Smoked Spatchcock Turkey

posted in: Poultry, Turkey 0
Smoked Spatchcock Turkey
Smoked Spatchcock Turkey

Smoked Spatchcock Turkey - Every year before Thanksgiving I take advantage of my local grocery store when they put their turkeys on sale which are actually "Loss Leaders". In case you're not familiar with a loss leader it's a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. This year I purchased 4 turkeys at 54¢/lb. Considering the multitude of meals a 14 lb turkey provides us it turns out to be a superb bargain. We're the type of people who enjoy turkey year round instead of just around the holidays. I find that frozen turkeys are just as good as fresh turkeys ... Be sure to always defrost your turkey in the refrigerator. This should take 3 to 4 days.

Spatchcocking is a technique not limited to only chickens - I highly recommend you use it on other poultry as well. I've spachcocked chickens, Cornish hens, and Turkeys with excellent results. My variation of spachcocking is to only remove the backbone and splitting the breast bone in order to flatten the bird. I like to keep the bone in - this helps to keep the breast meat moist.

Hickory Smoked Turkey
Hickory Smoked Turkey
Resting Spatchcock Turkey
Resting Spatchcock Turkey

Spatchcock the turkey and remove any excess fat. Carefully pull back the skin around the breast and quarters of the bird. Rub roasted garlic extra virgin olive oil under/on the skin. Season the turkey under/on the skin with "Poultry Seasoning" (page 170 of my cookbook, (The Wood Pellet Smoker and Grill Cookbook). Wrap the seasoned spatchcocked turkey in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Preheat your wood pellet smoker-grill to 180ºF using CookinPellets.com 100% Hickory wood pellets. Smoke the turkey for 2½ hours before increasing the grill temperature to 325ºF. Cook the turkey until the internal temperature reaches 170ºF at the thickest part of the breast. Rest the turkey under a loose foil tent for 20 minutes before carving ... for planning purposes only - it took about 5½ hours to cook (30 min preheat/4½ hours cook/20 min rest) ... Enjoy!

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