Thanksgiving Turkey:

How to Spatchcock a Turkey

 
 
 

Dak has pretty strong feelings about turkey—mostly that it's boring and not as good as its gravy-laden counterparts. But, last year, Ju made the turkey for friendsgiving, and everyone was blown away. It was juicy with crispy, salty skin. In this week's video, Ju is going to show us all how it's done. Ju spatchcocks the turkey and dry brines it for about 24 hours. When you spatchcock a turkey, the entire bird lies flat on the baking sheet or broiler pan allowing the turkey to cook more evenly, resulting in moist meat. Like that phrase? Moist meat. Say it again: Moist meat! You're also increasing the surface area, which helps crisp the skin.

Don't forget to grab a turkey in advance—they're often frozen! Be sure to completely defrost it, before moving on to the dry brine. Once your fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours. This will dry out the skin and permeate the meat with deliciously salty seasoning. Best of all? Our 9.56 pound turkey only took about an hour to cook, which means more oven space for your tasty sides to bake the rest of the day. Save the gizzards, neck and spine! Drizzle them with a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in a separate pan until cooked through. Then, once you have a leftover turkey carcass, you can turn them all into broth, waste not, want not! — Dak & Ju

 
 

Ingredients

  • 1, 10-12 pound turkey

  • Kosher salt

  • Freshly cracked pepper

  • Butter

  • Hearty aromatic herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage)

  • Olive oil

 

Instructions

  1. For the 24 hour salt brine: 1 day before you want to cook your bird, remove wrapping and giblets (if included), pat your bird down with paper towels until completely dry. Liberally rub the entire bird (inside and out) with kosher salt. Place on a wire rack that has been placed on a rimmed baking sheet - place in the fridge UNCOVERED for at least 24 hours. The important steps here are ensuring that your bird is lifted off of the baking sheet (we don’t want it sitting in a puddle), and that you leave the bird uncovered.

    Day of cooking:

  2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

  3. Remove the bird from the fridge and place on a flat cutting board, breast side down. Using a pair of sharp kitchen scissors or shears, carefully cut all the way up the back of the bird, on one side of the back bone. Repeat this step, cutting up the entire back of the bird, on the other side of the backbone. You have now removed the backbone from your bird - set this aside to use for stock.

  4. Flip the bird over so the breast points up. Using both hands, press down firmly on the breastbone (kind of like a CPR maneuver) until you hear the breastbone break - this can be a loud noise! Once you have done this, the bird will lay mostly flat on the cutting board- this is important as it ensures that our bird cooks evenly.

  5. Now we prepare the bird for cooking. Using either a broiler pan or a rimmed baking sheet with cooling rack set inside, place the bird, breast side up and move the legs so that instead of splaying out and open, the meaty part of the drumstick points in and the bottom of the bone points out (watch the video here at this step if you are confused!).

  6. Give the bird a nice pat down with paper towels, again. Sprinkle with salt (go light here, since the bird has already been dry brining!), pepper and any other finely chopped aromatics you are using. Gently lift the skin of the thighs and breast and push chunks of butter between the skin and the meat if you desire. Another option is to fill the cavity of the turkey with more herbs and halved lemons — again totally optional. Finally, lightly drizzle the breast with olive oil to encourage browning during the cook time. If you want to baste during the cooking process, melt a stick of butter in a small saucepan with more of your aromatic herbs - drizzle some of this mixture on the turkey throughout the cooking process— about 3-4 times depending on what you feel like doing! Another way to baste is to simply use the cooking juices of the turkey — use a baster or a spoon to scoop and drizzle the juices all over the bird.

  7. Once oven is hot, place the turkey in. Plan on about 6-7 minutes of cook time per pound, so for a 10 pound bird that would be 60 minutes! If your bird is on the smaller side, start checking the temperature sooner, around 45-50 minutes - it won’t be done yet but it will give you a chance to get a ballpark estimate of how much longer it needs and you can give it a quick baste if you are choosing to do so!

  8. To temp the bird: place an instant read thermometer in the breast meat as deep as it will go without hitting a bone- this temperature should reach 150 degrees (it will reach 160 once you take it out to rest). Check the thigh meat as well, being careful to miss the bone — this area should temp to 165 degrees. Once these two places have temped, remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest for at least 20 minutes.

  9. Carve and serve!