Food & Wine USA - (11)November 2020

38 NOVEMBER 2020

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CHARLESTON PITMASTER Rodney Scott is

famous for his whole-hog barbecue—a mas-

terpiece of pork smoked over oak coals for

hours, mopped with a slightly sweet and

spicy vinegar sauce, and chopped into a

glorious heap of juicy meat and crispy

cracklings, all doused with a little more

sauce. Scott, who won the James Beard

Award for Best Chef: Southeast in 2018,

also applies his signature technique to his

Thanksgiving turkey to make a bird that

gives his pig a run for its money.

Scott’s restaurants smoke hundreds of

turkeys in the days leading up to Thanks-

giving. If you aren’t lucky enough to live

nearby, you can achieve the same flavor on

your backyard grill. “At home, I always use

a Big Green Egg, which holds temperature

really well and infuses amazing smoke fla-

vor,” he says. The other secret to those im-

possibly juicy birds? “I really like Butterball

turkeys because they cook consistently no

matter where we are in the country.”

Using his signature Rib Rub and Mop

Sauce, Scott applies his pig principles to

turkey. “Remember ‘mop, flip, mop,’” he

said on a recent visit to the F&W test kitch-

en. Starting with a spatchcocked bird—

which he splits by cutting through the

breast, leaving the backbone in for more

flavor—he seasons the turkey right before

smoking. “First, we want to color the bone

side and get it nice and charred. When it’s

ready to flip, it’ll look like jerk chicken.”

Then he takes a mop (at his restaurants he

uses a clean full-size cotton floor mop; at

home, a smaller basting mop), dunks it into

the sauce, and douses the skin side of the

bird, taking care not to brush off the sea-

soning. With extra-long tongs, he flips the

turkey in one graceful move and bastes

again, lifting the mop over the meat and

letting the sauce drip into every crevice,

then patting the meat to make sure it soaks

in. Pressing his tongs into the exposed

breast meat, he roughs the meat up a little,

lightly shredding it before saucing again,

using a full quart of sauce in all.

He closes the lid and lets the skin crisp

for a few minutes before placing it on a cut-

ting board, where he carves it immediately.

He points with his tongs to where the leg

meat has shrunk back from the drumstick.

“It’s ready when you can see its socks,” he

says with a wink. —MARY-FRANCES HECK

WHOLE-TURKEY BBQ

CUT TURKEY IN HALF

Using a sharp knife, cut turkey in half

lengthwise, cutting straight through

breastbone.

FLATTEN TURKEY

Using your hands, open up turkey, and

press to flatten; pat inside dry with paper

towels.

1 2

SMOKE AND MOP

Smoke the turkey, skin side up, for about

2 hours. Uncover and mop with about 1^1 / 2

cups mopping sauce.

3 4

SEASON WITH DRY RUB

From a height of 12 inches, liberally season

all sides of turkey, being sure to season

underneath wings. Do not rub seasoning in.

FLIP THE TURKEY

Using tongs and reaching as far under the

bird as possible, carefully turn the turkey

skin side down.

6

MOP AND FINISH

Mop with remaining sauce. Gently insert

tip of tongs into breast meat to help sauce

absorb. Cover and finish smoking.

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