This year for Thanksgiving, my family and I decided to try something different and spatchcocked our turkey. 

I will say you will not get the same presentation of the whole turkey for everyone to oooh and ahhhh over right before carving into the bird. However, you will have everyone ooohing and ahhhing as they take their first bite into the extra flavorful and most tender turkey.  Of course, The Tin Turkey Rub was our seasoning of choice.  And it contributed to a mouth-watering gravy.

The next best part of cooking our Thanksgiving turkey with this technique was that it only took less than 2 hours to cook a 20 pound bird.  Our tall, strong son-in-law definitely came in handy for the part where the turkey has to be separated.  We, as a family, may have discovered our new way of preparing our Thanksgiving dinner. 

Some of you may be wondering what’s Spatchcocking?

Spatchcocking, also known as butterflying the turkey or more commonly used on whole chickens, is a technique to remove the backbone and flatten the breast bone, so the bird lays flat when you roast or grill it. 

How do you remove the backbone?

To spatchcock a turkey, you will need heavy-duty kitchen shears and a heavy knife or cleaver. Use the shears to cut along both sides of the backbone. Then, carefully use the chef’s knife or cleaver to help sever any sections you cannot cut through with the shears.  

Once the backbone is removed, flatten the bird by applying pressure to the breast bone, use tall, strong son-in-law here. 

I found Mark Bittman’s short video demonstrating how to spatchcock a turkey to be very helpful.  His 10 pound turkey cooked in 35 minutes – Yes, 35 minutes! 

Check it out => mark bittman spatchcocking a turkey

An Even Cooked Turkey

Spatchcocking a turkey, evenly cooks the white and dark meat keeping the breast meat tender, moist and juicy. 

It takes a little bit of time and technique to butterfly the turkey but less time to cook, and the results are having your guests asking for seconds.  

While my family and I were all enjoying our extra moist turkey and discussing Spatchcock, the inevitable question arose…

What does the word Spatchcock actually mean?

After a quick google search, we found out that the term spatchcock is rumored to be a 17th century Irish term shorthand for “dispatching the cock”. This of course gave us all a good laugh. 

From our family to yours, we hope you had a Thanksgiving filled with love, joy, and a delicious feast.