Think about the logistics and prep work that go into your family
Thanksgiving for 20 people. How in the world does Thanksgiving dinner for 1,000
happen?
Well, start with almost three dozen turkeys, 700 pounds of
potatoes and 75 pumpkin pies. And just keep going. And going. And going for
about a week straight. Until you’ve created all of the nearly two dozen menu
items (not to mention 15 to 20 different desserts) that will be rolled out for
the Thanksgiving dinner in a couple days at West Baden Springs Hotel.
The volume and quantities are staggering…
• 34 turkeys
• 400 pounds of regular potatoes
• 300 pounds of sweet potatoes
• 400 pounds of prime rib
• 300 pounds of shrimp
… And the planners and kitchen staff allowed us to peel back
the curtain and get a glimpse of how the colossal feast comes together. The
process isn’t necessarily difficult, but it is time intensive. Especially when
everything on this dinner table is made from scratch. No cranberry sauce from a
can, gravy from a jar or pumpkin pie from a freezer.
“We’re basically 100 percent from scratch. From the bread to the dressing to dessert; everything,” Ethan Smith, the hotel’s executive chef, says during a break from slicing turkey on Tuesday — after he spent a 12-hour day making only green bean casserole and roasted acorn squash soup on Monday. “It’s kind of mom-and-pop, grandma’s cooking. Some of these dishes are some of my grandma’s recipes, so every time I do this it makes me think of her and how she did it. And all my other staff members as well, it’s their family’s holiday recipe. It does take a lot of pride, and when you prepare all this you feel that kind of connection with your family and your roots.”
The dressing and the persimmon pudding recipes both come
straight from Ethan’s grandmother. Similarly, the cauliflower and broccoli
salad with applewood smoked bacon and black rind cheddar cheese has been served
for years at Tammy Qualkenbush’s Thanksgiving, and it found its way into the
West Baden feast when everyone in the kitchen tried it and loved it as well.
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| Nearly 100 heads of broccoli and cauliflower go into Tammy's broccoli and cauliflower salad with applewood smoked bacon and black rind cheddar cheese. |
Tammy and Ethan have been in the kitchen for all 11 Thanksgivings now at West Baden, dating back to the very first one after the hotel reopened. They served 330 people at that first Thanksgiving in Sinclair’s Restaurant. It doubled to 650 in 2009. And it expands a little bit every year, to the tune of more than 100 tables filling the West Baden Springs Hotel atrium.
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| Gradually adding checkmarks to the finished dessert list. |
The entire production is an orchestra involving multiple departments across the resort. The Pete Dye Course shares some of their tables. Concierge handles reservations. The floral department creates the centerpieces for a touch of color. Conference services helps get tables set up in the atrium (without starting too early in the morning Thursday to interrupt hotel guests still slumbering). The scheduling department rounds up associates to staff the event while also ensuring they can have Thanksgiving of their own — some work shorter 4-hour shifts to ensure they have family time also.
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| Save room for dessert. We'll have about 20 of them, including mini cranberry muffins and pumpkin pies (75 of 'em). |
Oh, and then there’s getting the linens and napkins (they’re
ordered special for Thanksgiving), keeping the beverages flowing (bloody marys
are huge early in the day with wine in high demand later) and mapping out the
table diagram (ever do a seating chart for 1,000?). That falls to a couple
managers who start prepping for this in October and have been going full-tilt
the last two weeks putting the finishing touches on perhaps our biggest holiday
of the year.
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| 50-pound bags of potatoes await their turn in the food prep cycle. |
Both Thanksgiving meals at French Lick and West Baden
Springs Hotels are already sold out, but if you’ve got a table reserved, check
out what awaits you in the buffet line at West Baden and French Lick in these
Thanksgiving feasts that are days, weeks and months in the making.