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Ah, the turducken … the Southern-born bird trinity concoction that's grown so trendy, it has now been inducted into the New Oxford Dictionary, making it an official word (though terms like bromance, tweetup, and defriend also were, so take it with a grain of salt).
A turducken is a dish consisting of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey. If you can handle the meat, check out these five interesting tidbits about the fowl monstrosity.
- Though its origins are disputed, it's said that the Cajun-creole fusion chef Paul Prudhomme created it as part of a food festival in 1983, though Hebert's Specialty Meats in Louisiana has been commercially producing turduckens since 1985.
- You thought the turducken was the T-Rex of stuffed fowl? It has nothing on this 12-bird (yes 12!) concoction made of turkey, goose, Barbary duck, Guinea fowl, mallard, Poussin, quail, partridge, pigeon squab, pheasant, chicken, and Aylesbury duck. It costs $1,300, serves 125 people, and will probably put you off poultry until Easter.
- What's better than a turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken? A deep-fried turkey stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a chicken. It's tricky, but do-able. Here's a how-to in case you want to go beyond the typical grilled, braised, roasted, or barbecued method.
- If a turducken doesn't have enough meat for you (geez, what kind of carnivore are you?), wrap some bacon around it. You've just made yourself a turbaconducken, my friend.
- Vegetarians don't have to miss out on all of the carnage fun. A tofucken (I swear, I'm not cursing!) is a vegetarian-version of the stuffed carcasses.
Have you ever tried a turducken?
Image via jules: stonesoup/Flickr
