Turduckens, football and holidays go together like a turkey stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a duck.

Whether or not you allow a turducken near your own holiday table, stories about this three-part fowl power game are bound to crop up at holiday football games.

The credit goes to John Madden, who as a broadcaster made turducken a motif on his holiday game day broadcasts. In doing so, he gave the Cajun butchery specialty wings and made it an edible curiosity of national renown rather than just a regional one.

Madden played his last professional football Thanksgiving game years ago and died in 2021 at the age of 85. But even during his retirement years, a local butcher made sure he still got his holiday turduckens.

Glenn Mistich, who runs Gourmet Butcher Block in Gretna with his wife Leah, used to send Turduckens Madden at Thanksgiving and Christmas as an expression of gratitude for everything he did for the store.

Many butchers, grocers and food brands make turducken, but the ones from this store have their own connection to the holiday football tradition.

From its address on a busy stretch of Belle Chasse Highway, Gourmet Butcher ships Block Turduckens across the country, Mistich said. However, the specimens that had long been sent to the Madden residence in Pleasanton, California, were special.

For John Madden himself, Gourmet Butcher Block made a pair of Turduckens with six turkey legs. The feat, accomplished with some butcher’s twine and a lot of old-fashioned butcher’s skill, was an homage to the custom-made turduckens Madden used when he gave turkey legs to select players in the game, his “All-Madden Team” (in a Thanksgiving riff). presented on top of the usual match ball prizes).

However, don’t ask about your own six-legged friend. It’s a personal touch passed down just for Madden, as thanks for getting the Turducken ball rolling.

The laborious process would result in two turkeys without legs for every custom turducken made, and Mistich said, “Nobody wants one without legs.”

Sure, some people don’t want turducken at all. The three-meat combination has its critics. But turning Madden into a fan was a turning point for his prospects.

As Mistich tells it, Madden first heard about the Turducken in 1997 when he was in town to call a Saints-Rams game. Credit goes to Bob Delgiorno, a now-retired broadcaster from WWL Radio. With the help of the Saints’ public relations staff, a turducken made its way from the Gourmet Butcher Block into the Superdome, to the press box and under Madden’s nose.

In a 2002 interview with the New York Times, Madden himself commented on his first encounter with Turducken.

“The first one I ever had was at a game in New Orleans,” Madden told the Times. “The Saints PR guy brought me one. And he made it stand. It smelled and looked so good. I didn’t have plates or cutlery or anything and I just started eating it with my hands.”

In this interview he particularly praised the presentation that distinguishes the three bird species.

“And when you get the whole combination — the oyster dressing, the spicy dressing and the rest — it’s pretty darn good,” he said.

Madden made turducken a holiday tradition in his broadcast booth wherever the NFL schedule took him, and the Louisiana specialty gained national recognition. At Gourmet Butcher Block, holiday order volume grew from hundreds to thousands, and to this day annual preparations begin in early fall.