SAN ANTONIO -- At first look, it's hard to tell the roasted turkey at Cooper's Meat Market is not the average Thanksgiving turkey.
It's also not the average turducken.
For those who aren't in the know, a turducken is a delicious Frankenstein roast made from a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. Tur-Duck-En.
It's popularity is often credited to the NFL's John Madden, who has championed the three-bird threat for years. Cooper's Meat Market on Broadway appears to have taken a page from the coach's old playbook and made it their own.
General manager and chef Sophie Corak explained that the traditional turducken -- as if there's anything traditional about a turducken? -- can take up to 12 hours to cook all the way through.
Something is going to get dried out if you cook it for that long, she said.
So instead, she removes the rib bones from the turkey and adds chunks of duck and chicken breast to the turkey's dressing. She said it tastes great, it's easy to serve and, best of all, it only takes about four hours to cook -- about the same time as most Thanksgiving roasts.
Mike Johnson said Cooper's Meat Market started selling the turducken several years before he bought the Broadway store in 2008. He said they see more and more sales year after year. This year, they prepared somewhere between 30 to 40 turduckens.
They're good, he said. They're real good.
Customers can get their hands on an oven-ready turducken for $95. Cooper's will even cook it upon special request. The meat market also sells fried and smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving, along with holiday hams and loads of other meats and treats.
Johnson said their turduckens are also just as popular, if not more popular, for the Christmas holiday.
