Every year at Thanksgiving, I sit down with my closest friends and loved ones to watch a specific episode of Friends. Now usually, watching Friends with people you care about isn't that special an event, but in my opinion, The One With Ross' Sandwich is one of, if not the definitive Thanksgiving episodes of a television show.
While watching Monica and Chandler sneak around to the utter destruction of Joey is fun and all, but the crux of the episode revolves around Ross' Thanksgiving sandwich, revealed to be the only "good thing going on" in Ross' life. The revelation that somebody at his work ate it leads to one of the iconic moments in this 90s sitcom's 10-year run.
Why do I bring this up? The sandwich, with its gravy-soaked middle slice of bread dubbed the "Moistmaker", was my blueprint for the ideal use of Thanksgiving leftovers, but that is no longer. Behold: the Thanksgiving pizza, which is now the only plausible way to use your Thanksgiving leftovers. Forget about your sandwiches.
In case you don't quite have the culinary skills to put together this glorious pizza, all you have to do is head to El Paso, Texas, where one restaurant called The Pizza Joint has seen this pizza become a fan favourite. Known to the locals as the Feast for obvious reasons, Pizza Joint owner Melissa Maese Goldberg is pretty proud of her creation.
As you would expect.
"I always tell people to imagine the pizza dough as your dinner roll," says Goldberg. "Pizza goes with anything," she philosophises, and if she's wrong, then this isn't the dish to prove that. The Pizza Joint have sold this pizza every year for the the last eight years, and everyone's fallen in love with it.
"It's like Thanksgiving in every bite," she said. "When I make pizza, I want you got get every flavor in every bite so this is really a pretty perfect combination."
The first thing you have to know about the Feast is that unlike most pizzas, this one does not come with tomato sauce. But that's okay - otherwise, it's pretty much got everything you'd expect in a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, including fried onion rings, cranberry sauce, green beans and - of course - deep fried turkey.
Of course, some people have to ruin the fun for everyone, and Golberg says she's confronted by people who aren't fans of the Feast, and let her know so in pretty unkind fashion. Speaking to Telemundo 48, she said: "There are people who say, ‘No, it does not look very good’ — and then they try it and they like it."
And no wonder. Fans of the Pizza Joint on Facebook are quick to shower their praise on the Feast in the comments, with one El Paso resident saying "Better get my sweatpants ready" and another adding: "Look forward to eating this pizza every year, yummy."
Now, I don't live in El Paso, Texas, but I've heard it's lovely this time of year. Might be worth paying a visit, don't you think?