Had nonfamous nonstranger Paulette and I not already contracted months ago to buy a (this is for real) “organic free-range heirloom turkey” from a small “Slow Food” farmer in Oregon, we’d be making a turducken for Thanksgiving. Though it sounds as if it could be German for “moving so as to avoid flying poo,” turducken is a Southern delicacy sweeping the nation.
This NYT article hails it as a “free-form poutlry terrine.” What this means in practice is stuffing a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey (with stuffing in between) and cooking for 12 hours.
Calvin Trillin, easily my favorite food writer, has written persuasively about the glories of the turducken. But Paulette’s Dad– a farmer– has the last word. When she suggested he raise turducken, he replied earnestly, “Oh no. Last time I tried to stuff a chicken up a duck’s ass it didn’t work too well.”
However unpleasant that image is, I maintain it’s still better than Tofurkey and other fake flesh. But then again, I’m not a vegetarian.
Personally, I think this could be the start of a whole new kind of cuisine. I mean I’ve head of flounder stuffed with crab (which I guess, using this naming convention would be a flab), but think of the innovations that become possible by stuffing livestock with their furry friends such as venilambit, buffporkalf, and for the seafood crowd, halicalatrout.