Expert: Kris Yager - 11/21/2011

Question
Hey Kris,

I wanted to pick your brain for couple minutes.

I had made a turducken last year and it was a hit so this year we are going one up and stuffing 5 birds (turkey, Duck, chicken, cornish hen and Quail ) stuffed into each other with some stuffing and bacon strips and then all of that going into a whole hog and getting smoked.

I was planning on cooking the birds in the oven the previous day and then smoking it in the (40lbs pig) the next day for about 6 hrs at 200-250 deg. What I was a little concerned was because I have never done a whole hog let along a hog stuffed like this, is there certain tips you could provide how to make sure the bird stays moist the following day when it goes into the pig, cooking times?? temperature and maybe how to avoid food contamination. Any help you provide will be much appreciated.

-Thanks,

-Rick

Answer
Thank you for your question Mr. Rick. Wow! I applaud your culinary creativity. I used to do something like what you're describing at a catering company. Let's start with temperature. The hog needs to get to 180 degrees to be pull-apart tender. I must also mention that as far as stuffing birds inside a pig, our health code regulations in our city prohibited such. What we did was got the hog up to temp and then added the "stuffing". This prevents cross-contamination and makes for great presentation. If that doesn't appeal to you, I would suggest adding the birds after the hog has had a chance to heat up some. I might even heat the birds up some, as to not place something cold on a hog that's warming up. As far as keeping the poultry moist, there are a couple things you can do. After you place the birds on the hog, take some raw bacon and toothpicks and drape the outermost bird with the bacon. Use the toothpicks only if you need something to hold the bacon in place. The bacon fat will render out and help keep the birds moist. Or you could make some sort of "baste", be it chicken stock or apple cider or whatever you like. Use a spray bottle to apply occasionally or use a brush. The other thing I want to mention about having the birds on the hog is- if you feel the birds are getting too much smoke or heat, cover them in foil. This will damper them taking on more smoke. I hope this information is helpful. If you need more or I was too vague on something, you can always e-mail me at: chefhusker@msn.com          Have a super holiday season!