Barbecued Whole Turkey (Gas Grill)

Ive prepared a whole turkey on both a gas grill and a Weber charcoal grill. The largest turkey Ive been able to prepare is about 14 lbs. General instructions: Clean turkey well, removing any bits of pin feathers and cleaning the cavity of any remaining pieces of innards. Soften a stick of butter to room temperature and rub the cavity with half of the stick of butter. Stuff with your favorite stuffing. With the remaining butter, stuff a little between the skin and the breast meat and rub some over the skin of the turkey. Stuff a little bit of the stuffing between the skin and the breast also. Skewer the cavity opening shut. Also place a little stuffing in the neck cavity, tuck the neck skin under and skewer shut. Salt and pepper the turkey and I like to place about three pieces of bacon on top of the bird. I know, I know - this is not exactly the most low cholesterol way of preparing turkey--but none of us have a problem here and weve been eating this way for many, many years. Ive found that instead of using a roasting pan it is easier to use a homemade pan from extra heavy duty foil - using three layers of foil and making it just big enough to hold the bird and the sides need to be about 2 1/2" high. For a gas grill, I have placed the turkey crosswise on the grill so that the pan is evenly distributed over the two sets of jets. Set the flame so that a temperature of 300 to 325 degrees is maintained. On my 44,000btu grill, that is about the lowest setting. Cover with heavy duty foil for the majority of the cooking. Time about 20 minutes per pound at 300 degrees. Remove the foil for the last hour of cooking. Every once in while, baste the turkey with the juices (or with the basting juice recipe--to follow). I have "hot spots" in the jets of the grill--so about twice during the cooking I turn the turkey around (and the pan, of course) so that one side is not more cooked than another. Basting Juice: Melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium high heat. Chop the onion and saute in the butter until just translucent. Add the neck and the gizzard and continue cooking for about 4 minutes. Add the rosemary and stock and simmer until reduced by half. Strain well. Use the gizzard and neck in the stuffing or the gravy. For the basting juice, mix together the stock preparation, one half of the marsala and vermouth and the juice of one lemon. Use the remaining wine and vermouth and lemon juice if needed. I use all of the mixture for a 20 lbs turkey, so I wouldnt think you would need to use all of it for a smaller turkey. This really keeps the turkey moist and flavorful. BTW, roasting a turkey on the grill - even if you dont use this basing juice - makes a very, very flavorful and juicy turkey (and whole chicken too). DMFERRELL~~at;HAPPY.UCCS.EDU REC.FOOD.RECIPES From rec.food.cooking archives. Downloaded from G Internet, G Internet.