Turkey day has long passed, and I should be moving on with holiday cooking, but I just have to share this recipe with you. Because this is the turkey I’ll be making next year. And the year after, and the year after that. My friend Cherrie and I went to a cooking class about 10 days before Thanksgiving, and were blown away by how delicious this turkey tasted. It did require some advance work. Actually I bought a Kosher turkey, which is already brined, but if you didn’t have a Kosher bird, you’d want to brine it for a day or two before starting this process.
Brined birds are soaked, obviously, so a day before baking, you’ll want to remove it from the brine and allow it to dry off. A spatchcocked bird is merely one that’s had the backbone removed. So instead of a round mound, you have a flat turkey. So much easier to handle, and faster to cook too. Phillis Carey recommended that we buy a pair of Joyce Chen scissors (I did). They’re quite small – amazingly small – scissors, but they have a lot of strength. I did have trouble cutting the neck off – at the neck. 
Finally had to enlist my hubby to help. He used another pair of kitchen shears to pry, but I finally was able to cut the last connection with the other scissors. We had a 16-pound turkey, and she had a really strong neck! But once that was removed, it wasn’t difficult from there.
You splay the turkey and then you have to break the breastbone. I don’t know that I did such a great job of that – once I saw the finished turkey, I think maybe I hadn’t flattened it enough. I pressed and pressed on the bone and it finally gave a crack, so I assumed it was done. If you look at the photo below, you’d think it was flattened, right? It was, but I’d try harder next time!
You prepare a paste of fresh herbs, mustard, lemon juice and olive oil, which gets pressed underneath the skin (breast and legs). To give it added flavor and moisture. Then the whole bird is turned over, skin side up and I spread the remaining herbs all over the outside.
Then the flattened bird is placed in a large roasting pan – on a rack – along with a chopped onion and some celery leaves in the bottom of the pan, and roasted in the oven for just a couple of hours. The recipe indicated 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours. Mine, at 16 pounds, larger than Phillis’ recipe indicated, took just a hair over 2 hours. So next time I might reduce the temp by 15 degrees.
Once out of the oven, you salvage the drippings. And you add the fat-skimmed mixture to the turkey stock you’ve made (from the neck, backbone, gizzard and heart – NOT the liver), with a moderate amount of shiitake mushrooms. This was, by far, the BEST turkey gravy I’ve ever made, and we even forgot to add the heavy cream. We still have a bit left over and I’ll be hoarding it for leftover dinners.
So, I know this recipe is tediously long. Get someone else to help you with some of the steps, perhaps. But you’ll find that it’s mighty fine food when all is said and done!
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Spatchcocked Turkey with Herb Glaze
and Shiitake Mushroom Gravy
Recipe By: Phillis Carey
Serving Size: 10
TURKEY:
14 pounds turkey — [preferably Kosher, or regular but brined]
1 whole yellow onion — stuck with 2 cloves
1/4 cup celery leaves
2 tablespoons melted butter — [or use vegetable oil]
HERB GLAZE:
6 cloves garlic — minced
1/4 cup green onions — minced
1/3 cup Italian parsley — minced
3 tablespoons fresh oregano — minced
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary — minced
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
SHIITAKE MUSHROOM GRAVY:
1/2 cup dry sherry
3 tablespoons butter
12 ounces shiitake mushroom — sliced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary — minced
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups turkey stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon fresh thyme — minced
TURKEY STOCK:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil Neck, heart, gizzard (not liver) from turkey (and backbone)
2 large yellow onions — quartered, with skin
2 cups carrots — coarsely chopped
1 cup celery — coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic — peeled
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 small bay leaves
6 whole black peppercorns
7 cups chicken broth
1. SPATCHCOCKING THE TURKEY: Rinse turkey, inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Place bird, breast side down, on a cutting board. Using heavy-duty poultry scissors, or a large knife, cut along one side of the backbone until the bird is split open. Cut down the other side of the backbone and add it to the meat to be used for turkey stock. Cut off any of the sharp ribs so you don’t cut yourself on the exposed bones.
2. Turn turkey over, breast side up, opening it as flat as possible and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin, or the flat of your hands, press firmly on the breastbone to crack it, so the bird will lie flat. You may want/need to wash and dry the bird again.
3. HERB GLAZE: Mix together all the minced herbs, garlic, green onions, mustard, lemon juice and olive oil. It will be a thick paste. Use your fingers underneath the skin of the breast to open a pocket. Gently press further so you also can add herbs to the legs. Gently push some of the herb mixture in the pockets, as far in as possible. Use about 3/4 of the herb mixture underneath the skin, the remaining on the outside skin. Place the flat turkey on a baking sheet, covered loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 6-24 hours. Remove the turkey at least one hour before cooking, to allow it to come to room temp.
4. TURKEY: Preheat oven to 375. Place turkey, skin side up, on a rack, set in a roasting pan and tuck the legs in closely to the turkey body. Add the onion and celery leaves to the bottom of the pan. Brush the skin of the turkey with melted butter or olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the turkey until the skin is crisp and deep brown, and an instant-read thermometer registers 175 degrees, about 2 1/4 to 2 3/4 hours. Transfer turkey to a warmed serving platter (the WARM platter is important) and tent the turkey with foil. Allow the turkey to rest at least 30 minutes, up to 45. Carve and serve with the gravy.
5. TURKEY STOCK: You may make the turkey stock the day before (up to 2 days ahead). Heat oil in a large, deep pot over medium high heat. Add the turkey parts (blotted dry with paper towels) and saute them until they’re brown, about 10 minutes. Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and bay leaves to the broth. Bring to a boil. Skim the fat and foam from the top; reduce heat and partially cover pot and simmer until liquid is reduced to about 6 cups, about 2 hours. Cool for an hour, strain out (and discard) solids. Chill several hours or overnight, then scrape off the fat and discard.
6. GRAVY: This is made AFTER you have removed the turkey from the oven, during the 30-45 minutes you have before carving and serving. Pour any of the juices from the roasting pan into a fat separator. Let stand for a few minutes until the fat has risen to the top. Pour off the juices and place back in the large roasting pan. Keep the fat, as you’ll use some of it later. Set the roasting pan on the stovetop and add sherry. Bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add enough of the turkey stock to make 5 cups.
7. Place a tablespoon of the turkey fat into a large saucepan or Dutch oven and add butter. Heat over medium-high heat and add the sliced shiitake mushrooms. Saute until the mushrooms soften, about 6 minutes. Stir in flour to coat mushrooms and then stir in the turkey stock. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Stir in cream and thyme, then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Per Serving (assumes you eat all the skin, fat, etc.): 1156 Calories; 58g Fat (46.0% calories from fat); 112g Protein; 40g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber; 368mg Cholesterol; 2081mg Sodium.
A year ago: Banana Bread
Two years ago: Cranberry Vinaigrette (hmmm, sounded better than it turned out, but it was festive)
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