Only 3 weeks til Thanksgiving and 7 weeks until Christmas. Perfect
time for turkey meals. Turkeys are already for sale. Don’t wait to long.

A Turducken is a dish consisting of de-boned turkey, stuffed with a
de-boned duck, stuffed with a de-boned chicken. The word turducken is a
portmanteau of TURkey, DUCK and chickEN or hEN.

The thoracic cavity of the chicken or game hen and the rest of the gaps
are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned mixture of different
ingredients. All different stuffing which are used for turkeys are also
used for the turducken stuffing.Although some versions have a different
stuffing for each bird, but I think that’s to much of different tastes.
The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking
by braising, grilling, roasting or barbecuing. I prefer slow roasting .

Mmmm.. a mouthwatering turducken.

Turducken is very common party hit, because most have a sausage stuffing.
A 30 pound turducken can feed a lot of people. Different turduckens are for
sale all over the US and especially via mail orders.

They claim: „Original Turducken with Spicy Italian Sausage“.
Sells by costco/US and features: 4kg (8,8lb.), Feeds 15 people,
Price US$ 129.99, 1 item, shipping and handling included !

Here in Uruguay is a turkey a rarity, imported and quiet expensive.
A duck, a rarity too ! May be – once a year – spoil yourself, its Lifestyle.

History :

Roasts of nested birds or other animals have been documented for centuries.
The Yorkshire Christmas Pie, an English dish served in the 1700s, consists
of five different birds, either layered or nested, and baked in a standing
crust. The pie was normally produced only by the wealthy.

The First Thanksgiving in America, 1621. Smithonian.
Traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey,
stuffing and mashed potatoes but the First Thanksgiving
likely included wildfowl, corn, porridge and venison.

In his 1807 „Almanach Des Gourmands“ (first edition 1803),
gastronomist Grimod de la Reyniere presents his „roti sans pareil“ (roast
without equal). Contents were, first a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose,
a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge,
a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a
garden warbler. WOW 16 birds !! Other sources write about „up to 18 birds“ !
They were then „stitched“ on a skewer, that the middle had all birds lined,
then it was possible to carve along the skewer and show at least one part (one
slice) with all meats (all birds) together. Fantastic, would like to see this!

Reyniere although states that, since similar roasts were produced by ancient
Romans, the „roti sans pareil“ was not entirely novel. The final bird is very
small but still large enough to hold an olive ! It also suggests that, unlike
modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed
between the birds. Today it appears to be illegal to make such roasts as some
of the species are endangered.

How to do ?

Since in Uruguay the chicken are very big and the ducks small, one should pick
a small chicken and find a bigger duck. The reason is that we want to slice
through different meat colors, white-brown-white plus stuffing.The last one
I made had an additional pigeon inside. 4 meats, white-brown-white-brown.
Wonderful, and pigeons are available almost everywhere. Contact a hunter.
This recipe goes for the classic 3 bird variation.

First layer, turkey with stuffing.

Turducken is not to difficult to make, it is just very time consuming.
Only more difficult part is, to de-bone the birds. I prefer to take out all
bones. If you want it easier, leave the leg bones and just remove the carcass
or – even better, let your butcher do it for you. Plan on adequate preparation
time. Best prepare a day before and cook on day of eating. The end result is
a worthy show stopper !

Ingredients :

* prepare 3 cups savory bread crumble stuffing at room temperature,
* prepare 2 cups cornbread stuffing at room temperature,
* 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts,
* 1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce,
* 1 (10-12 pound) turkey, de-boned,
* 1 (4-5 pound) duck, de-boned,
* 1 (3-4 pound) chicken, de-boned,
* 5-6 tablespoons butter,
* 4 cloves garlic, cut into small quarters,
* 6 fresh sage leaves, dry ones will do also,
* 1 cup of sweet black raisins, or 1 cup of diced black olives,
* 2 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves,
* 2 tablespoons of browning sauce, or sauce from your last roast,
(which i use to keep as „ice cubes“ in my freezer, like lemon juice),
* 2 tablespoons olive oil,
* kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Preparation:

Keep all the poultry refrigerated until you are ready to use it. Do not assemble
the turducken til you are ready to roast it, to avoid contaminated stuffing.
Measure out 2 1/2 cups of bread stuffing and set aside. Place remaining 1/2 cup
in another bowl and add 1/2 cup of corn bread stuffing along with the whole
crawnberry sauce and pecans and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Toss gently to combine.
Combine remaining cornbread stuffing with remaining raisins and set aside.
You should have 3 differnt stuffing bowls now.

Second layer, duck on turkey.

In a food processor with metal blade, combine butter, garlic, sage and thyme until
herbs are finely chopped. Run your hand careful under the skin of the turkey and
make a pocket, but don’t separate the skin completely from the meat. Place the
butter and herb mixture evenly under the skin. Then rub the turkey with the
browning sauce and the olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Now flip over the turkey, that you have it flat and skin side down. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 160grad Celsius (325 F)or moderate heat.

Spread bread stuffing evenly over turkey cavity. Place duck on top of turkey, skin
side down, and make sure all around is turkey to see. Spread cranberry nut
stuffing over the duck cavity. Top with the chicken, skin side down. Now spread
cornbread and raisin stuffing on top of the open chicken.

Third layer, chicken on duck.

Skewer the back of the chicken closed. Bring up the sides of the duck to cover the
chicken. Skewer the back of the duck closed. Repeat process with the turkey. If the
last skewer is to slippery you can close the turkey with cooking thread.
Carefully turn over the turducken, so its seam side down and breast side up. Remove
all skewers except the last one holding the turkey together.

Place turducken in a heavy roaster, If needed sprinkle a bit more olive oil, salt
and pepper over the turducken. Roast 3 to 4 hours, until a meat thermometer, inserted
in the very center of the chicken stuffing, reaches 85-90grad Celsius (165 F). Baste
once per hour with pan juices. I always keep a cup of light red wine on the bottom of
the pan to keep the air inside the oven moist. If the turducken begins to get too
brown, tent loosely with heavy aluminium foil coated with cooking oil spray.

Fresh carved turducken.

Let the turducken rest for 30 minute, covered with foil, before carving. To serve,
slice turducken across the breast to show off each layer of this fine roast.
This meal goes well with all side dishes you like to serve with poultry. Also a
separate made gravy or poultry stock sauce is fine. Extra cranberry sauce or hot
applesauce with green pepper corns are delicious with turducken.

Interesting variety is the bacon covered turducken,
therefore its called „turbaconducken“.

With such a feast you should care for an excellent wine. A fruity Chardonnay or
Gewuerztraminer or a nice Cabernet Sauvignon will do. Tannat or Shyraz would
be to heavy in taste. E N J O Y !!