Go for the gold: Your Turkey’s Thawing, Right?

November 22, 2021

Armando Rafael for The New York Times

Your Turkey's Thawing, Right?

By Sam Sifton

Good morning. Your turkey's thawing in the refrigerator, yes? It oughta be, if you bought a frozen one. Thursday's coming fast, and you do not want to be the person emailing me on Thanksgiving morning to ask what to do with the brick-hard 20-pounder you just pulled out of the freezer. Dry brines start tomorrow!

Is your Thanksgiving menu still in flux? Here are our best turkey recipes. And our favorite recipes for a vegetarian Sidesgiving. (We've got recipes for a vegan Thanksgiving, too.) Browse our selection of recipes for pies. Consider our recipes for a small-batch Thanksgiving. If you're the sort of person to serve appetizers on the day (I am not, though I might make an exception for deviled eggs), we've got loads of recipes for Thanksgiving starters as well. And this is probably the last minute to consider making something truly new for the meal, like these porchetta-spiced roasted potatoes (above).

What will you cook these next couple of evenings, in advance of the feast? We've got some ideas there, too: 40 easy recipes for the nights before Thanksgiving. I like sheet-pan chicken chilaquiles for that, and s ilken tofu with spicy soy dressing. Or maybe a mushroom and potato paprikash? (Here's how to make that one in a pressure cooker.)

And for breakfast on Thursday? I'll probably make do with a cup of tea and a spoonful of cranberry sauce stirred into some yogurt. But blueberry muffins would be great. As would a big platter of scrambled eggs. You'll probably miss lunch that day, in advance of the feast. So make your breakfast a substantial one. Most important meal of the day.

Thousands and thousands more recipes for Thanksgiving and for every day are waiting for you on New York Times Cooking. Fact: You need a subscription in order to access them. Subscriptions are the fuel for our stoves. I hope that if you haven't already, you will subscribe today. I give thanks to you.

We will of course remain standing by, just in case something goes wrong in your kitchen or with our technology. Just write cookingcare@nytimes.com, and someone will get back to you, I promise. (If you feel the need to escalate matters, to bark or to praise, you can reach me directly: foodeditor@nytimes.com. I read every letter sent.)

Now, it's nothing to do with chestnuts or how long it takes to cook a turkey (13 minutes per pound at 350 degrees, if you're asking), but I'm deep into Kaitlin Phillips's holiday gift guide for Spike, for which she polled 40 of her friends: "Reporter Olivia Nuzzi recommends an attractive miniature of the constitution, a vintage Soviet cigarette case, and a sexy black dress with cutouts, ties and snaps ($1,030)." Nobody asked me, but I'll add this heavy duty oyster knife, a vintage J. Press blazer and bags of Bam's beef jerky.

Don't want to misstep at the Thanksgiving dinner this year? Brush up on your table settings and manners with our Florence Fabricant's video guide to Thanksgiving etiquette.

Here's Rolling Stone's damning investigation of the behavior of Marilyn Manson, worth reading.

Finally, do take some time for this lovely essay by Latria Graham in Garden & Gun, on learning to fly fish with her mom. And I'll be back on Wednesday!

Continue reading the main story