5 gut-busting Thanksgiving meals

It's Thanksgiving, the time of year when Americans convene with their families, review their blessings, and eat as much food as they possibly can in a single sitting. But if a pile of roasted turkey, a mountain of mashed potatoes, and a cornucopia of vegetables somehow leaves you wanting more, consider trying one or two of these supersize alternatives to the traditional feast:

1. Thanksgiving Turkey Cake

Want all the trappings of a traditional Thanksgiving meal without having to dirty more than one dish? Why not bake a turkey cake? The chefs at Chow have come up with a savory Thanksgiving cake made up of layers of turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and topped with sweet potato and marshmallow. "Whether this Thanksgiving centerpiece incites horror, amazement, or confusion when it's served," says creator Amy Wisniewski, "it's certain to evoke some kind of outburst." (See a Thanksgiving turkey cake prepared)

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2. The Turgooducochiqua

Although the turducken — a combination turkey-duck-chicken — is now a staple of many a Thanksgiving feast, it's got nothing on the turgooducochiqua. This Russian doll of a seasonal dish is — take a deep breath — a quail inside a Cornish hen inside a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey inside a goose. Superfluous bonus: A slice of bacon between each layer. "In other words," says Bianca Bartz at Trendhunter, it's "a heart attack on a platter."

3. The Cherpumple

If you can never choose which pie to eat at Thanksgiving, follow chef Charles Phoenix's lead — and bake them all into one artery-clogging cake. An entire pie is baked into each of the three layers of his "cherpumple": A white-cake layer contains a cherry pie; a yellow-cake layer holds a pumpkin pie; and an apple pie is tucked inside a spice-cake layer. Each layer is sealed with a coat of cream-cheese frosting. But if you haven't started making your "cherpumple" yet, says Jules Shan at Gather, don't bother. "The assembly of this joyful calorific overload may take up to three days." (See a cherpumple prepared)

4. Deep-fried Buffalo turkey

Everyone likes the tangy flavor of Buffalo wings. So why not spice up your Thanksgiving dinner by deep-frying a turkey in your backyard and dousing it in hot sauce? J. Kenji Lopez-Alt at Serious Eats reports that this unorthodox method saved him hours of preparation and let him "sit outside and drink beer under the foliage" while he was cooking it.

5. The Big-Ass Thanksgiving Sandwich

You'll have to fly to Oregon to confront its majesty, but Portland food cart owner Lisa Wood has produced a colossal sandwich stuffed with all the Thanksgiving trappings that she sells for a mere $9. A mass of turkey, sweet potato, sausage stuffing, walnuts and cranberry sauce, topped with french fries and homemade gravy, the ungainly sandwich offers a "whirlwind of Thanksgiving flavor in every bite," says Leighton Cosseboom at Willamette Week. "Next year, maybe [Wood will] find a way to incorporate pumpkin pie."