This came up in the tournament thread and I thought it was better to start a new one then to morph that one. Anyway, the best way to make a turkey is to brine it. Trust me on this. Everyone I tell is skeptical at best (grossed out at worst) and then LOVE it when they try it. It requires a lot of effort but it will be one of the best meals you ever have if you do it. In the spirit of thanksgiving, heres the secret:

The night before thanksgiving you make the brine. You boil a gallon of chicken stock (or a gallon of water and 12 boullion {sp?} cubes) and add whatever spices you want. I use rosmary, allspice berries, candied ginger and dashes of curry and cayenne. Once thats boiling add in a cup of Kosher salt and some fresh ground black pepper. Let it cool in the firdge for 30 minutes. Get a clean 5 gallon bucket. Pour in the brine and a gallon of cold water. Put in the turkey, breast down. Let it sit in the fridge for at 6-8 hours (overnight is best). If you don't have room in the fridge, put it in a different cool place or pack it with lots of ice packs (don't want the bird getting funky). Then, early in the morning of T-day, take it out of the brine and pat it dry with paper towels. Let it sit uncovered in the fridge for at least 6 hours (probaby best to put some more paper towels under it to absorb moisture) to dry out. Then cook it at a high temp (450 or so) for about 1 hour and 45 minutes. Heat is key, don't open the oven if you can help it. The end result is a bird that is very crisp and flavorful on the outside and VERY moist on the inside. Its totally kick ass. The best part is gravy. Make sure to cook the turkey on a rack IN a pan so all the drippings from the turkey stay in the pan (add a cup of water so they don't burn). Then you add a little starch, salt, and butter (and a little chicken stock if there isn't enough gravy) and you're good to go. Anyone who is really interested can send me a private message and I'll try to dig up the actual recipe.

We do a similar method - for chickens too - but we only do the high heat (500 deg) for about 30min then cook the rest of the way at 350 or so.

-_-;; sounds good.. I like fried turkey ^^

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“There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.” - John von Neumann

This is also a great way to get your father-in-law to like you a little more. If you can convince him to do it, your family will love you. It really does work. Similar method on a smaller scale also works really well with thick-cut pork chops. Probably works on other meats as well - the science is the same.