The "Turducken" thread [merged]
 

I'm interested in trying one of these and thought it would be fun to plan a mileage run to go to a store, buy a pre-assembled turducken, and bring it back with me to cook and serve at a later date. A Google search suggests Hebert's Specialty Meats might be a good place to start; they have locations in Houston, Tulsa, and some other locations a little farther from airports. Does anyone have any suggestions of a location that's airport-close?

Thanks.

Surfas in Culver City sells them. Best to call ahead.

Whole Foods

Of course it all depends on what you mean by close. Here's a place that's about 30 minutes from IAH by car. Their turduckens are pretty good and you can order them online if you wish.

http://www.cajunmeats.com/index.html

Thanks for the replies; I'm always looking for an excuse to go somewhere, so a trip to Texas or Louisiana sounds like fun.

Are you suggesting that a trip to Culver City does not sound like fun?

Not at all, but I do need the miles. :D

More fun than buying one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqUvj...eature=related

you can fly to Seattle and get one at our Whole Foods! I'm off all week, I can drive you :)

I'm actually working myself up to this: http://bacontoday.com/turbaconducken...pped-in-bacon/

... but I'd like an idea how a "real" one is supposed to taste before I go too far off the reservation. :D

I got mine from cajunspecialtymeats.com. Ordered from them twice and really happy with the results. Very tasty! If you order, try out some of their stuffed chicken too, especially the broccoli & rice stuffing one.

I'm gonna just go out and shoot me one :D

I hear they nest near Jackelopes.

I hear the chupacabras like to feed on them.

Tip Top Meats in Carlsbad, CA

Fly directly into CLD via UAX. A few miles down the road is Tip Top and also Legoland and the ocean.

http://www.tiptopmeats.com/meatDept.aspx

You must get sick of seeing ham and pineapple 'everything' in Hawaii. :D

I thought turkeys done in this way were primarily for Thanksgiving; have they become a 'big event' meal option across the USA?

Keeping the theme tropical, I wonder if there is a seafood equivalent?

This thread is making me hungry. :rolleyes:
(I have only just finished a turkey-free lunch!)

I will throw my vote behind Hebert's on Richmond in Houston, their food is an excellent version of what you will find at legendary Cajun I-10 meat markets like Best Stop, and Don's, and others. Their hours are limited though. And Luling City BBQ down the street has decent brisket and good atmosphere for lunch BBQ and beers.

Thanks for the link. I just dropped about $300 with them. Really, really nice family owned business. ^^^

I have been a fan of Tip Top for many, many years and delight in taking friends (including some FTers) and family there. Their bacon is amazing.

Mind if I ask what you ordered? Please let me know if you are happy with the results. :)

SO YUMMY!!

2 Jalapeno stuffing Turduckens
2 qts of Seafood Gumbo
2 qts of crayfish etouffee
1 5 chicken sampler

:drool:

Here In Sarasota
 

We locals are told that the originators of turducken

is Karl Ehmers Meats on the trail (Tamiami Trail) also

known as US 41 about 10 miles from SRQ and no more

than a 15 minute ride

Perhaps - there's something called a seafood Muffuletta.

The basic sandwich, per Wikipedia, originated in New Orleans in 1906, w/ cold cuts, olives, etc in a round loaf. Several places in New Orleans area sell a seafood version. Most are not good - skimpy on fish, breaded too much, overcooked.

At Little G's in Belle Chase, their version has generous amounts of fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, fried fish, fried oysters, w/ a mashed down crab cake in lieu of olives. All perfectly fried (light breading, it's not greasy & perfectly cooked). It's sublime.

It's not A inside of B inside of C (the original French versions had 10 layers of birds) but is a wonderful mix of flavors/textures. I'll go there Friday, tho it may be closed for the holidays...

That does look interesting. Anyone have one yet? :)

Hmm, this looks like the place, yes?

http://www.alpinesteak.com/

Airfares to TPA on UA are more resonable than IAH (plus more EQM for me) so I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on a mileage run with a take out order. :)

I have no idea what this is about, but starting with turd is a pretty bad idea in culinary circles.

Turducken is rumored to have been invented in New Orleans, Lake Charles and Maurice (at Hebert's store there). No way in SRQ.

Hebert's in Houston is awesome. Take home some stuffed boneless chickens, too!

Yes But
 

They are closed Sundays & Mondays and this would be about an

hour by car from TPA but get in touch if you are coming down

Hebert's Needs An Attorney
 

Only going by what they advertise here

The huge downfall of Turducken IMO is that the skin of the birds inside the turkey, never crisps as it is not exposed to the oven air. The fat doesn't render fully as if the bird was being roasted on it's own. This leads to gobs of fat, fat is where the flavor is but too too much on the Turkducken's I've tried and cooked. (I love the idea of Turkducken but it doesn't translate well to cooking IMO).

--

Tried it fried?

Fried doesn't exactly have to mean what some people thing, not talking about battered and fried.

I find a fried turkey to be LESS greasy than a roasted turkey.

I've had fried turkey and it was terrific, no doubt.

But if you are stating that the issue I bring up (the inner skins of the stuffed birds do not crisp when cooked) and frying will take care of this crisping/rendering of the innner bird's skins/fat, it won't. Frying won't solve this downfall of turducken as the oil is still not touching the innner skins/fat.

Tickets booked; thanks again for the advice! I called them a few minutes ago and they said they could package a frozen one for me to take back on the plane.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...-new-post.html

I totally agree with you, one of the best things about duck is the cracklin from the skins. But gobs of duckfat are never a bad thing! I'll take anyone else's gobs. I think turducken is good, but should probably be sous vide then crisped, just because it's so terribly easy to overcook it.

The TPA TSA was kind enough to inspect the turducken that I checked as my luggage. http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._1630106_n.jpg

After about 13 hours of cooking, this was the result:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos..._7424903_n.jpg

Carved:

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos...6_138690_n.jpg

We fed about 22 people with this and had maybe four to six servings leftover.

Now Look What You've Done
 

Thanks for the update & photos

Now after all these years thinking about it

I'll take my wife there this week for dinner

Always thought it might be fun but never

got around to it

Years ago the building was a Sizzlin Sirloin

but it's been Karl Ehmer's a long time

These guys remove the chicken and duck skin
 

www.cajunmeats.com removes the chicken and duck fat and skins before assembly so you don't end up with as much fat inside.

I always thought you had to buy a duck and chicken and turkey seperately and sort of mash them together. lol.

I'm definitely going to try this.

Late update: I cooked the tuducken in the oven last month, and it was fantastic. The jalapeno cornbread stuffing was out of this world.

One caution: use an electric knife to carve it. I wanted a "Neapolitan ice cream" of meat, but it was so tender and juicy, it literally fell apart when I was carving it (and I used a very sharp ceramic knife). Still fantastically good though.

Going to order another one and cook it on my Big Green Egg when things warm up a bit more.

The La Boucherie turduckens don't have any skin or fat on the inside. You can see the assembly here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/smooter3.../0/7MjSShD7MZ4

THAT would be key and I am tempted to try one once again if made like La Boucherie does.

We all know fat is where the flavor is but globs of it, no good.