Grub Street’s Very Simple Tips for Thanksgiving Dinner

Hosts and cooks tend to worry too much about Thanksgiving dinner. There's no need to. Look at me, I haven't done anything at all about Thanksgiving dinner except to buy a turkey, and it's only a couple of days away. My lackadaisical approach is endorsed by Grub Street, which has helpfully published a list of simple ways to ensure a stress-free Thanksgiving feast. Don't worry about the first tip; it's already too late for that one. Here's a sampling of the rest:

3. Do not make green-bean casserole.
This monstrous dish — beans, mushroom soup, onions from a can — only became a Thanksgiving staple because huge industrial food companies tricked people into thinking it's good. It is not good. It's like a dish full of bubbling mushy green slugs, with canned onion rings. Don't force your guests to participate in this charade.

4. Serve a lot of alcohol.
Offer wine, beer, and pre-made pitchers of cocktails. (And, if you're doing the cooking, hold a bottle of nice wine back in the kitchen, pours from which you can use to lure people to help you.) If everyone is sauced, they won't care that you left a few lumps in your mashed potatoes, and you can just blame your wine-lured helpers if anything doesn't turn out.

The post includes a handy link to places that will even cook for you, if you live in New York City. But from my experience, the real key for cooks is #7. Read the rest at Grub Street. -via Slate

(Image credit: TheKohser)


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I agree! My wife just made a "tester" green bean casserole ahead of the Thanksgiving feast. All I could say is that I look forward to it probably more than any of the other dishes she plans to create!
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Green bean casserole is quite palatable if you don't use canned beans. Use fresh or frozen cut beans that way the beans are not reduced to mush and use 1 1/2 times as much green beans as the recipe calls for so that the beans are not swimming in mushroom soup but just have a light coating.
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5. Ignore the vegetarians.
I agree with the part about vegetarians. Those who deliberately restrict their diets for reasons other than illness deserve what they get. If they are vegetarian out of conscience, then they must celebrate under the cross they bear, knowing that they suffer for a worthy cause. If they are vegetarian for reasons of having a healthy diet, then . . . thanksgiving. The whole point is to eat to morbidity, drink too much and argue politics with relatives. It's not about health.
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