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Paula Wolfert’s Cassoulet in the Style of Toulouse

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Paula Wolfert’s Cassoulet in the Style of Toulouse

Cassoulet Image Used Under Creative Commons License From pinterest.com

My Citizens, your well-connected gastronomic Suzerain – the mighty dynamo that is TFD! – is proud to count one of the world’s finest chefs and cookbook authors as His friend! 

I speak of the unmatched Paula Wolfert, whose recipes inspired me as a youth to adopt the weighty crown of responsibility and guide the masses to culinary revolution!

In the early 80’s, her cookbook of the recipes of Southwest France was a tome I pored over in the depths of night after school, seeking to learn the subtle and ancient secrets of culinary excellence her words could impart!

Today, I am fortunate to count her as a friend and I am honored to share my favorite recipe of hers: the most authentic French Cassoulet!

Cassoulet, derives from the from Occitan language word “caçolet” is a rich, slow-cooked casserole containing meat (typically pork sausages, goose, duck and sometimes mutton), pork skin (couennes) and white beans (haricots blancs). The dish originated in the south of France. It is named after its traditional cooking vessel, the cassole, a deep, round, earthenware pot with slanting sides.

The traditional homeland of cassoulet is the region once known as the province of Languedoc, especially the towns of Toulouse, Carcassonne, and Castelnaudary, that claims to be where the dish originated. The brotherhood of Cassoulet “La Grande Confrérie du Cassoulet de Castelnaudary” has organized competitions and fairs about Cassoulet every year since 1999.

All cassoulets are made with white beans, duck or goose confit, sausages, and additional meat. In the cassoulet of Toulouse, the meats are pork and mutton, the latter frequently a cold roast shoulder. The Carcassonne version is similar but doubles the portion of mutton and sometimes replaces the duck with partridge. The cassoulet of Castelnaudary uses a duck confit instead of mutton.

In France, cassoulets of varying price and quality are also sold in cans and jars in supermarkets, grocery stores and charcuteries. The cheapest ones contain only beans, tomato sauce, sausages, and bacon. More expensive versions are likely to be cooked with goose fat and to include Toulouse sausages, lamb, goose, or duck confit.

As noted on the awesome website splendidtable.org:

No one has recorded a better version of this ultimate southwestern French dish, nor is it likely anyone ever will. Paula [Wolfert] learned it in the dining room of Pierrette Lejanou, a local Toulouse woman known to make the best. This is a three-day project, made more pleasurable if you can collaborate with a friend. 

The biggest challenges lie in the shopping: in addition to Tarbais beans and duck confit, the dish contains six kinds of pork. It’s an ideal excuse to visit that new nose-to-tail butcher shop that just opened. The staff will be excited to hear you are tackling this and should have most items.

The cooking is relatively straightforward. On day one, you lightly cure the pork to enrich its taste. On day two, you make a dense ragout of onions, carrots, beans, and five of the six kinds of pork. The final day, you bake the ragout with the duck confit in a large pot (preferably a traditional clay cassole, see Notes), with the sausages nestled on top. I guarantee you will never forget the results.

Fresh pork skin and ham hock (not smoked or cured) are essential to enrich the beans; they can be hard to find but are worth the effort.

When Paula published this recipe in 1983, Tarbais beans weren’t available in the United States, but they are now and they are worth seeking out. Other white beans do not absorb as much flavor and cannot be cooked as long without collapsing. 

Heirloom bean retailer Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Food carries them, and recommends Ayocote Bianco beans as a substitute, as they are the Mexican beans from which the Tarbais were bred.

TFD strongly endorses French charcuterie provider D’Artagnan – you can get fantastic duck confit, duck fat and Toulouse-style sausages from them! 

Paula devised this recipe to fit inside a clay cassoulet pot she purchased in France. Called a cassole, it is narrow at the bottom and broad at the rim, a shape that maximizes exposure of the ragout to the oven heat to ensure a better crust. You can buy a handmade cassole of the proper size here.

If you do not have a 5 ½- to 6-quart (5 ½- to 6-l) earthenware vessel (or ovenproof mixing bowl), you can divide the cassoulet into two smaller vessels before the final baking, or simply halve the recipe. If you choose the latter option, halve everything except the sausage amount, as you’ll want enough so that everyone gets at least half a link. 

If you divide the full recipe between two smaller vessels, keep all of the quantities the same except for doubling the bread crumbs. You’ll want enough so that both vessels get a light sprinkling.

Timing Note: The cassoulet takes 3 days to cook. Allow at least 1 additional day (if not 1 week) to shop for the ingredients.

Citizens, this is a complex recipe to be sure – but not complicated once you assemble the right ingredients. Gird your culinary loins and do give this magnificent recipe a try – at least once! You are worth it! 🙂

Battle on – The Generalissimo 

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Paula Wolfert’s Cassoulet in the Style of Toulouse
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Paula Wolfert’s Cassoulet in the Style of Toulouse

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds (900 g) dried Tarbais, cannellini, or other runner-type beans
  • 1 ½ pounds (675 g) fresh ham hock with skin
  • 1 pound (450 g) boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1-inch (2.5-cm) chunks
  • 12 ounces (350 g) fresh pork skin with ¼-inch (6-mm) layer of hard fat attached
  • Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ⅓ cup (75 g) rendered duck fat
  • 2 yellow onions (about 1 pound | 450 g total), chopped
  • 3 small carrots (about 12 ounces | 350 g total), cut into rounds 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick
  • 8-ounce (225-g) piece ventrèche (French-style pancetta) or pancetta
  • 1 head garlic, loose skins removed, plus 4 small garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 large Roma tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • Herb bouquet of 4 fresh flat-leaf parsley sprigs, 3 small celery ribs, 2 fresh thyme sprigs, and 1 Turkish bay leaf, tied together with kitchen string
  • 2 quarts (2 l) lightly salted chicken stock
  • 6 confit duck legs, homemade or store-bought
  • 4 ounces (115 g) pork fatback
  • 1 pound (450 g) Toulouse or other mild fresh garlicky pork sausages (such as sweet Italian sausage)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh bread crumbs
  • 2 tablespoons walnut oil (optional) (TFD NOTE - I don’t consider this optional!)

Instructions

  1. Day One:
  2. Rinse the beans and pick them over to remove any grit. In a deep bowl or pot, combine the beans with water to cover by at least 2 inches (5 cm). Let soak in the refrigerator overnight.
  3. In a shallow dish, sprinkle the ham hock, pork shoulder, and pork skin with ¾ teaspoon salt and 10 grinds of pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
  4. Day Two:
  5. In a saucepan, combine the pork skin with water to cover by 1 inch (2.5 cm) and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until plump and supple, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool. Roll up the pork skin, skin side out, and tie securely with kitchen string.
  6. Meanwhile, pat the ham hock and pork shoulder cubes dry with paper towels. In an 8- or 9-quart (8- or 9-l) oven-proof stainless steel or enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the duck fat over medium-high heat.
  7. Add the pork shoulder and cook, turning occasionally, until lightly brown on all sides, about 7 minutes. Add the onions and carrots and sauté, stirring, until the onions are soft and golden, about 5 minutes.
  8. Nestle the ham hock and ventrèche in the casserole and cook, turning occasionally, until browned a little around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic head and tomato and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the pork skin and herb bouquet, pour in the stock, and bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer gently for 1 ½ hours.
  9. Meanwhile, once the pork ragout has completed its first hour of cooking, start the beans. Drain them, then put into a large saucepan. Add fresh tepid water to cover by 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm), place on the stove top, and slowly bring to a boil, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface. Adjust the heat to maintain a simmer for 3 minutes. Drain the beans immediately and add them to the simmering pork.
  10. Re-cover and continue simmering the pork and bean mixture until the beans are tender, at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours, depending on the age and type of bean. (The beans should be fully cooked. They will not further soften when baked on day three.) Remove from the heat, let cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
  11. Day Three:
  12. Preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Remove the pork and bean ragout from the refrigerator and skim off any fat that has solidified on the surface, reserving 2 tablespoons. Set the ragout over low heat and rewarm to room temperature.
  13. Meanwhile, warm the duck confit to soften the fat: If using store-bought duck legs sealed in plastic pouches, submerge the pouches in a large bowl of hot water for 10 minutes or so. If using homemade confit, set the legs on a foil-lined sheet pan and rewarm in the oven. Pull the duck meat off the bones in large chunks. Discard the skin, bones, and any large, dark veins. Save any fat for another use (such as more confit). Set the meat aside.
  14. When the ragout has come to room temperature, pick out the garlic head, separate the cloves, and squeeze each clove to extract the pulp from its skin; return the pulp to the ragout. Remove and discard the herb bouquet. Pick out the ham hock and ventrèche, discarding bones, large fatty parts, and skin.
  15. Cut the remaining meat into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes and set aside. Pick out and untie the pork skin and cut into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces. Place the skin pieces, fat side down to prevent sticking, in the bottom of a 5 ½- to 6-quart (5½- to 6-l) casserole, preferably earthenware and at least 4 inches (10 cm) deep.
  16. In a food processor, combine the fatback and the 4 garlic cloves and process until pureed. Scrape the puree into the ragout and stir until blended. Bring the ragout to a simmer over low heat and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat. Fold in the cubed pork shoulder and ventrèche.
  17. Using a large slotted spoon or skimmer, add half of the ragout to the prepared casserole in an even layer, letting any excess liquid fall back into the pot. Scatter the duck confit on top of the ragout. Using the same spoon or skimmer, cover the confit layer with the remaining ragout.
  18. Taste the ragout cooking liquid and adjust the seasoning if necessary (there will probably be no need for salt). Ladle just enough of the ragout liquid over the ragout to cover it. Be sure to leave at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) of “growing space” between the ragout and the casserole rim. Dollop the surface with the 2 tablespoons fat reserved from the chilled ragout.
  19. Transfer the casserole to the oven and bake for 1 ½ hours.
  20. Meanwhile, prick the sausages in several places. In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, cook the sausages, turning them a few times as needed, until browned all over, about 10 minutes.
  21. Transfer to a plate. Cut larger sausages into 3- to 4-inch (7.5- to 10-cm) pieces.
  22. Remove the casserole from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 275°F (135°C). Gently break up the skin that has formed on the surface of the beans, being careful not to disturb the layers of confit and pork skin beneath. Spacing them evenly, nestle the sausages partway down among the beans. Dust the surface of the cassoulet with the bread crumbs.
  23. Return the cassoulet to the oven and bake for 1 hour longer. If you like a dark brown crust, raise the heat to 400°F (200°C) after the first 30 minutes. After 1 hour, if the surface is still not browned to your liking, turn on the broiler (make sure the vessel you are using is broiler-safe). As needed, adjust the oven rack so that the rim of the cassoulet will be 7 to 8 inches (17.5 to 20 cm) from the heating element. Broil until richly browned, 2 to 5 minutes.
  24. Remove the cassoulet from the oven and let rest for 20 minutes. (If you are using an earthenware vessel, place it on a cloth-lined surface to prevent cracking.) Just before serving, drizzle with the walnut oil, if using. Ladle onto plates and serve at once.
  25. * * *
  26. Reprinted with permission from Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life by Emily Kaiser Thelin, copyright 2017 ©.
https://www.thefooddictator.com/paula-wolferts-cassoulet-in-the-style-of-toulouse/

 

The Hirshon Anhui Hotpot – 一品锅

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The Hirshon Anhui Hotpot - 一品锅

Yipinguo Image Used Under Creative Commons License From gushi.tw

My Citizens, your incandescent leader – the never ordinary TFD! – was privileged to eat at one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants last night – and it is one of the finest Chinese restaurants in all of the country! The chef’s table in the kitchen of Eight Tables was without question an unmatched experience and I was blown away by their use of Chinese medicinal herbs in several of the dishes!

In honor of that meal, allow me to share a unique recipe from Anhui province in China, where medicinal cuisine perhaps had its earliest start in China!

As noted on wayofchina.com:

Anhui (安徽) cuisine is also called Huibang cai (徽帮菜), Anhuicai (安徽菜), and Huizhou fengwei (徽州风味). It is one of the Chinese famous eight major cuisines.

The Anhui cuisine originated in the Southern Song dynasty, it was a local specialty. Its unique geography and humanistic environment give Anhui cuisine unique taste. The reason why Anhui cuisine becomes one of the Chinese famous major cuisines because it played a very important role in the Chinese history.

Huizhou merchants are one of the famous merchants’ groups in the history of China. Anhui is located in poor mountainous areas and people could not survive by farming in the old days.

Huizhou merchants began to be active in the Song Dynasty, and their heyday was in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. Huizhou merchants were almost everywhere and sold almost everything at that time. They were hard-working, diligent, and thrifty, gradually growing from small businesses into large capitalists.

The Ming and Qing Dynasties was a time when China’s commodity economy was more developed. Capitalism had sprouted in the Ming and Qing dynasties. This was when Huizhou merchants peaked.

While Huizhou merchants were doing their businesses, they also brought their hometown flavor to almost every corner of China. Anhui cuisine became a famous major cuisine since then.

There are two sayings about how the Huizhou merchants helped the propagation and development of Anhui cuisine:

The first is that at that time, the Huizhou merchants always talked about business, entertaining, or gathering with friends while put on a Huizhou style dinner to show their respect for the guests.

The second is that Huizhou merchants were all over the country, and kept their own tastes. So Anhui cuisine restaurants were all over the country in order to meet their requirements.

From the late Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, Huizhou merchants had the No.1 strength among the top 10 business groups in China. Huizhou people had established thousands of Anhui cuisine restaurants across the country. There were more than 140 Anhui cuisine restaurants in Shanghai, which shows that the Huizhou merchants had a wide range of influence at that time.

As to this specific recipe, allow me to quote from the excellent site carryitlikeharry.com:

If you were to ask me to name one fad that is currently raving in the Chinese culinary world, I’d say it is Yipinguo 一品锅.

While all westerners know about ‘Chinese fondue’ (also known as hotpot, or shabu shabu), not many know about Yipinguo.

Yipinguo 一品锅 literally means ‘first grade pot’. By ‘pot’, one infers a ‘stew’.

Yipinguo has a very specific origin: it is a winter dish of the people living in the Anhui 安徽 province in central China, specifically in the county of Huizhou 徽州. It was made in the Ming dynasty by the wife of the State Secretary Bi Jiang 毕锵 (AD1517-1608), Madam Xu 余氏.

The Chinese Emperor came for a visit and Xu wanted to showcase the local dish of a hotpot. She presented the dish to the Emperor who loved it, and named it ‘first grade pot’. The term ‘Yipin’ 一品, is the same term used to classify court officials, hence only the Emperor has the right to confer the grade. Henceforth, the local Huizhou hotpot dish became known as Yipinguo 一品锅.

So what is so special about it?

Firstly, unlike other hotpots, Yipinguo is cooked, before it is placed on the table. Guests do not get to cook the raw ingredients over a boiling pot of broth.

Secondly, ingredients in a Yipinguo are layered in a strict hierarchy, such as that the lower layers are ingredients that take longer time to cook.

Thirdly, one does not stir the pot and it has to be presented as it has been placed.

Last but not least, the combination of the ingredients in the Yipinguo follows a strict Chinese medicinal rule of food compatibility, unlike other Chinese hotpots.

Layering of Yipinguo

The lowest layer comprises hard vegetables; daikon radish, carrots, bamboo shoots, winter melon.

The next layer is meat: pork, beef, duck, chicken, game meat and any kind of liver.

The following layer: seafood such as prawns, baby lobsters, fish, abalone, shellfish.

The second top layer is mushroom types: shiitake, straw mushrooms, black fungus etc.

The penultimate layer is made up of tofu products: tofu puffs, tofu sticks, tofu etc.

TFD follows tradition that the top layer should be something green – I use the leaves and yellow flowers of Yu Choy, which looks a lot like Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan), except that the Yu Choy stalks are skinnier and the flowers are yellow (Gai Lan has white flowers).

This vegetable is tender, the taste of the leaves are very much like spinach leaves, even though it is part of the mustard family. Fresh Yu-Choy has small tight yellow flowers, bright green leaves and stems, and if you look at the bottom of the bunch of stems, they should not be dried out.

The yellow flowers add to the imperial pedigree of this dish, as yellow was a color reserved for the Emperor alone. I have also upped the luxury quotient with ingredients worthy of the imperial presence! Lastly, I also specify a unique alcohol brewed with Chinese medicinal herbs first created for the Imperial family!

This is a ‘no-cook’ recipe and a delicious one at that, my Citizens! It includes wild game, wild herbs and a cooking technique that all define Anhui cuisine!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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The Hirshon Anhui Hotpot – 一品锅
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The Hirshon Anhui Hotpot - 一品锅

Ingredients

  • Layer 1:
  • Some dried (or fresh) Bamboo shoots
  • 1 Carrot, sliced and cut into decorative coins
  • ½ Daikon radish, peeled and sliced
  • Some peeled and diced winter melon
  • A handful of dried wolfberries
  • Layer 2:
  • ½ chicken breast fillet, sliced
  • ½ duck breast fillet, sliced
  • Layer 3:
  • About 10 minced venison balls
  • Layer 4:
  • 10 raw prawns
  • 1 or 2 top-quality canned abalone, sliced
  • ⅓ pound black cod fillet
  • Layer 5:
  • 5 dried top-quality dried shiitake mushrooms, heavy cracking on top and thick capped
  • ¼ cup dried wood ears
  • 5 dried top-quality morel mushrooms
  • handful of dried lily buds
  • Layer 6:
  • 1 cake very firm tofu, sliced
  • 8 tofu puffs
  • Top Layer:
  • Leaves and yellow flowers of Yu Choy
  • Others:
  • 1 whole pot of Chinese Superior Stock (strongly preferred) or chicken stock (salted)
  • ½ cup Imperial Lotus White Chiew (御蓮白酒, Yàlián báijiǔ): This is a variety of baijiu infused with twenty medicinal herbs. It was first produced for the Chinese royal family in 1790. Alternatively, you could use Chu Yeh Ching (竹葉青酒, zhúyèqīnqjiǔ, lit. "bamboo-leaf green liquor"): this sweet liquor, produced in Shanxi, is made from Fenjiu brewed with a dozen or more selected Chinese herbal medicines. One of the ingredients is bamboo leaves, which gives the liquor a yellowish-green color and its name. Its alcohol content ranges between 38 and 46% by volume. As a final alternative, use top-quality shaoxing rice wine

Instructions

  1. There are no ‘cooking skills’ required, just like for other hotpot dishes. The taste of the dish comes from the ingredients and the stock.
  2. Place your ingredients by layer according to the instructions above, but leaving out the topmost layer of greens.
  3. Fill the pot until your stock just covers your ingredients.
  4. Bring it to boil then cover and let it simmer on medium heat for 2 hours, occassionally adding more stock. In the last 15 minutes, add the greens and flowers.
  5. Once done, serve the whole pot on the table and let your guests discover the ingredients layer by layer.
https://www.thefooddictator.com/the-hirshon-anhui-hotpot-%e4%b8%80%e5%93%81%e9%94%85/

Paul Prudhomme’s Turducken

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Paul Prudhomme’s Turducken

Turducken Image Used Under Creative Commons License From pinterest.com

My Citizens, I have long awaited the opportunity to present you with this, perhaps the most complex recipes in my repertoire! Behold the almighty, legendary Turducken – a recipe that will test only the boldest and most talented Citizens of TFD Nation (and all their friends!). This is, in my humble opinion, the canonical version of the recipe, as prepared by the dish’s first evangelist, the unmatched Chef Paul Prudhomme!

Turducken is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is known as a three bird roast. Gooducken is a traditional English variant, replacing turkey with goose.

The word turducken is a portmanteau of turkey, duck, and chicken. The dish is a form of engastration, which is a recipe method in which one animal is stuffed inside the gastric passage of another.

The thoracic cavity of the chicken/game hen and the rest of the gaps are stuffed, sometimes with a highly seasoned breadcrumb mixture or sausage meat, although some versions have a different stuffing for each bird. The result is a fairly solid layered poultry dish, suitable for cooking by braising, roasting, grilling, or barbecuing.

Credit for the creation of the turducken is uncertain, though it is generally agreed to have been popularized by Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. The most common claimant is Hebert’s Specialty Meats in Maurice, Louisiana, whose owners Junior and Sammy Hebert say they created it in 1985 “when a local man brought his own birds to their shop and asked the brothers to create the medley”.

A New Orleans surgeon, Dr. Gerald R. LaNasa, was locally known for his use of a scalpel in deboning his three birds of choice, sometimes adding pork or veal roasts in the final hen’s cavity, thus preserving the turducken tradition as a regional holiday favorite of the southern United States. Andouille sausage and Foie Gras were always key ingredients of the LaNasa creations. The results of Dr. LaNasa’s work can be found in the modern day mass-produced turducken or turduckhen (another variation adding or substituting a cornish game hen). His turkey, duck, and chicken ballotine is now widely commercially available under multiple trademark names. Dr. LaNasa’s innovation and success with ballotine, Three Bird Roast and turducken began mid century, expanding in the 1960s and seventies long before many of the popular commercial Cajun/Creole chefs of today took the stage.

In the United Kingdom, a turducken is a type of ballotine called a “three-bird roast” or a “royal roast”. The Pure Meat Company offered a five-bird roast (a goose, a turkey, a chicken, a pheasant, and a pigeon, stuffed with sausage), described as a modern revival of the traditional Yorkshire Christmas pie, in 1989; and a three-bird roast (a duck stuffed with chicken stuffed with a pigeon, with sage and apple stuffing) in 1990.

In his 1807 Almanach des Gourmands, gastronomist Grimod de La Reynière presents his rôti sans pareil (“roast without equal”)—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler—although he states that, since similar roasts were produced by ancient Romans, the rôti sans pareil was not entirely novel. The final bird is very small but large enough to just hold an olive; it also suggests that, unlike modern multi-bird roasts, there was no stuffing or other packing placed in between the birds.

Gooducken is a goose stuffed with a duck, which is in turn stuffed with a chicken. An early form of the recipe was Pandora’s cushion, a goose stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a quail.

Another version of the dish is credited to French diplomat and gourmand Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. The 1891 newspaper article French Legends Of The Table offers Quail a la Talleyrand:

The following for instance, is Talleyrand’s fanciful and somewhat roundabout way of roasting a quail. On a day of “inspiration gourmande” at his hotel in the Rue Saint-Florentin, he composed the following recipe: Take a plump quail, seasoned with truffles, and made tender by having been put into champagne. You put it carefully inside a young Bresse chicken; then sew up the opening, and put dabs of butter all over the chicken. Again, you put the chicken inside a fine Berri turkey, and roast the turkey very carefully before a bright fire. What will be the result? All the juice of the turkey is absorbed by the fowl, and all the juice of the fowl in its turn by the quail. After two hours roasting the fowl, which in reality it composed of three fowls, is ready, and you place the steaming trinity upon a dish of fine porcelain or chiseled silver. Then you pull the chicken out of the turkey, and the quail out of the chicken. The quail? Is it correct to talk of the quail, when this delicious, perfumed dish is indeed too good for any name? You take the quail as you would some sacred relic, and serve it hot, steaming, with its aroma of truffles, after having roasted it to a golden yellow by basting it diligently with the best Gournay butter.

The book Passion India: The Story of the Spanish Princess of Kapurthula (p. 295) features a section that recounts a similar dish in India in the late 1800s: “Invited by Maharajah Ganga Singh to the most extraordinary of dinners, in the palace at Bikaner, when Anita asks her host for the recipe of such a succulent dish, he answers her seriously, “Prepare a whole camel, skinned and cleaned, put a goat inside it, and inside the goat a turkey and inside the turkey a chicken. Stuff the chicken with a grouse and inside that put a quail and finally inside that a sparrow. Then season it all well, place the camel in a hole in the ground and roast it.”

Citizens, this is a challenging recipe indeed – only attempt it with your posse backing you up! 🙂

Battle on – The Generalissimo

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Paul Prudhomme’s Turducken
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Paul Prudhomme’s Turducken

Ingredients

  • Cornbread:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • ¾ cup corn flour (NOTE: Also available at many health and international food stores)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 7½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon Chef Paul Prudhomme's Vegetable Magic®
  • 2 cups milk
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 whole egg, beaten
  • ***
  • Poultry Stock:
  • Reserved carcasses of turkey, chicken, or duck (or all three)
  • 2 gallons water
  • ***
  • Roasted Vegetables for Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy:
  • 2 pounds whole eggplants (about 2)
  • 4½ pounds medium onions, whole (about 6)
  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, while (about 4)
  • 6 ounces garlic, whole (about 2)
  • vegetable oil
  • ***
  • Andouille Sausage Dressing:
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all
  • 2½ pounds (ground - 8 cups) Chef Paul Prudhomme's Andouille Smoked Sausage (See Note)
  • 5 cups chopped onions
  • 3 cups chopped celery
  • 2½ cups chopped green bell peppers
  • ¼ cup minced garlic
  • 7 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Pepper Sauce®
  • 5 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic®
  • 3 cups very fine dry breadcrumbs, unseasoned (preferably French bread)
  • ***
  • Cornbread Dressing:
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 cups finely chopped onions
  • 2 cups finely chopped green bell peppers
  • 1¾ cup finely chopped celery
  • 1½ tablespoons minced garlic
  • 4 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic®
  • 4 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Pepper Sauce®
  • 2 pounds duck or chicken giblets, ground
  • 8 cups roughly crumbled Cornbread
  • ***
  • Shrimp Dressing:
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, in all
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 4 cups chopped onions
  • 4 cups chopped celery
  • 3 cups chopped green bell peppers
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 7 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic®
  • 1½ pounds shrimp, peeled and chopped
  • 3 cups very fine dry bread crumbs, unseasoned (preferably French bread)
  • 1 cup Poultry Stock
  • ***
  • For the Turducken:
  • 1 chicken (3-4 pounds)
  • 1 duckling (5-6 pounds)
  • 1 turkey (15-20 pounds)
  • 2 pounds duck or chicken giblets
  • 2½ pounds Chef Paul Prudhomme's Andouille Smoked Sausage
  • 1½ pounds shrimp, peeled
  • 9 cups celery, chopped (total)
  • 7 tablespoons garlic, minced (total)
  • 8 cups green bell peppers, chopped
  • 12 cups onions, chopped (total)
  • 2 garlic heads, whole
  • 4½ pounds medium onions, whole (about 6)
  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, whole (about 4)
  • 2 pounds whole eggplants (about 2)
  • 3 whole eggs
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 2 cups milk
  • 5 sticks unsalted butter
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 7½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 7 bay leaves
  • ¾ cup corn flour
  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 1 cup evaporated milk
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 6 cups very fine dry breadcrumbs, unseasoned (preferably French bread)
  • 21 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic®
  • 4 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Poultry Magic®
  • 7 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic®
  • 1 teaspoon Chef Paul Prudhomme's Vegetable Magic®
  • 11 tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Magic Pepper Sauce®
  • 1 (15x11inch) baking pan, at least 2 1/4 inches deep
  • 1 pan larger than the 15x11 inch pan
  • 3 metal or bamboo skewers
  • 6 sheet pans
  • vegetable oil
  • aluminum foil
  • 1 small hammer

Instructions

  1. Cornbread:
  2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  3. In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, corn flour, sugar, baking powder and Vegetable Magic®; mix well, breaking up any lumps. In a separate bowl combine the milk, butter and egg and add to the dry ingredients; blend just until mixed and large lumps are dissolved. Do not overbeat.
  4. Pour the mixture into a lightly oiled baking pan and bake at 350°F until golden brown, about 40-55 minutes. Remove from pan, cool and break into crumbs (not too fine, and leave some coarser chunks for texture).
  5. Poultry Stock:
  6. In a stock pot, or other large pot, bring 2 gallons of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  7. Place the reserved bones and necks in a roasting pan. Place in the oven and roast until the bones are a rich golden brown, about 30 minutes. As soon as the carcasses are browned, place them in the pot.
  8. Simmer until the stock has reduced by half and has a rich poultry flavor, about 2 to 3 hours. Strain and refrigerate until ready to use.
  9. Roasted vegetables for sweet potato gravy:
  10. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  11. Rub all the vegetables lightly with vegetable oil. Place the oiled vegetables in a roasting pan. Place in the oven and roast until the vegetables are brown on the outside and the eggplants are deeply wrinkled, about 2½ hours. Remove the eggplants, onions and garlic and set aside to cool. Increase the oven temperature to 425°F and return the sweet potatoes to the oven. Continue to roast until brown juices are beginning to come out of the potatoes, about 30 minutes.
  12. When cool enough to handle, peel and coarsely chop the eggplants, onions and sweet potatoes. Peel the garlic and mash with a fork. Refrigerate the ingredients separately until ready to use in Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy.
  13. For the Andouille Sausage Dressing:
  14. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a 5-quart pot over high heat. When the butter is melted, add the ground andouille. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom frequently to prevent sticking, until the andouille is beginning to brown and the oil is beginning to render from the andouille, about 6 minutes.
  15. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent, but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the celery, bell peppers and garlic. Continue to cook, stirring and scraping frequently, until the celery and bell peppers are faded in color, about 4 minutes.
  16. Add the Magic Pepper Sauce® and Meat Magic®. Stir and scrape until mixed in well and the brown crust on the bottom of the pot is dissolved. Remove the pot from the heat and add the remaining butter. Stir until the butter is melted.
  17. Fold in the half of the breadcrumbs, using a bottom to top folding motion. When mixed in well, fold in the remaining breadcrumbs. Continue to fold until the breadcrumbs are evenly moistened but still somewhat dry and cakey.
  18. Remove from heat and spread on a sheet pan as thinly as possible. Refrigerate sheet pan in the coldest part of the refrigerator until dressing is very cold. (Note: The goal is to chill the dressing as quickly as possible. Spreading the dressing in a thin layer on a sheet pan allows it to cool very quickly. In our refrigerator, this took a little over 1 hour.)
  19. NOTE: If you are not using Andouille, add 1 to 2 more tablespoons Chef Paul Prudhomme's Meat Magic® for a fuller flavor.
  20. For Cornbread Dressing:
  21. Process the eggs and milk together in a blender at medium speed until fully combined, about 20 seconds. Set aside.
  22. Spread the crumbled Cornbread on a sheet pan and bake in a 300°F oven until the crumbs are dry and a touch of brown is showing on the larger pieces, about 30 minutes.
  23. In a 5-quart pot, melt 6 tablespoons of butter together with the bay leaves. Add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are beginning to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers, celery, garlic, Poultry Magic® and Magic Pepper Sauce.
  24. Cook, stirring and scraping frequently, until the onions are beginning to brown and the celery and bell peppers are faded in color, about 4 minutes. Add the giblets. Stir until the giblets are fully cooked, but not browned, and the seasoning has a rich flavor, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and remove from the heat. Stir well until butter is melted. Remove bay leaves.
  25. Put the baked crumbled cornbread in a large mixing bowl. Fold in the milk/egg mixture, then fold in the vegetable mixture until evenly mixed.
  26. Spread the dressing on a sheet pan as thinly as possible. Refrigerate sheet pan in the coldest part of the refrigerator until dressing is very cold. (Note: The goal is to chill the dressing as quickly as possible. Spreading the dressing in a thin layer on a sheet pan allows it to cool very quickly. In our refrigerator, this took a little over 1 hour). Bake at 350° until browned on top.
  27. For the shrimp dressing:
  28. Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a 5-quart pot together with the bay leaves over high heat. When butter is melted, add the onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are beginning to brown on the edges, about 5 minutes.
  29. Add the celery, bell peppers, garlic, and Seafood Magic®. Cook, stirring frequently, until the celery and bell peppers are faded in color, about 4 minutes. Add the shrimp and stir in well. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and stir until butter is melted. Add half of the breadcrumbs.
  30. Cook, stirring constantly, until the breadcrumbs are fully moistened and blended in, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining breadcrumbs and continue to stir until all the breadcrumbs are mixed in, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, pull out bay leaves and stir in the Poultry Stock. The dressing should be bound and thick but not wet.
  31. Spread the dressing on a sheet pan as thinly as possible. Refrigerate sheet pan in the coldest part of the refrigerator until dressing is very cold. (Note: The goal is to chill the dressing as quickly as possible. Spreading the dressing in a thin layer on a sheet pan allows it to cool very quickly. In our refrigerator, this took a little over 1 hour.)
  32. For the Turducken:
  33. The complete Turducken recipe can be found in Chef Paul Prudhomme's Always Cooking! Cookbook. You can purchase the cookbook and a sampling of four of our seasoning blends (2-oz. Poultry Magic®, 2-oz. Meat Magic®, 2-oz Seafood Magic®, and 2-oz. Vegetable Magic®) for only $19.95! *Please note: Our 4-PK Sampler is not sufficient to make the entire Turducken Recipe, and additional seasoning and ingredients are needed. If you have questions about items needed for preparation, please give us a call toll-free at 1-800-457-2857.
  34. Since the Turducken takes about 8 hours to cook (and then it needs to cool at least 1 hour before it's carved), you will need to plan your time wisely. First, be sure your oven temperature control is accurate by using (or purchasing) an inexpensive oven thermometer to monitor the oven's temperature instead of relying on the oven temperature control. Otherwise, your Turducken may take considerably less or more time than you have planned.
  35. The quickest way to prepare your Turducken is to get friends or family members to help make the dressings and de-bone the fowl. (If you're on your own, you will need to allow more time for preparation of the Turducken.)
  36. We get letters every year from "Turducken Teams" - friends and relatives who gather together to make (and eat!) their Turduckens as a group activity! It might be fun to take pictures along the way so that you can look back and have "Turducken" memories year-round!
  37. It's also nice to serve additional dressing in bowls at the table, so our dressing recipes will make about 8 cups extra of each dressing. If you do not want to serve extra dressing with your Turducken, you can cut each dressing recipe in half.
  38. If you're inexperienced at de-boning fowl, start with the turkey; because of its size, you can more easily see the bone structure. After de-boning the turkey, the duck and chicken will go much faster. And remember, each time you do a Turducken it gets easier; it doesn't take magical cooking abilities, it just takes care. What is magical is the way people eating your Turducken will feel about your food!
  39. For those of you who may be intimidated by de-boning, you can ask your local butcher to do it. Just tell the butcher to de-bone everything except the turkey drumsticks and wings.
  40. STEPS FOR MAKING THE TURDUCKEN:
  41. An Important Note About Refrigeration: As you complete the steps for making the Turducken, you will be refrigerating the fowl and dressings. It is very important to keep the meats as cold as possible before preparing them, and to chill all the finished items as quickly as possible after preparing.
  42. The best way to accomplish this is to spread the prepared items (or lay them flat in the case of the de-boned fowl) on a sheet pan and place them in the coldest part of your refrigerator. While the items are chilling, keep the refrigerator door closed as much as possible.
  43. STEPS TO BE DONE ONE DAY AHEAD:
  44. Prepare the Cornbread for the Cornbread Dressing
  45. De-bone the turkey, chicken and duck
  46. Bring the water to a simmer and prepare the Poultry Stock
  47. Prepare the Roasted Vegetables for the Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy
  48. Prepare the Andouille Sausage Dressing
  49. Prepare the Cornbread Dressing
  50. Prepare the Shrimp Dressing
  51. Assemble the Turducken - See Detail Below
  52. "TURDUCKEN" DAY!
  53. Bake the Turducken - See Details Below
  54. Let the Turducken rest for 1 hour before serving
  55. While the Turducken is resting, bake the extra dressings
  56. Prepare the Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy
  57. Assemble the Turducken:
  58. TURKEY: Spread the turkey, skin down, on a sheet pan exposing as much meat as possible. Sprinkle the meat generously and evenly with a total of about 4 tablespoons of the Meat Magic, patting it in with your hands. (Be sure to turn the leg, thigh and wing meat to the outside so you can season it also.)
  59. Stuff each leg cavity with about 1½ cups of the Cornbread Dressing, pressing it into the cavities with your fingers or the round handle of a wooden spoon. Pack each cavity well, but not too tightly. (If too tightly packed, it may cause the skin to burst open during cooking.)
  60. Stuff each wing cavity with about 1 cup of the cornbread dressing, pressing it in as before.
  61. Fill the center of the breast cleavage with about 1 cup of the cornbread dressing. Shape the dressing with your hands to fit the space and smooth it so that it is level with the rest of the breast meat. Shape 2-3 cups of the dressing into an even layer over the remaining exposed meat, about ¾-inch thick. (Do not put any dressing over the exposed skin flap at the neck.) You should use about 8 - 9 cups dressing. Return the stuffed bird to the refrigerator.
  62. Place the remaining dressing in a baking pan. Cover with plastic or foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
  63. DUCK: Place the duck, skin down, on a sheet pan. Season the exposed duck meat generously and evenly with about 3 tablespoons Meat Magic, pressing it in with your hands. Then, place the Andouille Dressing on the duck meat, using the same technique as before, filling and leveling the cleavage area first, then making an even layer over the meat, about ½-inch thick. You should use about 4 cups dressing. Return the stuffed bird to the refrigerator.
  64. Place the remaining dressing in a baking pan. Cover with plastic or foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
  65. CHICKEN: Arrange the chicken, skin down, evenly on a sheet pan. Season the exposed chicken meat generously and evenly with about 1 tablespoon Meat Magic, pressing it in with your hands. Repeat the filling process with the Shrimp Dressing, using about 3 cups of dressing and making the layer about ½-inch thick. Return the stuffed bird to the refrigerator.
  66. Place the remaining dressing in a baking pan. Cover with plastic or foil and refrigerate until ready to bake.
  67. ASSEMBLY: Have the 3 skewers, 15 x 11-inch baking pan and the larger pan nearby for the next steps. Starting with the chicken: Roll one side of the chicken around the dressing towards the middle. Repeat with the other side, returning the bird to a chicken shape. If necessary, use a skewer to hold the flaps together.
  68. Place the rolled up chicken on top of the stuffed duck, placing it in the center and rolling up the duck meat around the chicken. Use a skewer to close the flaps of the duck. When the duck is securely skewered, pull out the skewer from the chicken.
  69. Place the rolled up duck/chicken on top of the turkey, placing it in the center and rolling up the turkey meat around the duck/chicken in the same way as before. Fold the sides (and neck flap) of the turkey together and secure them by piercing them onto the tip of the skewer to close the bird. Invert the 15 x 11-inch baking pan and place it over the top of the Turducken.
  70. Pull out the skewer and press down so that the pan is firmly wedged on top of the bird. Enlist another person's help to carefully turn the Turducken over so that it is sitting breast side up in the 15 x 11-inch pan. Roll up two pieces of aluminum foil and place them under the front and back openings of the Turducken (this will help to keep the stuffing from falling out of the openings.) Cover the tips of the wings with aluminum foil.
  71. Place the Turducken pan in the larger pan with sides at least 2½-inches deep, so that the larger pan will catch the overflow of drippings during cooking. Season the exposed side of the Turducken generously and evenly with about 3 tablespoons more Meat Magic, patting it in gently. Refrigerate the Turducken until ready to bake.
  72. Bake the Turducken:
  73. Place the Turducken in the oven. Bake at 225°F until done, about 8 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted through to the center reads 165°F.
  74. At 4 hours: Cover the Turducken with aluminum foil.
  75. At 7 hours: Prepare the Sweet Potato Eggplant Gravy
  76. At 8 hours: Check temperature in the center of the Turducken. When the interior temperature reads 165°F, remove the Turducken from the oven.
  77. Let the Turducken rest for 1 hour before serving
  78. While the Turducken is resting, bake the extra dressings.
  79. Bake the extra dressings
  80. Increase the oven temperature to 375°F. Remove covers from the three dressings and place them in the oven.
  81. Drain all the drippings from the Turducken and add them to the gravy.
  82. At 8:40 hours: Check the dressings. If they are not browned on the top, increase the oven temperature to 425°F.
  83. At 9 hours: Remove the Dressings from the oven.
  84. Carve the Turducken:
  85. With strong spatulas inserted underneath (remember there are no bones to support the bird's structure), carefully transfer the Turducken to a serving platter and present it to your guests before carving. Then place the Turducken on a flat surface to carve.
  86. Be sure to make your slices crosswise so that each slice contains all three dressings and all three meats. Cut each slice in half for serving. Serve with a scoop of each dressing and ½ cup of the gravy, or serve additional bowls of the dressings on the side.
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