Every year, I have requests to make a Turducken… Made famous by Cajun Chef Paul Prudhomme and his family!
A Turducken is a turkey stuffed with various birds and each with their own stuffing! The trick is that the only bones left in the turkey are the leg and thigh and the wings… But when you are done it looks like a turkey but sliced like a meat roll!
Recently, I acquired the Family Cookbook and signed by many members of the Prudhomme family… A fun book indeed and I loved reviewing their Turducken!
One of the nice traditions we have in making a birthday special is that the person being celebrated is given their choices for the day. This gave me time to pause and think about my own upcoming birthday. I am also painfully aware that I had planned many culinary wonders for the holidays that never were developed and the various ingredients lay in my 3 freezers.
I had planned our version of what Chef Paul Prudhomme made famous… the Turducken.His recipe is very nice but I’d leave out the eggplant and remove the skin from the inner birds. BTW, I am very fond of Louisiana Cooking be it Chef Prudhomme or that of Chef Emeril John Lagasse and found autographed cookbooks by both for my daughters Karen & Kristin’s Cookbook collections. I had to insure that I had everything I needed!
For our Turducken: Turkey, Pheasant, Goose and Duck... and I have plenty of Chicken elsewhere!
Most people shy away from this wonderful dish, in part because many find deboning the birds a rather physical task. However, if you take your time and do it the day before… it is rather simple.
Each bird should be accompanied by its own stuffing! With so many wonderful stuffings out there, you can choose just the right one for each bird! Chef Prudhomme recommends an Andouille corn bread stuffing which is perfect even if you only make a turkey! Other stuffings that are fun are versions of wild rice, cashew, and mushroom and saffron. There are some fun stuffings for the smaller birds made from ancient grains that don’t over power… but add interest as well.
One thing you might consider is to place strips of bacon between the string lattice you made and the turkey… this is often referred to as ‘banding’ and adds a lot to the experience.
So, now all I have to do is wait to put this all together and celebrate something… oh yeah, my birthday!
When the weather turns a little cooler, you'll remember why you have an oven! Above are a few delightful things to make this season: a Beef Wellington, Turducken ( and all the various combinations), Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Pie, Cherry Pie and George Washington's Egg Nog if you dare!
With Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will definitely be making one of those glorious bird-within-a-bird meals and to make it special… I have ordered a simply largest bird I can find! Looking at the Turkey above, it looks for all the world like a turkey that has been tied up a bit; however, with the exception of the legs and wings, there are no bones in this turkey. This is a Turducken!
Turduckens have been a yea old favorite for a long time. For hundreds of years meals of birds within birds have been served. The key for me is to de-bone them and remove all the skin but the outer turkey! The trick is to start assembling with the largest bird and add each bird until you get to the smallest while not forgetting to add the appropriate stuffing at each layer. Laura likes to refer to my effort as a fancy ‘meat roll’, but I think it is delicious every time! It also has a habit of attracting my daughters from wherever far flung environment they may be… which is nice.
Here’s the basic composition:
Turkey – corn bread
Goose – chestnut stuffing
Chicken – mushrooms and saffron white rice
Pheasant – cashew stuffing
Duck – wild rice
Besides a Turducken, I have a prime rib aging right now, a whole leg of lamb ( I have some Greek tenderizing ideas for this), hams and , of course, there will be dessert. Desserts are usually special in most families and so it is with us. Pumpkin pie is a staple and Christmas Cookies are varied… but we always find a time for George Washington’s Egg nog!
Stating thinking and planning, because August heat doesn’t last forever!
