Thanksgiving Meal Plan

Three days before (Monday the 19th): Shop for most ingredients.

Two days before (Tuedsay the 20th): Cook yams and refridgerate (wait to apply sauce and bake final 20 minutes on Thanksgiving). Set bread out to stale.

One day before (Wednesday the 21st): Make cranberry sauce. Prepare green bean mixture, seal in an air-tight container overnight, bake on Thanksgiving. Peel and quarter potatoes; store them covered in cold water in the fridge.

Equipment to Buy

• Potato masher
• Clean, new 5-gallon bucket (if we need to brine turnkey)
• Roasting rack (v-shaped)
• Roasting pan
• Instant read meat thermometer

The best mashers, available from Oxo, Rosle and others, are those with a flat face, a grid pattern and crisp edges where the potato meets the masher. These mashers mimic the extrusion effect of a ricer, work just as well and are easier to manage, producing fluffy mountains with a minimum of lumps, butter and physical exertion.

Mashed Potatoes

Boil in stock pot, mash in big glass bowl.

• 1 lb. russet potatoes (or other brown, thick-skinned variety)
• 1 lb. yellow potatoes (or other thin-skinned red, white, or yellow variety)
• 4 Tbsp heavy cream
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp milk
• Salt and pepper

1. Peel potatoes, cut into quarters.
2. Boil in salted water until you can easily push a fork through potatoes, about 15-20 minutes.
3. Warm butter, cream, milk.
4. Drain potatoes completely, then steam them dry over low-medium heat for about a minute.
5. Combine all ingredients in large bowl, and mash (about two minutes).

• The Secret? It's Not the Potatoes (NYT)
• Perfect Mashed Potatoes (Simply Recipes)

Turkey

Not sure on this yet. Might just go for a Butterball boneless turkey breast roast.

• Good Eats Roast Turkey Alton Brown @ Food Network
• Mom's Roast Turkey (Simply Recipes)

Cranberry Sauce

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups (1 12-oz package) fresh or frozen cranberries
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, half a finely chopped orange
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Wash and pick over cranberries. In a saucepan bring to a boil water, salt, and sugar, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add cranberries, return to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries burst.
2. Add spices, orange.
3. Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. Cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.

• Cranberry Sauce (Simply Recipes)
• Orange Cranberry Sauce (Reluctant Gourmet)

Stuffing

Borrow Mom's dutch oven.

• 1 loaf of day old French bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 2 cups each, chopped onion and celery
• 6 Tbsp butter
• 1 green apple, peeled, cored, chopped
• Several (5 to 10) chopped green olives (martini olives, the ones with the pimento)
• Stock from the turkey giblets (1 cup to 2 cups) (can substitute chicken stock)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning or ground sage (to taste)
• Salt and pepper

1. Heat a large saute pan on medium heat. Melt 3 Tbsp butter in the pan, add the bread cubes, and stir to coat the bread pieces with the melted butter. Then let them toast; only turn them when they have become a little browned on a side. Note, if you aren't working with somewhat dried-out day-old bread, lay the cubes of bread in a baking pan and put them in a hot oven for 10 minutes to dry them out first, before toasting them in butter on the stove top. The bread should be a little dry to begin with, or you'll end up with mushy stuffing.
2. In a large Dutch oven, saute chopped onions and celery on medium high heat with the remaining 3 Tbsp butter until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes. Add the bread. Add chopped green apple, olives, parsley. Add one cup of the stock from cooking the turkey giblets or chicken stock (enough to keep the stuffing moist while you are cooking it). Add sage, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.
3. Cover. Turn heat to low. Cook for an hour or until the apples are cooked through. Check every ten minutes or so and add water or stock as needed while cooking to keep the stuffing moist and keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Mom's Turkey Stuffing (Simply Recipes)

Green Bean Casserole

Bake in blue casserole dish.

• 1.5 lbs fresh green beans, ends trimmed, halved
• 3 Tbsps unsalted butter
• 2 cloved garlic, minced
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can French-fried onion rings
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp soy suace
• Black pepper

1. Mix soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic, butter, half of onions, and green beans in 1.5 or 2 qt casserole dish.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with remaining onions, and bake 5 minutes more.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole

Yams/Sweet Potatoes

Boil yams in stock pot. Bake in Pirex baking dish.

• 2-3 lbs yams, peeled, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 8 Tbsp (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecals

Do steps 1-2 in advance. Do steps 3-4 on Thanksgiving.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add yams. Cook until water returns to a simmer, about 4 minutes. Drain; rinse in cold water.
2. Arrange yams in baking dish, overlapping pieces. Sprinkle with salt. Pour maple syrup over yams. Dot with 3 Tbsp of butter. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until yams are almost tender, about 25 minutes.
3. Mix flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add remaining 5 Tbsp of butter. Rub in with fingers until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Mix in pecans.
4. Sprinkle pecan mixture over yams. Bake yams until tender, about 20 minutes.

Maple glazed Yames (Simply Recipes)