I'm not cooking on Friday (and you don't have to either)
I’ve worked every Thanksgiving for the past 12 years.
Line cook. Sous chef. Executive chef. Same story every year: 300 covers, 14-hour shifts, turkey three ways, and a kitchen that hits 95 degrees by 2 PM.
You know what I learned? The smartest cooks prep something that works around the chaos—not against it.
This year, you’re doing Thanksgiving at home. And I’m going to show you how to set yourself up so Friday doesn’t feel like the day after a battle.
The Plan: One Soup, Five Meals
Your kitchen is going to be chaos tomorrow. The oven’s full, the stovetop’s packed, and you’re timing six different things at once.
The last thing you need is another complicated recipe competing for space.
Here’s a question: What if you could make one thing Thursday—while everything else is already cooking—that takes care of most of your meals for the rest of the week?
That’s exactly what we’re doing.
One pot of White Bean & Kale Soup that simmers on a back burner while everything else happens. It needs minimal attention, fills your house with the smell of garlic and rosemary, and becomes the foundation for your entire week.
Then we transform your holiday leftovers into five different meals:
→ Friday: Soup + leftover sides (you’re too tired to cook)
→ Saturday: Turkey & white bean flatbread with arugula
→ Sunday: Soup & salad reset (light after a heavy week)
→ Monday: Turkey fried rice (the best use of leftovers)
→ Tuesday: Soup & grilled cheese (comfort food to end the week)
No dry sandwiches. No “turkey again?” groans. Just practical cooking that uses what you’ve already got.
[Download this week’s full meal plan here →]
Inside the PDF:
Complete White Bean & Kale Soup recipe
All 5 meal variations with step-by-step instructions
Complete grocery list
Storage and reheating guide
Chef’s notes throughout
What This Really Is
This isn’t about being a better cook or mastering some complicated technique.
It’s about answering the question that hits you every single evening: “What’s for dinner?”
Think about it: How much mental energy do you spend every week figuring out what to cook? How many times do you stand in front of an open fridge hoping inspiration will strike? How often does 6 PM arrive and you realize you have no plan?
That daily decision is exhausting.
CulinaryBrief exists to take that decision off your plate (pun intended). Every Thursday, you get a meal plan. Real recipes. Real kitchens. Real groceries you can actually find.
Not Instagram-perfect food styling. Not “clean eating” rules or diet culture nonsense. Just practical systems that help you eat well without thinking about it every single day.
This week’s system: One soup. Your leftovers. Five meals. Done.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
A Thanksgiving Reflection
I’m grateful for a lot this year. Health. Family. This little corner of the internet where I get to share what I know.
But here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately:
We’ve overcomplicated cooking.
Somewhere along the way, making dinner became this performance. This test of worthiness. Like if you’re not meal prepping in matching glass containers or making everything from scratch, you’re failing.
That’s nonsense.
Professional kitchens don’t operate that way. We use systems. We make one thing work in multiple ways. We don’t waste anything. And we definitely don’t make it harder than it needs to be.
So here’s my ask this week:
Give yourself permission to keep it simple. Make the soup. Use your leftovers. Feed yourself and your family without the pressure to be perfect.
That’s what I’m grateful for—the freedom to cook in a way that actually fits real life.
What CulinaryBrief Actually Is
I’ve been thinking about how to describe what we’re doing here. And I think I’ve been overcomplicating it.
Here’s the simple version:
CulinaryBrief is where regular people come for a professional chef’s weekly meal plan.
That’s it.
Not wellness advice. Not fitness content. Not lifestyle brand aspirations.
Just real meal planning. Real recipes. The kind of practical cooking systems restaurants use, adapted for your home kitchen.
Every Thursday. One meal plan. You can use it exactly as written, or treat it as a framework and make it your own.
No fluff. No backstories. No 10-paragraph blog post before the recipe.
Just: Here’s what we’re making this week. Here’s how to do it. Here’s why it works.
That’s the promise. That’s what you can count on.
Your Turn
If you make any of these meals this week, I want to hear about it.
Specifically:
Which meal are you trying first?
Did the soup work while you were cooking everything else Thursday?
What leftovers are you working with?
Reply to this email. Send me a photo. I read every response, and honestly, hearing what’s happening in your kitchen is my favorite part of this whole thing.
See you next Thursday with a new meal plan.
Happy Thanksgiving.
— CulinaryBrief
P.S. If you’re new here: Welcome. Every Thursday I send one meal plan—chef-designed recipes you can actually make at home. No diet culture. No perfection required. Just practical cooking systems for real life. Glad you’re here.