1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
|
Thanksgiving is more than just turkey or ham. There's mashed potatoes, yams, casseroles, stuffing, dressing, cranberry sauce, gravy and countless other side dishes. It's enough to overwhelm even a well-trained professional chef to say nothing of the rest of us.
The key to making your Thanksgiving dinner come off without a hitch is careful planning and timing.
Here's our guide to making sure everything gets on the table at the same time.
== Plan ahead ==
Professional chefs don't just walk in the kitchen at 5 pm and send out perfect dishes, they plan ahead and so should you.
Make a list of all the dishes you plan to serve and buy all your ingredients well ahead of time.
Look up how long each recipe says it will take, paying attention to both the prep time and the cooking time. Then start plotting out the order in which you should work, starting with the longest recipes.
Other sides, like cranberry sauce, are generally served cold, so feel free to make them well ahead of time.
== Par cooking ==
Par cooking simply means half cooking. For example, even if you dont want to reheat your mashed potatoes you can still cook the potatoes about half way the day before and then finish then up in half the time.
Vegetables are also good candidate for par cooking. Par cook your green beans and then just reheat them through before serving.
== Get help ==
It's impossible to baste a turkey, kneed dough for rolls and dress a salad all at the same time. Deputize some helpers and get them in the kitchen with you. You don't need to be a dictator about it, but make sure everyone heling you knows what they're doing and has a place to work.
== Relax ==
Thanksgiving dinner is a stressful time for many people, but with a little planning, some help form friends and family and a few Bloody Marys, you can get everything together like a pro and have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the time with friends and family.
|
