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Thanksgiving is the meal hosts can feel the most pressure about preparing. The entire celebration is set around the meal, the Thanksgiving feast! Messing it up could make for a household full of unhappy guests. Gulp! For a beginner who is feeding a crowd, the pressure could be off the charts!
Let me start by saying what most cooking classes and books don't tell you. Of all the meals you typically prepare in a year, this one can be the most labor-intensive. Preparing a Thanksgiving meal can be a lot of work. Every year, fantastic cooks and chefs are challenged to come with a new take on what is a very traditional meal. They offer all types of variations and new recipes. However, since most people eat a Thanksgiving meal only once a year, they like the basics: turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes, vegetables, rolls and pumpkin pie for dessert. So to keep it as simple as possible, stick with the basics. The reason I tell you this is not to discourage you, but rather to prepare you. I like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time, so I can gird my loins for the battle!
Having said that, if you are organized (make a shopping list, familiarize yourself with the recipes) and pace yourself (don't try to do all the prep on Thanksgiving day), you can prepare the meal with confidence. It will be delicious, and you will have much less stress because you will have paced yourself. An you will have joined the millions of home cooks nationwide who stare in disbelief when a Thanksgiving meal that has taken 2-3 days to prepare has been consumed in 15 minutes flat! Take it as a compliment! Your family will enjoy your meal. The little ones you have invited will have such great memories of family connection and your guests will have one more thing to be thankful for...you!
If you have someone available to help you prepare this meal, enlist their services. They can chop ingredients for recipes and keep the dishes clean so the kitchen stays organized while you are cooking. Most guests will ask if you would like them to bring something to the meal. It is perfectly acceptable to allow your guests to bring a favorite dish, appetizer, drinks or dessert. This can take some of the pressure off so you can concentrate on the main meal items. If they offer to help clean up after the feast, graciously accept!
You can serve the Thanksgiving meal "family-style" which means all the food goes on platters and in serving dishes to be passed at the table. Or you can set up the meal "buffet-style," which means you arrange all the food on the platters and serving dishes and set up an area in your kitchen or your dining room where guests take their plates and fill them at the buffet table and then return to the dinner table to eat. Buffet-style serving is a little less complicated, because your are not constantly passing dishes to others who want seconds and you don't have to reach over other people for more rolls. It is a personal preference, however.
Do have an attractive low centerpiece at the dinner and buffet table. After all, Thanksgiving is a feast. Even grocery stores have pretty arrangements in vases or cornucopias (flowers, vegetables and fruit), which are always so festive. Or use a clear glass footed bowl, such as a trifle bowl, and fill it with fruit and nuts for a simple and elegant centerpiece. If you are having a fairly large gathering, put salt and pepper, gravy, and butter at both ends of the dinner table, even if you are serving buffet style. Use a tablecloth or placemats in fall colors. If you have children attending, you could set up a card table where they can make their own placemats out of construction paper, with leaf or turkey cutouts. Coloring and sticker books are always popular. This also gives them an activity before the meal starts.
If you have a special family tradition or would like to start one, this is the perfect time. Saying grace before the meal and setting aside a time during the day when all family members in attendance can share something they are thankful for really puts the focus on the "Thanksgiving" part of the day.
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