Turducken

[jackal10]

Fabien boning out the turkey, and showing the layers:

Turkey (20lb) ; apple and sausagemeat stuffing;duck; sage onion and sourdough bread stuffing; chicken; potato and wild mushroom stuffing; egg; olive (olives stuffed with garlic). We decided in the end that truffleing the mushroom stuffing would be over the top and dominate the flavours too much.

Assembled, it makes a perfectly innocent looking turkey, ready for roasting...

Into the smoker. Its the bread oven. We had baked bread (and BBQ buns) the day before, and now the oven had cooled to about 225F. The smoke is from a small fire on the left with lots of cherry wood sawdust...12 hours and 18 hours later, next day. Note the thermometers. Internal temperature is 60C. Its released a lot of juice.

Unfortunately I did not get a chance to photograph it carved, before the ravening hordes descended. The smpke plus turkey and stuffing flavours were excellent, from the little bit I managed to grab, it was cooked, but moist and suculent.

When we do it again (and we will) I think it might be better to leave out the skin from the duck and the chicken that go sort of flabby. Not being on the outside, of course, they do not go crisp. Making it with just the supremes (skinless breasts) will also be a lot easier.

[Tepee]

What a whopper!! It's possibly heavier than me. A shame that there were no pics of it carved. Sounds delicious.

Edited September 19, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[daves]

This is on my list of things to make one day -- when I have an small army to feed! Looks great!

[Abra]

Perfection! I too wish I could see the inside - it must have been lovely. Good idea about removing the interior skins. If I ever make one, I'll definitely remember that.

[Carlovski]

Very impressive - that's the neatest one I have seen!

I'd have thought skinning the duck especially would be important - must help the fat escape?

[rooftop1000]

Mmmm maybe you could drape the duck skin over the top for part of the cooking time

was just explaining this dish to a group yesterday

tracey

[MobyP]

Superb, Jack.

Can I volunteer for boning/chopping/mincing/stuffing duty next time?

[Pallee]

I've made quite a few turduckens over the years and it has evolved to include a poussin and a couple quail. Usually stuff the quail with chestnuts to help find them. I also use a KBI turkey breast and fill in here and there with the meat and use the skin to help span any gaps in the bottom. I trim up the fat and skin on the internal fowl, but leave it on because I think it adds flavor. It's alot of fun!

[Ling]

That turkey skin is so evenly browned! Very impressive...I don't think I could ever attempt to make this.

How long did it take to put the whole thing together (making the stuffings, and stuffing the turkey?)

[jackal10]

I guess it took a couple of hours all told although we were doing lots of other stuff at the same time, plus the 18 hours of smoking/slow cooking. Just out of interest we timed how long it took to debone the turkey - 15 minutes, No doubt with practice it would be faster.

Trickiest part was moving the cooked turducken from the pan to a serving dish, as it has no internal stiffness. That took three people.

The concern is that its a big solid lump of meat, but unlike a large roast, where you can assume the inside is nearly sterile, here the inside has been exposed and handled, and that poultry may have endemic e.coli and other bugs. Cook above 60C/140F for safety, and holding it at that temperature for long time low tenperature cooking that ensures the dark meat is cooked without overcooking the light meat.

[Carlovski]

I'm impressed with 15 minutes for the deboning - didn't Jeffery Steingarten take over an hour in his account of making one?

Won't you guys get away with putting the whole thing inside a swan? or have i been reading too much Tom Sharpe?

[jackal10]

You should know that Swans are royal perogatives and that eating one is an act of treason, unless you have Royal Perogative as has St John's College. I'm don't.

There is a tradition of stuffing it into a sheep, then into a camel, but enough already...

[Carlovski]

You might need a bigger smoker for camel!

[fifi]

I have seen a lot of turduckens in my time but never, and I mean never, have I seen one that gorgeous. That is truly a masterpiece. Bravo!