So I heard this was the best way to cook chicken and for Thanksgiving an amazing way to cook a turkey. If you want to smoke the bird it’s gotta be on the smaller side.
Yes, you’ve guessed it, I want to smoke not one, but TWO turkeys. So I will be in search of 10-12lb. birds.
History. . . I came up with the term 50/50 bird. What did I mean by this? 3-4 hours in the smoker with a 13-15lb. bird, then 5-7 minutes in the fryer to crisp up the skin and seal in that smoky goodness.
No, I’m not nuts, I didn’t spend fifty bucks on five gallons of peanut oil just to drop a bird in there for a whole 5 minutes. I also completely fried a bird. . . you do have to love a quick cooked Turkey. Then I filtered the oil when it cooled down and my son took the oil to his friends house for their Thanksgiving Dinner where they would fry up two more turkeys.
Back to Spatchcocking. . . I had heard the term but never really gave it much thought. But having a new product on the market, our RedBeards Hot Sauce, I find myself investigating and experimenting when I get in the kitchen, on the grill or on the smoker when I have some free time.
So I saw people were making Sriracha salt at home. . . Ding. RedBeards salt! Yup it works. . . but I wanted to do more than just make salt. So how can I use RedBeards salt and make something everybody can use on every protein? Ding. Round 2. RedBeards Rub. Check out our Instagram and you will see beautiful Rib Eye Steaks that we put the RedBeards Rub on and cooked them on the BBQ. . . Oh Boy! What meal!
Next was Tri-Tip but, before I sliced it, I hit it again with the RedBeards Rub. Wow! Couldn’t wait to eat it, so no pictures for Instagram. Sorry, but take my word for it. Wow!
I now have a rub for all proteins. . . time to experiment again. You have to love YouTube. Cook Books almost seem a thing of the past. Here you can visually learn from others and let your mind decide how you are going to do it. YouTube didn’t have a ton of videos to watch on Spatchcocking, but the ones I did watch inspired me to re-think Thanksgiving this year.
But first, you have to practice. So off to the store this morning to get two whole chickens. Spatchcocked them both using OXO Poultry Shears. They made the spatchcocking very easy to do. I also trimmed off the tips of the chicken wings because all they do is burn and you’ll have to stop and open the smoker and wrap them in foil. Not me. I’ve got poultry shears, they are going bye-bye.
Oh yeah, what the heck is Spatchcocking?!. . . Basically it is where you cut out the spine of the bird and then flip the bird over, breast side up, and press down to flatten out the bird. If you are squeamish, you’d better have somebody else do this for you. I have also seen the keel bone removed on the larger birds. This is the breast bone that looks like a tie, you can’t miss it. I may try removing it on one of the turkeys to see if it makes a difference.
Ok, Wet Brine? Dry Brine for my experimental chicken? Well, I’ve decided I am going to be using the RedBeards Rub that has salt already in it. . . so dry brine it is. Today is Thursday, they will be going in the smoker Saturday mid-day, so the chickens get a thorough rubdown with RedBeards Rub more so under the skin than on the skin. We want to get that flavor directly on the meat we are going to be eating. They will smoke low and slow for a few hours and then get finished on the BBQ to char the flesh a little.
If this experiment works, the family is in for a treat this Thanksgiving when I do not one but, two birds in the smoker and finish at least one of them on the BBQ.
Pictures will be on Instagram. . . I promise. Enjoy!
Sean