Everyone Should Cook a Turducken Once In Their Lives. These Pictures Prove It

5 hours ago 2

I like turkey just fine, but it's never been my favorite dish for Thanksgiving. Many others share that sentiment, as turkey often ends up dry, and even when it's cooked to perfection, it has a fairly muted flavor profile.

There are strategies for cooking turkey without losing moisture, including smoked turkey, sous vide turkey, steamed turkey and deep-fried for the courageous. But allow me to suggest a new turkey tradition with a bit more razzle-dazzle.

Though it's not the cheapest option out there, roasting a premade turducken -- that's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken and plenty of dressing -- is a holiday event unto itself and something everyone should experience at least once in their life.

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If you think you could never pull off a turducken from scratch, fear not -- they're available to buy completely deboned, assembled, stuffed and ready to roast. This is my second year cooking a turducken for a pre-Thanksgiving feast, and the resulting meat is so moist and flavorful that you'll forget all about the stringy, dry turkey of holidays past.

The massive three-headed poultry feast was a unanimous hit among the friends and family I had gathered for Friendsgiving this year. The praise flowed like gravy, and there was no shortage of snapshots and selfies taken with the main course, once it was pulled from the oven.

The turducken I got online from Gourmet Butcher Block was more than enough food for myself and seven guests. I sent most home with a massive slab of turducken, and I'm still working through the leftovers four days later.

Why is a turducken so good, you ask?

Turducken is superior to a regular turkey in several ways. For one, most are seasoned with Cajun spice, both on the skin and in the stuffing. While the turducken has a welcome kick, it's not terribly spicy.

The real beauty of the turducken lies in how the fatty duck bastes all that white meat from the inside, leaving you with turkey and chicken that almost melt when sliced.

It's also incredibly easy, requiring nothing more from you than thawing, roasting and carving. Score a turducken and you'll have no worries about brining, seasoning or stuffing your bird. Plus, there's stuffing already inside, so you can check one more dish off your Thanksgiving list.

Where to get a turducken

I got my turducken on Goldbelly. The pre-butchered and ready-to-cook turducken costs anywhere from $150 to $200, and the easiest way to obtain one is to order it on online. Most of the Turduckens come from small butcher shops in Louisiana, where the turkey trend got its start.

See all the turducken options on Goldbelly here.

Making a turducken is easy

The turducken arrives Frozen and takes as many as five days to defrost in the fridge but can be thawed more quickly if you pull it out intermittently.

Cooking the turducken couldn't be easier. You simply remove the thawed roast from its packaging and set it on a roasting rack or pan, then cook. I drizzled melted butter over the skin for extra crispy results, and it totally paid off.

The turducken is thick and dense since no bones are taking up precious space inside. That also means it takes a while to cook. Roasting time varies depending on the size, but expect to leave the bird in the oven for at least four hours and allow it to rest for an additional 30 minutes before carving.