to complement the main course. For example, you could ask Mom to bring her famous ribbon salad, Grandma to bring her garlicky potatoes, and Uncle Ed to bring along a bottle of wine or two.
Let’s talk turkey
As the focal point of the meal, the turkey is a greater source of anxiety to the host than any other aspect of Thanksgiving. Overcook it, and you’re serving dry, turkey jerky. Undercook it, and you’ll not only sicken your guests but also pretty much ensure you’ll never be hosting Thanksgiving again.
If you buy your turkey frozen, remember that properly thawing it—especially a large bird—can take several days, so it’s very important to plan for this stage and allow ample thawing time before the bird has to go in the oven. If thawing in a refrigerator (the preferred method), you’ll need to allow approximately 24 hours of thawing time for every 4 pounds of bird.
If you don’t have time for refrigerator thawing, you have the alternative of thawing the bird in cold water. With this method, you can estimate a thawing time of 30 minutes per pound of turkey. However, be sure to change out the water every 30 minutes so the bath stays sufficiently cold. The turkey should be placed in the sink or container breast-side down and ideally covered completely with cold water. If the bird can’t be fully submerged, you’ll need to rotate it every half hour as well. You should not, however, thaw the turkey at room temperature.
Cook the turkey in a 325-degree oven until it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Use a meat thermometer, inserted into the meatiest part of the thigh but not touching the bone, to test for doneness. If you stuff the bird, make sure the center of the stuffing reaches 165 degrees F, as well. A safer option from the standpoint of foodborne-illness prevention is to cook stuffing in a separate casserole dish rather than in the cavity of the turkey. Doing so will also reduce the likelihood of overcooking the bird while you wait for the stuffing to reach a safe temperature.
Don’t forget to enjoy yourself!
Though the Thanksgiving host spends much of the holiday dashing in and out of the kitchen and making sure all the guests have everything they need, don’t forget that it’s your holiday, too. Take some time to savor the meal you’ve prepared and to visit with your guests. Alternating kitchen chores with your spouse will help ensure that each of you has time to enjoy the festivities at least a little bit. And, if something goes wrong— the turkey ends up overcooked, someone spills a beverage and it runs across the entire Thanksgiving table, or an unexpected guest shows up—don’t let it ruin your day. Try to find the humor in the situation. After all, no one should expect perfection. And if they do, you might suggest that they take on hosting duty for the next major holiday. ✲
