Turducken? No, bustergophechiduckneaealcockidgeoverwingailusharkolanbler!

November 26, 2009 9:48 AM

Things stuffed inside other things: You've heard of turducken, but what if that isn't enough for you? The largest stuffed dish in terms of sheer bulk may be this recipe for stuffed camel, a dish so decadently large that Snopes had to verify its existence. But if the stuffed camel isn't enough layers for you, the most nested dish of all time may be the Roti Sans Pareil ("Roast without Equal"), a 19th century French dish requiring 17 birds that are now mostly endangered. Thanks to Google Books, we can now peruse some 19th century recipes of the dish (1, 2, 3) or, if you prefer, you can read the original French.
posted by jonp72 (28 comments total)

Man, you havven't lived until you've had my Whooping Crane stuffed Bald Eagle. Yum!
posted by cjorgensen at 10:01 AM on November 26, 2009

Better than tur-brisk-gefilte?
posted by demiurge at 10:03 AM on November 26, 2009 [3 favorites]

I cannot take credit for this, but the best I've heard of was goose-stuffed-with-pheasant-stuffed-with-duck-stuffed-with-yogurt-and-shellfish: the gophuckyoshellf.
posted by HeroZero at 10:09 AM on November 26, 2009 [24 favorites]

Sorry for the slight derail, but this reminds me of another decadent dish which I now cannot remember the name of. I think you were supposed to eat a small bird pretty much raw and you had to eat it under a blanket since the whole dish was an affront to god or something along those lines. Please help, what was the name of that dish?
posted by soundofsuburbia at 10:18 AM on November 26, 2009

soundofsuburbia: ortolan!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:22 AM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

soundofsuburbia, that would be the ortolan bunting mentioned as one of the 17 birds in the French recipe above. You eat it quite cooked, however whole.
posted by mikeh at 10:22 AM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Sorry for the slight derail, but this reminds me of another decadent dish which I now cannot remember the name of. I think you were supposed to eat a small bird pretty much raw and you had to eat it under a blanket since the whole dish was an affront to god or something along those lines. Please help, what was the name of that dish?

I think it was an ortolan. It's an ingredient in the Rôti Sans Pareil.
posted by jonp72 at 10:24 AM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

BitterOldPunk & mikeh: Thank you ever so much! I don't know where I got the raw idea from, but there you go!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 10:24 AM on November 26, 2009

Thank you jonp72 as well, of course! Interesting post!
posted by soundofsuburbia at 10:27 AM on November 26, 2009

The whole premise is stupid. You have to cook the dish until its center is above the safe temperature. When you have a giant, solid bird-matroshka, this won't happen until the outside layer is cooked all to hell.
posted by CaseyB at 10:38 AM on November 26, 2009

More on ortolans.
posted by gimonca at 10:44 AM on November 26, 2009

When you have a giant, solid bird-matroshka, this won't happen until the outside layer is cooked all to hell.

Linked recipes say to cook the monstrosity in a sealed clay pot for 24 hours. I've never cooked anything larger than a single chicken in a clay pot, but I'm going to guess that in this particular case the 'cooked all to hell' result could be falling off the bone, messy and sloppy. Then again, maybe they liked it that way in an era of bad teeth and cholera.
posted by gimonca at 10:52 AM on November 26, 2009

I'm making the camel thing next Thanksgiving.
posted by Balisong at 11:31 AM on November 26, 2009

Ortolan, previously.
posted by beagle at 11:47 AM on November 26, 2009

Look, if it doesn't finish with stuffing a Blue Whale, I'm not interested.
posted by ob at 11:50 AM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

"I would like your finest dish stuffed with your second finest dish."

"Ah well then, Lobster stuffed with tacos."
posted by The Whelk at 12:50 PM on November 26, 2009 [6 favorites]

That sounds okay, but I prefer my recipe: wrap your turducken with cheese, then wrap that with bacon, then wrap that in flank steak. Then you batter-dip it, deep-fry it, cover it with melted dark chocolate, pour brandy on it, and light it on fire.

Serve it impaled on a giant fuckin' stick. Like turn a bamboo tiki-torch upside down, maybe.
posted by rifflesby at 1:34 PM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

Every Thanksgiving my Russian grandmother prepares Salisbury steak stuffed with Spam-wrapped hot dogs.
She calls it "A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma".
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:37 PM on November 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

Somebody posted this on twitter:

"A Turducken for cannibals. The Gooneyvito: Danny DeVito stuffed inside George Clooney stuffed inside John Goodman."
posted by drjimmy11 at 3:17 PM on November 26, 2009 [2 favorites]

A vegetarian friend told us he prepared "temseifu" last year - tempeh stuffed with seitan stuffed with tofu!
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 4:36 PM on November 26, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think they all sound nasty. Nasty.
posted by TooFewShoes at 5:09 PM on November 26, 2009

I'm really holding out for tofurducken.

I'm also hoping Passillododorconquail Buttonquivorybidododorbacon will weigh in on this issue.
posted by Avelwood at 11:16 PM on November 26, 2009

That sounds okay, but I prefer my recipe: wrap your turducken with cheese, then wrap that with bacon, then wrap that in flank steak. Then you batter-dip it, deep-fry it, cover it with melted dark chocolate, pour brandy on it, and light it on fire.

Serve it impaled on a giant fuckin' stick. Like turn a bamboo tiki-torch upside down, maybe.
posted by rifflesby at 4:34 PM on November 26 [+] [!]

A friend's advice, which I would like to pass on: Never ever deep fry a turducken.

What happens is the hot oil transfers heat to the turkey, causing it to contract. The ducken, protected by a layer of insulating cajun sausage, remains the same size. The effect is like some sort of majestic one-shot poultry cannon ... being fired inside a turkey fryer full of hot oil.
posted by Comrade_robot at 10:24 AM on November 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

Easter turducken. Cadbury creme eggs stuffed inside Peeps stuffed inside a chocolate bunny.
posted by dr. boludo at 11:04 AM on November 27, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Whelk makes me want to skip the stuffing part and go right to the lobster tacos. Surely someone makes such a thing.
posted by cjorgensen at 12:02 PM on November 27, 2009

And here I was hoping for a turducken-mention-free holiday season.
posted by Foosnark at 12:21 PM on November 27, 2009

Lobster tacos. Surely someone makes such a thing.

Rubio's, although I think your nearest one is 700 miles away.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 8:44 PM on November 27, 2009

I just felt like I should weigh in here. Happy holidays!
posted by turducken at 11:14 AM on December 1, 2009