Whopping 26 lb bird!
Dry brined 2 days with sea salt and fresh sage/thyme/black pepper salt. Did not rinse. On a rack with carrots and onions under 225F super smoke for 1 hour. 425F for 2.5 hrs until breast was 150F, then turned off and left in residual heat until carved a couple hrs later.
The carrots/onion were charred to a crisp but made a tasty drippings to amend the gravy. I made the gravy separately on stove top – basically deeply browned the neck and back piece and simmered for 3 hrs.
Bird was a big hit as usual. Not super Smokey, as it’s not for everyone, but just enough for that wood fired taste. Moist and not overcooked throughout. It was maybe a tad less juicy than usual which I think is a result of the breast being so thick and variable temps through it. I think the dry brining helps a lot with moisture and flavour. Still great, simple and quick.
Sorry, no pic of the sliced meat – too excited to dig in!
Leftovers for days!
by Did_I_Err
4 Comments
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Sounds amazing!
A couple of other comments:
-a bird this big takes a long time to rest. Maybe give it an hour in the warm grill. It releases some tasty drippings that can be mixed back into the gravy (or I use it to base one full breast that I wrap tightly for freezing.
-spatchcocking this thing took a bit of work. The joints and bones are pretty durable. But it can be done. I ended up using a sharp cleaver with little rapid chopping motions and it worked great. Take your time and slice back the meat from the joints to see them better.
I used a poultry shears when I spatchcocked one last year. Difficult, but not too bad. Vegan cousin did not like this at all.