The Art of Perfecting the Cajun Butter Spatchcock Turkey: A Step-by-Step Guide

When it comes to preparing the perfect Thanksgiving turkey, many cooks can get overwhelmed with the numerous steps involved. However, with practice and patience, anyone can master the art of cooking a mouth-watering, juicy, and flavorful spatchcock turkey. In this article, we'll delve into the world of Cajun butter spatchcock turkey, a recipe that's sure to impress your guests.

Loosening Up the Skin

Before we begin, it's essential to loosen up the skin on our turkey. This process is crucial in achieving crispy, golden-brown skin. To do this, our cook takes a small amount of oil and rubs it all over the skin, making sure to get under the wing and around the breast area. This helps to loosen the skin, allowing it to crisp up beautifully in the oven.

Applying the Cajun Butter Mixture

Next, our cook applies a generous amount of Cajun butter mixture to the turkey. The mixture is made by melting down butter and mixing it with a blend of spices, herbs, and garlic. This flavorful compound adds an incredible depth of flavor to the turkey, making it truly unforgettable. Our cook takes a brush and evenly coats the skin, ensuring that every inch is covered in the aromatic butter.

The Role of Melted Butter

When it comes to cooking the turkey, melted butter plays a crucial role. By melting the butter and pouring it on top of the turkey before baking, our cook creates a crispy, golden-brown crust. The heat from the oven melts the butter, creating a flavorful sauce that's drizzled over the turkey as it cooks. This technique not only adds flavor but also helps to keep the skin crispy.

Basting with Pan Drippings

After 20 minutes of baking, our cook removes the turkey from the oven and bastes it with pan drippings. This step is essential in keeping the turkey moist and flavorful. The pan drippings add a rich, savory flavor that enhances the overall taste of the dish. By popping the turkey back into the oven for an additional 60 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F, our cook ensures that the turkey is cooked to perfection.

Carving the Turkey

Finally, it's time to carve the turkey. Our cook begins by carving the breast first, using a sharp knife to slice through the meat with ease. To remove the bone, our cook carefully cuts around the breastbone and lifts out the thigh, adding it to the rest of the sliced turkey. The result is a beautifully carved spatchcock turkey that's sure to impress your guests.

Adding Finishing Touches

To complete the dish, our cook adds a few finishing touches. By sprinkling some fresh herbs, such as thyme and oregano, over the top of the turkey, our cook adds a burst of freshness to the dish. A sprinkle of parsley and some lemon wedges on the side add a pop of color and flavor to the presentation. Finally, by drizzling a little Cajun butter over the top of the turkey before serving, our cook creates an indulgent and mouth-watering glaze that's sure to leave your guests wanting more.

A Word from Our Cook

Our cook reflects on their experience with this recipe, emphasizing the importance of patience and practice. "When you really want to wow your guests," they say, "get some leftover butter from the bottom of the pan right before serving and drizzle it over the top." This simple technique adds an incredible depth of flavor to the dish, making it truly unforgettable.

In conclusion, cooking a Cajun butter spatchcock turkey is an art that requires patience, practice, and attention to detail. By following these steps and using a few clever techniques, anyone can master this recipe and impress their guests with a deliciously flavorful and moist turkey.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's cartier brown and welcome to my kitchen i'm so glad you're joining our cook along today we are making cajun butter spatchcock turkey i'm telling you cutting that backbone out of the turkey is going to cut your cooking time in half we're cooking together but at any time i get ahead of you don't worry about it hit pause and catch up to me when you're ready before we get started bring two sticks of salted butter to room temp and also preheat your oven to 425 degrees all right let's get cooking spatchcock and stirred we're going to use a knife okay so spatchcocking just means taking out the backbone of your turkey what i like to do is use a chef's knife to go down the back part of the turkey now if your knife isn't sharp enough don't worry about it you may have some kitchen scissors or shears you can use that just going down the backbone with my knife okay we're just cutting down the backbone it should go down easily if your knife is sharp so it's important to have a sharp knife we're going we're going to cut all the way down to the tail if you want you can pry it a little bit there we go all right we have removed our backbone now me i saved this backbone i put it in a zip top bag pop it in the freezer use it for stock a little later some soup or whatever so save it if you'd like now take your bird flip it back over be careful with all of the juices and take your hand press it down the center of the breastbone and break the breastbone there you go so now your bird should lay flat on your surface all right there we go you've spatchcocked a turkey take your turkey put it on a sheet pan with a wire rack okay and let's clean off your work surface all right let's make our cajun butter two tablespoons of smoked paprika one tablespoon of chili powder two tablespoons of onion powder two tablespoons of garlic powder one teaspoon of thyme one teaspoon of cayenne pepper one teaspoon of oregano one teaspoon of pepper one teaspoon of salt mix it up when that looks good mixed take your two sticks of salted butter put it in a bowl it should be softened so you should be able to manipulate it like this take your seasoning put it in your softened salted butter and mix it up this cajun butter is going to be spicy of course it is cajun a little smoky from that smoked paprika but overall it's not going to be too spicy there's just a little bit of cayenne and a little chili powder but overall it's going to be super flavorful all right i'm just mixing up those spices with the butter you want to make sure your spices are thoroughly incorporated with that softened butter and this cajun butter is going to change the color of the turkey it's going to give us this reddish brown color okay all right so our butter is done what i also like to do is just save like a quarter of the butter because we're going to melt it and pour it on top of the skin just save a little bit of that butter okay let's get our turkey okay we're going to take our fingers we're going to get down and dirty and get underneath the skin and rub that butter underneath the skin you're going to have to loosen the skin up a little bit so dig your fingers in there loosen up that membrane take your butter and just push it in there this butter is going to get down in the breast and the crevices so no part of this turkey is going to be under seasoned okay i like to do the same thing under the thigh get into those pockets and what i like to do is you can kind of rub it on top of the skin as well doesn't hurt okay do the same thing to this side make sure you loosen up the skin okay get under here i remember i remember my mom used to tell me all the time before i go to school make sure you get every part of your skin and lotion up we're going to lotion up this turkey even the parts you can't see like your legs make sure you put lotion on it and lotion these legs too all right get those wings i like to tuck my wings under my breast okay yeah we're going to use every bit of this butter rub it on top and the reason i like to melt the butter and pour it on top because once this goes in the oven this is going to melt off so to make sure the skin stays crispy the melted butter will be pouring on top a little later then it looked good already all right cool all right let's wash our hands all right let's go to the oven all right we're going to put our turkey in the oven preheated to 425 for 35 minutes okay all right hit pause and meet me back here in 35 minutes all right it's been 35 minutes and we're gonna take our turkey out oh do you hear that soundtrack oh yeah um all right remember that butter we reserved earlier we melted it down now we're going to take our brush and brush it all on top wow look at that make sure you get all over the skin and the cracks get underneath okay all right get your wings get underneath the wing get under that breast right there your thighs okay all right that looks good to me all right that is it let's reduce our oven to 350. and we're going to bake this off for an additional 20 minutes all right we're going to let this roast for an additional 20 minutes after 20 minutes we're going to take it out we're going to baste it with the pan drippings we're going to pop it back in the oven and let it cook for an additional 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160. hit pause and meet me back here in about an hour and 20. it's been about an hour and 20 and our turkey is done okay that smells good and look at it beautiful all right we're going to let this rest for about 15 minutes before we carve hit pause and meet me back then it's been 15 minutes now it's time to carve the turkey oh yeah what i like to do is carve the breast first we'll get to that we'll go underneath go all the way down to the bone take your knife and go under so you can get slices skin so juicy it's falling apart i like to like fan it out right there skin look at that do the same thing to this breast and don't throw that meat away because when you when we're done this bone is going to have a lot of meat on it all right find it out there grab a turkey grab a turkey wing yeah there's no cute way to carve a turkey all right now listen i know i'm cool the wing okay and you got to make sure you get a thigh on there i am a dark meat girl this is what i want all right put that on there like that of course you can add the rest of your your your turkey i'm just giving you guys the gist of it okay and what i like to do before serving take a bite um add a little garnish to it cut up some lemons you know scatter it around like that okay add some fresh thyme just put that in there like that okay got some fresh oregano because we used oregano in the seasoning some parsley add a little greenery okay clean it up a little bit you got yourself cajun butter spatchcock turkey and because i've we've worked so hard why not treat ourselves before our guests get here take a little piece off ooh do y'all see how juicy the juice is just oozing out of this breast you'll never eat a dry turkey again in your life it is super moist super buttery it's not too spicy not too spicy at all the i can taste the garlic the onion the herbs i mean this is just a just a seasoned turkey like i mean you guys can taste it's probably some of the best turkey you'll ever eat in your life thank me later oh oh but if you really want to wow the people get some of that leftover butter that was at the bottom of your pan right before a serving drizzle it on top yeah that's it that is it thanks for joining my class i hope you had fun because i had a blast with you don't forget to hit that bookmark button and save these to your favorites and check out my other southern thanksgiving recipes right here on food network kitchen see you next timehey it's cartier brown and welcome to my kitchen i'm so glad you're joining our cook along today we are making cajun butter spatchcock turkey i'm telling you cutting that backbone out of the turkey is going to cut your cooking time in half we're cooking together but at any time i get ahead of you don't worry about it hit pause and catch up to me when you're ready before we get started bring two sticks of salted butter to room temp and also preheat your oven to 425 degrees all right let's get cooking spatchcock and stirred we're going to use a knife okay so spatchcocking just means taking out the backbone of your turkey what i like to do is use a chef's knife to go down the back part of the turkey now if your knife isn't sharp enough don't worry about it you may have some kitchen scissors or shears you can use that just going down the backbone with my knife okay we're just cutting down the backbone it should go down easily if your knife is sharp so it's important to have a sharp knife we're going we're going to cut all the way down to the tail if you want you can pry it a little bit there we go all right we have removed our backbone now me i saved this backbone i put it in a zip top bag pop it in the freezer use it for stock a little later some soup or whatever so save it if you'd like now take your bird flip it back over be careful with all of the juices and take your hand press it down the center of the breastbone and break the breastbone there you go so now your bird should lay flat on your surface all right there we go you've spatchcocked a turkey take your turkey put it on a sheet pan with a wire rack okay and let's clean off your work surface all right let's make our cajun butter two tablespoons of smoked paprika one tablespoon of chili powder two tablespoons of onion powder two tablespoons of garlic powder one teaspoon of thyme one teaspoon of cayenne pepper one teaspoon of oregano one teaspoon of pepper one teaspoon of salt mix it up when that looks good mixed take your two sticks of salted butter put it in a bowl it should be softened so you should be able to manipulate it like this take your seasoning put it in your softened salted butter and mix it up this cajun butter is going to be spicy of course it is cajun a little smoky from that smoked paprika but overall it's not going to be too spicy there's just a little bit of cayenne and a little chili powder but overall it's going to be super flavorful all right i'm just mixing up those spices with the butter you want to make sure your spices are thoroughly incorporated with that softened butter and this cajun butter is going to change the color of the turkey it's going to give us this reddish brown color okay all right so our butter is done what i also like to do is just save like a quarter of the butter because we're going to melt it and pour it on top of the skin just save a little bit of that butter okay let's get our turkey okay we're going to take our fingers we're going to get down and dirty and get underneath the skin and rub that butter underneath the skin you're going to have to loosen the skin up a little bit so dig your fingers in there loosen up that membrane take your butter and just push it in there this butter is going to get down in the breast and the crevices so no part of this turkey is going to be under seasoned okay i like to do the same thing under the thigh get into those pockets and what i like to do is you can kind of rub it on top of the skin as well doesn't hurt okay do the same thing to this side make sure you loosen up the skin okay get under here i remember i remember my mom used to tell me all the time before i go to school make sure you get every part of your skin and lotion up we're going to lotion up this turkey even the parts you can't see like your legs make sure you put lotion on it and lotion these legs too all right get those wings i like to tuck my wings under my breast okay yeah we're going to use every bit of this butter rub it on top and the reason i like to melt the butter and pour it on top because once this goes in the oven this is going to melt off so to make sure the skin stays crispy the melted butter will be pouring on top a little later then it looked good already all right cool all right let's wash our hands all right let's go to the oven all right we're going to put our turkey in the oven preheated to 425 for 35 minutes okay all right hit pause and meet me back here in 35 minutes all right it's been 35 minutes and we're gonna take our turkey out oh do you hear that soundtrack oh yeah um all right remember that butter we reserved earlier we melted it down now we're going to take our brush and brush it all on top wow look at that make sure you get all over the skin and the cracks get underneath okay all right get your wings get underneath the wing get under that breast right there your thighs okay all right that looks good to me all right that is it let's reduce our oven to 350. and we're going to bake this off for an additional 20 minutes all right we're going to let this roast for an additional 20 minutes after 20 minutes we're going to take it out we're going to baste it with the pan drippings we're going to pop it back in the oven and let it cook for an additional 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160. hit pause and meet me back here in about an hour and 20. it's been about an hour and 20 and our turkey is done okay that smells good and look at it beautiful all right we're going to let this rest for about 15 minutes before we carve hit pause and meet me back then it's been 15 minutes now it's time to carve the turkey oh yeah what i like to do is carve the breast first we'll get to that we'll go underneath go all the way down to the bone take your knife and go under so you can get slices skin so juicy it's falling apart i like to like fan it out right there skin look at that do the same thing to this breast and don't throw that meat away because when you when we're done this bone is going to have a lot of meat on it all right find it out there grab a turkey grab a turkey wing yeah there's no cute way to carve a turkey all right now listen i know i'm cool the wing okay and you got to make sure you get a thigh on there i am a dark meat girl this is what i want all right put that on there like that of course you can add the rest of your your your turkey i'm just giving you guys the gist of it okay and what i like to do before serving take a bite um add a little garnish to it cut up some lemons you know scatter it around like that okay add some fresh thyme just put that in there like that okay got some fresh oregano because we used oregano in the seasoning some parsley add a little greenery okay clean it up a little bit you got yourself cajun butter spatchcock turkey and because i've we've worked so hard why not treat ourselves before our guests get here take a little piece off ooh do y'all see how juicy the juice is just oozing out of this breast you'll never eat a dry turkey again in your life it is super moist super buttery it's not too spicy not too spicy at all the i can taste the garlic the onion the herbs i mean this is just a just a seasoned turkey like i mean you guys can taste it's probably some of the best turkey you'll ever eat in your life thank me later oh oh but if you really want to wow the people get some of that leftover butter that was at the bottom of your pan right before a serving drizzle it on top yeah that's it that is it thanks for joining my class i hope you had fun because i had a blast with you don't forget to hit that bookmark button and save these to your favorites and check out my other southern thanksgiving recipes right here on food network kitchen see you next time\n"