The fourth Thursday in November is reserved for football, feasts, and family.

But two out of three of those can cause plenty of stress, leading up to and including the big day.

Whether you’re hosting a house full of guests or heading over the river and through the woods, we asked some local experts to offer some tips on how to make your Thanksgiving a little be easier.

Of course the focus of the day is on the turkey. You can drive yourself crazy striving for the perfect bird, laid out on a platter like a Norman Rockwell scene. From deep frying to traditional roasting, there are a millions ways to make a Thanksgiving turkey – But which one do you choose? We asked an expert!

Chef Jeff Braun, director of culinary at Hard Rock Cincinnati, to give us his advice on the meal at hand.

This is a time of year full
of gratitude and joy

for being with loved ones to enjoy and give thanks for our fortunate circumstances It is also a time of added stress with shopping, preparing, organizing, decorating, cooking and cleaning.

Therefore, my first suggestion is, in fact, the most important culinary tradition: plan and budget.

Write the menu in advance and be as specific as possible. Include everything from the turkey to all beverages needed. This will enable you to create your shopping list and adhere to your budget. We all know the stores get busy the week of the holiday. Shop early to get the staples and shelf stable items and then head back for perishables.

Now let us focus on the star of your festive meal, the turkey. While roasting a turkey isn’t very difficult, there are a few preparation points that will help you ensure it is beautiful and delicious. Buy the turkey in your first round to give you enough time to thaw it properly (unless you can find thawed or a fresh turkey). This will take two full days in the refrigerator.

Next, I recommend to spatchcock the turkey. This is butchering and butterflying the turkey so it will lay flat on a roasting tray. It will allow the turkey to cook more quickly and more evenly. There are only a few basic steps to this. First create a large work surface with a stable cutting board. Place your thawed bird on the board breast side down. Use sturdy kitchen shears to remove the back bone, cutting down each side of the bone until fully removed. Then spread the bird open exposing the inside breast bone. Use a sturdy, heavy knife to cut through, break the bone but be careful not to cut through the breast. This will allow the entire bird to lay flat.

Once this is done, my next suggestion is to…Brine the turkey! For an average 14-pound turkey you will want a lower salinity brine, meaning 5 percent. The basic recipe is 7 ounces (weight) of kosher or sea salt to 1 gallon of water. Spatchcocking the turkey will also allow you to use a much smaller pan and need less brine.

Make enough brine to cover the bird in a large enough container. Place the bird in the brine and use a couple of plates to weigh it down; let it soak for 48 hours (timing this until the morning of). Remove the bird from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Take 1 lb of butter that you have left out at room temperature to soften; lift the skin of the turkey and spread the butter over all parts of the muscle. Now it’s time to season and roast. Season well with salt and ground pepper; you may add some rosemary, parsley, sage and thyme also.

It will only take approximately two hours to roast a spatchcocked turkey. Roast it at 450 degrees F for thirty minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 to finish. The turkey should reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Remove from the oven and allow to fully rest for 20 minutes prior to carving. Carving will be a breeze, as this enables you to take the breast off of the bone. Slice it down to a platter that you can arrange with some whole cranberries and rosemary skewers.

What an amazing time or year to reflect on the things we hold dear to our heart, show gratitude and enjoy a bit of indulgence and feast together. I wish you a joyous occasion filled with laughter and love.

But before you sit down to dinner, you may need a drink! We checked in with Kristen Kreft and MayaLou Banatwala, authors of Rocktails: An Amped Up Spin on Mixology, for suggestions on Fall drinks to create a cozy and festive scene, with or without alcohol.

Cider is a perfect Thanksgiving drink

Kristen Kreft and MayaLou Banatwala mixing up Rocktails. Photo by Sybilka Storie

that will also stay relevant through the New Year. Its history is interesting and ties in traditions of Fall Harvest celebrations and a collective hope for a fruitful winter and New Year. Its history ties to harvest celebrations and a collective hope for a fruitful New Year. Not only does mulled cider seem to soothe the soul and welcome Fall with its warmth and rich aroma, but is easy to make ahead of time. Traditional mulled cider may have derived from a traditional ceremonial drink called the Wassail Bowl. The Wassail was made from roasted apples and most likely originated in southwest England. The drink was a favorite at Wassail Night festivities which were full of Fall expectations, pagan rituals, and superstitions that lingered all the way into the New Year.

Original Wassail bowl ingredients included mulled ale, curdled cream, roasted apples, and eggs, with cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and sugar. Today the Wassail bowl may hold warmed ale brewed with honey and apples added to cider with mulling spices.

Rocktails Mulled Cider Recipe

Mulled Cider is not fussy, and we would love to make it easy for you. All you need is some store bought cider, Cinnamon sticks, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cloves, Citrus, and if you want to “Amp It Up,” a vanilla simple syrup.

In a large boiling pot, add one gallon of cider, 3 cinnamon sticks, a tea bag filled with 3 whole cloves, a ½ teaspoon of Allspice and some grated nutmeg. Slice up an orange into wheels and add to the cider mixture. If you choose to add the simple syrup, (and we wish you would) you only need to add in about 1 cup of vanilla simple syrup to the pot. Bring it all to a low boil and then turn down the temperature to a low simmer. And that’s it! Stir the pot often and serve with or without alcohol. We love either bourbon or spiced rum in our cider, and suggest adding 1.5-2 ounces of spirit in an 8 oz mug first, and then finish with filling the mug with cider.

Vanilla Simple Syrup Recipe

2 cups water
2 cups sugar
One vanilla bean

Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring often. When mixture is clear, throw in the vanilla bean and simmer on low for about 20 minutes making sure to stir occasionally.

The Jive Turkey inspired by the Ohio Players

1½ oz Wild Turkey Rye
½ oz Watershed Nocino Black Walnut Liqueur
2 Dashes Cardamom Bitters
Rhinegeist Dad Holiday Ale
Orange Peel

Combine rye, Nocino, and bitters in a mixing glass. Fill the glass with ice and shake your tail feathers. With love, strain into a large rocks glass. Top with beer until frothy and garnish with an orange peel.

We love local, and we just can’t get enough of Watershed’s (Columbus, Ohio) Nocino Black Walnut Liqueur. This recipe also features a local Rhinegeist beer, but you can get creative with seasonal beers such as MadTree Pumpcan or even Rhinegeist Crumb Cake Red Ale.

–From Rocktails: An Amped Up Spin on Mixology

In Old England, people would gather for a big fall festival in local orchards. Every region would have their own version of the ritual. They raised quite the ruckus by banging pots and pans and singing loud songs to ward off evil spirits or forces that might bring harm to the fruit trees and crops.

The event would almost always begin with a torch-lit procession around the orchard while the crowd banged their pots and chanted songs. There would be a Wassail King and Queen adorned with fruits and vegetables. There was a master of ceremonies dressed all in black called the Butler. (We love that the Butler could have been either a man or a woman!) The Butler would call the crowd to gather around the largest tree in the orchard. This tree would have had 12 small bonfires burning around it representing the 12 zodiac signs. The Butler then lead the congregation in songs specifically to please Pomona, The Apple Goddess, so she would grant them a healthy harvest. Then a ritual involving a small child placing cider soaked pieces of bread on the tree’s branches for good luck, with gunshots fired in the air to ward off evil spirits that might harm the harvest, takes place.

Once this ritual is completed, a sizable bowl of cider is passed around to each person claiming “wassail!” and “Drinkhail!”. If someone said these to you, you would respond with “good health” or “cheers!” Wassail comes from the phrase “Waea Hael” which means “Good Health!” What we love about this, aside from the cool tradition, is the chance for everyone to commune and gather together in good spirit.

Just because the turkey is the focus of the day doesn’t mean you still don’t need a centerpiece! If your inner Martha Stewart is all out of ideas for decorating, let Daisy Jane’s Flower Bar help you.

A great idea that can
get the kids involved

Megan and Sam from Daisy Jane’s Flower Shop.

is to go outside and forage for pine cones and pine or magnolia branches. Once you have everything, lay the branches overlapping each other in the center of the table and place pine cones and candles around the branches. To make it a little fancier you could use a scarf as a table runner, setting the branches on that. If you happen to have any cranberries leftover, you can fill glasses with those and water, then top with a floating candle.

If you or your neighbors have any small pumpkins or gourds left from Halloween, you could put those in the tablescape as well! You can't go wrong with bringing a little bit of the outside beauty of Fall indoors.

Want to really dress up the table? Daisy Jane's Flower Bar will be open the day before Thanksgiving, with pre-made bouquets if you need something quick. If you don’t have Oasis foam at home you can arrange the flowers in your hand and do a “chop & drop” into the vase.

You’ll want to be sure that the flowers look good from all sides if they are going in the center of the table. Also make sure to trim the flowers and put them in a low-sitting vase, so people can see around them as they talk around the table. Another tip – don’t put the flowers in the sun, as it ages them. Change the water every other day and give them a fresh cut to make them last longer!

Last but not least, you’ll need dessert for Thanksgiving! You have your last-chance to pick up your annual pumpkin pie at “Give Thanks for Pie & Bourbon” at Northside Distilling Co., 922 Race St., on Wednesday, Nov. 23.

This event is part of Meals on Wheels Southwest OH & Northern KY’s annual Bust a Crust! fundraiser, which raises funds to help support local seniors throughout the holiday season.

At the event you can pick up dessert for Thanksgiving and buy the limited edition Bust a Crust! bourbon, which promises to be a smooth way to end the day.

Talking Turkey

This is a time of year full of gratitude and joy