Apple-brined, apple wood smoked Thanksgiving Turkey

This year I decided I wanted to do the Thanksgiving turkey on the grill. I have tried other methods that were still relatively safe...brined and oven roasted; in a roasting bag or not...etc. But other than deep frying the bird, which from a logistics and safety perspective doesn't really interest me, roasting the turkey on the grill had sufficient risk to make it interesting and had the most potential for being extremely tasty. Said risk was a concern that Gigi had especially because we were bringing the only turkey to a gathering of nearly 20 people.

The preparation was actually very simple. I got the recipe from a Weber newsletter that I get. It is a apple juice brined and apple wood smoked turkey with gravy.

Most of what I needed was typical for any Thanksgiving preparation except for a few items:

The apple wood purchased at one of my favorite stores, the Kansas City BBQ Store.



While I was there I found these food gloves that Isaac is trying on for me. Halfway through the cooking I was going to have to flip the bird (snicker) and really need something that would work well for that. These were perfect! I also found brining bags large enough for the turkey.


As so often happens, I always forget to take the pictures at the right time. This is after the turkey has been flipped so you can't see the beautiful color on the bottom. Man, it smelled so good!


Here, however, you can see the color that developed with the apple wood smoke after time on the other side. It is gorgeous!


After I pulled it off the fire, I bundled it up and took it to our friend's house, giving it time to rest, and then carved it.



Here is what was left. Barely anything! Everyone really liked the flavor. It really managed to permeate throughout the whole bird.

Grill Anything is back for Thanksgiving!

So while haven't been diligent in blogging about the grilling, the grilling has continued. Sometimes it is just so danged hard to find the time. And I still continue to grill anything. Earlier last summer I did some Ahi tuna steaks. I've done some BBQ chicken quarters and of course plenty of hot dogs, burgers, chicken breasts, etc.

Tomorrow's Grill Anything item might be the doozy thus far. Note the date? I will be roasting our Thanksgiving bird on the grill! My wife has her reservations. She asked me if anyone else was bringing turkey to the dinner tomorrow. So little faith! It's going to turn out fantastic! I got the recipe from the Weber newsletter. It is an apple-brined turkey roasted with apple wood chunks for extra flavor! Really looking forward to it.

I've got the bird in the brine already. It calls for 18-24 hours of brining. I will tell you, I will never cook another turkey without brining. It is the best thing. We've brined our T-birds for at least 4 or 5 years now and there is no comparison. It's as good or better than the deep fried bird and 100 times safer.

The brine called for apple juice, kosher salt, sage, rosemary, thyme, and pepper. I wasn't sure exactly what to brine it in. In the past I have been able to use one of the kids' plastic toy bins (yes, it's true), but didn't have one this year. So, when I went to the store to get the wood chunks, I found these huge brining bags--10 for $3.99. A fantastic bargin. I also picked up some food handling gloves so I could pick up the turkey and flip it during cooking.

Everything is ready for tomorrow! Additional items to cook: 8 lbs of mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and taffy apple salad.