Step 5: Dine and Serve with Grace
Survival Guide : Episode FLSUR-103
If you're going to host the party, go all out. This is your opportunity to show that you're proud to be part of the family. You want to make sure there's something memorable, and that you make dishes guests will long remember as spectacular. And you also want to have a special drink or two around, something that's unique. Consider the following ways to make the dinner extra-tasty:
- Don't know if you want to make turkey, duck, or chicken? Why not all three? To make Turducken, stuff a turkey with a chicken and then stuff the chicken with a duck. All the juices melt together and baste the inside, so everything comes out juicy, tender, and absolutely delicious.
- "Light" cooking techniques:
- Don't salt everything — try squeezing a lemon on your green vegetables, instead.
- Cut down on fat and calories but keep the moisture by substituting applesauce for oil in muffins and cakes.
- Thicken milk with cornstarch for an ingredient that has the same consistency as heavy cream but only a fraction of the fat.
- Offer fewer starch dishes and a couple more steamed vegetables or fresh salads in their places. One potato dish ought to do it...
- To keep the dishes warm while the family chills, try chafing dishes, the "hot-steam" method, or buy a heat lamp, which is an infrared light. Hot plates are a good option, too, if there's a place on the table or buffet you can plug one in. That way not all the hot food has to be crammed into one spot.
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