I like turkey just fine, but it's never been my favorite dish for Thanksgiving. Many others share that sentiment, as turkey often ends up dry, and even when it's cooked to perfection, it has a fairly muted flavor profile.
There are strategies for cooking turkey without losing moisture, including smoked turkey, sous vide turkey, steamed turkey and deep-fried for the courageous. But allow me to suggest a new turkey tradition with a bit more razzle-dazzle.
Though it's not the cheapest option out there, roasting a premade turducken -- that's a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken and plenty of dressing -- is a holiday event unto itself and something everyone should experience at least once in their life.
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If you think you could never pull off a turducken from scratch, fear not -- they're available to buy completely deboned, assembled, stuffed and ready to roast. This is my second year cooking a turducken for a pre-Thanksgiving feast, and the resulting meat is so moist and flavorful that you'll forget all about the stringy, dry turkey of holidays past.
The massive three-headed poultry feast was a unanimous hit among the friends and family I had gathered for Friendsgiving this year. The praise flowed like gravy, and there was no shortage of snapshots and selfies taken with the main course, once it was pulled from the oven.
The turducken I got online from Gourmet Butcher Block was more than enough food for myself and seven guests. I sent most home with a massive slab of turducken, and I'm still working through the leftovers four days later.
Why is a turducken so good, you ask?
The duck works overtime to keep all the meat tender and bursting with flavor. David Watsky/CNET
Turducken is superior to a regular turkey in several ways. For one, most are seasoned with Cajun spice, both on the skin and in the stuffing. While the turducken has a welcome kick, it's not terribly spicy.
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