This week, we’re looking ahead to the big Thanksgiving holiday and family feasts. Carla Hall joins us with a soul food-inspired take on the big day; her latest book is Carla Hall’s Soul Food. Lan Lam from America’s Test Kitchen has a gravy technique that is going to make you a major player in the gravy game. We get a lesson in fixing last-minute dessert disasters from Kristen Miglore, author of Food52’s Genius Desserts. And for your dinner table conversation, Smithsonian curator and anthropologist Logan Kistler explains the wily relationship between mastodons, man and pumpkins. Francis talks with listener Alma from Boston about preparing light appetizers for Thanksgiving guests, and Elizabeth from Washington, DC, who claims she can never cook poultry correctly.

We also have two recipe videos featuring Food52's Kristen Miglore for Secretly Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies and Greek Yogurt Chocolate Mousse. See those videos here.

Broadcast dates for this episode:

• November 16, 2018 (originally aired)
• November 22, 2019 (rebroadcast)