Surviving a Buffet for Thanksgiving

You might wonder why I didn’t post this article before the recent holiday, but before this year I’d not gone to a buffet for thanksgiving (since being gluten-free) so that was not possible. This was my fifth gluten-free Thanksgiving and the first one we have eaten out for. Once I found out we were going out to eat, I had to contact the chef and find out if he knew what gluten-free meant well before Thanksgiving. If I felt confident that he knew how to feed gluten-free diners safely, we could eat there. If I didn’t, we’d need to make alternative plans for the holiday.

Thankfully, the chef knew more about what gluten-free means in terms of ingredients, preparation, and presentation than any other country club chef I’ve dealt with. There were only eight things on the salad and main tables I could not eat and four of them were bread items. Obviously, the dessert table was a different story, but I was able to have both maple crème brulee and flourless chocolate layer cake.

Many people who are gluten-free would not dare eat at a buffet of any kind, but the way a buffet is set up makes up all the difference regarding how safe buffet dining is (or isn’t). For instance, if croutons are in the middle section of a three-deep buffet dish arrangement, the odds are that some croutons were dropped into the dishes around them. Alternatively, if the croutons are at the end of the bar, there are probably not any croutons in the other dishes that are nowhere near the crouton container.

Luckily for me, the setup at our Thanksgiving meal buffet was especially friendly for anyone who had to avoid certain dishes. The only thing on the soup/salad table that contained gluten was the crostini for the smoked salmon and it was placed in a basket instead of on the fish platter. Even the butternut squash soup was gluten-free. Due to the way the hot foods were laid out on long tables with plenty of space between each of the dishes, one would be hard-pressed to use the wrong serving utensil for said dishes.

There was one snafu regarding the turkey on the buffet, but the chef advised me that he’d need to bring me turkey from the kitchen before I even saw the presentation for it. Both the regular and Cajun turkey was laid over the cornbread dressings in the serving dishes, making it unsafe for anyone with a wheat, corn or gluten intolerance to eat. Both the ham and prime rib were fine as they were both gluten-free and at carving stations. I’m not sure I’ve ever had Cajun turkey before, but I think it might be my favorite type of turkey now. It was absolutely divine!

Like most Thanksgiving, I ate too much and almost everything I had was incredible. Did I miss having pecan pie and dressing for the big dinner – or in this case lunch? Yes, in fact, I did. That’s why I took my own Honeybaked turkey, cornbread dressing, pecan pie, and mac-n-cheese to enjoy for dinner that evening. I held off on making green bean casserole with homemade fried onions until later that weekend at home.

I’ve got to say that the green bean casserole was spectacular this year because the new condensed cream of mushroom soup from Pacific Natural Foods is so delicious. Also, the homemade fried onions made with Jules Gluten Flour took the dish to a whole new level! I’m all about taking shortcuts in the kitchen on most given days, but making homemade fried onions (that are much better than the French version in a can) was well worth the thirty minutes it took to do it.

For me, Thanksgiving is partly about leftovers which you don’t get if you go out to eat. Therefore, taking my own food to enjoy at my in-laws made sense on several levels. I had what I consider a true Thanksgiving dinner (with dressing and pie) on Thanksgiving Day and had plenty of leftovers to bring home. Hopefully, all of you had a tasty gluten-free holiday meal as well!