Happy Osturduckencorpheail Day!

There's a Thanksgiving controversy in the news today: A British researcher claims there were no turkeys at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 Plymouth. As you can imagine, that's sparked a major gobble squabble (and thankfully, the media can't be blamed.)

But here in the South, there will be a lot of Thanksgiving tables where the main meat will be merely ... turkey-like ... or turkey-inspired.

By now, most people have heard of "turducken" (short for turkey-duck-chicken). Since you might not believe me, here's the Wikipedia definition: "It is a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are filled with, at the very least, a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird. Some recipes call for the turkey to be stuffed with a chicken which is then stuffed with a duckling. It is also called a chuckey."

Apparently, turkey got to be too boring, so turduckens were invented. And now turduckens are too boring, so people have actually created other Thanksgiving birds, just to keep the tryptophan dreams alive. We work with words here at The Enterprise, so this is actually a fascinating cultural evolution.

For example, this season, you might want to cook a Gurducken, a goose stuffed with a duck and a chicken...

... or a Turduckencorpheail, a standard turducken that is then stuffed with a cornish game hen, which is then stuffed with a pheasant, and finally stuffed with a quail.

... or a Osturduckencorpheail, an ostrich stuffed with turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken.

... or a Turgoduckmaguikenantidgeonck (a turkey, goose, duck, mallard, guineafowl, chicken, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, woodcock.)

... or the world-record-holding Bustergophechideckneaealckideverwingailusharkolanine (bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan and a passerine. Since passerine is a generic term, it is not known exactly what kind of bird was used as the smallest in the actual roast ... maybe a hummingbird?)

Now that I've given you the bird six different ways .... Happy Thanksgiving, readers and friends!