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has a place for stuffing."

Pork
Although pork roast also works well for a crowd, Gugino recommends a fresh ham. A whole leg weighs 15 to 20 pounds (including bones) and can feed up to 15 people. "No pork roast beats the leg for flavor, texture, and just plain goodness," write Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly in The Complete Meat Cookbook, whose recipe Gugino adapts for his roast. "In addition to having better taste and texture, a fresh ham is cheaper than the more common loin roast and is less likely to dry out," Gugino says.

He recommends getting the meat from a butcher who can take out the bone, making cooking faster. "Removing the bone lessens the flavor and moisture somewhat, but that's more than made up for by the ease of carving a boneless roast," he says.

Gugino's recipe, which features fresh sage and thyme seasonings as well as a pan sauce with wine and jellied cranberry, can be round on his website, Samcooks.com.

Fowl
If you would still like something similar to turkey, but don't want to deal with something that large, try something a little smaller this year. Quail, for example, is a festive alternative if you are dining with that special someone. Allow two birds for each person.

Or try individually-sized game birds such as squab (pigeon), grouse, partridge or Cornish hen. New York chef John Manikowski says these menu items are becoming less and less exotic.

"I recall the first time we served squab," says Manikowski. "Customers from [New York] city would rarely order them, still clinging to images of Central Park pigeons walking around dirty streets pecking away at anything that was dropped in front of them. Now, squab, poussin, baby pheasant and similar, heretofore unfamiliar game are becoming commonplace on menus."

You can find Manikowski's recipes, along with his original paintings and drawings of game birds in the wild in his Wild Fish and Game Cookbook published by Artisan Press.

"Manikowski's exotic recipes deserve front and center placement on your holiday table, says Kate Heyhoe on globalgourmet.com "As chef, hunter and artist, John treats pheasant and other game birds with regal respect."

If you want to try pheasant this year, allow one bird for every two to three people, says Gugino. But will anyone like it?

"Yes, pheasant DOES taste like chicken," says Manikowski. "Only better." He's been hunting the ring-necked beauty on the Minnesota prairies for many years. "I recall brisk, fall nights around the large oval table feasting on the mounded platters

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