In one of our favorite episodes of "Will and Grace," Jack's mom shows up unexpected at Will and Grace's apartment several days before Thanksgiving, panting from speed walking and holding a casserole dish. When Jack finds out she's met his friends without his knowing, he says, angrily, "Damn her and her dry runs!"
Do you have any dry runs planned?
We're not talking about preparing the whole meal twice, obviously, but maybe you're trying out a new dish and want to test it before serving it to a huge crowd. Or, you might make something ahead of time to find out exactly how long it takes, which will help you with your timing next Thursday.
As for us, we've made cranberry relish (in the freezer) and are tackling homemade turkey gravy this weekend, since we've never made it before and we'd like to know it's good. Just in case we need a do-over before the big day.
What about you? Are you testing out any Thanksgiving recipes this weekend?
Related: Dinner Party Planning: Scheduling Backwards
(Image: Flickr member inju, licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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OMG I love that episode! I always go to my families, I usually don't bring anything (except wine). This year I was thinking of makin something, and was going to "test" it out this weekend :)
view shayna's profile
I've already tried out my pie, and made a few attempts at vegetarian main dishes. I think I'm doing my third and final trial this weekend.
view mollyjade's profile
I don't do trial runs exactly but I do make a big Thanksgiving-y meal at least once (sometimes twice!) to help develop recipes to post for the blog leading up to Thanksgiving and leftovers recipes to post afterwards. I don't actually make Thanksgiving dinner on the day.
view rachel's profile
I used to do this but by now I've figured out that people have amazingly different tastes in food so even if I don't like the final dish, someone else will assuming I got the recipe from a decent source.
view sally599's profile
I did a turkey Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago just to get my hand in, even though I'm bringing pies and someone else is doing the turkey next week.
view Anne (in Reno)'s profile
I didn't do a dry run because i'm using recipes that have already proven themselves to me. However, I did spend a few hours on Saturday finishing the menu, digging out recipes, compiling a comprehensive Thanksgiving shopping list and setting a week long schedule in preparation.
Some people say I'm crazy. I say that my parents, mother-in-law, and the lady who used to watch me after school are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner - of course I'm crazy!
view meduzagirl's profile
no trial runs - I'll wing it. Of course whatever I fix probably won't be that complicated. :)
view Tabitha (From Single to Married)'s profile
I did an unintentional dry run last weekend. Turkeys were fresh and on sale. Since I work on Tgiving it was nice to chill and enjoy the food:
http://thepleasanthouse.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/traditional-thanksgiving-dinner/
view art's profile
I had just decided not to do a dry-run when I saw this post, and now I'm having second thoughts. I'm trying a new stuffing recipe this year after having insisted to my family that homemade is better than Stove Top. Now I just have to make sure it's better than Stove Top.
My sister endorsed the recipe I'm going to try though, so hopefully it will be fine with no trial run.
view JessicaB's profile