Turkey Fryer with Seafood Basket

Hi,

My Mother and sister went to a fish cooking class at Jewel this evening. At the close, they had door prizes where my sister won Tilapia and my Mother won a Cajun Injector 30 Quart Gas Turkey Fryer Kit with Seafood Boiler. Instantly, this was transformed into an unexpected gift for my birthday, which will occur eventually in four months.

I have seen these in action exactly once: when they were filled with corned beef briskets. Besides, the obvious fried turkey, what else do you do with these?

For the obvious end-use of a fried turkey, any tips? Recipes? Safety considerations? I've heard they make a big mess, with splattering oil, anything I can do to minimize this?

Any and all information is appreciated.

Regards,

They make an outstanding setup for boiling wort in beermaking. And I vaguely remember a Julia Child Cooks With ... episode where Emeril used one for a crab boil.

Why, you use it to fry fish, shrimp and oysters.

Cathy2 wrote:For the obvious end-use of a fried turkey, any tips? Recipes? Safety considerations? I've heard they make a big mess, with splattering oil, anything I can do to minimize this?

C2,

Bruce Cook's the source when it comes to frying turkey, he's even written a short, but thorough, Turkey Frying Tutorial, which I will include. To minimize spatter the main thing is the turkey be dry inside and out.

I have found no matter what you do, or how cautious you are, frying turkey makes a mess, no way around. Cardboard, such as from a refrigerator box, helps, scattering kitty littler helps more, but still, the oil spot mess appears. Just ask Ellen.

Far as additional uses, corn, corned beef and corn dogs, in other words, steam, boil or fry. I've also found the burner handy for cooking outdoors with cast iron and starting lump charcoal in my Weber charcoal chimney.

Actually, starting charcoal in the chimney over the burner, no pot, obviously, may prove to be your main use, that and burning 'gunk' off of smoker and grill grates.

By the way, it's crawfish season, nothing cries Crawfish Boil like a big ol' Turkey Fryer pot.



Have fun, be careful.

Enjoy,
Gary
--


Bruce Cook
BBQ List
Fried Turkey Tutorial
4/01

Cajun Fried Turkey

12-18 lb Turkey
1/2 lb Butter
12 oz Hot Sauce
3 T Onion juice
1 T Garlic juice
3 T Liquid Crab Boil
Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning or your favorite seasoning.
Wondra (optional)

Measure amount of peanut oil needed by placing turkey in pot and filling with water. Remove turkey and mark water level.

Melt butter add other ingredients.

Inject seasoned butter into breasts, thighs, legs, and wings in the middle or top. Make sure you inject slowly and pull injector out slowly. Try to use the same hole to inject into each piece. This way you can season all areas of the meat.

Season cavity and outside skin with your favorite poultry seasoning. I prefer to use Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning.

Let sit uncovered in refrigerator. Overnight is fine. You want the skin to dry out a little.

Prior to cooking let come to room temperature
Sprinkle lightly with Wondra flour (helps crisp skin) optional

NOTE: A FIRE EXTINGUISHER should be nearby and available for immediate use. Best if someone is nearby holding it while lowering turkey into pot of oil.

Heat oil to 350 degrees. Turn burner off. Slowly lower turkey into pot about 1/4 of the way. Slowly raise out. Repeat to 1/2 way. Continue till fully immersed. Watch out for splattering. Be cautious!

Relight burner as soon as turkey is in oil.. When temperature returns to 350 degrees begin timing 3 minutes per pound. After time check internal temperature. If not return to oil for five minutes. Check again.

Let sit for 15 minutes. Carve. Save carcass for stock.

Eat a bite or two of hot, crisp skin prior to carving. This is the reward for the effort!

Peel skin and eat prior to carving. This is the reward for the effort!

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I have seen these in action exactly once: when they were filled with corned beef briskets. Besides, the obvious fried turkey, what else do you do with these?

For the obvious end-use of a fried turkey, any tips? Recipes? Safety considerations? I've heard they make a big mess, with splattering oil, anything I can do to minimize this?

Any and all information is appreciated.

Regards,

Random thoughts:

They work great for canning!

When frying remember oil splatters and can leave stains on wood or concrete. The stains on concrete eventually erode away, but that can take awhile (ask Ms. Wiv).

I highly recommend that you keep a fire extinguisher nearby, get one the can be used on all fires.

Don't forget the laws of displacement when filling with oil or water.

Oil splatters, I suggest bringing to temperture, turn off fire, add food, and then relight fire.

Wear long sleeves and use pot holders to lower food into pot. Splatters can hurt a little. Frequently, people will drop something they are holding when they get splattered. More out of surprise than pain.

I use mine to boil potatoes when making mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. This takes some heat out of the kitchen. Same with boiling corn on the cob.

Blackend steaks, fish, or chicken.

I've used turkey fryers quite a few times (75+) and the best advice I can give is to be aware of what your are doing and practice fire safety. I treat them like I would a gun. They can be dangerous around others if you aren't careful.

Keep dogs and children away.

Don't wear sandals or be barefoot when frying. (Voice of experience)

Consider it just an extra big and hot stove top burner.

Make sure your gas connections are tight and you have enough fuel. Keeping an extra tank around is a good idea.

I usually put a large piece of flat cardboard under the fryer and dump a bag of kitty litter around the fryer to to catch splatters.

Use of alcohol is not recommended. Intoxication can create problems, whether its the cook or a guest.

DON'T FORGET THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!!!

Feel free to ask me questions. Gary might have a post or two I've made in the past with other ideas.

Cathy, at Thanksgiving I always fry a Turkey and some ducks, as MSREV prefers duck to turkey. I season the duck with Chinese 5 spice and salt. However, I've found it impossible to get that crispy skin in the the turkey fryer without overcooking the duck. After frying, though, I broil them quickly in the oven and you get a perfectly crispy skin.

Bruce wrote:They work great for canning!

You have my attention there. I assume you're suggesting I use my regular canning pot and use the propane burner to heat it up. Despite heavy air conditioning power in the kitchen, overdone by all standards, when I am canning it cannot compete. I have a friend, who as a poor grad student, did all her canning on the patio to save overheating her apartment.

I see from all the ideas, this was an exceptionally well-thought out gift from my family. Sure it dropped into their lap, like my first digital camera, but this was a toy I never entertained wanting. It looks like I'm going to have some new avenues for fun.

Any more ideas, I will be pleased to accept.

Thanks!

My brother in-law is a turkey fry-master. During the Christmas holidays this year he fried 5 whole turkeys in 3 days (we like turkey!). People have done a good job of posting the basic safety info - outdoors, not on a flammable surface (like a wood deck), fire extinguisher handy, pre-measuring the liquid, and long sleeves and closed shoes. The same welding gloves that are so handy with handling hot smoker parts are great for handling the hot fryer parts.

From the department of the obvious department . . . deep fryers are not a way to quickly thaw frozen turkeys. Unless the objective is to use the fryer as a mortar to lob turkeys into the back yards of your neighbors.

For a series of videos on what can go wrong with a turkey fryer, visit this website at Underwriter Labs (UL is NOT a fan of these things): http://www.ul.com/media/newsrel/nr062702.html
It's either scary or knee-slapping funny, depending upon your experience and point of view.

The secondary use of the turkey fryer down at my brother in law's is as a great cooker for low country boils.

Cathy2 wrote:

Bruce wrote:They work great for canning!

You have my attention there. I assume you're suggesting I use my regular canning pot and use the propane burner to heat it up. Despite heavy air conditioning power in the kitchen, overdone by all standards, when I am canning it cannot compete. I have a friend, who as a poor grad student, did all her canning on the patio to save overheating her apartment.

The first thought that came to mind when I saw your request was canning. I know you can a lot and while I do not, I know that moving the process outside will definitely be worth it. I vaguely remember my mother and grandmother canning and know it is a hot process.

Cathy2 wrote:Any more ideas, I will be pleased to accept.

Turkey fryers work great for quickly lighting charcoal for the WSM, after you have completed the 5th step though

While we're on the subject, does anyone reuse the oil for these fryers? My brother-in-law usually grills one turkey and deep fries the other. I saw him cart up jugs of oil from the basement and tried to persuade him not to reuse the oil from the previous Thanksgiving!!! To my horror, he did use the old oil, of course dumping in one new jug.

My family always teases me for being paranoid about food safety, but one near-death experience with food poisoning will do that to a person. We all survived the holiday, but let me know if you are supposed to use fresh oil (each year)

A reminder for the intellectually challenged: Do not put your fryer under a snow-covered tree. Hot oil and snowballs are not a good mix (as we discovered).

janeyb wrote:While we're on the subject, does anyone reuse the oil for these fryers? My brother-in-law usually grills one turkey and deepfries the other. I saw him cart up jugs of oil from the basement and tried to persuade him not to reuse the oil from the previous Thanksgiving!!! To my horror, he did use the old oil, of course dumping in one new jug. My family always teases me for being paranoid about food safety, but one near-death experience with food poisoning will do that to a person. We all survived the holiday, but let me know if you are supposed to use fresh oil (each year)

A reminder for the intellectually challenged: Do not put your fryer under a snow-covered tree. Hot oil and snowballs are not a good mix (as we found discovered).

I do reuse oil. The key is to strain all of the particles out of it. I have an oil strainer I use. Cheesecloth would work well too. I keep the oil in the coolest part of my basement and have never had a problem. I have reused the oil 2-3 times. Usually within 2-3 months. After that I consider the oil to have lost the properties and flavor. Saving oil for a year is a long time, and I have never done it. I'm pretty sure the oil will get rancid and spoil. You should be able to identify this by the smell when pouring the oil out.

Never save oil after frying fish.

I've just come across an alternative for those of us curious about deep fat fried turkey but reluctant to commit to fire extinguishers and gallons of peanut oil. A south side caterer, Pearl Griffith, is making this her speciality. Give her three or four days' notice and you can pick up a 12-14 pound deep fried turkey for $45.

I got to try it out thanks to a silent auction prize I'd landed. I haven't had other deep fried turkey to compare it with but I was delighted with this one. It looked great too--a beautiful deep mahogany. Even better, the carcass made by far the best turkey soup I've ever had. Does anyone have a theory on why that might be?

The business is called "Turkey on the QT." Phones are 312 699 3145 cell or 312 225 2081. She also does all sorts of other catering, for groups from 2 to 5000 she says. I didn't try anything else, but instead took advantage of the fact that she's just around the corner from (presumably not the same)Pearl's Place for other treats.

Hi Ann,

If and when we have our rib compartive tasting this summer, I propose we add cobbler to the mix. But I digress...

When you collected your turkey, was it fresh out of the grease? Did you collect it, then zip home to eat it promptly? If you had to reheat it before eating, how was that accomplished?

Thanks for a great tip!

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:When you collected your turkey, was it fresh out of the grease? Did you collect it, then zip home to eat it promptly? If you had to reheat it before eating, how was that accomplished?

I was about half an hour late picking it up so it was still warm but not "hot out of the grease." She provides warming directions, which basically involve removing the paper it's sitting on and sticking it in the oven for a few minutes. I did that for the 15 minutes or so while we were getting the rest of the dinner on the table and it seemed to work fine.

Long ago I saw an episode of Good Eats where Alton used the propane burner to fire up a wok. Outdoors of course. Now I long for a propane burner nearly every time I use my apartment stove with its 3.2 btu gas burner.

That was for Alton's "Squid Vicious" recipe. As I recall, it looked very very good.

Hi,

I recently bought a propane tank for $20 at Costco. It seems wherever I look to get it filled, it is leave your new tank, pay some money and take a used tank home. Should I be returning this tank and simply do this exchange thing?

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I recently bought a propane tank for $20 at Costco. It seems wherever I look to get it filled, it is leave your new tank, pay some money and take a used tank home. Should I be returning this tank and simply do this exchange thing?

Regards,

Cathy,

I have not exchanged a tank in years. You have to find a hardware store who can refill it (look for a large Propane tank on the side of the building). In my area I always go to the ACE Hardware at the intersection of 75th street and Rickert, across the parking lot from the Naperville Bobak's location.

Flip

Cathy2 wrote:I recently bought a propane tank for $20 at Costco. It seems wherever I look to get it filled, it is leave your new tank, pay some money and take a used tank home. Should I be returning this tank and simply do this exchange thing?

I have been exchanging propane tanks for years without any problems. Moreover, I have never heard of anybody having any problems with exchanged tanks. It used to be that you had to check whether or not the tanks had newer style safety valves, but the old tanks are pretty much out of circulation, so I don't think that is an issue.

Most of the tank exchange programs around are serviced by third party companies that are in the tank exchange business (like Blue Rhino). In the past you could get stuck with some pretty decrepit looking tanks. These days, they inspect and maintain the recycled tanks pretty well before refilling them, which is actually a good reason to exchange rather than refill. I think there still are a few places that will refill your own tank (especially outside the city), but they sometimes require that you leave it with them and pick it up later. My uncle lives in the boonies and has propane for cooking and hot water. He bribes his gas guy to fill his portable tanks when making a delivery (I don't know how safe that is).

By exchanging tanks, you may only save $5 over that incredibly low costco price, but it is the environmentally responsible thing to do. These days, I don't think there are any significant safety issues with doing it. However, at $20 for a new tank (are you sure it is not reconditioned also?), there is not much of an economic incentive to exchange. Refilling rather than exchanging can save you a bit more, but the added hassle may not be worth it (but you do get to keep your own tank).

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I recently bought a propane tank for $20 at Costco. It seems wherever I look to get it filled, it is leave your new tank, pay some money and take a used tank home. Should I be returning this tank and simply do this exchange thing?

I have had good luck with refills at the Amerigas on Sangamon just north of Fulton in the West Loop. (I believe there are other locations elsewhere in Chicago and its environs as well.) I go there because it's cheaper than the exchange programs at the gas stations in my area, not because I am wedded to keeping a particular tank, though, as I've never purchased a tank. They actually used to charge by weight/volume so you would just pay for however much they put in your tank, but now they just do a flat fee per tank. I think it's $11 or $12. I have done exchanges as well and have never had a problem with them either, for what it's worth.

Couldn't find any place in chicago that sold fried turkeys so I ended up buying a turkey fryer so I could finally try this out for myself. After doing some internet surfing I realized how dangerous this can be, anyone have any good tips for turkey frying? I will preseason the turkey with a dry rub as wel as inject marinade and do the frying outside of course, use peanut oil, etc. If anyone has any turkey frying tips I'd love to hear them, thanks in advance and hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving holiday!

HAVE A FIRE EXTINGUISHER NEARBY.
NO BOOZE UNTIL TURKEY IS DONE
NO CHILDREN OR ANIMALS NEARBY.

Be slow and deliberate handling turkey and hot oil.

Put the turkey in the pot and fill the pot to where it just barely covers the turkey. Remove turkey and then mark the water line. This will prevent displacement of hot oil when putting it in. You want at least 4 and preferably 6 inches of space between the top of the pot and the oil when the turkey is in it.

Dry the turkey thoroughly before putting it in the oil.

Heat your oil to 350º, turn off the burner, lower turkey then start your burner again bringing the temperature up to 325ºWhen putting the turkey in the oil lower it slowly. It will splatter oil. I recommend gloves, long sleeves and pants, and NO sandals.

Turn off the burner before removing turkey. Pull turkey out slowly and let excess grease drip.

Ideally when putting in and pullling out turkey it is better to have two people lifting with a pole through the handle of the turkey lifter. Its not necessay but it can help. I've never done it that way but I've fried over 50 turkeys and know what to expect.

I would suggest putting cardboard and or a couple of bags of kitty litter around to soak up dripped oil.

Don't do on a wooden deck, in a garage, or near anything flammabe. If the oil catches fire outside of the pot you have a big problem.

If the oil catches fire put the lid on immediately. Don't use water!!!!

I put something together a few years ago about how to do this but don't know where its at. Gwiv may have it and can post it.

Alton Brown did an episode on frying whole turkeys where the main focus is on safety.

Here's the transcript:
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season10/fry_turkey/fryturkey.htm

Wow, thanks alot the info is much appreciated!

If you've got Comcast cable with On Demand, the Alton Brown fried turkey episode is available for viewing. It can be found within some of the obvious menu selections.

Question: is there a reason you need to use water for the displacement? I mean, why can't you lower the turkey into the pot and cover with the cold oil you intend to use (obviously you need to drain the oil out of the cavity, same as water) Then you can just heat the oil, and don't have to dry the turkey & pot.

Reason not to?

easier to work with and drain the water. plus your turkey won't be slimey.

Hi,

This query has been merged into an existing thread on turkey fryers with lots of relevent information.

Regards,

Mhays wrote:Question: is there a reason you need to use water for the displacement?
Reason not to?

In addition to the other issues, by dropping an uncooked turkey into the oil you are going to leave a good deal of liquid (water, blood, juice, etc) in the oil. When you bring the oil up to temp you'd have a lot of popping and splattering until the oil boils all of this stuff off.

Not fun stuff when dealing with that amount of water vs that amount of oil!

FWIW,
Dave

2 more points.

Make a mark on the side of the pot that is permanent then you won't have to worry about displacement.

I wouldn't recommend frying a turkey over 16lbs. 12-14 is better though.