No, the title is not clickbait. Because, yes, you really can cook a turkey in just about an hour. You don’t need any special equipment or appliances, just a pair of poultry shears to spatchcock your bird.
What is spatchcocking, you ask? Here’s the deal:
Related: How to cook a turkey: A foolproof guide to roasting the perfect Thanksgiving bird.
Spatchcocking a turkey (or chicken or quail or other bird) is the process of removing the backbone and laying it flat on a cooking surface. If you’ve heard the term “butterflying,” it’s similar. Once the bird is flat, all of the meat — and skin, for that matter — is exposed to heat evenly, which means faster and more even cooking. More even cooking means a juicier bird, and all that exposed skin means crispier skin too.
Pretty much all of the challenges of cooking a massive bird are eliminated, along with a majority of the cooking time. It’s pretty genius and you can watch me demo the process. It’s so easy!
How to cook a Thanksgiving turkey in about one hour! More info: https://eats.coolmompicks.com/2017/11/16/how-to-cook-a-thanksgiving-turkey-45-minutes/
Posted by Cool Mom Picks on Friday, November 17, 2017
So the big questions is, of course, why not spatchcock? To be honest, we don’t see any downsides, especially if you carve your bird before plating and presenting it. You obviously can’t stuff a turkey that’s cooked this way, but you can find more on spatchcocking and get a tip for infusing your spatchcocked Thanksgiving bird with plenty of stuffing flavor at Serious Eats.
No tecipe or guidelines actually given? Just to spatchcock…
Yup. It’s a technique more than a recipe. You can use whatever turkey recipe you like best (brine, dry brine, rub with butter, oil, etc), just adjust the cooking time. A 12 lb turkey will take about 60-80 minutes. You can click on over to Serious Eats for a video of the technique and also a particular recipe, if you’re looking for one. I’m also going live on Facebook on Fri 11/17 1 pm ET on the Cool Mom Picks Facebook page to demo the technique. I’ll pop that video in here too afterwards. Hope this helps!
Is there a way to tell how big (inches) a spatchcocked bird will be? I’m worried our bird won’t fit on a tray or in our oven.
Sorry to say — that’s a tough one! I have no idea how you’d estimate that. I’d try measuring across the full turkey breast? That will have you a sense, though keep in mind that the legs will be splayed a bit. Hope this helps!