What is a turducken? Find the John Madden-inspired dish at Gold Belly

On By Littum

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It’s time to talk about the holiday bird that might be sitting on your dinner table this Thanksgiving.

No, not the turkey. You can do better than that.

I’m talking about the “turducken”.

If you are familiar with it, we don’t need to elaborate. For those who aren’t, it’s time to catch up.

What is a turducken?

The turducken is a dish where a boneless duck is stuffed into a boneless chicken, which is then stuffed into a boneless turkey. Outside North America it is called a three-bird roast. The English variant, Gooducken, replaces the turkey with a goose.

Who made the turducken popular in the United States?

The late NFL football coach and broadcaster John Madden arguably put the chick on the map.

Madden and his longtime broadcasting partner, Pat Summerall, covered the NFL Thanksgiving special for 22 years. According to one ESPN featureduring a Rams-Saints game on December 1, 1996, Madden was introduced to the turduck by New Orleans radio personality Bob DelGiorno.

He was hooked.

In the 1997 Thanksgiving game between the Bears and the Lions, Madden shared the concept of the turduck with viewers. While standing in the broadcast booth with Pat Summerall, he explained it to the audience and showed it along with the six-legged turkey.

From there, Madden would have the turduck on the NFL Thanksgiving broadcast every season.

Who invented the turduck?

According to USA TODAY’s For The Win!the original turducken was created by chef Paul Prudhomme sometime in the 1970s. He came up with the concept while carving meat at the Sheraton Hotel buffet restaurant in Wyoming.

Not satisfied with how the turkey looked, he decided to do something almost Frankenstein-like. He cut up three birds and gave them each their dressing and then sewed them together.

After moving back to New Orleans, Prudhomme gave it his name and then copyrighted the “turducken” in 1986.

Other reports suggests that Louisiana brothers Sammy and Junior Hebert invented the recipe when a farmer asked to have a chicken, duck and turkey stuffed inside each other.

To this day, Sammy Herbert sells about 3,500 turduckens a year, according to SouthernFoodWays.org.

Where can I buy a turducken?

You can order the “All-Madden Turducken” right now at Gold belly for $199.95. The order apparently serves 20-25 people. The dressing options include the following:

  • Cornbread dressing
  • Shrimp rice dressing
  • Crawfish Rice Dressing
  • Broccoli Casserole Dressing
  • Potato filling dressing
  • Rice dressing