Talking Turkey

We’re talking turkey and all the fixings – and all the family – with Thanksgiving guru Sam Sifton.

Shopping list for this weekend:  butter, flour, sage, thyme, turkey.  Thanksgiving is coming on fast now.  A day to savor.  To gather.  To relax.  To give thanks.  To cook.  For some, that cooking is a joy.  For some, it’s nightmare.  For many, after all these years, it’s a shot in the dark.

A once-a-year encounter with a great big bird and dishes we might make no other time.  Sam Sifton is a Thanksgiving connoisseur and guru.  He likes it traditional.  He likes it tasty.  He rolls with the punches, the uncles, the craziness, the day.

This hour, On Point:  doing Thanksgiving.
-Tom Ashbrook

Sam Sifton, national editor at the New York Times, his new book is Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well.

Rick Bragg reads his latest article from Southern Living.

Fort Worth Star Telegram "That sense of almost magisterial authority runs through Sam Sifton's useful new book, Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well (Random House, $18). Once the Times' restaurant critic, where he would spend T-Day answering calls from panicked readers, and now national editor, Sifton is not shy when it comes to telling you how to observe the holiday — and use his book."

Forbes "Pretty much all aspects of the traditional meal are covered within: the turkey, the side dishes, the table-setting, the drinks, the clean-up and, yes, even the etiquette. The book is peppered with interesting vignettes about the holiday and the food. It is designed to make its readers chill out about what has become a very stressful cooking experience. It works better than a Xanax."

Check out Sifton's rules for turkey day.