Thanksgiving & Turkey
Happy Thanksgiving Week!! I hope you will be able to use this recipe for your family this year.
This was our first time to ever cook a turkey. We were hosting our potluck Friendgiving this year AND are hosting Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. We thought this would be a great time to test out the turkey before the big day. It can be a little intimidating..but don’t let it get to you. With this spatchcock method (the name itself sounds intimidating), we were able to enjoy the best turkey meat in under 2 hours! After, we thought—why do people only do this once a year?! I think we will be adding this into our rotation of favorites. Except, next time we wont need such a big turkey!
Ingredients
10-14 lb Turkey (serves 10-14 people)
1 stick ghee or butter
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Method
Step 1- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. While it heats up take the neck and innards out of the body cavity and rinse the turkey with cold water.
Step 2 - Pat the turkey dry and flip the turkey over (breast down). Using poultry sheers or good kitchen scissors cut on both sides of the back bone. This will take some muscle but be patient and careful. Once the backbone is removed you can discard with the rest of the neck and innards.
Step 3 - flip the turkey back over (breast up) and press down (push hard!) on the breast. You will feel the brest bone crack. The goal is to make the turkey as flat as possible so that the meat cooks evenly. Be sure to tuck the wings (see picture) so that the ends are not sticking up, this will help the thing little turkey fingers from burning, ha!
Step 4 - add the ghee/butter and seasonings. You can melt the butter and pour over turkey/underneath skin or you can do it like I did..stretch the skin out, rub a slice of the 1/2 stick under the skin, on the actual meat.. until you run out and then repeat. This helps keep the meat nice and juicy! Don’t forget about the thigh meat. Finish everything off with some olive oil on the skin to prevent the skin from burning. For the measurements of seasonings…we did not measure. You can look at the pictures for guidance but we did a generous amount of all seasonings.
Step 5 - chop carrots, onions, lemon, and celery to place in the bottom of the pan. Then place the turkey in the pan on top of the vegetables.
Step 6 - add the turkey to the oven (450 degrees) for 30 mins.
Step 7 - after 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 degrees and baste the turkey with the juices from the bottom of the pan.
Step 8 - every 20 minutes baste the turkey with the juices until the breast meat reaches 160 degrees.
Step 9. Once the turkey has reached the desired temperature, cover with foil and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes before carving.
Gravy
Once the turkey has finished cooking, pour all of the juices in a large sauce pan. Add in 1 cup of chicken broth! Heat 1 cup of water and add 1/4 c flour OR arrowroot starch. Bring the broth to a boil..once boiling, using a whisk— slowly add in the water/flour mixture. Keep whisking until it has thickened! Add salt and pepper as needed!
ENJOY! Let me know how this turns out for you. :)
Here is a little peek at our Friendsgiving! We had a great night with good friends. The spiked cider was definitely a hit. Vodka + Champagne combo sounds pretty gross..BUT don’t knock it till you try it! Sorry I cant help on the measurements here but its a little bit of vodka, bottle of champagne, a few cinnamon sticks, and Trader Joes pre-made spiced cider! I added cranberries in the glass to make them pretty!
