Making the best of Turkey Day dinner disasters The turkey’s still frozen solid. The gravy comes out lumpy. The guests arrive before the food is finished. Big holiday dinners can be tough to orchestrate. Don't worry. Most kitchen failures can be fixed with a little ingenuity and flexibility. If the buttered carrots morph into carrot soup or the cake becomes “pudding” at the last minute, no one needs to know that isn’t what you’d planned all along. The most important thing is to keep your cool.