463260 Sat Nov 24 07:54:52 -0800 2007 1 31 Home Cooking 0 3150822 Was working on Thanksgiving Day so we planned to have our Turkey on Friday. With that in mind, I tried a dry brine for the first time with good results. I had a Diestel turkey (12.5 lbs) and used 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt (Diamond) per 4-5 lbs of bird....inside and out. Brined it for 12 hours and then patted dry with a paper towel - followed by a full day of air drying in the fridge. Just before cooking I coated it with olive oil and a dry rub seasoning: garlic powder, paprika, black pepper and a bit of pasilla chile. I took the bird out of the fridge about an hour early and let it temper a bit. The Weber set up ...... all vents open and a couple of good handfulls of hickory chips soaked. Filled a chimney 3/4+ with charcoal briquets ..... when they were well ignited (but before ash white) I emptied the coals into two banks opposite of each other. In the middle under the bird I have a 12 X10 inch aluminum pan with water. I put some of the drained wood chips in a foil packet with holes in it and I scattered some over the coals. Inserted the probe of my remote meat thermometer and covered up the Weber. I didn't use more briquets because in the past I thought the meat was a bit more cooked than I wanted ..... so this year I tried a different approach. I cooked/smoked the turkey with the initial load of briquets until they ran out of heat and then finished in a low oven (250*F). The timeline: It took 2 hours to go from a meat temp of 44* to 140*. Here are the numbers that I registered @ 15 minutes: Start at 44* - 53* - 69* - 89* - 108* at 1 Hour. 120* - 129* - 134* - 140* at 2 Hours. Transferring to a low oven (250*) I brought it to 155* and then let it rest at room temp. We drove over to meet friends for a walk before dinner and then just before dinner I cut off the breasts and legs to rewarm in the kitchen. The white meat was just about there but the dark meat was a bit pink. To speed things along I cut the dark meat off of the bone. These smaller pieces of dark meat and the whole breasts came together at the same time. The meat had a nice smokiness to it and was very savory but not as brined tasting as previous wet brines had produced. Considering the ease of dry brining and the good results - I'd definitely go with this again. Sat Nov 24 07:54:52 -0800 2007 10429 gordon wing 1 3150888 Good to know. I may have to try the dry brine. I love my turkey but am always willing to try to make it better. Smoke turkey is awsome. DT Sat Nov 24 08:35:37 -0800 2007 3150822 11291 Davwud