My 2006 T-day cook: Lots of pics

BabyBoomBBQ

Started the cook by lighting the egg at 8am. Adjusted the guru for 325 at the cooking level of the bird. Indirect setup with a wire rack for the roasting pan on inverted plate setter. No smoke wood added.[p][p]
Here's the 13 pound bird before stuffing. All of the stuff in the bowl went into the cavity after it was seasoned with salt, pepper and Herbes de Provence. It was brined for 14 hours in Q-babe's Maple Brine and dried out overnight. I made a coumpound butter with Herbes de Provence that went under and on the skin. Iced the breasts per Mad Max and used 1/2 a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. An apple and a large shallot, both quartered, went into the roasting pan with some celery.[p][p]All this activity caught the attention of Lil' Buddy my 6 month old kitten.[p][p]
He was curious to see if he could fit in a stock pot, so in it he went.[p][p]He also helped peel potatoes.[p][p]We decided to have a late breakfast, so we delayed starting the bird 2 hours. Put the bird on at 12:00 & I checked it hourly, adding dark turkey stock as needed to prevent the drippings from burning. They did get awfully dark. I rotated it 180 degrees about 1/2 way through and pulled at about 3:30. Breast was 170 by the time the thighs hit 180 and the juice was clear. I think it was not removing the truss like I usually do. I like having the legs spread out more as they seem to cook faster. All meat was moist, tender and full of great flavor. Left overs are moist too. Gravy with two drops of Truffle Oil for about two quarts of gravy made it the best ever! [p]Thanks Qbabe and Max![p][p][p][p][p]