2025 Thanksgiving Turkey

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving.

Since 2018 (Cherry Wood Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey), I've been the one in charge of cooking / smoking / grilling the turkeys at the SheppyBrew house.

It's fun for me, and it frees up the oven for the various sides my wife generally makes.

And, I think smoked turkey tastes better than it would if we cooked it in the oven.

Over the years, I've tried several techniques for actually cooking the turkey.

I've smoked a few roasted whole. I've done spatchcocked. I've halved the bird and last year, I quartered the bird.

My plan this year was to repeat the Quartered bird like I did with the 2024 Thanksgiving Turkey. However, for whatever reason, this bird was just being difficult when I was cutting it.

I ended up just deciding to try the spatchcock method again.

If you're unfamiliar, Spatchcocking is a method of preparing poultry (usually chicken or turkey) by removing the backbone and flattening the bird before cooking. The goal is to make it cook more evenly and quickly.

If I'm honest, the one time I spatchcocked a whole Turkey was 2019's Spatchcocked Cherry Wood Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey, and I didn't think it turned out as well as the whole turkeys I'd done.

I've spatchcocked and halved a couple of Turkeys and as I mentioned last year, I cut the bird into 4 pieces, but a traditional spatchcock isn't something I've done in quite awhile.

But with the turkey not really cooperating, I decided it would just be simpler to go with it this year.

I'm a more experienced smoker than I was back in 2018, so I thought I'd be able to do a better job than that year.

A little after 9am I had the turkey spatchcocked and seasoned. Then, I set up my charcoal, with maybe .75 of a chimney coals on one edge of the kettle. I lit half a chimney.

I added two chunks of Cherry Wood to supply a little extra flavor.

It was around 9:30 that I got the bird on. When I was planning on quartering the turkey, my plan was to start a little after 10, but I thought I might need a little more time with the whole bird together.

It fit perfectly.

And ... I cooked with both kettle vents open. The temperature of the kettle read just over 300 most of the time.

I just let it stay between 300 and 325.

The color darkened but never got unattractive. At some point (around 11am?), I put foil on the tips of the wings and the "feet" of the bird.

I had a couple of the beers mentioned in 2025 Thanksgiving Beers and watched the Lions / Packers game.

And let the bird cook.

The real chef took did her magic in the kitchen with all the various sides.

She is by far the best cook in our family!

Around 11:30, I checked the temperature of the bird at various parts of the bird. 

Surprisingly, the thighs and legs were completely done, and the breast were pretty close to 155 (target is between 155 and 160 for breasts)

So ... I shut down the vents for an hour.

At noon, I checked temps again. Luckily, everything was still within range of where I wanted it.

I pulled the bird off the kettle and stored it under foil. I let it rest for 45 minutes, which is longer than I had planned, but better than not having as much time as desired.

The rest of the meal was ready to go at 1pm. I carved up the bird and we ate.

I think this one turned out perfect. It was done, but still very juicy. The skin was nicely crisped and the cherry smoke came through exactly how I like it.

This might be the best turkey I've ever cooked.

And the sides were all fantastic.

Honestly, I ate too much, but I guess I always do on holiday meals.

Now, I guess maybe spatchcocked turkeys are the way to go again. 

I guess we'll have to see how things go next Thanksgiving.

As always keep watching the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with my BBQ, Beer, Biking: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!