How Many Days In Advance To Prep Thanksgiving Dinner, According To Anthony Bourdain

Thanksgiving can be stressful. Trying to balance making all the dishes while also spending time with your family can get overwhelming — fast. In moments like this, it's best to start thinking like a professional — like Anthony Bourdain. His most helpful trick? Divide up the work it takes to make Thanksgiving dinner over the course of three days. Considering Bourdain's Korean fried chicken takes two days to make, he was no stranger to pacing himself to make the most delicious food.

In his view, doing prep work ahead of turkey day will lead to a fuss-free holiday. Day one of his three-day strategy can be done as early as the week before Thanksgiving. That first day is about ingredient shopping — but also it's the beginning of the process of making stock you'll use for gravy (per Splendid Table). If you have a 12- to 16-pound turkey, the USDA recommends defrosting three days in advance, so you can do that on your first day of prep as well. Just carve out 24 hours of defrosting time for every 4 to 5 pounds your frozen turkey weighs, so plan accordingly. To keep the meat safe, defrost in your fridge — but put a container underneath it to catch any liquid that may thaw as well.

Day two is about making your turkey gravy and prepping side dishes. That means trimming veggies (think green beans for a casserole and potatoes for mash or roasting), labeling them, and assembling them in their respective baking dishes. The day before Thanksgiving is a great time to make Bourdain's delicious three-ingredient cranberry relish and stick it in the fridge, so the flavors can meld. Day three, Thanksgiving, is when your turkey is roasted in the oven while you rotate baking all your preassembled sides. This allows you time to mingle with your guests and thus avoid the dinner party mistake Ina Garten and Nigella Lawson both shun.

Anthony Bourdain had some pretty strong opinions on how to make the best meal, but one of his strongest sticking points was using homemade stock – one of his secret ingredients to make restaurant-quality food at home. He believed that using a scratch-made stock will elevate your dish's quality way more than if you used stock from a can or carton. If you were going that route, then on ingredient shopping day, purchase a separate bag of giblets and start the process immediately. Keep a little extra on hand for emergencies — dressing too dry? Add some stock. Mashed potatoes lack depth? Add some stock. Turkey turned out dry? You guessed it — add some stock.

Another thing Bourdain did to make his day that much easier was buying two different turkeys. A smaller one for display and tablescape purposes, and a larger bird intended to be served. The larger turkey does not get displayed on the table at all, but instead, is cooked, quickly dismantled, and then served, already sliced and ready to go. The smaller show turkey is the one you dramatically pull from the oven, allowing the guests to ooh and ahh at the sight of a freshly-baked bird without the hassle of trying to carve it at the table while ravenous guests eye you, judging your ability to evenly slice an awkwardly-shaped bird.

Finally, Bourdain's recipe for rich mashed potatoes will add that perfect touch to Thanksgiving. Adapted from iconic chef Joël Robuchon, Bourdain's recipe calls for heavy cream and butter — and uses a ricer to get that creamy potato texture your guests will rave about for years to come.