Spatchcock turkey

[guero_gordo]

I only had to go to the toolbox twice to spatch this bird ;-) Still a bit frozen inside. Aircraft snips ftw.
Wife gets the Diestel Farms pre-brined bird from Costco, which has been great, and sitting in the fridge since Sat. so a little surprised it wasn't totally thawed. Oh well, always something to learn

 

[LYU370]

Eh... Wasn't too impressed with the spatchcocked bird. Not sure if it was the dry brine vs wet brine or spatchcock vs traditional. It was good, but not as good as my previous birds. My guests agreed.

 

[highergr0und]

Mine turned out really good. As an added bonus I seasoned each side differently

 

[Cook]

Eh... Wasn't too impressed with the spatchcocked bird. Not sure if it was the dry brine vs wet brine or spatchcock vs traditional. It was good, but not as good as my previous birds. My guests agreed.

It's doubtful the spatchcock made a difference.

 

[87Olds]

Spatchcocked bird came out great! It cooked evenly, although it took 5 hours to cook (18 lb. bird was pretty cold). Was able to hold temp around 280-290 for an hour and a half before adding more charcoal, and kept temps up until about 3 hours in, then temps started falling off into the 240-250 range. Added more hot charcoal, but couldn't get temps up, even with an added piece of hickory. Finally added more hot charcoal, and got the temp to 325, but it only stayed there for a while. Ended up finishing at around 280-290. Turkey was delicious...great flavor (injectable marinade helped).

As it says under my name, I need to get wood. I think that would help in keeping the temps up longer. I need to look into either getting a baffle to even the heat across the smoker, or consider getting an electric or propane smoker to do a big bird like that. It is a lot of work to keep the temps steady.


Great thing about smoking food is the fun of cooking something that the family really enjoys. Now if I can figure out how to do this without having to put in so much effort.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Got one on the PBC as we speak. My first time. We’ll see how it goes.

It was kind of a tight fit. Do I need to reposition the legs?


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I do em on my UDS all the time.
I open all my bottom vents and let the temp climb to 400° before
I put the bird on. It's a fast tasty method to do a Turkey.
I admit, I did several Chickens on my Char Grill that way,
before I used my UDS.
Now the day before the holiday I put a Spatchcocked Turkey in my UDS and a Spatchecock Chicken on my Char Gril. I chop the Chicken up and put it in my Dressing.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

Make a UDS and make a large Basket for Charcoal.
BTW: Fill a large Charcoal Chimney to start the fire.
(Bigger fire equals getting up to temp faster, and getting higher temps when you need them)

 

[Wager]

There was a crispy skin thread a while back but for chicken. I haven't done this yet but you pour boiling water over the skin before cooking. Wonder if it works for turkey ?

It does. Tried it on my bird this year and it worked. Was really interesting to see the skin shrink up.

 

[Pulmah Finger]

I have done them - my ONLY Caveat is to take CARE when

REMOVING from your grill, they will fall apart if you are not careful.
Best thing might be to grill on a rack, then pull that rack off.

My solution to this is to use a pizza peel and move it to a baking sheet to let rest prior to carving.

Spatchcocking is about the best thing for a bird. I liquid brined it after and the other benefit is you get the spine to add to the neck and giblets to make a righteous broth for your dressing and gravy the next day.

I do like to rotisserie but a 20# flopping around if it isnt trussed just right always scares me that I will lose some of the meat or burn some parts and undercook others.

I did a 21# and a 17# this year on the offset and after 4hrs at 275-290 the 17 was done and the 21 was a few degrees shy like 162 in the breast. We ate the 17# for dinner and let the 21# finish for carving and saving for another day.

 

[quamdar]

Love spatchcocking! I won’t do anything over a 13-14 pounder though, did four this year. The reason I don’t go bigger is that’s what easily fits in a disposable hotel pan.

I like to spatchcock the turkey then lay it in the pan on a bed of very roughly chopped veggies as it dry brines. Then it’s just pull out the pans on turkey day, add a little stock to the pan, and then smoke/bake. Perfect for allowing minimal work the morning of the cook while nursing that bar night hangover...

 

[EdF]

Nice approach!