When it comes to preparing for Thanksgiving dinners, Gwen Drahos of Gwen’s is a professional.
This year, she’s expecting roughly 200 to be taking part in her carry-out meals from Gwen’s restaurant.
On the menu for Gwen’s will be three choices of meats – ham, turkey or roast beef, then choices of salads, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and a dessert.
These are some of the pieces of advice that Gwen’s uses in her own cooking for hundreds that can be adapted for your own celebration, regardless of size.
Plan ahead: For Drahos, cooking and preparation for the Thursday dinners begins with cooking some items ahead of time. Mondays is when she and helpers will get the pies and desserts they are cooking underway, as those will be ready to go for the Thursday meal. Those desserts include the pumpkin pies (the number one requested dessert for most people), fruit pies, cheesecakes, brownies and other desserts. Tuesday is when the work on the salads that can be refrigerated and need a day or more to set up gets underway. Wednesday is when stuffing, potatoes and gravy get cooked. Drahos notes that for her restaurant, cooking turkey, ham and roasts will also coincide over those three days as well, because she is cooking and preparing so many meals. For many others who are only cooking one bird, that might be what gets cooked beginning on Thanksgiving Day, but doing prep work on meals and other items can help make the holiday a less stress-filled endeavor.
Organization is your friend: Whether you’re cooking for 200 or just five people, knowing what dishes are on the menu is key. “I recommend buying the items you need for your meal about a week ahead of time if you can,” Drahos said. “It helps you have what you need on hand and avoid any last-minute panicked trips to the grocery store.” There’s always going to be the chance something didn’t turn out correctly and you need to buy. Cooking ahead on things like turkey and ham, it also gives opportunities for you to save some of that stock and juices for your gravies. Drahos cooks bone-in hams at her restaurant, noting it also provides more flexibility for future meals, like ham and bean soup. By organizing when you cook meals and knowing how many you are cooking for, it helps with your meal preparation as well.
Remember that the key for the holiday is your time with your family: Drahos notes that even if you’re cooking a turkey or hosting the meal, you shouldn’t be pushing all of the meal cooking to one day. “You’ve got to give yourself time to enjoy with your family,” Drahos said. Drahos notes while she cooks meals for more than 200 people, her goal at her restaurant is to have those meals made and picked up by 1 p.m. to allow her and her volunteers and staff time with their own families on the holiday. “Even when we do in-person meals or buffets, we have a time when we are closing to make sure we all have a chance to be with our family on that day,” Drahos said.
Don’t feel ashamed for utilizing premade crusts and other easy cheats: Drahos said she uses premade pie crusts for a number of her desserts, as well as pie fillings for fruit pies. “They’re good and have a lot of the flavor you’re looking for,” Drahos said. They also don’t require as much worrying about the liquid that real fruits are going to provide to pies. Drahos has made her own pie crusts with lard instead of shortening over the years, but the premade pie crusts help cut down on chances for flops or mistakes.
There’s still time to get a meal from Gwen’s: Drahos notes that if people want to order a meal with her, her deadline for orders is this Saturday, Nov. 20.
“These meals work out well for two people if you don’t want to cook a big meal just for yourself, as it’s a ton of food and provides leftovers for later in the evening,” Drahos said. “You get a choice of meats, salads, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a choice of one of several desserts.
The thing Drahos has always loved about hosting and serving meals on so many large holidays and Sundays has been getting to see so many familiar faces.
“There are families we always expect, and it’s gotten to the point I know three or four generations for the same families,” Drahos said. “I’ll also get the opportunity to deliver a few meals to some of the people at Meyers Meadows on Thanksgiving Day, and that’s something I love to do.”
Drahos noted she has stepped down from some of the events she has previously hosted because she is getting up in her age, and she does miss some of them, like Sunday buffets and her Mother’s Day events or Easter brunches.
Tips to prepare for Thanksgiving dinners big and small
November 18, 2021
About the Contributor
Nathan Countryman, Editor
Nathan Countryman is the Editor of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun.