Thanksgiving Turkey, Butterflied
This is my favorite way to prepare a Thanksgiving Turkey. The reason I like to butterfly a turkey is that you end up with more even cooking of the white and dark meat. It’s a pretty cool presentation, and it’s a lot easier to carve. Brining a turkey seems like a lot of work? It’s really not; it just takes a little extra time. And the results are simply awesome. No more dry overcooked bird for your holidays!!!
1 15lb Fresh Turkey
Turkey Brine (see below)
2 cups Butter injection (see below)
Fresh ground pepper
Olive oil
Butcher’s string
Full-size aluminum disposable pan
Meat injector
5 gallon food grade bucket (empty and clean) or a dry empty cooler
3 chunks of apple wood
This is going to be a two-day process, but it is so worth it!!
Instructions:
Prepare the turkey by removing it from the packaging and discarding the bag of giblets (save for later use in giblet gravy). Remove any excess skin around each opening and rinse thoroughly.
Place the turkey in an empty food-grade bucket breast side down and add the brine. Place in the fridge overnight. Or, if you don’t have a bucket, you can use a dry empty cooler and a brine bag(sold at most grocery stores). Place the turkey in the bag, breast side down, add brine and remove air, then seal the bag, fill the rest of the cooler with ice and brine overnight.
Remove turkey from brine, rinse off and pat dry, place turkey into the aluminum pan and put back into the fridge overnight to let skin dry out. This will help to create that crispy skin everyone loves.
At this time, go ahead and set up your cooker for ~275 degrees. About 15 minutes before putting the bird in the cooker, add your smoking wood
Now for the fun part!! You'll need a pair of really good poultry shears or kitchen shears for removing the backbone
Cut through the bones on each side of the backbone, staying as close to the backbone as possible.
With the backbone removed, flip the turkey over and press down hard with both hands to crack and flatten the breastbone.
Fold the wings under the turkey so they won't burn during cooking. Tie the legs together using butcher's string.
Take the meat injector and inject throughout the breast, legs and thighs.
Brush the turkey all over with a very thin layer of olive oil and sprinkle with fresh cracked pepper.
Place on your cooker
Cook until the internal temp of the breast (white meat) is 165 and the thigh (dark meat) is 185.
Remove and let rest about 30 min uncovered. Carve it up and serve
Turkey brine
One of the best things you can do to improve the flavor and moisture of a turkey (or chicken) is to brine it. Brining is basically soaking a turkey (or chicken) in a salty solution for an extended period of time, where the salt actually changes the molecular structure of the meat. You would think the meat would be too salty, but instead it creates the most tender and moist piece of meat you will ever have.
You can buy pre made brines, but what’s the fun in that! Making your own brine is easy to do and and you get to pick the ingredient, so you know it’ll be fresh and delicious, plus we’re going to show you how! You will only want to brine a fresh turkey, because frozen turkeys have already been injected with some sort of solution.
Yields about 2 gallons, enough for brining a 15lb turkey
1 gal heavily iced spring water (saved for later)
½ gal apple cider
1 quart chicken stock
1 quart spring water
1 ½ cups kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cinnamon stick
3 whole orange peels
4 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup mixed peppercorns
3 Tbsp rosemary leaves
1 Tbsp allspice berries
Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot and stir until salt and sugar have dissolved. Bring to a boil and turn off the heat. Add a gallon of ice-cold water. Store in the fridge until ready for use.
Butter injection
Yields about 2 ¾ cups
2 cups chicken broth
1 stick of butter, salted
¼ cup tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 teaspoon ground thyme
Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well. Allow mixture to cool enough to work with and load into a meat injector, refrigerate if necessary.