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Last week a friend told me she wanted to try my Yumtastic Chicken recipe on her turkey and wasn’t clear on how to increase the seasonings for a larger bird. I thought I would write a post to help folks out showing step-by-step how I prep and cook my chicken/turkey.
This may seem like a lot, but I use this method often when cooking my Yumtastic Chicken. These are all tips and tricks I’ve learned over the years for making this process smoother.
Pictured here is last year's bird. I cooked it before we left for my parent's farm. Doing it ahead like that actually made for a fabulous day. I set aside all the bones for broth, carved the turkey, and even put some in a freezer bag for my stepbrother's family who couldn't make it. I was all cleaned up before I left the house. I added a little broth to the dish before I left the house and popped it back in the oven uncovered for about 20 minutes to reheat it through when we arrived. It was yumtastic.
Stuff you need
Note that you would use 1 tablespoon of salt for every five pounds of bird so adjust your salt to match the size bird you have.
For a 15 pound turkey:
3 tablespoons of fine Real Salt
1 tablespoon of dried marjoram
1 ½ teaspoons of dried rosemary
1 ½ teaspoons of dried sage
1 ½ teaspoons of dried summer savory
About 2-4 lemons
You will also need:
Good quality kitchen shears
Chef’s knife, sharpened
Paper towels, grab a full roll
Freezer bag for bones
A sheet pan to cook the turkey on, one with sides please
Meat thermometer
Ghee or grass-fed butter
Saucepan for the ghee or butter
Basting brush for the lemon juice
Directions
Set your turkey to thaw so it is ready to season two days before you plan to cook it. If you want to season your turkey on Tuesday, you may need to set it in the refrigerator to begin thawing the Thursday before. There are plenty of resources online to check how long it will take your size turkey to thaw. Please check those out well in advance so your turkey is fully thawed in time.
Mix the salt and dried seasonings together in a small bowl and set aside. Get your work area completely ready before you spatchcock or butterfly that bird. Trust me on this. (Spatchcock and butterfly mean the same thing in the U.S. I’ve learned that spatchcock means something entirely different in other countries so I use both terms here. In part because I really kind of like the word spatchcock.)
Clear your sink area so you have room to work. No really, move stuff out of your way. You don’t want to inadvertently fling turkey guts all over clean dishes.
Have a gallon freezer bag handy for the turkey back, etc. Make sure it is open and near to the sink so you aren’t fumbling around when you are looking for a place to put the turkey back.
Grab a roll of paper towels. A full roll. You will need these, and you don’t want to run out.
Make sure your kitchen shears are sharp. This is the brand I like to use and they are cheaper than the ones I bought at the grocer that broke on me the first time I tried to use them.
Have your chef’s knife handy.
Place the pan you plan to use for the turkey next to you.
Bring the trash can closer to you as well.
Open your bird up and place the giblets and such in the freezer bag to get them out of your way.
Turn the turkey over and using your kitchen shears, begin cutting the back out of the bird. Cut down one side. Be patient. Turkeys are larger than chickens so the back takes some time to get out. Take your time and don’t rush. People get injured when they rush.
Once you’ve cut down one side, turn the bird around and cut down the other.
There is no perfect way to do this. Just cut where the scissors want to cut, which means it may be a little uneven. No one is judging here.
Use the paper towels to wipe your hands as needed.
Once you have the back out of the turkey, place it in your freezer bag.
Transfer your turkey to your pan.
With the back side up, press down on the two open edges of the back to open up the turkey a bit. If necessary, use the chef’s knife to cut the breastbone a bit to help it lay flat. Some videos on Youtube show cutting out the breastbone. Sometimes I don’t. Most times I don’t. If you do, add it to the bone bag.
Pat your bird dry with paper towels on both sides.
Take the seasoning bowl and sprinkle a bit of the seasoning on the bottom side of the bowl. You want to use the majority of the seasoning on the top so don’t go overboard here.
Flip the bird skin side up. Make sure it is dry so the seasoning will stick to it. Gently work your hands up under the skin of the bird around the breasts, legs and thighs spreading about half of the remaining seasoning mix under the skin as you go. Try not to tear the skin. Go as far as you can with the bird facing one direction. Turn the pan and try from the other side. Don’t force it too much.
Sprinkle the remaining seasoning mix evenly over top of the skin.
Clean up the turkey wrappings in the sink. Wash your hands, etc.
Place the turkey pan in the refrigerator on the lowest shelf uncovered and let it be for two days until you are ready to cook it. Yes, you want it uncovered. That helps the salt dry out the skin for the crispiest and most yumtastic skin ever. EVER.
Turkey Day – Time to Cook the Bird!
Remove the bird from the refrigerator and set it out to take the chill off of it while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
I've cooked my turkey both on a rack nestled inside my sheet pan and not on a rack. Either way is fine. I don't have a working dishwasher this year so I may forgo the rack to avoid having to scrub all those nooks and crannies. I'm inherently lazy, and I have no trouble admitting it.
Before preheating the oven, line the oven rack you plan to cook the turkey on with a generous amount of foil. Be generous. The juices could potentially spill over and you don’t want to be cleaning up that mess or setting your stepmother’s oven on fire on Thanksgiving Day. Smoking up the house is not a good Thanksgiving decoration. Just saying.
Grab your meat thermometer and have it handy.
Melt some ghee or butter in a small saucepan. Pour a little under the bird so it doesn’t stick and the rest over top of the bird.
My original recipe called for adding the lemon juice to the ghee when melting it. I’ve found that leads to the juice burning and smoking while it cooks. Omit if you don’t care for lemon or you can wait to brush the lemon juice on in the last 30 minutes of cooking time if you want to avoid ticking off your smoke detector.
The average turkey will take about 90 minutes to cook in the oven once spatchcocked or butterflied. When it cooks flat like this, the breast and thigh should be done at the same time, preventing the breast from getting overcooked and dry.
It is done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature is 165F. You can remove it from the oven when it hits 160F. Let it rest on the pan very loosely tented with foil (you don’t want the crispy skin to steam and get soggy) for 15-20 minutes. The temperature will continue to rise until it reaches 165F.
