Skip to main content
RSS

Lobel's Culinary Club - Recipes, menu ideas, cooking techniques, meat selection tips, and more from America's #1 family of butchers.

Navigation

  • Categories
  • Archives
  • 175th anniversary
  • about lobel's
  • ask the butcher
  • autumn
  • bacon
  • barbecue
  • beef
  • braising
  • christmas
  • cinco de mayo
  • cooking tools
  • culinary classics
  • culinary diy
  • cut of the month
  • easter
  • entertaining
  • food history
  • food pairings
  • grilling
  • guide to meat
  • ham
  • hanukkah
  • holidays
  • lamb
  • lobel's prime meats in manhattan
  • new products
  • new year
  • passover
  • pork
  • poultry
  • recipes & techniques
  • recipes & techniques
  • roasting
  • sausage
  • seafood
  • seasons
  • smoking
  • social media
  • spring
  • stewing
  • summer
  • super sunday
  • thanksgiving
  • t-roy cooks
  • turkey
  • valentine's day
  • veal
  • videos
  • winter
  • yankee stadium
  • November 2021
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011

Links

  • Lobels.com
  • Lobel’s Facebook
  • Lobel’s Pinterest
  • Lobel’s YouTube
  • Home
  • Welcome
  • Articles
  • Contact Us

Welcome

Welcome to the new Lobel’s Culinary Club.

In the years since we launched our Web site and online butcher shop, the Lobel’s Culinary Club has become the cornerstone of our communications with our customers old and new. Our e-mails span the latest news about products and promotions to help you plan peak dining experiences for family meals, special events, and casual entertaining.

A fundamental part of the Culinary Club content comes from our unique perspective as butchers on meat handling and preparation. And while there are many recipes to share, we want to help you go beyond specific recipes to a wider world of in-depth explorations of cooking techniques. When you understand the fundamentals, you are free to invent your own culinary masterpieces.

We believe the more you know about preparing the finest meat money can buy, the more you will enjoy serving it to your family and friends.

With the launch of our expanded Culinary Club, we’ve created a living archive of knowledge that is gleaned from past e-mails and will grow with future e-mails.

Within the Culinary Club, we hope you’ll find numerous and useful resources to enhance your confidence in preparing the finest and freshest meats available, and ensure your absolute delight with the results.

For your dining pleasure,

lobels Signature

Stanley, David, Mark, and Evan Lobel

Lobel Family at the Carving Station

Articles by Month:

  • November 2021
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011

Articles by Subject:

  • 175th anniversary
  • about lobel's
  • ask the butcher
  • autumn
  • bacon
  • barbecue
  • beef
  • braising
  • christmas
  • cinco de mayo
  • cooking tools
  • culinary classics
  • culinary diy
  • cut of the month
  • easter
  • entertaining
  • food history
  • food pairings
  • grilling
  • guide to meat
  • ham
  • hanukkah
  • holidays
  • lamb
  • lobel's prime meats in manhattan
  • new products
  • new year
  • passover
  • pork
  • poultry
  • recipes & techniques
  • recipes & techniques
  • roasting
  • sausage
  • seafood
  • seasons
  • smoking
  • social media
  • spring
  • stewing
  • summer
  • super sunday
  • thanksgiving
  • t-roy cooks
  • turkey
  • valentine's day
  • veal
  • videos
  • winter
  • yankee stadium

How to Create a Turducken

On December 14,2014 In christmas , easter , guide to meat , poultry , roasting , thanksgiving

Making a turducken is a labor-intensive, and—many would say—an advanced culinary technique.

So for those who want to satisfy their idle curiosity, here’s how a turducken is put together. For intrepid culinary explorers, a DIY turducken is an epicurean adventure and challenge on the scale of making Peking duck in a home kitchen.

Origins

Turducken can link its heritage to the French creation called a ballotine, which is deboned poultry stuffed with forcemeat. Extravagant variations range up to 17 different types of birds stuffed into each other.

The modern-day invention of turducken has several different possible paths to authenticity. Among the claimants is the iconic New Orleans chef, Paul Prudhomme, who is best known for adapting his fiery searing technique to make his trend-setting, signature dish: Blackened Redfish.

This 2002 New York Times article by Amanda Hesser is one of the definitive pieces of turducken literature. The story chronicles turducken history and Ms. Hesser’s personal quest to make turducken on her own— with a key assist from none other than Stanley Lobel.

At Home

In your home kitchen, you have three options for preparing turducken, ranging from complex to simple:

  • From scratch: Buy the fresh turkey, duck, and chicken; debone them, and make up to 3 different stuffings, each paired to one of the types of poultry, or use one stuffing for all of the parts.
  • With assistance: Enlist the help of your local butcher or meat-counter person to debone each of the birds so all you have to do is stuff, truss, and roast.
  • Pre-fab: Buy a ready-made turducken that simply needs to be roasted and served.

DIY Turducken

If you choose the “from scratch” method, here is how you go about it.

The deboning process for each type of bird is generally the same. The major difference is that all of the bones are removed from each bird, except the drumstick bones of the turkey. These are used to truss the roast and to give the turducken the natural appearance of a turkey.

  1. Turn the bird breast side down and make a single cut along the backbone. Then with the edge of the boning knife parallel to the carcass work the blade down along the contour of the bone structure, peel the skin and flesh back as you work your way down. Remove the skeletal frame and turn the bird skin-side down.
  2. To remove the thigh bone and drumstick, make a single cut on top of each bone. Cut through the joint to separate the thigh bone from the drumstick. Slip the tip of your knife down one side of the bone and then the other and then under the bone to completely separate the flesh from the bone. Remove the bone.
  1. Remember to remove the turkey’s thigh bone, but leave the drumstick intact.
  1. When all three birds are deboned, lay the turkey skin-side down on a flat surface. Spread a layer of stuffing on the turkey.
  1. Lay the duck skin-side down on top of the stuffing and turkey, and spread with a layer of stuffing.
  1. Lay the chicken skin-side down on top of the stuffing and duck, and spread with a layer of dressing.
  1. Pull the sides of the chicken together and secure with poultry pins or a long skewer.
  1. Repeat with the duck, wrapping it around the chicken.
  2. Repeat with the turkey, wrapping it around the duck.
  3. Tie the ends of the turkey drumsticks together to secure the entire roast. Optionally, you may want to tie the roast a couple of times to secure its shape while cooking.
  4. Place the turducken, breast-side up, in a roasting pan fitted with a roasting rack.
  5. Place in a preheated 375°F oven and roast for 20 minutes per pound. Tent the turducken with foil while it roasts. Remove the foil 1 hour before the end of the roasting time to all the skin to brown and crisp.
  6. After removing from the heat, allow the turducken to rest 45 to 60 minutes, depending on its size.
  7. For serving, slice the turducken across the roast from front to back so that each slice contains a portion of turkey, duck, chicken, and the stuffings.

Once you’ve experienced success making turducken, you can proudly add another notch on your culinary belt.

 

Have you ever eaten turducken? Would you consider making turducken yourself from scratch?

 

Leave Your Response

* *

© Copyright 2018
Lobel's Culinary Club.
All Rights Reserved

Lobel's of New York