Fried Turkey All The Time

We're not having a deep-fried turkey this year -- so is there any place that has it on their daily menu ? (I know Cajun Charlie's and other joints that will let you order a whole fried turkey, but I'm after everyday take-out.)

I must admit I love watching the Coleman indoor electric turkey fryer infomercial, but I'd never actually try this on my own countertop.
>>Brent

Is this the infomercial you refer to? Fried turkey is best when prepared Extra Crispy!

Jim,

Thanks for posting that link. I do know someone who was severely burned in a turkey-fryer accident. He didn't have to have skin grafts, but it was touch and go.

Considering that I still have the burn scar from an accident with overheated tomato sauce more than 15 years ago, this is one culinary technique I'm not tempted to try.

It's easy to forget how dangerous cooking can be if you're not careful. Even using less outre techniques, you can set things on fire, burn yourself, cut yourself, slip on spilled food and fall.

I'm a klutz, it's true, but I've done all of those things. Fortunately, the fires have quickly succumbed to baking soda or closing the oven door without damaging more than dinner and a few potholders, and I haven't severed more than the very tip of my finger (on a mandoline). And I wasn't nearby when the glass pan I thought was Pyrex exploded.

Wishing everyone here a safe holiday season!

Avoiding kitchen fires

2 Things (appropriate for next week)

I fry A LOT of turkeys. The key is to measure the height of the oil, by first filling pot with water, adding turkey, pushing it down to cooking height and removing all water above the height of the bird. Remove the bird, and mark the side of the pot at the water level line. This is the level to fill with oil to before starting.

The guy in the demo dropped in the bird. NEVER do this. From the time the bird first touches the oil, until it is coming to the top of submersion, is about a 2 minute process. SLOWLY lower. And you should have patted dry the outside AND inside of the bird before starting this. (I have fire proof elbow length gloves just for this one task of lowering birds in the drink)

Secondly, to kind of answer the question, in doing turkeys about once a month in the fryer, I learned one thing. Turkey is turkey. When in the oven, the smoker, or in the fryer, after you slice it, and as it cools, it kinda dries fast (white meat faster than dark of course).

So if I ever start that BBQ restaurant one day, fried turkey legs are a possibility, but fried turkey slices/sandwichs etc would be too difficult to control (and at a 1 hour cook time, not viable. Even whole turkey breasts are about 45min depending on size) I think maintaining heat/moisture is the issue.

But I'm a backyard guy with no experience in the retail side of things.

Willkat98 wrote:I fry A LOT of turkeys.

Will,

I haven't fried a lot of turkeys, but I've fried a few, maybe 10-12 over the last few years. Never had a problem mainly because I religiously follow fellow BBQ enthusiast and all around turkey fryer maven Bruce Cook's Turkey Tutorial.

Enjoy,
Gary
-

Bruce Cook
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!

Great post G_Wiv

I forgot a crucial point. I always have the fire extinquisher ready, and I'm doing it on a cement patio >15 yards from house, tree, etc. And the dogs are locked in the basement for that hour

I'm gonna try that recipe. I buy Tony C's by the gallon jug this time of year!

Thanks

Any recipe that includes the words "fire extinguisher" probably is contraindicated for 90 percent of all cooks.

A friend of mine burned off the front of his house with one. He left the fryer unattended on the front porch.

One could make the case that turkey fryers are unreasonably dangerous and should be banned, at least as they are currently designed. This time of year, you see mountains of them in the discount stores. They're cheap, almost disposable-cheap, so there is a lot of temptation for people to use them very casually, without due regard for the risk.

Any recipe that includes the words "fire extinguisher" probably is contraindicated for 90 percent of all cooks.

I might be tempted to deep fry a turkey if I had the access to a commercial fryer and a range hood.

However, the notion of doing ANYTHING in the flimsy looking aluninum turkey fryers that I have seen out there is positively frightful for a klutz like me.

Cowdery

I can agree to alot of that.

I see them stacked up at Walgreens for like $29.

If anyone attempts fried turkey, go for the larger, 36qt Bayou Classic from Home Depot or elsewhere.

The one in the video looks about like the Walgreens 26-30 qt, which one is just asking for trouble.

And he easily tipped his pot over (in the video). It was a tall thin pot on what looked to be a POS stand.

Mine was like $70, very large pot, and a cast iron type stand that I could never push over with the ease that guy did. The stand is probably 20# and very low center of gravity.

So banned? I would say, ban the cheap crap, for sure.

I fry turkeys too. Then again, I recently built a open pit, filled it with burning wood and cooked a hundred pound animal filled with flammable lard over the embers in a very crowded neighborhood.

But I agree, the risk/reward equation for frying a turkey is just too damn close to justify risking life and property for a crispy bird. That's why I insist on stacking the reward side of the ledger by also frying oysters, shrimp, and this year for the first time, corn dogs as prelude to the T-Bird.

I'm almost grown, and I understand the reality of boiling oil over an open flame. I'm ready to internalize that.

If I immolate, I still won't hate. To each his own.

cowdery wrote:Any recipe that includes the words "fire extinguisher" probably is contraindicated for 90 percent of all cooks.

Chuck,

You don't keep a fire extinguisher in your kitchen as a matter of course?

Pretty much everything is dangerous if used improperly, hammer, car, tequila. Turkey fryers, which are great mutiuse devices, are no different.

Enjoy,
Gary

Since Gary posted my tutorial there is one part I left out and would add now.

Don't drink alcoholic beverages while doing this. I can't prove it statistically but turkey frying is generally a man thing. THe problem starts when the begins to get everything together and opends a beer. As the process evolves by the time he is supposed to be putting the turkey in the oil he's at beer 2-3 and maybe even 4. Guess what, his judgement and attention is shot and the risk of fire goes up about as fast as a fire in a bucket of oil.

I've fried 60+ turkeys over the years. I never let my guard down.

jlawrence01 wrote:I might be tempted to deep fry a turkey if I had the access to a commercial fryer and a range hood.

However, the notion of doing ANYTHING in the flimsy looking aluninum turkey fryers that I have seen out there is positively frightful for a klutz like me.

J Lawrence,

I can tell you from personal experience that it is a BAD idea to try to deep fry a turkey at home with ordinary kitchen equipment. A very bad idea, especially if you've never done it before and the turkey is not perfectly dry. Excess moisture causes the oil to bubble up over the sides of the pot

I agree on the flimsy turkey fryer set-ups. I have a pre ownership change New Braunfels steel construction burner set-up and a 43-quart stainless steel pot I bought at one of the restaurant supply houses on Madison street.

I'm seriously thinking about replacing my NB burner and stand with something even more study such as one of these.

Enjoy,
Gary

It's my understanding that Popeye's Chicken sells deep fried turkeys. Might be a safer and cheaper option.

YankeeBBQ Boy wrote:It's my understanding that Popeye's Chicken sells deep fried turkeys. Might be a safer and cheaper option.

YankeeBBQ,

Intrigued by this I called Popeye's and inquired. They get them in fully cooked and frozen, the customer reheats in their home oven. I also looked on the Popeye's web site, seems they get the turkeys, or at least they are sold through, CajunGrocer.com.

You ever had fried turkey? It's all about the bits of crisp, crunchy, spicy skin when it comes out of the fryer. Well, that and the thigh meat amped up on injected butter and hot sauce.

Frozen precooked reheated in an oven just ain't gonna cut it in the fried turkey game.

Oh, and in addition to "safer and cheaper" add messy as hell to the downside list. Still, a turkey hot out of the fryer is magical. Plus you can put the hot oil to good use with hushpuppies, chicken wings and french fries.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gosh, I certainly wouldn't want anybody uncomfortable with the idea of frying a turkey (or, for that matter, deep frying anything) to go ahead with it . . . but I do feel that people make a much bigger deal of this than it really is. The referenced UL site is something I've posted before as just being hilarious (note - NOBODY is harmed in those so I'm not saying I think it's funny when people are burned) since quite a few of the scenarios they create are simply the 'before' views of would-be Darwin award winners.

Yes, large amounts of oil suspended over flames does present hazards which need to be considered. I don't think they are really that much more than any other cooking activity, though. The largest concerns I have ever had are the presence of animals and children of all ages (my brother-in-law's brother-in-law, and no- not me, being my first concern) that should be kept away from the cooking area.

I'm counting down the days till my annual pilgrammage back down south to my sister's for the holidays. My brother-in-law is a master turkey fryer (my term, to my knowledge no tests were ever required or administered) and typically fries 3 or more turkeys on both T-day and Christmas Day; last Christmas weekend we fried 3 on Xmas-day and another 3 two days later (we like turkey!). The turkey fryer(s) are out on the pool deck; no flammable objects other than the fryer setups themselves are anywhere nearby. While one can certainly conjure up really bad 'worst-case' scenarios such as exploding propane tanks the most likely bad case with our setup is an icky pool deck area and a flush of the pool (and of course bad take-out for dinner as the SW burbs of Atlanta aren't a hot-bed of 'good eats').

I'd contrast this potentially so-called dangerous outdoor propane burner on concrete setup with what I found after I bought my house. Imagine my horror to find that the walls of my house were rife with pipes FILLED with flammable gas - in many cases exiting into openings where, without my direct supervision, automated igniters would cause open flames!!!

Kman wrote:The referenced UL site is something I've posted before as just being hilarious (note - NOBODY is harmed in those so I'm not saying I think it's funny when people are burned) since quite a few of the scenarios they create are simply the 'before' views of would-be Darwin award winners.

Yeah, I pretty much posted that link (and repeatedly watched the video clip) while delivering a hearty Beavis and Butthead chortle.

Gary:

Never had the oppotunity to try a fried Turkey though I would look forward to tasting one. I actually though at one time to getting a turkey fryer but I talked myself out of it. Couldn't see spending the money and figuring what I would do with all that leftover oil. I also have a Weber gas grill, a WSM, a smokintex smoker and a weber kettle and figured that a turkey fryer would put my wife over the edge. Its going to be hard enought to get her to accept the fact that I want to get a ceramic smoker/grill this spring to replace my aging gas grill.

Rich

Kman wrote:I do feel that people make a much bigger deal of this than it really is. The referenced UL site is something I've posted before as just being hilarious (note - NOBODY is harmed in those so I'm not saying I think it's funny when people are burned) since quite a few of the scenarios they create are simply the 'before' views of would-be Darwin award winners.

You know, I might have agreed till my friend got burned. I wasn't there and I don't know just what happened, but he's a bright guy whom I'd have said would take due precautions. Years ago, he moved pianos for a living.

I'd never favor any kind of ban on turkey fryers or any other cooking equipment, nor would I discourage anyone who feels up to it from frying turkeys. But boiling oil is a big deal and people shouldn't be dismissive of the risks. Anybody can have an accident. Five gallons of boiling oil can do a lot more damage than a spill in the microwave.

The fact that an organization as big as Underwriters Laboratories refuses to put its mark on any turkey fryers impresses me. Just about every piece of electrical equipment I own has a UL mark.

The setup Gary linked to seems much more stable than most I've seen on the market.

YankeeBBQ Boy wrote:Gary:

Never had the oppotunity to try a fried Turkey though I would look forward to tasting one. I actually though at one time to getting a turkey fryer but I talked myself out of it. Couldn't see spending the money and figuring what I would do with all that leftover oil. I also have a Weber gas grill, a WSM, a smokintex smoker and a weber kettle and figured that a turkey fryer would put my wife over the edge. Its going to be hard enought to get her to accept the fact that I want to get a ceramic smoker/grill this spring to replace my aging gas grill.

Rich

Turkey fryer setups can be used for frying a lot more than turkey. Besides any other frying jobs, you can boil, steam, and simmer large quantities to your heart's content. I boil potatoes for mashing outside when cooking for holidays. Don't forget blackened steaks, chops, fish, and chicken without smoking up your house.

The newer models are more stable and I wish I had one. I have three older models of fryers and have used all of them at the same time.

Well, for those of you who haven't seen the video of the indoor electric turkey fryer, click here. I'm eerily fascinated with learning how many people have done serious damage to their kitchen countertops and/or homes. All the turkey frying I've helped with has been in a back yard many feet from the house, and as careful as we've been every year some oil always spills.



>>Brent

I also prefer frying my own (OUTDOORS, using, of course, all of the precautions). I also use the turkey fryer for KY-style fried chicken (I got a killer recipe a few years ago from Gourmet magazine's 2Sterns), catfish, hush puppies, and seafood boils, and to flash heat a wok and other skillets.

When time/weather has been an issue, I've been plenty pleased with the Popeye's Fried Turkeys I've ordered from Cajun Grocer. It's generally a good source for mail-order Cajun/Creole foodstuffs, including Turduckens and pork boudin.

Cheers,
Wade

waderoberts wrote: I also use the turkey fryer for KY-style fried chicken (I got a killer recipe a few years ago from Gourmet magazine's 2Sterns),

Wade,

Any chance you can post this recipe? (assuming proper copyright issues are followed per the directions in the Non-Food Chat forum here)

I spent 3 years of weekends in Cincy/Florence and Covington KY and would love to see a recipe

Sure thing! See "Bon Ton Mini Mart KY. Fried Chicken: in Shopping & Cooking.

Cheers,
Wade

This year the "don't burn down your house while frying a turkey" PSA has reached a whole new level - they've added William Shatner!



I hope he's also in the "don't light your Christmas Tree on fire" and "don't hold onto lit fireworks" PSAa as well.

As always, there are plenty of good common sense tips in the video.

Does any local restaurant or purveyor offer deep fried turkey? My brother-in-law has a turkey fry kit but isn't using it this year because the turkey for our family Thanksgiving Day dinner is too large.

ld111134 wrote:Does any local restaurant or purveyor offer deep fried turkey? My brother-in-law has a turkey fry kit but isn't using it this year because the turkey for our family Thanksgiving Day dinner is too large.

Big Jones is serving deep-fried turkey as part of its Thanksgiving meal.

Big Jones
5347 N Clark St., Chicago
773-275-5725

The GP wrote:

ld111134 wrote:Does any local restaurant or purveyor offer deep fried turkey? My brother-in-law has a turkey fry kit but isn't using it this year because the turkey for our family Thanksgiving Day dinner is too large.

Big Jones is serving deep-fried turkey as part of its Thanksgiving meal.

Big Jones
5347 N Clark St., Chicago
773-275-5725

We're having Thanksgiving Day dinner wiht family so I'm going to miss that!

ld111134 wrote:Does any local restaurant or purveyor offer deep fried turkey? My brother-in-law has a turkey fry kit but isn't using it this year because the turkey for our family Thanksgiving Day dinner is too large.

I am sorry I found this too late, but this place in Bellwood seems to fit the bill. I think they wanted around $39.

http://www.lowandslowturkeybbq.com/MENU/menu.pdf

Low & Slow BBQ Turkey

2500 Saint Charles Rd, Bellwood, IL 60104
(708) 547-1741

sicilianos wrote:

ld111134 wrote:Does any local restaurant or purveyor offer deep fried turkey? My brother-in-law has a turkey fry kit but isn't using it this year because the turkey for our family Thanksgiving Day dinner is too large.

I am sorry I found this too late, but this place in Bellwood seems to fit the bill. I think they wanted around $39.

http://www.lowandslowturkeybbq.com/MENU/menu.pdf

Low & Slow BBQ Turkey

2500 Saint Charles Rd, Bellwood, IL 60104
(708) 547-1741

Thang you, sicilianos!