Tips on taking the stress out of Thanksgiving

Maybe it's your first time cooking for Thanksgiving. Or maybe you're hoping this is the first time you'll prepare it without inviting stress into the kitchen, too. Whatever the case, I have just the strategies for you.

At the end of the day, Thanksgiving is not about winning awards for having tackled a complicated, intimidating set of recipes.

Worrying, particularly about something you can so easily control, is not the way anyone wants to spend Thanksgiving (or any day, for that matter). Instead, when you follow my advice, your mind-set will be calm and welcoming. That's a godsend, because the most important part of the meal isn't actually what's on the table, but the chance to connect with the people sitting around it, and to reflect about gratitude.

Here's how to set things on the right track from the beginning, starting with planning:

Small, manageable scope

Choose carefully. You don't have to tick off every box. Just because so-and-so grew up with two types of stuffing and another guest waxes poetic about three desserts doesn't mean you have to make them. You can have all the nostalgic flavors in a handful of simple dishes. Besides, the fewer the dishes, the easier the calculations of how many servings to make. (My selection of recipes adds up to a plentiful meal for eight, and they're all easily scalable.)

Skip prepared appetizers. They just fill everyone up before the meal, anyhow. Instead, serve drinks with bowls of peanuts or pistachios — or perhaps whole radishes, olives, cornichons or jarred marinated artichoke hearts.

Forget the cocktails (unless you can't imagine Thanksgiving without one). Stick to beer, wine and such nonalcoholic beverages as apple cider and sparkling water. If you do want a cocktail, make one pitcher drink or punch so that you don't have to play bartender.

Decide what to delegate

Some good candidates:

Drinks and/or ice. (By the way, if you have a cold porch, that's a great place to put drinks to make room in your fridge — and kitchen.)

The table setting. Ask someone to bring miniature pumpkins and/or clementines, and set them out before the rest of the guests arrive. (Or consider doing this a few days in advance, because both pumpkins and clementines can sit for days without wilting or needing more water.)

Cranberry sauce. (Or buy the stuff in a can, which so many people love.)

Dessert.

Final prep help.

Cook ahead

Cook everything but the turkey the day before. This renders moot the question of how to prepare multiple dishes so they're all ready at the same time. Two of these side dishes and the dessert bake at the same temperature, for maximum timing flexibility:

A simple bread stuffing, which can be reheated just before serving.

Green beans, which can warm in nutty browned butter at mealtime.

Roasted sweet potatoes, which can be rewarmed, then split, dolloped with sour cream and topped with crunchy pumpkin seeds. (This allows you to avoid the mashed-potato pitfalls of peeling, chopping and uneven reheating.)

Now, about the turkey

Think of the turkey as a big chicken, and skip all the fuss.

Don't brine, baste, marinate or stuff. Simply season it generously with salt, add some water to the pan, and roast it for a couple of hours. I like to set it on a little rack made of celery, which helps to circulate air underneath it, plus it gives you yummy celery. But even this, you can skip.

Buy it at least five days in advance. If it's fresh, it will last a week in the fridge. If it's frozen, it can stay that way for months, but it needs 24 hours of defrosting in the refrigerator for every 4 pounds. So for the 12- to 14-pound bird I call for to feed eight people, start defrosting on Saturday to be safe. (You can defrost the same size bird in up to nine hours in a sink or other container filled with cold water, but you'll have to change the water every half-hour.)

Once your turkey is defrosted, remove the giblets and neck if they're included and save them for stock.

Let the turkey rest after it roasts for at least 20 minutes. Really: It makes such a difference in the bird's juiciness.

Make an easy gravy that doesn't require an intimidating roux or run the risk of getting lumpy. While the turkey rests, whisk some sour cream into the pan juices. It couldn't be easier, and the result tastes like pure Thanksgiving.

Learn to carve it by watching online videos. Again, remember: It's just a big chicken.

Get a head start on leftovers. After you carve the bird, if you'd like, throw the carcass — along with the saved giblets and neck — into a large pot, cover with cold water and let it simmer while you're eating (at least two hours, and ideally up to four). Later, strain the stock and use it for soup the next day. Add whatever turkey is leftover plus some cooked rice or barley and eat topped with grated cheese and parsley.

Keep to your schedule

Remember your simple timeline:

Saturday: Begin to defrost the turkey in the refrigerator if frozen.

Wednesday: Make the stuffing, blanch the green beans, bake the cake, roast the sweet potatoes.

Thursday: Roast the turkey and make the easy gravy. While the turkey rests, heat up the sweet potatoes and stuffing in the oven and warm the green beans on the stovetop in the brown butter. If you'd like, assign a guest the green beans so that you don't have to be at the stove and at the cutting board at the same time. Have that same person or someone else top the sweet potatoes (you can't mess that up) and serve.

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Simple Roast Turkey with Simplest Gravy

Makes 8 servings

2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more as needed

1 12- to 14-pound turkey (fresh/defrosted; giblets removed), patted dry with paper towels

4 stalks of celery

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sour cream

— Freshly ground black pepper

Sprinkle the salt evenly over the exterior of the turkey. If you have the time, refrigerate it for up to 2 days. This will allow the salt to really season the meat more thoroughly. You can either place it in a large zip-top bag or place it on something large like a platter and let it sit in the refrigerator with its skin exposed, which will help dry the skin and leave you with extra crispy skin after roasting.

Whether or not you have the time to refrigerate the salted turkey, let it sit out at room temperature for an hour before cooking it so that it's not so cold. This will help it cook more evenly.

While the turkey is hanging out at room temperature, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Place the celery ribs on the bottom of a large roasting pan and set the salted bird on top of them (an edible rack!). This will allow some hot air to circulate under the turkey, which will help it cook more evenly. Pour the water around the base of the pan (be sure not to pour it directly on the turkey). If you're using a disposable aluminum pan, be sure to set it on a sturdy baking sheet to facilitate moving it into and out of the oven.

Roast the turkey for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, depending on the size of your turkey, until it's gorgeously browned, firm to the touch, the leg wiggles easily and the juice that comes out when you poke the thigh with a paring knife runs clear (not pink or red). Use an instant-read thermometer to make sure the internal temperature of the breast meat registers 170 degrees and the thigh meat (probed away from the bone) registers 180 degrees.

Let the turkey rest at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before transferring it to a large cutting board (it helps to lift it with a couple of clean kitchen towels that you immediately throw into the wash).

Transfer the celery to your serving platter if you would like to serve it (or just snack on it, or discard it). Pour the juices from the roasting pan through a fine-mesh strainer into deep bowl. Whisk in the sour cream to form a smooth gravy. Taste and add pepper, as needed.

To carve the turkey, start with the leg-thigh joints. Detach them by holding a drumstick with one hand and cutting through the skin all the way through the thigh joint. It helps to wiggle the thigh so you can see where the joint is. Separate the legs and thighs at the joint and transfer them both to your serving platter.

Next, remove the wings in the same manner — by cutting through the joints — and set them on the platter with the dark meat. Now, onto the turkey breasts: Steady the top of the bird with tongs, a fork, or your hand (a bunched up paper towel makes a nice buffer between your hand and the hot bird). Working with one breast at a time, make a horizontal incision at the base of each breast and then make a vertical cut along the breastbone so that you can remove each breast in one large piece. Once both breasts are off the bone, place them on your cutting board skin side up and slice crosswise into slices that are as thick as you'd like them.

Serve the turkey with the gravy, passed at the table.

Make ahead: The bird can be salted and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days in advance. It needs to rest at room temperature for 1 hour before roasting.