Riki Barulich
TVWBB Member
I'm going to smoke a turkey this weekend. I've done many many turkeys on the wsm but never spactchcock. What is everyone's thoughts on smoking a turkey, spatchcock or not?
Spatchcock turkey?
- Thread starter Riki Barulich
- Start date
*ALWAYS* spatchcocked, quartered, or otherwise broken down. Smoke bone side down, it'll cook in less than half the time, and give you a more even result. This applies to pretty much any dry method, IMO, like smoking, baking, roasting, grilling, broiling, etc. The only thing I give up is the Norman Rockwell presentation, and I'm fine with that.
About the only time I'll leave it whole is if I'm deep frying it.
About the only time I'll leave it whole is if I'm deep frying it.
Jim C in Denver
TVWBB All-Star
Spatcock and also broken down. Broken down let's you use top and bottom rack if desired. Also let's you start and pull the parts at different times.
Which is very helpful since the dark and white meat need to be cooked to different temps.
Which is very helpful since the dark and white meat need to be cooked to different temps.
Riki Barulich
TVWBB Member
Looks like I'll be trying the spatchcock! Thank you for your thoughts
This ^^^. I spatchcocked our turkey at Thanksgiving and it turned out great, but next time I'm going to break it down more for the reasons Jim mentioned.
Chris S in YEG
TVWBB Fan
I always spatchcock my turkeys to get a more even cooking time. Same with chicken and I have gone further to break them into halves when I did 6 chickens at once.
Karl Quist
TVWBB Pro
Another +1 for spatchcocking the turkey (and chicken) and cooked on the smoker. Chris's link above explains it perfectly. My wife wont let me cook turkeys any other way.