Make Ahead

Pooh, my mother-in-law, makes the best easy family-style chocolate cake, which we persuade her to make whenever there's a birthday! Her secret is dissolving the cocoa in boiling water before adding it. If you prefer, you can divide this among two round cake pans and fill.

The first Thanksgiving I took part in cooking was when I was 20, a college kid in Boston, living in a big, rambling house. The apartment was a kind of clubhouse devoted to a shifting list of priorities that included music, books, girls, beer, and food. On Thanksgiving we cooked a turkey. The recipe was my pal John Patrick Montaño's, and I still use it today: a roast bird glazed with a rosemary-infused teriyaki butter. The piney herb melds beautifully with the butter and sweet caramel of the mirin browning on lacquered skin. It results in flavor of astonishing depth.

This dense quickbread is traditionally baked in empty coffee cans.

"When it comes to cranberry sauce, I'm no fan of the back-of-the-bag recipe: It's too sweet and offers little in the way of texture. That's why I've made this raw, tangy, refreshing relish ever since I started hosting Thanksgiving. It's my new classic." —Andrew Knowlton, restaurant and drinks editor

This classic gravy recipe includes options for jazzing up your gravy with a bit of white wine, Worcestershire, or apple cider. 

This super-simple shortbread gets festive thanks to a tart cranberry-grapefruit compote. Use a five-hole zester to form ribbons of grapefruit zest.

At the first nip in the air, I start looking for fresh butternut squash at farmers' markets, just so I can make this soup. Considered a Thanksgiving classic, this versatile and universally loved soup is simply too tasty to enjoy only once a year. Now that peeled and precut butternut squash is available in grocery stores year-round, you can make this easy three-step—roast, blend, and simmer—soup anytime you like. Like apple or pear butter, pumpkin butter is gently cooked with some sugar until it's smooth and has a buttery texture. Look for pumpkin butter near the jams and jellies in your grocery store.

Serve these little spinach pies with a main course as your vegetable side and dinner roll in one, or eat a couple for a vegetarian dinner—they're that good.

Dusted with flaky sea salt, these buttery Parker House rolls are folded, making them perfect for late night leftover turkey or roast sandwiches.

"When I was a little girl, my mom imparted her joy of baking by letting me help with my grandmother's pumpkin pie. It's the perfect starter recipe: Just measure, whisk, and bake. I passed this tradition on to my daughters when they were kids, and they've been in charge of making the Thanksgiving pie ever since." —Janet McCracken, deputy food editor

If fresh clams are unavailable (or you're running short on time), substitute two 10-ounce cans of baby clams and 6 cups of bottled clam juice.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.