Hosting Thanksgiving should be fun: what's not to like about feasting with family and friends? But the truth is, it's daunting, especially if you're entertaining a large group. Diane Morgan, author ofThe Thanksgiving TableandThe New Thanksgiving Table, knows the challenges of hosting, and offers advice for taking the anxiety out of this hectic occasion. She combines a crowd-pleasing menu, including updated versions of holiday favorites—roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and apple pie—with a do-ahead plan to eliminate stress. Morgan also offers help for choosing wine, tips for setting a beautiful table, and two easy crafts for decorating your home. For recipes, ideas, a timeline, and more, read on.
Keep your hors d'oeuvres light and simple. In anticipation of a large meal, you really just need a few small bites to stave off hunger. Morgan likes an updated relish tray with several different olives and fresh and pickled vegetables. Seasonal crostini are another option—top the toasts with a prepared relish or chutney to minimize prep. Serving a soup course can be tricky with such a large group, but a hearty fall soup—thinkmushroomorbutternut squash—can be made ahead, frozen, and then served in shot glasses or espresso cups as an appetizer.
To feed a large group, you may need to double or even triple standard recipes. Think about which dishes are most popular with your family and friends, as well as which ones will be appreciated as leftovers, and plan accordingly. Also consider who's coming to dinner and how much they eat: Men tend to eat more than women and are more likely to have seconds and thirds, while kids, especially younger ones, eat less than adults.
A buffet is the best and easiest way to serve a meal to a large group. Organize your buffet table one day in advance, setting out all the necessary platters, bowls, serving pieces, and trivets, then use sticky notes to label which dish goes in each. When you take a bowl or platter to the kitchen to be filled, place the note on the table to remind you where it goes. Morgan likes to take a few extra minutes to warm the plates and serving platters. If your dishwasher is free, plates and platters can be warmed on the dry cycle for five minutes. Alternatively, have a kitchen helper run plates under hot water and dry them before placing them on the buffet table.
"Because there is so much going on," Morgan says, "Thanksgiving is a tricky time to be mixing up cocktails." With this in mind, she usually serves Champagne or its more affordable cousin, Prosecco, with the hors d'oeuvres because bubbly is festive and works with a variety of flavors. She then selects one red and one white to pour at dinner.
Living in Oregon, Morgan is partial to the state's Pinot Noirs, but she also recommends serving a Côtes du Rhône or a full-bodied Spanish red, such as a Rioja or Ribera del Duero. For whites, our story on turkey-friendly wines recommends Grenache Blanc and Pinot Gris.
Morgan also likes to offer one or two beer options. For this menu, she suggests a pale ale or a Hefeweizen. And be sure to have a few nonalcoholic options such as sparkling water or apple cider.
Include children in the festivities of the day by serving them sparkling cider in short-stemmed glasses. You can often find unique, inexpensive glasses at estate sales and secondhand shops or on ebay, and then if anything breaks, you won't be heartbroken.
While some guests will continue to drink wine well after dinner has been cleared, many will want coffee or tea with dessert. Have everything prepped in advance so that all you have to do is turn the coffeemaker on, boil the water for tea, and bring everything to the table. If possible, it's helpful to have two thermal carafes—one for coffee and one for hot water.
Morgan's key piece of advice is to make lists for everything, from when to make the gravy to what you need to decorate the buffet table. Start with a list of everything you're serving, including drinks and hors d'oeuvres, then jot down all the supplies you need for serving and decorating. Use these lists to create shopping lists, breaking them down into what can be purchased ahead of time and what needs to be bought at the last minute. Check your lists to see what can be streamlined. For instance, you need chopped onions and celery for both the stuffing and the turkey. Save time and effort by prepping the vegetables for both dishes at once and storing them in airtight containers in the refrigerator until needed.
Even for a pro like Morgan, hosting Thanksgiving is "a really big job," no matter how organized you are. "There's nothing wrong with asking for help," she insists. Enlist a kitchen assistant for the day, and make sure you have someone to help with the dishes. It can also be fun to get friends or family members to help out in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. If you want to get kids involved in the preholiday prep, Morgan recommends thespiced pumpkin layer cake, because the cake and the frosting recipes are incredibly easy. Children can even help frost the cake—this recipe only calls for spreading frosting between the layers and on top of the cake, which is much easier than covering the sides.
让孩子们,他们的年龄和他们的需求when planning your Thanksgiving. If your family includes babies and toddlers, inquire about their naptimes and schedule dinner when both the kids and their parents can enjoy it. Also, designate a room, preferably away from the group, where naps can take place. Morgan also suggests having some activities for the kids—craft projects, puzzles, and board games are good—and setting up a room where they can watch movies while the adults relax after dinner.
Three weeks ahead: Plan your menu, drinks, and decor. Create shopping lists for your menu, drinks, and decor, dividing them into what can be purchased now and what needs to be bought at the last minute. Shop for decor items, including candles, gourds, and pumpkins. Make a list of any furniture and supplies you need, and arrange to borrow from a friend or rent from a party supply company. (Ask for rentals to be delivered one or two days before Thanksgiving.) Hunt around secondhand shops, estate sales, and eBay for table-setting supplies, such as short-stemmed glasses for the kids and extra silverware or plates.
Two weeks ahead:订单你的土耳其。使土耳其股票and freeze. MakeSpiced Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze. Order fresh flowers. Plan activities and movies for younger guests.
Saturday/Five days before: Shop for nonperishable food and beverages. Make caramel sauce for the apple tart; cover and refrigerate. Make dough for apple tart, transfer totart pan, wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze.
Monday/Three days before: Makejuniper brinefor the turkey; store, covered, at room temperature.
Tuesday/Two days before: Shop for perishable ingredients. Pick up turkey and start brining. (If using a frozen turkey, leave ample time for defrosting.)
Wednesday/One day before: Remove turkey from the brine and refrigerate. Make gravy; store in an airtight container and refrigerate. PrepareSweet Potato Purée with Streusel Topping; cover and refrigerate. Prep the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic for the turkey; store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Sauté the sausage, apples, vegetables, and herbs for the stuffing; store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Make salad dressing; store in an airtight container and refrigerate. Toast hazelnuts for salad; store in an airtight container at room temperature. Defrost tart shell in the refrigerator. Defrost pumpkin layer cake in the refrigerator. Arrange furniture as necessary, set up the buffet, and set the dining table. Pick up fresh flowers.
Thanksgiving Day: About five hours before dinner: One hour before roasting, remove the turkey from the refrigerator—this will take some of the chill out and speed up the roasting time. Chill any beverages that need to be cold. Prep the coffeemaker, fill a kettle with water, and organize the cups and saucers, milk, and sugar for serving coffee and tea. Arrange fresh flowers in the vase and napkin rings. Prep hors d'oeuvres.
About four hours before dinner: Roast turkey, adjusting oven temperature and basting as directed in recipe. Prep onions and cranberries for salad; cover and set aside at room temperature. Make mashed potatoes; cover and set aside at room temperature.
Just before guests arrive: Set out hors d'oeuvres.
When guests arrive: Serve the champagne. Reheat stuffing mixture to lukewarm and proceed with recipe. Take salad dressing out of refrigerator and let come to room temperature. Trim and slice the Brussels sprouts. Assemble apple tart and set aside at room temperature. One hour before the turkey comes out of the oven, take the sweet potatoes out of the refrigerator.
When turkey is done (about 45 minutes before serving turkey): Bake stuffing. Reheat mashed potatoes. Reheat sweet potatoes. Warm the gravy over low heat just before serving. Sauté the Brussels sprouts. Assemble the salad. Warm the plates and the platter for the turkey.
Dinnertime: Carve turkey and serve with side dishes. Bake the apple tart.
After dinner: Thirty minutes before serving, take the pumpkin layer cake out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature. Make coffee and tea. Warm caramel sauce over low heat. Serve dessert.
Smile, you're done!
