Okay, I realize that Thanksgiving is over, but I just have to give some love to the turducken -- besides, there's always Christmas to aim for! Being an out-of-country American, I always feel a bit of a twinge when it comes to Thanksgiving. On the one hand, I get to celebrate it early (October). On the other, when all my States-side friends are Twittering about their roasts and blogging about their get-togethers, I succumb to the Thanksgiving angst. (It is one of my favorite times of the year, after all.)
Anyway, this year I headed for the local Cajun joint and had turducken. I figured: Why not? It's not something that pops up on the menu everyday. Holy boy -- it may get its share of jabs, but done right -- turducken is darned tasty. When mixed with oyster, corn, and sausage stuffing, topped with liquor-laced gravy, and teamed with gruyère Brussels sprout gratinee that tastes like galumpkis? Heaven.
So don't let the name fool you -- turducken can be quite good. Try it. I dare you!
You could get kissed under the mistletoe, or just ignore the lip-to-lip contact and have yourself a Mistletoe cocktail instead! There's less drool, less chance of garlic breath, and you only need you to make it happen.
Turduckens are all the rage, but why not get creative and try a Gocamellamben, a peaducken, or maybe even an oxveallambturgucken?
You guys are right: The problem with The Next Food Network Star is that it challenges the contestants with tasks that I can't imagine them having to face if they actually win. I watched last night with a friend who had never seen before, and he was pretty much laughing out loud. That said, I still kind of really like it. Agree? Disagree? Read on.
There is no doubt that America's Test Kitchen takes Thanksgiving seriously. Not only is it the biggest food holiday of the year, so they have a sort of professional obligation to at least mention it, but they decided to tackle the biggest of all Thanksgiving challenges: Turducken.
Ok, so they didn't make the Turducken - a Turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken - themselves, but they did test out several different suppliers, which is where most of us would turn if we wanted to put one of these creations on our holiday table. They ordered birds from Cajun Specialty Meats, Cajun Creations, and Cajun Grocer, then defrosted and roasted them. Unfortunately, none of the birds turned out well, as all required longer cooking time than indicated on the packaging and, consequently, ended up dry and flavorless. The ATK team also reported that the stuffings and overall presentation were disappointing in general. If you're willing to devote the 12-or-so hours needed to make the real thing, that is the only way to go if you want to serve one to friends and family. You can find a good how-to at Paul Prudhomme's site, as well as here .
The only thing more impressive than a turducken is stuffing even more birds into one giant one. But perhaps ATK will tackle that next year.
As if eating Cadbury eggs, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow peeps in the same day wasn't excessive
enough, a blog called Asteroid has a step-by-step guide to making a
turducken-style creation that combines all three of these Easter sweets. It begins by making incisions in several peeps
and stuffing mini Cadbury eggs inside. The newly fortified marshmallow critters are then stuffed into a hollow chocolate
bunny whose base has been removed (above). The whole deal then gets sealed up again; chocolate welding is optional,
apparently. Take that, giant
Cadbury egg.
Turducken is a chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey and is becoming more and more popular at the
holiday table. The layers are often rounded out with a hearty measure of stuffing, so it's not a roast for the faint of
appetite. But what do you call an 18-pound turkey stuffed with 9 other birds? For now, it's simply called a
ten bird roast or, as chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall proclaimed it, "one of the most spectacular and
delicious roasts you can lay before your loved ones at Yuletide". Apparently, the roast has its roots in
medieval traditions as well as in an early 19th century French tradition of having a feast with 17 kinds of birds. The
turkey is stuffed with goose, duck, mallard, guinea fowl, chicken, pheasant, partridge, pigeon and woodcock
(go-du-ma-gu-chi-phea-par-pige-ock?) and carries a £160 price tag (about $277). It, like the turducken, also
contains a fair amount of sausage, bacon and stuffing. Another roast gaining popularity is the unfortunately named
"gooducken" - a goose stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken.
Maybe it’s because I just happened to catch the 50 eggs scene from Cool Hand Luke on TV last night, but I figured I’d post a link to the IFOCE or International Federation Of Competitive Eating. Upon first visiting their site, I was drawn immediately to the records section. Interested in finding out how to become an IFOCE member or learning about their safety standards? That’s fine. Me? I just want to know the record for competitive mayonnaise eating. Oleg Zhornitskiy apparently ate four 32-ounce bowls (yes, bowls) of mayo in eight minutes. Oysters? Sonya Thomas, competitive eating’s “black widow” took down 46 dozen in 10 minutes. Ms. Thomas is credited with several other eating records, including taking down a nearly eight-pound turducken dinner in 12 minutes. It’s good to have a hobby.
You could get kissed under the mistletoe, or just ignore the lip-to-lip contact and have yourself a 
You guys are right: The problem with 
There is no doubt that America's Test Kitchen takes Thanksgiving seriously. Not only is it the biggest food holiday of the year, so they have a sort of professional obligation to at least mention it, but they decided to tackle the biggest of all Thanksgiving challenges: Turducken.
Maybe it’s because I just happened to catch the 50 eggs scene from Cool Hand Luke on TV last night, but I figured I’d post a link to the 
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