What is Spatchcock?
Spatchcock or “Spatch” is the procedure for butterflying a chicken, turkey, Cornish game hen, or other fowl to lay out flat for cooking.
The process involves cutting out the backbone and snipping the cartilage in the breast to make the bird lie flat.
Spatchcocking is typically done to speed up the BBQ cooking time for the bird. People will often spatchcock larger turkeys to get the past the danger temperature zone of 140 degrees in 4 hours especially when smoking at lower temps.