(NOTE: This article spans 4 pages, click the next page link at the end of this page for more.)

MAURICE, LOUISIANA, USA -- The sign outside the unassuming little butcher shop on an anonymous looking stretch of highway in Maurice, Louisiana gives a big hint to the culinary magic performed inside -- deboned chicken.

It's not the latest fast food marketing trend whereby an industrial factory produces -- by questionable means --something vaguely resembling the food in question -- in this case chicken -- to fit on a bun. This is the real thing -- an actual whole chicken, completely devoid of bones.

If you've ever tried to eat, say, fried chicken with a fork and knife, you can appreciate what a death defying feat removing all the bones from a raw chicken would be. Yet the folks at Hebert's Specialty Meats have it down to such a science, they can do the job in less than a minute.

Truly the speed with which these talented meat specialists handle a boning knife and bird is dizzying. Nowhere is this skill more apparent than when preparing a turducken -- a popular Cajun dish and Southern tailgate party staple.

A Whole Lotta Stuff
Literally a stuffed turkey, stuffed with a stuffed duck, stuffed with a stuffed chicken -- that's a lot of stuff. This 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.

But the elaborate entree originated at this small Maurice, Louisiana butcher shop -- at least the modern version as we know it.

Owner Sammy Hebert says that back in 1985, a customer came in with his own turkey, duck and chicken in tow, and asked Herbert's to prepare them in the now familiar style. The rest, says Sammy, is history. In 2005, Herbert's produced over 12,000 turduckens between Thanksgiving and Christmas and they expect that number to keep growing as the Turducken's popularity reaches mainstream America.

Cajun cooking expertt  Marcelle Bienvenu (see related links below) theorizes, however, that some version of the turducken dates back much further than Herbert's in the mid eighties. She has personally found recipes going back to the 1800s but speculates that dishes like turducken were around in medieval times, when they pretty much stuffed everything.

To Make or Order?
Most people don't go through the trouble of making their own turduckens. For someone untrained, the process is both time consuming and dangerous -- it's easy to slice fingers in the process of deboning the birds.

You can still cook turducken without actually having to debone the birds yourself. Places like Herbert's mail order all over the country, so no matter where you live, you can still enjoy an authentic Cajun Country Turducken.

But should you decide to give making a turducken a go, Sammy Hebert graciously agreed to show us how it's done. Even if you have no intention of giving it a go yourself, it's still interesting to see how the feat is accomplished.

The photo tutorials will give all the details (links below article)

• Page 2 -- How to Debone the Turkey, Duck and Chicken
• Page 3 -- How to Stuff and Assemble the Turducken
• Page 4 -- How to Cook the Turducken

Practicalities

Should you wish to visit Herbert's you can find them at 8212 Maurice Avenue in Maurice, LA 70555; (337) 893-5062 or click to www.hebertsmeats.com to order a turducken already prepared for you.

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 fillet 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.

1. 2.

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.

3. 4.

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.

5. 6.

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.

7. 8.

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.

9. 10.

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.

11. 12.

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.

Click Page 3 Link to Learn How to Stuff and Assemble the Turducken

1.

1. For this turducken, Sammy Hebert used a combination of pork stuffing and cornbread stuffing. Their most popular turducken has pork stuffing in the duck and cornbread in the turkey and chicken. Those who like other types of stuffings can custom order their perfect turducken from Hebert's. Of course if you're making your own turducken at home, use whatever stuffings you like.

In addition to stuffings, you will need some strong cotton thread and a heavy duty needle to assemble your turducken.

2. 3.

2. Liberally season the inside of the deboned turkey with Cajun seasonings.

3. Begin the assembly by sewing a pocket of 1/3 of the way up the turkey, starting from the back end.

4. 5.

4. Photo 4 shows the turkey with the back pocket sewed into place and ready for stuffing.

5. Place a layer of stuffing on the seasoned turkey.

5. 6.

5. Place the duck on top of the turkey and stuffing.

6. Place a layer of stuffing on top of the duck.

7. 8.

7. Place the chicken on top of the duck and stuffing.

8. Place a layer of stuffing on top of the chicken.

9. 10.

9. Pull up the two sides of the chicken towards the center, tucking one side over the other to make a neat little package.

10. Repeat with the duck. Then start to gather the two side of the turkey together, stretching the skin to cover all the layers.

11. 12.

11. Continue sewing the turkey seam that you started in Step 3.

12. Continue sewing the overhand stitch seam all the way down the length of the turkey, trapping the layers of stuffing, duck, and chicken inside.

13. 14.

13. Completely sew up the seam to encase all the turducken ingredients. Tie a knot and cut the thread.

14. Liberally season the entire outer surface of the turducken with Cajun seasoning.

Click Page 4 Link For Turducken Cooking and Carving Instructions

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.

1. 2.

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.

3.

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.