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on
the table
tips for planning your thanksgiving menu
by Yee-Fan Sun
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For
the last few weeks, my friends Kim and Margaret and I have been
plotting: exchanging emails back and forth as we gear up to meet in
Paris over Thanksgiving. Yes, that would be Paris, France; and yeah, as
my boy has already pointed out, it's hard to think of a less patriotic
place in the world that we could choose to celebrate this quintessential
American holiday. I don't care; I'm pretty excited. And besides, Paris
is actually a semi-logical choice for all of us right now -- Margaret's
boyfriend lives there, the boy and I are here in Edinburgh, and Kim and
her guy figure now is as a good a time as any to take advantage of the
fact that they have friends living in Europe with whom they can visit
while they play tourist. It's not my first Thanksgiving away from home
by any stretch, but it's the first turkey day dinner I've ever
co-planned with friends, and as the emails about menu options have been
whizzing back and forth amongst the three of us, I'm learning how
complicated it can be to coordinate a Thanksgiving dinner that meets
everyone's needs. There have been turkey dilemmas (can you even get them
in France?) and mushroom issues (truffles yea or nay?); there have been
practical matters to consider, like the feasibility of producing a
full-on traditional turkey day extravaganza with less than 24 hours prep
time available to us, and in a tiny European-scale kitchen to boot.
The basic must-have components
to a classic Thanksgiving meal seem fairly straightforward. You
have your turkey and gravy, stuffing and
cranberry sauce; you accompany
with the requisite potatoes and sweet potatoes and side dishes galore.
You might offer soup if you're doing a sit-down meal, maybe a salad. You
end the meal, of course, with a smorgasbord of pies. Yes, part of the
beauty of a Thanksgiving meal is that you pretty much know what sort of
goodies are going to be greeting you when you sit down at the table on
that last Thursday in November. Figuring out the menu itself should be
the easiest part of the Thanksgiving preparations, right?
As I've discovered: not
exactly. See, when it comes time to actually plan a Thanksgiving meal,
you suddenly realize that while you have a general idea of what foods
you'd like to feature in your feast, you haven't a clue as to
the specific dishes you will reasonably be able to cook. If you're
hosting alongside friends, you discover that everyone has their own
different ideas about what components make or break a perfect
Thanksgiving meal. You scale back; you make concessions. Still,
reconciling your turkey feast dreams with reality doesn't have to feel
like a sacrifice. Keep a few things in mind as you plan your meal, and
you'll be able to get a fabulous spread on the table that makes everyone
happy -- and have fun putting it all together at the same time.
slide
over yonder
--------------------------->
lounge . nourish
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host . laze
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