While most people will sit down to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner consisting of turkey and dressing, and all the fixings, others may go a little different route and serve up Turducken.
The Turducken is claimed to have been invented by Chef Paul Prudhomme in the 1970’s. He even trademarked the name Turducken in 1986.
The Turducken consists of one deboned chicken, deboned duck and a turkey deboned. Now this recipe calls for a lot of prep work, deboning all the meat will be a job in itself, but you will be stuffing the turkey under its breast, and legs with dressing to make it appear to still have bones. In case someone may want to try this fascinating Turducken here is the recipe.
Ingredients: 1 (3 pound) chicken de-boned
1 (4 pound) duck, de –boned
1 (16 pound), turkey, de-boned
3 cups of prepared sausage dressing
Creole seasoning to taste and salt and pepper to taste
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lay the boned chicken side down on a platter and season with salt, pepper and Creole seasoning. Lay the boned duck skin side down and season also. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Lay the boned turkey skin side down on a flat surface. Take dressing and stuff the dressing it in the leg, wing cavities so it will look like it still has bones.
3. Lay the duck on top of the turkey skin side down and cover with cold dressing, lay the chicken on top of the duck skin side down with a layer of cold dressing on top of it.
4. With the help of an assistant, bring the edges of the turkey skin up and fasten them together with toothpicks. Use the kitchen string to lace around the toothpicks to help hold the stuffed turkey together. Carefully place the turducken, breast side up in a large roasting pan.
5. Roast covered for 4 hours or until the turducken is golden brown. Continue to roast uncovered for one hour or until a meat thermometer inserted through the thigh registers 180 degrees and a thermometer inserted through the dressing registers 165 degrees. Check the turducken every few hours to baste and remove excessive liquid. There will be enough juices for a lot of gravy. Carve and serve.
