Need the BEST turkey brine!

[DelNorte]

Living in Uruguay, turkey is hard to come by. So needless to say when our guest from Germany came back today from a 2 day trip to Brazil, toting a frozen turkey for us, we were elated. We already had plans of running the smoker on Sunday and we decided to add this to the batch.

I'm looking for brine suggestions. I'd like to inject the brine, not soak the whole bird in it. I really don't have the means to do the later method... so, I'd be much appreciative of anyone throwing some brine recipes at me, along with any smoking tips you might have.

Thanks much!

[ozzy]

I would suggest quartering the bird and submertion brine in separate gallon ziplock bags. Just injecting a brine will not achieve the same results. I would use six tablespoons kosher salt per gallon of water and add whatever you like as far as spices, fruits or whatever. As far as smoking the lower and slower is better as long as you reach 140 degrees in four hours. Seperating the bird will help with that. Coating the skin with butter and finishing on a grill or oven high heat will help with crispy skin.

[DelNorte]

Thanks for the suggestion ozzy. Unfortunately I saw it too late.

I did have success with smoking it whole, though. The flavor is only ok, but not due to the brine I used and injected. I suspect that the bird was frozen a long time. It has an ever so slight hint of freezer burn taste. I didn't see any freezer burn marks on it when I was prepping it. With this experience I'm thinking it safer to just stick with chickens for smoking. We love turkey, but it has to be fresh tasting.

On a good note - the smoked meatloaf and beef brisket turned out fantastic!