How to fry a turkey - Basic info

Discussion in 'Discussion Group' started by Kent, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. Kent

    Kent Well-Known Member

    First off, a little song to get in the mood:

    The Gobble Song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jW1vWgogLQ

    If you’ve never fried a turkey for Thanksgiving, you’re really missing a treat.

    But since you’re cooking with VERY HOT oil and an open flame, you really have to be careful. This is probably trivial to most of you, but here are a few BASIC tips:

    1. Make sure you’re out doors. No cookers inside a garage or on a wooden deck. If you cook on a patio, you run the risk of getting oil stains. Stick with cooking out in the yard.

    2. Use peanut oil if you can. Otherwise corn oil or canola oil will do just fine. Peanut oil seems to give the turkey a little better taste. It’s more expensive, but worth it. You can reuse both. Make sure you don’t over fill the cooker. There are lines inside the cooker to go by based on the size of your turkey.

    3. Pre-heat the oil up to about 375. This takes 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the outside temp and how high you have your propane set. The temp will really drop when you put the turkey in and it won’t take as long to get back up to the 325 cooking temp.

    4. A good cooking estimate is 3 minutes per pound PLUS 5 minutes, or whatever it says on the lid of your cooker. Try to stay 15 lbs or under.

    5. Give yourself plenty of time to thaw out your turkey COMPLETELY. A good way is to use the cooker and put the turkey in some cold water and let it thaw out. You don't want to have to fiddle with a frozen turkey on the day you're going to cook it. Put the thawed turkey in the fridge until about an hour before you fry it and let it warm back up and get nice and limber.

    6. Take out all the trimmings. Cut the tail off, and, if you like, trim off some of the hanging skin around the tail. Trim out around the neck opening. You’ll want an unobstructed opening here since you’re putting the turkey in the cooker upside down. Feel free to put any type of rub on the outside of your turkey. This gives the skin a nice flavor.

    7. When the oil is up to temp, lower the turkey down into the cooker VERY SLOWLY. Make sure you have some heavy gloves on to protect you from grease pops. Make sure the turkey is not frozen or dripping wet.

    Here’s a good video on how to put the turkey in the cooker – SLOWLY - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb0XN89wANM

    Quick note: You don’t want anything around you to trip over and knock over onto the cooker.

    DO NOT LET KIDS PLAY AROUND THE COOKER!

    Here are some things NOT to do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKZeFj5mDlY&feature=related

    8. Cut your heat up on high and get the temp back up to 325. Keep it at 325 which means you can’t put the turkey in and go do something else. NEVER let the cooker go unattended.

    9. A good link for some pics: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/school/cstech/fryturkey.html

    Have a great Thanksgiving!
     
  2. Tit4Tat

    Tit4Tat Well-Known Member

    DO NOT LET KIDS PLAY AROUND THE COOKER!





    Why not? J/K:lol:
     
  3. kdc1970

    kdc1970 Guest

    I watched Paula Deen cook one like this the other day, I am VERY tempted. Thanks for the info!
     
  4. nsanemom22

    nsanemom22 Well-Known Member

    I watched her last night .... Sound like she was in some sort of unspoken competition with Rachel Ray (she says evoo)... I wish I had a counter to catch how many times she said y'all, y'all.

    Hey y'all, up next y'all is pear fritters y'all.

    ....I dunno ... maybe it was just me ... :neutral:
     
  5. le

    le Well-Known Member

    She was downright obnoxious as a celebrity contestant on Wheel of Fortune the other night. My dh told suggested that she go suck on a stick of butter.

    But fried turkey is delicious!
     
  6. kdc1970

    kdc1970 Guest

    I can't watch her every day, that is for sure. The episode I watched was from 2002, before the stylist's got ahold of her. :mrgreen:
     
  7. nsanemom22

    nsanemom22 Well-Known Member

    LOL yup ..
     
  8. DAH22

    DAH22 Well-Known Member

    Oh I saw her on there.... she just seemed like her normal "quirky" self to me. She is just loud and silly in general :)
     
  9. CraigSPL

    CraigSPL Well-Known Member



    She's hot :mrgreen:




    Craig
     
  10. kdc1970

    kdc1970 Guest


    DH thinks she is too, till she opens her mouth. Her voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard. :lol:
     
  11. JenniferK

    JenniferK Well-Known Member

    How to cook a turkey....according to Jennifer.

    Buy turkey

    Take crap out of the middle of the turkey

    Put turkey in pan, put 2-3 inches of water in bottom of pan

    Rub turkey with butter and seasonings.

    Cover turkey with tinfoil

    Put turkey in grill and leave it the heck alone for 4.5 hours

    Turkey is now done!
     
  12. nsanemom22

    nsanemom22 Well-Known Member

    yea she's hot ... DH gets reeeaaal quiet when she's on tv ... :rolleyes:
     
  13. kookookacho

    kookookacho Well-Known Member

    I <3 Rachel Ray... I have almost all over her cookbooks. :oops:
     
  14. bandmom

    bandmom Well-Known Member

    We tried frying ours one year. My husband wasn't sticking the thermomoter in the right place.....burned the legs slap off!! :mrgreen: Other than no turkey legs, it was pretty good.
     
  15. tassy

    tassy Well-Known Member

    The best tip I know for frying a turkey (and Thank Alton Brown for it);

    Take your turkey, put it in the pot, fill with water until the turkey is covered. Then take the turkey out, now you will know how much oil to use without worry of a spillover of hot oil when you put the turkey in.

    :mrgreen:
     
  16. tassy

    tassy Well-Known Member


    Yeah.. you like Ingrid Hoffman too (Simply Delicioso)... you just love when that top button on her blouse is screaming for relief!

    :mrgreen:
     
  17. ServerSnapper

    ServerSnapper Well-Known Member

    Who's Ingrid?
     
  18. kookookacho

    kookookacho Well-Known Member

  19. tassy

    tassy Well-Known Member

  20. ServerSnapper

    ServerSnapper Well-Known Member

    In my best impersonation of Andrew Dice Clay....OOooooohhhhhhh!!!


    DH is right!!
     

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