Smoking Spatchcocked Turkey

[jimp75]

Is there any reason not to use the brine and spices from Jeff’s Buttermilk Brined Turkey on a spatchcocked Turkey?

 

[phatbac]

I can't think of any. I would brine before I butterflied it but other than that sounds good.

phatbac (Aaron)

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Sounds like a plan. Like phatbac said above don't spatch it until after you take it out of the brine. Post some pics!

 

[bregent]

Like phatbac said above don't spatch it until after you take it out of the brine.

What's the reasoning behind that? Was thinking about doing it that way this year.

 

[boognish]

I'm curious too. Was thinking about spatching before brine. Also and sorry I'm repeating from a different thread but has anyone used duck fat spray for crispy skin?

I have a 22 lb bird I'm going to spatch, brine, and cook on my Yoder at 300 degrees using a mix of Malcolm Reed's AP Rub and Meat Church's Honey Hog. Potentially looking to add butter under the skin while drizzling with garlic & herbed butter multiple times throughout the cook. The last turkey I smoked (my first ever) was 20 lbs and I smoked it at 275 degrees. Meat was great but the skin was a tad gummy, so I'm hoping the 300 temp and duck fat will do the trick.

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

What's the reasoning behind that? Was thinking about doing it that way this year.

I don't have any scientific reasoning for that but my thoughts were it would make the bird "loose" if you know what I mean and you might have skin rip and such. I'm sure the brine would penetrate the meat just the same but I think it would make the turkey more difficult to handle. Think more like boney jello than firm bird. Just my 2 cents though could be wrong. I always brine and then spatch. If anyone has done this the other way around would like to hear the results!

 

[bregent]

Meat was great but the skin was a tad gummy, so I'm hoping the 300 temp and duck fat will do the trick.

My opinion is that no surface treatment is going to help much until you render out the layer of fat under the skin. Cooking at higher temps will help, but 300F is still not hot enough for me - I prefer 350-375. Of course, you won't get much smoke flavor on the pellet grill at those temps. You could try the boiling water method - you pour it over the bird just before cooking to help start the fat rendering and tighten the skin.