WEBVTT - How Did Turducken Become a Thing?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here. At first glance, it

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<v Speaker 1>seems almost like an sn L sketch or an onion article.

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<v Speaker 1>A deboned chicken stuffed inside a deboned duck stuffed inside

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<v Speaker 1>a de boned turkey? How can that possibly be real?

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<v Speaker 1>Despite the sheer outrageousness of this dish, the turducan has

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<v Speaker 1>been popular in the US for more than thirty years,

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<v Speaker 1>mis transcendent novelty by cementing itself as the ultimate holiday

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<v Speaker 1>meal for those who wanted all. But several questions remain.

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<v Speaker 1>Who invented the turducan? How do you make this mega

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<v Speaker 1>creature come to life? What does it taste like? And

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<v Speaker 1>where do you even start when it comes to consuming

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<v Speaker 1>this patroitch godll of meat. The origin of the turducan

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<v Speaker 1>is shrouded in mystery. One supposed inventor of the turducan

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<v Speaker 1>was the late Louisiana Cajun chef Paul Prutom. He trademarked

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<v Speaker 1>the term turducan in n six and helped make this

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<v Speaker 1>poultry trifecta go mainstream. Predomly Eater claimed not a phone

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<v Speaker 1>call to New York Times writer Amanda Hesser in two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand two that he was the one who first thought

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<v Speaker 1>up this meat mountain. From has her story quote he

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<v Speaker 1>insisted that to truly understand Turduccan, you need to bone

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<v Speaker 1>all the birds and prepare three stuffings, one for each

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<v Speaker 1>layer of meat, and cook the whole for twelve hours.

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<v Speaker 1>And yes, purest though he is Mr Prudeholm would not

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<v Speaker 1>reveal the name of the lodge in Wyoming where he

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<v Speaker 1>says he came up with a dish, when exactly he

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<v Speaker 1>created it, or even his age. However, another legend has

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<v Speaker 1>it that the dish was first thought up by two

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<v Speaker 1>brothers within the confines of a butcher's shop, a Bear's

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<v Speaker 1>specialty meets in Maurice, Louisiana. Shop owners Junior and Sammy

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<v Speaker 1>a Bear were approached by a local man who brought

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<v Speaker 1>his quote birds to their shop and asked the brothers

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<v Speaker 1>to create the medley today or Bears, which calls itself

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<v Speaker 1>the home of the world famous Turducan can stuff as

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<v Speaker 1>many as two hundred tur ducans in a day during

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<v Speaker 1>the holidays. There are other stories too about its origin,

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<v Speaker 1>but the idea of in gastration, that is stuffing the

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<v Speaker 1>remains of one animal into another is nothing new. In

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<v Speaker 1>the eighteenth and nineteen centuries in gastration was a sign

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<v Speaker 1>of wealth in Europe, and it was Grimaud de la Regnier,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the world's first food reviewers, who also published

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<v Speaker 1>the world's first food journal, Almanac de Gourmand, who's credited

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<v Speaker 1>with stuffing a bird within a bird In eighteen o seven,

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<v Speaker 1>he included a recipe for the roast without Equal in

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<v Speaker 1>his journal. It consisted of seventeen different birds, starting with

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<v Speaker 1>a garden warbler and ending with a buzzard. There's no

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<v Speaker 1>evidence he or anybody else ever prepared the dish, but

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<v Speaker 1>it sure makes the turducan looked like chump change. Regardless

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<v Speaker 1>of the turduccan's original creator, though it was a man

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<v Speaker 1>not involved in the food scene, one football legend, John Madden,

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<v Speaker 1>who popularized the turducan and brought it into the modern lexicon.

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<v Speaker 1>Madden was introduced to the dish by way of Glenn

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<v Speaker 1>and lab mystic Lea came from the family that owned

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<v Speaker 1>a Bears and gave Madden a trducan during a nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>nine seven game at the Superdome, a move that apparently

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<v Speaker 1>changed Madden's life. Forever Madden began requesting a turduck in

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<v Speaker 1>every Thanksgiving, the word tour ducan was added to the dictionary,

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<v Speaker 1>giving this ambitious, albeit bizarre main dish a formal place

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<v Speaker 1>in the world. So how do you make a turducan?

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<v Speaker 1>To make a turn duck in from scratch, the first

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<v Speaker 1>step is the hardest. You have to debone your birds.

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<v Speaker 1>Your technical skill with deboning the duck and chicken don't

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<v Speaker 1>matter as much, but the turkey will be a bit

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<v Speaker 1>more intensive, as you'll want to keep the meat and

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<v Speaker 1>skin mostly intact to create an attractive outer layer for serving.

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<v Speaker 1>Once this is accomplished, you stack the deboned birds laying

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<v Speaker 1>down first to the turkey, then the duck, then the chicken,

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<v Speaker 1>all skin side down and all with a layer of

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<v Speaker 1>stuffing spread between each. Then you roll the stack up

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<v Speaker 1>with butcher's twine, and if you're feeling fancy, you can

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<v Speaker 1>sew the seam up with a trussing needle and more twine,

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<v Speaker 1>starting at the tail and finishing with the neck, so

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<v Speaker 1>the turducan looks like a regular turkey. No, please note

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<v Speaker 1>nothing regular is happening here. After seasoning the outside of

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<v Speaker 1>the turducan as desired, Cajun or creoles. These things are common.

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<v Speaker 1>You cook using your method of choice until the internal

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<v Speaker 1>temperature reaches a hundred and sixty degrees fahrenheit that's seventy

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<v Speaker 1>one degrees celsius. Unless you are well versed in bird

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<v Speaker 1>butchering techniques, you might be better off buying a pre

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<v Speaker 1>stuffed turduck in from your local supermarket or online. They're

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<v Speaker 1>already debone, stuffed and ready to cook, which is great

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<v Speaker 1>for anybody who doesn't have the capacity to debone three birds.

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<v Speaker 1>But finally, the million dollar question, how does it taste?

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<v Speaker 1>Because each meat holds a different and distinct flavor, the

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<v Speaker 1>overall amalgamation of each foul put together makes for a

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<v Speaker 1>wonderful and unusual taste. It's a savory gamy toward of

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<v Speaker 1>force that tickles the palette, all while killing three birds

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<v Speaker 1>with one stone. The tur ducan has become so ingrained

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<v Speaker 1>in the American mindset that pringles. Yes. The Potato Chip

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<v Speaker 1>Company recently offered up a tur Ducan friends giving feast

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<v Speaker 1>that featured six flavors of chi, turkey, duck, and chicken

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<v Speaker 1>flavored chips for you to stack, plus three side dish

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<v Speaker 1>flavored chips cranberry sauce, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. They sold

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<v Speaker 1>out in record time, but you can still find a

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<v Speaker 1>few on eBay. Today's episode was written by Jeremy Glass

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<v Speaker 1>and produced by Tyler clayg. Brain Stuff is a production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. From one, there's and

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<v Speaker 1>lots of other topics. Within topics, visit our home planet,

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