Filemon Estrada, left, sews together a "Turducken" while Francisco Medina stuffs another in the kitchen of Creole's in Smyrna, Ga. on Monday, Nov. 24, 1997. The Turducken is created by deboning a turkey and stuffing it with duck and chicken, then sewing it all back together. Alan Mothner

A holiday hybrid of birds when plain turkey just isn't enough

Web posted November 27, 1997

 Chef's recipe

Associated Press

MARIETTA, Ga. -- Tired of Thanksgiving turkey? Not enthused about another roast chicken? A duck just isn't big enough for your brood?

From the bayou country that gave birth to jambalaya, etouffee and various blackened delicacies comes a holiday hybrid of birds -- a triple play of festive fowl that Mother Nature never intended.

Behold the turducken.

``It gives you a taste of everything. It's the best of all worlds,'' says Jack Greene, an Orange Park, Fla., businessman whose family planned to surprise Thanksgiving guests with the elaborate Cajun combination of turkey, duck and chicken.

``It just blows your mind,'' says Todd Trichel, chef for a Marietta processing kitchen that assembles one version of the unlikely fowl for Birmingham, Ala.-based Creoles' Inc.

``It makes a massive beast,'' Trichel says in a soft Louisiana drawl.

Turduckens are growing in popularity, and there are assembly instructions and recipes on the Internet, including the Web site of the tri-bird's apparent father, Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme, who says he made his first one in the 1960s.

But the deboning is treacherous and assembly complicated, so most consumers opt for buying them already prepared.

The version put together by Trichel's operation, which produced up to 200 turduckens a day leading up to Thanksgiving, starts with a 20- to 25-pound turkey, and a smaller duckling and chicken.

Workers flashing sharp knives quickly debone the birds, keeping the meat and skin intact.

Then seasoned poultry and layers of stuffing are assembled with the chicken in the center surrounded by duck and wrapped in turkey. The turkey's skin is sewed and trussed around the layers of meat and stuffing so the whole thing resembles the original bird, including the wings and legs.

Trichel uses shrimp etouffee as a stuffing. Other possibilities include crawfish, spicy Cajun andouille sausage, oyster, broccoli and cheese, and sweet or jalapeno cornbread.

The finished product is roasted just like a regular turkey. But instead of the elaborate carving ritual needed to get the usual roast turkey off its skeleton, the turducken is simply sliced, revealing layers of chicken, duck, turkey and stuffing.

Duane Donner, 29, a Lafayette, La., native who started Creoles' in 1995, expected to sell 5,000 turduckens over the holidays, shipping from the Marietta kitchen to New York and California and points in between. They sell for $50 to $70 each, plus delivery.

``It's been word of mouth -- people all over the country are finding us and calling us,'' says Donner, who has two retail food shops in Birmingham.

Lisa Russell, a massage therapist in Hoover, Ala., learned about turduckens from her customers.

``It sounded absolutely fascinating, and it just got great reviews,'' she says. She got one to serve her five sons. ``The convenience of it, the delicious tastes; I'm thinking this could be a whole new tradition.''

``We always do something different on Thanksgiving -- just to be different,'' says Gloria Girard, a health-care executive in Houston who has turducken on the menu this year. ``I don't think it's a big threat to Thanksgiving turkey, except down in this geography.''

Bur even turducken is no longer the latest thing.

Widley Hebert, who operates a specialty meats store in Maurice, La., has prepared pigturduckens. There also is experimentation with quail and other meats.

``You know us Cajuns,'' he says, laughing heartily.

Chef Paul's plan for turkey-duck-chicken combo

Here's what's needed for turducken as prepared by Chef Paul Prudhomme:

-- 20- to 25-lb. turkey.

-- 4- to 5-lb. duckling.

-- 3- to 31/2-lb. chicken.

-- Six tablespoons special seasoning.

-- Dressings (Prudhomme has recipes for dressings of andouille sausage, cornbread and oysters; other chefs use everything from crawfish to broccoli and cheese).

-- Sweet potato eggplant gravy (separate recipe).

-- One 15-by-11-inch baking pan, 21/2 inches deep.

-- One larger pan to set it inside.

-- Sharp knife for deboning.

-- Small hammer for breaking up bones.

-- Three-inch needle with strong thread.

Chef Paul's comment: ``It's worth the time and effort!''