Explain to me like I'm 5

livinginashoe

We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, and I understand that the Turkey is going to need to cook for several hours, and will take up most of the oven.

Here comes Shoe's stupid question. How do I cook everything else so that it's all hot and ready to go at the same time? Stuffing, casserole, bread, it all needs to be done at the same time, and I don't think there's room. 

Enlighten me.

Lawren

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stays warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

livinginashoe

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

livinginashoe

livinginashoe:

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

Hey, is this an UO? Should I go back to the UO thread and post it there instead, or has NL succeeded in killing it off?

laura.noel

We gave up and bought a roaster. Totally worth it in my opinion, even if you only use it once a year. 

Before we had that epiphany, though I would bake some of the other stuff ahead of time, and then reheat it in the oven in the time between when you take the turkey out and when you carve it. In the meantime, I left it sitting on top of the stove, so it stayed somewhat warm.

Lawren

livinginashoe:

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

My family too. The gravy is my favorite!

firewife9278

My mom actually makes a lot of the side dishes the day before, then just heats them all up in the oven after the turkey is done.

mkarns

Cook you stuffing with the bird. I start my turkey super early, prep the other dishes while it's cooking, and then cook them when it's done.

poobear2015

I would make what you can ahead of time, then reheat.

But your right - the turkey is better with hot gravy anyway - so no one will notice if it's cold.

kayladay

We do desserts and stuff like potatoe salad and deviled eggs the day before then the day of we do the Turkey first while prepping the other and when we get the bird out we do like PP said and put tin foil over it before carving it, do whatever else we need to do and we do the bread last and then carve the turkey etc.

kristin172429

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stays warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Pretty much this. 

heymommy

We ( as in the men in the family) deep fry the turkey outside.

btartaroind

livinginashoe:

livinginashoe:

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

Hey, is this an UO? Should I go back to the UO thread and post it there instead, or has NL succeeded in killing it off?

My UO is that I hate gravy. On anything. I eat my turkey with not.one.drop But yes, the UO thread has been killed.

cs1225

btartaroind:

My UO is that I hate gravy. On anything. I eat my turkey with not.one.drop But yes, the UO thread has been killed.

I hate gravy too.  Actually most warm liquids - coffee, tea, etc. 

ALane1128

We deep fry the turkey outside. But before that, some dishes were done the night before and the turkey would go in at like 4 AM. Then when that's done, the rest of the food would get cooked, then when that's done, the other dishes would get re-heated. Also, our family also has everyone bring a dish of some sort so whose ever house it was at, they would have the room/time to cook the turkey. I would also take into consideration when are you serving the food. Dinner or Lunch? If it's lunch, I would start the turkey super early. Good Luck!

Lawren

btartaroind:

livinginashoe:

livinginashoe:

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

Hey, is this an UO? Should I go back to the UO thread and post it there instead, or has NL succeeded in killing it off?

My UO is that I hate gravy. On anything. I eat my turkey with not.one.drop But yes, the UO thread has been killed.

Gasp! I'll still love you 

KatelynEA90

This is why we go somewhere else for Thanksgiving. I'm going to have to start paying attention to this stuff but we have enough family to last us a while. =]

btartaroind

Lawren:

btartaroind:

livinginashoe:

livinginashoe:

Lawren:

My Mom cooks the turkey first then takes it out, covers it with aluminum foil and just lets it sit without carving it, it always stay warm because it's so damn big. Then she puts in the rest of the stuff...

Makes sense. To be honest I don't care if the turkey is hot or not. It's my least favorite part of the meal, and it will be smothered in hot gravy anyway. 

Hey, is this an UO? Should I go back to the UO thread and post it there instead, or has NL succeeded in killing it off?

My UO is that I hate gravy. On anything. I eat my turkey with not.one.drop But yes, the UO thread has been killed.

Gasp! I'll still love you 

Thanks I was worried..

frasey

my mom sometimes cooks the turkey the day before. Im not exactly sure how she heats it up the day of... 

and nooooooooooooooo - gravy is the sauce of the gods!! I just wanna drink it.

Shoe, let us know how it goes!! 

88eve88

I have no cooking tips whatsoever, but after reading this thread, I am HUNGRY!