Kosher Blog

Making a Turducken

The concept of a Turducken evokes several different responses from people. Many people consider it a monstrosity - an abomination that sprung from the mind of a carnivore with too much free time. Others question the motives for doing such a thing. “What’s wrong with a traditional turkey with stuffing? Did we really need to add other birds to an already classic dish?” Another more adventurous group, sees the Turducken and asks “What does that taste like? I bet it’s awesome!“. They see the hours of work involved and say “But it’s so cool! I’ve got to make one of those.” And it’s that final group to which I proudly belong. I made a Turducken for Thanksgiving. Gather ’round, loosen your belts and I will tell you the tale.

First, some background. Turducken (or Tur-Duc-Hen as it is sometimes spelled. Get it? Tur-Duc-Chi doesn’t roll off the tongue the same way) is a culinary creation where a de-boned chicken is stuffed into a de-boned duck, and that zaftig duck is then stuffed into a de-boned turkey. When you are finished, the re-closed turkey looks more-or-less normal. Stuffings (or dressings) are also part of this endeavor - sometimes a different stuffing for each bird, and sometimes the same stuffing throughout. 8-12 hours in the oven, and you’re ready to serve. As quoted in a New York Times article about Turduckens, “It’s about as formidable [to carve] as a meatloaf.” There are no bones, so you can cut slices right through the middle, and get a cross-section with all three meats.

The archetypal turducken is often attributed to Chef Paul Prudhomme. I studied his recipe and started making plans. For the boneless birds I would enlist the help of my friendly neighborhood butcher. I decided to go with three different stuffings, as suggested in the recipe. ‘Andouille Sausage Dressing’? Sounds good. ‘Cornbread Dressing’? I can do that. ‘Shrimp Dressing’? I’ll pass on that one. For stuffing #3 I decided that we would make ‘Wild Mushroom Kasha (Buckwheat) Pilaf’. I just made that one up, but it seemed like a good choice for stuffing the chicken. Almost like a traditional Shabbos afternoon meal of roast chicken & ‘kasha varnishkas’ (kasha with bowtie noodles). It’s an Ashkenaz thing.

Chef Paul suggests ‘Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy’ to top it all off. Am I the only one who doesn’t think that either “Sweet Potato” or “Eggplant” belong in the same recipe as “Gravy”? I skipped that part. Anyone who didn’t wan’t cranberry-sauce was going to have to eat it dry. Not that I expected anything to be dry - the inner two birds kept their skins. Do you know how much fat renders from duck skin? Inside this bird, fat from the duck would be going outwards to the turkey and inwards to the chicken. My wife and I were a little scared of keeping the skins, but how else would the meat stay together? More on this later…

In the next chapter of this story, I’ll tell you all about how I made Andouille Sausage for the dressing of the same name. The story will star a meat grinder, kosher sausage casings, a water-powered sausage stuffer, and an electric smoker. Stay tuned.