![]() ![]() They say they invented the meat product when a customer came in and asked whether they could put together a chicken inside of a duck inside of a turkey. Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme patented the word and recipe in 1986, although Louisiana brothers Junior and Sammy Hebert dispute Prudhomme's claim. Let's start with the basics everybody can agree on. THE ORIGIN STORY of the turducken is a lot like the turducken itself: a little bit of information, packed inside some controversy, bundled up in folklore. A minute later, the security guard came over and apologized as he waved them through. DelGiorno was persuasive and persistent, and eventually the guard relented. "Hold on," DelGiorno said, and he pestered the security guard to call his boss. Mistich exchanged a resigned look with his wife, and they began to think maybe they'd be eating this turducken themselves. "I've been broadcasting these games for years, and this is for John Madden." "Sorry, no outside food whatsoever," the guard said.ĭelGiorno tried to jump in. Seeing them like that gave him a brief feeling of calm, that everything would be fine even if Madden didn't like the turducken.īut the group hit a snag: The Mistich crew didn't have credentials, and even when DelGiorno showed his placard and vouched for them, a security guard shook his head and pointed at Mistich's hands. He couldn't help but smile as he looked at how giddy his kids were to get to go into the Superdome and meet John Madden. Mistich's meat place, The Gourmet Butcher Block, was doing quite well - he sold around 200 turduckens per year off a menu of about 25 items. As Mistich shuffled to the gate with the steaming dish, his stomach felt like a turducken that had been sewn too tight. He packed up the family and met DelGiorno outside the stadium. On the day of the game, Mistich cooked the turducken - having spent the previous few days deboning all three birds, cooking the dressings and then intricately sewing the birds together. In the days before the 1996 game, Mistich went through the complicated turducken process with his own hands. When he announced his All-Madden team at the end of every season, Madden also made sure food was a theme of the show - his favorite players were often big, forgotten linemen with big appetites, so he thought the perfect all-star awards should be meat and gravy, not trophies and plaques. He invented a six-legged turkey soon after, and Madden started handing them out the next year. The next year, he handed one to Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith and made an offhand comment that he wished he had a six-legged turkey so the Cowboys linemen could get in on the action.Įnter Joe Pat Fieseler, a barbecue owner in Texas. In 1989, Madden presented his first Turkey Leg Award to the best player from that year's game, Reggie White. He and Pat Summerall did 22 straight Thanksgiving broadcasts starting in 1981, and Madden's everyman appeal came through via food more than anywhere else. It's impossible to overestimate the impact that food had on Madden's rise. ![]() If Jake from State Farm had been around in 1996, chances are he'd have been talking insurance rates with Madden instead of Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes. He had become the voice of football, earning more per year than any NFL player, and he had emerged as a video game visionary and an A-list product endorser. Mistich wasn't a sports fan, but he knew Madden, who was then at the peak of his powers. So that's how Mistich and his family found themselves walking into the Superdome that day. Once DelGiorno assured him the turducken was real, Madden was all-in. Madden's friends call him a "fork man," which is a kind way of saying the guy can crush some food. It was a deboned duck stuffed inside a deboned chicken stuffed inside a deboned turkey, with a generous mix of cornbread and sausage dressings slathered throughout. DelGiorno had been doing on-air Saints game days for long enough to have become friendly with John Madden, and he had told the former coach-turned-broadcasting legend about a delicious vegetarian's nightmare for which Mistich had become well-known in the New Orleans area. His wife, Leah, and three young kids bounced alongside him.Ī friend, New Orleans radio personality Bob DelGiorno, was also walking with him to the Rams-Saints game on Dec. His hands shook inside the gloves he wore to carry a monstrous 17-pound dish covered in foil. GLENN MISTICH TOOK slow, tiny steps toward the entrance to the Superdome. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |