A Turducken for Dinner, A Cherpumple for Dessert

Not all holiday feasts are about preserving traditions. The turducken and the cherpumple take holiday cuisine to the next level by layering similar foods and making a delicious, yet sinful, dish. These dishes are not only revolutionary in the world of food, but also make the impossible possible creating haute cuisine that many people thought was impossible. Turduckens and cherpumples defy everyday vocabulary, sounding like a meal straight out of Dr. Seuss, and redesign what it means to please everyone at the dinner table.

Turducken: A Poultry Lover’s Fantasy

A turducken is a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey. The bones are removed and the remaining carcass with all of the delicious meat is layered inside to create a delicious experience of textures and flavors.

The inside of the chicken (the innermost layer) is generally stuffed with a delicious concoction of breadcrumbs, sausage, or stuffing. You can cook a turducken by roasting, braising, grilling, or barbecuing.

Turduckens can be initially traced back to Louisiana and specialty meat stores in the Creole south. However, the turducken was popularized by John Madden in 2005 when he famously whipped out his cutting board and knife and carved a turducken on live television.

Cherpumple: A Dessert-Lover’s Dream

This year is the year of the cherpumple. Charles Phoenix searched for a way to accommodate all of the holiday desserts into one sinfully sweet creation: the cherpumple.

The cherpumple consists of three layers: a cherry pie baked inside a white cake, a pumpkin pie baked inside a yellow cake, and an apple pie inside a spice cake stacked and coated with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting.

Does this make you hungry or make you want to run for the bathroom? Phoenix says that this kitschy dessert frightens many people, while making others drool. If you don’t like sweets, stay away. But if you have an insatiable sweet tooth, eat up. The cherpumple might look like a cake from the outside, but the layers of delicious pies and cakes makes it extraordinary.

Pleasing All Guests

The urge to please everyone with one dish has transformed Thanksgiving and Christmas cuisine into layered masterpieces that cater to any taste buds. The turducken appeals to the meat lover who enjoys savory foods while the cherpumple is for the sweets-lover. Instead of preparing 3 separate dishes, both the turducken and the cherpumple combine 3 classic holiday dishes allowing all guests to take a piece of each dish in one large, delicious bite.