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 gets 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.
If you opt to buy your turducken rather than make it yourself it will arrive via overnight shipping, frozen, packed in dry ice in a styrofoam box, as in the photo at left.

Keep in mind that the turducken, even a small 8-10 pounder like the one at left, is solid meat. Likewise it can take up to four days to completely thaw in your refrigerator (the best method). If you are in a hurry, you can submerge the vacuum packed turducken in cold water (the same method fro quick-thawing a turkey). Make sure there are no leaks in the plastic wrapping, as the turducken comes seasoned, and you won't want to wash this away. For food safety reasons, never thaw meats on the counter at room temperature.

Allow plenty of cooking time. The small 10 pound turducken takes about 4 hours to cook. Use a meat thermometer to make sure your birds are cooked properly, all the way through.

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1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Liberally season the outside of the turducken with Cajun seasonings (if yours didn't already come that way) and place in a roasting pan.

2. Roast the turducken until the internal temperature is 165°F on a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes before carving.

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3. Carving the turducken is easy -- much easier than a turkey, as there are no bones to contend with. Simply start at one end and slice across all the layers, as shown in photo 3.