Turducken Recipes

For you to produce turducken recipes you first have to acquire the skill of boning turkeys, chickens, and ducks. If you want to make a Royal Roast you will have to bone a chicken, goose, and pheasant. Fortunately the anatomy of these birds are very similar so once you learn the technique for one bird it easily transfers to the others. And if you don't want to take the time to learn boning techniques, you can have a talented butcher do it for you.

Turducken recipes have several advantages. In addition to being unusual, the process gives you the opportunity to add flavor to the birds and make them easier to carve. It also saves space in your oven. You are preparing quite a bit of meat in a very small space. These recipes are especially suited for a large crowd because you are actually serving three birds. But, we also describe a method that answers the question: How do you make turducken for two, or for a small number of diners?

If you are going to do the boning yourself here is the step by step process.

Okay, we have the tree boned birds. The outer bird (the turkey) is boned as described in the above link. The other two birds are completely boned including the drumsticks, or the wings and legs can be removed and just the breast portion used.

Next, your turducken recipes will need three portions of stuffing. You can either mix three different stuffings or one large batch of stuffing. Often we try to keep stuffing light and loose for stuffing one bird, but that is not necessary or even desirable here. You want your dressings rather firm.

Chef Paul Prudhomme is often attributed for the creation turducken (a sometimes disputed assertion as layered birds have been around for centuries), but he did help to make the dish well known. Because he was from Louisiana turducken is often made with Cajun spices and a Cajun dressing. A Cajun dressing can be made with a traditional stuffing recipe just by adding andouille, or other hot spicy sausage, removed from its casing and mixed with the stuffing. But, turducken recipes do not require a Cajun spice, and any good dressing and poultry seasoning will work well. Choose your favorite.

Again we need to thank Walter Fuller of The Natural Link in Lewiston, New York. After he demonstrated how to bone a turkey, he showed us how he assembles turduckens.

Here is the Turducken Process:

First the ingredients are assembled. The dressing has been made, chilled, and formed into two flat sheets and a small football shape. Press the first sheet of dressing into the boned turkey. You can also take mixed dressing and press it onto the turkey and form the sheet in that manner.
Press the first inner bird onto the sheet of dressing that you have just laid down. In this case, the chicken is placed next because it is larger than the duck.
Press the second sheet of dressing over the second bird.
Here the duck breast has been added over the second layer of dressing. Finish with the football shaped mound of dressing on top. That is the third dressing, and its shape will give the finished bird the correct volume to restore the boned turkey to its usual shape.
Next, work a trussing needle through the skin of the turkey.
Here is another view of a trussing needle holding the skin together in back. Notice the hole in the point of the needle, The butcher twine is threaded through that hole, the needle is pulled back pulling the twine through the hole that the needle had made.
Tie the twine to hold the back together. Repeat the process of using the trussing needle to create a hole and pull twine. Ttie it several times, until the back of the turducken is secure.
Turn the turducken breast up. It looks just like the original turkey! All that is left to do is to close the body cavity with the trussing needle and twine.
Close the body cavity with butcher twine. Use an additional loop of twine to pull the wings close to the body and another loop to hold the drumsticks close together.
Here is the finished turducken, along with a twine turkey cradle to make lifting easy.

Turducken For Two

Turducken is usually made for a large group but Walter told us that he also makes them for smaller gatherings, even for two people. How? By using breasts. Starting with a half turkey breast and filling it with a half chicken and half duck breast, will make a small turducken-like roast for two or more depending on the size of the breasts.

Enter your search terms Submit search form

Web The-Perfect-Turkey.com