My son and I have often talked about making one....of course doing the boning and stuffing ourselves....but never done it.
Looking forward to seeing what others say.
Linda C

My MIL occasionally does a deep fried version. She's in Louisiana. Stuffing between each different type of poultry. Make gravy from stock on hand. I've never cooked it, but everything is deboned, so you just slice. If you like poultry, can't think of a reason why you wouldn't like turducken.

I make one every year for a party we throw in January. After 15 years it's a staple. The first year I boned a turkey, a chicken and a duck and stuffed it with a Cajun dirty rice stuffing. Reassembled and resembling a whole turkey, it was fabulous but way too much work. Now I typically buy 2 large turkey breasts. Remove the skin in one piece then bone the breasts and butterfly the meat so you have two large flat pieces of breast meat. I buy boneless chicken breast and duck breast (I usually have to order this from the butcher) and I butterfly those as well. I have the butcher make one of his special spicy homemade sausages. Now Jessy is going to love this but... I always ask the butcher to make the sausage at least 18" long and as big and fat as the casing will allow.

To assemble:
Cook the sausage all in one straight piece. I do this by placing the sausage on the diagonal on a cookie sheet, add water and wrap in foil. Bake the sausage at 350 for about 45-60 minutes. Make a basting sauce using lots of fresh garlic, butter, beer or white wine, smoked paprika and crushed red pepper to taste. I melt the butter, add the garlic then the remaining ingredients and heat.

Lay several pieces of plastic wrap down, place the turkey skin on top of the plastic wrap overlapping the 2 pieces. Lay the turkey breast meat on top of the skin, baste with some of the basting sauce. lay the duck on top of the turkey, lay the chicken on top of the duck, and finally lay the sausage down the center. Carefully fold/roll one long side of the meat over the sausage and continue rolling into a log using the plastic wrap to assist you in making a large tight log. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until meat is very firm. Remove the Turducken from then refrigerator and carefully remove the plastic wrap. Now tie the Turducken with butcher twine. I have found chilling the roast makes it easier to tie and handle the 15+ lb. beast.

To cook the Turducken, preheat oven to 500. Place the roast on a rack and baste liberally with sauce. Bake in 500 oven for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 275 and continue basting every 45 minutes until the roast is done about 4 hours.

Remove the roast from the oven, cover with foil and let rest 45 minutes. Carve and serve.

I sometimes add fresh spinach leaves as a layer between the turkey and the duck, it makes for a pretty presentation. A another trick I use is I buy turkey breasts, bone and butterfly them ahead and freeze them. I thaw them prior to assembly.

As you can probably guess, this feed a small army but you can down size it by using one turkey breast or even a half of one. For the one above, I usually use 2 bone-in 7-8 lb turkey breasts, 3-4 lbs. of boneless chicken breast, 2-3 lbs of bonelss duck breast and a 2-3 lb sausage.

This year I'm seriously thinking of making 2 smaller ones instead of one behemouth but the presentation of the beast is always an event so....

We have been doing this for so long we have an Official Turducken Carver.

I have never assembled a turducken on my own - but I have purchased one assembled. If your store is offering them I suggest you try it. I think they are delicious and a special treat. Are the ones your store is offering stuffed with the traditional cornbread stuffing? Depending on your area of the country, different types of stuffing are offered.

Turduckens originated in Louisiana Cajun country over twenty five years ago. Below is a link to one of the originators of this product. These guys sell many thousands during the holidays and countless boneless stuffed chickens. Their products are so good they will literally knock your socks off!! If the Turduckens are too pricey, get a couple of their stuffed boneless chickens. The chicken with the shrimp dressing smells so good while it is baking. You will not regret getting a turducken from this source.

Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: Heberts Specialty Meats-- Maurice, La.

moosemac - That sounds really good! It would be great if next time you make it you'd post a few step-by-step photos.

I've long been intrigued with turducken due to rave reviews, but I have a hard time imagining it. My biggest question has always been what the the inside skins are like, and what happens to all the fat. I can't imagine eating skin that's not well-rendered (let alone not browned) especially the duck. And even if it does get rendered, where does all that fat go? I know Paula Deen's recipe calls for a layer of stuffing between the birds, but wouldn't that get extremely greasy?

Dan,
I'll seoncd Hebert's Turducken. It's fabulous. That's how our tradition started, I received a Hebert's Turducken as a gift. I started making mine because the size of our group increased and buying 2 Hebert's Turduckens was cost prohibitive.

FOAS,
I will attempt to get some pics when I assemble this years. The only skin used is the turkey skin on the outside.

Thanks, moosemac, I hope you do. As for the skin being removed, sounds good if that's the way you make it, but based on the recipes I've seen that's not traditionally done. If you check out Paula's video, linked, clearly she leaves all the skin.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paula Deen's Turducken

Cathy, I've never assembled a Turducken. I just order them locally and enjoy! It's a nice alternative and one that I'm sure you would enjoy! I've never tried the ones in the grocery store...but my friend does and loves the "Tony Chachere's" brand.