Last year, we devoted a lot of blog space to Thanksgiving, by Sam Sifton. And since weโre editors and writers, supposedly on the pulse of what the lastest, greatest, trendiest everything is, we should probably be featuring this yearโs of-the-moment holiday cookbook. But hereโs the thing: โtrendyโ and โof-the-momentโ are not words that should EVER EVER EVER be in the same sentence as โThanksgiving,โ and we stand by our claim that Sam Siftonโs timeless, authoritative, delicious guide to our countryโs greatest holiday is The Only Thanksgiving Recipe Collection You Will Ever Need. (Outside of your grandmotherโs recipe box, of course โ we donโt want to get anyone in trouble here). As such, we launch our โCountdown to Thanksgiving Seriesโ with a bountiful giveaway: In the next 48 hours, five readers are eligible to win a free copy of Siftonโs Thanksgiving, and five more are eligible to have a free copy sent to whoever is cooking/hosting the feastโฆ as a little pre-holiday pump-up and thank-you-in-advance. Thatโs TEN COPIES WE ARE GIVING AWAY. All you have to do is leave a comment below (we wouldnโt complain if this comment included a Thanksgiving tip) and tell me which one you are: #Host or #Guest.
Update: All winners have been notified. Congrats Josh, Betsy, Candice, Eva, Molly, Susan, Colleen F, L, Divya, Memegirl and to everyone else thanks for playing!
Related: Sam Siftonโs 1o Laws of Thanksgiving.
We are guests (who usually cook up our own Thanksgiving before or after the group meal). My best tip for a guest is to do the dishesโฆ and if you are feeling really peppy pop the carcass in a pot during clean up.
#guest, but Iโm cooking! I just canโt fit everyone in my teeny apartment. Our tip is more of a moral stance, and it involves bacon on the turkey.
#host !!
This will be my first year hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for myself, my husband and his family. 9 guests in total coming to CA from all parts of the country. I am thrilled and a bit anxious at this daunting undertaking (as I am also 5 1/2 months pregnant with our first child)!
I like to think I am a decent cook, and have been scouring your wonderful website for delicious recipes to test out ahead of time so that I can be sure to impress. While it has been fun, I am concerned at how it will all come together in the end. This book would be a godsend!!
Iโll be a solo diner this Thanksgiving but will happily eat leftovers when I visit family over the weekend. Tip: donโt make turkey if you donโt like the taste of turkey. be creative!
My mom and I host every year and it is our favorite time of the year to spend together. We have made our own little cookbook with family recipes, and my moms handwritten menus, dating all the way back to the 80โs! It is something that I will keep forever. I love the Holidays!
#guestโ although it may not totally be in the spirit of Thanksgiving, you know what happens when the whole familyโs together. I need this book to help show up my #foodsnob Napa Valley family #reallyIjustthrewthistogether
Our tradition: family walk while the turkeyโs cooking. Helps ward off the impending food coma.
I am the #host and the only tip I can give is to drink early and often. This year being Thanksukkahโฆ well, suffice to say it isnโt a time to deviate from the plan!
Iโm a guest. Iโm usually responsible for the pickle plate but last year i did the stuffing and it turned out really good. I would love to try my hand at another dish this year but I will wait to hear what I am allotted. My advice would be for the host to delegate because you should also enjoy the day and not be stuck in the kitchen the whole time.
Thanksgiving is far and away our familyโs holiday! I donโt know that anyone in our family has missed a single oneโฆ
This year Iโm a #guest!
I am a guest this year, but I am usually the host. I have been cooking Thanksgiving since I was 8 and my Mom went back to work. I love Thanksgiving and I think I have passed that on to my daughter too:) My tip would be to not try a new recipe for Thanksgiving until you try it first!
Since we live far away from home these days, we usually only travel home for Christmas, so we stay put for Thanksgiving. Weโre usually the hosts. We smoke a turkey, make a few of our favorite sides, and invite a few friends to join us and bring some of their own Thanksgiving favorites!
I am *guest* and *host* as my family attends at least two Thanksgivings each year. Thanksgiving is my favority holiday as it requires only two things: eat and be thankful. My tips for Thanksgiving are make lots of sides and make lots of leftovers.
#Guest this year! And after several attempts at making and ruining the pumpkin pie I finally got smart and realized I should leave the dessert to the professionals. I can whip the cream ๐
My favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to take the preschool artwork our kids make and hang it up in the dining room. Itโs a very visible reminder of what weโre thankful for! Weโve put all the Thanksgiving and Christmas art projects theyโve done โ they make some particularly cute stuff that time of the year! โ and store it away and the kids have fun hanging it up before the Thanksgiving and Christmas meals.
Iโve done my own Thanksgiving in the City for friends (in addtion to the family one) the Sunday before Thanksgiving (so I am a host and a guest). Dinner is always different every year, but my favorite story was having 19 people over to my 1 bdrm apartment in Astoria and relalizing that I (by accident) cooked the turkey upside down and it came out of the oven tasting great, but looking like an autopsy! I didnโt have any โcarvingโ knives, so I took it apart with my hands and onto a very pretty serving trayโฆ.VOILA!
This year, as always, Iโll be the guest but be bringing the lionโs share of pies and sides.
Iโm hosting this year! I try to do as much as possible in advance so Iโm able to enjoy the day too!
Iโm a guest, like every year! Hopefully, Iโll host one dayโฆ
Iโm the guest and I usually bring veggie side dishes. My tip: I make mashed potatoes with 1/2 yukon and 1/2 russet, for a combo of creamy and fluffy, and then I use my trusty ricer to avoid any gumminess!
Iโm the guest this yearโฆalong with my husband and four little ones. Weโre a big crowd and weโd like to help as much as we canโฆ.this book could really help us figure out how to do that!!
The first year I made Thanksgiving dinner I accidentally cooked the turkey upside down. We all had a good laugh, but the breast meat was so delicious Iโve done it that way on purpose ever since! #host
I am a guest who is bringing a dish โ my fresh cranberry relish โ which also happens to be my Thanksgiving tip: Make your own cranberry relish. Please. Your guests will thank you, and itโs super terrific on turkey sandwiches with smoked mozzarella and horseradish mayo โ yum!
#host and #guest โ Technically, I am hosting, but my husband does pretty much all of the cooking, so it feels like being a guest. Honestly, my tip has to be โ marry well and eat well.
#guest. My mom hosts and it feels like it will be forever until I have an apartment that fits a table large enough to take over the responsibility. I try to contribute my hands and taste buds on the day of or the weekend before for prep.
I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, and the first item on my to-do list is an email to all the guests (all family) with their menu assignments. Everyoneโs been making the same dishes for years, so itโs a no-brainer. Iโll spice things up with from-scratch cranberry sauce and a Greek pumpkin pita instead of pie ๐