There are a lot of ways to spend the holiday on Thursday. You can spend it in community service at a garden in solidarity with Native people. You can spend it reflecting on gratitude. You can spend it with your family or, for those of us with family out of state, perhaps you’ve been to a Friendsgiving or two.

No matter how you observe the day, a common denominator is often food. But the magnificent spread you might imagine now doesn’t magically materialize out of nowhere. It takes planning, it takes skill, it takes hours and it sometimes takes blood, sweat and tears.

“Think Out Loud” was joined by culinary historian, food writer and contributor to OPB’s Superabundant Heather Arndt Anderson to offer some tips and tricks and to answer listener questions about cooking for Thanksgiving.

What are some things you can do to suit people’s different diets as a shared meal?

I think that the best way to suit the dietary needs or restrictions of all of your guests and have a side for the people who do eat meat is to do a stuffed winter squash. You can do it with a Kasha or Faro, if you have people who can’t eat wheat, you can use brown rice or quinoa, but mix it with, like diced apples, dried fruit, nuts, if your guests can tolerate nuts. if you have a vegetarian but not a vegan, you can put a little bit of crumbled cheese on that. And then when you roast it, it’s going to come out so silky and so satisfying. And it’s a wonderful side dish or a main, for meatless people.

How do you get the whole turkey cooked perfectly?

So what I usually do is actually, a couple of days ahead, I like to completely remove the breasts, tie them as roasts and then brine them separately. And then I cook the legs and wings separately in duck fat - you can do that days and days ahead of time and just crisp it up when you’re ready to serve. And then the breasts also roast much more quickly when they’re just a couple of pounds each. Then you can also control having different flavors. Maybe you want to have a maple glaze on one of the breasts and a Chipotle on the other. You can be much more creative when you have the bird disassembled.

Prep as much as you can beforehand

When you disassemble your bird ahead of time, you can get it ready much, much earlier than the day of. You can even roast the carcass by itself and make stock. So you have all of your gravy and soup and everything ready to go. I kind of parse things out and I can spread not just the labor but also the fun. You can definitely have a glass of wine while you’re snipping some green beans. It doesn’t matter if it’s Monday or Tuesday. You’re working. The labor can be joyful.

Try something different

This year I’m doing a nice seared Escarole salad. So it’ll be cold, but it’ll have like a nice little scorch to it with persimmons and some smoked nuts. I love sweet potatoes, but I’m gonna do a little pumpkin seed praline to go on instead of all the marshmallows. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone but your own culture culinarily. If you grew up using just sage with turkey, try using spices from Mexico or Colombia, try using Georgian spices. You can make an entire “traditional” Thanksgiving meal, but just all Japanese flavors and it will be recognizable but different and uniquely yours.

Can you bake your pumpkin pie beforehand?

You can blind-bake the pie crust. And you can make the custard ahead of time and just keep it in a tub in the fridge. It will settle overnight because the eggs and the liquid will separate, but just give it a shake right in the jar or the container and then you can pour it into your crust and bake a couple of hours before you’re expecting company. Then it’ll have time to cool and the house will still smell like fresh baked pie - which is the whole point anyways, isn’t it? That’s why we like to bake on Thanksgiving, so everything smells good.

What’s the best way to be helpful to your host?

When you get to the point in the meal or the hangout where you just need to be alone for a minute, but you don’t necessarily want to hog the bathroom, just go do dishes. Go stand in there by yourself if you don’t know where things go, that’s ok. Wash them by hand and just set them in the sink. It’s gonna be such a relief. The host will often say “No, no, you don’t have to do anything,” but just keep doing it, they’re not gonna stop you. That’s the single best way you can be helpful.

What can you do on a solo Thanksgiving?

There’s a lot of opportunity for reflection when you have the gift of solitude. I think that it’s ok to still treat yourself kindly and do something nice. Have a little treat. A lot of times I like to get my family out of the house for a couple of hours, I will just listen to Indigenous hip hop really, really loud and just sort of really reflect on what it means to be an American these days and how we navigate this country’s history and how we can bring that kind of mindfulness to what we eat.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2024/11/27/answering-your-thanksgiving-questions-with-opbs-award-winning-culinary-historian-superabundant-producer/