Turducken and the rest of the story...

I'm sure that many who read this blog are cooks and therefore know what Turducken is, but for those you who don't, it's a Louisiana tradition that started, supposedly, in about 1995 - so as far as traditions go, it's a fairly recent addition.

If anyone caught Nightline last night, there just so happened to be a little piece on Turducken (it's the first piece on the video feed, if you care to watch it). Yes, I was up that late, getting a jump start on the cooking for today so that today could be fun and not harried. It worked too - I was done with most of our cooking by 1:30 - the only thing left to make is cranberry sauce. Nightline also had a piece on the war or debate on fresh cranberry sauce versus canned. We're having both. DH has a hard time letting go of the canned memories of childhood, but he also recognizes that homemade is darned good (the boys are coming around too, especially if they can help make it).

According to Nightline, the Hebert brothers claim to be the inventors (or to have inherited the recipe from a customer) of Turducken. However, Paul Prudhomme says he has been serving this dish at his restaurant, K-Paul's, for years. Just in case you don't already know, a Turducken is a boneless chicken stuffed inside a boneless duck, stuffed inside a boneless turkey. It is layered with stuffing - in our case, a seafood stuffing. Strange? Definitely. However, DH has wanted to try one for years since seeing a special on Food Network.

We did not order our Turducken from Hebert's (they were more expensive). We ordered ours from Tony Chachere's. Or at least I think so - but I can't find where to order it on their site??? Actually, I should say that a teacher at the school where I work ordered it. He's very into the Louisiana/Cajun culture, loves New Orleans and Mardi Gras. We, too, share a love of New Orleans and Mardi Gras, so this teacher and I have bonded. As we talked about Louisiana and such, the subject of Turducken came up. Since he and DH have always wanted to try one, we decided to order one and split it since it's not only expensive, but also since we each have small families.

So, the Turducken is in the oven and I took some decongestant so that hopefully I can enjoy the smell of it cooking. I'm not sure if I'll like it - I doubt I'll like duck - but I figure I can pick around the dark duck meat easily enough. And the stuffing sure sounds good.....

Next up, the menu. I'll list everything on the menu, adding links to the actual recipes as I have time........

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!