As you slept last night, executive chef Juan Torres went to work at 2 a.m. cooking the first few of about 20 butter-moistened turkeys.

He and 25 or 30 others will prepare hundreds of pounds of food today, to feed an estimated 500 people at the Radisson's annual Thanksgiving buffet.

They'll make pastry-encrusted salmon Wellington, yams, potatoes, pork loin, stuffed chicken breast, slow-roasted prime rib, cheese blintzes and mashed potatoes, for starters.

The list of all they're roasting and baking for the midday champagne brunch is much longer, and the walk-in fridge is tightly packed on Wednesday, with little room to walk.

Northern Arizona University finance major Adrian Arenas, typically a server or busboy, is cutting about 100 pounds of crab legs with a knife, to make them easier to open.

Another cook chops five-gallon buckets full of yams.

Several people working part time, or who usually work other jobs but have cooking experience, volunteer to help in the kitchen with Thanksgiving.

Across the kitchen, the boss of the teppanyaki side of the restaurant, Reuben Stoller, is putting Dijon mustard seed on prime rib, as people chopping and carrying food and platters move in and out of the kitchen constantly.

PRE-DAWN CARVING

Sometime in the pre-dawn hours before Thanksgiving, another man is scheduled to arrive to do a large carving in fruit for a banquet display.

Two women are folding hundreds of cloth napkins in the buffet room, where chaffing pans are set up around a large scarecrow display.

The banquet area seats about 350 or 400 at once, and phones will be re-routed to a hostess taking incoming customers.

Torres removes two large Atlantic salmon from the oven, where they were slowly smoking.

They will be carved, and lined up with creamed cheese.

There will be pizza for kids who don't like typical Thanksgiving food and champagne for adults.

FROM 4 A.M. TO 6 P.M.

Rod Davari has lived in Flagstaff 25 years and worked at Bashas' for 20.

He also works at the Radisson part time, typically for Sunday brunches, and is making garbanzo bean salad from a recipe he knows by heart, after having learned to cook from a few different chefs.

On Thanksgiving he'll start at the Radisson at 4 a.m., then go to work at Bashas' for a few hours, and return to the Radisson to finish out the day, working until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.

Anyone who knows how to cook always has a job, he said, and he enjoys his work.

Others will begin cooking at 6 a.m. for the brunch that begins at 10 a.m.

Lists on the wall count out dishes to be made, and who is staffing the carving and omelet stations, including nicknames for some of the staff.

BIGGEST COOKING DAY OF THE YEAR

There is some banter, as everyone stirs and chops and squeezes past each other.

"A lot of us spend more time together than we do with our significant others, so you've gotta have a sense of humor," Stoller said.

He typically works 10- to 12-hour shifts, so Thanksgiving serving omelets is a shorter day than usual. Stoller hasn't missed working a holiday in at least five years.

For Torres, this is one of the biggest cooking days of the year, along with Mother's Day, Christmas and Easter.

While others are dining on food he has prepared, he'll be on energy drinks and coffee.

Cyndy Cole can be reached at 913-8607 or at ccole@azdailysun.com.

Walking off those calories

Interested in walking off some of that Thanksgiving feast?

The following locations remain open Thanksgiving Day:

— Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim, open 24 hours, (928) 638-7888.

— Wupatki National Monument, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., (928) 679-2365.

— Walnut Canyon National Monument, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., (928) 526-3367.

— Sunset Crater National Monument,9 a.m. to 5 p.m., (928) 526-0502.

— Riordan Mansion State Park, 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tours starting at 11 a.m., (928) 779-4395.