HOW TO NAVIGATE HOLIDAY DINNERS

Let’s Cook!

HOW TO NAVIGATE HOLIDAY DINNERS

Whether you approach holiday meal prep with a powered-by-Pinterest zeal and organization that military strategists would envy or if the idea of assembling a celebratory feast makes you want to breathe into a paper bag, one thing’s for sure – Thanksgiving dinner is a big deal. But don’t panic.

This collection of Turkey Day survival tips is a lifeline for overwhelmed, frazzled home cooks and the reassurance that it’s okay to get help, whether that means asking everyone to bring a side dish or purchasing a heat-and-eat meal and passing it off as your culinary masterpiece. We’ll never tell.

TO STUFF OR NOT TO STUFF

Holiday dinner tables can be powder kegs for family drama. Whether or not to cook the stuffing in the bird’s body cavity has the potential to be just as contentious a topic as politics or religion, or when Great Aunt Jean exclaims, “No one in our family has ever named their child that!”

Whether to cook the stuffing inside the turkey or bake it separately in a casserole dish—the latter is technically dressing—usually boils down to family traditions. Marriages and family expansions can introduce a “Stuff the bird” person to a diehard “Make it in a separate pan” person, and then things get spicy.

Naysayers of stuffing the bird cite the risk of salmonella and other bacteria that can be present if the stuffing does not reach 165°F before the finished turkey is removed from the oven. Team “Stuffing inside the turkey” counters that dressing cooked on its own is dry and flavorless.

If you decide to cook the stuffing inside the bird, don’t put it inside the turkey until right before it goes into the oven. Stuffing the bird ahead of time might save time when you’re going 100 mph in the kitchen, but this creates prime conditions for bacteria to thrive. And then brace yourself for at least 20 food safety questions around the dinner table. Fun times.

The first order of business is deciding how large a bird you need. A good rule of thumb is one pound per person. You can get away with less if your crowd includes lots of children or non-meat eaters, but more turkey = more leftovers.

The tried-and-true turkey cooking method is roasting in the oven at a low temperature, but in recent years, other methods have gained popularity, such as deep frying and smoking.

PHONE A FRIEND

Local Butchers, such as the Bellville Meat Market on Tesch Street, are great sources of information. Anyone working behind the butcher’s counter at H-E-B is usually knowledgeable and can handle a Turkey 101 question.

If you’re not set on having that photo-perfect “wholebird- on-a-platter” presentation, a little disassembly might speed things up. Austin-based private chef Betsy Davis recommends spatchcocking, which involves removing the back and keel bones from the turkey before cooking and laying the bird flat.

Luke Shaffer, an instructor at Austin’s Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, recommends breaking down the turkey to optimize cooking for both the dark and white meat. “It’s so hard to get perfect dark meat and perfect white meat when roasting a whole bird,” explains Chef Shaffer. His method of choice is to slather the dark meat with herb mayo and roast it on a rack over a sheet pan to yield what he describes as “impossibly crispy skin.”

He cooks the breast sous vide, a French technique that involves vacuum sealing food and cooking it in a temperature-controlled water bath. Shaffer cooks the breast at 145°F for two and a half hours, then searing to brown the skin.

Whatever you choose, be prepared. Cooking methods like deep frying and smoking require additional supplies and equipment, such as wood chips and peanut oil. As the time to cook the turkey draws near, these can be in high demand, so get those ducks…er, turkeys…in a row before the big day.

“Spatchcocking shaves hours off of the process. Laying the bird flat, a turkey cooks more evenly, in roughly half the time. I once prepared 12 turkeys in two ovens in less than 10 hours.”

— Chef Betsy Davis

HOW TO NAVIGATE HOLIDAY DINNERS

Butterball has a Turkey Talk-Line that answers hundreds of thousands of turkey questions every November and December. Call 1-800-BUTTERBALL or text 844-877-3456 for the chat option. No matter how silly your question is, they’ve probably heard it.

COMMON TURKEY MISTAKES

Not thawing the turkey or not realizing how long it takes a large, frozen bird to thaw out top the list of turkey- related snafus. Properly thawing a turkey takes time. If thawing in the fridge, allow one day for every five pounds. Store a defrosting turkey on the bottom shelf on a baking sheet to prevent a drippy mess in the fridge or contamination of other food. Pie with raw turkey juice does not taste good. I haven’t tried it but I’m pretty sure I’m right about this.

To quickly thaw a whole frozen turkey, place it in a bath of ice water and change the water every 30 minutes. This takes roughly 30 minutes per pound.

Remember to remove the neck and giblet pack from the cavity of the turkey. While cooking the neck inside the turkey won’t cause any harm, the giblets are usually encased in plastic, which can melt and contaminate the poultry if forgotten. First-timers might not find it intuitive to roll up their sleeves and check the bird’s hind end for surprises, but it must be done.

LET SOMEONE ELSE COOK

If you’re more about “Heat and eat” than “I slaved for days,” there are takeout options that are just as good as homemade. You can totally tell people you slaved for days, though.

Prasek’s Family Smokehouse, with locations in Sealy and El Campo, is closed on Thanksgiving Day to allow their team players to spend time with their families but if you go see them in advance of Turkey Day, they can set you up with dinner.

Prasek’s has been in business for over 50 years and has plenty of meats to choose from, such as whole smoked turkey (peppered, non-peppered, or Cajun spice) and whole smoked boneless hams (peppered or non-peppered.) Prasek’s meals come fully cooked, with easy heating directions.

H-E-B’s Meal Simple holiday meal packages are another option for anyone wanting to pare down time in the kitchen. Choose between turkey breast, whole turkey, or spiral-sliced ham with all the fixings and sides. Outside of the packages, H-E-B is always well-stocked with prepared sides and bakery items. H-E-B has five locations in nearby Katy, plus locations in Columbus and Brenham. Order Thanksgiving Meal packages at least seven days in advance.

Anyone wanting a truly hands-off approach to Thanksgiving dinner can visit Yani’s Steakhouse in Bellville. Yani’s usually serves pasta, seafood, and steaks, but it will be open on Thanksgiving Day with a buffet of traditional Thanksgiving fare.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

“Rolling out the dough is the hardest part, Just press, press, press, so you don’t have to handle the dough as much, and you’re not mixing it with as much flour, which can make delicate pie dough tough. This trick works great for any pie where you don’t need a top crust.”

— Lucia Vinuez Lucys Pie House

HOW TO NAVIGATE HOLIDAY DINNERS

THE PIES HAVE IT

If rolling out made-from-scratch pastry dough and peeling apples by hand is Cool Whip on top of your pie, keep doing you. If you’ve ever bought a frozen pie, slapped it on grandma’s antique scalloped plate, and shoved evidence of the store-bought packaging far down into the depths of your garbage can, also keep doing you. The world has room for both.

Prasek’s also offers both nine-inch and four-inch whole pies. Their nine-inch pies come in 10 flavors, and their four-inch pies come in five. Pecan is Prasek’s most popular pie during the Thanksgiving season. Their bakery also sells fresh rolls and kolaches, so grab some of them and check one more thing off your to-do list.

While Lucy’s Pie House & Grill in Sealy is closed on Thanksgiving and isn’t yet offering whole pies to take home, owner Lucia Vinueza has a genius shortcut for making a homemade pie for anyone who might be “crust challenged.” Her hack works for any open-crust pie, such as the pumpkin and pecan pies traditionally served on Thanksgiving Day tables.

“Rolling out the dough is the hardest part,” explains Vinueza, who recommends dabbing little pieces into the bottom of the pie pan. “Just press, press, press, so you don’t have to handle the dough as much, and you’re not mixing it with as much flour, which can make delicate pie dough tough. This trick works great for any pie where you don’t need a top crust.”

Lucy’s has over 12 varieties of pies and promises to have pumpkin and other traditional flavors available in advance of Thanksgiving, so stop in for a slice to get you in the Thanksgiving mood.

“IT’S NOT EEL” = REASON ENOUGH FOR GRATITUDE

Although the pilgrims probably had some sort of stuffed wildfowl at the first Thanksgiving dinner, seafood, such as eel, mussels, and fish, also likely graced the table. White potatoes had not yet made it to North America from South America, so no fluffy mounds of mashed spuds dripping with gravy, which also was missing from the first Thanksgiving because no flour. Historical reports indicate the pilgrims would have enjoyed pumpkin stewed with vinegar. Yum.

No nutmeg, cinnamon, and certainly no marshmallows back in 1621, so no matter what kitchen disaster might befall you, keep telling yourself you’re doing okay. So what if the turkey is a little dry and the mashed potatoes have lumps? If someone complains, sweetly remind them that this is a day of gratitude and to be thankful they don’t have to be polite about a plate of roasted eel with a heaping side of vinegar pumpkin.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Jill Robbins is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel, The Independent, The Saturday Evening Post, and more. Jill served 26 years in the Air Force, which sparked her love of travel. She has visited 39 countries and 44 U.S. states and has lived in England, Germany, and the Azores. She is an active member of the Society of American Travel Writers, the North American Travel Journalists Association, and the Texas Auto Writers Association.

Jill lives in the San Antonio area with her husband and two teenage sons, but she is usually somewhere else.