What is a Turducken? It's a chicken stuffed inside a duck which in turn is stuffed inside a turkey! (TURkey + DUCK + chicKEN). Each slice contains chicken, duck, and turkey with stuffing between each bird! A true holiday delight!
Have the turkey, duck, and chicken ready and deboned (save the bones for broth) before you start assembling the turducken. Keep the birds refrigerated until you are ready to use them. Do not start preparing the turducken until you are ready to bake it to avoid contamination with the stuffing we will add later between each layer of birds. (Note: assembling the turducken takes 1 hour and baking takes 9-10 hours so plan accordingly).
Measure 2-1/4 cups of the bread stuffing you prepared earlier and place it in a separate bowl. Put the remaining 1/2 cup of bread stuffing in another bowl and add 1/2 cup of cornbread stuffing, along with the cranberry jelly and all the chopped nuts. Place the remaining 1-1/2 cups of your cornbread stuffing in another bowl. In the end, you should have 3 bowls with the 3 stuffings.
In the food processor, blend the butter, garlic, sage, and thyme until all the herbs are finely chopped.
Place the turkey opened with the skin exposed upwards and insert your hand between the skin and the meat to create air pockets under the skin of the turkey without completely separating the skin from the meat. Distribute all the herb butter you prepared under the skin.
Leaving the turkey in the same position, now spread butter (new, without herbs) and olive oil on the skin of the turkey to achieve a perfect golden color when baking.
Turn the turkey so that it is opened and the skin is facing down. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat your oven to 225°F (110°C).
With the turkey exposed (skin down), add the bread stuffing throughout its cavity and spread it so it forms a layer. Place the duck on top of the stuffing with the skin facing down.
Add the cranberry and nut stuffing you made and spread it all over the duck so that it forms a second layer of stuffing. Finally, place the chicken also with the skin facing down and add the last layer of cornbread stuffing.
Starting with the chicken, bring the outer sides inward so that it resembles a type of taco and use the skewer to pierce through the top skin to keep it together. Do the same with the duck, bringing the outer sides inward and closing it with another skewer on top. Finally, do the same step with the turkey.
Carefully turn the turducken over so that the skin is facing up and remove the two skewers you used to close the chicken and duck. Leave the skewer that closes the turkey in place.
Place the turducken on a baking tray and insert a meat thermometer, ensuring that the tip of the thermometer is right in the center of the turducken touching the chicken. Place a piece of aluminum foil over the turducken in a tent shape (do not close the edges, just place the foil on top). This will help brown the skin without it becoming too dark.
Place it in the oven and bake for 9-10 hours. The key to success is to wait for the thermometer touching the center of the turducken to read 165°F (75°C). Baste it in its juices every 2 hours.
After baking, let the turducken rest for 30 minutes and it's ready to enjoy! Unlike a regular turkey, slice the turducken crosswise so you can see the rings of meat and stuffing in each slice. Enjoy!
Nutritional Information
* * Information per 100g serving, percentage of daily values based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
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