Thawing a 16- to 20-pound turkey can take as long as four days in the refrigerator.

Alternate method: Use a cooler or picnic chest big enough to hold the bird and cover with cold water. Drain and replace water every couple of hours. It should take about 8 hours to thaw. Easy to do if you put cooler in bathtub and it has a drain plug.

Remove giblets and any other stuff. Okay to leave clip holding legs together if it is easier to handle turkey

Brine thawed turkey in cooler or 5 gallon plastic bucket. I do chickens in a large plastic bag, but have not had any luck doing a turkey this way.

Dissolve 2 cups Morton Kosher salt and 1 cup sugar in 2 quarts hot tap water and pour over bird. Add 1 gallon of cold water and 1/2 gallon ice cubes (about 4 pounds ice).

This should cover your bird. If not, follow basic brining mix: 1 quart water to 1/3 cup Morton Kosher salt to 1/2 cup sugar, and add up to 3 quarts to cover. Make sure bird is not floating. To keep it submerged and keep brining liquid at a safe 40° F use freezer packs or pint resealable plastic bags filled with water and frozen. Turn turkey at least once over course of 8 to 10 hours of brining. It is important to use Morton Kosher salt. The weight of a cup of salt will vary by brand and type. According to Cook's magazine, use half as much table salt and twice as much Diamond Crystal Kosher salt, but I can't attest to this.

Remove turkey from brine and rinse and dry. Loosen skin from breast without tearing by sliding fingers underneath and lifting skin. Place in refrigerator overnight if you have the time. This helps dry out skin and make it crispier, but is optional.

To roast: Remove metal or plastic leg holder and make a cut all around the drum stick about 1 inch below the end. Be sure to cut all tendons. If you want, you can use pliers to remove the small ones. This will give you a moist tender drumstick. Reinsert leg holder or tie legs together with kitchen string.

Rub 1/8 pound butter under loosened breast and another 1/8 pound on top of breast. You can season butter if you wish. I use a little sage, rosemary and Fines Herbes.

If oven roasting, put turkey in V shaped rack, breast side up. Preheat oven to 475°F and roast for about 1/2 hour until breast is brown. Reduce temp to 350°F and cover breast with aluminum foil. Roast ’til temp reaches about 155°F in breast meat. This should take about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Remove and let rest 1/2 hour covered. Temp will rise to 165°F. Use time to make gravy using defatted pan drippings.

If using rotisserie on Weber gas grill:

Preheat grill on high. Bind wings to breast with kitchen string wrapped around breast.

Put on grill and turn middle burner off. Leave outside burners on high for 1st 15 minutes and then set to medium. This should maintain temp at 375°F.

Check temp deep in breast but not touching the bone after 45 minutes. You want temp to reach about 155°F. Turkey will take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on size. Temperature will rise when it rests for about 1/2 hour before carving.

If this sounds like too much work, buy a Kosher Turkey if you can find it.

November 19, 2003