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weconway
Guest
I've always wanted to cook a turducken, but I've never had the nerve to try. I got a new boning knife and one of those nifty steel mesh butcher gloves for Christmas, so New Years seemed like a good time to put them to work.
The Plan
The plan was to make a traditional cajun style turducken with one subtle twist. There are three stuffings in the recipe, so i wanted to use 3 different 4-legged animals for the three stuffings. Pork+beef+bison = picowfallo!
I used a 20 lb. turkey, a 6 1/4 lb. duck and a 4 lb. chicken.
Brining the turkey
I wanted to brine the turkey in an effort to keep it from drying out during the long cook. It also helped thaw out the turkey, as a 20 lb. beast takes forever to completely thaw.
I brined a turkey in a simple solution of 1 lb. each if pickling salt and brown sugar and 7 quarts of water. I brined it for 1 hour per pound, or 20 hours.
Making the Stuffings
You need a lot of stuff to stuff a turducken!
I turned to this recipe (click here) for the andouille stuffing. The recipe calls for two ways to finish it - stuffed in a bird or cooked in a pan. I chose the "stuffed" method for the turducken, which was a mistake. But we'll get to that later.
For the second stuffing I used the same recipe, except I substituted:
1. 28 oz. of smoked beef sausage for all the pork
2. Green bell peppers for the red pepper
3. A half cup of chopped parsley for the green onions
4. Regular stuffing for the cornbread mix
Finally, for the dirty rice I used this recipe (click here), substuting 1/2 lb. of ground bison for the giblets and livers. I did add the chicken and duck livers from the two birds to give it that "dirty rice" flavor.
All told cooking the three stuffings took about 3 hours! It's quite a bit of work and I understand why some people just use one large batch of stuffing.
Deboning the Poultry
This is probably the most intimidating part of preparing the bird, but these videos from a local Atlanta butcher really helped:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQQsIphhdb0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng8Fayv38Ao
He kept the outside whole, but I separated the meat from the backbone like this guy did (skip to 3:30):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjoTlVoEPdA
I did the chicken first, thinking that if I screwed it up I could go get another one. With a good, razor sharp knife it was actually pretty easy. I even removed the drumstick bones to practice, as I was going to stuff the turkey drumsticks with stuffing.
Next came the duck. I didn't work so hard to keep the drumsticks intact.
Last came the turkey. I had to whip out the bigger knives to break the wing and leg joints. Like I mentioned, I deboned the drumsticks for stuffing.
It took me about 2 hours or so to debone the birds and scrub down my countertops (Salmonella tastes bad).
It was a pretty long day, so I packed the stuffings and the deboned birds in the fridge to cool overnight.
Putting it all together
Assembling the turducken is pretty straightforward. I seasoned all the birds with Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning before adding the layers of stuffings. I also scored the duck and chicken skins to help the fat render out into the stuffing.
I ended up using almost the entire batch of the outermost layer of stuffing, about a third of the middle, and just a scoop or two of the dirty rice. There was a lot left over.
Closing the beast
It took two sets of hands to close the bird, and for the job I used metal skewers. They held the skin together and are easy to remove before carving. The duck didn't wrap all the way around the chicken, so I pinned it to the chicken with a few skewers.
In retrospect, it would have been better to keep the bones in the drumsticks and to tie the drumsticks together to keep the back end closed. More on that in a bit.
Behold! Turduckasaurus! This monster weighed almost 30 pounds!
Preparing to cook
I put the turducken on a turkey lifter, and then placed the whole shebang into a disposable roaster.
I added several chunks of hickory wood. I was thinking that would compliment the hickory smoked sausage in the stuffing.
I got the grill up to 375* or so and let 'er rip.
Cooking the Turduckasaurus
The first hour or so went pretty well, with the bird taking on a good bit of color. After two hours I covered it with foil and lowered the grill temperature to 300*.
Unfortunately, as the turducken cooked the stuffing expanded and the rear of the monster burst. The expanding stuffing actually pushed the chicken out the back! Lessons learned:
1. Cook the stuffing completely first.
2. Tie the drumsticks together or pin the rear shut!
3. Cook entirely at 300*. The initial higher temperature only served to dry out the skin and make it less pliable as the bird expanded.
The cook pressed on for several more hours and I basted the turducken about every 45 minutes. I also skimmed the extra liquid out for the pan to make gravy.
All told the turducken cooked for 6 1/2 hours. Here's the end result:
You can see how it burst out. It wasn't pretty, but I was still pretty proud of it. The skin blackened pretty bad, but I think cooking it at 300* for the entire time would help keep it from getting it too dark. I'd also cover it after the first hour or so.
Carving!
Here's what everyone's waiting for...the classic turducken cross sectional shot!
The beast fed a dozen or so people with LOTS of leftovers for the next day. I'm thinking I could have fed 20 or so people!
I carved the turkey skin off before serving, as it was inedible. The gravy was absolutely delicious, which is to be expected given the zooful of animals packed inside.
Final thoughts
All told I spent about 7 hours preparing the bird, and another 7 or so cooking it. It was a heck of a lot of fun to put together! Everyone enjoyed the novelty of it, and it was certainly something I'm proud to have tackled.
A few suggestions for next time:
1. I'll keep it a little simpler with the stuffing. You used so little of the inner two stuffings that I didn't think they added a lot to the final product.
2. Used fully cooked stuffing. Expansion is your enemy!
3. Leave the drumsticks as is and tie them together to keep everything inside.
4. Cook the turducken at 275*-300*. I'm guessing it would have taken 7-8 hours at that temperature.
5. Cook uncovered for an hour, then cover with foil for the remainder. I'm not sure basting added a lot.
6. Invite more friends. This beast feeds a lot!
The Plan
The plan was to make a traditional cajun style turducken with one subtle twist. There are three stuffings in the recipe, so i wanted to use 3 different 4-legged animals for the three stuffings. Pork+beef+bison = picowfallo!
I used a 20 lb. turkey, a 6 1/4 lb. duck and a 4 lb. chicken.
Brining the turkey
I wanted to brine the turkey in an effort to keep it from drying out during the long cook. It also helped thaw out the turkey, as a 20 lb. beast takes forever to completely thaw.
I brined a turkey in a simple solution of 1 lb. each if pickling salt and brown sugar and 7 quarts of water. I brined it for 1 hour per pound, or 20 hours.
Making the Stuffings
You need a lot of stuff to stuff a turducken!
I turned to this recipe (click here) for the andouille stuffing. The recipe calls for two ways to finish it - stuffed in a bird or cooked in a pan. I chose the "stuffed" method for the turducken, which was a mistake. But we'll get to that later.
For the second stuffing I used the same recipe, except I substituted:
1. 28 oz. of smoked beef sausage for all the pork
2. Green bell peppers for the red pepper
3. A half cup of chopped parsley for the green onions
4. Regular stuffing for the cornbread mix
Finally, for the dirty rice I used this recipe (click here), substuting 1/2 lb. of ground bison for the giblets and livers. I did add the chicken and duck livers from the two birds to give it that "dirty rice" flavor.
All told cooking the three stuffings took about 3 hours! It's quite a bit of work and I understand why some people just use one large batch of stuffing.
Deboning the Poultry
This is probably the most intimidating part of preparing the bird, but these videos from a local Atlanta butcher really helped:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQQsIphhdb0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng8Fayv38Ao
He kept the outside whole, but I separated the meat from the backbone like this guy did (skip to 3:30):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjoTlVoEPdA
I did the chicken first, thinking that if I screwed it up I could go get another one. With a good, razor sharp knife it was actually pretty easy. I even removed the drumstick bones to practice, as I was going to stuff the turkey drumsticks with stuffing.
Next came the duck. I didn't work so hard to keep the drumsticks intact.
Last came the turkey. I had to whip out the bigger knives to break the wing and leg joints. Like I mentioned, I deboned the drumsticks for stuffing.
It took me about 2 hours or so to debone the birds and scrub down my countertops (Salmonella tastes bad).
It was a pretty long day, so I packed the stuffings and the deboned birds in the fridge to cool overnight.
Putting it all together
Assembling the turducken is pretty straightforward. I seasoned all the birds with Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning before adding the layers of stuffings. I also scored the duck and chicken skins to help the fat render out into the stuffing.
I ended up using almost the entire batch of the outermost layer of stuffing, about a third of the middle, and just a scoop or two of the dirty rice. There was a lot left over.
Closing the beast
It took two sets of hands to close the bird, and for the job I used metal skewers. They held the skin together and are easy to remove before carving. The duck didn't wrap all the way around the chicken, so I pinned it to the chicken with a few skewers.
In retrospect, it would have been better to keep the bones in the drumsticks and to tie the drumsticks together to keep the back end closed. More on that in a bit.
Behold! Turduckasaurus! This monster weighed almost 30 pounds!
Preparing to cook
I put the turducken on a turkey lifter, and then placed the whole shebang into a disposable roaster.
I added several chunks of hickory wood. I was thinking that would compliment the hickory smoked sausage in the stuffing.
I got the grill up to 375* or so and let 'er rip.
Cooking the Turduckasaurus
The first hour or so went pretty well, with the bird taking on a good bit of color. After two hours I covered it with foil and lowered the grill temperature to 300*.
Unfortunately, as the turducken cooked the stuffing expanded and the rear of the monster burst. The expanding stuffing actually pushed the chicken out the back! Lessons learned:
1. Cook the stuffing completely first.
2. Tie the drumsticks together or pin the rear shut!
3. Cook entirely at 300*. The initial higher temperature only served to dry out the skin and make it less pliable as the bird expanded.
The cook pressed on for several more hours and I basted the turducken about every 45 minutes. I also skimmed the extra liquid out for the pan to make gravy.
All told the turducken cooked for 6 1/2 hours. Here's the end result:
You can see how it burst out. It wasn't pretty, but I was still pretty proud of it. The skin blackened pretty bad, but I think cooking it at 300* for the entire time would help keep it from getting it too dark. I'd also cover it after the first hour or so.
Carving!
Here's what everyone's waiting for...the classic turducken cross sectional shot!
The beast fed a dozen or so people with LOTS of leftovers for the next day. I'm thinking I could have fed 20 or so people!
I carved the turkey skin off before serving, as it was inedible. The gravy was absolutely delicious, which is to be expected given the zooful of animals packed inside.
Final thoughts
All told I spent about 7 hours preparing the bird, and another 7 or so cooking it. It was a heck of a lot of fun to put together! Everyone enjoyed the novelty of it, and it was certainly something I'm proud to have tackled.
A few suggestions for next time:
1. I'll keep it a little simpler with the stuffing. You used so little of the inner two stuffings that I didn't think they added a lot to the final product.
2. Used fully cooked stuffing. Expansion is your enemy!
3. Leave the drumsticks as is and tie them together to keep everything inside.
4. Cook the turducken at 275*-300*. I'm guessing it would have taken 7-8 hours at that temperature.
5. Cook uncovered for an hour, then cover with foil for the remainder. I'm not sure basting added a lot.
6. Invite more friends. This beast feeds a lot!
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