Turkey - How I do it

1st thing that you will need is a cooler that will fit your bird with the brine


Brine

1 Gallon of water
1/2 cup of Garlic Powder
1/2 cup of Onion Powder
1/3 cup of pepper
1 cup of salt
1 cup of Brown sugar
A few bay leaves (your preference)
2 cans of bluebird apple juice from concentrate
1 can of bluebird cranberry juice from concentrate


Bring the Brine to a boil string frequently, and let cool on stove top

Break up a bag of ice and put about 10 lbs in the cooler 

Combine Brine with the Ice

Drop the turkey in and brine for 48 hrs.......

Now for the compound butter.....

2 tbsp of garlic powder
2 tbsp of onion powder
Fresh thyme, sage, rosemary  to taste... your preference on amounts
I usually put thin in a coffee grinder for a few seconds and get it really fine.
2 stick of salted butter

Use a potato masher to incorporate the spices and herbs
(careful not to over due it or you will melt the butter)

Once everything is incorporated well, put the butter in a one gallon freezer bag and roll the bag up so you have a "roll" of butter at the bottom of the bag and freeze for a day.......

At the end of the 48 hour brine, pull the bird and place on the table breast side up

cut slits on the bottom of the breast closest to the legs, and use your fingers to separate the skin from the breast but be careful not to tear the skin..........

Take your compound butter and cut into 1/4 inch "wafers" to place into the slits that you created in between the skin and breast meat....
Make sure you get the wafers all the way to the top of the breast meat

Take the remainder of the butter and rub all over the bird 

Bring the ol Egg up to 275 and cook for a couple of hours then cover with a wet cheese cloth and drop the temp down to 250 for the remainder of the cook

Check the bird every hour to hour and a half to make the cheese cloth stays wet.....I just use water to do so

Pull off once the bird reaches a internal temp of 165

let rest and eat