Heh- okay, grammatically incorrect, but just thought I'd see how folks cooked their Turkey this year.

I'll go first....

Usually, I brine the bird for 24 hours, start it in a very hot oven, then turn it down after a half hour until done....

This year, I tried dry brining for the first time, and then spatchcocked it. It cooked in 80 minutes, had crispy skin, moist meat, and an added bonus of using the back when making gravy (which wife said was the best ever)....

The dry brine is applied, then the bird is spatchcocked, and then sits uncovered in the fridge 24 hours to dry the skin. It worked great. Vthe only drawback is no Norman Rockwell presentation at the table....

One reason I'm asking how others did it is I ran into a friend at Fred Meyer who said he cooked his in a Char Broil Big Easy he got for $99....it's an infrared fryer, and fries the turkey without oil. He said it turns out great, but I'm wondering, if so great, why haven't I heard of this before? Have any of you?

Anyway, how do you turkey?

Well, the one we did yesterday was in the Oven at 325 until the Turkey button popped out. (Thanks butterball).
Turned out great, though i really need to try smoking one.

I didn't want to put a whole lot of effort into it, so I skipped brining or anything like that. I did, however, want to do it in the Rec Tec (pellet smoker) since it's easy to do, and it leaves the oven free for others to do side dishes.

I mixed some rub and spices into butter, then pushed that butter up under the breast skin. Then I rubbed olive oil and more rub on the outside of the turkey.

I put it straight on the grate of the Rec Tec at 350 degrees, and left it there until it was done. And it was damned good.

The dark spots you see on the breast are where there's a concentration of rub under the skin:

That is a Good looking turkey Steve. Stuffing though....i see a hollow body cavity with some Veggies, (They look good), but where's the Stuffing??

I Love Stuffing...

Cooked three turkeys this year. Smoked one on the traeger, deep fried one and oven roasted the other

The stuffing was done in a separate pan in the oven. Those veggies in the cavity were there because the gf insisted . . . claimed that it keeps the turkey moist. They were thrown away after the turkey was done.

Which did you like best?

Whenever I've done multiple versions, the fried always turns out best, and gets eaten first.

And yes, Steve, nice looking bird

Shari’s served it with my choice of 2 sides and a Roll......

20oz beer can up the butt and smoked standing.

Turkey breast smoked for 5 hours at 225 degrees. Golden perfection.

The deep fried was the best of the three

Almost always is.

That's why I started the thread, to see if anyone used the infrared fryer....

If I could fry it without all the oil, and have my oven free, it would be a win all the way around.

My buddy really talked it up.....

Like I do with anything, I followed Alton Brown's recipe

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good ... ey-1962518

AB is my hero!
DVR every episode of "Good Eats".

cook breast down until the last half hour; then flip to brown. makes the breast kind of flat but it will be juicy from cooking in the juice