In anticipation of (US) Thanksgiving

MaryMumsy

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I read a piece the other day which was heartening: evidently the first time Martha Stewart did family Thanksgiving, 50 years ago, she burned the turkey to a crisp and had to scramble around to find another turkey. Dinner was six hours late. That's far worse than any mishaps I have had.

For only the 4th time since 1974, I am not doing the turkey etc. Last year just about did me in (35 people, two turkeys, 10 pounds of potatoes, two gallons of gravy, etc etc). So my brother, who is an excellent cook, said if I did the pies and stuff he would do the turkey etc. We're still going to be at my house, but he's doing the heavy lifting.

MM
 

Jason

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Whole Foods - $39.99 - party of one, your table is ready!

And there's no dishes when I pass out watching football... :)
 

Maryn

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I would never do a Thanksgiving meal for so many. Eight is my limit, and this year we're hitting it. I had to buy a new tablecloth because we'll need the leaf. We weren't sure we'd ever used it before.

I am nevertheless overplanning and kind of freaking out. It's not just the one meal, it's feeding them all for three days. And not getting bent when people who warned me they absolutely don't eat [thing], so I plan and prepare all around that item, bring some [thing] with them and eat it. Damn it, if you don't eat sugar, or gluten, or anything but organic, own your damned words.

This is why they make wine, right?
 

Fruitbat

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35 people, wow. I think my highest number was about a dozen. Lately, I only have four people and do boneless skinless turkey breasts so it's not much more than fixing regular dinner. These days I don't enjoy the kitchen that much so I shoot for tasty but easy. But yeah, I think if someone has special food preferences/requirements they should definitely coordinate with the host, offering at that time to handle their meal modifications themselves as much as possible. Otherwise, that's just rude. Yes, wine!
 
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kikazaru

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I don't find the number of people to cook for the problem, I hate the house preparation. This is a small house and it NEVER looks tidy, so getting it to the level of guest preparedness stresses me out.

As for the meal, my mother was an absolute loon when she did it (and she did it at least twice a year for 10 to 20 people or more), rushing around, frantically and fussing over everything and I swore I would never do that because it distresses the guests and makes it for a most unrelaxing meal.

My best tip is tell everyone you will do the turkey/stuffing/gravy and everyone else needs to be in charge of a dish. If this is not possible, then make it as simple as you can by scaling down the menu and doing what you can ahead of time. If you are serving salad, then buy the bagged salad mixes. You can peel the potatoes the day before and put them in the fridge in water that has a bit of vinegar added to prevent browning, drain and cook them the day of. Or you could make a mashed potato casserole ahead and just reheat. Make your stuffing ahead of time and cook it in a casserole dish instead of the turkey - the turkey cooks faster anyway. Buy bakery buns, and pumpkin pies. Dinner's done.

Good luck. :)
 

mrsmig

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35 people? That's mind-boggling. My hat's off to you, MaryMumsy.

It's just going to be my husband and me this year, which is kind of a relief. I enjoy the planning, prep and cooking of a big elaborate meal; it's when we have guests that it becomes more of a juggling act, particularly as I have a tiny kitchen and an equally small dining room. I think the most people I've ever hosted is six, and it was a tight squeeze.
 
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Chris P

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My ex's family was huge, so I totally get the cooking for 35 nightmare. My hat's off!

I'm away from family this year for work reasons. My wife (who lives in Michigan) and I are doing an early Thanksgiving today with a honey and molasses glazed ham. A two pounder, which will make some nifty sandwiches for the week! Tday itself will be a get together and service work in the community, a regular phone shift I take every Thursday. That doesn't mean a nice pizza isn't on the list :)
 
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MAS

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The most we ever hosted was 21. Christmas has been our holiday, rather than Thanksgiving, and over the years learned a couple of make-aheads. My favorite is this recipe for make-ahead mashed potatoes with sage and white cheddar. It makes a huge amount and there are hardly any leftovers. I would assemble it the day before and just heat it up in the oven before dinner. SUCH a time-saver.

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/...oes-with-sage-and-white-cheddar-cheese-108831
 

Cindyt

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Ours will be Wednesday. Eight or nine people. I'm not able to go. Sissy is bringing me a plate. Back in the day we had big dinners, but most of my relatives are dead now. And then there's the three or four who have dropped out of our lives.
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Ever since college we have made Thanksgiving dinner on Friday for our friends and family. Originally it was for whoever could not travel home for the holiday, but now it is our tradition to not clash with anyone’s Thursday Thanksgiving.

It’s generally for eight to ten people. Richard and I worked out a syncopated scehdule of prep for the week before and the day itself to get things ready, pie crusts and desserts and breads and things like that. We generally have a turkey with homebaked bread stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce with mandarin oranges, peas, corn muffins, challah, mulled cider, and assorted pies, usually with one or another experimental dishes as well. Thursday is usually busy but super quiet, and we have never once been tempted to rush off to Friday sales. ;)
 

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I confess that the Trader Joe's Thanksgiving in a Box looks interesting to me; I'm going to try to find someone to buy one that I can pop into the freezer for Later. It looks like potentially a fun impromptu meal.
 

Introversion

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I confess that the Trader Joe's Thanksgiving in a Box looks interesting to me; I'm going to try to find someone to buy one that I can pop into the freezer for Later. It looks like potentially a fun impromptu meal.

Not bad for $13!

My parents have been hosting Thanksgiving; they provide the meat, the rest of us bring the sides. Looks like 10 are coming this year.

I'm going make this sweet-potato skillet as a stuffing substitute. Made it last month to test the recipe, and it was delish. This time I'll substitute pork sausage for ground beef, and add a bit of dried cranberries, and it'll almost be "Thanksgiving in a box".

Also making this cranberry pistachio "lasagna" for dessert. Not a recipe I've made before, but the ingredients sound like a winner for us.
 
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auzerais

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Thanksgiving is not my holiday.

I grew up vegetarian, so we usually had lasagna for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm not vegetarian now, but I never learned to like turkey, I'm not overfond of mashed potatoes, and I hate gravy. (There is a place in my heart for green bean casserole, however.) And people have such intense attachments to the traditional Thanksgiving menu -- and by people I mean my wife -- that it's difficult to host and satisfy everybody's expectations. We hobbled along for a few years with a modified menu. Our best family friend did the turkey, and I made sides. Gnocchi, or mashed sweet potatoes, things like that.

And most years, dinner has been a spectacular failure of epic proportions.

I am really a very good cook the other 364 days of the year. Honestly. But on Thanksgiving I have blown my entire oven out (we had to grill dinner that year) backed up my garbage disposal, and had a flood that was so bad it ended up shorting out our fire detector.

So now the only thing I make for Thanksgiving is reservations.
 

Maryn

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We've talked about celebrating Thanksgiving with one of our kids, instead of them coming here, and doing just like auzerais, since they're not really prepared to do the whole special-meal shebang. I doubt either one owns a roasting pan or enough dishes. There's not a thing wrong with dining out.

In a way I've come to resent the timing of Thanksgiving in the US. It's a four-day weekend at a busy time of year for many businesses and other enterprises, so people don't want to add a vacation day to it. Many people have to work on Black Friday, or must bring work or work remotely to stay on top of their work. Travel is jammed and unpleasant, and you're only together for a couple of days, tops. And a month later, you get to do it all over again, this time lugging gifts.

I'd like my family-gathering holidays more evenly spaced, please. Thanksgiving mid-October (hats off to the Canadians!) and Christmas in late January works for me. I wonder if I could get my family on board...

Maryn, doubtful
 

Myrealana

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As usual, we're doing Thanksgiving at my brother's house.

He has hosted every year since he got married, about ten years ago. The guest list varies from about 18-25. He makes the turkey, usually one side, and this absolutely incredible butternut squash and green chile soup. The rest of us chip in so no one person has to do too much, though my mom always brings about 6 dishes.

This year, I'm making the dinner rolls, whipped grits and a dark chocolate orange tart.
 

benbenberi

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These huge Thanksgiving gatherings amaze me! My mom always did our Thanksgiving for the family, and it always felt huge to me, but at its biggest I don't think there were ever more than 10 or 12. These days I go to my brother's house, and it's usually just 5 or 6 at the table. So 1 moderate-sized turkey + veg, sweet potatoes & stuffing serves for 2 good meals & very little left after that.

The main event of our T-day meal, actually, is not the turkey but the cranberry sauce, which is my mom's recipe (cranberries, apples, sugar & cinnamon) & demanded in very large amounts by my nephews. There can be alteration & experimentation with other components of the menu, but the cranberry sauce is sacrosanct and unchanging.

My role is to bring wine & a pie. The main dessert is ice box cakes (made in single-serve portions), which are the tradition of my sister-in-law's family & also never-changing, so my pie is optional & subject to whim. The last few years I've made a Schadenfreude Pie, which has been well-received. I toyed for a while with making something different this year, but I think it's Schadenfreude again. For wine, I used to bring a Beaujolais Nouveau, since it's seasonal, but a few years ago we all agreed that Beaujolais Nouveau has become seasonal plonk, so I'll go to the store and see what they have that's red, tasty, and goes well with turkey. (ETA: Finca el Origen Malbec 2015. Plus a 6-pack of a local Coffee Stout. :hooray:)
 
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TerzaRima

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I grew up vegetarian, so we usually had lasagna for Thanksgiving dinner.

If you still like lasagna, try Ina Garten's mushroom lasagna recipe. I have made it for Christmas dinner a few years in a row and it's always a crowd pleaser.
 

MaryMumsy

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benbenberi: last year when I had 35, that *was* family. Blood relatives of mine and their spouses. And that's almost all the family I have, until you get to 4th cousin twice removed.

MM
 

Fruitbat

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Just made a quick run to the grocery store for the fresh stuff, while no one else was there. Everything is picked over already so I'm glad I didn't wait until tomorrow.

So, is everyone nearly ready?

About other people bringing the side dishes, I don't like it. Then they want to get in my way to assemble or heat up their dish while I'm trying to get my own stuff to all come together, in my small kitchen. Or they bring something strange and clever, when I don't see how it's really even Thanksgiving if I don't have mashed potatoes and stuffing.

We did eat out one year but it was so sad when there were no leftovers later lol. If we do it again, we'll have to get everyone a second meal to go.
 
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cornflake

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Thanksgiving is not my holiday.

I grew up vegetarian, so we usually had lasagna for Thanksgiving dinner. I'm not vegetarian now, but I never learned to like turkey, I'm not overfond of mashed potatoes, and I hate gravy. (There is a place in my heart for green bean casserole, however.) And people have such intense attachments to the traditional Thanksgiving menu -- and by people I mean my wife -- that it's difficult to host and satisfy everybody's expectations. We hobbled along for a few years with a modified menu. Our best family friend did the turkey, and I made sides. Gnocchi, or mashed sweet potatoes, things like that.

And most years, dinner has been a spectacular failure of epic proportions.

I am really a very good cook the other 364 days of the year. Honestly. But on Thanksgiving I have blown my entire oven out (we had to grill dinner that year) backed up my garbage disposal, and had a flood that was so bad it ended up shorting out our fire detector.

So now the only thing I make for Thanksgiving is reservations.

Preach.

I am not a fan of Thanksgiving. I spent many, many years making everything but the big dead bird, because that way I knew stuff didn't have meat, and then sitting and staring at the big, dead bird while people got in passive-aggressive fights. I think the biggest I did was 14 ppl? Over it. I like some sides, but it's so not my holiday, heh.
 

Fruitbat

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Preach.

I am not a fan of Thanksgiving. I spent many, many years making everything but the big dead bird, because that way I knew stuff didn't have meat, and then sitting and staring at the big, dead bird while people got in passive-aggressive fights. I think the biggest I did was 14 ppl? Over it. I like some sides, but it's so not my holiday, heh.

Oh yeah, the holidays are a busy time for police, ambulance and CPS. The stress of getting it all together for a crowd, time off to drink and too much family, pow! (I guess "passive-aggressive" fights are a little nicer than that anyway).

And that's aside from the big dead bird thing for vegetarians.

When we go around the table and say what we're grateful for, I'll have to remember to say that I'm grateful that my current family get-togethers are always peaceful and nice. :)
 
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mrsmig

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I made herb butter and cranberry-orange sauce earlier this week. Today I will assemble and refrigerate the mashed potato casserole, make piecrust, chop veggies for mirepoix and the dressing and whack the hell out of a pomegranate so I can brandy some of the seeds to go in a holiday cocktail. I'm really looking forward to the latter. I've always found seeding pomegranates to be a finicky business, but I discovered the whacking method online and can't wait to try it.