Thanksgiving is a high-wire act on a unicycle. We have 8 tips for first-time hosts
Congratulations, you’re hosting your first Thanksgiving.
You are embarking on a new tradition — donning the apron, planning the feast, inviting friends and family to share in the year’s greatest meal.
If you’re hosting your first Thanksgiving it’s probably for a big reason, since these are usually not the kinds of traditions easily altered. For us, my wife and I hosted our first Thanksgiving two months after getting married, with our Durham home smack in the middle of our two families. We cozied 10 people around an eight-person table, actually used the good china, served red wine and sweet tea and managed it all without any major meltdowns.
Just know, it’s totally normal for the moments before the meal, when a half-dozen dishes come together at the same time, to feel like the bank robbery in a heist film. And no, there’s no such thing as too many French’s fried onions.
This is how we did it (or should have).
1. Make a plan
We wrote our menu on a kitchen chalkboard two weeks before Thanksgiving, editing a few times, swapping out dishes and snacks. But the menu was always there, on our minds, looming, so there would be no surprises. You don’t have to know the menu two weeks out, but you don’t want surprises.
Spend the weekend before Thanksgiving finalizing your menu. Plan for about a half-dozen sides and maybe a couple desserts. Do the grocery shopping the weekend before — a million trips to the store the day of will be a paper-cut death.
2. Make ahead
Make the day before Thanksgiving your prep day. Maybe make pies or pie crusts, stock if you need it (though store-bought is fine), or any casserole that can be cooked and chilled and re-heated before the big meal.
We spent part of the day making a rosemary focaccia and pecan pie, freeing us up to make day-of cornbread that might have otherwise dried out.
3. Snacks
I grew up in a family of Thanksgiving lunchers, but that tradition ends with me. Preparing a feast by noon is no way to live.
But snacks, that’s doable. You’ll need a mini-spread of snacks in the afternoon to keep the wolves at bay before Thanksgiving. Dips, nuts and cheese plates can be the stars here. We went with a whipped feta and a spicy pimento cheese. It seems like a spread of shrimp cocktail could be heroic here.
4. Smoke ‘em if you’ve got’em
Cook your turkey on a smoker. This is maybe a tip that isn’t practical for every situation, but if you have a smoker or access to one, you have to use it for Thanksgiving. Cooking the turkey outside frees up your oven space, which otherwise could be roasting a bird for three, four, even more than five hours.
You’re not really going “low and slow” here. You can smoke the turkey just like it’s in your oven, keeping the temperature around 350, maybe spritzing with melted butter and apple cider here and there.
Once the feast is done and the leftovers put away, use the smoked turkey bones to make an unbelievable stock. Get it simmering while you watch your favorite holiday or disaster movie.
5. Turkey size matters
This is the centerpiece of the show. Make sure you have a large enough bird. The goddess Martha Stewart recommends starting with a pound-and-a-half per person. Give yourself plenty of time for the turkey to thaw, starting in the refrigerator the weekend before Thanksgiving. I’ve waited too late before and spent time I didn’t have running cool water over the turkey to make it thaw faster.
6. Stovetop sides
The oven is prime real estate on Thanksgiving, especially if you’re roasting your turkey. When building the menu, consider sides that don’t need much time in the oven. We made pumpkin grits with maple syrup and pepitas, and mashed potatoes with fistfuls of butter while browning oyster dressing in the oven. If you’ve never made it, this might be a great time to try Ashley Christensen’s famous Macaroni au Gratin, which is mixed up on the stovetop and broiled before serving.
7. Delegate
If your cousin is scrolling on his phone, it sounds like he has a second to stir some gravy. Ask him to, and say yes when people offer their hands or volunteer to run out to the store. Assign simple tasks like chopping celery or peeling potatoes or buying ice.
When guests call and ask if they can bring anything, it’s okay to say yes. Encourage a bottle of wine or a pie, something that won’t necessarily perish if it isn’t opened or devoured that night.
8. Don’t go crazy
There was a time about two hours before Thanksgiving dinner where I was on the porch painstakingly shucking oysters. Raw and roasted oysters were the first things I knew I wanted to have on a Thanksgiving menu. It felt simple and extravagant — and it may have been a mistake.
I am not amazing at shucking oysters. And if you are not amazing at shucking oysters you should not be shucking them in a hurry. I have not yet impaled the fat part of my palm with an oyster knife, but it’s not for lack of trying.
Which is all to say, hosting Thanksgiving is ambitious enough. It is a high-wire act on a unicycle. So if there are any flourishes that could take hours to complete or otherwise invite disaster, consider whether they’re worth it. Sometimes they are, sometimes champagne can do the trick.
And unless you have an uncle who can shuck oysters like a sea otter, get shucking early.
