Turducken is an intriguing blend: turkey, duck and chicken combined together and cooked as one. But why stop there? James Alexander Fine Foods' five-bird roast takes it even further by incorporating partridge and pheasant with pancetta on top. The price tag starts at £149 for a roast that feeds 7-8 people, escalating to £224 for a 16-person feast.
Before this week, I'd never sampled a Russian nesting doll of meat. Given the chance to try a Frankenbird, I was notably the only one among my colleagues ready to embrace this creation. Enticed by the novelty, I was excited about the great story it would make for my friends and family if it turned out to be brilliant, and unfortunately, it was not.
Meeting the Frankenbird As far as first impressions go, the roast is quite good looking in its uncooked form. The five birds are neatly bound together by netting, with overlapping strips of pancetta drizzled with aromatic herbs forming an appealing lid. However, it arrived without a diagram (which meat is which?) or even cooking instructions.
Though I've cooked many a Thanksgiving and Christmas , I'd no idea how to approach this roll of meat. The instructions are available on James Alexander's website, but the absence of a copy with the order seemed like an oversight. A seed of doubt was planted when a colleague passed on the roast, citing the food poisoning she suffered from a three-bird roast last Christmas.
Curious though I was, I wasn't prepared to risk food poisoning five ways for .
