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!
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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.
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