How to Spatchcock a Turkey

I honestly feel like I was just writing my posts for last Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. And now it's already come around again. It's my favorite time of year though so I'm happy to have it around again so soon. As a family we're busier than ever but it's a good busy and I appreciate having this time of year to focus on the things that are most important to us.

We're doing another big Thanksgiving this year, inviting all the families we know around us that are in a similar situation of not having any relatives nearby and we'll all celebrate together. It makes for a chaotic day with our house filled to the brim but it's a great way to enjoy the day. Then I leave that weekend to go to China for a week, finalizing plans for a new business we're launching soon.

Loaded Baked Potato Bites

I had the opportunity last week to sneak into the local Fox 9 station as John McLemore, the CEO of Masterbuilt and his wonderful wife Tonya were filming a segment promoting their new book "Dadgum That's Good, Too". As I walked into the main building early that morning, I could smell the turkey almost immediately. I asked the security guard where to go and he laughed as he said to just follow the smell. The smell led me to the studio kitchen where a prep crew and John were busily working around the kitchen and two of John's indoor turkey fryers were happily frying away on the counter top.

Turkey Taquitos

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! I can't wait to tell you about my Willie Bird Turkey that I won from Williams-Sonoma but you'll have to wait just a bit longer for that post.

It's been a few days since the holiday, do you have some turkey around still? Tried to get rid of it and there's still some sitting in the fridge? I've got a fun dish for you that's just different enough that you won't even know it's leftovers. 

Jalapeno, Sage and Orange Roasted Turkey

Are you ready for the main course? I'm not done with my Thanksgiving series quite yet but I know that people are starting to research how they want to cook their bird this year so I thought I better get this out there.

Last year, I researched a lot about cooking turkey and I ended up merging three different recipes and methods from some of my favorite people; Alton Brown, Martha Stewart and Bobby Flay. I'm sure if they ever got in a room together they would have come up with this on their own, but I went ahead and did it for them anyway. The end result is a turkey that's brined and then cooked with an herb rub that not only flavors the meat but makes some of the best gravy I have ever had. I've made it three times now and each time it's juicy and flavorful and just different enough to be fun and give people something different to try.

Turkey Stock

I didn't take one picture of all the food I made for Thanksgiving. I made a few new recipes and had a great time with the families that we invited over to our home but was just too caught up to take any pictures. I'll remake a few of my favorites and post them in the next week or so.

For tonight though I thought I'd post my favorite new thing to do the day after Thanksgiving, and it's not shopping. It's making Turkey Stock! I love homemade stock but don't usually take the time during the rest of the year but I really should. Homemade stock whether chicken or turkey makes a huge difference in any recipe that you're making. It's so rich and flavorful and anything you make with it will be 10 times better than if you used canned or bouillon stock.