Wednesday, November 18, 2009

What's a Turducken?



Starting today and over the next week and a half, I though I'd post something interesting, possibly humorous, about Thanksgiving and things having to do with Thanksgiving.

I 've always wondered exactly what a turducken is. Have you?

Wikipedia says:

A turducken is a dish consisting of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The thoracic cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird.

The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing. The turducken is not suitable for deep frying Cajun style (to deep fry poultry, the body cavity must be hollow to cook evenly).

Claims that Cajun-creole fusion chef Paul Prudhomme created this dish as part of the festival Duvall Days in Duvall, Washington in 1983 are unverified. A November 2005 National Geographic article by Calvin Trillin traced the American origins of the dish to "Hebert's Specialty Meats" in Maurice, Louisiana. They have been commercially producing turduckens since 1985, when an unknown local farmer brought in his own birds and asked Hebert's to prepare them in the now-familiar style. The company prepares around 5,000 turduckens per week around Thanksgiving time.

Turducken is often associated with the "do-it-yourself" outdoor food culture also associated with barbecuing and shrimp boils, although some people now serve it in place of the traditional roasted turkey at the Thanksgiving meal. As their popularity has spread from Louisiana to the rest of the Deep South and beyond, they have become available through specialty stores in urban areas or by mail order.

The popularity of turducken is mostly limited to the United States and Eastern Canada.

The turducken song

And maybe you'd like to try a

turbaconducken

Here's a video to take you step by step through the making and assembly of a turducken:



WARNING: may not be suitable for people who intend to eat a turducken for Thanksgiving.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

IMF. Ive never heard of this. It was funny to say the least.

Anonymous said...

oh, I so dearly want to try one... I really do!

Anonymous said...

Great ideas to do these posts. I never heard of a turducken before -- until now. ;-)

Paz

Terry said...

dear mary t..i will surely be following your thanksgiving posts over the next week and a half.
i so love the american thanksgiving and all og their traditions.
the american people are much more patriotic!
i have though, taken your advise not ot look at the video!
i am one coward teach!
love terry

Maude Lynn said...

Turducken? Sounds vaguely vulgar.

Travis Cody said...

I never had turducken before, but I remember it used to be a hi-light of the Turkey Day football games when John Madden was still working as a broadcaster. He used to have a turkey with extra drumsticks and a turducken to hand out as prizes for the players of the game.

Unknown said...

Hooray for turducken! I've even heard of them fitting smaller birds like squab or cornish game hens inside the chicken. I'd like to try it...once.

Anonymous said...

We're proud of our Tur-Duc-Hen! It's not necessary to spend hours slaving over the chopping block to get one though, you can order one from us!

www.tonychachere.com/turduchens/

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

This is something I will one day attempt to make...