Turkey Thought/Question

I put the platesetter in legs up with a drip pan spaced up on it. The bird sits on the main grid over the drip pan. I separate the front from the back of the bird so I can remove the breast when done leaving the dark meat to finish cooking. I don't carve at the table so no need for the table presentation of a whole bird. -RP

Glad it wasn't just me. :laugh:

Have you thought of "spatchcocking" your turkey?
Cook high in the dome(adj rig or raised), direct, never turn over. Cooks in about an hour+.

Last year followed the Mad Max method with the following modifications:

* XL BGE with platesetter legs up.

* 18" round pan over platesetter resting on 4 aluminum foil balls (to attempt to keep juices from burning). This pan is actually a 1" deep deep-dish pizza pan.

* 20lb bird spatch-cocked on grid above pan.

* Pan starts off half full of water, plus a few carrots, herbs, etc... (If you don't start with a little water, the drippings will still burn).

You may hate to use a pot on the BGE, but it is necessary if you want to catch the drippings for gravy. If that does not matter to you, just leave the pan off and foil the platesetter so it does not get so messy.

I was able to use the contents of the pan to make gravy after the cook (with the help of the giblets that I simmered on the stove during the cook). I thought that the Mad-Max recipe using wine was a bit strong, so this year I will use chicken broth or water (or a mixture of both) in place of the wine.

Spatch-cocking decreases the cook time substantially, and gives the bird even less of a chance to dry out. Just make sure you get that bird off the fire when the internal temps are right (165 white, 180 dark). Some people take the bird off at 160 and rely on it getting to 165 during the rest. I've had parts that seemed undercooked when attempting that, however. I go for 165...

Don

Spatchcock is a whole turkey. You don't lose any meat just the backbone which you don't eat anyway. All the meat is still there.

It just makes it more floppy and lets the heat get to the inside better so it cooks from both outside inside.

Now with a little creative use of the enclosed turkey neck........