SMOKIN' OKIE'S HOLIDAY TURKEY BRINE

½ gallon apple juice (can use all apple juice in place of any water)

½ gallon water

1 cup coarse kosher salt

¾ cup soy sauce

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup honey

½ cup apple cider vinegar

4 tablespoons black pepper

3 to 4 tablespoons chopped garlic 1 teaspoons allspice

Options: Try beer in place of some of the water and try a variety of spices

Mix ingredients together until sugar and salt are dissolved. Place thawed turkey in a container large enough for bird and brine. Depending on the size of bird, you may have to double. Brine for minimum 36 hours, preferably 48 hours. Keep brine below 40 F for food safety.

Ready to cook

Now that you’ve thawed and brined your bird, you must decide how you’d like to cook it. My personal favorite is smoked turkey. Not purchased smoked, heated and served, but smoked in a backyard smoker and served. But smoking a bird right means having a real smoker that maintains temperature for a long time, or having a wood-pellet smoker that allows you to sleep rather than wake up every few hours to make sure the fire hasn’t gone out. In other words, to get the best, you have to work the hardest.

My second favorite way to prepare turkey is in a deep-fryer. It takes a large amount of peanut oil and an even larger fryer, but the result is excellent if you don’t mind the added calories.

The easiest way to make turkey, roasted in the oven, which really is just a matter of trusting the process and paying attention.

What makes cooking the turkey most problematic is all the other things that must be done at the same time. The solution is to get the calendar pulled up and start planning what days you’ll tackle the necessary tasks to bring your Thanksgiving feast together.

Take a deep breath, have a good bottle of wine handy, and remember this is all in service of having a good time.

Smoked Turkey

Remove turkey from brine, rinse and dry with paper towels. Allow to air dry in the refrigerator a few hours.

For more smoke, use a lower temperature to allow more smoke penetration. Build a fire to maintain 200 to 225 F.

Place brined, seasoned turkey in smoker and cook with indirect heat. For a 20-pound bird, plan on about 6 hours. Remove when breast measures 155 F and thigh measures 175 F using an internal meat thermometer. Do NOT use the pop-up timer that comes with turkey, as it will guarantee an overly dry turkey. If you want really crispy skin, crank the temperature up to at least 275 F for the last hour.

SOURCE: Russ Garrett, The Smokin’ Okie cross-contamination.

After an hour, baste turkey with pan juices using brush, spoon or turkey baster. Replace lid or foil tent. Do not baste again until about 30 minutes before turkey is done or when internal temperature is within 10 degrees of desired temperature in breast and thickest part of thigh. Melt jelly and combine with remaining butter and coat turkey. Continue roasting, uncovered, until turkey reaches internal temperature of 165 F and is golden brown.

Remove turkey from oven and allow to rest, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes before plating and carving. Use turkey-lifting forks or rolling pin inserted through body cavity to transfer turkey to serving platter.

Cook’s notes: Apple slices or orange wedges may be added to vegetables in roasting pan with a few inside the turkey. These are strained out of pan juices that will be used for gravy.