Drunken Turducken

Tur-whaten? Turducken is a Louisianan "delicacy" - Turkey stuffed with a duck, which itself is stuffed with a chicken. How is that anatomically possible you may ask? Simple - they're all deboned - and skin is left on the Turkey to sew it all up.

Anyway, traditional Turducken is pretty spicy - lots of cajun goodness, corn dressing and what not. For my Turducken project I decided to try something a bit different - there may well be wailing and gnashing of teeth over in Maurice, La - but in the interests of food experimentation I chose to follow the same method used in Spain for "Pavo Trufado" - basically give the Turducken a bath in cognac, Amontillado and garlic - hence the "Drunken" bit.

Tip: talk your butcher into deboning the turkey, duck and chicken for you. Unless you feel up to the challenge! (I wimped out and took the easy way out... got the butcher to do it.)
















Ingredients

• 1 deboned Turkey (16lb) with skin and wings intact
• 1 deboned Duck without skin (3-4 lb)
• 1 deboned Chicken without skin (3-4 lb)

For marinade:

• 2 large zip-lock plastic bags (for marinading)
• A cup of Cognac
• 1/2 bottle of Amontillado (or other dry Sherry)
• 4 large gloves of garlic
• 1 tbs whole pepper corns
• 1 whole nutmeg & grater

For herb-butter rub:

• Fresh parsley, sage and rosemary
• 1/4 lb of butter
• 3 cloves garlic
  

For stuffing:

• 3 different stuffings (already prepared)
• 1/4 lb pancetta
• handful of pine-nuts
  

For cooking:

• Large roasting bag
• Meat thermometer
• Metal skewers
• Turkey "sewing kit" (metal pins & cooking twine)
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots and celery
• 1 tbs flour

Serve with:

• Stuffings
• Roast potatoes and parsnips
• Green beans, pancetta, garlic and pine-nuts
• Steamed brussel sprouts
• Fresh cranberry sauce

Instructions

Marinade I let it marinade 24 hours before cooking.

1. Peel and coaresly chop the garlic. Place garlic between two zip-lock bags and add the peppercorns. Add 1/2 cup of cognac and about 1 cup of Amontillado to each bag.













2. Add duck and chicken to one bag, add turkey to the other. Then grate some nutmeg (about a pinch) into each bag.












3. Put bags into a bowl (in case of leakage!) and place in the fridge. Turn bags over a couple of times during the 24 hours.











Day of cooking!

There seem to be two general methods of cooking Turducken -- very low heat (190-220 F) for a long time (10-12 hours), or over a medium heat (350-400 F) for less time (4-6 hours). I opted for the second method, but use a roasting bag to keep things moist. I reckon final weight of the assembled Turducken must have been about 20-22 lb, but overall it only took about 5 hours to cook, and I had to put heat way down to 190F for 90 minutes because it was cooking too fast. I did use several metal skewers - to hold it together and to help with internal cooking.

Anway, with a meal-time of about 13:00, you want to start cooking by about 8:00, so start assembly (ie building) about 7:00 -- allow an hour to build the thing.


0. Put oven on at 375 F.

1. Take Turducken out of bags and drain the marinade. Place in a food prep tray while you prepare the pancetta and herb-butter mixture. Remove as many of the whole pepper corns as you can from the meat.











2. Finely dice the pancetta. Melt the butter, add crushed garlic and finely choped herbs. Mix well and set aside.




















3. With the turkey lying skin-down, slice open the large turkey breasts, but don't cut all the way through. Place a good dollop of the herb-butter mixture and some of the pancetta into each of the breast meat and then fold the meat over.











4. Put your hand between skin and breast meat to loosen it, then place a knob of the herb-butter mixture and carefully "smear" to cover as much as the breast as possible. Smear herb-butter mixture on the outside of the breast-side of the skin as well for good measure.











5. Sprinkle the rest of the pancetta, pine-nuts and garlic (from the marinade) over the turkey and season with pepper.











6. Place about a 1/2 inch layer of sausage-oyster stuffing on the turkey.











7. Place the duck meat on the sausage-oyster stuffing.










8. Place about a 1/2 inch layer of orange-cranberry stuffing on the duck.











9. Place the chicken breast on the orange-cranberry stuffing.











10. Place about a 1/2 inch of crabapple-chestnut stuffing on the chicken.











11. Pause for breath and wonder how you're going to sew the monstrosity up...

12. Ever so gently bring each half of the turkey up and over the chicken. Hold with one hand and thread a couple of metal skewers to keep the skin in place.

(sorry no photos.. hands were otherwise occupied!)

13. Then use the turkey sewing kit (amazing, it worked!) to keep the skin together.
















14. Place a tablespoon of flour into the roasting bag and shake it.










15. Gently manevour the Turducken into the bag -- keeping it in the food prep tray. Place the chopped carrots and celery on the Turducken, then seal the bag.











16. OK, nearly there now. Get your roasting tray and place over the Turducken. Grab a helper and together "flip" the Turducken over -- it should now be sitting in the roasting tray. Cut a couple of slits in the bag to let the steam escape.











17. Get your meat thermometer and place in the Turducken.











18. Put Turducken in the oven (at 375 F).













19. Check the meat thermometer every 15 minutes. Your target is to get it to 170-180F - then it will be ready. My experience was:

375 - 1 hour
350 - 45 mins
190 - 45 mins
350 - 1.5 hours
Remove, cover with foil and rest for an hour

In the last hour of cooking, you will see *a lot* of juices gathering in the bottom of the roasting bag. I cut a hole in and used a spoon and brush (would have been easier with a baster) to baste the top of the Turducken.

Note: if you have left over stuffing, start cooking it -- will take about 45 minutes. Also, get your sides going now: roast potatoes & parsnips, steamed-sprouts, cranberry sauce and green-beans.











20. While the Turducken rests, spoon as much of it's juices as possible into a pan, add a touch of stock and white-wine to make a gravy.


21. After an hour, it's carving time! Astound your diners as you carve straight through the breast bone of the "Turkey"! Note the "strata" of the Turducken and talk them through each layer of goodness! Carve into slices about a 1/3 inch thick - any thinner any it may disintegrate.























Serve with: roast potatoes and parsnips, fresh cranberry sauce, cranberry salsa, green-beans, sprouts and more stuffing on the side.

Get Stuffed!

Here are three stuffing recipes:

• Crab-apple and chestnut -- good with pork, turkey and chicken

• Cranberry-Orange -- good with duck and turkey

• Sausage and Oyster -- good with turkey

All three were used in a Turducken.. to great effect!




















Crab-apple and Chestnut Stuffing

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh crab-apples
• 1 lb fresh chestnuts
• 1/2 loaf white bread
  
• 1/2 onion
• 2 sticks celery
• 4 oz butter
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sage
  
• salt and pepper
  

Method
1. Heat oven to 425F, score an "X" in the chestnuts with a sharp knife.





















2. Roast chestnuts in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check one to see if they are cooked... carefully though, as they are hot.
















3. Remove from oven, and let them cool down. Then remove the shells. This can be tricky.. don't worry if the majority of them fall apart. Also, try to remove the thin skin from the chestnut as well, as this can make them taste bitter.
















4. Prepare bread-crumbs by thinly-slicing the loaf, then cut into squares. Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 250F for 20-30 minutes, turning a few times. The aim is not to toast the bread, just dry it out (ie make it stale!). Note: you can then use a food-processor to make smaller crumbs if you want.












5. Finely dice the onion and celery, then fry gently in the butter for 5 minutes.




















6. Peel, core and dice the crab-apples. This can take a while as they are small and fiddly. Add to the onions and cook gently for 5 minutes.











7. Add the cooked chestnuts, sage, thyme and celery salt to the onions and crab-apples and cook for a further 5 minutes.




















8. Add bread-crumbs and cider. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well.











9. Let the mixture cool. Store sealed in the fridge until you need it.

10. Either use inside the bird as stuffing, or put into a non-stick baking-tin, cover with foil and cook at 350-400F for 45 minutes.


Cranberry-Orange Stuffing

Ingredients

• 3-4 shallots
• 1/2 loaf white bread
• 2 x 12 oz bags of fresh cranberries
• 4 oz butter
• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 whole allspice
• 1 small stick cinamon
  
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 3/4 cup sugar

Method
1. Prepare bread-crumbs by thinly-slicing the loaf, then cut into squares. Place on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 250F for 20-30 minutes, turning a few times. The bread should now be dried out. Let it cool, then put bread into a food processor to create bread-crumbs.











2. Rinse the cranberries, remove any bad ones and place in a sauce-pan. Add the orange juice, cloves, allspice, orange zest, sugar and bring to the boil. Cover and lower the heat - simmer for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.





























3. Finely dice the shallots and fry gently in the butter for 5 minutes.










4. Remove whole-spices from the cooked cranberries, then add the cranberries to the onion mixture.










5. Mix in the breadcrumbs, then leave to cool. Store sealed in the fridge until ready to cook. Cook as stuffing in the bird, or separately for 45 mins at 350F in a baking tin covered with foil.












Sausage and Oyster Stuffing

Ingredients

• 1 lb smoked sausage (eg pork and venison)
• 1 x 3.75 oz tin smoked oysters
• 3-4 shallots
• 2 small sticks celery
  
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 loaf white bread
• 6 oz mushrooms
• fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
• 8 oz butter
• handful of raisins
• handful of pine-nuts
• salt and pepper
• Optional: 1 egg and dash of milk when cooking separate from the bird
  

Method
Note: as both the sausage and oysters are already cooked, just assemble the stuffing, but don't cook it beforehand. Store in the fridge until day of cooking.

1. Slice bread and heat in oven at 250F for 25-30 minutes, turning once. Cool and then put into food processor to make bread-crumbs.




















2. Dice the onion, celery and garlic and fry in butter for 5 minutes. Add diced mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and let cool.




















3. Remove skin from the sausages, chop into chunks, then food-process until you get a good coarse mixture.




















4. Add sausage to the onion mixture and stir-well.


5. Finely chop and add the herbs to the mixture.












6. Drain oysters and add to the mixture. Optional: chop them into smaller pieces if you want.











7. Add breadcrumbs, raisins and pine-nuts and stir-well.




















8. To cook, either use as stuffing inside the bird, or add an egg and dash of milk, mix well and bake at 350F for 45 minutes in a baking tin covered with foil.