Thanksgiving Challenge: The Turducken

It’s been called the Frankenstein of Fowl: The Turducken is a deboned chicken inside a deboned duck, inside a deboned turkey, with savory stuffing layered between the birds, and Chef Raymond Jackson of Alvin & Friends Restaurant in New Rochelle shows you how to prepare one on a special Thanksgiving episode of Restaurant Hunter Lower Hudson Valley airing on FIOS 1 on Thursday, November 19th at 8 pm.

Turducken is a variation of a dish that has been around since ancient Roman times; it was popularized in America by the late Chef Paul Prudhomme, who trademarked the name in 1986. Turducken gained national notoriety in 1997 when NFL personality John Madden brought a Turducken onto a 1997 football broadcast during Thanksgiving and started carving it. From there, it went viral. The New York Times describes the Turducken as “a free-form poultry terrine layered with flavorful stuffing and moistened with duck fat.” And the secret of its appeal? “When it’s assembled... you can slice through it like a loaf of bread[and] in each slice you get a little bit of everything.”

Chef Raymond Jackson and owner Alvin Clayton were happy to welcome Restaurant Hunter -- and its affable host Rob Petrone – for a second time; the show first visited Alvin & Friends in March, when it featured the restaurant’s signature dish, Shrimp & Grits. Described by The New York Times as “a darling of downtown New Rochelle,” Alvin & Friends– selected by Open Table users for a 2015 Diner’s Choice award and winner of a 2015 Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor -- serves contemporary cuisine with Southern and Caribbean flavors. (14 Memorial Highway in New Rochelle; (914) 654-6549; www.alvinandfriendsrestaurant.com.)

Restaurant Hunter on Verizon FiOS1 News explores all there is to eat and drink in the area, reporting on restaurants in different locales around the Lower Hudson Valley. Rob Petrone, who co-hosts the show with Amanda Prince, says “We get into the communities, not just the restaurants.” The show airs Thursdays at 8 pm on FiOS1 News.