Approximately 2 - 6 weeks before cooking, take a glass jar (with a lid). Put 8-12 ounces of olive oil in the jar. Take a whole HEAD of garlic, peel, slice (or use a garlic press if short on time), and put into the jar. Next, add whatever you want to (I put some dehydrated onions in, sometimes tarragon or Italian seasoning, some freshly ground pepper and/or some hot pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, or chipotle chile). For a different theme, I've put in a about 3 tsp or so each of Chinese 5 spice and ginger powder (or fresh). Shake the jar, every few hours, for the first week or so.

I buy hickory chunks, about the size of your fist, wherever I can find them. I use a wood chisel to cut them up into pieces about the size of 2 fingers together. Each chunk yields 6-8 pieces or so. The night before cooking, I place 15 - 20 pieces in water to soak overnight.

The morning of cooking, I strain the marinated oil so that I only have the liquid. I pour out any leftover charcoal and dust from the bottom of my Weber-style grill. I place the charcoal racks on each side of the grill so that there is about a 6-8" gap on the outside of both racks. In that gap, I place approximately 30 Kingsford charcoal pieces each. A rectangular, aluminum drip pan goes in the middle. I light the charcoal on each side. The coals are ready in about 30 minutes.

I take out the turkey and rinse it off. I slather it with Kitchen Bouquet and salt & pepper. I stick a meat thermometer in the breast (not touching bone) and set the pull-temp indicator for about 170° F.

Never stuff the bird (disease threat) nor try to use the juices (too oily) to make gravy. Just sprinkle salt and pepper (and maybe some Italian seasoning) in the cavity.

When the coals are ready, I put 4–5 pieces of the soaked hickory on top of the coals on each side. I spray the grill with Pam, put it on, and plop the turkey in the middle of the grill (over the drip pan). On goes the marinated oil, some more salt & pepper, and the lid.

Smoke, baby, smoke!!!!!

At the half hour, I start about 40 charcoal pieces or so on an old flattened garbage can lid. I put some more oil and salt & pepper on the bird. Try to keep the lid on as much as possible, so as to not lose a lot of heat. Opening does tend to "wake up" the coals with a fresh blast of oxygen.

At the hour, add the charcoal equally to both sides and more hickory/oil/salt/pepper.

We always buy the biggest turkey we can find, because we like the leftovers.

For the 23 lb. turkey tomorrow, I'm figuring about 3 hours cooking time. That means that I'll add the extra charcoal and hickory twice (after the initial start). Internal temperature should be around 180° F. We pull at 170° F or so and let it rest for awhile. The turkey will continue to cook itself (too much, and it will dry out). It usually is very juicy.

8:15 am - start original coals
8:45 am - put bird on
9:15 am - start 1st extra coals - apply oil/salt/pepper (40)
9:45 am - put extra coals on - apply oil/salt/pepper/hickory
10:15 am - start 2nd extra coals - apply oil/salt/pepper (30)
10:45 am - put extra coals on - apply oil/salt/pepper/hickory
11:45 am - bird should be ready to pull (170 - 175 degrees F)
12:15 am - should be EATS time.

You'll get a very dark brown bird, because of the Kitchen Bouquet.

It seems to take forever before the temperature starts to rise. In the last hour, watch it, because it will go up very quickly.

Save everything. We throw it all in (skin, bones, and all) with the carcass to make turkey stock (that we'll make turkey noodle soup out of within the following week).