Gettin to be Turkey Time

[Al_Dente]

A friend of mine wants to give a good spice rubbing to his Thanksgiving turkey this year. He then plans to grill it on the Weber. I mentioned how I like spatchcocking a chicken to really get to the inside with any marinade or rub I might use.

So the question is, can one successfully spatchcock (spatchturk?) and then grill a turkey?

[Dave the Cook]

So the question is, can one successfully spatchcock (spatchturk?) and then grill a turkey?

You bet, as long as your grill is big enough. I was thinking about doing this myself.

You'll need a pretty sturdy set of tools. Turkey bones are a lot stronger than chicken bones.

I think Cook's Illustrated spatchcocked a turkey a year or two ago and did a high-temp roast on it, so you might get some tips there. And just recently, they worked on the interior seasoning with an undeconstructed bird -- it's a lot easier to season the inside of a turkey than the inside of a chicken. IIRC, they roasted it conventionally

[Varmint]

Just make sure you brine that sucker, too!

[elyse]

Al, you just wanted to be the cool kid doing this first!

(Spatchcock.)

[melkor]

Last years thanksgiving turkey we spatchcocked, it worked well, but I don't think we'll do that again this year.

So far the best turkey we've made has been a whole bird, brined, with herb/garlic/butter paste spread under the skin and on the inside of the cavity, smoked for around an hour over hickory at 250*F then roasted in a 400 degree oven for another few hours in a roasting pan lined with carrots/celery/onions.

[Priscilla]

This could be a great thing, extrapolating Richard Olney's stuffed-under-the-skin butterflied chicken to a big old turkey.

[maggiethecat]

OK, I looked it up. (Spitchcock is good too.)

Mike: Note the second definition. Spatchcock the baboons and the bagpipers and you're really cookin.'

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Spatchcock \Spatch"cock`\, n.

See {Spitchcock}.

spatchcock

n : flesh of a chicken (or game bird) split down the back and

grilled (usually immediately after being killed)

v 1: prepare for eating if or as if a spatchcock, of foul

2: interpolate or insert into a sentence or story, as of words

[Priscilla]

If I may spitchcock this in here, wasn't it a butterflied/spatch/spitchcocked turkey you prepared last Thanksgiving Maggie? Or similar.

[Al_Dente]

Just make sure you brine that sucker, too!

I'll advise my friend to brine it in a bathtub and, once finished, have six men carry it, pallbearer-like, to the grill on a stretcher.

Edited October 14, 2003 by Al_Dente (log)

[Al_Dente]

OK, I looked it up.  (Spitchcock is good too.) 

Mike:  Note the second definition.  Spatchcock the baboons and the bagpipers and you're really cookin.'

  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913) 

  Spatchcock  \Spatch"cock`\,  n.

  See  {Spitchcock}.

  spatchcock

  n  :  flesh  of  a  chicken  (or  game  bird)  split  down  the  back  and

  grilled  (usually  immediately  after  being  killed)

  v  1:  prepare  for  eating  if  or  as  if  a  spatchcock,  of  foul

  2:  interpolate  or  insert  into  a  sentence  or  story,  as  of  words

Good idea. However, I will not be spatchcocking the cat-turd bartender woman.

[coughy]

If you use Empire Kosher turkeys you do not have to brine them. They have already been soaked and salted.