Friday, November 16, 2018

Thanksgiving Logistics

Here's a friendly reminder that if you have a frozen turkey over 12 pounds, you should put it in the refrigerator to begin thawing today. If it's 12 pounds or smaller, you might be able to wait until Sunday or Monday. I got my 18-pounder out yesterday, because I've done this quite a few times.

If you are new to cooking Thanksgiving, this might be a good time to jot down your to-do list for the next week. Anything that can be prepared ahead of time, while keeping in mind how fresh it must be, should be listed on the appropriate day. For example, make cornbread on Tuesday, make the cornbread into dressing on Wednesday night, pop it in the oven Thursday. Remember, you will not have a lot of oven room with a turkey in there Thursday, so make sure your pies are done before cooking the bird. You may as well shop for everything you need now, except for fresh produce.

The one thing I forget every year is to take the second oven rack out of the oven before heating. I always have to remove a hot rack and set it out on the deck so no one gets burned. But that doesn't ruin any food, so I feel good that it's my one constant failure.

Oh, there will be other failures. Any big production, like a wedding, will have something go wrong. It's best just to laugh it off, because without a glitch or two, it would be hard to recall these occasions in future years.


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