Chef Paul Prudhomme is alledgedly the inventor of this dish and his recipe is ridiculously long and involved. He has you boning the birds yourself, preparing three different stuffings to lay between each bird and a sweet potato and eggplant gravy to serve tableside.
It doesn't have to be this complex. For me, the main objective of this dish is to have the flavors of three birds asthetically layered in one slice, bound together with a complimentary stuffing and gravy. To that end get a butcher to do the hard work of boning each bird and prepare only one stuffing to spread between each bird. This won't sacrifice taste and will preserve the asthetics of having three meat color layers.
The following recipe is adapted from one printed in the New York Times several months ago. I adjusted some of the quantities, ingredients and cooking times in order to produce a beautifully browned bird that wasn't dry.
Prep time for stuffing: About 1 hour, plus overnight chilling
Assembly time: About 1 hour
Cooking time: About 9-11 hours depending on size of turkey
Stuffing
1 pound pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 pound sweet (or spicey if you prefer) Italian sausage seasoned with fennel
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped celery
3 cloves garlic, mashed
2 teaspoons star anise ground in a mortar and pestle
1 cup brandy (Calvados worked well for me)
2 tablespoon chopped thyme
5 tablespoons chopped tarragon
2 cups dry baguette in 1/2-inch cubes
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Birds
Get a good butcher to bone each bird, butterflying the chicken and duck drumsticks but leaving the turkey's intact for presentation. Reserve all three carcasses, giblets, necks and the chicken and duck wings to make stock for gravy. Trim duck of most fat, leaving some on the breast.
1 3-to-3 1/2 pound chicken, boned, giblets and wings reserved
1 4-to-5 pound duck, boned, giblets and wings reserved
1 18-to-20 pound turkey, boned, legs and wings intact
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Stuffing
This is best prepared the day before and left in the refridgerator overnight for the flavors to develop and the dry brad cubes to soak up the flavorful juices.
1. Cook pancetta in large sauté pan over low heat until fat is rendered and pancetta is browned but not crsipy. Drain on paper towels. Remove sausage from casing, break into small pieces and add to pan. Cook sausage until no longer pink. Drain on paper towels.
2. Pour off fat in pan. Add olive oil, along with chopped onion, carrot and celery and garlic and aniseed. Cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add chicken and duck giblets, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until giblets are almost cooked through. Raise heat to high and pour in brandy. Reduce until almost gone, then shut off heat and stir in thyme and tarragon. Remove giblets from pan and chop. In a large bowl, fold together pancetta, sausage, vegetables, giblets and bread cubes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Let cool and chill overnight.
Assembly
Instead of laying each bird on top of each other and then rolling as one whole, its easier if you first roll the chicken around stuffing, then roll the duck around the chicken and then encase the duck in the turkey. This will give you a more even distribution of white and dark meat when slicing for presentation.
3. The next morning, before you begin, preheat the oven to 250 degrees (F). Have all 3 birds and bowl of stuffing lined up in front of you. Start with the chicken, laying it out skin side down, tail end toward you. Season with salt and pepper. Spread 1/3 of stuffing over its surface. Starting at one side, roll chicken around stuffing into a cylinder. Place to one side.
4. Next place the duck skin side down, tail end toward you. Season with salt and pepper. Spread another 1/3 of stuffing over its surface. Place the rolled chicken along the edge of the duck and roll duck around chicken. Place to one side.
5. Take the turkey and repeat the process. Lat it skin side down, tail end toward you. Season with salt and pepper. Spread remaining stuffing over its surface. Place duck/chicken roll in the center of the turkey.
6. Thread butcher's needle with 3 feet of thin twine. Beginning at tail end, begin pulling sides of turkey together, reforming its body around the duck/chicken roll, stitching every inch or so. Have someone hold bird while you stitch. Do not sew turducken together too tightly or it will split open when cooking.
7. Turn bird over; with a 3-foot piece of twine, truss it as you would a chicken, wrapping the twine around tips of drumsticks, then crisscrossing it and going down around base of drumsticks. Crisscross twine under bird, then bring it up sides and crisscross it on top, wrapping it down and around wings, crisscrossing it on back side, and up again, tying it over breast.
8. Season roasting pan with salt and pepper. Place turducken in pan breast side up, and season it. Drizzle a little olive oil over the bird and in the pan to prevent aluminum foil sticking to bird.
9. Cover pan with aluminum foil and bake. After about 3 hours, begin checking bird every 30 minutes or so, and basting when juices form. Turn pan every now and then so it cooks evenly. When a thermometer inserted in turducken reads 140 degrees (probably about 8 or 9 hours), remove aluminum foil and turn up heat to 350 degrees. Baste every 15 minutes or so, until turducken reaches 165 degrees at its thickest point. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes or so. With sturdy spatulas or heat proof rubber gloves, lift onto platter. Cover turducken with foil, and let sit another 30 to 45 minutes. Meanwhile, strain pan juices and spoon off fat.
10. Using a bread knife or carving knife, remove legs, and slice turducken from tail end like a loaf of bread. Serve, passing gravy.
Serves: 16-20
Posted by dvenuto at January 01, 2003 07:41 PM