Frying the Turkey

When the pot reached 350°(about 30 min.), I got the turkey.  Put your turkey on the hook or in the basket, whatever your situation.  Take it out to the pot, with something to catch the juice dripping from the turkey, and some paper towels.  Now, final check:

• You have your safety gear on (not kidding: shoes, glasses, gloves, long pants...and for God's sake PUT DOWN THAT BEER!!!  There's time for that later.)

• Your turkey is dry on the outside...if not, use the paper towels to dry it off.

• Turn the gas down to the lowest setting, or even off (we can always relight).  This is to avoid grease fires, and is a small price to pay versus the alternative.  (also, this is what the lid is for...you won't be cooking with it, but if you start a fire you need it on hand to smother the fire)  HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER HANDY....a garden hose is not enough and will make it worse.

• Now, take your hook or basket and SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY and CAREFULLY let the first INCH of the turkey into the oil....STOP...HOLD....count to 5......lower another 3 inches...STOP....HOLD....count to 5...etc...continue until the entire bird is down.  Be especially careful toward the end when hot oil very happily shoots out turkey's ASS. (I can say ASS cuz it's my page....ass ass ass :)

• Relight your burner, or turn it back up to high.  The temp will drop from 350° to about 300° fairly quickly....give it enough juice to stabilize the temp between 295°-315°.  I've done it higher, but the turkey gets too dark on the outside.  This range gets a nice golden brown turkey that is fully cooked.  Monitor your temps and keep it in the temp range for 3 minutes per pound.  Ideally, if you have a remote-probe thermometer, you have placed it in the middle of the breast, surrounded by meat.  After 3 minutes/pound, your breast therm should register over 150°...time to remove "the bird".

Removing the Turkey (ugh, what a mess)

OK, turkey is cooked and we gotta take it out.

Checklist:

• Safety gear (yup, still need it)

• Lots of newspaper or paper grocery bags

• Sturdy place to set the basket/turkey/hook.

• Optional pan and foil.

Again, FIRST - Turn off the gas.  Then, Slowly and Carefully start raising the turkey, letting it drain as much as you can stand.  When it is completely out, transfer it to your table over a good layer of paper to catch all the oil drippings.  I would highly suggest that at this point you don't try to bring it inside yet....my wife thinks so too.  On your table, let it set for a few minutes before cutting, or wrap it in foil until serving time.  If you wrap it well enough, it'll stay in the "safe" range of "hot" for hours.  Just keep in mind that the skin will get less crispy as it sits in the foil.

The taste of a fried turkey is something you have to experience.  It's somewhere between roast turkey and fried chicken, and MOIST and FLAVORFUL. 

Additional tips:

For a great turkey gravy, save some of the fatty pieces from the turkey when preparing, and render them down in a skillet.  Then, add some flour, seasonings, diced onion, and chicken broth....

The giblets and neck can be added to the frying turkey during the last 10-minutes of the cook, and taken out with the turkey (you can even chop them up for the gravy).

If you don't have any marinade handy, I've had success with a base of Italian salad dressing mixed with additional Cajun-type seasonings and hot sauce, then strained so it won't clog up the injector.  I've also had spectacular failures with butter and lime juice...can you say CHEESE, which doesn't go through the syringe very well.

Hope you found this helpful....now I gotta go write about that 20-lb turkey that spilled boiling oil all over my new shoes and on my deck......

Thanks for visiting,

Randy