Page 71 - Turkey Book from Meathead

urgers and steaks are easy to cook. They are flat on
top and bottom, solid in the center, and pretty uniform in thickness. This allows heat to enter the meat evenly and steadily. But whole birds are fleshy tubes, hollow inside, and they have thick parts (breasts), medium thick parts (thighs and drumsticks), and thin parts (wings). They also have all sorts of bones, some thick (leg bones), and some very thin (rib bones). Then there is the skin, whose chemistry is significantly dierent than the flesh, and it is all on one side.
A good solution is to spatchcock the bird. This is a giggle- inducing word for cutting it from tail to neck so you can open the bird up, flatten it, and brown the skin side as well as the cavity side. It also is just plain fun to say “spatchcock.” But if you want you can call it butterflying. There are numerous advantages to spatchcocking.
B TI KCOCHCTAPS