A sequel to the great question about Thanksgiving Dinner that got so many terrific replies; How did yours turn out? What did you learn?

I learned that if I'm going to spatchcock a turkey and grill it, a wet brine is better than a dry brine. I've grilled my turkeys two years in a row and used essentially the same process, except the brining. When I used a dry brine last year, the turkey had the texture of something between fiberboard and jerky (ok,ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but you get the point); this year we did a wet brine, and the turkey was just fine, had a beautiful crispy skin, and was still full of flavor. I also made a mashed potatoes dish that only used 1 potato, but had 2 heads of cauliflower that worked great, that I'll definitely do again. We didn't miss the extra potatoes at all!

What I learned was to keep pepper spray handy to dissuade a high strung, meddlesome neighbor from messing around with my turkey. Which she did twice when I wasn't in the room.

Continuing my experiments with internal brines worked out well. I got a nice crispy, golden skin and moist white meat.

It was still delicious, just not very presentable. I'll have to try your method next time AJ!

Great question! I learned that I need to take measures to prevent the filling in my pecan tart from leaking all over my oven, smoking up my kitchen, and cementing the tart to the pan.

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch, thanks to more advance prep than usual, inspired by the discussion on this site. Soo many requests for the gravy, made as suggested here: made the broth on Sunday, browning necks & wings, adding carrots, celery, onion, garlic, white wine, broth, big springs of rosemary & sage and simmering on low for a couple of hours. Then I fished everything out and reduced the stock to 2 quarts. (The dogs went nuts for the neck and wing meat.) Finished the gravy on Thursday while the bird rested and the guests snacked on a variety of appetizers, by making a roux with the fat from the drippings and then using the rest of the (de-fatted) drippings and pre-made gravy stock. Plus, guests helped with the set-up, clean-up, and break-down while we played a variety of international dance music and my husband roped some of the men into singing and dancing the Pips parts when Gladys Knight came on.

Things I learned: 1. More advance planning makes a wonderful day even better! 2. My guests also like dark meat much more than white. Next year, I will roast a couple of extra thighs. 3. Cranberry sauce is even better made on Monday or Tuesday. 4. Even though I think it is too rich, I will have to triple (instead of double) the praline sweet potatoes if I hope to have any left over. 5. My son decided to make Vietnamese Veggie Spring Rolls at the last minute and they were a huge appetizer hit. Who knew? The early guests decided they had to eat them quickly because they were not traditional and they had to hide the evidence. 6. All the vegan choices were GONE by the time everyone packed their left-overs. 7. Pear cake (from food52) made the German ex-pats VERY happy.

everything was great. one mishap...accidentally snipped the cord to the inside-outside thermometer in my bird while cutting away the roasting bag! oooooppps! good thing i had another thermometer!

I learned that miso soup broth, with ginger, soy sauce, and a little cornstarch, makes an amazing sauce for green beans. It also doubles as a dynamite vegan gravy! That invention's going into the recipe binder for sure, once I write it down.

T-Day was even easier than usual this year, thanks to all the great help I got here on the Hotline during my planning and prep for the meal, starting about 10 days before The Big Day. I learned that roasted Brussels sprouts don't maintain over time the texture they have right out of a hot oven -- they get soggy -- so next time, they'll be prepped and roasted while the bird is resting . . . . if I even do a whole bird again, which gets to #2: I learned that what the people at my T-Day table love most are the sides, especially if you put chorizo in the dressing and bacon in with the Brusslies (our name for Brussels sprouts), and buttermilk in the sweet potatoes. I am seriously considering just roasting a couple of turkey thighs and wings on the Monday before, using the roasted bones and pan drippings to make a rich, delicious stock and gravy, and making a turkey + mushroom in wine/cognac sauce, to put in vols-au-vent (all made in advance) instead of roasting a whole turkey. I also kind of like the idea of not having quite so many side dishes. That said, I'll make mashed potatoes if someone really wants them on Thursday. I'm always home on the day after Thanksgiving, and would be happy to make on Friday several of the sides I typically serve on Thursday. So, if my family doesn't have any serious problems with this plan (and I doubt they will), that's what I am considering do next year. ;o)

I learned that brining the turkey is a good way to infuse flavor and moisture and to get a good color on the turkey before putting int he oven is put a light coat of mayo over the bird, then foil and cook for the entire like this. When the turkey is done, it has the nice brown color at the end and its soooooooooooooo delicious.

Hooray for the vegetarian mushroom-thyme gravy, because it really saved the dry, dry-brined turkey (the Judy Bird) which was nothing special. Next year I am going back to my original wet-brine ....

I'm also really happy with my gravy this year - roasted the neck, wings, spine (butterflied it) and veggies till well-browned, then simmered for about 45 minutes in store-bought low sodium veggie broth till very savory. Strained thickened with a roux.....so delicious. I just poured the pan juices onto the cut up turkey and server the pre-made gravy alongside.

Made four kinds of pie: Sweet Potato Pumpkin, Apple Quince, Sour Cherry, and Concord Grape. Took them to the hospital where my daughter was admitted a week and a half ago. Found out other kids couldn't have them b/o liability but fed the staff. They said the Sweet Potato Pumpkin and Apple Quince were the best pies they ever ate. Husband and son were bringing Thanksgiving dinner leftovers from my brother in law and sister in law in Brooklyn but got lost somewhere in Queens. Got to the hospital after visiting hours ended but fortunately we were full of pie. Very thankful my daughter is coming home Monday. Have a nice collection of Thanksgiving recipes from Food52 to try when we're ready to cook our Thanksgiving meal.

vegetarian thanksgiving here..with heavy food52 influences. Mujaddara with spiced yogurt, an Indian style creamy Kale Paneer stuffed into puff pastry & baked. Citrus & cucumber salad with a basil chiffonade, Roasted sweet potatoes with rosemary. Store bought pumpkin pie & a pear & apple pie flavored with chai spice (food52 recipe inspired), caprese salad, peppercorn parmesan bread with Pesto & olive oil.

Really happy with butterflying my turkey this year - cooked an 11 and a 14 lb turkey in the same oven in under an hour and they were both perfect! (Also felt greatly empowered by waking up and ripping the spine out of two turkeys!)

This year we tried roasting the bird on a rack. Next bird....going back to the old way...just sitting in the roaster.

We had a fantastic meal. I did all the cooking and friends brought wine. Things mostly went really well except that our free range bird was a bit tough. It wasn't overcooked or dry just a bit chewy. Other than that, the only real problem was a gluten free apple pie. The dough is hard to manage without gluten so instead of doing a top crust I cut leaves from the dough and scattered them attractively over the apples. Unfortunately it wasn't solid enough and the apples really didn't cook down at all. Plus the crust itself wasn't very appealing. But we had so much other good food (not to mention crustless pecan pie and chocolate-hazelnut bark) that no one seemed to mind the mediocre apple pie.

Yes Federico how was your?? Like drbabs mine was not without some mishaps, deflated one tray of dinner rolls because the plastic stuck to the rolls on second rise, I oiled it but not well enough I guess. I have a less than reliable oven and to save time put both sheets with rolls in at the same time, I should never do that they did not cook evenly and one sheet became over done, (luckily it was the deflated ones) so they went into the circular file. Other than not having enough rolls everything else turned out really well.. Hope you had a wonderful holiday.

I'll start the thread myself: Here are some things I learned:
1. best to rinse off a dry brined turkey before roasting, otherwise you have a pretty salty bird.
2. Stuffing is fun to improvise
3. Among my dozen guests, dark meat was more popular than white meat by nearly two to one. This surprised me.
4. When you take the turkey out of the brining bag it's a good idea to let it sit in the fridge uncovered for a day or so. Skin gets tightened and translucent when roasted.
5. Next year I'm buying a real roasting pan with a v-shaped rack. The foil cookers sold in the supermarket can be hazardous for a large bird. Mine was 20 lbs and the foil kept bending and twisting.
6. The only small disaster was that a bread-crumb, parmigiano, butter crumb mix I made ahead to top a mashed potato, sour cream, chive casserole fell out of the fridge and the bowl it was in splintered in many pieces, making it impossible to use. Fortunately, I had more bread crumbs, parmigiano, and butter, so it was easy to just whip up another batch.

What about you, Federico--how was yours?

Ours was great but didn't go off without a hitch. Our new place has a very temperamental oven and my apple pie (which I can make in my sleep) slightly burned--still tasted good though--and the crust for the pumpkin pie shrunk a little when I blind baked it. I was really missing my old kitchen--electric stovetop and all! My husband's stuffing was icky (don't tell him I said that) and I'm hoping we can do dressing outside the bird next year.

We tried the Judy bird to great success and also loved the new pumpkin pie recipe. The sweet potatoes were everyone's favorite, I think.

Most important, it was a great day with family whom we don't get to see very often.