- Elizabeth Taylor’s favorite Thanksgiving dish was turkey wings with gravy.
- She hosted up to 45 people at one long, elaborate table in her home.
- Her gatherings mixed classic dishes with stylish, creative presentations.
There are few celebrities as iconic as Elizabeth Taylor, and for good reason. The actor and activist, who died in 2011, is known for everything from her iconic film roles to her long list of ex-husbands. And recent years have kept the violet-eyed star’s name in lights, too. Her classic perfume, White Diamonds, has grown in popularity with the TikTok generation and the catchy lyrics of the song “Elizabeth Taylor” from Taylor Swift’s latest album have new generations of pop culture fans singing the National Velvet star’s name.
But Taylor’s life wasn’t all red carpets and whirlwind romances. One of the actor’s great loves was entertaining in her Los Angeles home. Neil Zevnik, a professional private chef who worked for Taylor for nearly two decades, says Taylor had a particular love of hosting a large-scale dinner on Thanksgiving, when she’d invite nearly 50 guests over to share a meal.
“It was a classic, American Thanksgiving with turkey, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole,” Zevnik tells EatingWell. “Her two favorite things were, strangely enough, turkey wings and gravy. Nobody else wanted turkey wings, but I would actually have to make extra because she not only wanted to have several for Thanksgiving, but she liked the leftovers as well.”
But those turkey wings needed a little something on the side to be absolutely perfect, Zenik says. “She was very fond of gravy—classic turkey gravy,” he says. “I’d make a nice reduced stock and a roux and add the pan drippings from the turkey to make it rich.”
Zevnik, who worked for Taylor full-time for about seven years, then transitioned to helping her host holidays and social gatherings once her “health was declining a bit,” says the recipes he prepared for Taylor’s Thanksgiving dinner were all his, so he didn’t learn any Taylor-family recipes. He did, however, get to know many of the star’s family members while helping host the gathering, which he says ranged “anywhere from 30 to 45 people.”
House of Taylor
“She loved having everyone at one table, so we actually would have one huge table for the grown ups and then a smaller table for the little kids,” says Zevnik. “In order to facilitate that, because she did not have a grand house—it was just a ‘60s ranch-style house—we’d have a moving company come in and remove all the furniture from the living room and an extra room that we called the trophy room because it was where all her legions of awards and trophies were.”
When the extraneous furniture was cleared away, Zevnik and Taylor could finally make room for all of her merry-making guests.
“We would create this huge table that could seat like 44 people from five banquet tables,” he adds. “I would make this very elaborate centerpiece because that’s a vast expanse of table, most of which is not being used. I would use draperies of fabric and flower arrangements from Mark’s Garden, which was our favorite place, and candles and tchotchkes and make this very elaborate display in the middle of the table.”
Prepping for the event took Zevnik several days. He’d start shopping for food and supplies the week before Thanksgiving then spend “at least Monday through Thursday” working on the spread.
So who was on the guest list for an Elizabeth Taylor Thanksgiving? Zevnik says she’d limit the holiday invite list. “Notable people at her gatherings tended to be from Old Hollywood in a sense, but not so much at Thanksgiving, which was mostly family and close friends,” he tells us. “When it came to family there were kids and grandkids and nephews and their kids.”
Still, there were other occasions where Taylor’s home had more of a red carpet feel.
“For things like Roddy McDowall’s memorial service, we had like 120 people and that had a lot of big names from Cher to Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson,” says Zevnik. “And Easter, which was her other favorite, was very elaborate, focused on kids and family and the Easter egg hunt. At those, there were people like Shirley MacLaine, Lauren Bacall, Gregory Peck’s wife Veronique, Carrie Fisher and Madonna with [her daughter] Lourdes when Lourdes was probably about 8.”
Other dishes on Taylor’s Turkey Day table ranged from the simple to the extravagant. “We did green beans,” says Zevnik, “and one of the things that was actually kind of a fun presentation was I’d take broccoli and cauliflower florets and make them into a mounded globe that looked like a checkerboard globe of white and green. Then, I’d drizzle it with a combination of olive oil, orange zest, and black pepper and a little bit of melted butter for flavor.”
Though dishes like his cruciferous bouquet might seem a bit out of the box for Thanksgiving, Zevnik says that Taylor appreciated classic dishes, too—but she always welcomed a twist. “She didn’t want it weird,” he notes, “but she wanted it interesting.”
If you want to bring a little Liz Taylor glamour to your spread this Thanksgiving, consider making some of our favorite showstoppers. A sage-studded dish of Melting Sweet Potatoes with Brown Butter could be a beautiful addition to your table, and colorful Garlic-Butter Roasted Beets would be great, too. And if you’re still trying to decide on a centerpiece, we recommend a flavor-packed Pumpkin Trifle—the layers are sure to impress your guests.
