45 Years of Great Thanksgiving Hosting Advice From Chefs

Bad to the Boned

"To bone, stuff, and reshape a bird takes both time and patience, but the result is well worth it, Choose a day when you are at loose ends and can't quite make up your mind what to do with the afternoon or a day when you are overanxious about something — business, a love affair, or something as simple as the weather. It's the best therapy in the world." — chef Maurice Moore-Betty (1978)

Martha, Martha, Martha

"Martha Stewart cautions from her five years of experience as a caterer, 'People are much more willing to experiment with tasting hors d'oeuvres; they generally don't want main courses to be mysterious.' She holds to this herself on Thanksgiving, favoring a traditional roast turkey over anything more startling. Stewart's holiday menu does begin with refreshingly unpredictable preliminaries though: slivers of country ham sandwiched between tiny triangles of blueberry scones, and thin, crispy gingersnaps topped with a mixture of cream cheese and chutney.

Asked if she led what used to be called a charmed life, Stewart seemed incredulous at the question. 'Oh, God, no. I'm a very hardworking woman, but it's by choice and I get a lot of results.'" — "A New England Thanksgiving With Martha Stewart" by Catherine Bigwood (1980)

Be the Greatest Host, Bar None

"We like every dinner party we give to be an occasion and, of course, Thanksgiving should be particularly festive. Since it is a family holiday, the people we sometimes call on to help us serve are apt to be at home celebrating with their own families, so one of us pours the drinks while the other puts the finishing touches to the dinner. If you are alone, you will probably find that your friends are only too happy to help themselves to drinks. We set out the bar on a large silver tray on the desk at the end of our entrance hall: bottles of vodka and gin, scotch and bourbon, soda and tonic. To introduce the Italian note, we would also offer Campari and Cinzano for those who prefer milder drinks and perhaps bottled Fiuggi or Pellegrino water for nondrinkers. And we certainly would serve Italian wine, red or white or better still a choice, as both do wonderfully well with turkey. Incidentally, we rather like to serve even hard liquor in stemmed wine glasses, as they help maintain the temperature of the drink." — musicians, cooking show hosts, and cookbook authors Arthur Gold and Robert Fizdale (1985)

Julia and the Jeroboam

"'I love Thanksgiving,' says Julia Child, culinary grande dame and a [former] contributing editor to Food & Wine. 'It's such a lovely family time and the best feast, with all the wonderful variety of foods. I always do the carving myself because it's good practice for when I have to carve a bird on television.'

She usually [bought] a pumpkin, which she [used] as a colorful serving bowl. 'I hollow it out, fill it with any kind of soup, then bake it in the oven. It's simple, tasty and it makes for a handsome holiday presentation.' Child also like[d] to serve little braised onions with real cream sauce. 'This is no diet meal. We really pile it on.' Julia, who seem[ed] larger than life herself, prefer[red] to serve wine from big bottles. 'Of course, it depends on who my guests are. If I have a big man to carry it around, I always love a jeroboam.'" — "We Gather Together to Share Our Blessings" by Rollene Saal (1993)

Use Scents Sensibly

"Add scent to the table with aromatic herbs. Fill small containers with sprigs of rosemary or chopped tarragon and place them at several spots around the table. I like to use simple ebony cups." — architect and designer Mark Zeff (1997)

T-Day à la Ina

"I serve turkey with spinach gratin and smashed sweet potatoes with orange. You don't need stuffing. People have more fun if they don't eat so much they have to be taken home in an ambulance. And no hors d'oeuvres; I learned this from the French.

After I create a menu, I write down a schedule with everything on it. People are surprised when they walk into my kitchen and see the detailed timeline: '5 p.m. Start on apple crisp and turn on oven. 5:30 Put apple crisp in oven' and so on. I know my carrots take 30 minutes. and I want them ready when I sit down to eat. so I write down that they'll go in the oven a half hour before dinner. I'll even write down '4 p.m. Slice carrots.' And I set a timer. Then I'm more relaxed." — "Entertaining: Ina Garten" by Charlotte Druckman (2004)

Get Dippy With It

"For Thanksgiving dip, roast onions whole, scoop out the caramelized insides, chop them up, and mix them with sour cream, mayonnaise, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Then spoon them into the onion shells, and top them with salmon, trout, and sturgeon caviar. Garnish with fennel fronds and serve with herbed potato chips." — chef Tyler Florence (2015)

Don't Be Chicken

"For most people, the turkey is the scariest part of Thanksgiving. But think of it as just an overgrown chicken and it gets a whole lot easier to tackle. And when you roast it in parts, it doesn’t take much longer to cook than a chicken, either. Then, while the turkey occupies one rack, you can maximize your oven space by placing slow-cooking ingredients like winter squash in rimmed sheet pans on the rack below." — cookbook author Melissa Clark (2016)

Anthony Bourdain's Dinghy Full of Seasoned Birds

"When talking large holiday meals, logistics — and a cool head — are of the utmost importance. I put this into practice, rather painfully, in the mid-1990s when, in something of a career slump, I agreed to make a Thanksgiving feast for a massive crowd of hard-drinking expats, out of the entirely ill-equipped kitchen of a bar on the French side of St. Martin. The power failed that morning, rendering the electric oven worthless ... I talked the owner of a nearby charter company into letting me roast the turkeys in the galley kitchens of his unoccupied yachts, moving between vessels in a dinghy full of seasoned birds, making the rounds to baste, rotate, and retrieve them. It was a sweaty nightmare, but, in the end, everyone ate turkey.

Most of you will never be forced to cook your Thanksgiving dinner across a series of boats bobbing in the Caribbean, but the fact remains that good planning matters. This is why I insist you make lists, shop early and, once you have all of your provisions, spread the work out over three days." — late chef and author Anthony Bourdain (2016)

Let Them Eat Takeout

"Make enough room in your refrigerator and on your counters for two birds, all the trimmings, and the wines. If your family is the type that expects two or three home-cooked meals every day, you might suggest they temporarily decamp to someone else’s house. Or hand them a stack of takeout menus. Or let them eat cold cereal — all the better to build up anticipation for the Big Event." — Anthony Bourdain (2016)

Padma Goes Low, Slow, and Stays Up Late

"Wintry citrus like tangerines, black peppercorns, rosemary, garlic, bay leaves and makrut lime leaves line the interior of Padma Lakshmi's Thanksgiving turkey. And once she's propped up the turkey on apples, she starts cooking the bird — at 1 a.m.

'I cook it the night before because I don't want any surprises,' Lakshmi says. 'I start the turkey at 1 a.m. at 450 degrees, and then I'll drop it to 300 degrees 30 minutes later, cooking it until 7 a.m. the next morning, depending on the weight of the turkey.'

Like a Texas pitmaster cooking brisket, Lakshmi goes low and slow with her turkey, ensuring even, controlled cooking and a perfectly moist finish. Then for the rest of the day she keeps it warm in the oven while she tends to sides like green beans with shredded coconut and sweet potatoes with a kumquat chutney." — "How Padma Lakshmi Makes Thanksgiving Turkey" by Elyse Inamine (2016)

A Towering Achievement

"The problem with Thanksgiving, if you ask Jeremiah Tower, is that it’s just too formal, the way Americans do it, what with the centerpieces and the gravy boats and the ceremonial carving of the turkey. It’s not that Tower is calling for a Thanksgiving revolution, exactly. 'I think the occasion is wonderful,' he explains on the phone from his home in Mérida, Mexico — let’s go on the record, Jeremiah Tower is 100% in favor of Thanksgiving — it’s just that, in his estimation, the tradition needs some tweaking.

Tower, a master of parties, advocates for what he calls a 'deconstructed' Thanksgiving, a boozy, all-day affair, both more casually sophisticated and less stressful. It’s not the content of the meal he objects to, but the serving of it." — "Jeremiah Tower's 3 Tips for Making Thanksgiving Less Stressful" by Rachel Sugar (2017)

Kish It All Goodbye

"Kristen Kish has a clear memory of her first Thanksgiving on break from culinary school. She came roaring into her family home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to find a partially frozen turkey that no one had thought to brine. This was no match for the indefatigable confidence of a young cook, of course, and Thanksgiving was saved — at least that’s how Kristen remembers it. Her mom, Judy Kish, remembers things a little differently. 'You threw a fit about the brine, and I think you tried to cook the turkey overnight in the oven,' Judy says, fact-checking the memory even as her daughter insists she’d never do that to a bird. 'Well,' she shrugs, 'you were very sure of yourself at the time.'

Far removed from that first holiday as a nervy young cook, Kristen’s menu this year took a knee to the family staples she grew up eating, mashing up multiple traditions with a few of her own flourishes thrown in." — "How " by Jordana Rothman (2018)Top Chef Host Kristen Kish Celebrates Thanksgiving

Set Yourself Up for Success

"Several days before the big meal, pull out all the platters and plates you'll need for the dinner and label them. The last thing you need to do when you're trying to get dinner on the table is to think about what dish goes on what plate. Total time sink." — chef Sara Moulton (2018)

A Cherry on Top

"We love a good drink in my family — cocktail hour is a very popular hour in our household. We love beer, we love a good Martini. So when it comes to Thanksgiving, our tradition isn’t pie or stuffing, it’s a proper, classic Manhattan. Basically, Thanksgiving kicks off Manhattan-drinking season for me. I only really drink Manhattans during this time of year. They do not appeal to me any other time of the year. Maybe because it’s super hot here all year round? Quite often it is in the 80s on Thanksgiving, but Manhattans let you pretend it feels cold. 

I’ve done so many cocktail programs for restaurants before I started cooking in the kitchen, and so I am a traditionalist when it comes to the Manhattan. I like using rye — either Mitcher’s or Rittenhouse if you want something more affordable. I know a lot of people love bourbon, but bourbon is too sweet for me. Rye has these really nice spicy notes. I also pour a little bit of the syrup from a jar of Luxardo cherries into the bottom of the glass and finish the drink off with one singular cherry and a dash of Angostura bitters." — 2020 F&W Best New Chef Daisy Ryan (2020)

Help Me by Helping Yourself

"My wine ritual for Thanksgiving is to put out a cornucopia of different wine styles. Thanksgiving for me is about pairing to the different plates on the table but also to the diverse range of palates present. Aunt Sheryl may want something on the sweet or buttery side, while Uncle Bob the Wine Snob may want to flex his wine knowledge over a meaty California Cabernet. So I usually pick anywhere from six to 12 different bottles and set them up on a side buffet. Guests can get up and help themselves to a wine tasting, or they can just use the opportunity to refill their glass if they need an excuse for leaving the dinner table." — sommelier Alpana Singh (2021)

Cream of the Crop

"Because Thanksgiving is always a leisurely meal — people enjoy stretching it out, eating second and third helpings — we make sure everything tastes as good at room temperature as it does hot. (The exception, of course, is the first-course soup.) Many of our friends have asked what they should contribute to a potluck Thanksgiving. We encourage them to bring any of the crowd-pleasing side dishes.

The most important thing we've learned about Thanksgiving is that it's not the time to experiment with spa cuisine. This is the time when everyone comes to the table expecting food with twice the butter and an extra spoonful of cream and leaves the table groaning, 'Ahhh, I ate too much.'" — 1990 Food & Wine Best New Chefs Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel (1994)

Taiwan by Way of Massachusetts

"I must have been around 10 when I realized that my Thanksgivings were not quite like everyone else's.

My best friend's mom asked me, post-holiday, if we had enjoyed 'a nice big turkey,' and while I politely nodded yes, inside I was bemused. I'd always associated turkey with Swanson's Hungry-Man TV dinners, an oddity (read: luxury item) we occasionally enjoyed. As Taiwanese immigrants, my parents did their best to habituate me and my brother to American customs — we were ghoulish on Halloween, prematurely romantic on Valentine's Day, and hopefully, suitably festive at Christmas, bringing sugar cookies to neighborhood potlucks and such. But for Thanksgiving, the closest we got to roasting 'a nice big turkey' was making Peking duck, lacquered with honey and soy and stuffed with baby bok choy and slivered green onions.

My husband, Christopher, and I now have our own place, Myers + Chang, a sweet little pan-Asian restaurant where the menu is inspired by both his and my personal takes on Chinese food. Our Thanksgiving celebrations also reflect both our families' traditions; he is from Newburyport, Massachusetts, a historic (or prehistoric, as he puts it) New England town. I'm told his father and brothers went out and shot wild turkeys and such — with bows and arrows, no less! Christopher shares his Thanksgiving memories with me, and I attempt to replicate them, albeit with an Asian [variation]." — chef Joanne Chang (2015)