An Introduction to Turducken…
Turducken is a dish consisting of partially deboned turkey stuffed
with deboned duck, which is stuffed with a deboned chicken. The
recipe is loosely based on the Galatine, an 18th Century blend of
deboned bird stuffed with a mixture of ground veal, poultry, fish,
vegetables, or fruit with bread crumbs and seasonings.
There are discussions as to “who” invented the present day
Turducken. Some say that “Herbert’s Specialty Meats” in Maurice,
Louisiana was the first to produce the Turducken in 1985 – they sell
approximately 5,000 Turducken each year. The cost is about $50.00
each, but shipping runs about an additional $100.00. Chef Paul
Prudhomme of Louisiana is also given the credit for creating the
recipe for Turducken as part of the Duvall Days for the state of
Washington in 1983.
If you want to prepare your own Turducken, time and patience is
the key to a successful Turducken! The Turducken takes about 12
hours to cook and takes another 4–6 hours to prepare. It is
important to make sure that the birds and ingredients are as cold
as possible before preparing them and also that they are
refrigerated after finishing. Also, you can save a lot of time if you
can find a butcher to debone the birds ahead of time. Otherwise,
you will need to debone and make the dressings the day before you
plan to serve.
John Madden, a renowned NFL announcer, made Turducken popular
when he said that he would award a Turducken to the winning team
of the Thanksgiving Football Game.