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The story of John Madden's legendary turducken
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2017 and updated following John Madden’s death in December 2021.
There are countless NFL memories we'll all have from Thanksgiving, but when you think of the late John Madden calling games on the holiday, you might associate him with one word: Turducken.
That's the Frankenstein-like combination of duck, chicken and turkey that gives eaters a taste of each.
It was over two decades ago that Madden first tried the turducken, leading him to talk about it on the air and show it during many a Thanksgiving game, popularizing a dish that was familiar in Louisiana before thousands of turduckens were mailed around the world.
How did the turkey-duck-chicken make its way into Madden's hands (literally)?
Let's go farther back than 1997 for a second. First, you have to ask where the turducken originated from. The story isn't completely clear.
Paul Prudhomme, the famous Louisiana chef who died in 2015, claims he invented it in the 1960s while working in Wyoming. Here's part of the claim from a 1994 Times-Picayune article reprinted on NOLA.com:
(AP Photo/Intelligencer Journal, Suzette Wenger)
There's also this anecdote to add to that moment via NOLA.com:
"I'm there eating this turducken with my fingers," Madden recalled. "(Saints owner) Tom Benson comes in and I have all this stuff on my fingers and I'm doing that thing in my head where I'm wondering, 'Do I shake his hand?' "
(For the record: Madden did shake Benson's hand, sticky fingers and all, and he said the two haven't spoken since.)
The next day, Mistich got a phone call he thought was a prank.
"I really loved it," he remembered Madden saying. "Can you send one to me in California?"
Two weeks later, there was a FOX camera crew in his shop because Madden chose turducken to be the official "All-Madden Team" food. This year, he estimates he'll sell between five and six thousand turduckens, two of which were shipped to Madden himself.
"Every year, he gets one for Thanksgiving and Christmas," Mistich said.
"I'm very grateful," Mistich added. "I can’t say enough about what he’s done for our business. He’s definitely put it on a national level. Turducken is even in the dictionary now."
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This article originally appeared on For The Win: The story of John Madden's legendary turducken
