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Thanksgiving Dinner
Ok my fiance and I have just bought our first house together! He is 27 and I am 21 (I promise this makes a difference). His parents and him always trade off who goes where for Thanksgiving and Christmas. His parents live in Arizona and we live in Oklahoma, and there is never any problem because he is an only child. So this year his parents are coming to our house for Thanksgiving. Being that I am so young, I have never had to cook an entire Thanksgiving by myself! I can do the normal mashed potatos, green beans (not the casserol though), corn, and I even can make baked beans from and old family recipe. I cannot/have not made stuffing, a ham, or turkey. His dad apparently makes amazing pumpkin pie, and I make a good pumpkin gingerbread truffle.
The help I need is any suggestions/recipes for a good ham, turkey, and stuffing!!!! I know Thanksgiving is about 2 months away, but I want to test my cooking skills before the Future In-Laws come for a big Holiday!!!
Re: Thanksgiving Dinner
Ham is definitely going to be really easy! Make sure you get a spiral sliced and I use this as a glaze when I make ham:
1 can (small 6 pack cans) of pineapple juice, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp mustard and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Mix it up, then put the ham in a roasting pan and pour glaze over, saving a little to make sure to pour down into the spiral slices. Wrap tightly with foil (unless you have the world's biggest roasting pan that can contain a ham under a cover!) and bake according to directions on the ham package.
As far as turkey, there are a million different ways - I saw an amazing recipe on the cover of the Food Network magazine last year and it's probably still on their website, I think it had cranberry!
And stuffing? What's traditional for their family? See if you can't make his mom's recipe to make it a little more special and "like home" to them.
PS- the green bean casserole is so easy to make - trust me! But it sounds like you'll have plenty of food without it, so good luck!
I'd go with this too- pretty sure any future MIL would be thrilled to be told "I hear you do a great job with Thanksgiving dinner- I'd love to learn from you!"
Beyond that, figure out your timeline before the big day. It can get so hectic if you haven't prepped a lot ahead, need another burner, or realize that you need the oven to be at two temps at once. I actually write it out almost to the minute, even marking where the dish is cooked/finished, what it's being served in, etc.
I made my first Thanksgiving Turkey in 2008. I decided to brine my turkey (because I obsessively watch Alton Brown and he can do no wrong).
I blogged about it. Even my mother, who hates turkey, loved it. There is a link to the recipe in the blog post. I only used the brine -- I didn't use their stuffing or gravy recipes.
http://doesnotcookwellwithothers.blogspot.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-menu.html
I'm 21 as well and i cooked my first Easter meal this year. We are like 2000 miles from home so it was just me, my hubby, and a few friends but it was still stressful cooking such a large meal!
Have a timeline written out. Such as what you are making and when you are going to prep it, put it in the oven etc. Having everything planned out will make it easier to remember what needs doing when and so nothing gets forgotten.
For ham, I used a dr. pepper/brown sugar glaze- it was delicious. I'm still getting compliments from his friends and they've asked me to make it again for Thanksgiving.
I haven't done a Turkey yet but I second looking at Allrecipes. Read the comments to get a better idea. A lot of the recipes on my blog I found on Allrecipes.
Does your family have a stuffing recipe? I know mine does and I've looked for a similar one and can not find it online so I just called up my aunt and got the recipe from her.
depending on the size of your turkey, you maybe able to make it in a crockpot like a chicken. It will keep it moist since all the juices and steam stay in the pot (as long as you don't lift the cover)! http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/11/crockpot-whole-turkey-recipe.html
Plus this will free up your oven to cook your other goodies!
I agree with this. I assume they will be coming in the night before. Be upfront and honest. Tell her you have never made a turkey, and would like some help. If she is anything like my MIL she will love to pass on her cooking knowledge. And all recipes is GREAT. I get lots of recipes there. And there is a super easy green been cassarole recipe on the can of the french's fried onions or can of cream of mushroom soup (Cambells).
i also agree about including your future in-laws in the cooking. if they're the kind of people who won't make you insane doing so, that is.
that said, it's not hard to cook a turkey. it's daunting when it's your first one (i know i was nervous the first time i cooked one) but it's really not that hard. i recommend brining your turkey. you can make your own brine (there are a zillion recipes online) or just use the brining mix from williams-sonoma. here's an excellent recipe/method for roasting turkey from cook's country that is especially good for a beginner/first thanksgiving cook. it's failsafe... i've used it many times, and you can adjust the cooking time for a bigger bird (though you shouldn't need a bigger one for four people).
i've never done a dry brine so can't speak to that, but if you do a traditional brine (i.e. submerged in liquid), here are my tips:
* don't buy expensive brining bags. use a regular white kitchen trash bag.
* if you're brining in the fridge you don't need ice. just stick the turkey/brining bag in a container that's large enough in case of a leak.
*start brining two days before thanksgiving because you will need to...
*pull the turkey out of the brine and put it back in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours before cooking. this will dry the skin out enough that it will be crispy. some people claim if your turkey goes directly from brine to oven the skin isn't as crispy. i've never had this problem but started doing the 24 hour rule just in case.
*if you're short on fridge space or don't have a container that's big enough for your turkey in the brine, use a cooler with ice and stick it on the back porch/deck. if it's cold where you are, an open tub of some sort with ice is good too, though some sort of lid is good to discourage critters (never had a problem but you never know).
*if you're using a cooler, fill it 1/4 to 1/3 with ice, then put the turkey in the brining bag into the container, then add the brine, then add more ice. the first time i did it i filled the bag w/ the turkey in the sink and then had to transfer a 23 lb turkey in gallons of liquid into the container. can you say nerve wracking newbie mistake?
*general rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound for a stuffed turkey, i think 15 for unstuffed.
*stuff the turkey. it's so much better than dressing cooked in the oven.
*when stuffing your turkey, line the cavity with cheesecloth, then put in the stuffing. you still have to use a spoon to get the stuffing in and out, but once you're clear enough when removing it you just pull the cheesecloth and you're done. no scraping around to make sure you've gotten it all.
it sounds like a lot, and thxgiving dinner is a lot of work, but it's so worth it and the steps as you go along aren't hard. your turkey will be great!