Thanksgiving Tips and Ideas

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I thought I would give you some great tips and ideas to help you have a smooth day in the kitchen! We use a term called "mise en place" (pronounced meez an plaz) in the kitchens, which means "everything in place". By that I mean, prep everything before preparing a recipe, know what tools you may need and what equipment you'll need before starting a recipe!

Prepare!

So, the day before your big meal, chop all your veggies and herbs, measure out all your ingredients and spices! Put them into ziploc bags and staple them in groups by recipe! For example, I was making a green bean casserole. So I chopped my mushrooms, red bell pepper and onion and each went into their own bag and sealed. Then I measured out the flour, butter and spices and they each went in their own baggies. Then I would gather all the bags up for that recipe and staple them together so when the day came, I had all my ingredients ready just to throw in and it makes it easy and fast to put together! Try it! It is every restaurants secret to getting stuff done fast!

If you look in my fridge you'll see the turkey in the brine in the stainless steel pot, to the right of that is another pot (behind the apple juice and milk) where I have my potatoes peeled and cut and in water, ready to go on the stove the next day! The bowl on top of that is my sweet potatoes that were already baked and peeled, ready for assembly. Then on the bottom shelf, you'll see all my ziploc bags with all my ingredients ready to go...I even had my flour, salt and pepper in there! Then to the right of the ziplocs is a bowl with my cranberry sauce. On the next day, it only took me 2 hours to put together a full meal for 8 people!

Brine!

Try putting your turkey into a brine before roasting it! A brine is a liquid that has sugar, salt and other aromatics in which you will soak your bird in before cooking it! The turkey just soaks up the flavor and seals in juices! Here is a great brine to soak your turkey in overnight, then remove it from the brine the day of, pat dry and roast as you normally would!

3 cups coarse salt, plus more for seasoning
5 cups sugar
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
2 dried bay leaves
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns, plus freshly ground pepper

Put salt, sugar, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, peppercorns, and 10 cups water in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, stirring until salt and sugar have dissolved. Remove from heat; let brine cool completely. Add turkey, breast first, to the brine. Cover; refrigerate 24 hours. Remove from brine; pat dry with paper towels. Let stand at room temperature 2 hours. (This brine is good for any size turkey, up to 18 lbs)

Here is the brine once it is cooled

The turkey in the brine

And this is after it was roasted...my first turkey and it was amazing!

(Another tip, don't go by the little red pop up thing that comes in the turkey! Use a thermometer or look for the juices to run clear! This one popped up well before the turkey was done!)

Get your family involved!

My dad's side of the family consists of over 28 people that get together for Thanksgiving! So instead of 1 person preparing food for that many people...we all pitch in! My aunt Denise sends out an email to us all and we all volunteer who is bringing what! And after so many years of doing this, we typically bring the same thing each year! For instance, I am pretty much the mashed potato and dessert queen :)

Most of all...have fun and enjoy the time you have with your family!