In the kitchen

The Thanksgiving
Planner

Most things done by Wednesday, so you can be at your own party. The pies are cooling. Half the list is crossed out.

By Lucy Cuneo · A printable Thanksgiving plan.

27days to go

Today

Write down who is coming.

And the hour you'd like to sit down. Everything else counts back from it.

This is the plan, from your guest list to the sandwich the next day. The recipes are in Build Your Thanksgiving: choose your dishes and the number of people, and it scales the quantities and writes your shopping list and plans your week. The clock runs backward from the hour you sit down, so it works at two or at seven. If you’re not making a dish, uncheck the box.

Or print the six sheets: the guest list, the menu and shopping, the week, Wednesday night and the fridge, the day itself, and slips for the serving dishes. Download the printable planner (PDF)

YOUR GUESTS

Write down when they arrive, whether they are staying, what they are bringing, and the job you will give them. Then work on the seating. Split up the couples. Put a quiet person next to a party animal, someone who will draw them out. Put yourself nearest the kitchen.

If anyone is staying, do the guest room the week before. Water by the bed. Towels folded at the foot of it. A pretty candle, with matches beside it. Then leave chargers all over the house, because someone always forgets theirs. The rest is down the hall.

The menu

Choose one of the five menus in the Almanac, or make your own in Build Your Thanksgiving. The list below is for the House Thanksgiving:

Shopping, counted back

NowOrder the turkey from your local farm. Then the things that keep: nuts, flour, sugar, chocolate, salt, coffee, and lots of candles.
The weekend beforeThe liquor run: Champagne, red and white, beer, gin, vodka, sparkling Martinelli’s cider for the kids, club soda and tonic, lots of lemons and limes. Butter, a ton of it, salted and unsalted; whatever you don’t use can go in the freezer. Cream and crème fraîche. Cranberries, oranges and clementines. Parmesan. Sourdough, so it can dry. Pecans, more if you’re making the pie.
Two or three days aheadA fresh turkey, or a frozen one much earlier (below). Sausage and leeks. Potatoes. Lemons. Shallots. Celery. Mushrooms and vegetable stock, if you’re making the vegetarian stuffing. Sharp cheddar, lots, for the sandwich. For the mornings: smoked salmon, eggs, thick-cut bacon, berries, and oranges to squeeze.
The day beforeBitter leaves and soft herbs. Flowers and greens. Rolls, if you are buying them. Ice.

A frozen turkey thaws in the refrigerator at about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds, so a 16-pound bird takes about four days. Never on the counter. In cold water it’s about 30 minutes a pound, with the water changed every 30 minutes, and it’s cooked as soon as it’s thawed. (USDA)

Lucy sliding the salted turkey onto an empty shelf of the fridge — Tuesday. Empty a shelf for the turkey.

The fridge shelves: mustards, jars, yogurt and milk — Tuesday. Empty a shelf for the turkey.

The fridge on Wednesday night, the turkey on the lowest shelf — In the fridge, on Wednesday Draw your shelves. Then make it look like this.

The week

Day	Food	House
Saturday	Order or collect the turkey; a frozen one goes into the fridge to thaw today (over 15 pounds, Friday). Make the cranberry sauce; it keeps all week. Make the pie dough and freeze it. Do the liquor run: Champagne, red and white, beer, gin, vodka, sparkling Martinelli’s cider for the kids, and lots of lemons and limes.	Count plates, glasses, chairs. Check the bar for club soda and tonic. The cloth and napkins should already be ironed; if not, today. Buy candles, lots.
Sunday	Dry the bread for the stuffing.	Make the guest beds. Clear a place for coats.
Monday	The big shop.	Serving dishes out, a slip of paper in each. Write down a job for everyone who offers to help.
Tuesday	Dry-brine the turkey: salt and lemon zest, then into the fridge uncovered, on a tray. Start the gravy. Toast the pecans. Chill the gin and vodka. Pie dough from the freezer to the fridge.	Empty a shelf for the turkey. Candles into holders. Buy the flowers.
Wednesday	Bake the pies; once they’re cool, the pecan and chocolate go in the fridge. Cook the stuffing fillings (both, if you’re making two), cool them and refrigerate; the bread stays dry, on its own. Make the lemon-thyme butter and refrigerate it overnight. Wash the greens. Potatoes peeled, in cold water, in the fridge.	Cloth on, fold lines misted, then set the table. Do the flowers. Place cards, if you use them. Buy the ice.
Thursday	Follow the day itself.	The candles, when you dress.

Light the candles when you dress, not when the first car pulls in.

The turkey on the lowest shelf, on its tray — Wednesday night, which is the list that matters. The turkey on the lowest shelf, on a tray.

Wednesday night

Lucy sliding the salted turkey into the fridge — In it goes, ready to rumble.

Pies baked and cooled. Pecan and chocolate in the fridge
Stuffing fillings cooked and chilled. The bread dry, kept apart
Greens washed, dried, wrapped
Dressing in a jar
Potatoes peeled, in cold water, in the fridge
Gravy made, in the fridge
Turkey salted since Tuesday, uncovered, on its tray
Lemon-thyme butter covered, in the fridge
Table set. Flowers done
Serving dishes out, and labeled
Glasses washed. Ice bought
The first drink as cold as it will get
Candles in holders. Matches where you can find them
Guest beds made. Towels out
The dishwasher empty
Tomorrow’s first three jobs on a card, by the kettle

The day itself

Write down the hour you sit down, and count back from it. Build Your Thanksgiving writes out your own Thursday, with a schedule for the dishes you chose. (Make yours)

Every oven and every bird is different, so the times here are a guide. The thermometer decides: the turkey and the middle of the stuffing both have to reach 165°F. (USDA)

MorningThe turkey and the thyme butter out of the fridge an hour before the bird goes in. When it goes in depends on its weight and your oven, so count back from the hour you sit down: the roasting time, plus at least 45 minutes to rest. Coffee. A walk. Nothing else for an hour.
Breakfast, for a full houseOur family move is smoked salmon on toast with lemon and butter, and Champagne. Or scrambled eggs, thick-cut bacon, sourdough toast, fresh orange juice, berries and lots of coffee, all of it eaten in robes.
Two hours beforeCheck the turkey, and start early: it may be done sooner than you think. You get dressed: thirty minutes in which nobody asks you anything.
About an hour beforeTurkey out to rest, under foil. Mix the stuffing and put it straight into the oven. Potatoes on, about 45 minutes before. Candles lit. The first drink out.
Half an hour beforeGravy brought to a rolling boil, the pan juices whisked in. Potatoes mashed. Rolls warmed. Everything into the dish with its name. Everyone gets the job you wrote down on Monday.
As you sit downSalad dressed, right before it goes to the table. The apple pie (and the pecan, straight from the fridge) goes into a low oven, so it’s warm for dessert. The chocolate pie stays in the fridge.
AfterCoffee on. Move rooms. The pies can follow you, and anything with eggs or cream goes back in the fridge within two hours.

The gravy boat on its silver tray, carried past the set table — Everything into the dish with its name.

A bowl of mashed potatoes set down on the table — Everything into the dish with its name.

What can be left alone: the dishes, until morning. The turkey can’t wait: it comes off the bone the same night and into the refrigerator within two hours (USDA)

Serving dishes on the sideboard, each with a slip naming the food — On the sideboard Assigned on Monday. The slip stays in until the food goes in.

The next dat

The sandwich is turkey, cranberry sauce, a little gravy and stuffing, on a roll or sourdough, with lots of sharp cheddar. That is the end of the plan. While someone is making it, write next year’s notes in four lines: what worked, what was unnecessary, what should happen again, what to buy before it runs out. (The Morning After)