What are you gonna cook?' That's what Thanksgiving was all about when I was a kid," says Pat Neely, co-owner of Neely's Bar-B-Que restaurant chain and costar of Down Home With the Neelys with his wife, Gina. Nowadays, the culinary couple try to put a spec
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COOK TIME

4 Hours

PREPARATION TIME

5 Hours 95 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 1 item gallon water
• 2 cup salt
• 2 cup apple juice
• 1 cup bourbon or additional cup of apple juice
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 item turkey (12–14 pounds), reserve neck and giblets for gravy ( Rub recipe follows)
• 2 tablespoon salt
• 1½ tablespoon ground sage
• 1½ tablespoon thyme
• ½ tablespoon black pepper
• ½ tablespoon Neely's seasoning (recipe follows)
• 1 item Olive oil for rubbing on turkey
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ cup paprika
• 1¼ cup onion powder ( BBQ Gravy recipes to follow)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 item Reserved neck and giblets from turkey
• 1 item large onion, sliced
• 8 cup turkey stock or chicken stock
• 2 tablespoon Wondra or flour
• ¼ cup BBQ sauce (recommended: Neely's BBQ Sauce)
• 1 cup Salt and freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION

Pour brine ingredients into a clean 5-gallon bucket lined with a resealable bag. (Editors' note: Try Thekitchenstore.com's Turkey Brining Bag.) Stir until the salt and sugar dissolve, add turkey, and seal bag. Use a garbage bag to line an ice chest, and insert bucket with turkey, making sure to surround it with ice. Keep in a cool place, and let soak for 6 hours or overnight, but flip the turkey bag halfway through. Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and mix all ingredients in the rub together, except for the olive oil. Rub the turkey with some olive oil and massage the rub onto the turkey. Tie up the wings and legs of turkey with white cotton string, if desired, and place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan. Cook for 1¾ hours, remove from oven to baste with the pan drippings, then cook for another 1¾ to 2 hours or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh registers 165°F and the juices run clear. Place a piece of aluminum foil over—but not touching—legs or wings if the skin there begins to get too dark. This "tenting" shields them from some heat.

While turkey is in oven, make BBQ gravy. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan on medium-high heat. Add the neck and giblets, sear until brown, remove from pan, and reserve. Lower heat and sauté the onions. Add the stock, scraping up the food on the bottom of the pan. Add the neck and giblets back into the saucepan, cover, and let simmer until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for about 2 hours. Remove turkey parts. Place 1 cup of the gravy into a medium bowl and whisk in the Wondra or flour until smooth. Add the thickened gravy back to the pot along with the BBQ sauce. Whisk the gravy until it is thickened as desired. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove turkey from oven, and let rest 30 minutes before you carve and serve with gravy.

Nutritional Information

Per serving: 257 calories, 9 grams carbohydrate, 86 milligrams cholesterol, 8 grams fat, 34 grams protein, 2,129 milligrams sodium.