Tell Me All About Your Family’s Biggest Thanksgiving Cooking Catastrophe

Julia Corrigan
·1-min read

Thanksgiving is coming up, and with it... a lot of nostalgic fun! And let's be real, a lot of stress. Who's house are we going to?! Will Uncle Jim be there? And most importantly, who's cooking what?

Family enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, with an elderly man serving a roasted turkey to two smiling children and a woman
Chuck Savage / Getty Images

I swear, every family has a legendary tale of some horrible Thanksgiving cooking mishap, and in retrospect, they are always hilarious. So, I want to know: what dish went terribly wrong on your Thanksgiving?

Maybe Dad once burned the turkey so bad you're still talking about it 15 years later. Or maybe he tried to deep fry it and almost caused the house to burn down. Tell me about it!

A roasted spatchcock chicken seasoned with herbs, displayed on a wooden platter on a kitchen table
A roasted spatchcock chicken seasoned with herbs, displayed on a wooden platter on a kitchen table
Large pot of boiling liquid outdoors with a thermometer attached; turkey is partially submerged in the liquid
Large pot of boiling liquid outdoors with a thermometer attached; turkey is partially submerged in the liquid

u/hopefaithcourage / Via reddit.com, Lavonna Moore / Getty Images/iStockphoto

Perhaps a dish exploded, or your poor mother gave everyone food poisoning, or someone's toddler got into EVERY SINGLE PIE. What happened?!

Pumpkin pie with a slice missing on a vintage stove, alongside green bean casserole and another dish
Laurie Rubin / Getty Images

Or maybe your well-meaning sister, who doesn't really know her way around your kitchen, accidentally set fire to your oven. If you've ever called firefighters away from their dinner table on Turkey Day, I want to hear about it!

Kitchen interior with fire engulfing the stove area, filling the room with flames and smoke. A table and chairs are visible in the foreground
Michael Blann / Getty Images

Whatever happened, this is your chance to dish about it! (Haha, get it? Dish?) Leave your best Thanksgiving fails down in the comments below. Or, if you want to write in but prefer to stay anonymous, you can check out this anonymous Google form! Who knows — your answer may end up in an upcoming BuzzFeed article.