Impress Your Thanksgiving Guests With Dishes Straight from the Cookbooks of Illenium, Deorro, More

With turkey, potatoes and cranberries galore, if you don’t end your Thanksgiving with a straining waistband and a tryptophan-induced post-meal nap, you’re doing something wrong. 

To help prep your menu, we’ve cooked up a list of seven top DJ and music producers’ favorite Thanksgiving meals and recipes. Hailing from the US, Canada and Germany, they each celebrate the holiday in their own ways, but have come together to bring you all the necessary ingredients for a five-star dinner—depending on your skills in the kitchen, that is.

ILLENIUM

First up is future bass star ILLENIUM, who selected Bourbon Yams with Pecan Topping as his favorite Thanksgiving meal.

“I grew up eating this on Thanksgiving at my grandma “Mops” house. I’m not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving food in general but these yams are fire and something I’m definitely grabbing seconds of. The best part is the topping which is this delicious layer of brown sugar candied pecans (my fam usually doubles the topping recipe—it’s that good). I remember my sister and I would get in trouble for eating some of the topping before it was served. Our whole family uses this recipe so no matter where we spend the holidays, it still feels like home when I eat these yams.”

Find his recommended five-step recipe here. 

WHIPPED CREAM

For her dish of choice, Canadian bass wunderkind WHIPPED CREAM selected, to no surprise, “a bowl of whipped cream with a tiny sliver of pumpkin pie.” “It is so special to me I even made it my career name,” she said. 

For this one, the ingredients are sweet and simple: “One heavy cream, one whip.” 

Felix Jaehn

In Germany, Thanksgiving is celebrated as an early October harvest festival called Erntedankfest. While his family never celebrated the holiday, famed DJ and music producer Felix Jaehn is looking forward to hosting his first “proper Thanksgiving” this year with some American friends, using an outdoor campfire to stay socially distanced. 

“Personally, it’s important that it’s seasonal and local food, because to be grateful for the food that’s growing around me for the harvest, that’s the crucial idea behind Thanksgiving, for me. I think we’re going to try to make a vegan burger and I have some amazing vegan aioli that a friend makes. I’m going to throw some onions on it, and instead of the bun I sometimes like to use portobello mushrooms because they make it extra juicy. That’s a little trick of mine. And then, as a side, we’ll do oven potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper, as well as rosemary and thyme from the garden.”

Deorro

According to Los Angeles native Deorro, despite the many, many ways to cook the humble potato, the mashed variety is unbeatably superior. Mashed potatoes also just so happen to be his favorite Thanksgiving food. 

Check out his recipe here. His preferred method involves russet potatoes, sour cream and a big ole bag of Mexican cheese. 

Louis the Child

Behind the Louis the Child moniker are two Chicago-born producers named Freddy Kennett and Robby Hauldren. 

Kennett: “When I think of Thanksgiving, the first food I think of is pumpkin pie! I love a good pumpkin pie, and my extended family would always have 6-10 different pumpkin pies at our thanksgiving dinner. I’d try them all, and the sweet and tasty ones were always my favorite. I remember one year, there was a viral video of someone eating a Patti LaBelle pumpkin pie, and they were screaming, “Ohh Patti!!! Patti!! My god Paatttii!!!’ And my family was joking around all night saying ‘Ohhh Patti!!!'”

Hauldron: “I immediately think of mashed potatoes. I’m lactose intolerant so my Mom is always kind enough to make a separate batch of mashed potatoes for me without milk. They’ve always been my favorite Thanksgiving food and the dish that I grab seconds and thirds of. When I was really young I ate 20 lbs of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving and then didn’t eat anything for three weeks because I was so full.”

Together, they recommend Kennett’s morning go-to, a Jimmy Dean’s Breakfast Sandwich, and Robby’s tried-and-true recipe for a sugar-free ice water. Find their step-by-step instructions here. 

Young Bombs

Canadian powerhouse duo Young Bombs may not necessarily recommend the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dessert they whipped up for us in the video below, but it’s certainly colorful.

“A couple of years ago, we celebrated a nontraditional Thanksgiving with each other. Tristan decided to handle the dessert and rather than make a festive pumpkin pie, he created his own disasterpiece. What sounded like a good idea on paper turned out to be the worst holiday creation of the century and Martin can attest to it.”

Dr. Fresch

For his Thanksgiving meal, Dr. Fresch prescribes Zesty Orange Cranberry Sauce, putting a special kick on the essential side dish.

“Thanksgiving has always been special to my family—we love to eat! Like a good Dr. Fresch set, staples in my family are remixes of classics; cranberry sauce is our family staple. What makes our sauce so incredibly fire is the orange infusion, and taking care to choose quality orange juice and zest. If you are as large as I am and consequently have a greater understanding of the palette, you would understand the importance of the sweet and savory combination on the big day. This food is special to me because of this, and because of how we always rave about the sauce.”

To make exactly what the doctor ordered, find his recipe here.