Frog turkey, the flattened Thanksgiving bird that keeps every bone in place, is a technique grillers credit to Al Frugoni, an Argentine pitmaster who learned to cook over fire from his father. Fogo Charcoal, which published its own version, says Frugoni developed and popularized the method. Grill Girl, another barbecue site, says she learned it from him.
The name is literal. Once prepped, the bird lies flat with the wings forward and the legs back, like a frog sitting on a rock.
A Buenos Aires asado, carried to Texas
Frugoni was born and raised in Buenos Aires. For 25 years he and his wife traveled between his home there and hers in the Texas Hill Country, according to BBQ Radio Network. In an interview with BBQGuys, he said his grandfather taught his father to grill, and he worked the fire beside his father until he started building his own.
The online fame came late. Frugoni told BBQGuys he opened a trampoline park one month before the COVID-19 closures in February 2020. Stuck at home, his kids pushed him back to the grill, and his daughter got him filming his asados for TikTok.
He has since cooked on Steven Raichlen’s PBS series Planet Barbecue, where he summed up his approach: “Open fire is not a way of cooking, it’s a way of life.”
Why backyard cooks keep copying the cut
Spatchcocking, the usual way to flatten a turkey, means cutting out the backbone. The frog cut works without cutting through bone: Grill Girl’s guide has you slice between the breast and legs on both sides and take off the wing tips, then press the bird flat. Fogo says the shape lets the heat reach every part of the turkey evenly.
Frugoni’s own frog-style turkey recipe, published by BBQGuys, follows asado logic. A 12-pound turkey goes bone side down over a medium-low fire for three hours, with chimichurri compound butter tucked under the skin. Then the breasts and legs get injected with melted butter, the bird is flipped, and it cooks one more hour.
The one number to change
Frugoni’s recipe, and several versions inspired by it, call the turkey done at 160 degrees. The USDA’s safe minimum for all poultry is 165°F, checked in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast, according to its Food Safety and Inspection Service as of November 2026. An open fire has no dial, so a meat thermometer is what tells you the bird is ready.
Keep the chimichurri butter, but pull your frog turkey only when the thermometer reads 165°F.
