A fool-proof Thanksgiving: Top tips from NJ chefs to make the holiday stress-free

Thanksgiving. What a holiday!

There's no religion involved. No gifts to fret about. Just eating, drinking and watching (or not) football games. Any wonder then that Thanksgiving is our nation's most popular national holiday? Nearly 80% of Americans named Thanksgiving their favorite, according to Statista, a global digital data platform; Memorial Day and Christmas (78%) were close behind.

However, for some, Thanksgiving may also be stressful, if not the most stressful holiday (Christmas has that one locked; 74% of Americans voted it the most trying holiday, according to healthcare organization MedStar Health).

Especially if you're hosting.

All that shopping, cleaning, prepping, cooking, serving and — yes, darn it — cleaning again. No wonder fewer Americans (26%) planned to host Thanksgiving last year than the previous year (47%), according to LendingTree, an online lending marketplace. Of course COVID may have impacted people's willingness to get together when getting together was a potential health risk.

Still, hosting is, let's not kid ourselves, work. But it doesn't have to be nerve-wracking work. You can lessen the stress, perhaps even eliminate it. How?

We asked the experts — professional cooks and restaurateurs — for their fool-proof tips. Follow their advice and you may find you have even more reasons to be grateful this year. Here's to a happy, delicious and stress-reduced or even stress-free holiday.

Plan ahead

Planning ahead may be the the most crucial ingredient for keeping your stress hormones from going batty. "You'd be surprised how many people scramble on the day of," said Joseph Tartamella, executive chef of Felina, a contemporary Italian restaurant in Ridgewood.

If you haven't yet, start planning now. "Have a plan of action," Tartamella said. "Plan the menu, the shopping, your guest list." The more planning, the less worrying; the more control you will have to execute your plan, aka, make a delicious Thanksgiving dinner without a lot of dramarama.

Shop at least three days before the holidays

We don't live in pre-refrigeration times. We can store our ingredients in the refrigerator, not to mention our dry ingredients in our pantries. So there's absolutely no reason to leave the shopping until the day before Thanksgiving (good luck finding the right-sized turkey at your supermarket) or, perhaps, even worse, two days before Thanksgiving. Unless, that is, you love chaos, crowds and bare shelves.

Shopping aisles certainly will be packed the day before the holiday with swarms of people who somehow thought that one bag of potatoes would suffice or forgot they'd run out of sugar the previous week. But two days before the holiday — Tuesday, that is — even more shoppers will be in those traffic-jammed aisles. The reason? According to grocers, "everyone thinks Wednesday is the busiest day and therefore everyone goes on Tuesday," said Michael Rulhman, author of The Buying and Selling of Food in America. In other words, procrastinators think they'll outsmart even more profound procrastinators.

Outsmart them all and, if you can, do most of your shopping three days, if not a week, ahead of time. Before you do, check to make sure your spices are not out of date. Check your pantry for staple items you know you'll need. And make sure you have enough paper goods on hand -- paper towels, napkins, etc. Also, make certain you have ice for drinks and enough wine and beer to quench your guests' thirsts.

Not a wine connoisseur? Christine Nunn, former chef of Vesta Wood Fired in East Rutherford, who today has a catering firm, Picnic Catering by Christine, has a few recommendations. "It would not be Thanksgiving without Beaujolais Nouveau," she said. "It’s the perfect wine for the bird." She also recommends zinfandels, pinot noirs or rich chardonnays. "Stay away from big reds and light whites. Be in the sweet spot."

Cook much of your meal in advance

You certainly don't need to wait for the day your guests arrive to chop, dice or mince. "Do the heavy lifting the night before," said Ariane Duarte, former chef and owner of Ariane Kitchen & Bar in Verona, who today with her husband, Michael, owns and heads CulinAriane Caterers based in Brick.

Jonathan Goldstein, owner of B&M Market, a gourmet market, events caterer and butcher shop in Park Ridge, advises making your sides a day or two before. Much, he said, can be made in advance.

"You don’t want to be making mashed potatoes from scratch at 2 o’clock in the afternoon when your guests are due to arrive," he said. Besides, if you make stuff ahead of time, you can deal with whatever mishaps or surprises may befall you ahead of time.

"What if the potatoes take longer to boil than you thought?" Goldstein said. You'll have more time and less angst to deal with it when you don't also have to worry about hanging up coats and pouring drinks. You can warm your cooked mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and creamed spinach in the oven before serving.

If nothing else, you can clean and blanch your vegetables — brussels sprouts, green beans, carrots — beforehand.

Nunn advises serving cold appetizers. "Don't waste any oven space on appetizers," she said. Nor precious time preparing the day of. Among her cold apps suggestions: shrimp cocktail, chips and dip and guacamole.

Desserts too can be made ahead of time. "Have your pie crust ready days before," Duarte said. "Or buy your pie crusts. There are decent pie crusts out there."

Take shortcuts

Yes, chefs wax poetic about the culinary benefits of using fresh, seasonal, local ingredients. Bravo, we applaud that. But you're not a professional chef or, for that matter, running a fine-dine restaurant. Use the very best ingredients you can afford. But if you're pressed for time — and can't afford shiitake mushrooms for your vegetable medley — there's no shame in using frozen or canned items.

Nunn is a big proponent.

"I'm a big big proponent of Campbell’s soups," she said. Use it, she said, to make broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, even a corn casserole. "You stick it in the oven and pull it out. It tastes good and it does the trick," she said. You may find your guests appreciate it more than hoity-toity versions. "I tried to make green bean casserole from scratch one year and no one ate it."

Do the same with cranberries, she said. "Open a can of Ocean Spray," she said. You're not only going to save yourself time but apparently grief.

Nunn said that she tried to make fancy, fresh cranberry relish — candy pecan sauce with Grand Marnier, cranberry sauce with chipotle, cranberry orange pecan sauce.

And? "No one wanted it."

Brine your turkey

Ariane Duarte of CulinAriane said brining a turkey is "dummy-proof: It guarantees a tender, moist turkey."

Logan Ramirez, chef and co-owner of Gioia Mia, a new, ambitious Italian restaurant in Montclair, couldn't agree more. Brining makes the turkey a "moisture sponge," he said. "Not only will the turkey cook quicker, but it will taste better."

Never brined a turkey?

It's easy. It's essentially giving turkey a long bath in water, salt and seasoning solution of your choice. That, at least is a wet brine. (There's a dry brine as well.)

You can make your own wet brine: the general rule is four tablespoons of salt to every four cups of water and add whatever seasonings you'd like. Or use Logan Ramirez's recipe for a 15 pound bird, below. (If you don't want to brine, get a kosher turkey; brining is part of the kosher process, so it comes brined.)

You can also dry brine which involves salting your turkey for a few days. For specific instructions, Liz Johnson, The Record's features editor, shared hers one year.

Johnson, a former food writer, recommends pouring lots of salt on your bird. Use more salt than you think you need, then refrigerate for a day, wipe off the salt just before you're ready to slide it into the oven and roast. Johnson reported that the first time she used this low-stress technique, her Thanksgiving turkey was "the most flavorful of my life."

Ask for help

Few people come to Thanksgiving empty-handed. Asked by a guest what he or she can bring, don't hesitate to let them know.

"If you hate making glazed carrots, let them do it," Nunn said.

Goldstein of B&M Market however warns, "Don’t have them bring crucial items."

Like? "Gravy," he said. "What if their gravy sucks?"

It's best to ask for alcohol and dessert, he said. And make sure everyone knows to bring more than necessary. "You don't want people to not bring enough," Goldstein said. "Everyone is going to want seconds. So discuss quantity."

Besides, he said, "It’s not the worst holiday to have leftovers."

Want even more help? Get some of your food, if not all, catered. Or get it to-go or delivered from a restaurant.

"You want Thanksgiving at home," Nunn said. "It's better to get food, even if it's from Boston Market, and enjoy it at home. There's just something about Thanksgiving and being home."

Set the table beforehand

Duarte of CulinAriane recommends setting the table the night before. "You don't want to be looking for that damn fork," Duarte said, when your guests are about to arrive. "This way you don't have to worry about it. It's done, it's ready."

And unless you really, really feel a need to go all out and decorate your table with pumpkins, gourds, fruits, flowers and foliage, keep it simple — and easy.

"People get so stressed about it," Nunn said. "One year, one of my cousins spray painted all the pumpkins and had all this gold ornaments. It's not necessary. When I was a kid, my uncle would have to take his furniture of out the living room, set up tables here and there and we used paper plates. It's the people and the food that matter. Not what the table looks like."

Turkey Brine

Courtesy of Logan Ramirez, chef and co-owner of Gioia Mia in Montclair

• 1 pint kosher salt

• 1/2 pound of light brown sugar

• 4 quarts of water

• 1 pint apple cider

• 1 cup black peppercorns

• 1 bunch thyme

• 1 bunch rosemary

• 1 garlic bulb, split in half

• 5 bay leaves

Add all ingredients in a stockpot and simmer on a low flame for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain, and cool the liquid in an ice bath or your refrigerator.

Submerge turkey (thawed, giblets and neck removed) in brine for no longer than 24 hours. You can use a stockpot, a plastic bucket or a special brining bag.

Pat turkey dry before cooking.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Thanksgiving hacks: Here are top tips for Turkey Day from NJ chefs