For the first time, I decided to cook a turkey for 2024 Thanksgiving! I’d never done it before, and I wasn’t sure what I needed, but I knew one thing for sure: I needed a turkey!

I went to Costco and chose the smallest turkey they had, which was just over 10 pounds (sorry, little fella). They had turkeys over 20 pounds, but I went with the smaller size because it is just me (lol). The turkey was priced at $0.99 per pound. It was snowing in Salt Lake City when I went on Tuesday, November 26th. I grabbed my turkey, along with a couple of random seasonings, although I ended up not using them.

I watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn how to cook it and, based on what others said, I decided to brine the turkey. It seemed like a legit way to get a flavorful, tasty bird. The problem was that I didn’t have any kosher salt. I started cooking on Thursday, November 28th, Thanksgiving Day, and since Smith’s was the only store open, I went there to buy kosher salt, along with some herbs and vegetables.

I thoroughly washed my turkey, dried it off, and made sure there was nothing left in its cavity. I placed it on the cutting board and began preparing my brine.

After preparing the brine and getting everything ready, I realized a few things:

1. I wouldn’t eat a whole turkey.
2. I didn’t have a big container for the turkey.
3. I didn’t want to wait 3-5 hours for the turkey to cook.

Sooooo… I decided to carve it—guess where I learned how? YouTube, of course! I cut the turkey in half and carved it. I ended up with two thighs, two breasts, and two legs. I bagged half of it and put it in the freezer, then dropped the rest into my brine.

I waited approximately 7-8 hours, then placed the three parts of the turkey into an oven-safe container. I added some of my favorite herbs, along with a little butter and oil, and threw in some onion and potatoes as well.

The sweet spot for me was that I only needed to wait 60 minutes for it to cook. I waited for 60 minutes, called my parents in between, and after the 60 minutes of cook time, I gave it another 10 minutes. And here is the final result:

I had a little leftover rice and made myself a cocktail (sort of) with red wine, sparkling water, and lemon. The entire dinner, to be honest, wasn’t that bad. I had a pleasant meal with a delicious (half) turkey, and most of the turkey ended up as leftovers anyway. Cooking just half the turkey turned out to be a pretty good idea.

I learned a few things, though:

1. Carving the turkey made it easier and more manageable for me to cook. I realized I shouldn’t try to cook the whole turkey again; I care more about the taste, not the presentation.
2. Brining requires salt. I thought I was going to cook the whole turkey, but I ended up cooking just half. My turkey was a bit salty—not horrible, but you could taste it. Maybe less salt next time.
3. I forgot to oil spray my oven-safe container, and I didn’t have a good time washing it since I overcooked it a little bit. I’m going to oil spray it next time or just use an aluminum container instead.