Illustrated Turducken Recipe

Step 2 Main Ingredients

# 4 servings Andouille Smoked Sausage stuffing (recipe link)
# 2 servings Cornbread stuffing (recipe link)
# 4 servings Chestnut-Shitake Mushroom stuffing (recipe link)
# 1 (20- to 25-pound) turkey
# 1 (4- to 5-pound) domestic duckling
# 1 (3- to 3-1/2-pound) chicken
# 5 servings Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy (recipe link)

# 1 3-inch needle with a curved tip
# Thread to sew up the turducken
# 1 hammer
# 1 (15 x 11-inch) baking pan, at least 2-1/2 inches deep
# 1 pan, big enough to hold the 15 x 11-inch pan with a gap in-between

We had a 30 lb. turkey (bought for $5 at a post-Thanksgiving special--remember that turkeys can be kept in the freezer for up to a year!) so we scaled up the duck to 8 lbs., and the chicken to 4 lbs.

We multiplied the proportions in the andouille sausage and cornbread dressings by two. Because of some reticence in our group about eating oysters, we substituted a chestnut & shitake mushroom dressing that follows pretty much the same recipe as Prudhomme's original oyster dressing concoction.

Since we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time since we had never done this before, the cornbread was made three days before the turducken was to be eaten; the three dressings were made two days before; the fowl were deboned and the turducken was constructed a day before (taking a total of 5 hours).

It's nice to refrigerate the cooked dressings for at least a better part of a day, so they won't be all runny when you apply them to the turducken.