If you have a family member or close friend with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity that will be coming to your home for Thanksgiving dinner this year, accommodating them will be a challenge.
Even minute amounts of gluten can make them sick for several weeks, so you'll want to educate yourself on how to serve them safely.
Eating gluten free is not as easy as simply avoiding the stuffing and rolls. However, if your guest isn't new to a gluten-free diet, they are already used to having limited choices. You won't offend them by asking about their particular food issues and preferences.
In fact, they'll be grateful and appreciate your efforts if you contact them ahead of time to discuss the recipes, brand ingredients, and safe cooking methods that are so essential for those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Knowing the menu in advance will help them to:
- make realistic suggestions
- explain cautions you need to take
- loan you safe cookware and utensils, if necessary
- plan on bringing what you can't make yourself
Traditional Thanksgiving spreads can easily be contaminated with gluten, so how far you're willing to go to accommodate your guest, as well as how seriously the other guests take the necessary precautions to be, will determine how successful you are in giving your guest a memorable and safe holiday meal.
Cooking gluten free takes a lot of mindfulness.
There are precautions you have to take when purchasing ingredients and even more precautions while cooking the meal.
Mistakes are easy to make.
All it takes is a single distraction for your habitual nature to take over. Before you realize what you're doing, you could grab the spoon you used to toss together the green bean casserole and stir the potatoes that aren't quite ready to drain and mash; thus, contaminating the potatoes with gluten.
Likewise, there might be a batch of rolls you just pulled out of the oven, moved to a platter, but forgot to wash your hands before touching the gluten-free items when the kids started bickering.
You can't become an expert in a single day.
And no one expects you to.
But you don't have to learn everything there is to know about eating gluten free to cook a great Thanksgiving dinner.
All you have to know is how to cook one gluten-free meal safely.
Start with the Thanksgiving Menu
The easiest way to accommodate a gluten-free guest is to simply make the entire meal gluten free. That would eliminate the problems with:
- airborne flour in the kitchen
- mistakes with recipe ingredients or techniques
- contaminating the turkey with bread stuffing
- guests accidentally ruining the food on the table
For example, the turkey can be stuffed with flavorful and aromatic rice stuffing instead of the traditional soggy bread. The gravy can be thickened with cornstarch instead of flour.
Traditional platters of raw vegetables and fruit, bowls of mixed nuts, a tray of olives and pickles, deviled eggs are all gluten free. Same goes for the traditional cranberry sauce, sweet corn, lettuce salad, mashed potatoes, and yams.
While Campbell's cream of mushroom soup – a must in grandma's green bean casserole – will have to be exchanged for a gluten-free brand or the casserole eliminated in favor of roasted brussels sprouts or steamed asparagus, minor twists in tradition can bring a much-welcomed change of pace to a menu that's grown stale over the years.
All it takes is a little thought and planning to make a gluten-free Thanksgiving meal the best it can be, and no one will miss the gluten if you don't tell them it isn't there.
So first decide if you're going to go completely gluten free or just offer a sensible gluten-free dinner for your guest.
Write down the menu you'd like to serve and then do some research online to see if those foods can be adapted to fit the needs of your guest. Gluten-free cookbooks can be an advantage here, as they will walk you through the necessary steps that will help you keep your gluten-free guest safe.
Discuss the menu with your guest to become acquainted with their personal food sensitivities and what would make Thanksgiving special for them. Ask about their favorite fruits and vegetables and try to use those preferences when adapting recipes to fit their needs.
While going completely gluten free would be the easiest way to go, it's not the only way.
Second Best: Set up a Separate Table with Gluten-Free Foods
If your guests won't go along with a 100% gluten-free meal, or you just can't bring yourself to part with your favored holiday traditions, second best would be to set up a separate table where you place the gluten-free foods for your guest; so it's away from the main spread.
This cannot be a community table.
In a mixed environment, you'll have to take special precautions to keep the gluten-free food away from any potential contamination.
While hot rolls or thick slices of crusty french bread will result in bread crumbs flying all over the table, a single bread crumb is all it takes to set off an autoimmune reaction.
In the same way, if someone puts a roll on their plate and then touches the fruit platter or tray of deviled eggs on the gluten-free safe table, that will leave just enough gluten behind to make your guest very sick.
Have your Guest Serve Themselves First
While setting up a separate table and keeping a close eye on your other guests to make sure they don't contaminate the food will definitely take a lot of work, the only other safe alternative would be to have your gluten-free guest serve themselves first.
That way, everything on the table would not be contaminated with gluten.
The downside to using this method is that it won't give your guest the opportunity to go back for seconds. Keeping additional safe food in the kitchen would be one way to get around the problem.
However, if you're making your own rolls or pumpkin pie a day or two ahead, or if you're putting a flour-based crumbly topping to finish off your sweet potato casserole, rather than brown sugar and marshmallows, the kitchen will be contaminated with airborne flour.
Baking or Cooking with Flour Contaminates the Kitchen
When you cook or bake with flour, whether it's from a bag of all-purpose flour or a flour-based cake mix, microscopic particles are blown into the air and will stay airborne for several hours.
You can see this for yourself when you buy a bag of flour.
Since the bags are not air tight, they poof flour dust through the seams when you try to pick up the bag. The same thing happens when you try to dump the contents of a cake mix into a bowl.
Not only will your guest breathe in that flour dust if they walk into the kitchen, but once the flour begins to fall to the ground, it will land on your kitchen counters, the utensils you're using, and anything in the kitchen left uncovered.
When I first went gluten free, I used to grind my own rice flour and that flour dust stayed in the air for several days afterward. Granted, it was a lot of dust. More than you'd find in the average kitchen, but it got all over the counters and everything I had sitting out.
As the rice flour settled to the ground, it deposited a layer of white dust on the floor and counters that I had to consistently clean up.
Although, you might not be able to see the flour in the air, on the floor, or on the counters – the dust is definitely there.
This doesn't mean you have to Spring clean your kitchen just to make a safe meal, but you'll need to designate a counter, or part of a larger counter, for your gluten-free meal prep.
That counter will have to be thoroughly cleaned and everything on it removed, so that it's only used for gluten-free foods.
The same goes for wherever you plan on storing the safe ingredients you purchase for the occasion. You'll need to thoroughly clean a shelf in the cupboard and dedicate a spot in the refrigerator.
Let's Talk Turkey
Turkey is essentially gluten free, but make sure that you read the ingredient list on the package. Since meat in the U.S. falls under the jurisdiction of the USDA, rather than the FDA, the rules are different than for other products.
Meat manufacturers can't hide barley under generic terms like natural flavorings. Any protein grain used, any gluten in the injected broth or saline solution, must be clearly listed on the label.
Watch for the words: wheat, barley, or rye.
Those are the grains a celiac must stay away from.
The contamination from turkey often comes from the gravy packet that's tucked inside the plastic casing. Be very careful when you cut the covering open because if you accidentally slice into the gravy packet, or if the packet was already leaking for some reason, it will ruin the turkey for your guest.
Gluten is a very sticky substance and can't be washed off the turkey.
Stuffing the bird with bread stuffing will likewise contaminate the whole bird due to the awkwardness of getting the stuffing into the bird's cavity.
If bread stuffing is a must, you can either use gluten-free bread or a gluten-free stuffing mix to make the dish. You can also bake the stuffing completely covered in a separate baking dish on an oven shelf that is “below” the bird.
Anything baked in the oven above the bird can contaminate it.
You only want to place gluten-free foods on the top shelf.
You can also use a stove-top stuffing mix, but you don't want to stuff that into the turkey.
Many people on gluten-free diets use brown rice instead of bread cubes to make their stuffing. Others simply bake the turkey with no stuffing at all. Stuffing a turkey breast with a homemade gluten-free stuffing made from gluten-free bread crumbs is another alternative.
Whichever way you go, you'll have to decide what to roast the bird in.
If you have a turkey roaster, but have stuffed your turkey before, the pan might not be safe; especially, if stuffing fell out into the pan or you've made a flour-thickened gravy in that pan before.
Since cookware is not always gluten free, and it isn't worth making a mistake, it's best to use a disposable aluminum roasting pan for baking the turkey. You could also cover the bottom of the pan with aluminum foil to protect the bird from the pan.
Both of these ideas will make clean up a breeze.
Gravy can be made from the turkey drippings, but you'll have to use cornstarch or potato flour (not potato starch) to thicken the drippings.
Some gluten-free websites will tell you to use sweet-rice flour, but this type of flour is extra gritty and won't come out well at all. Gravy cannot be thickened with all-purpose flour unless your guest isn't going to eat the gravy.
The Ugly Side of Cooking Gluten Free
When first diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance, you have to replace most of your kitchen utensils, gadgets, small appliances, and bakeware.
While that isn't practical for someone who just wants to cook a single gluten-free meal, you do have to consider those types of cross contamination and take the necessary steps to avoid harming your guest.
For example, if you have a breadmaker that you make homemade bread in, you can't clean out the bread chamber and use it to whip up a gluten-free bread mix. Once cooked in your breadmaker, the bread won't be gluten free.
The bread chamber contains seams, cracks, crevices, and maybe even scratches where gluten can hide.
Likewise, sharing a toaster is out. Same for your cutting board, serrated knives, the colander you drain the potatoes in before you mash them, and any serving spoons made of wood or vinyl.
Slotted spoons are also difficult to clean well enough.
Plastic storage containers will be contaminated if you have ever used the microwave to heat something up in them. Large plastic bowls could have gluten embedded into the plastic and your electric mixer is likely to be contaminated with flour dust.
Non-stick cookware can also be problematic if scratched because gluten can be embedded in those scratches.
The safest pans that can be cleaned easily?
Stainless steel or glazed enamel.
Glass or traditional enamel pans also clean up well, but there cannot be even one spec of grease left on them. Gluten will embed itself into the grease.
The list of possibilities is long, so creating a menu beforehand will help a lot. If you know the recipes you're going to make and what spices, utensils, pots, bakeware, and appliances you're going to need, you can plan ahead by discussing things with your guest.
That way, you can borrow what you need from your gluten-free family member or friend.
Most cookie sheets or cake pans can be covered with foil to create a protective barrier. The same thing can be done on a grill. If this is a person you're likely to cook for again, you could also drop by your local dollar store for cheap utensils, pans, and safe serving dishes – labeling them and storing them for future needs.
If you have a dishwasher, you won't have to worry about glasses, plates, and bowls, as a dishwasher will clean everything well enough. However, decorative paper plates and cups would make clean up much easier, especially since you'll have several extra chores to do.
Ask Your Guest to Bring Something They can Eat
Don't feel timid about asking your gluten-free guest to bring something they can eat.
Many people on gluten-free diets would rather bring a couple of safe dishes with them, such as their favorite Thanksgiving side dish or a nice holiday dessert, rather than having to sit around watching everyone else eat because you made a mistake or another guest accidentally contaminated the food.
Set them up with a separate table of their own, take special care with the turkey, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies, and most gluten-free individuals will be thrilled at your thoughtfulness and won't be afraid to come back.
Set them up with a separate table of their own, take special care with the turkey, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies, and most gluten-free individuals will be thrilled at your thoughtfulness and won't be afraid to come back.
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