Spatchcocking...Cover me, I'm Goin' In!!

The turkey has been cured for 2 days, rested to dry and get a nice pelicle for another day. The knives are sharpened and the other surgical instruments are ready to go. I'm getting ready to go in for the spinal rescission and will finish (hopefully) with a successful Spatchcock-ectomy.

Wish the patient luck!

Let us know if you like that method. Best of luck.

I just put the bird in the oven seasoned and whole and stuffed. I don't even care what the cooked bird looks like, I concentrate on the taste of the finished product. I concentrate on the taste of the gravy, those gravy packets suck, I like real gravy. The majority of the young these days do not even know what real homemade gravy tastes like.

If you get a turkey from a local farmer who feeds them right and they run around outside, the meat and gravy is much better. Same with grass fed beef and some of the locally raised pigs, the meat is great if the farmer knows what to do.

We spatchcocked our bird last year and it turned out awesome and cooked really quickly. All the skin was crispy too.

We're going in again this year.

We also prepped it with an underskin herb rub all over. Wherever we could get in under the skin with the herbs, lemon, and butter concoction.

We saved the back and the carcass and made turkey stock with it.

Serious Eats has a guide on it for anyone who is interested.

a reply to: rickymouse

It's not about presentation, spatchcocking is about even cooking and moister meat.

I could give a hoot what it looks like so long as it's moist, done properly and has crispy skin.

That's all that really counts in the end once it's on the plate!

Spatchcocking has now been completed! The procedure went exactly as planned...although I did have to employ a cleaver and a mallet to split the breast evenly down the center.

Will be smoke cooking over apples, onions and carrot in the capture pan. Smoking wood will be apple and alder.

a reply to: ketsuko

I cured ours with some cure, water, apple cider, vinegar, chunks of apple, orange peel and onions.

Yours sounds good. We talked about getting a small backyard smoker some this summer.

a reply to: ketsuko

LOL...yeah, we have like (5) smokers; a pellet smoker, (2) electrics and a conventional wood smoker and then a Weber which will also do a fine job as a smoker even though it's technically a grill. All have specific purposes. Then there's the grills, have (3) of those, one with a fryer. We also have a dedicated fryer capable of handling the big-boy turkeys.

Needless to say, I'm a bit of a cooking nut, outdoor cooking especially. All weather, all year.

I would strongly recommend looking into at least one smoker, even if electric (which work surprisingly well for many things). I can make a prime rib in one of my electric smokers that people would riot over! The electrics are not that expensive and they're pretty easy to maintain and clean.

edit...and I didn't even get into the outdoor dutch ovens! Man, maybe I should seek help or something! LOL.