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 Thanksgiving dinner can be a difficult and intimidating feast to pull together, even for the most seasoned cooks. There's a litany of potential distractions -- football games, holiday parades and visiting relatives with expectations. And what about those old family recipes? (Green bean casserole, anyone?) Maybe you would like to freshen up your repertoire -- but you get only one shot at this annual meal.
A number of cookbooks claim they can make your Thanksgiving dinner an easy, stress-free event -- even if you're trying something fresh. But these are three I can vouch for.
If the whole holiday sends you into a panic, seek out "Thanksgiving 101," by Rick Rodgers (William Morrow, $15.95). Rodgers, who teaches popular Thanksgiving 101 cooking classes throughout the country, serves up his deep knowledge of turkey and great side dishes with witty and humorous style.
This practical, no-nonsense guide includes tips for making your shopping lists, organizing recipes, even setting the perfect table. Some of the classic recipes are brand-name specific, and Rodgers includes facts about how they came to be holiday favorites. Libby's, for instance, estimates that more than 55 million pumpkin pies are made from Libby's Solid Pack Pumpkin Filling every Thanksgiving Day. Rodgers probably knows so much about the holiday bird because for seven years he was a spokesman for Perdue Farms. His chapter on turkey is one of the most thorough I have seen and includes recipes for roasting, grilling and even deep-frying. If you're looking for straightforward information and foolproof instructions Rodgers' is the guide for you.
Bringing Thanksgiving dinner into the 21st century is "The New Thanksgiving Table: An American Celebration of Family, Friends and Food" (Chronicle Books, $24.95) by Diane Morgan.
This is Morgan's second book on this subject. After completing "The Thanksgiving Table" in 2001, Morgan traveled across the country teaching Thanksgiving cooking classes and discovered fascinating regional differences. In the Northeast, for instance, cranberry compote is served in the traditional style; in the southwest, the same dish may include jalapeno peppers.
Morgan doesn't fill you with heavy appetizers. Vermont Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Straws or Rogue River Blue Cheese Wafers With Celery Crudites are more for snacks while watching football games or while helping out in the kitchen. Followed by soups and light salad dishes, the cookbook then moves on to the main course.
If you've ever wanted to brine your turkey -- a technique used to get a juicier meat by soaking the bird in a solution of salted water and herbs for 12 to 24 hours -- don't be intimidated. This is a relatively new technique for home cooks, so Morgan answers all your questions and makes turkey brining an easy and delicious option. For the vegetarians at the table she has included beautiful pumpkin-and-sage lasagna. The stuffing and side dish chapters salute regional Thanksgiving dishes, including Southwest Simmered Green Beans With Garlic and Onions with the addition of ground cumin and red pepper flakes, and Southern Corn Bread and Oyster Dressing, a dish inspired by her father who taught her to love oysters, grits and all things Southern.
This beautiful hardback, with an easy-to-use layout, is a wonderful addition to your holiday cooking collection.
If it is an old-fashioned American Thanksgiving you seek, look no further than "Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipes, Techniques, and Tips for America's Favorite Celebration" by Anthony Dias Blue and Kathryn K. Blue. This charming book celebrates the holiday in a traditional home-cooked, dinner-by-the-hearth kind of way.
The Blues offer several complete Thanksgiving menus and dozens of tips for dishes that can be prepared ahead of time -- all things that take stress out of the process. The chapter on condiments features no fewer than eight recipes for cranberries, and the stuffing chapter is not to be missed.
The bird may be the meal's centerpiece, but the vegetables dishes shine in this cookbook -- ranging from classic mashed potatoes to an extremely extravagant spinach dish that takes four days to make and contains a full pound of butter.
First published in 1990, "Thanksgiving Dinner" is long out of print but can be found from used booksellers and Amazon.com.
All three books offer helpful charts to determine how big a turkey you'll need for your guests and how long it will need to cook. They all feature chapters on making stocks and gravies as well as recipes for leftovers. So whether you are cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, looking for a classic recipe for sweet potatoes with marshmallows, or need a starting point for your own budding traditions, these three terrific cookbooks are here to help.
Tim Fischer managed The Cook's Library in Los Angeles, named one of the "Top 10 Cookbook Stores in the World" by Saveur. He also has been a judge for the IACP Cookbook Awards for four years.
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