Ducky Turducken

For those of you holding your collective breath over the results of the previously-blogged turducken adventure, or those simply curious about how this Franken-poultry thing turned out, the post-mortem is all good. It was the hit of the Christmas dinner and was a fantastically creative twist on your run-of-the-mill holiday bird.

It arrived frozen, all 15 lbs. or so, and early Sunday it was popped into the fridge to thaw, coming out on Christmas day looking like a somewhat flat, rounded version of its usual birdy self. My brother, who was in charge of cooking it for dinner, popped it into a 325 degree oven figuring it would take about 2 1/2 hours to reach an internal temp of 155 to 160 degrees.

What we didn't count on was that it hadn't quite thawed out completely in the center, and since it was all meat, it took a bit longer than anticipated. But with good company, good appies and (plenty of) good wine, we hardly noticed. The fun part was watching him slice the finished bird stem to stern, then removing the wings and legs and turning it cut-side down onto the board to be sliced.

Each slice contained a bit of each of the game hen, duck and turkey, not to mention some of the andouille sausage that had infused it all with its lovely fatty flavor. The pork also kept it from drying out, and it was a moist, delightful platter full of meat that was brought to the table. With sides of scalloped potatoes (both regular and Dave-safe) and w's braised carrots, not to mention a wickedly good bottle of 2000 Grgich Hills Cabernet Sauvignon from the brother's cellar, we felt fortunate to be part of a family that knows how to eat hearty and well.

Needless to say, by the time we'd polished all that off, not to mention the outstanding pear-ginger crisp with ice cream for dessert, we were wishing for someone to trundle us out to a waiting bus stocked with comforters for the ride home. Hope your Christmas was as merry!