Shorter Cooking Time for Your Holiday Bird!!!!

Shorter Cooking Time for Your Holiday Bird!!!!...

The word is awkward, but the efficiency it lends to cooking poultry is downright elegant. Spatchcocking is a method of preparing your bird - whether it be chicken or turkey - so that it cooks evenly and quickly. Spatchcocking is a fancy way to describe the process of removing a chicken or turkey's backbone and flattening it. It's a simple process that yields amazing results! (photo from The Bitten Word's blog)

The essence of spatchcocking lies in its evening out the thickness of the bird. The usual roast chicken or turkey is tall, with the juices from the breast (usually on top) flowing down to the bottom, making the breast meat often dry and overcooked. In addition, a whole intact bird is rather large and takes up a lot of room in the oven. By removing the backbone and flattening out the bird, the roasting time is cut in half, even browning is guaranteed, and the meat cooks evenly, due to a general uniform thickness of the bird.

The origins of spatchcocking are British or Irish, depending upon the source. The term was a shortened version of "dispatch the cock," which would entail killing a chicken and then plucking, splitting open and spreading the two halves out flat to cook quickly over open flame. The term has been found in cookbooks dating to the 1700s.

Roasting a spatchcocked turkey requires a much shorter cooking time, and generally allows you to cook another dish in the oven. Use deep roasting pan with a flat roasting rack inside to catch all the juices in the pan. The stuffing will need to be cooked separately, but feel free to place aromatics under the turkey, such as apples, onions, garlic, lemon, and herbs. Several recipes are listed below, from traditional to grilled preparations.

The usual roasting rules apply; brine to enhance the flavour and keep the meat moist, or skip the brining step. Either way, make sure to season the bird. Salt the cavity and the skin, and use butter, aromatics, and any herb combination (sage, thyme, and garlic are all very popular) to flavour the bird and skin. Olive oil rubbed into the skin ensures even browning and lowers the risk of scorching. Wing tips are usually tucked under the breasts; some will even cut off the tips, since they often burn. Always roast chicken or turkey at 425 degrees for 30 minutes to seal in the juices, and drop the temperature to 350 or 375 for the remainder of the roasting time.

For a 10-pound turkey, expect to cook for a total of 1.5 hours. For a 20-pound turkey, expect a roasting time of around 2.5 hours. Use a meat thermometer to ensure that the thigh meat reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

VERY IMPORTANT: Allow turkey to stand for 15 to 20 minutes to allow juices to redistribute. It's always a great idea to allow the turkey to stand, covered in foil, while you use the pan juices to make gravy.

Recipes and more information:
Cook's Illustrated's butterflied turkey recipe (2001; requires subscription)
Mark Bittman's video tutorial: Roast turkey in 45 minutes
The Bitten Word's reprint of Martha Stewart's Roast Spatchcocked Turkey
A Minneapolis couple's blog, A Good Appetite, features great photos of the process.
House of Faulkner features a spatchcocked turkey on a grill, with photos.
A conversation is going on at Chowhound about roasting time for a spatchcocked turkey."

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