Dan Frommer explains “spatchcocking,” which involves “removing the backbone and flattening the turkey”:
This process—also known as butterflying, and common for preparing chickens—reduces the roasting time for a turkey from roughly three hours to around 45 minutes. Freeing up both oven and host, it’s a complete Thanksgiving game-changer. …
[Mark] Bittman wasn’t alone to spatchcocking in 2012, and in fact, he tends to shy away from what he calls the “quaint” s-word, which dates to the late 18th century. The bigger performer seems to be this Serious Eats article, “How to Cook a Spatchcocked Turkey: The Fastest, Easiest Thanksgiving Turkey,” which spread widely on Twitter after it was published on November 6. A week later, on November 13, Alton Brown, the witty host of Food Network’s Good Eats andIron Chef America went on NPR’s All Things Considered show to talk about spatchcocking. “It’s a fantastic word.” Bittman’s articles are dated November 15.
“It seemed like ‘spatchcock’ was the word of the day this year,” web developer Jim Ray said in a 2012 Thanksgiving-recap episode of his cooking podcast, Salt & Fat. “There seemed to be some consensus that this was the way to roast your turkey. And—I didn’t do that this year—I think it’s probably the last year that I won’t spatchcock my turkey.” Today, Ray tells me, “I’m all spatchcock all the way.” Along with, it seems, many people.
(Photo by Brett Spangler)
The Dish 