A Late Thanksgiving Update: Spatchcocked Turkey and Homemade Pies

Hey Catherine,

Happy Thanksgiving or Merry Christmas or Happy New Year! Take your pick because neither of us have updated in quite a while. This post contains my turkey and pies from Thanksgiving and one more pie from Christmas. It's been a fantastic holiday full of food, friends, and family, all of which I was missing pretty severely at the end of this past semester. 

So let's talk about Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. It's probably my favorite holiday (with traditional Valentine's pretty much in last) because it's a wonderful break from school for me to craft delicious food that I wouldn't normally have time to make, and it isn't burdened with presents like Christmas. Thanksgiving is simple. No presents, no decorations, just one day of food and people you love. 

The Turkey

The center of our Thanksgiving dinners has always been the turkey. In the past I've spent a lot of time and effort fussing over the turkey, making sure it stays moist after hours in the oven. Earlier this year I read about a wonderful, almost violent, way to cook a turkey faster. The shorter cook time means that the turkey stays moist, doesn't have to be basted, and still develops a beautiful crispy skin. The name of the technique (and my favorite word to use in polite conversation) is spatchcocking. You can find a number of articles and videos online that describe the technique, but I'll go ahead and give an overview of the steps. Don't forget that you can spatchcock almost any fowl, which means that you can also cook whole chickens, turkeys, etc. faster than you previously thought. So here we go, take your turkey and lay it down with the spine facing up. With a very good pair of kitchen shears, cut along both sides of the spine and remove it. Flip the turkey over so the spine gap is facing the counter. Using the heel of your hand (you want your weight centered over the turkey, if you're shorter you may need to stand on a chair to accomplish this), press down on the sternum of the bird. You will hear the rib bones breaking as the come loose from the sternum. Cut any extra pieces of fat or pull any excess feathers off of the bird. With the skin facing up, arrange the flattened turkey on a baking sheet. And that's really it for prep! We learned a few things on our first spatchcocking attempt. One, it takes quite a bit of hand strength to cut out a turkey spine. We had to take turns cutting. Two, that turkey is a slippery beast. Maybe it should be contained by a baking sheet while flattening. This way it won't slide on the corner and hit anyone in the crotch (true story). Three, the turkey cooks FAST. Make sure you're ready with a meat thermometer and check your turkey a little early. 

You don't need a bed of vegetables or champagne or broth to roast a spatchcocked bird. You can place it on a greased baking sheet, rub it with olive, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, then roast it. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. Our 12 pound turkey cooked in 90 minutes. Presented below is the turkey we actually made for the day itself.

Spatchcocked Thanksgiving Turkey

1 turkey (cook time will depend on weight)
generous handful of each, chopped: onion, carrots, celery
1/2 cup champagne
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. 
2. Spatchcock the turkey, as described above.
3. Cover large baking sheet with foil. Strew vegetable in pan and pour in wine and broth. Be smart about how much liquid you add. You don't want the pan to overflow. 
4. Place turkey skin up over vegetable. Rub with olive oil and seasonings.
5. Roast in oven for 90 minutes. Turkey is finished whenever thermometer inserted into the meatiest part of the thigh reads 165 F. Cook time with vary with turkey's weight. 
6. Let turkey rest for 30 minutes before carving. 

Turkey Tips

- Make sure your turkey is fully defrosted before roasting! This may require you to buy a turkey 5 days in advance so it can thaw in the fridge. Don't defrost your turkey on the counter! Or under hot water! Do you want to die from some nasty bacteria?
- Always rinse poultry off under cold water before processing further. Washes off some bacteria. 
- The day before roasting your turkey, remove the giblets and simmer with chicken broth, herbs, onions, carrots, and celery for 4-5 hours. Strain and store in fridge for the next day. This will be the base for your gravy. 
- Name your turkey. That way you get to cut out Bob's spine then rub him down with oil. Lends some dark humor to an otherwise peppy holiday. 
- Wash your counter and sink with a strong cleaner after handling raw poultry. Again with the horrible bacteria. 

The Pies

Pies can be bleh. Pies can be okay. Pies can be heavenly. We strive for the latter. 

There are several dos and don'ts that can make or break a pie crust. Don't ever let your dough get too warm. Never ever. Don't handle the dough too much or work in a warm kitchen. Make your crusts before turning on the oven. Until you actually place the crust in its pan, you shouldn't be handling it directly. Do use cold water. Ice cold water. Do use a mixture of Crisco and butter in your pie. The former yields a delicate flaky crust and the latter lends all of that fantastic butter flavor. And don't forget the homemade whipped cream! 

Two Crust Pie

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 Tbs sugar

12 Tbs unsalted butter, chilled

8 Tbs vegetable shortening

8 Tbs ice water

2 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs cornstarch

1 egg white

1. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Cut butter into smaller pieces and add to food processor. Pulse a few times. Add vegetable shortening to food processor. Pulse a few more times, until butter and shortening are the size of peas or smaller. Dump into a bowl. (Note: You can do all this with a pastry blender instead if you don't have a food processor.)

2. Sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of ice water over the dough mixture, mixing and pressing with a sturdy rubber spatula. Add water a tablespoon at a time (or less) until the dough comes together and forms a cohesive ball. Divide into two and wrap each half in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.

3. Cover pie plate with pie crust. Trim around edges so that 1/2 inch of crust hangs over. If you're not doing a covered pie, fold this under and decorate as you wish. Sprinkle a 50:50 mixture of cornstarch and sugar over the bottom of the crust. This will keep your crust from getting soggy. If making a covered pie, sprinkle sugar mixture on bottom, add filling, add top crust, fold under crust and decorate. For all pies, beat egg white briefly by hand. After filling the pie, paint crust with egg whites then sprinkle with sugar. Bake according to specific pie recipe. 

Pecan Pie

Pastry for one uncooked pie crust (see above)

2/3 c sugar

1/3 c butter, melted

1 c corn syrup

½ tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 c. pecan halves or pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line pie plate with crust. 

2. Beat sugar, butter, corn syrup, salt, and eggs in medium bowl with wire whisk/hand beater. Stir in pecans. Pour into pastry lined pie plate.Trim the edges of the top and bottom crust to 1/2 - 1 inch beyond the pie pan and then fold under. Either press around the perimeter with the tines of a fork or crimp it with your fingers.

3. Brush the crust with a beaten egg white (or cream) and sprinkle sugar on top.

4. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until center is set. 

Cherry Pie

Pastry for two uncooked pie crusts (see above)

3 cans tart cherries in water 

4 Tbs cornstarch

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/8 tsp salt

scant 1/4 tsp almond extract

(If you can't find canned tart cherries, use sweet cherries and cut the sugar down to 1 cup.)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F. Cover a cookie sheet with foil and place on a lower rack (to catch any potential drips).

2. Pie filling: mix the 3 cans of cherries plus the juice from 1 1/2 cans with sugar, cornstarch, salt, and almond extract. Let sit for half an hour.

3. Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll out the bottom pie crust. Arrange in pie pan.

4. Roll out the top crust. Use a sharp knife to cut the top crust into strips for a lattice crust or use a cookie cutter to make other designs in it. Either drape your top crust over the pie or weave your traditional lattice crust.

5. Trim the edges of the top and bottom crust to 1/2 - 1 inch beyond the pie pan and then fold under. Either press around the perimeter with the tines of a fork or crimp it with your fingers.

6. Brush the crust with a beaten egg white (or cream) and sprinkle sugar on top.

7. Bake for 20 minutes at 425 F then lower the oven temperature to 375 F and add a pie crust shield to protect the outer edges of the crust. Bake for another hour or so (but start checking on it after 45 minutes), until the crust looks nicely browned and the juices bubble up thickly.

Pumpkin Pie

Pastry for one uncooked pie crust (see above)

2 large eggs

½ c sugar

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

1 can (16 oz) pumpkin

1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk

1. Heat oven to 425 F.  Place crust in pie pan. Trim the edges of the top and bottom crust to 1/2 - 1 inch beyond the pie pan and then fold under. Either press around the perimeter with the tines of a fork or crimp it with your fingers.

2.  Beat eggs slightly in medium bowl with whisk. Beat in remaining ingredients.

3. Cover edge of pie crust with foil. Place pie plate on oven rack and add filling into hot pie crust.

4. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 15 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

5. Refrigerate after cooled.