[m brown]

Any tips on best way to grill turkey on a natural gas grill?

I was thinking of butterflying a fresh bird, rub with Bell's Seasoning and adding some burbon smoked wood chips in the smoke box.

Serving an oyster dressing, corn bread, spinach salad with fresh lemon + parmisan, baked yams with chipotile spiced marshmallow.

[boar_d_laze]

Don't "butterfly," "spatchcock." Cook over low, direct heat until crisp, then cook over medium indirect heat until done. It's going to be tough to time the legs and thighs, vs the breasts btw.

Better to "beercan" the bird over a can of Fosters (or similar); or to cook pure indirect.

BDL

[cypressrider]

I would debone the breasts,put chop parsley,chives,and alittle thyme inbetween the breasts and roll and tie them off. Rub with lots of chop galic and whatever else you rub with and finish with a light drizzle of olive oil. Use the same rub for your legs and thighs. Start both out on your grill with plenty of wood and crispy the outside while the heat is good and hot. Then move away from heat and finish at 220-300. 300 is pretty fast. Those 2 breasts are gonna have alot residual cooking,so pull them off just past rare and they should stay juicy. The rest of your menu sounds great. I think Im just calling Lubys this year.

[phatch]

What BDL said, but I'd start indirect and finish over the heat for crispy skin.

Keep the legs towards the heat to start as that should be hotter. Then finish with the neck side towards the heat as the legs should be pretty much done. Assuming you have burners left to right. Burners front to back would be trickier as there is much less room to work with. I've never understood the front to back design; whoever designed that had to have no experience cooking.

[Nicko]

The best way is the Cheftalk. Com way of course. Check out the main site our own Chef Pete wrote an article on how to grill a turkey.

[MaryB]

I have done several on my 4 burner gas grill (burners run front to back). Leave the 2 center burners off and put a water pan on them. Place the turkey over the water pan and cook on med (I try to hit 350 or so for a cooking temp). Season in whatever way you like.

[teamfat]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Don't "butterfly," "spatchcock."

On some of the food related forums I visit, you have to say 'butterfly' or 'spatchHEN' to avoid the stupid automatic censoring. Sheesh. But most folks know exactly what you are talking about. SpatchHEN my donkey!

If you are going to slice up and platter off table, then cooking the bird in quarters is one option to deal with the breasts and thighs being done at different times. I've done 10 - 12 pound birds using indirect heat in the 22 inch Weber kettle, quite tasty. Good, sort of smoky flavor without being as strongly smoked as doing it in the real smoker. And the skin can end up being crispy and tasty, doing birds in the smoker the skin often ends up tasting like burnt shoe leather if one isn't careful.

mjb.

[Pete]

It's going to be tough to time the legs and thighs, vs the breasts btw.

I have done numerous turkeys on the grill, most all on charcoal, and have never had a problem timing the thighs and breasts. I have yet to get a dry breast while grilling a whole bird. Depending on your grill's burner setup it shouldn't be a problem. Hopefully you have at least 3 or 4 zones that way you can position your turkey over the cental burner/s and just run the outside ones, cooking by indirect heat the whole time. I use indirect heat the entire time, and still come up with a crispy skin and moist interior. Slow and low is the way you want to go. See the article on Cheftalk that I wrote on this subject. It will give you more detailed information.