Page 201 - Turkey Book from Meathead

Finally! All the pregame activities are over. It's time to get down to business. You want to begin by preheating the oven about 5 hours before your guests are ready to sit down. Yes, your grill or smoker is really an outdoor oven. Get over it.
10| Crank your oven/grill/pit up to 325°F or as close as possible measured at the level of the cooking grate by a digital thermometer. Do not measure the temp using the cheap thermometer in the lid unless you plan to eat the lid. There can be a great dierence between the grate temp and the lid temp.
11| Clean. When it is hot, clean the grate that you will cook the bird on before you put the drip pan in. Week-old grease and gunk on the cooking grates will not add the kind of complexity you want in your gravy. Now put the drip pan and all the gravy fixins onto the cooker at least 2 to 3 inches below the bird if possible.
12| Probe. If you have a leave-in digital thermometer with a probe on a wire, insert the probe into the breast so the tip is in the center of the thickest part of the breast, being careful not to touch the ribs. Digital thermometers have small sensors and they are very close to the tip, so they are by far the best. The sensitive areas of a dial thermometer are too big to be accurate.
13| Now add your smoke wood. Turkey loves smoke, but too much can ruin it in a hurry, and there is a fine line. The first time you try this recipe we beg you to go easy on the smoke wood. Overdo it and the bird will taste like an ashtray.