Thanksgiving 2018: The Good, The Bad, The WTF?

Success: Bourbon/shallot/orange zest cooked cranberry sauce - Excellent!

Failure: After spending all that time finding margarine, rolling, folding, rolling, folding, making and freezing Regina's butter biscuits when I put them in the oven for the last minute bake I turned that oven off as well as the other oven. Argh! Tried to start again but because of the partial earlier cooking they came out slightly burned and very crisp. Turns out my cousin's wife liked them and asked to take the leftovers home. I think they reminded her of dog biscuits.

I hope no one gets salmonella. My dual probe thermometers gave different readings and because one oven is convection and other not, one roasting pan shiny aluminum and one dark, the two turkeys were roasting at dramatically different times. I didn't trust the continuous read thermometer and kept repositioning it because one turkey was at 137 and one at 153 after the same amount of cooking time. An instant read thermometer gave different readings too. Just decided the heck with it and served it sl pink. It was a Mary's turkey and Antonelli's assured me that the quality control was very high. We'll see.

I reported my finished menu over on the Thanksgiving Plans discussion here https://www.chowhound.com/post/thanks...

And a couple of the low-points on the "disasters" discussion https://www.chowhound.com/post/holida...

Thanks TorontoJo, for your detailed instructions on the buttermilk biscuit recipe. Today was the second time I've made these and I thought I was baking them simply to use up some buttermilk before we travel. They came out looking beautiful and smelled so wonderful I added a few to our Thanksgiving meal (and still froze the rest).

I was once again reminded why my notes on my devilled eggs recipe says DON"T MAKE THESE IN THE MIDDLE OF OTHER MEAL PREP, even when your eggs are already boiled & chilled. Yes, it really does take me 35 minutes of dedicated time to shell 6 hardboiled eggs, carefully slice them, get out those xx&&%% yolks , mix and fill the halves. That note has now been joined by one that says DON"T TRY TO SAVE TIME BY MIXING IN THE ZIP BAG (used to "pipe" the finished filling back into the halves).

The good:

1. We had both a roasted turkey as well as a smoked turkey. Last year was the first year for the smoked bird, and I didn't really enjoy it.

This year the technique and rub were much improved, and the darn thing was DELICIOUS. The rub was different, but perhaps more importantly, the turkey was brined beforehand.

2. This year my mother asked for something different in the sweet potato department. (We normally roast them whole in the oven. To me this is fine because I rarely have time to do this other times of the year. I just nuke them.)

Anyway, many of the sweet potato recipes I found were atrocious, overly sweet casserole things, but I found a simple preparation that was the hit of the dinner. We were all eating so many of them off the sheet pan before dinner that I finally had to cover them and hide them so we'd have enough to actually serve.

"Melting" sweet potatoes - very thickly-cut slices roasted in olive oil on in a 500 degree oven. They came out very darkly caramelized and *delicious.*

https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/melt...

The ugly:

My SIL has a nostalgic attachment to a terrible green-bean-cream-of-mushroom-fried-onion dish that she dutifully makes every year and nobody on my side of the family touches.

The surprising:

I'm a big baker and was disappointed that one of our guests announced she was bringing a "homemade by someone else" (not her) pumpkin roll. We were only 6 people so there was no demand for an additional sweet. Reluctantly, i agreed not to bake anything.

The darn pumpkin roll was GREAT. Nicely sweet cake, perfect cream cheese filling, prettily rolled. I sifted a bit of confectioner's sugar over it to serve and it looked like a gosh darn food magazine photo.

I made the easiest, best tasting, prettiest turkey ever, last night. Feel, like shouting from the mountain top !
It was a Spatchcock turkey. I took a cheap frozen turkey, let it thaw. Then with the help of my poultry shears and a GOOD paring knife with a pointed blade, I took out the backbone of turkey. They I did CPR on turkey. I got up on chair at sink side and pushed down, with my arms and broke Mr turkeys breast bone. So now he is kinda flat.. Then I brined the turkey. All kinda recipes on line. I just did what was on Morton Koser Salt box. This takes 12-24 hrs. In the past, I have put turkey in clean painters 5 gal bucket, put ice over it and put it outside in the cold to brine. This time because my bird was small, got it in refrigerator. So now, after brining, I am to lay my turkey out on large cookie sheet with a grate in it which holds turkey up about an inch. Got on Amazon. This is important. He has to dry much more than one can do with paper towels. Helps him get beautifully crisp. Then just prior to putting him into 450 degree oven. I slathered mayo with lots of herbs in it, all over, top and bottom. I placed some carrots, celery anything u want under grate to help absorb juice, so u don’t have problem with smoking due to high heat. That is also why I used mayo. Real clarified butter would work too, but regular butter would be prone to smoking possibly. Anyway 90 min later - turkey done ! Gravy made day before. My husband loved this turkey and he is not a a real fan of it. Please try it. It was just so easy. U had to be organized though. Please try. U can find lots of stuff online about this. Check net for temperature u what to achieve. Need to have thermometer also. Easy to carve. Cleanup easy.

The Good
The lunch, snack and appetizer portion got destroyed. I didn't to try anything I made because it was gone by time time I had a little reprieve. However, no one touched the vegetables and guac dip I made! I wound up eating half of it,

The Bad
My turkey gravy wound up thin for some reason (I used 1/2 c flour and 3 tbs butter as a roux base for about 5 c stock) and I have so much mashed potatoes leftover.

The Worse
My boyfriend's brother came to the dining room with his plate of food and tripped on his own chair leg literally turning the plate face down on the rug.

The Great
Everyone loved my 2 quick breads esp. date walnut bread. One of the girls drew me a picture of a turkey, and then for some unknown reason, drew me a picture of a snake. Woolite rug spot cleaner to the rescue

The Crazy
I went to bed at 1 am cleaning, I woke up at 5:40 am this morning from the recycling truck so I've been doing laundry for the past hour to wash the linens.

I make a big pot of collard greens every year, and this is the first year that the collards were pretty much tasteless. None of the bitterness I normally associate with greens.

I bought them from my usual hispanic supermarket. They were in very neatly wrapped bundles with big twist ties that said "Glory" on them, and they were from Eden Prairie, MN. Not in a bag, But they had been clipped and tightly rolled into thick bundles, almost like huge cigar, neatly stacked. This was the first time I've seen them that way. Normally at this store they are in awkward, wild bunches held together by a thick rubber band.

Maybe it was just a bad year for collards.... or maybe they have been grown for a corporatized, less offputting flavor.

GOOD: my semi-improvised cranberry sauce turned out great!
1lb fresh cranberries
1lb frozen dark sweet cherries (I recommend chopping them a bit)
1C brown sugar
1/2C apple cider
2-3 T vanilla
Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 min. Add vanilla and simmer for another 10-15min (so about 45 min total).

SAD: the brown sugar cackled gleefully as it cracked the handle of my beloved 1C measuring cup when I tried to scoop for the cranberries. Then another cry of glee when it did the same to the 1/2C cup as I prepared a pie... I loved this set of measuring cups! So guess what we’re buying today?

BAD: the turkey was medium rare when I went to carve it. Apparently my probe thermometer was about 15 degrees off. So we ate all the sides while the turkey finished cooking, and then had turkey with more gravy. I’ve already ordered a new thermometer.

WTF: we managed to eat an entire batch of Chex mix in less than 24 hours. Did I mention it’s just three of us? At least it’s whole grains...

Everything was perfect. No traumas or spills or burns - amazingly! Capon (for everyone but me) was beautiful and appreciated. Ruhlmans cranberry (puréed) is my fav recipe. I ventured out to the garden, 15 degrees out, and picked very frozen sage leaves which were perfect when inside and thawed. Mashed potatoes made from lots of odd size potatoes from the farmers mkt seemed to have a much more potatoey flavor than my norm using Yukon gold, def more work to peel tho.
Lots of leftovers to send home with the guests. Pumpkin pie with cornmeal crust and my absolute favorite, tart cherry pie (used almost 2 qts of my sour cherries from last July, still enough for another pie:)
What a wonderful holiday that hasn’t turned totally commercial.

We attended a pot luck with about 30 people. I made one of the turkeys - dry brined - and it was fabulous. Mashed potatoes - how can that go wrong - were delicious. I also made curried onions, a tried and true favorite and a new green bean recipe from WaPo entitled Zippy Green Beans - stupid name - they were good and quite popular but my son thought I should have blanched them a bit longer.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipe...

I was responsible for 0 desserts as they're not a strength but I did enjoy some wonderful apple pie made by someone else.

I, too, posted my menu on the Thanksgiving Plans thread, but as always, there were minor twists and turns.

Someone else insisted on bringing the dressing they’ve been having since childhood. It is sweet, not savory, and lacks the fistful of fresh sage from my garden. I like mine waaaay better.

I do a mix of roasted quartered sweet potatoes, multi-colored fingerlings, sliced onions, and carrots tossed in olive oil and a savory rub with plenty of pepper. I add half inch strips of daikon, and they were superb, a nice foil to all of the others.

Son in law made amazing home made rolls and a chocolate bundt cake laced with chocolate chips and topped with the Hershey’s Special Dark frosting. I’m not usually a chocolate person, but that was wonderful.

Did the cranberries with orange and Port. The Port really works well in that relish. Saved enough to sip it with cigars afterwards, sitting on the deck as twilight fell. Nice pairing. Those Brits got that one right!

The bad:
1) We had a variety of mini-disasters the week of, which ultimately resulted in us making the stuffings the day of, instead of the day before, which led to us cooking/eating later than we wanted, and a guest leaving before they had dessert. Also an injury. Which was pretty bad, but seems to be getting better. The injury was/is the worst part.
2) While the oven didn't catch on fire this time, the new probe (which we haven't used since they replaced it after last year's event) is again STUCK in the oven. So I'm pretty aggravated by that.
3) Generally too much of everything, with poor timing on my part re the food. I am NEVER doing Brussel sprouts again, unless they can be cooked ahead of time and kept warm without them being ruined.
4) The cranberry orange ricotta cake wasn't overly popular, to say the least, though at least one person really liked it. I still have to taste it myself. Neither was the mocha walnut cake, which I did taste, and was a little bit dry. Note to self: no new recipes for Thanksgiving, however wonderful they sound.

The good:
1) People, particularly one person who I care about the most, seemed to enjoy themselves more this year than recently. So it is worth inviting extra people.
2) The alcoholic punch, despite a skeptical reception, apparently was a hit. I didn't get to try it, but everybody who did, liked it.
3) Fried appetizers (particularly if they are prepped ahead and then just reheated in the oven - thanks to a tip I found on a Chowhound discussion) are always a good idea.
4) It is so nice when other people help you clean up
5) The recipe that I didn't make (but had to buy the ingredients for - for somebody to cook at my house at the last minute) sounded disgusting, but was actually a hit. So I get to be pleased for that person, even though I was pretty annoyed at how it came about.

Mostly, it could have been worse, except for the injury. I'm pretty upset about that. Other than that, well, I bought too much wine, and generally spent too much money, but I'll gift the wine, and well, I didn't spend more than I have other years, and this year we at least had more people. Though I always spend more than I should on this. Next year, I'm definitely not doing it. And if we resume the following year, I have pared the menu down by a ton. I made a list, right away, of what should be repeated, so I'd remember.

Love this thread!

My mom hosted this year and my sister was a huge help as always-so that's the big win! (I have an 8 month old and am pregnant and don't think it was possible)

Disclaimer: I was sick with a cold yesterday and couldn't smell, much less taste the food very well, so take these opinions with a grain of salt.

Finished menu was as follows with critiques:
Roasted turkey in a Reynolds bag, day ahead (mom wanted not to do the turkey day-of. Her house, her choice. Considering, it was really good. Still prefer my brined turkey.)

Smoked turkey from a local restaurant (yuck. I guess I don't like smoked turkey. Maybe on sandwiches. We did one ourselves in the smoker last year and I didn't care for it either)

Aunt Grace's dressing from new Southern Living-I somewhat dislike my family's dressing so we broke tradition for the first time. It was similar but used cream-of soups. It was fine, maybe even good if you like dressing, but I didn't like it enough to disappoint my dad and uncle again. So back to tradition.

mashed potatoes in the instant pot-I thought they were gluey, but everyone else seemed to love.

Hasselback sweet potatoes-strong No from me. Too much work, very flavorless. Really missed the brown sugar-pecan-pepperiness of the casserole. Didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving plate.

Cooks Illustrated green bean casserole-Big yum (at least for mushroom lovers!). Second year making, and worth the extra effort.

Roasted Brussels sprouts with maple, bacon, and pecans from Serious Eats-Hearty Yes! Only thing is really need to find a recipe similar that uses stove instead of jam-packed oven

Fresh cranberry jello-Perennial favorite.

Best Ever Pecan pie using browned butter-My sister and I thought the filling was too cooked. Not worth the effort. I love Karo recipe.

Great Grandmother's pumpkin pie-would be a sacrilege to do anything different. Love it every year.

Other big winners were I gifted my mom my dining room set and got a new one. It looks fabulous at her house. And my 8 month old was hamming it up and such a good girl.

Thank you migmigmig for that sweet potato recipe. That one will get a try.

One new experiment will take some adjusting. I made dressing early and put it in crockpot, as per reading that tip on another CH thread. The cornbread andouille dressing tasted great but was too close to a mush consistency. Next time will be less time in the crock pot and less broth.

Tonight we'll try our first turkey pot pie.

Our Thanksgiving Menu has been set in stone, with minimal variation, since we took over hosting duties in 1984, so you would think there would not be much variability from year-to-year but there always is.

The Good:
For the first time in memory both the pumpkin and apple pies turned out great (if I say so, since I made them both). Most years it seems like one works and the other doesn’t. The pumpkin pie generally is the bigger challenge. I’ve been making the Brandied Pumpkin Pie recipe from NYT Cooking the last few years — using canned pumpkin purée, not the home-cooked squash purée that they recommend— and it’s made a huge difference, https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1...

My DIL’s corn pudding,which has been on the menu for only the past few years. Truth be told, we haven’t been huge fans of this in previous years but it’s a family recipe for her that has to be on the T day table. This year, instead of pureeing the corn kernels in the blender, she left them intact and the pudding was wonderful. Turns out that the pudding needed some textural contrasts.

The giblet gravy — maybe because all 4 of us had “a hand” in it, literally, as we took turns stirring while we alternated other tasks. My husband and son get the real credit as the former got the gravy started and my son adjusted the seasoning once it was underway.

The Bad:
Nothing was terrible but the dark meat of the turkey was undercooked. We are all white meat eaters so we did not even realize this until I was dismembering the remains of the turkey for left overs and saw the reddish meat around the joints for the legs and thighs. Packed those portions up separately and will make sure that they are cooked through before eating.

The auxiliary casserole of extra stuffing got dried out. We left it in the oven, turned off as we were in the throes of final meal prep and forgot about it for 2 hours.

Non-food successes:

The Bears beat the Lions.

And the star of the meal may have been our Subzero fridge, which is so large that I was able to stock the raw ingredients, including the turkey, and then the leftovers without huge reconfigurations of the shelves and stacking of containers. After 28 years of a side-by-side fridge, this was awesome.

The good: I made stuffing and gravy the weekend before; tomato bisque and roasted carrots the day before. Defrosting and reheating was a great way to reduce prep stress. Sis brought another veg and Mom brought twice baked potatoes, so the sides reheated as we let the turkey rest and heated/ate the soup. I just make turkey breast since nobody likes dark meat and I put herbed butter under the skin and never baste it while it cooks, comes out moist and flavorful.
The bad (averted): got tired of my husband eyeing the whole turkey breast and telling me it wasn't big enough, so I bought a second (smaller) whole turkey breast. At the end of the day I had an entire half turkey breast I just took off the bone plus some carved meat. Was the original one big enough? Probably, but there would have been no leftovers...which would have been bad.

Bad-ish: We missed Thanksgiving at my brother-in-laws due to the flu. That meant no once-a-year smoked turkey for my husband, and no extended neibling time. And I didn't make onion custard pie, pecan pie, or the goat cheese and wasabi mashed potatoes I'd planned.

Good: Both of us were finally feeling better, and had buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup for lunch :)

Then I made a really simple meal of mashed potatoes (8 minutes HP in IP, drained water, added half and half and butter, mashed in pot), his family's stuffing ball recipe, and, for me, cranberry sauce with lime, mezcal, and jalapeños (Serious Eats recipe + double the mezcal). Everything turned out perfect.

Best: We didn't share the flu with the family (it's a tradition that we're always on the receiving end of!)

I hosted an early Thanksgiving and was a guest on the actual day.

Good: i used frozen pearl onions to make our "must have" creamed onions for our early T-Day and they came out great! So much easier than peeling the boiling onions. I made the tri-color salad from Ina Garten's new book (arugula, radicchio, endive, orange, kalamata olives, shallots with a lemon juice/olive oil dressing) and it was a HUGE hit. Really nice to have something fresh on the plate to offset the other creamy/heavy goodness. I made this again to bring as a guest and it was a hit there as well. The other good was the turkey--it was a 20 pounder and came out great. I use Pam Anderson's method for big turkeys of 3 hours breast-side down at 250, breast side up another hour, then another hour or so at 400 (until done).

Bad: I didn't pay much attention to the dressing and used a bag of pre-seasoned bread cubes. Bleh. Going back to my mom's old recipe next year. Also may try it in the crockpot as part of the issue was that it dried out in the oven. It wasn't a disaster though--most of it was eaten. I think I was the only one with a complaint.

     DW didn't want to mess with a turkey, so she contributed Ham, Sweet Potatoes, Cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Pie. Mostly good, but the cranberries were a bit too sweet.
     My assignment was to do something with a bag of Brussels Sprouts she brought home from the grocery. I combined two on-line recipes...one for BSprouts and Carrots, and one for BSprouts, Shallots and Bacon, substituting onions for shallots. Oddly enough they worked well together, and DW approved, but now we have enough left over for 3 more meals!

I was a guest at my good friends’ gathering of about a dozen total, the two of them are amazing cooks. Since she’s vegetarian all the sides were too!
The good: my salad contribution was surprisingly popular even with so many delicious choices on the table. It’s a mix of thinly sliced fennel, celery and nappa cabbage (which is great since it’s crunchy yet sturdy) with diced asian pear, radishes, fennel fronds, dried figs, toasted pumpkin seeds and a black pepper heavy dijon vinegrette.
The entire meal was really wonderful overall

The bad: a repeat offender guest who insists on bringing the stuffing which is total moosh and definitely from a box and then (!) adding in chopped water chestnuts and raisins. I’m not against the stuff from a box or bag but the steamed soft squishy texture is a dealbreaker for me.
The cook was disappointed by the hasselback butternut squash which was time consuming and fussy but didn’t take on much flavor- it was cooked perfectly, but yeah, just tasted like roasted butternut
Also repeat offender guest and his wife brought their not yet properly potty trained 4 month old puppy who of course peed on the carpet.

It was a great thanksgiving, the turkey (heritage bird prepared the jew way) turned out perfectly, the brussels sprouts were really great and our traditional cranberry bread was also spot on.

The pretty bad was that we were pretty disorganized and my husband was making the pie on the dining table while I was carving the turkey. (The pie turned out great though, and it was my best carving effort to date)

The really bad was the turkey drumsticks I smoked, following a recipe to copy the ones at Disneyland. Too much prague powder in the brine or maybe brined for too long... they were vile! I cut off some of the meat to save for soup or beans and threw the rest away. Glad I hadn't reduced anything about the rest of my meal!

The good:
Cooking was distributed (first time ever) due to the main chef being unwell and worried the day before... I made most of the sides the day before, cousins made one each the day of, hostess made the bird and gravy.

The very good:
We had homemade gravlax for the first time! I had experimented with a piece earlier and took some with me - it was a bit, so I cured a pound of salmon for apps (no leftovers there...)

The very, very good:
Stuffing made into “stuffing balls” instead of soggy glop in a baking dish - stuffing deliciousness but with so many crunchy bits! This is a keeper...

The bad:
Bad birds. We had two smaller turkeys this year. In spite of the temperature reading being correct, the dark meat was undercooked, as was some of the white. We sliced off enough for the meal, then returned the birds to the oven. The dark meat is the toughest I’ve ever had...
It’s been cooked twice now, and is still fighting the good fight.

The also-bad:
How do you ruin roasted butternut squash? Cousin managed somehow. It had a weird, squishy babyfood texture and none of the delicious browning and caramelization - how?! Same cousin made a yummy app, though, so maybe she was foiled by oven temp.

The aftermath:
Enough bad bird bones for soup in three homes - my stock was made last night, soup tomorrow, and probably curry with the tough leftover dark meat too. Family debrief confirmed stuffing balls and gravlax on next year’s menu (or sooner), and I am pushing for a slow roasted bird trial.

Everything was very good except my one WTF below. Nice thing this year is one of the kids became interested in cooking finally and is in her second year of a "culinary arts" concentration in her high school and is becoming useful. She took some of the load off by making apple and pumpkin pies and the "dreaded" green bean casserole. Also helped a lot by minding the potatoes and rutabagas while they boiled.

Except we all learned that green bean casserole is not so dreaded if you do the entire thing from scratch - longish blanch on fresh green beans, fresh mushrooms and make your own sauce, and (kinda a pain) making your own breaded baked onion thins. This was her choice so I let her run with it and it was really, really good. I seriously dislike the "use some canned beans and Campbell's soup" version.

The turkey turned out nicely seasoned; I did a 24 hour relatively lower salt brine with lots of herbs and spices, then cooked it in one of those mis-named "air fryers". I do like this fryer thing though. I've done turkeys, ribs, chicken, even standing rib roasts in it. The only odd thing about the air fryer is the food temp increase is not close to straight-line like when oven roasting - yes I'm a geek who plots temp/time on an Excel spreadsheet any time I roast anything so as to have a pretty good idea of setpoint time half-way through. With the air fryer the temp stays low for a fairly long time but then starts to rise rapidly in the second hour. Anyway, 17 pound turkey done just right in 2:25.

The WTF:

I made rolls and set them out to rise but it took longer than I thought and by the time they were baking we really needed to reduce oven temp for something else. So I pulled them out a bit early and buttered the tops, thinking I could put them back in the oven for 5 or 6 minutes just before carving the bird to finish them off, so that's what I did.

40 minutes later we're all enjoying the food and someone asked, "Hey, didn't you make rolls?".

I answered, "Aw, crap, no. By now I've made hockey pucks!".

I was on dessert duty this year-the pumpkin pie out came out great as did the apple pie. The fail came when I preheated the oven at 425 degrees the next day for my tarts, opened up the oven and discovered the apple pie I stored in there overnight! It was edible but definately on the dry side.

The good-
For once the turnips cooked and were smooth and silky after being run through the food mill.
I bought and roasted boiling onions for the creamed onions and for once they seemed to have some flavor.
My nephew emailed and said his neighbor raised two turkeys and he was getting one which he would smoke. He thankfully cut it in half which was a life saver because the darn thing was 40 lbs!!! It tasted great!
My brother helped my dad make the apple pie along the lines of what my mother made which was a tartish pie heaped with apples.
The cauliflower gratin with roasted cauliflower was excellent.

The bad-
The roasted veggies didn't turn out that well. Just seemed blah.
Sweet potatoes weren't that good- as Migmigmig said all the recipes for sweet potatoes seem to be dessert recipes and I made a note on my Thanksgiving spread sheet to try her recipe next year.
Timing was our biggest problem. My nephew turned up with the aforementioned smoked turkey which had frozen overnight so it took about 3 hours to get it to temperature. Then once we got everything heated and on the buffet my father (the host) asked everyone to sit and then toast my mother who had always done Thanksgiving but now is wheelchair bound with Alzheimer's. It was incredibly sweet BUT he could have done it in the 15 minutes I told him it would be before everything was ready.
My sister and her kids are on the outs so they didn't come for I think the first time ever. Given that my father is 98 and my mother is ill I found it very inconsiderate to them for them not to suck it up and come.

Our first Thanksgiving was pretty good!

I listened to the advice on here and kept the appetizers really simple with a relish tray (I pickled purple cauliflower using David Lebovitz's recipe--so good!) and Ina Garten's herb vegetable dip which was delicious.

No surprise, but my favorite dish was Ina Garten's mushroom leek bread pudding. The marscapone mashed potatoes were pretty much devoured immediately. Both the green beans with gremolta and brussels sprouts with garlic butter were great. The cranberry sauce with orange zest turned out really nice as well. I loved Ina's make ahead gravy! The Beaujolais was great.

I did a spatchcock turkey and turkey breast, both with truffle butter. I was disappointed because I really couldn't taste the truffle butter. I took them out of the fridge an hour before putting in the oven, which was not enough time to come to room temperature. We took them out at 160, but now I'm thinking I should have taken them out at 150 and let it come to 160 as it rested because I thought it tasted too tough. I had cooked them on two racks in our oven and I'm not sure if it would have come out better if I had just cooked one in the middle rack. I think we probably could have just cooked the turkey without the turkey breast because we had a ton leftover. I think I just prefer my roast chicken and I'm not sure if it is because turkey is just inferior to chicken or if I just didn't cook it well enough.

I didn't think Bobby Flay's chipotle sweet potatoes were as amazing as the reviews sounded, but maybe I need to make the recipe a few more times.

I wasn't crazy about the desserts. The pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake from local restaurants were underwhelming. The skillet apple crisp from Pioneer Woman was pretty good. I think the pumpkin roulade from Ina Garten I made the year before was better. Also, Ree Drummond's pecan pie is better than the one we had.

I made pretty much everything ahead of time besides the green beans, brussels sprouts, and the vegetables for the relish tray. I felt pretty relaxed on Thanksgiving, but I should have set the table ahead of time and cleaned more ahead of time. (I have two small children so it's not the easiest doing it ahead). I was behind on schedule the day of and was still prepping the green beans and sprouts when everyone came over. My FIL was like "you know you can make the green beans and brussels sprouts ahead of time, something to think about for next time." I wanted to smack him because I had stayed up till midnight every night that week making everything. Oh well! We only ate 15 minutes after I had planned so it really wasn't that late.

I made a turkey enchilada verde soup with the stock today that was super delicious!

Late to the reporting game, but this was my favorite Thanksgiving dinner yet. We had 35 guests, and we hold our dinner on Saturday, since no one in Canada has Thursday off.

The Really, Really Good:
- The appetizer spread. Shrimp balls and satay meatballs (with the best peanut sauce!) were wiped out. Crudites and onion dip were happily nibbled on, and the melted and butter with smoked maldon for dipping the radishes in were a surprise hit. I also broke down and had to put a small bowl of plain Ruffles on the table, because onion dip without Ruffles feels like sacrilege to me.
- Did deconstructed turkeys this time instead of my usual spatchcock, and was able to fit 3 turkeys on 2 sheet pans, which was nice. Dry brined for 3 days, roasted at high heat as usual. Turned out great: juicy and flavorful. A lot of people said it was their favorite turkey ever.
- Herb stuffing is always a favourite -- made a hilarious amount (18 quarts of bread!), but it is loved and I wanted to make sure I had enough leftover after friends took some home. Baked the day before and reheated.
- A gallon of make-ahead gravy with roasted shallots and garlic. Yum.
- I made a new brussels sprouts dish and it was delicious. I also made about 2x as much as I needed. Oops. But it's definitely on the permanent menu. Another good make ahead dish.
- I made a very cheesy hash brown casserole instead of mash potatoes and they were a big hit. I also made about 2x as much as I needed -- 25 lbs worth. LOL! But people absolutely loved them. I baked the day before (see averted disaster below) and reheated and added the french fried onions at the very end.
- Kale/apple/pomegranate salad was so bright and pretty on the plate and the palate. A nice acidic break from all the richness.
- Za'atar roasted carrots and green beans. I may skip the green beans and just do carrots next year.
- Buttermilk biscuits. Easy to make ahead and freeze and warm up the day of.
- Our menu board! We made a letter board to post the menu. It was a really fun conversation piece.
- The table decor: I put fairy lights in blue mason jars, and my husband bought 37 different finger puppets for the place settings. They were so much fun!
- The dessert spread: a bunch of friends take on making desserts so I don't have to. They are awesome (both my friends and the desserts!). Desserts: Russian honey cake, brown butter banana cream pie, lemon squares, rugelach, basque cheesecake, carrot cake, maple butter tart squares, rum cake, chocolate molasses cookies, salted honey and tahini pie.
- The 22 lbs of fresh rambutan that had literally been flown in from Thailand that morning. When our friends showed up with them, our eyes went wide. It was a joy to put them out with desserts.

The Fine:
- Chipotle roasted sweet potatoes. Fine, but I just don't think that many people eat sweet potatoes. I will skip next year.
- Wild rice and mushroom stuffing. I made a double recipe and it was barely touched. I think people just really, really like bread stuffing. I did have several people tell me how much they loved it. So I'll keep it, but just make a single recipe next time.
- Bourbon cranberry sauce with ginger and orange zest. Tasty, but like sweet potatoes, I just don't think that many people actually eat cranberry sauce. It just feels wrong to leave it off the table, though.

The WTF:
- I was sloppy with my multiplying and didn't use enough sodium citrate in my cheese sauce for the potatoes. So the sauce (with aged cheddar and asiago) totally separated during baking. I ended up with two huge trays of hash browns drowning in oil. It was the saddest thing and totally non-salvageable. Fortunately, it was still early in the evening the day before dinner, so my husband went to the store to get me new ingredients and I remade all 25 lbs of casserole. Oy. The second round was perfect, though.
- We had one couple that was new to our party. Despite being told not to bring a thing, they showed up with a huge container of homemade spring rolls and said "they just need to be warmed up in the oven." I had a very hard time maintaining my gracious host exterior. It was super kind and thoughtful, but WHO HAS OVEN SPACE ON THANKSGIVING DAY?! Plus, my kitchen time is literally scheduled down to 15-minute increments. Adding a new thing into it threw everything off. I made it work, but I wasn't happy about it. In the end, I only had time (and patience) to heat up about 2/3 of the spring rolls in two batches in my toaster oven.

But all-in-all, it was a wonderful meal and evening with good friends. Full bellies, full heart. I love Thanksgiving!

So.... overall thanksgiving went well! It's held at my mother-in-law's and she hasn't changed a thing in 20+ years. I'm allowed to bring desserts (which aren't my favorite, but at least I can bring something!) and I always sneak in a salad, too. The only vegetables on the table are drowning in creamy cheese sauce or butter and are massively overcooked, so I just NEED something crunchy. I got some great ideas from a thread about GF pies, so I'll have to report the results there, but really good all around. I also snuck in some parker house rolls! I guess I went a little more rogue than usual! ;o)

Now, the bad/WTF. My mother is GF. And her absolute favorite part of the meal is pies (which I covered) and dressing. So, she had the idea that she'd bring a GF cornbread stuffing to my MIL's house. Which, I knew wouldn't go over super well, but what can you do? I was also worried on timing and transport since we had to make and take 3 pies/tarts, the parker house rolls, and my brussels sprouts salad. Now we were adding dressing? Welllll.... okay. I did massive prep in the days leading up to Turkey Day and had the mis en place set to go and we were actually meeting all of our time tables. A miracle, if you ask me, and also a sign that something was about to go massively wrong, looking back on it. :)

We were following this recipe from BA (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cor...) and had it prepared up to the point when you add in the cornbread croutons to the remainder of ingredients before baking. So, basically all done. My mother went to lift the sheet pan of croutons up to tilt it into the bowl and (as usual with her) was moving super fast and excitably. In her haste, she sort of forgot that we have glass pendants over the counter. And.... yes. She banged the sheet pan into the pendant, shattering the glass shade, and rained shards of broken glass all over the counter AND into the bowl with the painstakingly prepared GF dressing. Boom! Gone. So much work in the trash.

And, to top it off.... the light is discontinued, matches three others in the kitchen, and so now what do we do??? *buries head in hands and ignores the issue*

I thought it would be a good idea to get a small turkey after Thanksgiving to cook, cut up & put in the freezer. Our local store had a 10 lb fresh turkey for $5.00. (A name brand) directions on the package said to cook it @ 325 degrees for 3 1/2 - 4 hrs. I cooked it on 350 deg.( I remember my Mother cooked her turkeys @ that temp. 3 1/2 hours, looked done, juices were clear. I let in rest about 30 mins. When I cut into the breast, there was a bit of blood, the turkey wasn't tender, so I put it back in the oven for an hour, covered so it wouldn't dry out. Turkey still wasn't tender but it's done, I sliced it up, added some water to a pan, covered in foil and cooked it another hour! Finally tender! First thing I'm going to do is get a thermometer.