Our Favorite Thanksgiving Hotline Questions, Submitted by You
From frozen squash to burnt turkeys.
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It’s the Monday after Thanksgiving and congrats, you did it. No matter how you chose to cook, celebrate, or eat, Turkey day has come and gone and you’re—hopefully—all the better for it. Here at Food52, Thanksgiving is no small feat. Between recipe testing, tasting, and shooting, we commit to making sure everything goes according to plan for you (or at least as close to it as possible). Which is why we set up our Thanksgiving hotline, a one stop shop for all your culinary questions, be they urgent or not.
And now that the turkey’s been brined and roasted, heated and reheated, we’re taking a look back at our Thanksgiving hotline and all the questions that made us think, pause, laugh, or worry. Here are our highlights:
Thanksgiving dinner will be late afternoon or early evening, due to travelers arriving late. The kitchen will be busy all day. What's for lunch?
Nora's earnest request for pre-feast munchies got us thinking. We were happy to see a community member throw out the suggestion for fish tacos. Wonder how that went...
My niece splashed a bit of dish soap in the apple pie as I was setting the lattice crust. Is there any way of saving a soapy pie?
It was just a small section of the pie, but I'm worried it would cook into the rest of the pie.
Because no Thanksgiving is perfect, Abbie's post reminded us that accidents (will) happen. Talk about washing your mouth out with soap, huh?
My husband accidentally left a whole butternut squash in the car overnight. It’s frozen now, how should I get it choppable??!! Thanks!
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It's the image of a frozen hard squash that has me laughing here. Our editor, Lindsay Jean-Hard suggested giving the squash the same thawing treatment you'd give a turkey. Here's to hoping it worked!
Sugar pie won’t thicken. I only use milk, sugar, flour. How do I adjust for altitude?
My grandma from Nebraska used this recipe. I live in Denver. I bake it at 425 for 10 mins and 350 for 50 mins. Extending baking time still doesn't work.
Merrill came to this baker's rescue and attempted to answer their altitudinal quandary. I, for one, underestimated the effects of geography on a pie's success. The more you know!
My oven died how to cook my turkey?
It was Leyla who asked the question that constitutes the stuff of Thanksgiving nightmares. It just goes to show you can never be too prepared. And when you're not... the hotline is there to help.
My turkey is on fire. What should I do?
And on the opposite end of a broken oven is an overactive one. Peter had us worried with his tale of a bird in flames. We reached out to him and were happy to hear that he was safe and able to pull together a successful Thanksgiving meal, burnt turkey and all.
I have a tons of left over of Turkey, what should I do with it tomorrow?
Natalie rounded us out with the question we were all too prepared to answer. If there's anything we love as much as preparing a Thanksgiving feast, it's thinking of creative ways to repurpose it. Hope you enjoyed our suggestions, Natalie!
Today may mark the end of the Thanksgiving season, but have no fear, the hotline isn't going anywhere. Feel free to keep submitting your questions, concerns, queries as they appear. You never know who may jump in and answer!
Are you a hotline helper or user? Let us know about your experiences in the comments.