“Turducken” – defined by the Urban Dictionary as: 1. (n) An American Thanksgiving holiday culinary grotesque: Consists of a chicken, stuffed into a duck, progressively stuffed into a turkey and baked. Provides hours of entertainment in the form of waiting for the sucker to finish cooking and enough sandwich meat to last through The Apocalypse.

So who in their right mind would eat such a thing? Surprisingly… many. Believe it or not, this rather savage dish dates back to 18th century in which the wealthy English would make their traditional Yorkshire pies consisting of various meats baked in a crust. However, a Yorkshire pie seems meager in comparison to the barbaric turducken.

So how did the turducken come about? Well the answer to that remains a mystery.

Many have proclaimed that they are the inventors of the infamous dish yet little is found in the way of concrete evidence. During the 1800’s chef Grimond de La Reniere created the “roti sans pareil” (“roast without equal”) in which he stuffed 17 birds each within the other. Fast forward to the 1980’s, chef Paul Prudhomme claimed that he was the creator of what we know now as the turducken.

Regardless, the idea of stuffing as many animals inside the other as possible has been around for quite some time. Now the question becomes why? I have never been acquainted with the turducken myself but I have come in to contact with those who have taken on the task of both making and devouring this triple decker bird. The consensus appears to be that despite the overwhelming thought of consuming three birds in one sitting, the savory taste is something like no other.

Now, let us step back for a moment and ponder this: why does a creation like the turduken receive praise while something like KFC’s Double Decker is criticized and made out to be the accomplice to the grim reaper? NFL commentator John Madden even endorsed the turducken and Herbert’s Specialty Meats located in New Orleans, has built a business on them! Thanksgiving and Christmas alone can have them shipping out thousands of turduckens to stores and homes all over the US.

Listen folks, whether you’re enjoying a juicy turkey, duck, hen, quail, pheasant, partridge or garden warbler – it doesn’t matter. After all, it’s the holidays! Relax, enjoy (or painfully endure) the time with family and enjoy some good home cookin’! Merry Christmas! For the Silo, Holly LaRue. 

Link to Turducken Recipe