Turducken

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

Regards,

Rich

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

--
Peter Aitken

Peter A said:

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

Same here. I received one as a gift from a very trendy food catalog and
it was pretty disgusting once roasted.

Peter A said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

Quoted message said:

Regards,

Quoted message said:

Rich

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

--
Peter Aitken

I have heard about Turkducken, but it has only been negative comments.
I hear that it is not worth the purchase and that you should just buy
the orgininal instead of the combination meat. It is definetly a
gimmick, it was a similar gimmick to tofurkey., which is also quite
unpleasing.

hermit said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

I made one several years ago. It was quite good.
A lot of work, but not that difficult, really.

Here's the basic recipe I used. I changed the stuffings
though because I don't like Cornbread Stuffing, I hate oysters
and I didn't feel like hunting down and Andouille and stuffing
it. ;-) (Just kidding.) See my poignant tale of the turducken
following the recipe. I'm sure smart to have saved my post
all these years! It's a saga that will go down in history.
I will naturally include it in my memoirs.

I also just made regular gravy as the Eggplant Sweet Potato
Gravy sounded like a weird combination and also too much
work.

If you use Paul Prudhomme's stuffing recipes I can't
guarantee yours will taste as good as mine!

Let the Turducken begin!

Kate

TURDUCKEN

Since the turducken takes about 12-13 hours to cook (and then it needs
to cool at least 1 hour before it’s carved), you will need to plan your
time wisely. First, be sure your oven temperature control is accurate.
If not (and ovens usually need adjusting every few months), get it
fixed or simply purchase an inexpensive oven thermometer to correctly
maintain the oven’s temperature, instead of relying on the oven
temperature control. Otherwise, your turducken may take considerably
fewer or more than 12-13 hours to cook. A good thing to know, though,
is that since you are cooking the turducken at such a low temperature
(assuming your oven temperature is accurate!), you can leave it cooking
a couple of extra hours with no harm done; and once it’s removed from
the oven, the turducken will stay hot for several hours.

The quickest way to prepare your turducken is to get friends or family
members to make the dressings (or, if you’re on your own, you will need
to make the three dressings the day before boning the fowl and
assembling the turducken). Cover the dressings tightly and refrigerate
them several hours so they will be well chilled before you place them in
the meat. You can bone the meat (be sure to save the bones and necks
for making stock) and assemble the turducken the day before cooking.
Family or friends can have fun helping you with this. Keep the
turducken refrigerated until ready to cook. Make the gravy after the
turducken comes out of the oven.

To stuff the turducken itself, you will need about 7 cups of the
andouille dressing, about 4 cups cornbread dressing, and about 3 cups
oyster dressing. It’s also nice to serve additional dressing in bowls
at the table, so we’ve told you in the list of ingredients how many
times to multiply each dressing recipe to have plenty of extra.

If you’re inexperienced at boning fowl, start with the turkey; because
of its size, you can more easily see the bone structure. After boning
the turkey, the duck and chicken will go much faster. And remember,
each time you do a turducken it gets easier; it doesn’t take magical
cooking abilities, it just takes care. What is magical is the way
people eating your turducken will feel about your food!

4 recipes Andouille Smoked Sausage Dressing (recipe follows)
2 recipes Cornbread Dressing (recipe follows)
4 recipes Oyster Dressing (recipe follows)
1 20-25 pound turkey
1 4-5 pound domestic duckling
1 3-3½ pound chicken
6 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic
5 recipes Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy (recipe follows)
1 small hammer
1 3" needle (a “packing” needle with a curved tip works well)
strong thread, for sewing up the fowl
1 15"x11" baking pan, at least 2½" deep
1 pan, larger than the 15"x11" pan, that the smaller pan will fit inside
with room to spare

Make the three dressings; cover well, and refrigerate. Then bone the
fowl. It’s helpful to keep the following in mind:

1. Your goal is to end up with one large piece of essentially boneless
turkey meat; the finished product will contain only the tip end of each
leg bone and the first two joints of each wing. You will end up with
one piece of completely boneless duck meat and one piece of completely
boneless chicken meat.

2. Be careful not to pierce the skin except for the initial slits.
(Cuts in the skin tend to enlarge during cooking and make the end result
less attractive as well as dryer.)

3. Allow yourself plenty of time, especially if you’re a beginner. And
even if you are experienced, approach the boning procedure with a
gentle, careful touch; the meat is not tough and you want to end up with
as much of it as possible.

4. Bone one side of each bird, either the left or right, before doing
the other side.

5. Use a sharp knife and use mainly the tip; stay close to the bone at
all times with the knife.

Andouille Smoked Sausage Dressing:
4 tablespoons butter
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups chopped green bell peppers
1 1/4 (3 cups) pounds andouille smoked sausage, ground, or kielbasa
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Pepper Sauce
2 cups turkey, duck, or chicken stock (recipe follows)
1½ cups very fine dry bread crumbs (preferably French bread)

Note: If you are not using andouille, add approximately 2 tablespoons
Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic to the meat for a fuller flavor.
K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen Cajun Andouille Smoked Sausage is available
through 800-457-2857.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over high heat. Add 2 cups of the
onions, 1 cup of the celery, and 1 cup of the bell peppers; saute until
onions are dark brown but not burned, about 10-12 minutes, stirring
occasionally. Add the andouille and cook until meat is browned, about 5
minutes, stirring frequently. Add the remaining 2 cups onions, 1 cup
celery, and 1 cup bell peppers, the butter, paprika, garlic, and Magic
Pepper Sauce and stir well. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 3
minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the stock and bring to a
simmer; continue cooking until the oil rises to the top (until the water
evaporates), about 10 minutes. Stir in the bread crumbs. Remove from
heat. Transfer mixture to an ungreased 8"x8" baking dish; bake
uncovered in a 425F oven until browned on top, about 45 minutes,
stirring and scraping pan bottom well every 15 minutes. Makes about 5 cups.

Cornbread Dressing (Cajuns like their cornbread and dressing sweet, so
the crumbled cornbread we start with in this dish is sweet. If you
prefer less sweet dressings, make your cornbread without sugar.):

2 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Poultry Magic
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup finely chopped onions
3/4 cup finely chopped green bell peppers
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 bay leaves
3/4 pound turkey, duck or chicken giblets, boiled until tender,
then ground (preferably) or finely chopped
1 cup turkey, duck, or chicken stock (recipe follows)
1 tablespoon Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Magic Pepper Sauce
5 cups finely crumbled Cornbread (recipe follows)
1 13-ounce can evaporated milk (12/3 cups)
3 eggs

In a large skillet melt the butter with the onions, bell peppers,
celery, garlic, and bay leaves over high heat; saute about 2 minutes,
stirring occasionally. Add the Poultry Magic and continue cooking until
vegetables are barely wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the giblets,
stock, and Magic Pepper Sauce; cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Turn off heat. Add the cornbread, milk, and eggs, stirring well. Spoon
dressing into a greased 13"x9" baking pan. Bake at 350F until browned
on top, about 35-40 minutes. Makes about 8 cups.

Cornbread:
1 1/3 cups flour
2/3 cup cornmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn flour (available at many health food stores)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups milk
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 small egg, beaten

In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, corn flour, baking
powder, and salt; mix well, breaking up any lumps. In a separate bowl
combine the milk, butter, and egg and add to the dry ingredients; blend
just until mixed and large lumps are dissolved. Do not overbeat. Pour
mixture into a greased 8"x8" baking pan and bake at 350F until golden
brown, about 55 minutes. Remove from pan and serve immediately. (For
muffins, spoon mixture into 12 greased muffin cups. Bake at 350F until
golden brown, about 45 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and serve
while hot. Makes 1 loaf of bread or 1 dozen muffins or about 6 cups
finely crumbled cornbread.

Oyster Dressing:
about 20 small to medium oysters in their liquor
1 cup cold water
3/8 pound (1½ sticks) butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green bell peppers
4 teaspoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup very finely chopped fresh parsley
3 bay leaves
about 1 cup very fine dry bread crumbs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Combine the oysters and water; stir and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Strain and reserve the oysters and oyster water; refrigerate until ready
to use. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over high
heat. When butter is almost melted, add ¾ cup of the onions, ½ cup of
the celery, and ½ cup of the bell peppers. Saute over high heat until
onions are dark brown but not burned, about 8 minutes, stirring
frequently. When the onions are browned, stir 2 teaspoons of the
Seafood Magic and the garlic into the skillet. Reduce heat to medium
and continue cooking 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the
remaining onions, celery, bell peppers, and 1 stick butter, and ¼ cup of
the green onions, ¼ cup of the parsley, and the bay leaves. Stir until
butter is melted. Continue cooking 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the reserved oyster water and cook over high heat about 10
minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the remaining 2 teaspoons
Seafood Magic and enough bread crumbs to make a moist, but not runny
dressing; remove from heat. Stir in the drained oysters. Spoon
dressing into an ungreased 8"x8" baking pan and bake uncovered in a 350F
oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, discard bay leaves and stir in
the butter and the remaining ¼ cup green onions and ¼ cup parsley.
Makes about 3 cups.

To bone the turkey: Place the turkey, breast down, on a flat surface.
Make an incision the entire length of the spine through the skin and
flesh. Starting from the neck end and using the tip of the knife,
follow as close to the bone as you can cut, carefully teasing the skin
and meat away from the frame. Toward the neck end, cut through the meat
to expose the shoulder blade (feel for it first and cut through small
amounts of meat at a time if you have trouble locating it); cut the meat
away from around the bone and sever the bone at the joint so you can
remove the blade.

Disjoint the wing between the second and third joint; free the heavy
drumstick of the wing and remove it, being careful to leave the skin
intact. Continue teasing the meat away from the backbone, heading
toward the thighbone and being careful to keep the "oyster" (pocket of
meat on the back) attached to the skin instead of leaving it with the bone.

Cut through the ball-and-socket joint to release the thighbone from the
carcass; you should now be able to open up the bird more in order to
better see what bones are still left to deal with. Continue teasing the
meat away from the carcass until you reach the center front of the
breastbone. Then very carefully separate the skin from the breastbone
at the midline without piercing the skin (go slowly because the skin is
very thin at this point).

Repeat the same boning procedure on the other side (left or right) of
the turkey, with the turkey still breast down. When both sides are
finished, carefully remove the carcass. Then remove the thighbone and
leg bone on each side as follows. Being careful not to break through
the skin, use a small hammer to break the leg bone completely across,
about two inches from the tip end. Then manipulate both ends of the
bone with your hands to be sure the break is complete. Leave the tip of
the bone in, but remove the leg bone and thighbone as one unit. To do
this, cut the meat away from around the thighbone first, using the knife
tip; then, holding the thighbone up with one hand, use the other hand to
carefully cut the meat away from around the leg-thigh joint. (Don’t cut
through this joint, and don’t worry if it seems as if you’re leaving a
lot of meat around the joint - it can’t be helped and, besides, it will
add flavor when you make the stock with the bones.) Then use the blade
of the knife to scrape the meat away from the leg bone; remove the
leg-thigh bone. With your hands or the knife, one by one remove as many
pin bones from the leg meat as possible; then, if necessary, pull the
tip of the leg bone to turn the meat to the inside (so the skin is on
the outside and it looks like a turkey again). Refrigerate.

To bone the duck: Place the duck, breast down, on a flat surface and
follow the same procedure as you did to bone the turkey, except this
time you will remove all the bones, instead of leaving in part of the
wing and leg bones. To bone each wing, cut off the first two joints of
the wing (and save for stock), leaving the wing’s drumstick; cut the
meat from around the drumstick and remove this bone. When you reach the
thigh, follow the thigh-leg bone with the knife blade to release the
bone as one unit, again being careful not to cut through the skin. Trim
some of the excess skin and fat from the neck area; cut the skin in
small pieces and reserve it for making the gravy; discard the fat.
Refrigerate the duck and skin pieces.

To bone the chicken: Use precisely the same procedure to bone the
chicken as you used to bone the duck.

To assemble the turducken: Spread the turkey, skin down, on a flat
surface exposing as much meat as possible. Sprinkle the meat generously
and evenly with a total of about 2 tablespoons of the Meat Magic,
patting it in with your hands. (Be sure to turn the leg, thigh and wing
meat to the outside so you can season it, too.) Then stuff some of the
cold andouille dressing into the leg, thigh and wing cavities until full
but not tightly packed (if too tightly packed, it may cause the leg and
wing to burst open during cooking). Spread an even layer of the
dressing over the remaining exposed meat, about 1/2"-3/4" thick. You
should use a total of about 7 cups dressing.

Place the duck, skin down, on top of the andouille dressing, arranging
the duck evenly over the dressing. Season the exposed duck meat
generously and evenly with about 1 tablespoon more Meat Magic, pressing
it in with your hands. Then spread the cold cornbread dressing evenly
over the expose duck meat, making the layer slightly less thick than the
andouille dressing, about 1/2" thick. Use a total of about 4 cups dressing.

Arrange the chicken, skin down, evenly on top of the cornbread dressing.
Season the exposed chicken meat generously and evenly with about 1
tablespoon more Meat Magic, pressing it in with your hands. Spread the
cold oyster dressing evenly over the exposed chicken meat, using about 3
cups dressing and making the layer about 1/2" thick.

Enlist another person’s help to carefully lift the open turducken into
an ungreased 15"x11" baking pan that is at least 2 1/2" deep. (Note:
This pan size is ideal because the turducken fits snugly in the pan and
stays in the proper shape while cooking.) As you lift the turducken
into the pan, fold the sides of the turkey together to close the bird.
Have your helper hold the turkey closed while you sew up all openings,
making the stitches about 1" apart; when you finish sewing up the
turducken on the first side, turn it over in the pan to sew closed any
openings on the other side. Then tie the legs together just above the
tip bones. Leave the turducken breast side up in the pan, tucking in
the turkey wings.

Place the Turducken pan in a slightly larger pan with sides at least 2½"
deep, so that the larger pan will catch the overflow of drippings during
cooking. Season the exposed side of the Turducken generously and evenly
with about 2 tablespoons more Meat Magic, patting it in with your hands.
Refrigerate until ready to bake.

Bake at 190F until done, about 12-13 hours, or until a meat thermometer
inserted through to the center reads 165F. (Note: There is no need to
baste, but you will need to remove accumulated drippings from the
Turducken pan every few hours so that the lower portion of the turkey
doesn’t deep fry in the hot oil.) When done, remove the turducken from
oven and let cool in its pan at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, make the gravy
with some of the pan drippings and the reserved duck skin. With strong
spatulas inserted underneath (remember there are no bones to support the
bird’s structure), carefully transfer the Turducken to a serving platter
and present it to your guests before carving. Then place the Turducken
on a flat surface to carve. Be sure to make your slices crosswise so
that each slice contains all three dressings and all three meats. (It’s
easy to do this and still have manageable size servings if you slice the
Turducken in half lengthwise, then cut servings crosswise to the desired
thickness from one side of the Turducken at a time.) Serve additional
bowls of the dressings on the side.

Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy:
4 teaspoons Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic
1/2 cup drippings from turducken, plus the reserved duck skin
4 cups peeled and chopped eggplant
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup peeled and finely chopped sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 bay leaves
8 cups turkey, duck or chicken stock (recipe follows)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup peeled sweet potatoes, cut into 1/4" dice
3 tablespoons Grand Marnier
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions

Place the drippings and duck skin in a large skillet over medium-high
heat. Add 3 cups of the eggplant and saute until eggplant starts to get
soft, translucent, and brown, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add
the onions and remaining 1 cup eggplant; cook until the onions start to
brown, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the finely
chopped sweet potatoes; continue cooking and stirring for 4 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the
bay leaves and 3 teaspoons of the Meat Magic and stir well, scraping pan
bottom as needed.

Next, stir 1 cup of the stock into the vegetables and cook 2 minutes,
then add another 1 cup stock; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in 1/4 cup of the sugar and cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add another 1 cup stock and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup more stock; cook 10 minutes,
stirring occasionally, then add another 1 cup stock and cook 10 minutes
more, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer 13 minutes.
Stir in another 1 cup stock and simmer 3 minutes more. Remove from
heat and strain well, forcing as much liquid as possible through the
strainer.

Place the strained gravy in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the diced sweet
potatoes and 1 cup stock; bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce
heat and simmer 3 minutes, skimming off any froth from the surface.
Stir in the Grand Marnier and continue simmering 7 minutes, stirring
occasionally. Add the green onions, the remaining teaspoon of Meat
Magic and 1 cup more stock. Bring gravy to a boil and simmer until it
reduces to about 3 cups, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Makes
about 3 cups.

*******************************

Kate vs. the Turducken

I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years now, but this year I
finally did it. I made a turducken for T-Day. It was fun and
interesting and pretty good, too.

I started out with an almost 20-lb. turkey. The duck and the hen each
weighed about 4 lbs. I had
planned my T-day dinner for Friday instead of Thursday so could I start
preparing it on Thursday. That afternoon I boned all the birds. This
took about 2 1/2 hours, total boning time. I think I did pretty well
considering that I’ve never boned a bird whole before - just in parts.
The recipe warns you to be careful when boning out the wings and legs of
the turkey, not to make any holes in the skin since you are going to
have to stuff them later. (You only remove the innermost joint of the
wing, leaving the two outer joints in place. Also, the directions tell
you to crack the leg bone in half with a hammer and then remove the
thigh bone and the inner half of the leg bone. I thought that was silly
(too much work and too many chances for things to go wrong) so I just
removed the thigh bone and left the drumstick intact.) Of course the
duck and hen are completely boned so you don’t have to be as careful
about damaging the skin. (And, yes, you do leave the skin on the duck
and hen. And, no, the fat from the duck skin doesn’t make it too
greasy.) As I boned I disposed of the carcasses as follows: The turkey
carcass and giblets went into the stockpot simmering on the stove to
make broth for the stuffing and later the gravy. The duck and chicken
carcasses and giblets went into the freezer for later use in making
stock for soup.

After boning the birds and placing them back in the refrigerator I began
making the three stuffings. I didn’t use the ones that came with the
recipe because I don’t like oysters (one was an oyster stuffing) and I
don’t like cornbread stuffing (the second was a cornbread stuffing).
The third was an andouille sausage stuffing, but I didn’t feel like
hunting down an andouille sausage. My first stuffing was a corn-sausage
bread stuffing that I’ve been making for years and is now my
“traditional” stuffing. The second was an apple stuffing - basically a
traditional bread stuffing but with some cinnamon added to the spices
and diced apples and apple juice as part of the liquid. The last was a
curried wild rice-long grain rice stuffing with dried cherries. As I
went along I made up casseroles of the two bread stuffings and put them
in to bake. The remainder would go into the turducken and if any were
left over after stuffing the turducken it would be frozen for later.

I finally finished with the stuffings about 9:30pm. Next came the
assembly. I got the birds out of the fridge and began. I laid out the
turkey and then applied a nice thick layer of the corn-sausage stuffing.
Next came the duck, followed by a layer of the wild rice stuffing. And
then the hen and the apple stuffing. At this point I realized that I
didn’t have the energy left to deal with the rest of the process by
myself. I woke up my sister (visiting from California) who had gone to
bed at 9pm and made her come downstairs to help. Together we wrassled
the beast - this sucker had to weigh over 30 lbs. - into the roasting
pan and then she helped hold him together while I inserted every skewer
I had in the house along the line of his former backbone. Then I laced
him up good and tight with twine. Next we had to flip him over, very
carefully, onto his back and onto the roasting rack and put the whole
thing back in the roasting pan. After I did some creative rearranging
of the stuff in the fridge I managed to make room for him to while away
his last few hours before we popped him into the oven at 5am. We named
him Ken. I went to bed tired, but it was a *good* kind of tired.
Besides playing Dr. Frankenstein to my friend Ken that day I had also
made my chess pies - one lemon and one chocolate.

Friday 5am arrived and I staggered out of bed and down the stairs. My
brother-in-law came down to help and to get a peek at Ken before he was
cooked, since he had conveniently not heard my calls for help the
previous evening, probably pretending to be asleep and allowing my
sister to join the fray on her own. Into the oven he (Ken, that is)
went and we all went back to bed.

When I finally got up for good I still had lots to do. I spent the
morning making my orange-pomegranate compote (orange sections,
pomegranate seeds, a little sugar, lemon juice, and rose water, topped
with freshly grated coconut and served in individual footed crystal
sherbets). I also made the dough for my Gram’s crescent rolls and set
it to rise. During the day I periodically siphoned off the fats and
juices oozing from Ken. By the time he was done at 5pm I swear I had at
least a gallon of the liquids in a big pot on the stove waiting to go
into the gravy. The vegetable dish was easy - frozen peas. I had them
in a bowl all ready to be popped into the microwave just before we were
ready to eat. The only thing left was to peel the potatoes for the
mashed potatoes. I always get them peeled and sitting in a pot of lemon
water well ahead of time. Then when the turkey comes out I drain them
and rinse them and put them back into the pot with clean water and salt
and put them on to come to a boil. That way they are ready to mashed
just before we sit down to eat. After the roll dough had risen the
first time I rolled out and shaped the rolls and set them to rise again
before being baked.

I was having eight people to dinner, including me - my aunt Virginia,
cousin Melissa, cousin Karen and her husband Neil and son Matt, and my
sister Jean and her husband Greg. I made all the food (with some minor
help from my sister - she make the pie crust dough and peeled the
potatoes for me) except for my aunt’s contribution of a sweet potato
casserole, a cranberry mousse, and pumpkin pie.

Here’s the menu:
Appetizer - See’s Assorted Chocolates (my sister brought them from
Calif.) (No, they weren’t really appetizers but everyone came
about 3pm to visit so they munched on the candy. What could I
do? :-))
First Course - Orange-Pomegranate Compote
Main Course - Turducken, Corn-Sausage Stuffing, Apple Stuffing,
Curried Wild Rice Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Peas,
Sweet Potato Casserole, Cranberry Mousse, Gram’s Crescent
Rolls, Watermelon Pickles (my own homemade)
Wines - Grand View Montmorency Cherry Wine, Grand View Blueberry
AppleWine (from Vermont)
Dessert - Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate Chess Pie, Lemon Chess Pie

Well, the whole thing came off pretty much on schedule. I didn’t get
Ken out of the oven till about 5:30 instead of 5pm because I got too
busy visiting in the living room and forgot. But from there on out it
was on schedule - I started the potatoes, baked the rolls, and as soon
as they came out I put all the casseroles in the oven to warm up. Then
I microwaved the peas and put them in the oven to stay warm. After
everything was ready and on the table, I brought Ken to the table on my
aunt’s large turkey platter and took a picture of everyone around the
table ready to attack Ken with their utensils. Then I made them all
wait while I took him back to the kitchen to carve.

Now here’s the rub. From the recipe it sounds like, once you do all
this boning and stuffing and you have this big solid hunk o’ food, the
carving part is as simple as cutting off nice thin slices that have all
these pretty layers. Well that’s not what happens. When you try to
slice it (I did as they suggested and cut it in half, length-wise down
the middle and then put one half cut-side-down on a carving board and
then just start slicing) it pretty much all falls apart and you have
what looks like Turducken Hash. (Okay, it may be partly due to the wild
rice stuffing not holding together like bread stuffing does, but the
meat was falling apart too.) But it still tastes good. I was just
disappointed not to be able to serve these beautiful rainbow-like slices
that were promised in the recipe.

Complaint number two. Everyone said they loved it and that the meat
(mainly the turkey breast meat because I started carving at that end, so
that’s what we ate) was not at all dry. However, I, and admittedly I am
*not* a fan of breast meat, thought it was quite a bit drier than is
usual for turkey breast. I also found that the drumstick meat was
really dry, which I never would have thought could happen. I feel this
has to do with the extremely long cooking process. This bird is cooked
at 190F (I actually had it set a little higher - about 200F) for 12-13
hours. On the other hand when I smoked a turkey a few years ago, it was
in the smoker for 12 hours but it didn’t seem especially dry to me. Go
figure.

All-in-all, it was a good experience and Ken was quite tasty. Which is
lucky for me since I will be eating leftovers till sometime in March,
probably. I plan to make a huge pot of turducken noodle soup with all
my bones, in lieu of my usual turkey noodle soup. ;-) If anyone wants to
see the picture I can e-mail it to them. (One of these days I have to
get myself a web site.) However Ken is kinda small in the picture. I
should have taken a close-up so he could be seen better but I was tired
and hungry and my guests were about to riot!

By the way, the blueberry-apple wine was to die for! I’ve got to get
more of that stuff!

Kate, still recovering from T-Day.

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?
[email hidden]

Goomba38 said:

Peter A said:

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

Quoted message said:

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

The prospect of boning those raw birds deterred me, and buying one
already put together is out of my price range. I also like the three
birds seasoned differently, and what a waste of duck skin and chicken
skin, both great when crispy.

Quoted message said:

Same here. I received one as a gift from a very trendy food catalog and
it was pretty disgusting once roasted.

What do you expect from a dish that starts with "turd"?

Also, I get so sick of every single year NPR having PP on promoting
the things, though it's nowhere near as unappealing as the "Mama
Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe."

--Bryan

"hermit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

I've never actually made one, but here are some interesting articles I ran
across several years ago:

http://www.desert.net/ww/11-24-97/austin_food_feature2.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/dining/20THAN.html

You can buy them, frozen, in supermarkets, BTW.

Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to this.
It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat, steamed and
stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless chicken This is
rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless duck. This is
smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The turkey is
deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless marinated
lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed into a boneless
cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese water buffalo. The
water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The bear is then wrapped
with bacon.

This is served with a garnish of parsley.

This dish is sure to start a new holiday tradition. Just imagine gathering
around the table with the family and slicing off a piece with the
traditional Thanksgiving chainsaw. "I want the bear head!" little Timmy will
exclaim. <<from houston.eats>>

Mary

Bobo Bonobo® said...

Quoted message said:

Goomba38 said:

Peter A said:

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

Quoted message said:

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

The prospect of boning those raw birds deterred me, and buying one
already put together is out of my price range. I also like the three
birds seasoned differently, and what a waste of duck skin and chicken
skin, both great when crispy.

Quoted message said:

Same here. I received one as a gift from a very trendy food catalog and
it was pretty disgusting once roasted.

What do you expect from a dish that starts with "turd"?

Also, I get so sick of every single year NPR having PP on promoting
the things, though it's nowhere near as unappealing as the "Mama
Stamberg's Cranberry Relish Recipe."

--Bryan

A comedian on TV was talking about Thanksgiving and it's excessses (typo
intended), and mentioned "Turducken... ONLY IN AMERICA will you see people
stuffing meat into another meat and into another meat!" He did go on to
provide some funnier details I can't repeat.

Andy

MareCat said...

Quoted message said:

"hermit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

I've never actually made one, but here are some interesting articles I
ran across several years ago:

http://www.desert.net/ww/11-24-97/austin_food_feature2.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/dining/20THAN.html

You can buy them, frozen, in supermarkets, BTW.

Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to this.
It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat, steamed and
stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless chicken This
is rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless duck. This is
smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The turkey is
deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless marinated
lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed into a
boneless cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese water
buffalo. The water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The bear is
then wrapped with bacon.

This is served with a garnish of parsley.

This dish is sure to start a new holiday tradition. Just imagine
gathering around the table with the family and slicing off a piece with
the traditional Thanksgiving chainsaw. "I want the bear head!" little
Timmy will exclaim. <<from houston.eats>>

Mary

ROFL!!!

You've created a "Taco Town"-style Thanksgiving.

Where do you stuff the pumpkin pie?

Thanks,

Andy

"Andy" <q> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

ONLY IN AMERICA will you see people

Quoted message said:

stuffing meat into another meat and into another meat!" He did go on to
provide some funnier details I can't repeat.

Andy

Hmm -- isn't mad cow caused by feeding animals to animals to animals
us) -- I didn't think that started in America.
Dee Dee

Dee Dee said...

Quoted message said:

"Andy" <q> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

ONLY IN AMERICA will you see people

Quoted message said:

stuffing meat into another meat and into another meat!" He did go on to
provide some funnier details I can't repeat.

Andy

Hmm -- isn't mad cow caused by feeding animals to animals to animals
us) -- I didn't think that started in America.
Dee Dee

I dunno. I'm only CotD #2. Without cartoon images, I'm a goner. 😉

Andy http://tinyurl.com/yomw2g

Re: Turducken

MareCat said...

<<<Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to
this. It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat,
steamed and stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless
chicken This is rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless
duck. This is smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The
turkey is deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless
marinated lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed
into a boneless cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese
water buffalo. The water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The
bear is then wrapped with bacon.
This is served with a garnish of parsley.>>
Mary
-------------

THAT was hysterical-lmao
Ialmost bought one too,but decided against it.They used to make it in
medieval times,among other things much more gross.'Cockentrice'-half
pig,half hen.
You can find it here,quite interesting read.
While looking for a turducken recipe I found one called '10 bird
roast'-10 different birds stuffed into an 18 lb turkey,but I wont even
go there
thanks for brightening my day.that was so funny
Cheers.Smitty

http://www.godecookery.com/incrd/incrd.htm

godecookery.com

"Food, Art and Films,What else do you need?...Well.."

In article <[email hidden]>,

MareCat said:

Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to this.
It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat, steamed and
stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless chicken This is
rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless duck. This is
smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The turkey is
deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless marinated
lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed into a boneless
cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese water buffalo. The
water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The bear is then wrapped
with bacon.

Several years ago, I posted a recipe for something along the same lines.
You start with a large male sheep. The is stuffed with a tender spring
lamb. The lamb is stuffed with an Australian Dingo Dog. And there you
have it:

"Ramalambadingdog"

<rimshot>

--
Julian Vrieslander

hermit said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

No. It sounds awful.
--

History is a vast early warning system
Norman Cousins

MareCat said:

"hermit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

I've never actually made one, but here are some interesting articles I ran
across several years ago:

http://www.desert.net/ww/11-24-97/austin_food_feature2.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/dining/20THAN.html

You can buy them, frozen, in supermarkets, BTW.

Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to this.
It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat, steamed and
stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless chicken This is
rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless duck. This is
smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The turkey is
deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless marinated
lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed into a boneless
cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese water buffalo. The
water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The bear is then wrapped
with bacon.

I've identified a few weaknesses to your suggestion.
First, the "small cat" would have to actually be a tiny kitten to fit
into a chicken. Kittens are TOO cute, and most of us would be
squeamish about butchering one.
Second, all these boneless animals. I've heard of seedless oranges
and burpless cukes, but most animals require bones in order not to be
this big plop of fur or feathers.
Third, the live bear. You seem to think that bears come in a super
jumbo size if you think that a water buffalo would fit inside one, and
if there were a bear of that size, you and what army are going to
stuff a water buffalo into it, then wrap it in bacon?
In short, your recipe is not very well thought out.

Quoted message said:

This is served with a garnish of parsley.

This dish is sure to start a new holiday tradition. Just imagine gathering
around the table with the family and slicing off a piece with the
traditional Thanksgiving chainsaw. "I want the bear head!" little Timmy will
exclaim. <<from houston.eats>>

And another thing, the wing tips on the turkey would not end up
crispy, and that's my favorite part.

Quoted message said:

Mary

--Bryan

MareCat said:

"hermit" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

I've never actually made one, but here are some interesting articles I ran
across several years ago:

http://www.desert.net/ww/11-24-97/austin_food_feature2.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/20/dining/20THAN.html

You can buy them, frozen, in supermarkets, BTW.

Anyway, forget about turduckens. I propose a better alternative to this.
It's called a "bearbufcowlamturduckcaten." It's a small cat, steamed and
stuffed with broccoli casserole, stuffed into a boneless chicken This is
rubbed with garlic and oil, and stuffed into a boneless duck. This is
smothered in barbecue sauce and stuffed into a turkey. The turkey is
deep-fried, sprinkled with pepper, and stuffed into a boneless marinated
lamb. The lamb is then doused in Tabasco sauce and stuffed into a boneless
cow. The cow is then stuffed into a boneless vietnamese water buffalo. The
water buffalo is then stuffed into a live bear. The bear is then wrapped
with bacon.

I've identified a few weaknesses to your suggestion.
First, the "small cat" would have to actually be a tiny kitten to fit
into a chicken. Kittens are TOO cute, and most of us would be
squeamish about butchering one.
Second, all these boneless animals. I've heard of seedless oranges
and burpless cukes, but most animals require bones in order not to be
this big plop of fur or feathers.
Third, the live bear. You seem to think that bears come in a super
jumbo size if you think that a water buffalo would fit inside one, and
if there were a bear of that size, you and what army are going to
stuff a water buffalo into it, then wrap it in bacon?
In short, your recipe is not very well thought out.

Quoted message said:

This is served with a garnish of parsley.

This dish is sure to start a new holiday tradition. Just imagine gathering
around the table with the family and slicing off a piece with the
traditional Thanksgiving chainsaw. "I want the bear head!" little Timmy will
exclaim. <<from houston.eats>>

And another thing, the wing tips on the turkey would not end up
crispy, and that's my favorite part.

Quoted message said:

Mary

--Bryan

One time on Usenet said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

Quoted message said:

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

They sell them, frozen, at my local stupidmarket for about $50.00.
That's a bit more than I want to pay for a frosted turkey with other
birds stuffed up its ass. Maybe Turducken is great in a nice Cajun
restaurant, but I picture doing it at home as being a lot like Peter's
experience...

--
Jani in WA

Andy said:

A comedian on TV was talking about Thanksgiving and it's excessses (typo
intended), and mentioned "Turducken... ONLY IN AMERICA will you see people
stuffing meat into another meat and into another meat!" He did go on to
provide some funnier details I can't repeat.

Except for the fact that they were doing that in Europe
centuries ago. If you ever look at some of the menus
and recipes from back in the Renaissance, etc., you will
see all kinds of animals stuffed inside other animals stuffed
inside other animals. And they sometimes saved the skins of
the birds with the feathers still attached and put them back
on after the meat was roasted and served them that way for
decoration.

No, this is one excess that was not started in America!

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?
[email hidden]

Quoted message said:

Peter A said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I got to thinking about Thanksgiving coming up, and wanted to do
something different rather than the traditional turkey. I thought of
Turducken. I have never had this concoction, but it sure looks and
sounds interesting. Perhaps some rfc'ers would like to review their
experiences with turducken?

Quoted message said:

Regards,

Quoted message said:

Rich

It sounds great, and I fell for the hoopla a few years ago. I bought one
mail order from one of the best known places in La, far from the
cheapest.

It was very disappointing. Once all of it was cooked enough, most of it
was overdone. It all tasted pretty much the same, so I didn't see the
point. I would much rather have a well prepared chicken, turkey, or duck
by itself than this sort of bastardized, gimmicky [censored].

--
Peter Aitken

I have heard about Turkducken, but it has only been negative comments.
I hear that it is not worth the purchase and that you should just buy
the orgininal instead of the combination meat. It is definetly a
gimmick, it was a similar gimmick to tofurkey., which is also quite
unpleasing.

How can you compare tofurkey, crappy faux turkey, to a
delicious real turducken of real turkey, real duck, and
real chicken? Sheesh! I would never buy a commercially
prepared one, but that would be mainly because I want to
control what goes into the stuffings as I am picky and there
are lots of things I don't like in my stuffing. I only
eat stuffing I have made myself. But I made a turducken
and it was quite delicious!

Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?
[email hidden]