Cooking for a crowd, especially for a big holiday, can be straight up stressful. Even if you enjoy every minute of it, there are so many things you need to make sure go right that it's easy to overlook something. Your guests probably won't care if your whipped cream for the pumpkin pie melts a little, but they will notice if one of these seven things happen!
Our friends over at MyRecipes have put together a great list of seven things that often go wrong when you find yourself doing holiday cooking. Think of it as the "Top 7 things to not screw up" list. It doesn't have as pretty of ring to it, but essentially, it's a list of 7 things that your guests will forever remember and no one wants to hear the story year after year about how Aunt Lynda burned the dinner rolls!
They start like this:
1. Not thawing the turkey in time
2. Not buying enough turkey
3. Not using a meat thermometer
• You can read the full list of 7 deadly sins over at MyRecipes, along with some tips to avoid these common mistakes.
In my own home I always struggle to get things like vegetables on the table and served warm; it seems I'm always busy doing something else at the time. What is your biggest fear? Do you have a holiday memory where something went terribly wrong? Let us know below!
Related: Holiday Food: Talk About Your Triumphs
(Image: Flickr member Robert S Donovan licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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I wonder if its articles like this that make people panic over Thanksgiving rather than just relaxing, enjoying friends and family and being thankful. With love and family around, the meal is always perfect - even when it's not.
In my family, it's always the story of how my grandfather grabbed the wrong grocery bag when we were leaving his house on Christmas Eve. We made it all the way to my aunt and uncle's house (a 2 hour drive away,) through the night, and into Christmas morning before anyone realized that instead of the ham we were planning on having for dinner, he'd brought a large bag of pancake mix.
@cbreynolds: well said.
How about not being a calm and gracious host? Sorry, but nothing ruins a good meal more than a histrionic cook/hostess who requires constant validation.
I've been to Thanksgiving (and Christmas, and Passover) dinners where the hostess/cook FREAKED OUT over a mild cooking disaster. Or took pains to remind everyone during the meal how long she toiled in the kitchen. Or pointed out things that no one would've noticed, like "The gravy could use more seasoning..."
Even now, when I'm cooking a big meal for guests, I make a conscious effort to make sure that everyone is relaxed and enjoying themselves. So when I get stressed in the kitchen I ask my husband to politely remove folks from the kitchen and play host so guests don't have to witness my freak-out.
And if something doesn't turn out right, well, c'est la vie!
Oh heck, if nothing went wrong at our holidays there would be fewer things to laugh about. Behaving as both guests, hosts, kids and pets is what I care about. While I love good food, I only demand it if I'm the one cooking.
Well said by all. It's a time for family, so who cares if your gravy is kinda lumpy or stuffing is dry. You're all together having a great meal. Just like cbreynolds said, this sort of article is written just to panic most likely otherwise calm people.
Making the salad ahead of time, patting ourselves on the back for it, and then forgetting to actually bring it to the table.
In defense of mistakes, my mom sitting on the basket of crescent rolls has been the Thanksgiving story that just keeps on giving - fifteen years and counting.
Agreed, holiday kitchen disasters are better for funny stories than actually freaking people out. Unless you have unusually rude and demanding guests, I'm sure there won't be too many complaints about such a grand and festive meal!
Oh, the worst was the year that my oven broke on Thanksgiving day. It wouldn't go above 250 degrees and we had to wrap a bungee cord around it to keep the door closed. Dinner was like 4 hours late...super slow roasted turkey.
We tried to make the best of the extra family time and everyone still jokes about it today. But it sucked at the time! Older and wiser, I would have driven the damn bird to my sister in law's apartment and put it in her oven.
I've learned a slow cooker, or 2 or 3, is your friend on Thanksgiving day. Turkey taking longer than you anticipated and your hot veggie dishes are done? Pop them into a slow cooker to stay warm. Works like a charm on mashed potatoes!
But yes, being a decent cook but a spazzy host is definitely my drawback. Sorry family and friends!
I like to cook at a leisurely pace, especially when entertaining. I never bustle around, and hate feeling that things have to be perfectly timed, so I wish people would just relax and have a drink (or two) with me whilst I'm getting things ready.
I have to say the only "deadly sins" for any big dinner party is not cooking food properly and giving your guests food poisoning. So if your turkey isn't properly defrosted and doesn't cook through - that's a problem. Lumpy gravy and cold veggies are not.
My holiday meal screw-up story happened at Christmas a few years ago rather than Thanksgiving, but the lesson learned applies to any holiday meal. I woke up to my dad informing me that he was taking my mom to the ER for kidney stones (not her first, but she needed meds asap for the pain). He asked that while they were getting her treatment I should make the Christmas dinner. Thankfully all the dishes and ingredients were in the kitchen, and I was alone, so all I had to do was cook our traditional meal. Unfortunately my mom did not have a single recipe. I tried so hard to make it all work, but there were definitely a few dishes that weren't up to par. At the meal, my mom criticized EVERYTHING. She doesn't remember a minute of that meal now because she was on really strong pain killers, but I learned a valuable lesson. Recipes should be written and shared rather than in one person's memory alone!
The only cooking disaster worth worrying about is not giving your guests food poisoning. Sure a perfect dinner would be best but as long as you're all having fun a few minor issues are fine.
Right. The first rule of hospitality is not to give your guests a food-borne illness. Anything else just makes for a good story.