Thanksgiving Turducken & Sides

I've always wanted to make one and this was a total splurge this year ($215 for the turducken).  I bought it from a local butcher, pre-ordered.  Their description: "Our Free Range Package consists of a free range, hormone free turkey from Skye Hi Farms in the Fraser Valley, a free range duck and a Maple Hills hormone free chicken. The combined weight is around 13 to 15 lbs".  I also bought the three add-ons for $5 each.

• Sausage (chorizo) stuffing
• Bread stuffing
• Bacon wrapped across the breast

For my menu, I made:

• Homemade gravy

• Homemade cranberry sauce with fresh orange and its zest, plus cinnamon

• Velvety mashed potatoes (Yukon Gold) with heavy cream and butter

• Roasted wild carrots with brown sugar and butter

• Roasted Brussels sprouts, tossed with bacon

• Pumpkin pie, with real whip cream and/or Häagen-Dazs ice cream (all store bought)

My new gadget was a potato ricer.  I have always wanted to make the creamiest, smoothest creamed taters that I've tried in 5 star restaurants.  Today would hopefully be the day.

I picked my bird up the day before.  I have to admit I was impressed when I saw it!  Loved the bacon lattice...

I got the cooking instructions from their website and updated to what I did below...  I would be using my thermometer to make sure I cooked it correctly.  I roasted the carrots and Brussels the day before, and made the cranberry sauce.

I would just reheat the veggies in the microwave, as oven space would be at a premium today...Plus, it's nice to not be a slave in the kitchen when you have company over.

Cooking Instructions

1. Season with salt and pepper or your favorite herbs and spices
2. Leave at room temperature for at least an hour (max is 3 to 4 hours)
3. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Put on a rack over a drip pan; the rack promotes more even cooking. Putting it on a flat bottom pan will make the bottom cook too fast.  I used a roaster and I covered mine with a lid until time to crisp the skin.
5. Rotate rack every hour or so if you don’t have a convection oven to heat evenly.
6. ACCURATE TEMPERATURE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!
7. Probe intermittently, Use a good probe thermometer.
8. Probe inserted right in the middle should read 140 degrees. The skin will be dry with slight light browning.
9. Turn the oven up to 450 degrees to raise internal temperature to 160 degrees and to further brown and crisp the skin. This will take approximately 30 to 40 minutes but let the thermometer be your guide.
10. While the cooking time is based on internal temperature, budget around 4 to 6 hours cooking time for planning purposes.
11. Remove carefully as because there are no bones, it can fall apart easily.  Let rest 30 minutes, covered in loose foil.  Remove twine and slice with electric carving knife.

The finished result is below:

The potatoes were dreamy - and creamy!

The wings and legs were big enough so I could make my son's favorite turkey soup the next day, so I put those aside. Below is how the inside looked.

I think everyone enjoyed the dinner.  I thought the chorizo dressing was delicious.  Everyone had dessert (except me).  I think everyone who cooks big dinners like this often find themselves not wanting to eat after. I actually woke up at 3:30 am and came down and finished my plate, above!  Below are the flowers I received for my "Friendsgiving".  Very lovely day.