The 3-Bird Turducken Has Nothing On This 17-Bird Royal Roast [NPR]
Like any good publisher, Grimod de la Reynière knew he needed to slide in some extra flair from time to time. And in 1807, he put out a recipe for rôti sans pareil, the roast without equal.
The daredevil-ish recipe calls for a tiny warbler stuffed in a bunting, inserted in a lark, squeezed in a thrush, thrown in a quail, inserted in a lapwing, introduced to a plover, piled into a partridge, wormed into a woodcock, shoehorned into a teal, kicked into a guinea fowl, rammed inside a duck, shoved into a chicken, jammed up in a pheasant, wedged deep inside a goose, logged into a turkey. And just when you think a 16-bird roast is probably enough, it's not. This meat sphere is finally crammed up into a Great Bustard, an Old World turkey-turned-wrapping paper, for this most epic of poultry meals.