Christmas turducken

This is 18 pounds of poultry, also known as a turducken: a deboned chicken stuffed in a deboned duck stuffed into a partially boneless turkey with layers of bread stuffing throughout.

It’s supposedly Cajun in origin, sometimes attributed to this chef who looks like Dom DeLuise, but the UK also has a history of stuffing birds.

You can make it yourself but many butchers now prepare them for you if you order ahead of time. I got this one from Calgary’s Bon Ton Meat Market — an awesome traditional butcher — and saved myself a lot of time and effort. They keep the wings and legs on the turkey but the other birds are pure meat.

This was the smallest turducken I could get — and at $6.99 per pound, it’s not exactly a weekday meal — but I was dying to see what it was all about. Jason’s parents graciously agreed to forgo the traditional turkey for a Christmas turducken dinner this year, so in the oven it went at 350 F for about six hours.

It smelled like a regular turkey, looked like a turkey — and unfortunately tasted only like turkey. In hindsight, we should have known better. The turkey drippings and stuffing obliterated any distinct taste of the duck, much less the chicken.

Don’t get me wrong, it was still delicious and very moist — and made for several great sandwiches after — but I guess we were expecting a bit more pizazz in the end.

The duck layer fell apart when we transferred the turducken from the roasting pan to the cutting board, but you can still see the stuffing and chicken layers.

We were happy to have finally tried the infamous turducken but next year, it will be back to regular turkey or maybe one of these.