How to Cook Turducken
Serves: 6
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 4-5 hours
Ingredients needed to make turducken:
- 20 lb whole turkey, deboned but legs and wings retained
- 6 lb whole duck, deboned
- 4 lb whole chicken, deboned
For the cornbread stuffing:
- 4 cups cornbread, crumbled
- ½ lb chicken gizzards
- ½ lb chicken livers
- 1 cup bell pepper, finely chopped
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1 cup chicken broth
- Dash of poultry seasoning
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- Olive oil, for cooking
For the Cajun rice stuffing:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 4 cups white rice, cooked
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
- Dash of Cajun seasoning
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, for cooking
For the shrimp stuffing:
- 2 lb raw shrimp, chopped
- 4 cups white rice, cooked
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- ½ cup green bell pepper, chopped
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Cooking instructions for turducken:
- To make the cornbread dressing, saute the chicken gizzards and livers in heated cooking oil, over moderate heat until they brown.
- Stir in the celery, bell pepper as well as onions and continue to saute until they soften.
- Season with a dash of poultry seasoning as well as salt and black pepper as required.
- Crumble the cornbread into the sauteed mixture and stir them all together.
- Empty the cup of chicken broth into the mixture, give it a nice stir; cook until the liquid is absorbed and the stuffing is properly cooked.
- Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, begin with the Cajun rice dressing by browning the ground beef over moderate heat in heated oil.
- Stir in the veggies and continue to cook until they soften.
- Sprinkle the Cajun seasoning, salt as well as black pepper over the mixture and pour in the cream of mushroom soup.
- Heat the mixture until it starts simmering and stir in the cooked rice.
- Add the beef broth to it, stir them all together and heat the mixture until the liquid is absorbed.
- To make the shrimp stuffing, stir-fry the veggies in hot cooking oil until they soften and stir in the diced tomatoes, followed immediately by shrimps.
- Continue to cook the mixture, stirring frequently until the skin of the shrimps turn opaque.
- Season with a dash of cayenne pepper, salt as well as pepper and stir in the cooked rice.s
- Sprinkle some water to the stuffing and cook briefly until done; allow to cool.
- To assemble the turducken, place the turkey, skin side facing down, and rub lots of poultry seasoning, salt and pepper all over it.
- Stuff the cornbread stuffing into the turkey to ½’’ thickness, then insert the deboned duck into it.
- Fill the duck with Cajun rice dressing until it is about ½’’ thick and stuff the chicken inside the duck, so that the dressing lines the surface.
- Finally, stuff the shrimp dressing into the chicken and sew the open ends of the turkey together with a thread and needle to seal firmly.
- Fold the wings on the either side of the turkey and truss them together with a thread.
- Place it on a roasting pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F.
- Cook until the meat thermometer inserted into the thickest area of the thigh reads 180 degrees F. It would take about 4-5 hours.
- Carve out slices and serve hot.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
