Brine Turkey Kosher Salt

My wife will not let me in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day! Even if the thought of the aroma from the oven makes me dizzy, I was banned a long time to prepare food for that day except that I could cook on the grill. The kitchen is his domain on this special day and she rules with an iron spatula.

The smoker grill is my domain and this year, as always, I'll smoke a turkey the night before the big day. I did enough years to know that if I put it at midnight, it will be ready the morning of Thanksgiving.

The first thing I do with the bird, after I get out of its plastic wrapper is put in a brine. Brining the flavors of birds and seals in the juices, making the additional seasoning unnecessary. Smaller turkeys are easier to smoke than adults and they are more likely to enter into the bucket of brine.

First I pour 2 gallons and a half of water in a clean plastic bucket. Can I add a ½ cup of kosher salt, 1 cup brown sugar, grated 2 bay leaves, 3 tablespoons fresh thyme, a tablespoon of minced garlic and two tablespoons of black pepper restaurant quality . I mix it all and then stuff the turkey in the bucket, completely submerged in brine. The bucket to rest in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

For smoking turkeys in the fall or winter, I prefer an electric smoker because it has a constant temperature. After I rinse the salt of the bird, I simply put it on the grill and close lid. I usually put a box full of hickory chips on the floor of the smoker and as they warm up, smoke fills the grid.

Depending on the size of the turkey and heat of the burner in the grid, it will take 3 to 5 hours to cook. To be sure it is done, check internal temperature with a meat thermometer. It should read 165-170 degrees inside the thickest part of turkey.

Although I am enjoying the smoke going adrift from the top of the smoker, I consider that life is good and this year I have a few more things for which to thank God for that I usually do.

I definitely want to do Thanks for a successful surgery major cancer my daughter. Although chemotherapy and radiotherapy is wreaking havoc on his physical, the doctor to make sure that when everything is finished, it will be cancer free.

I am also grateful that God gave him a great sense of humor and a positive attitude to all this. Although it is clear that the line becomes his old man, I'm not sure I could handle a similar situation with faith and the class it is exposed.

I am particularly pleased that, despite all the efforts of my doctor to kill me with various sets of blood pressure pills, he finally concocted a potion that keeping my blood pressure at a constant level for the first time in years. For the last two months the pressure is increased from 200/100 to 80/40 at noon, then back to 180/100 at bedtime. I do not need roller like that!

I thank him every night for our military men and women who put their lives at risk every day in different parts of the world, so I have the freedom to roast a turkey on the grill any time I want without having to worry about the rocket attacks someone in my smoker, mistakenly thinking it is a threat to anyone.

I thank God for my family, children and grandchildren all, each with their own individual hopes and dreams, successes and failures.

It is more blessed that we all have time to remember or even enjoy. We will have our annual Thanksgiving feast, the table of the collapse of turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green peas and other delicious dishes, leaving enough debris.