What Did Martha Stewart’s Book Teach Me About Hosting Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving may be on your mind right now. If this is your first time hosting and preparing this holiday meal, bless your heart. We’ve put together a bunch of things to help you cheat on some dishes . And even if you’ve hosted this dinner before, there’s a good chance you’re feeling a lot of pressure . To give you some quality hosting advice, I decided to turn to the Queen of Entertaining, Martha Stewart, and her first cookbook , Entertaining . If you’re new or even nervous about cooking Thanksgiving dinner, here are my biggest takeaways from the book to get you started.
Martha Stewart’s very first cookbook, published in 1982, is entertaining , and while some of the recipes are clearly out of fashion, her functional ideas for providing food for many people are strong. The book has several chapters on throwing large parties, from a dinner with eight guests to a full wedding lunch (though she calls it a potluck , which I can’t bring myself to do). Unfortunately, this book is currently out of print and is considered a collector’s item. (You can bid on Ebay .)
I noticed the following tips in almost every chapter of Stuart’s main cookbook.
Write your menu (for yourself)
Each chapter of the book begins with a list of 10–15 dishes. While the intention is to provide you with her actual menu from the event and a small chapter table of contents, I think this is a great organizational step for a presenter, both new and in practice. I don’t know about you, but I had wrapped up a dinner party, sent everyone home, and started cleaning when I opened the refrigerator and said, “Oops. I forgot to cook… [fill in the blank].” Or the even more stressful realization that you forgot an important ingredient while you were actively preparing this dish.
Writing a menu for yourself is a good way to ensure you’re not making any accidental duplicates in your side dishes. Last year I wrote down roasted tomatoes as well as tomato salad. I noticed the deception and replaced the green salad. Writing your menu will also allow you to identify gaps. Maybe you’ll see that your cousin has three meat dishes and nothing vegetarian. Forgot your mashed potatoes or cranberry sauce?
Big takeaway. The menu is your first step to making sure your dinner party goes smoothly and you get everything done; everything else follows from there. It allows you to create a shopping list and then provides structure for planning your day—when you’ll cook and how long it will take. You can even print out the menu if you’re into that sort of thing.
Keep the dishes simple
I’m guilty of getting carried away with revitalizing the classic parts, but Marta keeps things simple. Instead of complicating each recipe with a large list of ingredients, she focuses on simple dishes and relies on French names (which automatically makes them unusual). Good examples are corn muffins, mushroom vichyssoise (cream of mushroom soup), snow pea-wrapped shrimp, and green bean vinaigrette. The green bean dish is actually my favorite. It’s literally blanched green beans, dressed in a vinaigrette and topped with thinly sliced red onion. Even though it’s totally easy (you can even buy a vinaigrette), I would definitely grab a bunch to have on my plate.
Big takeaway. There is a balance to be struck when preparing a dinner party. Big holidays like Thanksgiving emphasize abundant choices, so keep them simple. You’ll be cooking several different dishes, and the best way to prevent the palate from becoming overwhelmed (and the person being overwhelmed) is to let those dishes shine in their purest form. Blanch vegetables to bring out the sugars and maintain a crisp texture, make simple and elegant soups, and keep bread neutral so it can soak up a variety of different juices and sauces without clashing with them.
Use sauces and spreads
At Martha’s Entertainment , there’s almost always a menu item like gravy, gravy, or dressing. Sauce or pasta always accompanies another menu item: meat can be served with mousse or pasta, vegetables with sauce or vinaigrette, and sometimes she will simply offer a large bowl of sauce nearby that goes well with everything else on the table. .
Big takeaway. I’ve always felt that sauces and seasonings play a critical role in making Thanksgiving food enjoyable for everyone at your table. This is the easiest way to allow guests to personalize their taste and make the simplest dish special. A piece of turkey among guests becomes turkey and gravy, turkey with chili oil, or turkey with sage and browned butter gravy . If you’re keeping your dishes simple (as suggested earlier), then dressings will allow your guests to experiment a little if they so choose.
Small pieces are better
Whether it’s a Crudité party or a farmhouse Thanksgiving, Martha never serves large portions. Instead of making one baked russet patty per person, she sets out a dish of baked new potatoes (which are about a third the size of russet potatoes). It’s common to see appetizer-like items individually wrapped so guests can choose as many as they want.
Big takeaway. This is my biggest lesson because my eyes are always bigger than my stomach, even when I’m cooking. Thanksgiving food includes countless side dishes. some of which some guests won’t touch, others everyone will take a bite of. The point is that smaller pieces make more sense to the guest. They want to try a little bit of everything and are more likely to try shrimp skewers than a big shrimp pie. Keep portions small. While it may seem a little counterintuitive, using bowls of these small, family-style appetizers creates a holiday pile-on feel, but your loved ones can easily grab a small portion.
Prepare a signature drink
Of course, we can’t forget about drinking – Martha hasn’t forgotten. Raspberry liqueurs, mulled wine or wine, Bloody Mary or festive eggnog are all alcoholic drinks, of course, but they are drinks intended for the occasions for which they are suitable. It’s never just “open a bottle of wine.” Although “open bar” is sometimes mentioned, this goes without saying. The cocktails in her chapters are fruity and fresh for summer, or warming and hearty for winter.
Big takeaway. Enjoy a signature drink for the evening that brings a touch of the season. This is of course the last thing on the priority list and the drink doesn’t have to be strong, but I think providing a special drink is a thoughtful touch to the whole event. To avoid getting pulled in too many directions, check out this cocktail making guide so you can mix ahead of time and let your guests pour the cocktails.