It turned out alright, but it was not worth all the trouble. Bought a 12 pounder, Norbest Free ranger--whatever that means, had no butter or solution in it, just one of those plastic nipple thermometers. Used a modified version of one of the Weber Smoky Mtn brining recipes. Cherry/Apple juice, water, salt , brown sugar, sliced ginger, bay leaves, cloves, oranges, garlic. Soaked this in a Food Grade bag in a cooler for 24 hours, then air dried it in the ice box for 12 hours. Put it in the Big Green Egg on one of the vertical roasters in a pan. One chunk of hickory on the charcoal--got the temp up to 325 degrees and held that for something over 2 hours; 175 degrees in the breast. Let it set under some foil for a half hour, carved and ate. It was juicy and tasted good--but I could in no way detect any of the above ingredients. Slightly smoky from the hickory. Everyone liked it, but they had no idea of the wasted effort. Just an hour ago we saw Alton Brown's fried turkey thing- fascinating as usual. His brine sounds right: next time: 1 lb salt, 1lb brown sugar, enough warm water to dissolve the salt and sugar, and 5 pounds of ice in a vertical cooler. Again, it was good; but the cloves, ginger, juice, oranges, bay leaves, and garlic were not even there. Live and learn.
