Tips from a top chef to beat holiday cooking stress

The recipe for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes a pinch of frenzy, a dash of angst and a sprinkle of panic. It’s a race against time to get everything baked, broiled, simmered and sautéed before friends and family arrive.

“I have an opinion on this that might be a bit controversial. You really shouldn’t be cooking on Thanksgiving,” Dan Souza, chief content officer for America’s Test Kitchen, told Morning Edition‘s A Martínez.

Souza’s tips aren’t about serving old food to your family and friends. For him, the key to a stress-free holiday meal is simply cooking in advance.

“I want to be clear, I’m not telling you to go order Thanksgiving from someone else and have it brought in. I want you to have home-cooked food. But the real key to Thanksgiving is making the meal ahead of time so [on Thanksgiving day] you’re in reheat mode. You’re only cooking maybe a couple things through and plating the rest. It can be very, very low stress,” Souza said.

Many dishes can be made days, even weeks early, without sacrificing taste, texture and enjoyment.

Here are some of his tips:

Turkey

“We have a fabulous recipe for turkey thigh confit. You’re basically taking the dark meat and salting it. You’re letting it cure for a day, and then you’re slowly cooking it in fat, cooling it in that fat, and then storing it in the fridge. You can do this a week in advance and it continues to get better over that week. The same way a stew is a little bit better the next day in the fridge. It gets better. Day of [Thanksgiving] you’re taking it out and roasting it in a hot oven for 15 minutes. And that’s it.”

Gravy

“You can make your gravy at least a week ahead. And then [on Thanksgiving] day, all you’re doing is adding some drippings from your roasted turkey to sort-of bump up the flavor.”

Salad

“We have a kale salad with a vinaigrette dressing that you can make the day before. The vinaigrette actually breaks down the kale a little bit, which is a really good thing. Kale is a sturdy, sturdy green. It’s not really meant for salads. But when you add the vinaigrette it’s better the next day.”

Dinner Rolls

“We have a recipe for make-way-ahead dinner rolls. We bake them almost all the way through, but they still look a little bit blonde. You can Freeze them up to six weeks in advance.”

On Thanksgiving day, put them in the oven for 10 minutes and they brown up. Souza says they look and taste great.

Souza says if you plan ahead, you’ll spend most of Thanksgiving reheating instead of cooking.

“The turkey thigh confit takes 15 minutes, 10 minutes to reheat your gravy, 10 minutes to bake your rolls and you plate up your kale salad. All your pies are made ahead and you’re done.”

And no one has to know how easy it was.