It's not so clear cut as that(though I will concede that being mindful of carryover is an important point). The problem with turkey is that the breast and thig

It's not so clear cut as that(though I will concede that being mindful of carryover is an important point). The problem with turkey is that the breast and thigh meat are really quite different. The former being leaner has an ideal cooking temp of ~150 and the latter having more connective tissue is better at ~165-170. It wasn't until just a few years ago the FDA revised their safe cooking recommendation of 165 for the breasts and 180 for the thighs to just 165 for the whole bird. Brining caught on because it allowed an acceptable degree of overcooking the breast until the thighs were done. I believe the current ideal method on cooking turkey these days is salting vs brining and using ice packs on the breasts to create a ~20 degree gap between the breasts and the thighs before putting it into the oven. Ideally, we would just break up the whole bird and cook it according to the cut, but tradition dictates a whole bird. I butterflied / spatchcocked my turkey last year.