Thanksgiving 2012: Resources, Tips and Ideas for a Perfect Meal

Cooking the Thanksgiving Day turkey has led to anxiety for many a cook planning to prepare what is often thought of as the quintessential holiday meal.  Will the turkey be too dry? Should you brine? To stuff or not to stuff: That is the question.

The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, which is based in Naperville, has more than 50 professionally trained home economists and nutritionists on hand to answer more than 100,000 questions between November and December. They are already hard at work to answer cook’s questions.

Locally, cooks can find some assistance at Marcel’s Culinary Experience, where —while supplies last — cooks can get a booklet offering tips and pre-cooking checklists, recipes for the turkey, side dishes, deserts and a shopping checklist.

Glen Ellyn Patch Blogger Lynn Dugan will be teaching a class Thursday night at the shop. The class is called a Vegetarian Thanksgiving, but is not only for vegetarians. The recipes she will be teaching attendees will include: baked goat cheese medallions and pomegranate; spiced pumpkin and apple compote; baked polenta with vegetable ragout and pear blueberry crumble.

For the cook seeking a bootcamp to get prepared for cooking on turkey day, a few spaces were still available at Marcel’s Countdown to Thanksgiving Bootcamp, being held Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

You don't need to attend a class though to learn about how to cook on Thanksgiving. From grocery store websites, like Jewel-Osco or Whole Foods, to website such as RealSimple.com or Epicurious, cooks can find recipes, cooking tips and ideas for those leftovers.

Countdown to Thanksgiving Checklist:

• Clean out the fridge and freezer and make room for food items.
• Buy nonperishables needed for the meal and for setting the table, such as placemats, table linens, canned food items, etc.
• Buy perishable items you will be cooking this week.
• Prepare as many items as possible, such as preparing pie dough, bread and turkey stock.

Source: Epicurious.com

Editor's note: Patch editor Mary Ann Lopez wrote this story. 

Read our previous Thanksgiving planning story.

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