After reading up over the past few weeks leading up to my first turkey, I went with the Slaughterhouse brine but added Herbs du provence & a little chili powder. Brined for 24 hours then dried it off and let it hangout covered in the fridge overnight. Due to the weight, I was planning on a 7 hour cook + 1 hour rest, so I started my fire at 6am & put the bird on at 350 at 7:15am. I rubbed the skin with melted butter and placed it in a large roasting pan with fresh rosemary Ewing in the cavity & a half onion along with 3 halved garlic cloves spread around the inside of the pan. From there, it was initially a battle to keep the pit around 325 because of the large cold bird, but it eventually settled in. After an hour, the thighs were at 120, so I turned it so the legs were facing far away from the SFB. Every hour I basted it with the juices from the pan and spritzed it with a mix of apple juice and cider vinegar. Surprisingly, my Maverick 733 read 140 in the breast and thigh after just 2 hours. Once it reached 150, I placed 2 sticks of butter on top and foiled the pan. After 3 hours, it reached 165 in the breast and thigh, so I wrapped double wrapped it in HD foil and placed it in a cooler wrapped in towels & insulated with blankets. It topped out at 190 after an hour in the cooler & went down to 149 after almost 4 hours, so I put the foiled bird back in at 250 (while smoking extra legs for the nephews) and pulled it off after 15 minutes to carve. It was a full of flavor, very moist
& a big hit, & I was very happy with my first turkey.
