Planning An Elaborate Thanksgiving Menu? Use These 6 Tips
A Thanksgiving gathering is a daunting thought for many hosts, and understandably so, especially when they intend to craft an elaborate, memorable menu. From mains and sides, desserts and beverages, to home decoration, table setting, games and events, the host is required to not just plan, but also execute all of it.
However, with simple tips and strategies, one can easily tackle these overwhelming tasks.
Here is an exhaustive list of tips you can implement in your planning this year.
Deep Clean Your Refrigerator
An elaborate Thanksgiving menu will likely require a generous supply of raw ingredients and a space to store them. While spices and condiments can go into a pantry or a kitchen shelf, perishables like meat, vegetables and milk need to be refrigerated to prevent them from going bad.
To make space for your haul, clean out the refrigerator a week before the event. Discard expired items, and combine all bottles containing duplicate items, like ketchup and marmalade.
After the cooking, the space can also be used to stash away the leftovers from the Thanksgiving gathering.
Bake in Advance
Whipping up an entire Thanksgiving meal can be challenging, especially if it has to be done in a single day. To streamline the prep better, try tackling tasks like baking and preparing garnishes a few days in advance.
Cranberry sauce, for instance, can be made in advance, poured into a sealed jar, and refrigerated for at least five days. It’s also a good idea to wash and chop the vegetables and store them in ziplock bags or airtight containers.
Then, all that is left to do on the main event day is to assemble and cook.
Plan for Leftovers
When there’s a Thanksgiving dinner, there are bound to be leftovers. Make sure you have enough reusable containers at hand to pack doggy bags for your guests and keep the rest for the customary Thanksgiving leftover dishes like roast chicken sandwiches, leftover veggie pie, peas and potato salad.
Buffet-style Dinner
Organising a buffet-style Thanksgiving dinner has two advantages. Often, It is difficult to seat a large number of guests at the dinner table at once. With a buffet-style dinner, your guests can all be fed at the same time.
Moreover, it is much easier to access the food when your guests need not pass on heavy and hot plates around the table.
Shop Early
The grocery shops during the holidays are bound to get crowded, so plan your grocery store trip ahead of time so that you can avoid the frantic holiday shoppers. This way, you can also begin planning your dishes ahead.
Use Hot Pots
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of preparing a staggering meal is keeping the dishes warm while the others are being made. To avoid the food from getting cold, keep them in hotpots with the lid closed.
Flatbreads tend to become tougher when kept in the open for long, thus, you can also keep freshly made breads in hot pots to retain their softness and moisture.
