Re: brining - As far as I know, you wouldn't poke holes for brining. You can inject the meat, which would poke holes, but that's a whole different process.
Not related to brining, but a couple years ago I invented an amazing technique for cooking juicy turkey (even if I do say so myself). It's really easy, and can be done in conjunction with brining and injection and all that other good stuff.
So here's the deal, the reason turkey breast gets dry is because turkeys aren't designed to cook evenly. By the time the inner bits are cooked through, the breast meat is already drying out. The year I learned this fact, I thought, "there has to be a way to correct for that."
I happened to have a freezer full of broth at the time, so what I did was, when I put the bird in the oven, I put it breast side down and put a block of frozen broth under the breast (which propped up the bird at a funny angle, but who cares). The ice under the breast meat kept that part cool while the rest of the bird cooked. Eventually, of course, the broth melted and the breast meat cooked too, but since it had a delayed start, the timing lined up perfectly. I let it cook submerged in the melted broth and only flipped it over near the very end to let the skin brown.It worked a treat, and I can honestly say it was the juiciest turkey I've ever had in my life.
Your plan looks awesome! Happy cooking!
