Spatchcock a turkey ?


 
Lynn Dollar

Lynn Dollar

TVWBB Emerald Member
I've got a turkey in the freezer that I bought on sale last December. I wanna thaw it out , doin a trial run for T-Giving. I like the idea of spatchcocking a turkey to get even heating on the 18.5 WSM.

I've watched this vid from Matt Pittman of Meat Church, and he spatchcocks a turkey, it starts at the 4:26 mark. He makes it look easy, except for the part where he has to use two hands. I think I've got the poutry shears to do this, not sure , though.

Anyone else done this ? If so, does it fit well on the 18.5 WSM ?

 
I can't tell you how it'll fit on your WSM.... but I pretty much won't smoke, grill, roast or bake fowl any more unless it's spatchcocked or quartered. Much more even cooking, and in about half the time. As far as I'm concerned, there's only 1 reason to cook it whole, and that's for a special presentation. I'd rather have better bird.

Edit: a good set of poultry shears will make taking out the backbone a lot easier.
 
I did it one year and cooked it on my 22.5. I dunno if it fits on the 18.5. It definitely cooked faster. It's been four or five years, though. It was super trendy when Alton Brown came out with his version of that recipe.
 
I've done several on the 18" WSM. It helps to have a pair of poultry shears, not kitchen shears. A 12-14 lb bird will fit. You can see photos here:

Butterflied Turkey - Salted

butterflied8.jpg


butterflied14.jpg


butterflied16.jpg
 
Thanks Chris, I looked through the Cooking Topics and somehow I missed this .

That's a tasty lookin turkey, btw.
 
Lynn, late to the party here, but I hope you spatchcocked that turkey. I know Chris posted his pictures showing how well it fits on the 18" WSM, and although I don't have a WSM, a 12-14 lb bird fits just fine on my 22" kettle with plenty of room for indirect heat.

FWIW I have cooked a spatchcocked turkey on the grill the last 3 Thanksgivings, and my dear wife has requested the same for each year ad infinitum.
 
I'm still thinking about my game plan for this bird, but I will probably thaw it out this week. We've got some Tony Chacherie butter injection that I'm thinking about using.
 
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