Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I can't wait to try this one. It looks so moist and yummy. Might have to make it for Christmas as well.

We had a Thanksgiving pre-game last weekend and used the spatchcock method. I used Alton Brown's brine recipe, brined for about 8 hours. A 15 lb bird took about an hour and a half to cook. Our guests said again and again that it was the juiciest turkey they have ever had. A few weeks ago I spatchcocked a chicken as a test run and it was the best roast chicken I've ever made. The brine-spatchcock method is definitely the way to go.

This technique sounds so good. A couple years ago, I cooked my turkey breast side down technique, that was a very moist turkey. Another time I tried pouring boiling water on turkey while in the sink, again kept the moisture in and was very moist ,and tender, but ruined the skin, too tough and I was bummed as I am a skin lover. coco ps: I will have to try this

I've started eating pizza by choice recently. The place near our house serves their pizza with honey packed on the side.

On my pizzas, I add a lot of crushed red pepper flakes and dip the pizza in honey, even the chicken ranch pizza.

BEER!

Just use a large roasting pan with a flat rack instead of a v-shaped rack.

Better yet you can just place the turkey on large chunks of aromatics/mirepoix (onions, celery & carrots) & herbs (or potatoes maybe) and use them as a rack to keep the bird from sitting in drippings. Add a little stock to keep them from burning at roasting temps. They'll be useless after they've roasted for long, but strain them out & deglaze the pan and you have some delicious strong stock for gravy.

I think spatchcocking a turkey may be illegal in several Southern states. Well, maybe if it was consensual ....

This looks interesting, I have not thought to do it with a turkey.
My question is a about fat drippings. Generally I try to raise the bird in cooking rack (not sure what it is called, an x shaped thing that the bird sits in the top half, that lifts it above the pan)
So then would all the meat sit in the fat while it cooks?
If so, is there enough juice in the pan to make gravy?
Do you grease the pan first so that it doesn't stick?

All the fat loving people, trust me, I am with you, but my family is not, and on this day I cater to their needs.
Thanks
SF

Crushed red pepper or cayenne, sometimes Parmesan and on occasion sliced, fresh tomatoes.

@Squeezebottle: Yeah I was wondering about that. There was a bit of hubbub about the dead lamb butchering, but not about the pretty graphic break down of a turkey? ::sighs::

question: article says this technique shaves a half-hour off of the typical 3 hour cook time for a 10-12 lb bird, but then steps 12-13 imply that total cooking time is only about an hour? confused.

I always do both chickens and thanksgiving Turkeys this way. I find that as well as reducing the cooking time it really does create the juiciest bird. Last year I even skipped the brining due to poor time management and it still came out juicy and evenly cooked.

@latenac - thanks for the clarification on spatchcocking vs. butterflying! Here's my buttermilk brine recipe (I saw it in the Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving planner last year and modified it to make it a lot simpler). For a 15 pound turkey, use 4 quarts of buttermilk, Whole peppercorns (a handful is enough), Fresh Sage, Lemon wedges, Fresh Rosemary, Fresh Thyme, a little salt (if the turkey is already brined). Mix all ingredients together and prepare your turkey by cleaning it with cold water, placing it in a brining bag, and pouring the buttermilk brine over the turkey. Remove air from brining bag and set in fridge overnight.

The post from last year: http://tinyurl.com/bttrmlkbrine and Williams-Sonoma's original recipe: http://tinyurl.com/WSbrine

Good luck with this year's turkey - I'm so obsessed with spatchcocking that I've already spatchcocked 2 chickens this week!