Thanksgiving Game Plan

It's that time again!

Frozen turkeys are silently starting to take over the freezer areas of grocery stores as Halloween begins to loom. It may seem early, but it's time to start thinking about your plans if you're cooking a Thanksgiving meal!

A few years ago I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time. Knowing myself, I drafted up two files that I could print and use for my Thanksgiving planning and day-of cooking. I have continued to use this same system with small notes and adjustments made over the years. It makes things very simple, I have all my prep work done the night before and then I just wake up and follow my directions. No setting timers best on my best guess, no counting backward from the dinner time and guesstimating when to start in the heat of the moment... A little bit of work in advance means I'm not quite so caught up in the kitchen during the big day. It frees me up to enjoy my family. I now really only make adjustments for whatever desserts are being made. If I'm honest, it usually just involves purchasing a pumpkin and apple pie. 

First is the timeline, then the recipes. You can print the PDFs and adjust the times based on 1) What time you plan to eat and 2) The size of your turkey. Keep in mind, a bacon-wrapped turkey takes a little more time than one cooked in the traditional basting method. Generally, you will need 15-20 minutes per pound for a traditional turkey and a good 30-45 minutes to rest. LET IT REST! If you cut into the turkey before it reabsorbs all that juice, you'll end up with a dry, sad turkey. Just make sure to bring it up to temperature, removing at 160*F and letting it rest (it will continue to cook up to 165*F) is what you need! 

View the much cleaner PDF file for the Timeline here.

View the much cleaner PDF file for the Recipes here.

Turkey Day Timeline

Day Before:

• Cook the yams.
• Make the sage butter
• Make the mashed potatoes
• Clean and destem the green beans
• Chop the onions and garlic needed for the green beans and the turkey’s cavity. Note: the green
beans need diced onion and the turkey needs simple a rough chop/large pieces.

Day Of:

Upon Waking

• Set out sage butter to come to room temperature.

Noon

• T- Preheat oven to 325*F and get turkey started. (Based on roughly 13lb turkey, adjust the start time for size)

12:30pm

• T- Place turkey in oven

• B- Clean green beans and cook according to recipe. Store in fridge.

2:30pm

• T- Remove foil from turkey

• B- Chop the onion for green beans, mince the 3 cloves garlic. Keep in fridge.

2:45pm

• T- Remove bacon from turkey

• S- Make stuffing, set aside in the toaster oven set to warm.

3:30pm

• T- Start to check Turkey’s temp until 160*F. Remove and rest under foil.

• B- Remove beans from fridge.

• G- Once turkey comes out to rest, make the gravy up the point it needs to chill

• B- Make the beans while drippings are chilling/separating

• G- Finish the gravy

• R- Make the rolls once gravy/beans are at a safe point to step away.

• P- Heat up mashed potatoes in the oven after removing turkey. Add a pat of butter to the top and stir in after 5 minutes or so.

4:15-4:30pm

• T- Turkey should be ready to carve.

Turkey Day Recipes

·       Bacon Wrapped Roasted Turkey (www.food.com/recipe/bacon-wrapped-roasted-turkey-341050)

o   13 lb whole turkey

o   Kitchen twine

o   Aluminum foil

o   2 c butter (softened)

o   1.5 oz fresh sage

o   1 lb bacon

o   1 onion

o   1 garlic clove

o   Salt (to taste)

o   Pepper (to taste)

§  Preheat oven to 325*F

§  Remove giblets and neck from Turkey. Rinse turkey with cold running water and drain well. Blot dry with paper towels.

§  Chop onion and garlic and mix together. Stuff the mixture into Turkey.

§  Tie up the Turkey’s wings, legs, and drumsticks with twine as desired.

§  Chop sage and mix in with softened butter.

§  Rub the sage/butter mixture under the skin and over the skin of the Turkey.

§  Salt and pepper turkey to taste.

§  Place uncooked bacon slices all over the skin of the uncooked turkey. They will stick to the buttered turkey.

§  Insert an oven-safe meat thermometer into the inner thigh area near the breast of the turkey but not touching the bones.

§  Place Turkey in a roasting pan and use foil to tent the uncooked turkey.

§  Remove foil tent for last hour of cooking turkey.

§  Continue to let bacon cook on turkey for an additional 15 min then remove.

§  Remove Turkey from oven once internal temperature reaches 160*F.

§  Allow turkey to rest for 20-30min under foil, then carve. (Turkey should cook up to 165*F while resting). Pour juice from resting turkey into finished gravy and whisk it in.

·       Turkey Pan-drippings Gravy (www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-quick-turkey-gravy-thanksgiving-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-161016)

o   ¼ c turkey fat* (use butter or even vegetable oil to supplement if you don't have enough, but the bacon wrapped turkey will definitely produce enough)

o   ¼ c all-purpose flour

o   1 c pan drippings*

o   1-2 c broth or water (you also can use the water used to boil the potatoes if making mashed potatoes that same day, I personally suggest using turkey or chicken broth)

o   Salt and pepper

o   Optional: splash of sherry, splash of wine, teaspoon of minced herbs like rosemary, thyme, or sage

o   *these come from the turkey pan

§  Gravy prep – remove the turkey from the oven and set aside to rest. Set the pan over med-high heat on the stovetop (will probably span two burners). When the pan drippings are hot and sputtering, pour in a cup of broth and begin scraping all the bits from the bottom of the pan.

§  Separate the Fat and Drippings – Pour the deglazed pan drippings into a measuring cup and place this in the fridge or freezer. In the 30 min that the turkey is resting, the fat and drippings will separate and fat will harden. This will ease in skimming the fat. Ideally, you’ll end up with a cup of pan drippings and ¼ c fat. Make up the rest in broth or oil, respectively, if necessary. If you have a LOT more, you could even double the recipe.

§  Make a Roux – Skim fat from top of pan drippings or use a fat separator. Warm in saucepan over med-hi heat. When the fat is hot, whisk in the flour to form a thin paste. Let this cook for a few mins until bubbly.

§  Add the Pan Drippings – Next up, pour in the pan drippings and whisk to combine with the roux. This will form a thick, gloppy paste.

§  Add the broth – finish the gravy by whisking in a half cup of broth. You can add more broth for a thinner gravy or let the gravy cook a few minutes for a thicker gravy. Taste the gravy and add salt, pepper, and any extras to taste.

·       Additional Notes:

o   For a very smooth gravy, strain the pan drippings before adding them to the gravy

o   Gravy can be kept refrigerated for up to a week, or frozen for up to three months. Reheat gently over low heat while whisking occasionally to prevent the sauce from breaking.

 

·       Green beans and bacon (www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/patrick-and-gina-neely/green-beans-and-bacon-recipe.html)

o   2 ½ lbs green beans, trimmed

o   Kosher salt

o   ½ lb bacon, roughly chopped

o   1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

o   3 cloves garlic, minced

o   1 tsp red pepper flakes

o   Lemon juice

o   ½ c chopped toasted pecans (will not be adding this)

§  Toss green beans into a large pot of boiling salted water and cook until bright green in color and crisp-tender, about 5 min.

§  Drain beans and shock in a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again and pat dry.

§  Cook bacon in a large, heavy saute pan until crisp, about 5 min. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Spoon off the excess bacon grease, leaving 2 Tbsp in the pan.

§  Add onion to pan and saute until soft and very tender, about 4-5min (for Turkey day, take 2 Tbsp of butter instead).

§  Sprinkle in the garlic and red pepper flakes and saute until just fragrant, about 1 more minute.

§  Add the green beans and pecans and cook until heated through, 5-6 minutes.

§  Return bacon to the pan, pour in lemon juice and toss. Season with salt and pepper.

·       Herbed goat cheese mashed potatoes (original recipe, adjusted from my mom's)

o   2 Idaho potatoes

o   2 white potatoes

o   1-2 cloves garlic

o   Butter

o   Warm half and half

o   1/4c – ½ c Sour cream

o   Salt and pepper

o   Herbed goat cheese

§  Add 1-2 cloves of garlic to pot of water, bring to boil. (you can reserve water and boil the turkey innards, some chunks of onion, and celery stalk to create broth for gravy)

§  Meanwhile, peel and cube potatoes, add to boiling water. Cook until fork-tender and drain.

§  Add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper and mash. Add half and half as needed to reach desired consistency. Add in goat cheese and mix.

§  Serve with gravy!

·       Candied Yams (My family has been making this recipe forever! These are 100% better the next day)

o   4 Yams (sweet potatoes)

o   1 stick butter

o   ¾ c brown sugar

o   ~ ½ c Karo sugar

o   1/3 c White vinegar

o   ½ c orange juice

o   1 can pineapple

o   Lemon juice

§  Steam yams until fork starts to go through & peel.

§  In an iron/heavy skillet place a stick of butter and add ½-3/4 c brown sugar. Stir and let bubble.

§  When bubbling, add ½ c Karo syrup and let it reduce a bit. Get it to a consistency where it adheres to the spoon, like you’re getting it semi-soft for candy.

§  Add 1/3 c white vinegar, a couple of squeezes of lemon juice, ½ c OJ, and a little pineapple juice from the canned pineapple.

§  Cut yams lengthwise and place in mixture, turning them after 20 minutes (simmer 20 min total).

§  Top with pineapple slices.

·       Stovetop stuffing (Because store-bought is just fine!)

o   Box of Stovetop

o   2 ½ c water

o   2 Tbsp butter

§  Place a pan on the stove and add 2 ½ c warm water and 2 Tbsp butter to pan. Bring to boil.

§  Remove from heat and whisk to mix water and butter.

§  Add stuffing pouch and add entire contents into the water. Gently fluff and mix with a fork, don’t stir hard or it’ll be mushy. Just fold stuffing into water.

§  Cover with lid and let sit about 15 minutes to allow it to absorb water. Fluff with fork again and serve.

·       Pillsbury crescent rolls

o   Tube of Pillsbury crescent rolls

o   Beaten egg

o   Silpat/cookie shet

§  Preheat oven to 375*F

§  Roll up dough loosely, starting at shortest side of triangle.

§  Place rolls on ungreased cookie sheets; curve into crescent shape.

§  Brush each roll lightly with beaten egg and bake for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown at 375*F.

·       Black olives and Appetizer Platter

o   Open can for "guests" and proceed to eat while cooking dinner. 

o   Open the second can that is actually for guests and serve on the nice app platter, set out to pique people's appetite alongside sweet pickles, green stuffed olives, cheese, and crackers.