Turducken Introduction | How to Debone the Birds| How to Stuff & Assemble the Turducken | How to Cook and Carve a Turducken

Literally a stuffed turkey, stuffed with a stuffed duck, stuffed with a stuffed chicken, Turduckens, a Cajun specialty, came to national attention (and get an annual publicity push) via football announcer John Madden's affinity for the dish. His efforts have inspired ambitious tailgaters all over the country to prepare turduckens at their truckside feasts.

We went to the experts at Herbert's Specialty Meats in Maurice, Louisiana (the inventors of the modern-day Turducken) for instructions on just how they go about removing the bones from a turkey, duck, and chicken.

It takes well practiced meat specialists like Sammy and Trey Hebert only about 5 to 6 minutes debone the three birds, stuff them and then assemble and sew up the finished turducken. Home cooks will undoubtedly take far, far, far (far, far, far, far....you get the picture) longer.

Safety first. Make sure before beginning that your knives are very sharp. Dull knives will just not cut it for this project. Take your time -- cut slowly and make sure fingers and hands are well out of the way.

Before you attempt this culinary triple somersault, it's helpful to understand what you are trying to accomplish. The point of this to make a single large filet of poultry, leaving behind a more or less intact carcass. The photos below show, step-by-step, how the folks at Hebert's Specialty Meats accomplish this. What the photos simply cannot convey is the lightning speed at which they accomplish this task. No matter, unless you've had years of practice, you will need to go slowly -- very slowly.

While the photos below show the turkey being deboned, you will also need to repeat the process for the duck and for the chicken.

How to Debone the Birds to Make a Turducken

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1. This is our "before" photo showing the three birds -- turkey, duck, and chicken, before Sammy Hebert puts his hands on them.

2. Beginning with the turkey, take a sharp knife and slice down the back to, but not through, the bone, from end to end.

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3. Beginning on the left side, carefully start to cut the meat away from the turkey's ribs.

4. Continue cutting around the ribs, separating the meat from the bone.

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5. When it comes to appendages like legs and wings, cutting all the way around the joint bone releases the tendons so you can pull out the bones. Cut around thigh and pop the thigh joint, remove the bone then put the meat back in place.

6. Hebert's does not remove the bones from the turkey wings, although they completely remove all the bones from the duck and the chicken. Start by cutting off the wing tips. Next, cut around wing joint and pull bone out. After removing the bone, push the meat back into place.

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7. Continue cutting around the carcass until you can completely remove the backbone and ribs.

8. Photo 8 shows the duck deboned up to this point.

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9. Many turducken purveyors don't bother to remove the drumstick bones from their turkeys, but not Hebert's. Cut all the way around the drumstick joint to release the tendons.

10. Cut the meat away from the drumstick bone.

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11. Yank the drumstick bone out, then start to cut around the tendons on the opposite side of the drumstick.

12. Cut all away around the second drumstick joint in order to completely remove the bone. Tuck the meat back into place.

13. Repeat the process with the duck and the chicken.