It seems obvious, as a food writer on to the subject of meat, that for November’s column I should write about turkey. But as a general rule, I’m not that excited about Thanksgiving turkey, so recently I spent some time Googling such phrases as “new ideas for cooking turkey” and “how to make turkey exciting.” Mostly what I came up with were suggestions for using non-traditional spice rubs, deep-frying and grilling. I don’t know exactly what I was looking for, but none of the spice rubs excited me very much, and the “be sure to have a fire extinguisher handy” caveat that comes with instructions for deep-frying made me a little leery.

But grilling…. My husband periodically likes to point out that, although I am officially the author of this column, he does most of the meat cooking in our house. So in keeping with that tradition, and the related fact that he’s very good with a grill, I decided “we” should try grilling a turkey. So I bought a turkey breast, brined it and then left home. I went to make phone calls to swing voters on behalf of Obama and then to yoga class.

I began to smell something delicious as I approached home, but I got a little nervous once I asked Nick how things were going. “This is definitely not something that an inexperienced griller should try,” he said. My thought was, “Thank goodness he’s not inexperienced,” but it is unusual for him to express anything other than complete mastery of the grill. As he began recounting his frustrations with figuring out exactly how to place the turkey breast in relation to the coals and the drip pan (which, it turns out, was too small) to avoid flare-ups, and told me how long it had been cooking, I started to think the whole thing was going to be a failed experiment. And in the darkness of an October evening, the skin on the turkey breast looked alarmingly black to me.

But once he brought it inside, it looked beautiful—perfect, even. And I couldn’t resist sneaking a little taste as he was carving. As Nick said once he tasted, “that’s the taste of sweet success!” In all honesty, the turkey was a little dry. But we both agreed that it was not any drier than the Thanksgiving turkeys of our childhoods, and the flavor more than made up for any lack of moisture. I have in the past used brines with all kinds of spices in them, and never actually tasted anything other than the salt and sugar in the finished product. This turkey breast was simply brined in salt water, a little vegetable broth and honey, and the smoky-sweet flavor was sublime.

All four members of our family gobbled it up. “It makes you want to eat turkey skin!” exclaimed Nick. “It tastes like honey bacon,” was Rex’s judgment (and coming from a 3-year-old who generally only eats meat in the form of bacon or hot dogs, that’s high praise!). Enzo just signed for more. I ate more turkey (and skin) than I care to admit, and Nick even agreed that all the trouble had been worth it. Despite the dryness, we both thought that gravy would only mask the wonderful taste of the meat.

The Co-op sells Diestel Natural Turkeys for Thanksgiving that come from the Diestel Family Turkey Ranch in Sonora, California. They are all-natural, sustainably and humanely raised, and fed an all-vegetarian diet with no hormones, antibiotics or other by-products. In short, they are of the high quality that we’ve come to expect from the Co-op. And they’re tasty! See www.diestelturkey.com for more information.

We have an 18-inch charcoal grill, and there’s no way a whole turkey would fit on it. But for Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings, a turkey breast could feed up to six people, and if you have a 22-inch charcoal grill, or a large gas grill, try the whole turkey! As Nick said, it’s not for the novice griller, and every grill has its own peculiarities, so take the instructions below as guidelines, and enjoy a super-tasty, even exciting turkey this year!

Honey-Brined, Smoked Turkey (adapted from several sources)

This recipe is for a whole turkey; I used half the amount of brine for a turkey breast, and it was more than adequate.

1 gallon hot water

1 pound salt (I used the coarse sea salt available in the bulk section at the Co-op)

2 quarts vegetable broth

1 pound honey

1 (15-20 pound) turkey, with giblets removed

Vegetable oil, for rubbing turkey

Approximately 2 cups hickory wood chips, pre-soaked in water

Preparing the bird:

Combine the hot water and the salt, and stir until the salt dissolves. Stir in the vegetable broth and honey (if the honey is also warmed, it dissolves better). Place the (thawed) turkey in a large, food-safe plastic bag and pour the brine over it. (One recipe I read suggested brining the turkey in a large cooler, in which case you should add ice to the brine, and check periodically to make sure that the temperature in the cooler is under 40 degrees, adding more ice if necessary). Refrigerate for 12-48 hours. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse and dry thoroughly. Rub the bird thoroughly with vegetable oil.

Preparing the grill:

The idea in grilling a turkey is to provide an oven-like environment, with indirect heat somewhere between 300 and 350 degrees F. That’s easy if you have a gas grill, and a little more complicated with charcoal (you can use an oven thermometer to help you monitor temperature inside your grill). Either way, be sure to have extra fuel on hand (an extra propane tank, or more charcoal). With charcoal, you’ll need to keep adding hot coals, so a chimney starter is indispensable for pre-heating coals. On our small grill, Nick added new coals about every half hour, and he had to remove the turkey from the grill and take off the grate to do it. A hinged grate would be really useful. The turkey needs to cook over indirect heat, so a gas grill that has three burners, with the center one turned off, is ideal. For charcoal, bank the coals on two sides of the grill, or in a ring around the outside. You’ll need a drip pan that’s larger than your turkey (a foil roasting pan would be ideal) to catch drippings, preventing flare-ups. If you’re vigilant, and keep adding water to the pan to keep the drippings from burning, you can make gravy from them.

Make two smoke bombs by placing about ¾-1 cup of the soaked wood chips on a double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Gather up the foil, leaving an opening at the top for the smoke to come out.

Cooking the turkey:

Set a smoke bomb somewhere in your grill — either directly on the coals, or on the cooking grate (wherever it seems like the smoke will circulate best throughout the grill). If you’re using charcoal, put some of the soaked wood chips directly on the hot coals. Set the turkey above the drip pan, and close the lid. Check the turkey periodically, every 15-60 minutes, depending on your set-up and how quickly the skin is cooking. Start by checking every 15 minutes, and if everything’s fine you can gradually let it go longer. Rotate and/or flip the turkey about every 30 minutes to ensure even cooking. Nick only cooked our turkey breast skin-side down for about 15 minutes of the 2 hours total cooking time, but he rotated about every 15 minutes. After the first hour, put the second smoke bomb in the grill. The turkey should take about as long to cook on the grill as it would in the oven. Our breast took a little longer since Nick had to keep removing it from the grill to add more coals. Start checking the temperature with a meat thermometer when you’re getting close to target cooking time. When the breast registers 165-170 degrees, it’s done. Let the turkey rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.

For more tips and ideas on grilling turkeys, check out about.com and eatturkey.com.