Paula Dean's Turducken

Every Christmas since we moved to DC, we are challenged with a request to prepare something interesting for the open house our son has at his house for all the friends, family, and neighbors. It is not unusual to see 100+ people pass through the door. In Wisconsin, our holidays were very quiet affairs. Two years ago we were asked to bring a turducken. It was a very lengthy affair to prepare, and we were up until the wee hours of the morning sewing it into place. My husband is the chef of the house, and has spent this week getting all the ingredients for the recipe and the stuffing, following Paula Dean's instructions. It was an overwhelming success, even though the stuffing wasn't quite right. But none of us had a chance to even try it. It was picked off the platter so fast all we saw was a few shreds of remains. So this year, we will attempt it again. Tomorrow morning it will be picked up at Eastern Market (a favorite and one of the oldest markets in the country founded by Thomas Jefferson I'm told)... it will be soaked in a special brine bag for 8 hours, and we plan to start earlier in the evening putting it all together. Let's hope it all goes well- and let's hope we get a chance to taste it.

Just a hand full of all the required ingredients