<p>^^^^Yum!</p>
<p>Do you know what I absolutely love? Cippolini onions cooked in a similar fashion. They are harder to find, but they also get so sweet when roasted.</p>
<p>I have to say, I disagree with the premise of this post. I think there are two issues here: one is the shopping/cleaning/prep and the other is the cooking.</p>
<p>I think the only part of this that needs to be done before Thanksgiving day is the shopping (and maybe the cleaning, depending on how bad it is). I have done numerous Thanksgiving dinners where I got up at 9 AM and got the turkey started (I like a 20-pounder cooked slowly, aiming for 4 PM), then relaxed until around 1. People don’t need forty-three side dishes and four kinds of pie.</p>
<p>Ask the people who are coming to bring a favorite side dish. Order your favorite pies. Now all that’s left is cooking the turkey (without stuffing, because it’s an invitation to food poisoning to cook it in the bird) and making the gravy.</p>
<p>My father’s recipe (which I AM NOT SHARING) calls for making turkey stock from legs and wings in advance, then simmering the innards/necks/etc. in the stock, then straining that to make the stock for the gravy. It was the best gravy ever, as he made it. Fortunately he told me his secret ingredient before he died (in 1978). Even without his secret ingredient–which would be a standard gravy recipe but with the double stock–it’s better than anything else out there.</p>
<p>We buy Thanksgiving dinner at Meijer and Pumpkin pie at Costco. We order ahead of time and pick up later. No fuss. If you count your time and all opportunity costs (like economics is teaching us to do), you will see that it is not only better tasting, but also cheaper than do it yourself. We love our home made sweet potatoes though, but we use unusual ingredients, so we cannot buy this dish.</p>
<p>thumper, does one person eat an entire 4 inch sweet potato ball? I’m also intrigued.</p>
<p>dmd, I’m guessing the secret ingredient is an alcoholic beverage of some sort.</p>
<p>If you’d like to try a potato recipe that is very similar to Mom2M’s, there is one on the Ciao Italia website. You can search for it by putting recipe number 1910 into the search box. This recipe is a spinach and potato pie. I have made it and I think it is excellent. I have reheated it by the slice in a microwave and it turned out fine. I think you can probably assemble this in advance, refrigerate, and then bake it just before serving, although I have not tried to make it this way.</p>
<p>thumper, I’m intrigued! I will have to make the sweet potato balls.</p>
<p>I’m with dmd, I don’t see the need to make a lot in advance, especially if you can farm off the pies. I’ve even done Thanksgiving in Germany where I got off work at about 4 pm and served dinner at 8. I usually do Turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes (no marshmallows), regular mashed potatoes, some green vegetable, cranberry sauce, maybe a green salad and a couple of pies. There’s more than enough food.</p>
<p>dmd, I’m guessing carrot or onion skins.</p>
<p>I don’t do much in advance either. Just make sure you get a fresh turkey instead of a frozen one. Then you don’t have to worry about defrosting and they taste better too!</p>
<p>The night before Thanksgiving, we do make whole cranberry sauce. It is so easy -just use the recipe on the back of the cranberry bag, but I use fresh orange juice instead of water. I also make a dessert the day before or if we have guests I have someone bring pie.</p>
<p>Everyone is different. I have learned that I enjoy myself a lot more if I have everything pretty well finished in advanced. My SIL is fantastic about doing Thanksgiving dinner and she makes most things that day, she says it is all in the shopping. </p>
<p>I, on the other hand, like things prepared. The amount of time to do it either way is the same, but is all in how we enjoy entertaining. I do an Xmas buffet, and other than the roasted potatoes and the tossed salad, everything will be cooked weeks before. </p>
<p>So, for those of you who can get up that morning - I am impressed! It just wouldn’t suit me!</p>
<p>Wow, what do you make for a Xmas buffet that can be cooked weeks before!! That sounds like another thread that would be great to read!</p>
<p>Mixed Greens w walnuts/pears/feta cheese & raspberry dressing
Butternut Squash Soup with cinnamon croutons
Roasted Potatoes with fresh thyme (I am thinking of adding roasted asparagus)
Sliced Turkey Breast
Cranberry Relish</p>
<p>Rolls, lettuce, etc. for those who want sandwiches. I have a relative who brings a gorgeous cookie tray and two pies. That’s about it. I resist the urge to add to the menu. When I took over for my mom I knew I could never have the full sit down dinner with multiple sides. I simplified and everyone keeps talking about how relaxed x-mas nite seems. As I told someone else, they are all just relieved I don’t serve tofu, as DH and I are vegetarians.</p>
<p>So you cook and freeze the turkey and the soup in advance? Sounds nice!</p>
<p>Cook, slice, and freeze turkey breast. When my mom makes turkey breast, she makes gravy and freezes that for me. I have never made gravy and I am not starting now!!</p>
<p>Soup freezes really well.</p>
<p>An earlier post mentioned cooking the turkey on the Weber-style grill. It’s absolutely wonderful – smokey taste and moist - -and doesn’t take up any room in the oven! </p>
<p>We have done it the day of, as well as the afternoon before. When done the day before, we slice, put in lasagna size alum pans with lots of pure gravy (not thickened…just juice of turkey with fat skimmed off.) On the day of, stack a couple of these pans in the oven to heat up (with alum foil on top very tight so turkey doesn’t dry out) and it still takes up quite a bit less room in the oven than the full turkey being cooked. </p>
<p>Cooking usually takes about 20 min per pound. In colder weather a little longer. In warmer weather a little shorter! A few coals need to be added every 30 -45 mins, and we like to add hickory chips every hour or so. Also add 1 -2 cups of chicken broth near the end to have more gravy (but don’t want the turkey boiling in chicken soup for too long!!!)</p>
<p>I would think it could be made on the Sunday before Thanksgiving so it wouldn’t be in the freezer too long.</p>
<p>Yes…one sweet potato ball per serving. Maybe they aren’t quite four inches…whatever size it takes to fully cover a large marshmallow…that’s one serving size.</p>
<p>thumper, have you ever tried making those sweet potato balls, rolling them in pecan pieces instead of the bran flakes? I wonder how they would turn out if pecans were on the outside?</p>
<p>I’m with workinprogress - my whole idea is to try and get as much done ahead of time (mostly the weekend before) as possible. I will have people arriving at my house at about noon and I want to be able to sit and chat and not be running around the kitchen. I love all of these ideas - thank you all so much. Hey and keep the recipes coming. They are all fantastic.</p>
<p>My D is 17 and her favorite part of T’giving is having her grandmom and aunt here cooking in the kitchen together. Everybody gets to pick one thing they want to have cooked for T’giving. Then we four girls (and one H) mess around in the kitchen until it all comes together. It takes us four hours to cook and 15 minutes to eat. Of course, we snack on hors d’oeuvres the whole time we are cooking, so who’s hungry?? Hey, we also give each other a little “present” at T’giving. Usually some little Christmas decorating trinket that we’ve found - cute napkins, tree ornament, Christmas earrings - something to start the season off right. We are a very small family and it’s just a little tradition.</p>
<p>Way back at Post #17, someone mentioned an electric roaster. I’m like the OP, trying to do it all, and would love to free up oven space. Anyone have any experience roasting the turkey in a roaster? Hints or caveats? Is it good? Does the meat dry out? Thought maybe with a roaster I use my small oven for everything else .</p>