Yup. Still love Thanksgiving. And Friendsgiving. We’ve hosted three years of Friendsgiving in Michigan, it’s gone bigger and better each year.

I am normally in charge of cooking the bird - a task I do not take lightly. I love having the turkey responsibilities, plus I am probably the only one that has a favorite butcher that can get me fresh turkey... by Halloween.

I am forever on Team Spatchcock. Spatchcocking is where the backbone gets removed from the turkey (or chicken) and the entire things lays flat on a roasting pan. The bird cooks evenly, the cooking time is WAY less, and there is lots of crispy skin. If you are ordering a turkey from a meat or butcher shop, they should be able to spatchcock your bird for you. It is a perfectly achievable task to do at home, it just takes a sharp knife or kitchen shears and fair amount of space to spread out with raw poultry. If I have any advice regarding Thanksgiving, it is to NOT do everything yourself. Utilize the help around you, so I choose to outsource my turkey spatchcocking.

I am also on Team Dry-Brine. Wet brines are commonly used in poultry, but I don’t have the equipment or space to keep a 16-pound turkey submerged underwater for 3 days. A dry-brine only requires a night or two, uncovered, in the fridge. This Serious Eats Guide is a great resource that I go back to each year when I get ready to prep and cook my bird.

The final “Thanksgiving Team” that I’m a member of is Team Compound Butter. Smearing flavorful butter underneath the skin of of the turkey keeps it nice and juicy and imparts great flavor. My go-to has always been a ‘nduja honey butter (something that I wrote about on Aperitivo’s blog) but this year, I went for a peppery Pastrami Spice blend.  

Toasting and grinding the spices and mixing with room temperature butter can be done WAY in advance. Let the butter sit out for a few hours (or overnight) and it will spread all over your turkey with ease.

Besides using this compound butter to smear on your Thanksgiving birds, it would be great on bagels or topped on a steak. Because the bird’s skin gets sprinkled with salt during the dry-brining process, I don’t add any salt to this butter. But if you have other intentions with the butter, add some salt.

Pastrami Spice Compound Butter

• 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds

• 2 tablespoons mixed peppercorns (black, white and pink)

• ½ tablespoon fennel seeds

• ½ tablespoon yellow mustard seeds

• 1 teaspoon juniper berries

• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

• 1 stick softened butter

Add all spices to a medium skillet and toast over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, or until fragrant.

Transfer to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind to a coarse mixture.

Place butter in a small bowl and stir in a tablespoon of the spice mixture. Keep adding spice mixture, a tablespoon at a time, until evenly distributed throughout the butter.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Let sit out at room temp to soften before smearing.