Turducken

[eberntson]

Turducken

n.

Modern American English... but there is a long history of stuffing one carcass with another, see Variations below. If we are going to do modern evolving words why not something that is delicious... Google has 646,000 references.

From Wikipedia that has a fair definition & history...

A Turducken is a dish consisting of a partially de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. The name is a portmanteau of those ingredients: turkey, duck, and chicken. The cavity of the chicken and the rest of the gaps are filled with, at the very least, a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird.

The result is a relatively solid, albeit layered, piece of poultry, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing. The turducken is not suitable for deep frying Cajun style (to deep fry poultry, the body cavity must be hollow to cook evenly).

Some people credit Cajun-creole fusion chef Paul Prudhomme with creating the commercial dish as part of the festival Duvall Days in Duvall, Wa in 1983. However, no one has ever verified this claim. In the middle of the last century, New Orleans surgeon and urologist Gerald LaNasa was known for his use of a scalpel in de-boning his three birds of choice also known as turduckhen. His efforts in preserving a Louisiana culinary tradition were noticed by emerging local chefs in New Orleans.

The November 2005 issue of National Geographic magazine in an article by Calvin Trillin traced the American origins of the dish to Maurice, Louisiana, and "Hebert's Specialty Meats", which has been commercially producing turduckens since 1985, when a local farmer whose name is unknown, brought in his own birds and asked Hebert's to prepare them in the now-familiar style. The company prepares around 5,000 turduckens per week around Thanksgiving time. They share a friendly rivalry with Paul Prudhomme.

Turducken is often associated with the "do-it-yourself" outdoor food culture also associated with barbecueing and shrimp boils, although some people now serve it in place of the traditional roasted turkey at the Thanksgiving meal. Turduckens can be prepared at home by anybody willing to learn how to remove the bones from poultry, instructions for which can be found on the Internet or in various cookbooks. As their popularity has spread from Louisiana to the rest of the Deep South and beyond, they are also available through some specialty stores in urban areas, or even by mail order.

Variations
The largest recorded nested bird roast is 17 birds, attributed to a royal feast in France in the early 19th century (originally called a Rôti Sans Pareil, or "Roast without equal") - a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an Ortolan Bunting and a Garden Warbler. The final bird is small enough that it can be stuffed with a single olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds. This dish probably could not be recreated in the modern era as many of the listed birds are now protected species.

Cultural References
John Madden, noted NFL analyst, popularized the turducken on air during his announcing for CBS and later Fox by awarding a turducken to players on the winning team for Thanksgiving games. Since moving from Fox, Madden's tradition has died out.

[Stargzer]

a bustard stuffed with a ...

I'd never heard
Of that outer-most bird,
So I almost Bustard a gut laughing!

[eberntson]

Stargzer;

Yes, I thought Bustard was a misspelling of Buzzard. But no one is dumb enough to eat a buzzard, even a inbred royal.

~E

FYI:

Bustards - are large terrestrial birds mainly associated with dry open country and steppes in the Old World. They make up the family Otididae (formerly known as Otidae).

[Andouille Queen]

Dr. Gerald R. LaNasa, New Orleans surgeon and founding culinary judge for the 1971 Andouille Festival is known for his use of a scalpel in de-boning his three birds of choice along with pork and veal roasts. The results of Dr. LaNasa's work can be found in the modern day mass produced Turducken. His efforts in preserving a French Louisiana culinary tradition were noticed by the emerging local chefs in New Orleans. His Turducken Ballontine is now widely commercially available. During the 1960's Dr. LaNasa was a regular guest chef at the Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans and other fine kitchens in New Orleans. Dr. LaNasa's innovation and success with Ballontine, Three Bird Roast and Turducken took place in the 60's and 70's long before many of the popular Cajun/Creole chefs of today took the stage. Dr. LaNasa’s multi bird roast creations also include goose, pheasant, guinea fowl and quail.

[Slava]

Save time and order on on-line:

http://shop.tonychachere.com/turduchens-c-8018.html

Of course, you'll go broke on the shipping charges. I'd be willing to bet the food tastes great, as I know some of their other products, but the shipping for frozen foods is out of this world!

[Stargzer]

Words that can get you in trouble when used around uneducated, Politically Correct people:

The Little Brown Bustard is found in Ethiopia and Somalia.

[LukeJavan8]

I know a person who puts in a third: Cornish Game Hen.

[Slava]

I know a person who puts in a third: Cornish Game Hen.

Not sure what you're getting at here. The turducken is already, and has always been, three: turkey, duck, hen.

[LukeJavan8]

Yes, I understand that is the chief way of doing it, but in my neck of the woods, there are not always three.
Just two, despite the name. And sometimes the Cornish
is inside the chicken, making it four.

[skinem]

Yes, I understand that is the chief way of doing it, but in my neck of the woods, there are not always three.
Just two, despite the name. And sometimes the Cornish
is inside the chicken, making it four.

Wouldn't that make it a turduckencorn? Shoot, let's just completely go nuts and add a hot dog inside the cornish game hen and call it a turduckencorndog?

I think turkey is fine for me on Thanksgiving and Christmas...

[LukeJavan8]

Yes, I understand that is the chief way of doing it, but in my neck of the woods, there are not always three.
Just two, despite the name. And sometimes the Cornish
is inside the chicken, making it four.

Wouldn't that make it a turduckencorn? Shoot, let's just completely go nuts and add a hot dog inside the cornish game hen and call it a turduckencorndog?

I think turkey is fine for me on Thanksgiving and Christmas...

From the ridiculous to the sublime, or vice versa.
That's funny, hot dog in the cornish. (I suppose
you could get a breakfast sausage inside that: but
I won't attempt to name it.!)

[beck123]

I don't think I could bring myself to eat any entree that introduces itself with the syllable, "turd." Maybe somebody will eventually develop a more appetizing name for this dish.

"Melanagal" uses the first three letters of the generic names of the turkey, mallard (from which most domesticated ducks are derived,) and chicken: Meleagris, Anas, and Gallus, respectively.

[LukeJavan8]

Well, good luck getting that one accepted, abeit a good one.
You're very good with the toxonomic thingies, of course,
you do it for a living. We had an advertisement in a local
grocery flyer last year, and it was Turkducken, perhaps
attempting to steer the reference to "turd" as you so aptly
mention.

[beck123]

Maybe its origins should be displayed more honestly:

Tur'duck'en.

At least the "turd" is eliminated, if only visually.

[LukeJavan8]

Your suggestion there, with the apostrophes, does
help: and it attracts attention, at least it seems so to me.
If I were grocery shopping I'd pass by the Turducken
without a second glance, both because it requires
explanation and because I don't like to grocery shop and
just want to get in and out with minimum of investigation.