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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. It's Tuesday, so for those of you taking the lead in the kitchen for the Thanksgiving meal, you know you have about 48 hours to get it done. It is go time people. You're going to have to fire up the oven soon, get out those saucepans and pie tins, but of course, the meal isn't just for Thursday. It's likely your fridge will be stuffed with good leftovers into the weekend.

There's a great opportunity to experiment in the kitchen, whether it's making a leftover sandwich of Turkey, mashed potato stuffing, and cranberry, or maybe getting creative, making a Thanksgiving breakfast hash. There's lots to discuss about cooking around this holiday, but if you're getting stressed, don't worry. We have you covered.

By we, I mean Melissa Clark has you covered. Joining me now to take your calls and some ideas and questions about cooking for Thanksgiving and making good use of your leftovers is New York Times food columnist, Melissa Clark. Hi, Melissa.

Melissa Clark: Hi, how are you? Are you ready? Are you ready for Thanksgiving?

Alison Stewart: I'm ready. We're going in. We're going in. Let's hear it, listeners.

Melissa Clark: All right.

Alison Stewart: Are you in the midst of preparing to cook Thanksgiving? How is it going? Are you struggling with any part of your meal you need help with? You can give us a call, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. You can call in or you can text, tell us how it's going. Maybe you have a question for Melissa Clark or you want to share what you do with your leftovers. We want to hear your leftover treats and tips. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

Melissa, for traditionalists who are going the traditional route today, Tuesday, what should they be thinking about?

Melissa Clark: Well, I'm assuming that if you are a traditionalist, already you've got your Turkey in the fridge, defrosting. If you buy a frozen Turkey today, you're going to have trouble defrosting it in time. I hope that you've got it done.

In a perfect world, it's brining. It's brining I believe in a dry brine rather than a wet brine, because you want the brine to season the bird and to hold in moisture, but you don't want to add extra liquid. You don't want to get that skin soggy. A dry brine, I think, works perfectly. In a perfect world, your Turkey is defrost-- You can, by the way, defrost and brine at the same time. If you were thinking, oh, I've got my Turkey defrosting, but I just have to wait till it fully defrost before I add the dry brine, you don't.

If you have a half-defrosted Turkey in the fridge, go ahead and get your dry brine. Just slather it on and just let it sit there. You've got Turkey on the mind. Maybe you're thinking pie. You've got your pies set up in your head and ready to go. In fact, today I will be making my pie crusts. I'm getting those-- Those can be in the fridge.

I'm also going to get all my vegetables as many of them trimmed as I can. You can start trimming your brussel sprouts, your green beans, your kale, your carrots. You can get all of those trimmed and in the fridge, and ready for you for Thursday.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk delegation. Maybe you're somebody who's feeling a little bit overwhelmed by all of this. What is a good thing you can delegate to somebody. You still want to make sure this goes off well because you're a control freak and you want to make sure everything's good, but--

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Melissa Clark: It's actually really funny. I feel like people have trouble delegating-

Alison Stewart: They do.

Melissa Clark: -until the very last minute. Personally, I am exactly the same. When I am cooking and I'm cooking a dinner party, or Thanksgiving, the mother of all dinner parties, I tend to not want to delegate until the last minute. If you are a guest, and you are hoping to get a job, check in with your host the day before or the morning of, because that is when they're going to be the most stressed and need your help. Just for all you guests out there, and if you are a host, try, try, try to make it easy on yourself.

Some great things to delegate are probably the things that you maybe aren't as excited to make, like cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is amazing and essential, but maybe it's not the most exciting thing for you to make. Give it to a guest because they will really get into it and maybe they will do something you hadn't thought of.

Make-ahead gravy, I believe in make-ahead gravy. In fact, cranberry sauce and make-ahead gravy are two things you could be doing right now. Here is my-- Can I give my make-ahead gravy tip?

Alison Stewart: Go. I was about to ask.

Melissa Clark: Here's my make-ahead gravy. So you're a host, right? You're hosting, you ask your guest to bring a make-ahead gravy recipe. By the way, we have tons of them, of course, at nytcooking.com. Then when you get that gravy into the house on Thursday, what you do to really give it an amazing, just-roasted flavor is you take your pan drippings from your Turkey and you just pour it right in.

You're getting those drippings, and that is where it just really bolsters the flavor of that terrific make-ahead gravy that your dear friend has brought you. Also, dear friend, dear guests, when you're making the make-ahead gravy, if you use chicken stock, here's a hint, because you probably don't have Turkey stock because you probably aren't doing a Turkey.

Buy a Turkey wing or a Turkey drumstick, throw it in that chicken stock, and just simmer it for an hour, and you're going to get that Turkey flavor, and really, again, just give it an extra complexity, extra depth for the gravy.

Alison Stewart: Phone lines are filling up. Let's talk to Donna from Long Island. Hi, Donna, thanks for calling in.

Donna: Hi. Thanks. Well, my cranberry sauce is in the freezer. My sauteed vegetables for the stuffing are in the freezer. I'm making Melissa's candied sweet potatoes. They're going to be cooked ahead. What else can I do ahead? Turkey breast? Roasted vegetables? What's her best suggestion for how to best time and coordinate everything? Haven't made Thanksgiving in about 10 years.

Melissa Clark: So you're doing a Turkey breast, you're not doing a whole bird?

Donna: Correct. Turkey breast, and I'm good. I'm watching all your recipes in The New York Times. I read them every day. I'm doing the make-ahead gravy, but yes, five-pound Turkey breast.

Melissa Clark: Perfect. That's great. That gives you lots of flexibility because it's not going to take you that long to cook it. That five-pound breast is going to be done in under an hour. You'll get that prepped. You'll get it brined. Put your dry brine on it with your spices if you want to. Get that in the fridge. You can do sweet potatoes entirely ahead and then heat them up, while that Turkey breast is in the oven, or while it's resting, you can heat up your sweet potatoes.

Then as far as your sauteed veggies go, that's all going to be on top of the stove. You can trim your veggies ahead, and you can get your garlic all chopped. Get that ready. Then while everything is in the oven, you have the stove-top to do your vegetables. You're good on the cranberry sauce. You're good on the gravy. I heard stuffing. I heard that you're going to do like a dressing. If you want to do that, you can put in the oven at the same time as your Turkey breasts. You sound like you are in great shape. Congrats for all your planning ahead. [laughs]

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Angie on line 3. We need to keep the peace in the family apparently, Melissa. Hi, Angie.

Angie: Hi.

Alison Stewart: What's going on?

Angie: Hi, Melissa. I love your simple roast Turkey recipe from The Times. I'm here with my sister-in-law, Lauren, visiting me from Amsterdam, and she is just sure, hello, I've been using the silver palette forever with the cheesecloth. I think the butter and the cheesecloth makes it. Our question is to cheesecloth or not to cheesecloth. [laughs]

Melissa Clark: Here's the thing about the cheesecloth. The reason to use the cheesecloth and the butter-soaked cheesecloth, this is very important. By the way, that is the Turkey I grew up with. I grew up with the Turkey with the cheesecloth and the butter. How many pounds is your Turkey?

Angie: 22.

Melissa Clark: See that is the thing with a 22-pound bird, my simple roast Turkey is for a bird that's usually a bit smaller, but so for a 22-pound Turkey, and it's in the oven for such a long time, the cheesecloth will really help keep that breast moist. It really does. What it says at the same time, it's also impeding that breast skin from getting crispy. You are losing crispness, you are gaining moistness, and it depends on what your priorities are. Let me be clear. They are both a fantastic bird. Both of them will be delicious. It's all about what your priorities are.

One way to split the difference is to do my simple roast Turkey, add the butter-soaked cheesecloth, and then take it off for the last half hour. Then that way you get that buttery-- for a Turkey that big, that actually will help you out a little bit in terms of keeping the Turkey nice and moist. You know what, who doesn't love butter on their Turkey? I would compromise and split the difference like that if I were you.

Alison Stewart: Angie, what's going to happen?

Angie: I can live with it, too. All right. Thank you, Melissa. You pull me back.

Alison Stewart: We saved a family holiday. Melissa Clark saved a family holiday.

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Melissa Clark from The New York Times. She is taking your calls and offering suggestions for this Thanksgiving. Someone sent to us on Instagram, "I have too many apples and all the pies and desserts are already covered. What can I do with apples?"

Melissa Clark: Oh, okay. Well, this is a great time to make an apple chutney. I love cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce is delicious, but you know what, it's nice to have another fruity condiment on the table, and an apple chutney, that's what I would do. In fact, I was thinking the same thing today. I was like, I have so many apples and pears, what am I going to do? I was thinking apple chutney, and apple pear chutney, in my case. What you want to do is peel the apples, and you simmer them. The thing about a chutney is you want to use some sugar or some honey and some vinegar. You want to sweet sour flavor. Throw in a bay leaf and some spices, cinnamon sticks, some cloves, let it simmer. Mustard seeds are good in that, too. Then just let it simmer until it is rich dark brown, and really flavorful. That is an excellent extra thing to put on your Thanksgiving table.

Alison Stewart: Jacqueline is calling in from Connecticut, and apparently, there's been a pie crust incident in her household.

Jacqueline: Yes, pie crust. Hi, Melissa. I was supposed to put ice water in my pie crust, and because I was going to put a little vodka in there, too, accidentally used all vodka, and I didn't realize it until I tried it later.

Alison Stewart: Yes, yes, sure, sure, sure, that's your story, sticking to it.

Melissa Clark: You've got drunken pie crust syndrome. Is that what's going on?

Jacqueline: Do I have to scrap these pie crusts and start all over?

Melissa Clark: The alcohol's going to bake off, so you don't really need to worry about that. The question is, how are they holding together? Do they seem flaky and nice? Do they look like regular pie crust or do they seem a little off?

Jacqueline: They seem like regular pie crusts. I have nice flakes of butter in there. I'm just so excited about these pie crusts, and just maybe I was sipping on the vodka. I don't know.

Melissa Clark: That's what happens when you try to make pie crust and have a little distill at the same time. I think you're good. The alcohol will absolutely cook-off. Your pie crusts are going to be fine. Vodka doesn't have much flavor. Luckily you weren't drinking bourbon because then you might have a bourbon flavored, which actually could be good.

You're going to be fine. Go ahead and use the pie crusts, and as long as they look okay, the alcohol's going to bake off.

Alison Stewart: Melissa, you published a recipe on New York Times cooking for Easy Parker House rolls. What makes the roll a Parker House roll?

Melissa Clark: Parker House rolls, really it's the butter. It's the addition of butter in between the layers is what made Parker House, which was a hotel in Boston, very famous. In the 19th century, they created this roll that was a very fluffy white roll, but it had this slick of butter right in the middle. For the Parker House roll recipes that I did for NYT cooking, I did two versions.

One of them is a classic Parker House roll, and I added-- It's fluffy white bread rolls perfect for Thanksgiving, and I added some demerara sugar and some black pepper. I've got a sweet, spicy thing going on. The demerara sugar, especially at the edges where the roll meets the pan, it gets so crunchy. It's so good. That's a twist.

Then I did a cheaters version where I used purchased pizza dough. Basically, you just add a ton of butter to purchased pizza dough. At the very end, you steam it, you put some foil over it after it's done baking, so it steams and softens, and you have these super easy Parker House rolls that are basically no effort because all you do is defrost this pizza dough and put lots of butter on it.

This is great. I love them to serve with a Turkey, but I also love them to make Turkey sandwiches with for the day after Thanksgiving. If you make rolls or you're getting rolls, save some, and use them for your leftover sandwiches.

Alison Stewart: Someone has said their favorite leftover is leftover Turkey and bananas. If you have leftover pie crust, you fill it with leftover Turkey, cooked with onion, garlic, bell pepper, and tomato, or you can fill leftover pie crust with leftover mashed potatoes and add spices. It makes samosas. The added spices make them feel different a couple of days after eating the same meal.

Melissa Clark: That is brilliant. In fact, if though the woman with a pie crust with a vodka is nervous, she can save her vodka pie crusts to make empanadas or samosas, and then make new pie crusts if that's just hedging your bets.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Rema calling in from Manhattan. Hi, Rema. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Rema: Hey, thanks. I wanted to know about mashed potatoes, and how to either keep them warm or to warm them if they're in the refrigerator. Also, I just wanted to let you know that I make your buttermilk brine Turkey, and it is divine. Doesn't always have to be dried brine. [chuckles]

Melissa Clark: Well, yes, there's so many ways. That's another thing I say about Thanksgiving Turkeys. If you have a recipe that you love, use it. There's no reason to innovate if you're happy with what you're doing. That's really important because I think some people get caught up in the new, and you want to try something new every year for a Turkey or you think you can improve upon it. If you've got your thing down, then Thanksgiving is the time for traditional recipes.

Let's talk mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are tough to reheat. I would say in a perfect world, you can cook the potatoes ahead. In fact, what I like to do is I actually like to bake them. I like to use recipe potatoes. I like to bake them ahead, and I peel them ahead as soon as they're cool. You bake them, you wait until they're cool, you peel them, you put them in the fridge. You can do that today.

Then right before serving, you take those cooked potatoes, put them in a big pan and heat them up, cut them into cubes, put them in the pan, heat them up over a flame, add some warm milk in your butter, and mash them right there. All you're doing at the last minute is the mashing, but your potatoes are cooked, and by baking them, you dry them out a little bit, and I find that they can take even more butter and cream, which makes them extra delicious.

That would be my advice for you. If you have to reheat, you can reheat. If you want to make them ahead, just put them on a low flame and then add a little bit more milk, a little bit more butter. As you are reheating, you want to whip them up, maybe use a whisk or even electric beaters to get them fluffy again.

Alison Stewart: Tiffany, calling in from Washington Heights. Hi, Tiffany. You're on the air.

Tiffany: Hi. Thanks for having me. Big fan, Alison. My question is, my fiance is from Africa. He's never done Thanksgiving. It's just the two of us. I really didn't want to bite off more than I could chew to get a whole Turkey. I went to go look for a smaller Turkey or partially thawed Turkey today. They had nothing. I bought Cornish game hens. I thought it's a bird, it qualifies, but I have no idea what to do with it. I've never had one. I've never done one before, so I need some help.

Melissa Clark: You're so good. Cornish game hens are incredibly easy to cook. What I would do is I would do a dry brine. You've got them today. You have time.

I would do the same dry brine that I have been talking about through this whole show. Which is basically you just combine salt, and whatever spices you like, pepper, cumin, you could use a spice blend like a garra masala or you could use lemon zest and garlic, minced garlic. You could use juniper and caraway or just salt and pepper. Rub that all over your chick, all over your Cornish game hens, including the interior cavities. Let them sit in your fridge uncovered so the skin dries out, and then just roast them like you'd roast a chicken, except they take less time. I would do those at high heat. I would do them at 425 or 450, and I bet you they take about half an hour. I think that is a great choice.

Alison Stewart: We have a suggestion for leftover Turkey mole soup. I would love to hear some of your leftover recipes for people on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, things they can do with the leftovers.

Melissa Clark: Personally, I am a big sandwich person. I find that I really like Turkey best the day after when I'm eating the sandwiches. It's great on Thanksgiving, but standing in front of the fridge, just taking out all those Turkey leftovers and making myself a beautiful sandwich. That is self-care the day after Thanksgiving.

We have some great new ideas for Thanksgiving sandwiches at NYT Cooking, including one that I really-- I think it's just a different take. It's a barbecue Turkey sandwich inspired by a pulled pork sandwich, except that you use all the shredded Turkey. You can really go into the cavity, just shred everything off the bones and everything that you want in the breast is nicely sliced.

That's good for traditional Turkey sandwiches. All those other little bits make into this barbecue sandwich. Get your favorite brand of barbecue sauce. Taste it, make sure it's not too sweet. It usually is, in which case, you want to add a little bit of vinegar, a little bit of hot sauce. Mix it with that shredded Turkey. Add some cole slaw, some jalapenos, maybe a little cilantro. Don't forget to put mayo on the buns, and pickles. Pickles, it's essential. This is a great sandwich that's just a little bit out of the ordinary.

Alison Stewart: Melissa Clark, you love her. You read her work. She helps you with your holidays. The New York Times food columnist and cookbook author. Thanks to everybody who called in. Thanks for taking our listeners calls, Melissa.

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Melissa Clark: Happy to help you guys out. Happy to be here. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Alison.

Alison Stewart: Thank you. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you. I will meet you all back here next time.

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