While it’s not my first choice, I’ll partake of deep fried turkey when my brother-in-law cooks it over at his house.
The trail boss (wife) and I will cook a turkey breast on our electric rotisserie. Never tasted better turkey or chicken. And moist! My tongue is sweatin’ as I type. Just sprinkle lemon pepper all around it and plug it in. Set it and forget it, as Ron P likes to say.
Paddy
Theres that Nascar connection again! This is a favorite of the tailgating crowd. Someone is always cooking one near me, the best part is they always share. Produces a moist, flavorful, bird that is surprisingly ungreasy.
Most treat that 5 gallons of oil with great respect. The local process seems to call for two guys and a broom stick to submerge and retrieve the bird.
Personally it's a little more trouble than it's worth. Too much set-up and too much clean up. But hey if someone else is doing it, I'm in :^)
Cheers
Hi Jim, we have probably deep fried a turkey about 5 times. It is a process. It takes at least 5 gallons of peanut oil, quite expensive, but doesn't smoke as much as other oils. We brine the turkey for at least 12 hours covered in cold water, with kosher salt, brown sugar, peppercorns and a few bay leaves. You need enough space to keep it refridgerated during this time. You really don't have to brine it, I just think it is better. You need a thermometer to attach to the pot to make sure it reaches the right temp. My husband does the whole cooking process but I think it is 350%. The turkey has to be completely dry before submerging it into the hot oil. SLOWLY lower it into the oil. I believe it is 5 minutes per pound. After that he takes it out of the pot using a broom stick and lays it on some brown paper grocery bags to drain. Is it worth the effort? I don't know. It is truly delicious but then your minus the gravy and stuffing that you stuff the inside of the turkey. For Thanksgiving, I prefer the old fashion way. But honestly it is awsome otherwise. Geez, looks like I have written a novel. (nicer if someone invites you over and you don't have to cook it)! LOL..
Hi Jim,
I've cooked 3 turkeys. They all came out great and I get requests to do another each year. I max out my pot with a 16 lb. bird and about 2 1/2 gallons of peanut oil. Costco seems to be the best place to get it. It isn't oily and only takes 55 minutes to cook.
Hey ‘hoodie; howdy!
Welcome to the Barbecue Group. I like to boil brisket in water before smokin’ it, and Jim (and others) boil turkey in oil. What a great group. Enjoy being with us. We are growing, smoking, grilling and boilin’.
Paddy
I fry turkeys about once or twice a year. It is the only way that most of my family eats it since I started doing it. If you are not careful it can be messy and painful, but I've never burned myself.
The first time I tried it, Idid it on the stove. This is a definite no-no. Use peanut oil heated to 350f in a turkey cooker. 21/2 gallons should do the trick. Keep your bird to about 10-15lbs. I dry and rub my bird with Tony Cachere or Slap Yo Mama Cajun seasoning. I also inject it with a commercial injection fluid such as Tony Cachere's, or I make my own using 1 stick of butter, 1 tbs TC cajun seasoning, 1/2 chopped onion, and garlic powder to taste. Cook all ingredients together until flavors meld, and then use to inject bird.
It is a process, but the flavor is worth the work. Enjoy.
My son and I have deep fried turkey twice and it came out great, we used a flavor injector and mixed crab boil with juice or chicken broth and inject it all over. Make sure the skin is dry and we put the deep fryer on the grass so if any oil splashed out it would not stain the concrete or catch fire to anything. After you finish doing the turkey you can fry up some jalapeno poppers or mushrooms dipped in batter as sides.
Hi ST, Come on now, give us your take on clean-up. Do you store the oil for reuse? I have with our little deep fry but it is such a pain to clean up that it has fallen into disfavor.
But boy that turkey is good eh!
Cheers
I take a old clean tshirt and line the inside of a colander with it and strain the oil into a plastic tub with lid and use it once more. It is a pain sort of but the oil is expensive so I try to get more than one use out of it. I will have to experiment on a better way to strain and store maybe google it and see if I can find a answer.
Did my first deep fried turkey last year and loved it. Have had request to do it again..........
