Good morning. I have a lot of Thanksgiving rules. One of them is no appetizers.
Why? I’ve been preparing food for the feast for days, and there’s still plenty left to do today. I don’t want you showing up at my house this afternoon, eating a half pound of nuts and a quarter of a cheese ball, then taking a small dinner portion of turkey and sides and declining seconds. That devalues my work! (He said, sniffily.) Also, I don’t have enough plates.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to make lunch. I am, and it’s going to be out of the Thanksgiving larder, leftovers sandwiches made with food I haven’t yet served. To wit, cranberry grilled cheese sandwiches (above), which require only a few spoonfuls of your homemade cranberry sauce (or a few slabs of the canned variety), a handful of grated Cheddar, some decent sandwich bread, mayonnaise and butter. Salty and sweet and acidic and creamy and soft and crisp. Perfection. Give it a try. Keep that blood sugar up.
Featured Recipe
Cranberry Grilled Cheese
While I have you, here are some answers to the questions that invariably ping into my inbox on this day.
First: 165. That’s the temperature, measured at the deepest part of the thigh, at which your turkey is safe to consume, according to the smarties at the United States Department of Agriculture. Does that “rule” mean you should keep your turkey in the oven until its internal temperature is 165? It does not! The turkey’s internal temperature will continue to rise for many minutes after you’ve removed it from the oven and set it to rest, tented loosely under foil, on a countertop or sideboard, in advance of carving it. My target is 162 or so when it comes out of the oven; it’ll be 165 soon enough.
Second: At least 30 minutes. That’s how long you should rest your bird, particularly big birds, which can hang out for 40-45 minutes with no deleterious effects. (If you like, you can “refresh” the meat you’ve sliced onto a platter by bathing it in a little hot stock before sending it out to the table.)
Third: Twice. That’s how many times you should watch this video about how to carve a turkey.
Fourth: In the kitchen. That’s where to carve a turkey. If you want a Norman Rockwell moment, show the beautiful, burnished bird to the assembled crowd. But please cut it up in privacy. No one needs to see that work.
Fifth: It’s too late. That’s if your turkey’s still frozen. You’re going to be eating something else later today, and that’s OK! Don’t fight the surge of panic. Make a cocktail (we have loads of recipes for those). You can roast the turkey this weekend, and laugh about how good it was, actually, to eat takeout on Thanksgiving.
Finally: Everything is going to be all right. Really, it is. You’re surrounded by people who love you, even if they can be annoying about it, or even if they’re not showing it. You’re feeding people who’ve come to you to be fed, who are receptive to your service, your hospitality, your grace. Maybe they won’t vocalize that, or exhibit behaviors in line with that. That, too, is OK. You’ve planned your play. Now play your plan!
Enjoy yourself and let me know how it goes: [email protected]. I’ll see you tomorrow.
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