I write to remember, and I’m writing to remember what hosting my first Thanksgiving was like. This way, whether its next year or two years from now, I’ll know what worked well and what didn’t. So follow along dear reader and learn from my mistakes!
What Went Well
I’ve only cooked a turkey once prior to this Thanksgiving. I had planned on doing a run through a few weeks prior, but I did not want to become tired of turkey. After a few furious hours of Googling, I settled on cooking the bird using a cheesecloth. I first prepared the bird with a salt and pepper rub, then cooked up some butter and aromatics following the steps here and here. This worked really well and the bird had exceptional color.
This Thanksgiving is also the first time I made mashed potatoes from scratch and they were divine. I followed the recipe here.
Lastly, I’ve cooked brussel sprouts many times, but I’ve never used garlic powder before to season them. Definitely recommend doing that if you haven’t already. I also just cooked them on a baking sheet, though in my heart I really wanted to broil them.
Where to Improve
We had a 27 lb turkey due to a failure to communicate by a family member with other family members. As such, we had a big bird when we probably could have gotten a smaller bird to accommodate the actual number of dinner attendees.
While the bird looked great and had above average taste, it was a little on the dry side. I should have been more diligent on taking the temperature, but I was assuming the minutes per pound guidance would be best.
Cooking and the timing of the turkey was difficult. I didn’t want to take the bird out of the oven while we wait for people to arrive at the advertised time for dinner. Next time, nuts to that: bird is out when it’s done and we’ll keep it warm.
While the cheesecloth method was incredibly easy and very repeatable, I would like to try brining the turkey next year.
And confession here: I left the giblets in. Whoops. What a n00b. At least I removed the neck.
The mashed potatoes were really good, but I could have done a better job removing garlic cloves that slipped in.
I also made cider sangria. While it was fine, it didn’t have the pizzaz of the cider sangria I had while in New England.
Thanksgiving and other large family events are all about delegating, and it’s hard because I want and need the help, but a lot of the sides were not to my satisfaction. Next time, I want to be more prescriptive about what sides to bring. And for the love of God, I want more vegetable sides and less starch next year.
Shitty Leftovers
What’s a shitty leftover you ask? A shitty leftover is something that you either take home or is in your fridge and all you do is throw it away a day or two after Thanksgiving. The determining factor of what is a shitty leftovers is not only the quality of the food but the quantity too. If a meal or sizable side cannot be achieved from the leftover, it is a shitty leftover
I’m very conscious about my food waste, but there’s no reason four shrimp that have been sitting out in a warm room with 20 people dusting them with invisible germs needs to be bagged and placed in my refrigerator. That is a shitty leftover.
Another shitty leftover: cheese that has been also sitting out at room temperature for five hours, thrown in a bag, and placed in my refrigerator.
And it’s not just things that need to be kept cold. Gravy that will barely yiled a single serving does not need to be saved.
It’s a waste of a sandwich bag, a piece of Tupperware, or a clamshell, a waste of space in my refrigerator, and a waste of my time.
I know this will sound curmudgeonly but stop saving shitty leftovers. I’m not going to walk in my fridge on Black Friday and say, “Oh snap! Four shrimp” and then proceed to eat them. Would you eat them?
Fatigue
The one thing no one tells you when you host a major holiday is just how exhausting it is. I was in the kitchen from 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM on Thanksgiving. By noon, I had done several rounds of dishes. When family started arriving at three, I was asked what I was drinking, I replied “Coffee” because I was exhausted.
That night my wife and I slept very poorly because the adrenaline was coursing through our veins. It’s midnight, the house has been empty for several hours, and we’re both wide awake staring at the ceiling wondering why our bodies are being so cruel to us.
Do Grandma and my mother-in-law lie awake at midnight wondering about the day? Or is just some rite of passage I needed to go through. I now know why people cater the holidays.