The first time that I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family, it was a harrowing experience. Barely able to sleep the night before, terrified that I was going to forget some important detail or dish, I went over all the potential pitfalls in my mind, hoping that, if I worried enough, everything would go well.

The next morning, I woke up at 6, staggered downstairs, and began what would end up becoming one of the longest days in my life. Nine hours, three trips to the store, and one or two terrifying mishaps later, my Bataan death march of culinary misery was over. Dinner was on the table, everything was more or less in order, and I was completely exhausted. By the time the meal finished, about a half-hour later, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. Luckily, my family took mercy on me and let me nap while they cleaned, cleared, and packed away the leftovers.

Having gone through one difficult Thanksgiving, I realized that the key was timing. Although many of the dishes were somewhat work-intensive, none of them was particularly challenging. Basically, I just needed to plan carefully, buy wisely, and make up a reasonable schedule for my assault on the kitchen. I vowed to do exactly that.

The following year, I began by making a list of everything that I was going to cook. Since my sister was bringing the string bean casserole and I had a friend who was taking charge of the apple pie, I needed to provided the following:

Roast turkey with chestnut stuffing and gravy
Roast Virginia ham with honey mustard
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Traditional (candied) yams
Salad
Canned cranberry sauce
Homemade cranberry sauce
Bread
Pumpkin pies (four) with whipped cream

I then found recipes for everything and made a shopping list of all ingredients. I fudged on some items, like the pumpkin pie crust and the bread, trusting that Pet-ritz and my local bakery could do a better job than I. Also, recognizing the eating habits of my family, I was careful to pick up an extra pound of butter, an extra half pint of cream, and one package each of salt and pepper.

The next few pages cover some of the recipes that I have since gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. Given that the meal has endless regional and familial variations, you will probably want to add your own items and omit a couple of the ones that I mention. The key, however, is timing, an issue that we'll deal with in the wrap up.

Enjoy!

This is a pretty traditional sweet potato recipe that I got from my friend Linda Arnold shortly before the first Thanksgiving that I cooked. It uses relatively small amounts of sugar and can be adjusted to fit almost any size gathering.

Take unpeeled sweet potatoes, of any quantity, and drop them into boiling water. Cover and cook for about 25 minutes, or until they can be easily and smoothly pierced with a fork. Let the sweet potatoes cool until you can comfortably handle them, then peel and mash. Preheat oven to 375°.

For every two cups of mashed sweet potato (about five medium potatoes), add:

5 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons brown sugar
Lemon juice to taste

Beat with a fork, whisk, or hand mixer until very light. Place in a deep oven-safe dish, arrange large marshmallows on top (if desired), and heat through in oven. Be careful, as the marshmallows can easily burn. Serve immediately.

When it comes to Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, I've generally found that the key element is quantity. I save the truffled, blue cheese-infused, roasted garlic potatoes for the rest of the year, when everybody is in the mood to try something new. On Thanksgiving, nobody really wants to be impressed: what they're really concerned with is being full.

And there's nothing more disappointing than running out of potatoes.

With that in mind, here's a basic recipe for making ten pounds of incredibly fattening mashed potatoes. The heavy amounts of cream, milk, and butter give it a smooth, rich texture, while the nutmeg gives it a nice, rounded tone. If you are concerned about having completely white mashed potatoes, use white pepper and omit the nutmeg; otherwise, feel free to use regular black pepper.

10 pounds yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into pats
1/2 cup whole milk
Salt to taste (I start with a tablespoon and work up from there)
Pepper and nutmeg to taste (I generally use a heaping teaspoon of each)

Drop potatoes into boiling water. Return water to a simmer, but do not boil. Cook until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork. Drain, place in large bowl, and mash with a potato masher or two forks.

Heat cream and butter in a saucepan until butter is melted. Do not allow to boil. Add cream mixture to potatoes and, using either a spoon or a hand mixer, mix until potatoes are smooth. Add milk as needed to achieve a smooth texture. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Serve immediately.

This recipe, modified from one that I found in Frederica Langeland's A Passion for Preserves, makes a tart, sweet, and lightly spiced Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. It can be sealed in mason jars or eaten fresh.

1 pound cranberries
1 cup white grape juice
1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice, bruised. Put all three spices in a muslin bag.
1 orange, washed, finely sliced, seeded, and chopped
1/2 cup raisins
2 cups sugar

Rinse and pick over the cranberries. Place them in a saucepan with the apple cider, and bring to a boil. Add the spice bag and cook for five minutes. The cranberries should burst.

Add the orange and raisins to the berries, stir well. Add the sugar slowly, stirring until dissolved. Boil for twenty minutes, or until thickened to thick syrup consistency. Remove from heat.

When cool, remove the spice bag. If you wish to can, ladle into sterilized jars and seal. Otherwise, allow to cool and serve with sliced turkey. Enjoy!

The centerpiece of every Thanksgiving table is a gargantuan roasted turkey, preferably glistening golden brown and smelling incredibly good. This site gives the basics for defrosting and roasting the bird, but I have a few touches that I personally enjoy.

Herbs: Slowly and gently, slide your fingers between the turkey breast and the skin. They should come apart fairly easily. When you have created a good-sized space, you can insert fresh thyme, rosemary, or (my preference) sage. Not only does it look really cool when you serve the bird, but the herbs add a little extra flavor to the breast. You can also, if you wish, sprinkle a little salt and pepper in there for flavor.

Salt and Pepper: When preparing the bird for the oven, mix a batch of kosher salt and pepper in a small ramekin. After rinsing out the cavity, rub in some of the mix. After brushing melted butter into the skin, rub the outside of the bird with the salt and pepper mix.

Fatback: Buy a slab of fatback or salt pork and cut off four 1/4" thick slices. Before roasting the turkey, tuck one behind each wing and each drumstick. This will lend a nice smoky flavor to the bird and will also help keep it juicy. You can use the rest to make southern-style string beans.

Roasting Bag: Reynolds' plastic cooking bags make roasting a turkey much, much easier; for that matter, they also help keep it moist.

Stuffing: Over the past few years, stuffing the turkey has gone out of vogue. Personally, I still believe that a flavorful stuffing can create an exchange of flavors that is amazing. Unfortunately, Pepperidge Farm bread crumb stuffing, which my mother always used as a base, and which I used until a few years ago, has started adding high fructose corn syrup. This year, I'll be looking for a fresh recipe; right now, I'm leaning toward modifying this one from Alton Brown.

The Wishbone: If you want to break the wishbone on Thanksgiving day, pull it out while carving the turkey. Boil it for a half hour or so, then hang it on a cabinet handle to dry. If you boil it sufficiently, it should release a lot of its oils and harden up pretty nicely. Of course, the best method is to let it dry out for a few days, but I always have a hard time waiting!

While I tend to be a big fan of experimentation, I'd have to argue that Thanksgiving dinner is one of the few places where one should try to be traditional. With this in mind, I tend to stick to more mellow flavors and a Western European spice palette. Save the banana-bread stuffed turkey with cranberry lime glaze for Christmas; at Thanksgiving, stick to butter, salt, pepper, and sage!

Salad isn't exactly a traditional Thanksgiving dish. However, my mother always served it at our holiday meal. I think that she was convinced of the moral necessity of having at least one fresh vegetable on the table; either that, or she was worried that we were going to get scurvy and gout from gorging on turkey.

When I started making my own Thanksgiving dinner, I included this Caesar Salad. With the sharp tastes of fresh lemon and raw garlic, it provides a nice, palate-cutting counterpoint to the heavy, mellow flavors of roast poultry and potatoes.

3 large heads romaine lettuce, torn into bite-sized pieces
9 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 1/2 Tablespoons light olive oil
4 1/2 Tablespoons water
4 1/2 Tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
12 anchovy fillets, drained and minced
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan (or Peccorino) cheese
2 cups croutons

Put romaine in a large bowl. Pour the remaining ingredients, except for the croutons, into a jar. Put the top on and shake until completely combined. Toss with lettuce. Right before serving, throw in the croutons and toss again.

The toughest thing about Thanksgiving is organizing the numerous things that you need to cook so that you don't find yourself worrying over oven space, calling friends to borrow their kitchens, or having to skip out on your own dinner so you can feverishly prepare dessert. The first way to deal with this is to make a list of all the items that you need to cook. For the basic Thanksgiving that I suggested earlier, here's the list:

Roast turkey with stuffing and gravy
Roast Virginia ham with honey mustard
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Traditional (candied) yams
Homemade cranberry sauce
Various pies with whipped cream

Of these items, the turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pies all need oven time; the rest of the items can be cooked on the stove top. Unfortunately, most of us are only working with one stove, which means that some items will need to be cooked in the days preceding Thanksgiving. Also, the turkey will need to be defrosted and the ham will need to be soaked (if you're using a pre-cooked ham, this isn't necessary). With that in mind, here's a good, basic plan for scheduling your (3:00 PM) Thanksgiving meal:

Sunday, 11/23: Unwrap the Virginia ham, scrub it, and place it in a water bath.

Monday, 11/24: Put the turkey in the refrigerator to defrost. Be sure to place a pan underneath to catch the drippings. Change the water in the ham's bath.

Tuesday, 11/25: Change the water in the ham's bath

Wednesday, 11/26: Roast the ham, glaze it, and cook the pies. Put the ham in the refrigerator.

Thursday, 11/27:
7:00 AM - Prepare the stuffing, clean and dress the turkey.
8:00 AM - Put the bird in the oven.
8:15-1:00 PM - In a relaxed, leisurely manner, make the sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad, and other dinner items. As you finish the dishes, check them off your list, and compliment yourself on your impeccable planning. Apply alcoholic beverages, as needed, to quell anxiety. Don't go overboard.
1:00 PM - When the bird is finished, remove it from the oven. If it takes longer than expected, don't get too worried; you've given yourself plenty of time. Let the turkey cool. Take the ham out of the refrigerator, set aside.
1:00-3:00 PM - Remove turkey stuffing, carve the turkey and the ham, arrange everything for the table. Prepare for whipping the cream by putting the beaters and bowl in the freezer, as the cream will whip faster in a cool vessel.
3:00 -4:00 PM - Enjoy your meal!
4:00 PM - Whip the cream and serve the pies.
4:30 PM - As the tryptophan coma starts to set in, tell your family to clean the kitchen while you watch the season's first showing of It's a Wonderful Life. Congratulate yourself on surviving Thanksgiving!