Thanksgiving perfection tip

There was barely time to empty the Halloween candy bowl before advice began about fabulous new things to liven up Thanksgiving.

Toss out boring potatoes in favor of mashed cauliflower! Substitute julienned bok choy for Aunt Irma’s green bean casserole! As for turkey, if you must have such a hackneyed entree, then at least glaze the result with a sriracha-molasses reduction and festoon it with candied kumquats.

Why not keep Thanksgiving just as it is? It’s the worst possible time to try something new.

There you are with 12 hungry relations in your living room, looking wistfully toward the kitchen as they scour the shrimp platter for stray scraps of lettuce. You are trying seven new recipes, all with lightly fictionalized cooking times. Dinner will be on the table just in time to ring in the New Year.

Thanksgiving is already America’s favorite holiday. It has no purpose but the food, its religious significance having faded to insignificance. Thanksgiving’s nostalgic pull is anchored to the dishes that food writers keep trying to wean us off of: turkey, casseroles, stuffing, pumpkin pies.

We eat them because they’re wonderful, the distilled essence of fall on a single plate.

Novelty is gilding the lily. So please join me in ignoring all the “new traditions” being pushed. Instead, let’s collectively embrace a fine old one, known as leaving well enough alone.