Thanksgiving is on the mind of family foodies and home cooks alike, including Morning Edition host Andrew Garcia and, well, me.
Andrew loves to cook but admits he鈥檚 not quite an expert: 鈥淭he first time I hosted Thanksgiving with my family I made several mistakes.鈥�
On the other hand, I can cook somewhat, but the kitchen just isn鈥檛 my happy place. I鈥檓 the designated napkin-bringer at our Thanksgiving gatherings.
So with holiday dinners looming, we enlisted some professional help from Daniel Alvarenga, who鈥檚 a sous chef at Joey Dallas. also does a cooking demonstration at . Recently, he gave a demo of a dessert perfect for Thanksgiving 鈥�
Between whisks we asked for some tips on how to avoid Thanksgiving cooking mishaps and about the times he ran into Thanksgiving problems himself.
鈥淪o, we used to do turkeys back at the Four Seasons and we had these two big Blodgett ovens, and we would only do four turkeys at a time,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd one day, we actually started a little too late and we needed our oven for our cookies. So, we ended up having to run all the way across the street to the hotel side and having to use their oven.鈥�
TIP ONE: BE PREPARED
Make a plan, start early and schedule out your oven time.
鈥淪o, if you鈥檙e making a Thanksgiving turkey, start that early, early in the morning,鈥� said Alvarenga
TIP TWO: BE FLEXIBLE
Alvarenga told us about a Thanksgiving where he was cooking bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapenos for his family. The recipe started out great, but unfortunately, he burned the bacon. Luckily, he thought fast, took the charred bacon off and blended up the stuffed jalapenos into a cheesy dip instead.
So be flexible. Not only will it save you from potential disaster, it could inspire you.
鈥淛ust being able to pivot off something you're making is really good because then you get to experiment,鈥� said Alvarenga. 鈥淵ou get to find new tastes. It's creativity at its finest.鈥�
TIP THREE: KNOW YOUR OVEN
Hailey Scontrino is Alvarenga鈥檚 fianc茅. She joined him at the demonstration. She has her own baking and the featured at the demo is her recipe.
Hailey weighed in on our third tip, which is geared toward baking specifically, and that is: Know your oven.
鈥�I had a really bad oven for a while and so that messed up a lot of my bakes,鈥� said Scontrino. 鈥淚t would just bake unevenly. It was either way too cold and it would just never bake, or it was too hot, and it would burn it. So, the oven definitely affects your baking and might not even be you. You have to know your oven and keep an eye on it.鈥�
Andrew really liked this one. 鈥淚 am horrible at baking and it's good to know that it might just be my oven's fault.鈥�
That could be TIP 3.5鈥擠eflect blame.
TIP FOUR: KNOW WHEN TO TO CALL IT QUITS
One of my worst Thanksgiving dinners happened a few years back, when my friend and I invited a bunch of people for a Friendsgiving. We started the turkey early, but 3 hours later we noticed that we weren鈥檛 smelling that delicious turkey smell. That鈥檚 because my friend鈥檚 fancy oven had decided to turn off. My friend's solution was to push everything into the oven and turn the heat all the way up.
鈥淲ell, yeah, that sounds scary,鈥� said Alvarenga. 鈥淓specially since your turkey is probably going to take six hours when your casseroles are only going to take an hour or two hours at most. Try to avoid cooking everything together.鈥�
So, there you have it. Don't cook everything all at once on full blast.
And if all else fails, remember our final tip: There's always takeout!
Need more help? Take a look at my post on area cooking classes with a Thanksgiving twist. And for more autumn events head to .
The calendar is a partnership between 四虎影院 and The Dallas Morning News.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and 四虎影院.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, The University of Texas at Dallas, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and 四虎影院 retain full editorial control of Arts Access鈥� journalism.
