Cooking Turkey
- Thread starter VTXCyRyD
- Start date
My brother does this and it's amazing. I think he uses peanut oil, but could be wrong. I'm the guy who'd probably burn the house down if I tried.
Yes, peanut oil is a must. It has a higher flash point so is safer and helps you to keep from scorching the bird.
Also, just like I wouldn't smoke a bird in the house, I wouldn't fry a bird in the house either. That is just asking for trouble.
Frying is hands down the best.
I smoked a whole turkey once, years ago. Told my wife to get a small bird, like 12ish lbs. She came home with a 20lb monster. Took like 14 hours. The meat was delicious but the skin was rubbery bordering on leathery.
I've spatchcocked lots of chickens for oven roasting and they always come out awesome and I always set of the smoke alarm.
I smoked a whole turkey once, years ago. Told my wife to get a small bird, like 12ish lbs. She came home with a 20lb monster. Took like 14 hours. The meat was delicious but the skin was rubbery bordering on leathery.
I've spatchcocked lots of chickens for oven roasting and they always come out awesome and I always set of the smoke alarm.
Yeah, I had a friend who was frying a bird and he couldn't figure why he couldn't get his oil up to temp. Pretty soon he had flames shooting out of his vat. Apparently the thermometer was bad. Just about burned down his back fence.
RE: frying safety, the risk is when the oil spills over the pot. That can happen when the pot has too much oil in it, and/or water and ice flash to steam and spill/eject oil. Assuming you have a 5gal pot, you shouldn't use more than about 3gal of oil. That will allow for turkey displacement as well as the "boiling action" when the turkey is gently lowered in.
The biggest safety tip for anyone frying a turkey: Turn off your flame when lowering the turkey into the oil. That way if you do have an overflow, it is just hot oil, not a fireball. Once the bird is fully submerged and you are confident in the oil level, then you can turn the flame back on.
Make sure your bird is completely dry (that includes free of any ice). Patting it dry with paper towels is a good idea - inside and out. As has already been mentioned any water can instanly turn to steam when hitting that hot oil with unpredictable consequences.
Looking at the two methods, spatchcock requires you to cut through the ribs along the spine, and split the breast bone. Frogging just cuts through the ribs along the sides of the bird, so slightly less labor to frog.
My guess is that the frogged bird is going to be harder to fit into a kitchen oven, but should be fine for a grill or smoker.
We have an annual turkey frying brunch on the weekend before Thanksgiving. We'll do 15 - 20 turkeys with two fryers going at once. Big spread of food (including the first turkey from the fryer), bloody mary's, screwdrivers, beer, bonfire.
For those wanting pointers, we always specify that the turkey be 16lbs or less, and of course, fully thawed. Here is the injection recipe we use:
2 T Salt
2 T Tony's Seasoning (green container)
2 T Dry Mustard
2 T Onion Salt
2 T Cayenne Pepper
1 T Garlic Salt
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 T Celery Salt
2 Cups Chicken Broth
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 T Tabasco Sauce
1 - 12-16 lb Turkey, defrosted, remove neck and giblets, cut legs at joints
Injection needle and syringe
Cheese cloth
SEASONING PREPARATION Mix all liquid and powder ingredients and heat to boil. Simmer for at least 1 hour. Filter through cheese cloth. Reserve the paste. At least 48 hours before cooking, inject liquid seasoning into turkey. Spread the paste on the outside of turkey. Place in a trash bag and store in the refrigerator until time to fry. Fry at 235-350 degrees for 3.5 minutes per pound or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Let cool and wrap in foil and refrigerate. Reheat in the oven on Thanksgiving.
For those wanting pointers, we always specify that the turkey be 16lbs or less, and of course, fully thawed. Here is the injection recipe we use:
2 T Salt
2 T Tony's Seasoning (green container)
2 T Dry Mustard
2 T Onion Salt
2 T Cayenne Pepper
1 T Garlic Salt
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 T Celery Salt
2 Cups Chicken Broth
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 T Tabasco Sauce
1 - 12-16 lb Turkey, defrosted, remove neck and giblets, cut legs at joints
Injection needle and syringe
Cheese cloth
SEASONING PREPARATION Mix all liquid and powder ingredients and heat to boil. Simmer for at least 1 hour. Filter through cheese cloth. Reserve the paste. At least 48 hours before cooking, inject liquid seasoning into turkey. Spread the paste on the outside of turkey. Place in a trash bag and store in the refrigerator until time to fry. Fry at 235-350 degrees for 3.5 minutes per pound or until internal temp is 165 degrees. Let cool and wrap in foil and refrigerate. Reheat in the oven on Thanksgiving.
Pretty much everything except the spatchcock part. Have to take to my mom’s which is two hours away. I get a fresh turkey every year then brine. Lots of herbs from the herbed butter I put under the skin.
I always spatchcock and brine birds before smoking them. I don't worry about the skin much but cranking it up at the end will help crisp it up.
I only fry turkey now though. Brined of course
I only fry turkey now though. Brined of course
If you watch close several times a year they are on sale for 99 cents a pound. Brine over night. Then smoke at 170° heavy for an hour then indirect grill or oven until its 170°. We have an airfry oven and that really helps the skin crisp up. Please dont microwave to reheat, too easy to ruin it.
I usually make way too much gravy and freeze the leftovers for easy meals on Iowa State Basketball game nights. Chunks of turkey are fine with us two.
