Turducken -- A traditional holiday dinner with turkey, duck and chicken

Ingredients:

Main ingredients:
One 18 - 19 pound fresh turkey
One 7-pound fresh duck
One 3 - 4 pound fresh chicken
4 oranges

The stuffing:
1 cup dried apricots; chopped coarsely
1-1/2 cups Grand Marnier liqueur
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups celery, coarsely chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 pound Andouille sausage
1 cup Gala apple pieces, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
16 ounces breadcrumbs
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt
1 cup slivered almonds

Instructions:

1. Place apricots and 1 cup Grand Marnier in a small saucepan. Heat to a boil to plump the apricots. Remove from the heat and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage. Remove from heat.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine breadcrumbs, apricots with liquid, sausage, chopped apple, onion, celery, almonds, and poultry broth. Stir to combine. Add remaining Grand Marnier. Stir well to moisten stuffing. Season with thyme and pepper and salt to taste.

4. Lay all three birds skin side (breast) down on a clean flat surface. Starting with the turkey, press about threequarters of an inch of the stuffing firmly into the flesh. Lay the duck on top of the turkey and stuffing, spread it out, and repeat the process only this time use about ½ inch of stuffing. Next, lay the chicken on top and put a small mound of stuffing in the center.

5. Cut 5 pieces of butcher’s twine into 30” lengths. You want to tie the turkey back together so that it looks like a turkey again. Slide each piece of the cut twine under the turkey. Gently fold the sides of the turkey up and tie it back together. It may take a few tries, and a few extra pieces of twine, but that is ok.

6. Turn the Turducken over and place in a roasting pan. Squeeze the juice of the oranges over the skin, cover in foil, and put it in the oven at 225°. You want to cook it slowly and at a low temperature. You need to cook a Turducken this size for about 8 hours. During the last 2 hours you can uncover it to brown the skin. To make sure it is done, stick a meat thermometer into the deepest part of the Turducken. You have to be sure that the internal temperature is 165°. Take the temperature in a couple of places to be safe.

Helpful Hints:

Buy the birds at your local butcher shop and make absolutely sure you have the butcher de-bone them for you. This will save you a lot of time. You must have every bit of bone and cartilage removed from the chicken and the duck. Leave the drumsticks and the wings on the turkey, since they are necessary for the appearance of the final dish.

Serve the Turducken on a nice wooden platter garnished with apricots, currants, berries; whatever is fresh, colorful, and available. Cut right through the middle of it with a sharp bread knife to show off the layers of the birds.

Submitted By :

Neil S.

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