anybody going to deep fry a turkey this thanksgiving? (1 Viewer)

[John Spencer]

curses, double-post.

 

[Mark R O]

Turkey Deep Fryers- best pricing I've seen so far- Wal-Mart today - $44.94 (less tank).

 

[Darren H]

Buzz, I'm brining my first turkey this year, and I'm ridiculously excited about it (for some odd reason). Last year, after my disastrous attempt to do the traditional-slow-roast-and-baste, I caught this episode of Good Eats (my favorite show on my favorite channel, FoodTV):
http://www.foodtv.com/foodtv/episode...EASP01,00.html
I'm using Alton Brown's recipe, which flavors the brine by using spiced (black pepper and allspice) vegetable stock. I prepared our brine last night, though I won't actually be roasting the bird until Sunday. Can't wait.

 

[Philip_G]

bring on the deep fry action
I hope I don't run out of propane! the tank has a lot less than I thought and I never know how much it's going to take

 

[Scooter]

Ok...done cookin'..eatin'..and here the report!


Turkey was DAMN tasty...white meat was a little dry..but here is the kicker..the skin..OUTSTANDING!!!! And here is my secret:


I came up with this idea a coupla days ago...and it worked REALLY nicely....about 10 minutes before the bird was done I threw into the oil 6 pieces of bacon! Just let it float in the oil and man..did it add flavor and crispness to the skin!!!!! And the bacon was damn special too!

How did y'all make out with your deep fried birds?

 

[Philip_G]

mine was perfect, moist and delicious
how long did you fry yours?
here it is, if anyone's curious
http://www.onlinemac.com/users/philip/whole.jpg

 

[Armando Zamora]

This was my second year deep frying a turkey. Definitely no turning back. The bird was fabulous. Everyone commented on how awesome the turkey tasted and how moist the meat was. We had a smaller crowd for this year's feast so I fried a 15-pounder which took all of about 55 minutes to cook. Gotta love it!!!

BTW, when it was time for cleaning up the deep fryer, I used a motorized siphon pump (similar to a gasoline hand-pump siphon) to pump the oil back into its containers. It operates on two D-batteries and the end has a screen so that the oil is "filtered" as it is siphoned. It pumped the oil fairly quickly and the bonus...no messy spills from trying to lift a heavy stockpot and pouring oil through a funnel back into a container. I found and bought the pump at a Bass Pro Shop and I believe it cost something around $20-25. Worth it in my opinion. Cleanup couldn't have been easier for such a project!!!

 

[dean benj]

Brined our first turkey this year a what a difference. I would highly recommend this to anyone, as it is pretty simple to do and will guarantee a moist turkey even if you overcook it.
A few tips- watch your salt content- most recipes call for about 1 cup(kosher, not iodized) per gallon, and I'd suggest to err on the low side- I did a 15lb the other day and used 1.5 cups with 2 gallons water with 1/2 cup of brown sugar, some minced garlic, bay leaves and fresh basil. Turn the turkey occasionally in the water and let sit overnight. Also, when removing from brine, wash thoroughly or better yet, soak in fresh water for about an hour. It is very possible to over salt a turkey to the point of unedible. Also, dont use "processed" birds as these are injected with a saltwater mix at the farm, and would result in a salty turkey.
We were going to smoke it, but could not get the smoker hot enough due to 25mph winds. Instead it went in the oven breast down for the first 2 hours, and then breast up for the remaining time. Pull the turkey at 160-165 breast as it will continue to cook as it sits for 20 minutes. Num Num.
Buzz- deep frying a brined bird is a great combination. If you can, do both-smoke it first then depp fry it- gives a excellant taste while sealing the juices.
For details on all of the above, check out bbq-porch.com under turkey tips- they have different brining tips, smoking recipes, deep frying and oven roasted. great site for general bbq as well.
Off to make a leftover turkey sandwich,
db

 

[Michael*K]

Didn't fry my bird, but the guy down the street did...and he set his garage on fire. :frowning:

 

[Philip_G]

Maybe some of you fryers will have time between opening gifts in the morning and frying your own turkey for dinner to fry one up for a local organization.

that's a good idea, once the oil is hot it doesn't cost any more to fry 2 or 3 birds than one, besides the cost of the turkey.
how much are turkeys in other parts of the world? jenni-o were on sale here for 59 cents a pound.

 

[Philip_G]

not bad, I didn't think to look at sam's club, oh well.
I think I'm going to try and save the oil this year, it's a nice golden color and there are NO chunks of anything in it, so I poured the top layer back into the 3 gallon jug and dumped the bottom inch or two, it was a little cruddy.
I have to leave town in about an hour for the weekend so I left it outside to freeze, I'll make room in the fridge sometime before spring

 

[Brad_Shifflett]

I deep fryed my first one this year, here is a link to all the photos. Hope you all enjoy:
www.pbase.com/bshifflett/thanksgiving
Very good, highly recommended to do.

 

[Peter Kline]

Looks great. Glad you enjoyed your "fryed" turkey. Unfortunately, some people didn't take care and the TV news showed a burned down house!

 

[Scooter]

I cooked mine for an hour...just a little past what was recommended.

Also...a whole fryer chicken is great done this way as well!!!! Well..hell...almost ANYTHING is better deep fried!

 

[Philip_T]

Bringing this turkey (thread) back to life!
I was reading through this thread and thought of a few questions.

Has anyone tried the cooking bag method? I've heard you can get incredibly juicy results from them, and I was planing on using one this year.

Actually, the whole plan was to brine the bird (got an open range bird from Vitamin Cottage) for around 18 hrs as Buzz did, lightly stuff it, and bag cook it.

Would one of those Home Depot 5 gallan buckets with a lid be okay for brining?

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Hmmmm... can you deep-fry the green bean casserole?

 

[Philip_G]

I don't see why not philip_T
Funny this thread should come back. I just got back from getting the propane tank topped off
p.s. I also stopped in burgers 'n sports while I was out
I've also heard of a method where you toss the bird in the oven at 400 or 500 degrees for an hour then turn the oven off and let it sit overnight. I do prime rib this way and imagine it would make good turkey too.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I've also heard of a method where you toss the bird in the oven at 400 or 500 degrees for an hour then turn the oven off and let it sit overnight.

Whoa, I don't know about that. Turkey has to reach an optimum internal temperature in order to kill all the little beasties, especially salmonella. I don't know if I'd trust an oven cooling from even 500 deg. to reach that temp in the bird and I would not risk the next few days on the hopper (or in the hospital) to try it out. My mom is 73 and she had a case of food poisoning last year that kept her in the hospital for three days. If she had not gotten off the floor to the phone, she would have not made it at all. I'm the first one to not worry all that much about cooking rare beef, med-rare pork (trichinosis has vitually disappeared in the U.S. - med-rare pork tenderloin, mmmmm), rare duck etc., but turkey and chicken must be done to 160 deg., period.

BTW, the bag method is great for juicy turkey, but the skin is nowhere near as crisp.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Would one of those Home Depot 5 gallan buckets with a lid be okay for brining?

Alton Brown from "Good Eats" is the turkey brining king and he used to use a clean 5 gallon bucket. He now uses a bucket type multi-gallon cooler like the kind football teams use to chill/serve Gatorade. Keeps the brine and turkey cold and has a spigot to drain.

 

[Philip_G]

Whoa, I don't know about that. Turkey has to reach an optimum internal temperature in order to kill all the little beasties, especially salmonella.

I don't see it as a problem. I believe it's baked the ofllowing day until it reaches the "done" temp.