Chris in Louisiana
TVWBB All-Star
Thanksgiving required an early cook to load the turkey and deliver it to the family gathering place, about 45 minutes away.
I generally followed a Grillin' With Dad (YouTuber) approach for spatchcock. I figured it would be close because he used a Searwood. I did skip his putting butter under the skin, but I used his seasoning blends purchased from Ace Hardware.
14 lb. Butterball turkey. Spatchcocked Wednesday morning and dry brined about 21 hours with a liberal application of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt.
Thursday at 6:00 a.m. Seasoned bird with a mix of Grilling With Dad's all purpose and steak seasonings. Put it on the Searwood preheated to 325 with Smokin' Pecan pellets. Used a small rack to make moving the turkey easier. Put it on the bottom rack of the grill.
Basted lightly with melted butter and more of the seasoning blends after one hour and then every 30 minutes or so.
Turned out great. Drew several compliments, including on the tastiness of the skin.
Dad didn't say in his video how long he cooked the turkey at 325 to hit 160 in the breast, but several commenters asked. He replied that it took a little under 2 hours to cook his 13 pound turkey. I was skeptical, and with reason. My 14 pounder took 3.5 hours to hit that temp. I would have pulled it there if it was just us eating, but I left it on 15 more minutes to hit 165 just in case. Didn't want to kill any elderly relatives.
I double checked my grill temps with a Thermapen brand probe. My Searwood has consistently run lower than the screen temp, but it was really at 327 when I put the turkey on. Wow. After that, though, the actual grill temp was significantly less than advertised. I realize the big, cold bird drew the temp down, but the grill should compensate for that after a reasonable time. The Searwood never got back close to 325, even though it said it was. Had I been in a hurry, I would have cranked it up, but I wanted to follow what Dad did and see how different my grill performed.
The turkey was a success, but I do not have great faith in the temp on the Searwood's screen. Almost every time I test it, the grill is running significantly cooler than it suggests.
Dry brine commences
Seasoned for the 6 a.m. start. I spritzed a little oil on the skin to help the seasoning stick.
Pecan shell pellets doing work
Final basting
Done
I generally followed a Grillin' With Dad (YouTuber) approach for spatchcock. I figured it would be close because he used a Searwood. I did skip his putting butter under the skin, but I used his seasoning blends purchased from Ace Hardware.
14 lb. Butterball turkey. Spatchcocked Wednesday morning and dry brined about 21 hours with a liberal application of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt.
Thursday at 6:00 a.m. Seasoned bird with a mix of Grilling With Dad's all purpose and steak seasonings. Put it on the Searwood preheated to 325 with Smokin' Pecan pellets. Used a small rack to make moving the turkey easier. Put it on the bottom rack of the grill.
Basted lightly with melted butter and more of the seasoning blends after one hour and then every 30 minutes or so.
Turned out great. Drew several compliments, including on the tastiness of the skin.
Dad didn't say in his video how long he cooked the turkey at 325 to hit 160 in the breast, but several commenters asked. He replied that it took a little under 2 hours to cook his 13 pound turkey. I was skeptical, and with reason. My 14 pounder took 3.5 hours to hit that temp. I would have pulled it there if it was just us eating, but I left it on 15 more minutes to hit 165 just in case. Didn't want to kill any elderly relatives.
I double checked my grill temps with a Thermapen brand probe. My Searwood has consistently run lower than the screen temp, but it was really at 327 when I put the turkey on. Wow. After that, though, the actual grill temp was significantly less than advertised. I realize the big, cold bird drew the temp down, but the grill should compensate for that after a reasonable time. The Searwood never got back close to 325, even though it said it was. Had I been in a hurry, I would have cranked it up, but I wanted to follow what Dad did and see how different my grill performed.
The turkey was a success, but I do not have great faith in the temp on the Searwood's screen. Almost every time I test it, the grill is running significantly cooler than it suggests.
Dry brine commences
Seasoned for the 6 a.m. start. I spritzed a little oil on the skin to help the seasoning stick.
Pecan shell pellets doing work
Final basting
Done
