Well, wet brining done right makes a good turkey, but if you screw up brining, it can be a salty disaster, so I really don't recommend it for those who are nervous about hosting. If you are stressed out you are more likely to forget a step.
If it's fail-safe and pretty that you want, go with the oil-coat technique. I laughingly refer to it as "spa prep" turkey, because you massage it, and crisping it at the beginning with oil on the skin helps keep it from drying out. Here are the steps:
1. Make sure you have a good deep roasting pan with a rack in it (I find TJMaxx has really good ones this time of year for good prices if you need one.)
1. Buy a package of Ziploc 3 gallon BIG BAGS, the ones normally marketed for storing items around the house. They are also food-safe. Also buy a pack of steel poultry pins.
2. Buy your frozen turkey 3-4 days in advance of cooking, depending on size, and place it (still in the wrappings) in the fridge to defrost.
3. The night before cooking, get the bird out of the wrappings and remove the giblets for use in stuffing or gravy. Rinse the bird inside and out, pat it dry, and rub it with your choice of herb blends (there are plenty on the web, just Google), then put it in one of the ziplocs and put it back in the fridge to marinate overnight. (If you run out of fridge space, put the sealed bag in an ice chest and cover it with an ice-water bath.)
4. When you are ready to start to cook it, take any jewelry off your hands/arms and put it away; you're going to be going elbow-deep. Gather up two stalks of celery, a peeled whole onion and a head of garlic (don't peel the garlic, but cut the top of the head off to expose the tips of the cloves.), plus the whole peel of an orange half if you like a citrus flavor. Put these inside the cavity and pin it closed.
5. Thoroughly clean your sink and put your bird in it. Get a bottle of cooking oil (olive or whatever you have), and pour it into your hands. Rub that oil all over the turkey's skin, every inch of it.. Rub it thoroughly to get the oil worked well into the skin, then hold it up and let any excess drip off for a bit before you put in on the pan's rack.
6. Once on the rack, pull the tip of each wing up and tuck it behind the bird; this will keep them from drying out, and also flatten the bottom of the bird so it doesn't roll. If it's still cold, let it warm up until close to room temp before putting it in the oven.
7. Put it in the oven at the recommended temperature from the package and calculate the cooking time by weight. Cook it for an hour, then briefly pull it out and tent the breast loosely with foil; leave the foil on for the remainder of the cooking time.
8. Let it rest before carving. The bonus is that you also now have some delicious roasted garlic!
A, cheap frozen bird will be just fine; I find that brand makes no difference at all as long as it hasn't had a lot of additives put in, and IME that is more likely with the pricier national brands. Really large birds are often tougher with age, so for a large group we normally make two smaller ones, no more than 12 lbs. each. (Personally I like to get at least 5 lbs of leftover turkey out of the meal so that I can make gumbo, etc. with it, in addition to the traditional sandwiches. On black Friday 3 gallons of gumbo simmers away in my crock pots, some to eat and some to freeze.) I LOVE turkey and make one whenever I find a bargain on one.
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