# Turducken - Really hard to make? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268 "2006-12-22T20:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ammonius\_Saccus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@Ammonius\_Saccus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ammonius_Saccus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/1 "2006-12-22T20:58:20Z")
How hard is it to make a Turducken? My biggest concern is that I have never deboned anything. How long does it take to cook one of these? > [@](#): > > Turducken is a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. > **[Turducken](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken)** > > Turducken is a dish associated with Louisiana, consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. Gooducken is an English variant, replacing turkey with goose. The term turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken. The dish is a form of engastration, which is a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another—twofold in this instance. The thoracic cavity of the chicken/game hen and the rest of the gaps... ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/2 "2006-12-22T20:59:12Z")
Bah. Just wait until I’m done preparing my osturducken. That’ll show ya! ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/3 "2006-12-22T21:05:32Z")
You can buy them online, pre-stuffed, spiced etc. I searched recently on"turducken". They’re mega expensive tho. Something like $100 - 150, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/4 "2006-12-22T21:06:57Z")
> **[Side Dishes](https://www.cajungrocer.com/side-dishes)** > >   > > Cajun Side Dishes > > > > > Louisiana cuisine may boast delicious meats and seafood, but a meal without hearty Cajun side dishes isn’t a complete meal at all! Explore our excellent selection of Cajun sides to unlock a world of flavor and culinary... ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/5 "2006-12-22T21:09:38Z")
It’s pretty hard on the turkey, duck and chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/6 "2006-12-22T21:13:02Z")
Turducken… Sounds like something you’d make the morning after eating a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken (what, they couldn’t squeeze a quail inside the chicken?) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/7 "2006-12-22T21:23:24Z")
You can do that, but you’d need a Cornish hen and a pheasant in between your chicken and quail, giving you a turduckencorpheail. I wonder if anyone’s tried the tofurkey-in-a-turkey-in-another-tofurkey, aka the tofurkurkeyfurkey. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/8 "2006-12-22T21:28:29Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] giving you a turduckencorpheail. [/QUOTE] Now it sounds like a brain disease. Or a protozoa. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/9 "2006-12-22T21:28:32Z")
And a vague memory from seeing them on Food TV, they take a LONG time to cook. Would depend on the size, but I’m thinking 6 hours or more. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/10 "2006-12-22T21:33:35Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] (what, they couldn’t squeeze a quail inside the chicken?) [/QUOTE] Maybe they just didn’t know what to name it–Turduckenail sounds like a brand of beer. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/11 "2006-12-22T21:40:26Z")
I think you could probably fit a finch inside that quail. ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/12 "2006-12-22T21:43:29Z")
My wife cooked a turducken for Thanksgiving. She survived it but said “Well now that I’ve done that, I don’t need to do it again!” The hard part is deboning the three birds. Wrapping the duck around the chicken and the turkey around the duck/chicken is best done with two people. (Unless you have 3 – 4 hands yourself.) Preparation took the latter part of an evening. Not that bad. Cooking took 9 hours as it is done at a low temp. (225 deg F.) My mom got up early to put it in the oven for the 2 pm meal. **Mrs. H.** looked around the web a bit and liked the recipe and instructions found [here](http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.html). The same site has a recipe for stuffed camel. (Includes 5 pounds of black pepper. “Serves friendly crowd of 80-100 people.”) 😃 She did it because two of our nephews have been talking about turduckens for a few years. It went over very well with one saying “This is the best Thanksgiving _ever_!) With the birds all being deboned it is very easy to cut. Somewhat like a roast. It was also very tasty. I hope you try it. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/13 "2006-12-22T21:59:14Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] You can do that, but you’d need a Cornish hen and a pheasant in between your chicken and quail, giving you a turduckencorpheail. [/QUOTE] What? My osturducken isn’t good enough for you? Maybe what we need is an osemuturduckencorpheail. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/14 "2006-12-22T22:12:36Z")
Cook’s Illustrated reviewed them and said, meh, to get it done you’re gonna get it dry. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/15 "2006-12-22T22:15:39Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] Turducken.. Sounds like something you’d make the morning after eating a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken (what, they couldn’t squeeze a quail inside the chicken?) [/QUOTE] I will never, ever eat any food that begins with “turd.” If there wasn’t a second i in “shiitake mushrooms,” I might not eat those either. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/16 "2006-12-22T22:16:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mycroft H.] The same site has a recipe for stuffed camel. [/QUOTE] Hmmm… Is anyone up for some camgoatlamb? ---
**Author:** ![parthenokinesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/17 "2006-12-22T23:41:22Z")
[QUOTE=Mycroft H.] **Mrs. H.** looked around the web a bit and liked the recipe and instructions found [here](http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/turducken.html). The same site has a recipe for stuffed camel. (Includes 5 pounds of black pepper. “Serves friendly crowd of 80-100 people.”) 😃 [/QUOTE] That’s like an ounce of black pepper per serving. Who knew camel could ever taste so good. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/18 "2006-12-22T23:53:38Z")
> [@](#): > > I think you could probably fit a finch inside that quail. And inside of that, honeyed larks’ tongues. And tiny bees. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/19 "2006-12-22T23:55:19Z")
(Why is there an ad for nuns headed “A world of love” at the bottom of this? Could it be the quail? Or the tofurkey? Or the camel?) ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268/20 "2006-12-23T00:47:04Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] And inside of that, honeyed larks’ tongues. And tiny bees. [/QUOTE] Surely, that would be [larks’ tongues in aspic.](http://www.amazon.com/Larks-Tongues-Aspic-King-Crimson/dp/B00065MDSG/sr=8-1/qid=1166834356/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1134373-3187967?ie=UTF8&s=music) The original recipe for turducken was invented by Chef Paul Prudhomme (think Dom Deluise, only heavier). [Here is the original recipe.](http://www.gumbopages.com/food/poultry/turducken.html) And, yes, it does take a long time to cook (about 12 hours–that’s without prep time). You can get pre-prepared ones via mailorder if you wish. I’ve never had one, but they sound good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/turducken-really-hard-to-make/385268.md?page=2)