(Photo: Chris Rochelle)
A turducken consists of a chicken shoved inside a duck, which is in turn shoved inside a turkey. It’s a three-meat culinary wonder. Now you can have the donut equivalent. Kim Laidlaw of Chow, an online food magazine, placed an apple fritter inside a custard-filled donut, then glazed the whole thing with chocolate and sprinkles. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing.
-via That’s Nerdalicious!
You may have heard the story of how chocolate chip cookies were invented: in the 1930s, Ruth Graves Wakefield chopped up chocolate and added the bits to cookie dough without melting them, mistakenly thinking the chocolate would spread in the oven and produce chocolate cookies. It’s an interesting story, but it’s just not true. Wakefield was a renowned and accomplished baker who would never make such a mistake, nor would she take a shortcut with her cookies.
Back in 1930 Ruth Wakefield and her husband Ken bought what would become the Toll House Inn, intending to open a restaurant. It was in a good location, on the road between Boston and Cape Cod. With Ruth Wakefield’s experience as a Home Economist and her skillful cooking, high standards, and favorite family recipes, they were successful their very first year. Former employees attribute that success to Ruth Wakefield’s strict attention to detail and insistence on providing excellent service in addition to delicious meals. She had rules about every little thing, including the exact distance from the edge of the table the silverware should be. (She has a whole chapter on setting the table in her book.) In countless interviews, former customers raved about her sticky pecan biscuits (recipe below) that were set on every table for guests to nibble on while they decided what to order. Famous food critic Duncan Hines (yes, the cake mix guy) was particularly fond of her Indian pudding. Joseph Kennedy Sr. was said to drop by frequently for Boston Cream Pie. The restaurant was such a family favorite that Rose Kennedy had the Toll House Inn send weekly care packages to her sons overseas during WWII (JFK was partial to their Mary Jane Gingerbread.) In numerous newspaper articles from the forties on, customers and employees interviewed praised the gracious service and the wonderful desserts (they had their own separate menu!) Does this sound like the kind of place run by a woman who didn’t know what she was doing in the kitchen?
There are other tales of how the Toll House cookie recipe was invented, before we could ever buy chocolate chips at a grocery, that belittle Wakefield’s skills or even shift the credit for the cookie to a man. But Wakefield knew what she was doing. You can read the whole story of how the Toll House cookie came about, and see plenty of recipes for the cookies, its later variations, and even instructions for making Wakefield’s sticky pecan biscuits, at The Toast. -via Metafilter
People started canning food a few hundred years ago as a method of preservation and a way to make food easy to transport, and they've been canning some really gross food products ever since. Nowadays consumers are less likely to buy a canned product if they can buy fresh for the same price, and yet companies keep on canning the gross stuff because somebody out there is buying it!
We present to you ten of the most disgusting food products you can buy in a can:
1. Canned Powdered Horse Milk-
We’re starting out a little less gross and working our way up, so believe it or not powdered horse milk factors in as the tamest product on the list. The can claims Golden Horde is "The Khan's Choice", assuring us that anything that was good enough for Gengis is good enough for us. They had me sold at "100% Horse Milk- No Ponies".
2. Canned Russian Herring-
It’s the disgustingly fishy snack that will most certainly bite back, now with more fangs! Seriously though, how hungry would you have to be to eagerly crack in to a can of Russian Herring knowing it's full of toothy bits?
3. Canned Whole Chicken-
It’s easy to see why people used to buy canned whole chicken, but unless you’re living in an extremely remote area without livestock, or you’re hiding out in a vault after the bombs have fallen, then chances are you'll be steering clear of this poultry nightmare.
4. Heinz Balls & Bangers-
This line of canned food products by Heinz might not taste all that bad, especially compared to the other foul food products on this list, but their unfortunate names make them sound rather unsavory...and naughty.
5. Canned Cheeseburger-
Chef David Varley outdid everyone with his Thanksgiving feast at Michael Mina's restaurant at Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco last month. The “Roast Beast” (or "Lambpigcow”) consisted of 24 quail, 12 chickens, eight ducks, six turkeys, two lambs, and a pig, rolled up in a side of beef and stuffed with chestnut-turkey sausage. It was roasted on the restaurant’s giant rotisserie and served to guests with access to a gravy fountain. Varley joked that after this holiday tailgate party, he might take a few years off from working on Thanksgiving. See plenty of pictures at San Francisco Eater. -via Fark
(Image credit: David Varley)
It's that time of year again. That's right, eggnog time! If you've been waiting all year to get your hands on the sweet, creamy, spicy treat then you won't want to settle for just drinking it from a glass. For another tasty eggnog option, try making your own deep fried eggnog squares complete with a sweet rum glaze. Best of all, it's easy and quick to make, so you don't even have to suffer patiently while your creation sits cooking.
(Photo: Robicelli’s Bakery)
Garfield the cat can now have a dessert to match his dinner. Robicelli’s Bakery in Brooklyn, an outfit ran by the innovative chef Allison Robicelli, is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of food design. Robicelli describes her lasagna as a combination of lasagna noodles, Nutella, cannoli custard, hazelnuts, chocolate, and marshmallows. At Christmas, Robicelli will sell full trays and half trays on sale.
-via Foodiggity
This year marked a change in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. For the first time in its 47-year history, the winner was determined in part by a vote via the Internet. Announced yesterday, the winner was Beth Royals of Richmond, Virginia. Royals was awarded the grand prize of one million dollars.
In November, 100 competitors were selected to submit recipes in four possible categories: Simply Sweet Treats, Savory Snacks and Sides, Amazing Doable Dinners and Weekend Breakfast Wows. One winner was chosen in every category, and those were the four finalists. Royals' prizewinning recipe, a photo of which is shown above, was from the category Simply Sweet Treats. Her recipe is called "Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters" and is listed below.
Ingredients
1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips (2 cups)
1 tablespoon Crisco Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
1 tablespoon Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
1 cup salted cocktail peanuts
⅔ cup toffee bits
Instructions
Heat oven to 450°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with wax paper.
Unroll pie crust on work surface. With pizza cutter or knife, cut into 16 rows by 16 rows to make small squares. Arrange squares in single layer on large ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove squares from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 5 minutes.
In large microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips, shortening and peanut butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring once, until chips can be stirred smooth. Add pie crust squares, peanuts and toffee bits; stir gently until evenly coated. Immediately drop by heaping tablespoonfuls onto lined cookie sheets. (If mixture gets too thick, microwave on High 15 seconds; stir.) Refrigerate about 15 minutes or until set. Store covered.
The three recipe runners up were Cuban-style sandwich pockets, chocolate doughnut poppers (pictured below) and creamy corn-filled sweet peppers. Get those recipes here. 
Chocolate doughnut poppers
Images: Pillsbury.com
Londoner and Instagrammer Michael Zee, who uses the screen name SymmetryBreakfast, has been beautifully preparing and photographing breakfast for himself and his lucky boyfriend for about a year now. Even if, on some days, the feast is from a restaurant, it still gets the symmetrical treatment. The men certainly don't stick to basics for breakfast, eating meals traditional to countries all over the world. It's enough to inspire me to slice a banana into my Corn Flakes (if I even eat that morning)! Perhaps Michael will invite me over for breakfast some day? Of course, he'd have to let me bring a guest, or the symmetry would go right out the window!
See more delicious and carefully placed breakfasts at SymmetryBreakfast.
-Via Design Taxi | Images Credit: Michael Zee
Crêpes filled with cheese and béchamel, baked and then topped with a fried egg and smoked salt. Orange juice and a caffè latte
Tortilla Española (Spanish omelette) with chorizo and a caffè latte
Baked pumpkin custard with homemade cranberry sauce and whipped coconut cream and gingerbread lattes
Brioche Pain Perdue, summer berries and yogurt, orange juice and caffè latte
Bacon is delicious, but it's hardly a big deal to add it on to something else these days. Of course, if you throw macaroni and cheese into the mix, that's a different story.
Enter the newest calorie-ridden treat from Philadelphia’s PYT that stuffs an ordinary donut with bacon mac and cheese and then tops it all off with a nice sprinkling of bacon. If that doesn't really float your boat though, don't worry, PYT has plenty of other kooky treats to satisfy your salty sweet tooth -like their bacon cheeseburger donut, the deep-fried Twinkie burger or the burger with a fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich bun.
You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon pie? It made the Kessel lunch line in less than 12 servings! And you can make you own by following the instructions of of Sweet & Geek. They're in Italian, but you can find an English translation here.
It's made like a calzone. So, appropriately, the crust is made of pizza dough. After you've prepared the dough, roll it out and cut slices for the top and bottom parts of the ship. Fill the interior with asiago cheese, cream cheese, and zucchinini. Or add some special modifications yourself.
-via That's Nerdalicious!
Nowadays people feel more free to try out their own variations on the traditional pot luck fare at gatherings, and yet with all the new and cutting edge food creations it doesn’t appear anybody is in a hurry to explore the dishes some of our ancestors used to eat at these same functions.
That’s why we’re thankful for the interwebs, where brave people are willing to risk their tastebuds just to show us how bad foodstuffs used to be.
Cracked’s Evan V. Symon prepared 6 Gross Foods From A 50's Cookbook, then he proceeded to eated up each and every one.
With timeless taste sensations like Fluffy Mackerel Pudding, Beer and Kraut Fudge Cake, and Super Supper Salad Loaf it's no wonder the culinary world has gone back to basics in a big way.
This Thanksgiving weekend we can all be thankful that we don't have to eat strange, and often gelatin based, foods at family functions any more! (Contains NSFW language, like most articles on Cracked)
Take standard Thanksgiving leftovers like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and transform them into fun and tasty new dishes with the recipes shown in this video. These are easy to make, so if you're tired of cooking after T-day, they will be perfect, quickly assembled snacks and meal solutions. -Via Laughing Squid
You might be busy preparing your turkey and dressing as you watch this, and you might make the best pumpkin pie eve, but if you learn these fascinating facts about Thanksgiving food, you’ll have something more to say besides “Thank you,” when your dinner guests compliment your cooking. John Green uses this week’s mental_floss List Show to share some trivia about turkeys, dressing/stuffing/filling, potatoes, corn, cranberries, and other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. -via mental_floss
I just bought celery and olives yesterday. I always buy them for Thanksgiving, but rarely any other time of the year. Olives are a special treat, and the adults in my family love them. I use celery in my cornbread dressing, and the rest of the stalk is served alone or stuffed. However, I did not know that the two were traditional on everyone’s Thanksgiving tables for almost a century, and then faded out in the 1970s. It all started when fresh produce began to be transported across the country to be enjoyed whatever the season.
The pairing of the two was both a result of the fact that they were introduced and made readily available around the same time and they served a similar purpose: both celery and olives were palate cleansers, and ones that didn’t require a servant.
“People were looking for a palate cleanser in between Thanksgiving’s richer courses,” explained [Rick] Rodgers. “At a family meal where you don’t have servants, the tray of celery and olives could be put on the table and you didn’t need a servant to serve a sorbet course.”
Advertising played a big part, too. Celery and olives eventually became “traditional” at Thanksgiving. But what happened in the 1970s to change that? Read the entire story of celery and olives on the Thanksgiving menu at boston.com.
Behold the almighty tater tot- the best tasting food product shaped like a tiny barrel.
Whether they’re fried, baked or microwaved they always end up tasting like hot potato goodness, and the fact that they’re easy to pop in your mouth by the handful makes them a big hit with the snack packs.
Nowadays people are going all fancy feast with their tater tots, piling cheese and other delicious stuff on top to make totchos supreme, or laying them on top of a casserole to add the perfect amount of tot-ness to an already delicious dish.
Tater tot fans are in for a treat, because BuzzFeed has put together a collection of 27 Tater Tot Recipes That Will Change Your Life, grab a bag of spud barrels and give your taste buds a treat!
