Turducken Week – 12 layer cheese ball cheeseducken

12 layers of cheese, chorizo, sausage, nuts in a cheeseballducken cheeseducken turcheeseen turcheesen

  • Semi-firm cheese like bucheret
  • Cream cheese
  • Spanish chorizo
  • Manchego cheese
  • Dried figs
  • Emmentaler cheese
  • Italian parsley and chives
  • Sharp cheddar cheese
  • Asian pear
  • Bleu cheese
  • Walnuts
  • Chèvre/fresh goat cheese
  • Almonds and pecans
  • Thick-cut bacon

 Photobucket

Turducken Week – How to put a bird in a bird in a bird…

Roasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkey

My first encounter with turducken was in 2006. I know this, because I blogged about it. I had seen it on an American-German-Dutch woman’s site and was in absolute awe. I was new to the blogging scene, both in terms of writing and reading others’ really, and while I thought I’d forget about this quirky poultry concoction, I didn’t.

Fast forward to 2009 and I made my own for the first time. I didn’t have a cooking blog at the time and the pictures I took were just to share with friends….and maybe to feel like I had proof that “holy cow, I just deboned three birds after having never deboned a single one before, stuffed them inside each other, and then cooked the whole thing without really knowing what the heck I was doing.”

(If you don’t want to see raw birds, this is the part where you skip to the bottom or to another post. I left most of the pictures small for you squeamish ones….just click them to see the large versions.)

Roasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkey - Deboned chicken and turkeyTurducken chicken and duck bones  - back and neck removed from poultry
 
Mom was at work that day and I probably called her 10 times before she made it home. The birds were bought, the recipes were found, the YouTube instruction videos had been watched repeatedly…..but really, cutting the bones out of multiple birds without tearing the meat and skin apart? That’s crazy.

Deboned turkey for turduckenRoasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkey - seasoned with various spices

 
But I did it. And it’s one of those random meals early on that we still talk about. I’m not sure any of us had duck before either, so that in and of itself was enjoyable.
Roasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkeyRoasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkey
^ That’s Mom tying it closed while I took some pictures. I’m shocked I got her to even touch it. :P
Raw turducken - Duck inside chicken inside turkey - Rubbed down with more spices
 
It looks a bit more appetizing all closed up and covered in spice rub, huh? Still just a naked bird, though.
 
Roasted turducken recipe - Duck inside chicken inside turkey

It wasn’t until this came out of the oven that I was in awe. Check out all that crispy, delicious skin with blackened spices. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Thanksgiving or Christmas plate filled with various side dishes and turduckenPhotobucket

 
Slicing it open probably could’ve looked prettier, but it didn’t even matter. It just looked neat to see all the different layers of dark and light meat. We had other items on the plate….looks like stuffing, a salad with honey mustard dressing, maybe a cauliflower and broccoli salad, and barbecued lil’ smokies. I can’t quite recall, but I do know we all went back for seconds….some of us thirds on the duck portion, hehe.
 

Turducken comic cartoon - Turkey, duck, and chicken in bed smoking cigarettes that says "Having satisfied their curiosity, the three friends went their separate ways and enver discussed "making a turducken" again."

In the last couple years, especially this year, I’ve seen soooo many turduckens and spins on the turducken. It’s everywhere! Everybody and their dog knows what a turducken is and wants to layer this dish or that to call it a ‘ducken of sorts.

So this week, I’m going to share several of those with you. The big cooking holidays are over for the year, but maybe you’ll find another reason to put some food in another food in another food in another food….

Christmas tree sushi -Deck the halls with boughs of Japanese mayo

Sushi art can keep my attention for way longer than it probably should, but I love it. People can get so creative with it and here’s an example of a cool Christmas twist….even if it’s not exactly “traditional.”  Shape them into little Christmas trees and then chow down.

Christmas tree sushi

300g cooked Japanese rice
2 TBS rice vinegar
100g chopped toro
1 avocado
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 nori sheet
4 shiso
chopped green onion
ikura
mayonnaise
4 star-shaped cheese (meiji)
soy sauce

Follow instructions in the video to see how to make them. :)

Sushi made to look like Christmas trees with nori, avocado, roe, cheese, green onions, japanese mayo

Visit the creator at CreateEatHappy.