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@ezeating: You can try the brine minus the salt, although I don't know how much flavor the turkey will pick up, salt is a pretty important part of the equation. It can't really do any harm, so I would say give a shot and report back how it turned out.

Good luck.

I made this last year to rave review. The skin wasn't as good looking but it was delicious. I think i'm going to make it again this year and pay closer attention to the skin, that is a beautiful red it has in the picture

This has got to be the yummiest tasting turkey ever. I love the salty turkey meat with the sweet honey finish. Awesome recipe.

We brine our turkey every year and it's delicious. This recipe sounds great!

I can't wait to try this recipe - it'll be the first bird I've ever roasted!!!

I finally brined a turkey and it came out too salty, I followed a recipe which I seldom do, I'll have to work on the ratios of salt:water:sugar to our tastes aside from that the flavor was great I added a jalapeno and a serrano rough slice with seeds and one medium valencia orange juiced and sliced.

Smoking meat is normally done at 225 - 325, does this recipe call for 400 degrees for the full cooking time? Can anyone help me out here? I have a pellet smoker and would love to give this a try.

Mmmmmm... Pho.... We have a few outstanding pho restaurants in the Twin Cities - so if anyone feels like freezing to death, then warming back up again with a nice bowl of pho, come on by!

That does it! I am going to brine the bird and grill it. I mentioned to my wife that Alton Brown does not agree with stuffing birds. She took insult at first but then coyly said that if I wanted to grill the bird this year why didn't I just ask? I've got Weber's recipe from their holiday email blast and pleased to see this one. You guys have set a high standard to meet. Thanks!

@jennywren & sharsd: You can also do this on a grill, assuming a turkey can fit in your grill. For a charcoal grill, build a fire with the coals in two equal piles on either side of the charcoal grate and place a foil pan in between the two piles and fill it with about 1/2 an inch of water. Then throw some water soaked wood chips on each of the charcoal piles, place the turkey on the cooking grate over the foil pan and cook until done. With this method, you may need to replenish the coals about an hour through.

My dad has smoked the turkey in years when we don't have as many people to feed. (their smoker is small, mine is even smaller- they're the ceramic kind) It's so yummy.

@sharsd: This turkey would be excellent in and oven. Just brine it and cook it how you normally would.

For a crisp skin, I like to start my turkey in a 425 degree oven for 45 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and continue to cook until done, about hour or so for a 12lb bird.

Sharsd, I don't see why you couldn't, I brine chickens,and dry them in the fridge as described here, for grilling,roasting, and broiling, they turn out exceptional every time, good luck!