THANKSGIVING PREP TIP: TRYING NEW RECIPES
I get it, I get it. The Food Network, Pinterest, YouTube, Tasty and even the Pioneer Woman has you convinced that this new recipe is delicious and easy to make. Everyone at the table will stand and applaud because they can't believe something so amazing just went into their mouths.
But there you are trying salvage a ruined dish right before Thanksgiving. We've all done it.
Back in my early days as a molecular biologist, I did lots of research under a transfer hood. In case you don't know, transfer hoods are used so that your agar plates are free from contaminants. Agar plates are petri dishes with something in them that looks like Knox gelatin.
I was kind of a guru when it came to transfer hood work. When I was getting my degree, my plates were usually clean while everyone else's was covered in fungus and bacteria. My secret? Practice. Practice. Practice.
After my bachelor's, I got a job doing epilepsy research at the University of Utah. I had to isolate brain cells and get them growing dendrites so I could do electrical experiments on them. My boss showed me how, and I got to work.
DISASTER! My agar plates looked like I hadn't even used a transfer hood. I was embarrassed. My boss encouraged me to do it over and over again. So I did. Within a couple of weeks my plates were just as clean as they had been at college.
Why am I telling you a story about transfer hoods and epilepsy research when talking about making new recipes? Because there are some things the recipe or even the video just can't teach you. The only way you are going to learn, is by making it over and over again.
One morning I woke up determined to figure out how to make Greek lemon rice. I decided that I was going to spend all day on it. I made batch after batch until I finally had the lemon rice that I liked. Now I can make it no problem.
Thanksgiving is not the week to do this however. We just don't have the time. This is not the week to learn how to make rolls. Just buy some (but not at Costco, those are gross). This is not the week to make your first pie crust. Go get the Pillsbury pie crust in the freezer section.
The only exception I'd make is the turkey and cranberry sauce. Turkeys and cranberries are expensive and not something you want to practice over and over. Plus they are really easy. If it's your first turkey, I wouldn't plan on stuffing it. It just makes it unnecessarily complicated.
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