The last list to make Thanksgiving great
It’s finally here, the week of Thanksgiving, and you’re probably wondering what could possibly be left — certainly no more Must, Should, and Consider lists. You’ve picked up the turkey, you’ve whittled down your list for the last minute grocery run, the tablecloth is ironed, and you even found someone to bake a third pie. All that’s left is to wait for the guests to show up and hope grandma’s boyfriend doesn’t start hittin’ the peppermint schnapps too early (again).
There is, of course, a lot of cooking to do between now and Thursday and the best way I know to manage that is with, you guessed it, another todo list. I’ll assign myself tasks for every day for Monday through Wednesday and then breakdown Thanksgiving by the hour or half hour. And it’s best to build in some flexibility here to account for all of the various life happenings.
I also try my best not to overcomplicate things — I’ve seen spreadsheets striped with every color of the rainbow and even heard tale of full on project management apps being repurposed. If that works for you, by all means, stick with it, though I tend to go with something much simpler. The built-in notes app on my phone has been my standard for over a decade, mostly because I always have my phone with me and I want something simple I can pull up with one hand is embedded in a turkey cavity.
If you’ve been following along, you know I like to have as much prepped ahead of time as possible and I try to minimize cooking on the actual day. Mashed potatoes are a good candidate for a dish that can be made the day of, whereas the dressing can be assembled 2 days ahead and just popped in the oven for 40 minutes.
For Thanksgiving Day, don’t forget to work backwards from when you want to eat. If you’re planning on a 5pm dinner, you know the turkey can come out of the oven at 4pm. Managing the oven is going to be the biggest challenge as you likely have three things that want three different temperatures all going at the same time. Biscuits and rolls often bake at a slightly higher temperature and can go in with any vegetables you’re roasting. These are always best pretty much right out of the oven so save them for last, whereas your dressing can come out about half an hour before anyone sits down and still be plenty hot.
And don’t forget the microwave! It’s perfect for reheating things like sweet potatoes or even gravy. The key is to use the power level function — reheating likes a setting of about 7 or 8 — and go in 2-3 minute bursts.
Here’s a sample list that you can tweak given your own menu. And this looks like a lot, so don’t forget to assign tasks to everyone who keeps asking what they can do to help. Anyone can put cranberry sauce in a bowl!
Monday
- Take turkey stock out of the freezer
- Make biscuits (freeze)
- Brine pecans (overnight)
- Make cornbread for dressing
Tuesday
- Roast pecans
- Make pie dough (fridge)
- Dry brine turkey (fridge)
- Make cranberry sauce (fridge)
Wednesday
- Trim and cut Brussels sprouts
- Bake pie
- Make gravy (fridge)
- Assemble the dressing (fridge)
- Make the sweet potato mash
- Chill the wine and beer
Thursday
12:00pm
- Make yourself a quick snack and/or a cup of coffee — it’s go time!
- Turkey out of the fridge
12:30pm
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF
1:00pm
- Turkey in the oven
- Make a sweep of the house for any last minute tidying up
1:30pm
- Lower oven temperature to 325ºF
- Peel the potatoes
2:00pm
- Set the table
- Boil the potatoes for mashed potatoes
2:30pm
- Don’t forget to hydrate!
- Mash potatoes, keep warm
3:00pm
- Put out the starters and wine/beer/champagne
3:30pm
- Turkey out of the oven
- Set the oven to 425ºF
- Roast the Brussels sprouts (top rack)
- Bake the biscuits (bottom rack)
- Cranberry sauce out of the fridge
4:00pm
- Guests arrive
- Brussels and biscuits out of the oven
- Set the oven to 350ºF
- Dressing in the oven
- Warm the gravy on the stove, add drippings from turkey
- Make the salad dressing
- Prep, but don’t dress, the salad
4:30pm
- Reheat the sweet potato mash in the microwave
- Dress the salad
- Light the candles
- Carve the turkey
- Biscuits and Brussels can reheat for 5-10 minutes in the oven
5:00pm
- Time to eat!
Thank you so very much for following along these past few weeks — Thanksgiving truly is my favorite holiday and I'm glad I get to share some of that with you. Please enjoy this time with whoever it is that brings you joy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!