A Julia Child Thanksgiving

I don't know about you, but I always start out with a grand design for Thanksgiving in my head. It includes: a whole golden roast turkey with crackling skin on a silver platter, cloud-like mashed potatoes in china bowl, braised greens with the faint scent of smoky hickory, deep red cranberry sauce, and shimmering gravy — it's how I imagine Julia would do it.

Click here for the Top 10 Ways Julia Child Changed the Way We Cook slideshow.

Now for a taste of reality — only five of the 20 people invited actually like turkey, so I simultaneously roast a turkey and a rib roast. Then, there is the sweet or regular potatoes problem: Which potato? Both potatoes? Both potatoes.

By dinner time, it is a mad scramble to get all of the now 15 or so dishes on the table. So this year, I am doing it Julia's way.

Julia Child, the six-foot-two tall legend, brought French cooking to America in a two volume cookbook. Mastering the Art of French Cooking became the textbook for how to cook classic French recipes at home. Once Child's first television show, The French Chef, aired on national television in 1963, she became a household name.

Child became the go-to for tough cooking questions. According to a New York Times article, Sheryl Julian, the current food editor for The Boston Globe, who spent a Thanksgiving or two at Child's home, witnessed just how much people relied on Child's expertise. "Every time she hung up, it would ring again, and it would be another total stranger with a turkey problem," said Julian in the New York Times article.

So here are the facts. We know Julia opted for that picture perfect whole roasted turkey with stuffing on the side. As is evident from her recipes, she put an emphasis on simple seasonings, like salt and pepper, but seasoning everything well — as is the French way — and she opted for delicious simplicity over complicated and fussy.

Here are a few recipes that depict how we imagine a Julia Child Thanksgiving menu would look today, with all the fixings, minus the fuss.

There's no such thing as too many starchy dishes on the holiday buffet table, right? For many families, Thanksgiving dinner wouldn't be right without mashed . It seems there is always one family member relegated to the task of whipping them at the last minute — an honorable duty. And there is always someone else leaning over his shoulder making sure he adds a bit more butter. If you want to assign mashed potato duty to a family member, but would like to avoid the last-minute chaos in the kitchen, know that it works perfectly well to cook and mash potatoes up to one hour in advance. They can be kept warm in the top of a double-boiler set over simmering water, or reheated in a microwave oven just before serving. If you use a to-do-ahead plan, be sure to add an extra pat of butter, or two! —Diane Morgan

For the Classic Mashed Potatoes recipe, click here.

table or as a side at seasonal dinner party. This recipe uses gluten-free brioche, adding another level of richness to the dish. — Lena Kwak

For the Brioche Stuffing recipe, click here.