I humbly submit: The weakest link in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is also the most symbolic.

 Turkey is too often flavorless; it’s usually dry. Sometimes it’s very dangerous.

 My family ditched the bird in favor of porchetta a few years ago and never looked back. Italy’s slow-roasted roll-up of boneless pork combines everything you want out of a meat-eating experience: rich, fatty belly, the firm texture of a loin, and the crackliest of skin. It’s rather like a turducken, except all from a single magical animal. If serving an Italian dish on Thanksgiving seems counterintuitive, consider it a nod to the many cultures who arrived here over the past few centuries to add and assimilate their own food cultures. Garlic- and rosemary-heady porchetta is also the sort of labor-intensive spectacle that’s worthy of a special occasion, like our national holiday.

If you're into serving porchetta at home for Thanksgiving dinner, but would rather let a pro handle the assembly, your best bets are two guys who like to hang out in their off hours.

Mike Easton of Il Corvo makes porchetta for Thanksgiving. The rest of the year, of course, he makes pasta for the crowds who queue up even before his restaurant opens. He’s now taking orders for the six-pound beauties you can take home and roast. Il Corvo’s porchetta has become a Thanksgiving tradition for plenty of people I know. Last year we flew one to my in laws' house in Wisconsin; Easton’s no stranger to freezing these tidy little porcine bundles for air travel.

Meanwhile, now that Miles James is back in business with his new Dot’s Butcher Shop in Pike Place Market, he has a home base for his own Thanksgiving pre-order menu, including cassoulet, various roasts, turkeys (of course), and his own version of porchetta.

 He and Easton are buddies, so of course I asked if they ever drink beer and argue over whose version is better. While it’s hard to take too many liberties with porchetta prep, says James, Dot’s version sports slightly different seasoning than the one made by Easton: “He’s the one who showed me how to tie them.”

Not that you can’t find porchetta in Seattle any day of the week. Two of the city’s best versions—at Salumi and Rain Shadow Meats—live within blocks of one another in Pioneer Square. At Dot's, James's porchetta sandwiches are a Dot's fixture year-round. Which brings me to another argument in favor of Thanksgiving porchetta: It's fantastic between bread the day after.

If you're a turkey purist, or your family has reached a Thanksgiving protein detente, Dot's and Rain Shadow offer both birds and porchetta to reserve.