A Couple Thanksgiving Tips

I'm not cooking thanksgiving this year, and I didn't last year either.  Gotta say I miss it, but we're going to someone else's place.  So instead I thought I'd giving a couple quick tips for people who are cooking and might be a little nervous.  There's really no rhyme or reason to this list, I'm just making it up as I go along.

1)  Plan the order you're cooking things (especially things that need the oven).  For a big meal like this, planning is key.  Think about how much room is in the oven, what things can be done ahead and reheated quickly at the last minute, what things can share the oven at the same temp, how time and oven space will the turkey or roast take etc.  You don't want to have a bunch of pies that you can't cook because there's no room to cook them.

2) Think about serving dishes and table layout.  Do you need 2 gravy boats, or an extra casserole dish?  What about a second table and chairs?

3) Brine your turkey starting the day before.  This really makes a huge difference in flavor and moistness (way more than I believed before I started doing it).  I literally will never server a turkey unbrined again if I have a choice (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html).  This also really helps with the breast meat drying out before the dark meat is finished.  Another tip for that is to cover the breast with shiny side out aluminum foil for the first 1/3 of the cooking time.  Also, if you want to cut cooking time, apparently the hot thing this year is butterflying the turkey. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/butterflied-dry-brined-roasted-turkey-with-roasted-root-vegetable-panzanella-recipe/index.html

4)  Do not make stuffing with just premade packaged crap.  If you want to use boxed stuffing as a base, ok, but you must add fresh vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic, thyme, celery) and stock from boiling the giblets.  This makes stuffing go from blah to awesomely delicious.  Also, you don't need to do stuffing in the turkey, just cook it in a casserole dish.

5)  Make the gravy with the same stock from the giblets and drippings from the turkey pan.  This also means keeping a bit of water in the pan while the turkey roasts to prevent drippings from burning.  Once you've finished roasting the bird, throw the whole roasting pan on the stove top on medium heat and deglaze with the stock.  get all the sticky goodness whisked in and thicken with a water/flour mix.  Make sure after you add the flour you keep it simmering for a few minutes to cook the flour.  Whisk it all smooth.

6)  A rib roast is a great alternative or addition to turkey.  Just puree oil, butter, garlic, salt, pepper and whatever spices into a paste and rub on the meat then roast.  very easy and delicious.

7)  You can cook potatoes for your mashed potatoes in the micowave (just don't peel them ahead of time or they'll dry out).

That's all I can think of right now.  If you have any questions email me, unless you want really good answers, then email Alton Brown.