After I re-ran a former blog post about grilling turkeys in my Front Burner column yesterday, I received a hearty response from readers. Many say they've been grilling the Thanksgiving bird for decades now and wouldn't have it any other way.
The first call I got was from a fellow named Chris who left me a voicemail message saying he grills his bird on a low flame (about 200 degrees) for 5 1/2 to 6 hours.
"It comes out fine every time," he said.
Then, Rebecca Seaster rang me up to say that she and her husband grill birds all the time. Even better, they use an old Southern Living recipe that calls for brining the turkey first, then stuffing the cavity with onions and other vegetables for extra flavor. Mmmm mmmmm!
Rebecca insists that you must cook the turkey breast side down, saying it turns out a deliciously crispy skin. She promised to drop her recipe in the mail for me, so as soon as it comes I will type it up and post it on the blog.
Here are a few more reader responses:

From Dave Hoglund of Moneta: My wife and I have been cooking turkeys on a Weber grill for the past 30 years. Very similar to your recipe in today's paper but the cooking time is much less, about 11 minutes per pound. We had a turkey cook-off with my son's father-in-law last Thanksgiving, who cooked his the tradititional way in an oven, and ours on the Weber, and hands down, ours was more moist and much tastier. The Weber gives it kind of a smoky flavor. Not only that but it frees up room in the oven for the other good stuff. Check out weber.com for turkey and other recipes.

From Terri Casler: It's the best way to do it! My family has been cooking our Thanksgiving turkey on the rotisserie for at least 15-20 years-- we wouldn't do it any other way! You do not need the water in the drip pan -- it will be very moist without it. All those juices that usually drip out just keep on rolling around inside the turkey and make it very moist and flavorful with a lot less mess and hot oil than a deep fryer. The only drawback I can think of is that most grills are only big enough to accommodate a 12 -14 lb. turkey. Another plus to do it this way-- the "boys" in the family get this job so that leaves one less thing for the women in the kitchen to have to do!

Gary Anderson (a co-worker of mine): I grilled my first turkey (a 14 pounder) for dinner this past Sunday. It was awesome! I used my Weber charcoal grill an an indirect cooking method.
After cleaning the bird up we applied some italian dressing to the skin and then dry rubbed it with a host of finely chopped fresh herbs including: sage, parsley, lemon balm, and thyme.
Flipped the "whole bird" every 15 minutes and added some fresh charcoal as needed. It was cooked to perfection in about 2.75 hours. I added some mesquite wood chips occasionally through the process which put some nice smoke in the bird. I also basted it with more dressing occasionally through the cooking process.
This was totally experimental for me but I'm telling you this was absolutely the best turkey we've ever cooked. My wife has put in her order for another one for Thanksgiving.

After all that, I'm wondering if I should try to cook my turkey on the grill this year. I'm definitely going to brine mine, that's for sure.
I've ordered a fresh, pasture-raised turkey from Weathertop Farm in Floyd County. Because I know my bird won't be injected with a bunch of salt water and stuff, I will ratchet up the flavor with a brown sugar/kosher salt/freshly ground pepper brine.
The downside to grilling is that my bird will probably weigh in at 15-20 pounds. I'm not sure if that bad boy is going to fit comfortably on my gas grill. I guess there's only one way to find out!

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• Posted by Lindsey Nair in Winter holidays
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