All right, Thanksgiving’s upon us, so let’s talk turkey. Now, I’ll be the first person to admit that I’m a stickler for tradition and a strong believer in not fixing things that ain’t broke, but every once in a while an idea comes along that’s so stupendously innovative it simply can’t be ignored. Turducken is one of those ideas, and it’s gunning to dethrone the turkey as the staple food anchoring Thanksgiving dinners all across North America.
On the surface turkey and turducken appear identical, but that’s where the similarities end. If there were ever an example of not judging a book by its cover, this would be it. Whereas a traditional Thanksgiving turkey is stuffed with, well… stuffing, the turducken consists of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a partially de-boned duck, which in turn gets stuffed with a partially de-boned chicken. Beats the hell out of giblets wouldn’t you say? And here we’ve been, eating regular turkey all these years like a bunch of suckers.
But what about the more traditional form of stuffing that we’ve all come to know and love? You remember; the kind that’s not just another slightly smaller bird. Not to worry, the general theme of turducken revolves around the concept that if even a few empty cubic inches of space can be found, one would be silly not to stuff them with something delicious. For this reason, the thoracic cavity of each bird remains available for you to fill with whatever type of stuffing you can cook up, traditional or otherwise.
The American origins of this densely packed, Babushka-doll-like flavor-bomb can be traced back to Hebert’s Specialty Meats, a Cajun style butcher shop in Maurice, Louisiana. Legend has it that one day an unknown local farmer wandered into Hebert’s with three of his own fowl and politely enquired if it would be possible to cram them into one another and cook them up. Hebert’s was only too happy to oblige, and thus the turducken was born.
Now I know what you’re wondering. I know because I wondered it too. With over 9,300 types of birds in the world, surely there must be something out there bigger than a turkey and smaller than a chicken that could be used to keep the turducken train a-rollin’, right? Why not just club yourself an ostrich, stuff it with a bald eagle and keep working your way down?
The largest bird-stuffed-with-another-bird roast on record is credited to a 19th Century French royal feast in which they prepared—deep breath now—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, stuffed with a goose, stuffed with a pheasant, stuffed with a chicken, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a guinea fowl, stuffed with a teal, stuffed with a woodcock, stuffed with a partridge (…puff!… gasp!…), stuffed with a plover, stuffed with a lapwing, stuffed with a quail, stuffed with a thrush, stuffed with a lark, stuffed with an Ortolan Bunting, stuffed a Garden Warbler, stuffed with a single olive. Amazingly, half those birds probably didn’t even taste very good, but you have to tip your hat to anyone with enough gusto to wedge seventeen birds into each other and serve it to a king.
This Thanksgiving, we’d like to salute that ingenious and possibly intoxicated Louisiana farmer who woke up one morning, decided that breadcrumb stuffing just didn’t cut the mustard anymore and invented the turducken. While still a long shot to take the crown from the traditional turkey, it can at least stake its claim as the only food brave enough to try. That’s why turducken remains our favorite Underdog Food of this holiday season.
Think you got the guts to try it yourself? Here’s a great turducken recipe, let us know how it turns out!
- Justin Fragapane