Serious Turkey cooking tips!

[Gatorhead]

Ok I posted my funny one and now its time for the serious one.

If you are deep frying your turkey there are several things you should do to avoid a catastrophe. It happens fast and there is nothing you can do short of a miracle to put it out fast enough without getting hurt or destroying something valuable, usually a house.

-Purchase a Turkey appropriate in size to your pot.
-Pre heat your oil but only add about 3 1/2- 4 gallons , add the turkey SLOWLY and the top it off. If you do not you run the risk of overflowing the pot and once the oil hits the flame its POOF!
- MAKE DARN SURE THE TURKEY IS completely defrosted, any frozen areas will cause it to explode and send hot oil and fire everywhere.
-Make SURE that the giblet packet and neck is out of the turkey as well as any othr foreign objects!
- The turkey should be close to room temperature when ready to cook. I know, I know but bacteria grows after it reaches 41* F and then you have 4 hours after that temp to work with. News Flash Molten oil kills bacteria quickly lol.
- The Turkey should reach 160* minimum for at least 15 seconds to be safe for consumption. This also includes stuffing if the bird is stuffed.
- SAFE DISTANCE FROM THE HOUSE IS 20' WITH CONTINUOS SUPERVISION. It is also a great idea to have a 5 gallon bucket of sand handy in case something happens.

Happy EATING!

FEEL FREE TO ADD ANYTHING THAT MAY BE HELPFUL


Edit from MasterZ:
One thing I always do if I am using a new pot and unsure of the oil level. Before I unwrap the turkey, I fill the pot with water and do a test dump to see how much the level will rise to make sure it will not overflow with hot oil.

[zeeeman28]

haha very helpful tips there, I dont want to add anything extra, but I will say that Im keeping my fingers crossed for this one! My turkey fryer 'says' that it's sufficient for an 18 pound turkey, and I told my wife to get a 12 or 13 pound turkey, and she ended up getting a MASSIVE 16 pound one. When I did the displacement of it and made the mark I had to make for the oil fill in the pot, the fill line came up to 1 inch ABOVE the max oil-add line, but still it's a good 4 inches down from the top of the pot. Not sure how this is gonna go tomorrow lol, but if I burn my house down I'll be sure to find a computer and post the funny aftermath!

[Reverend Drew]

Originally Posted by zeeeman28

haha very helpful tips there, I dont want to add anything extra, but I will say that Im keeping my fingers crossed for this one! My turkey fryer 'says' that it's sufficient for an 18 pound turkey, and I told my wife to get a 12 or 13 pound turkey, and she ended up getting a MASSIVE 16 pound one. When I did the displacement of it and made the mark I had to make for the oil fill in the pot, the fill line came up to 1 inch ABOVE the max oil-add line, but still it's a good 4 inches down from the top of the pot. Not sure how this is gonna go tomorrow lol, but if I burn my house down I'll be sure to find a computer and post the funny aftermath!

Did you also factor in the lack of displacement once the hot oil gets inside the body of the turkey as well? Because that'll drop the oil level down further if you think about it

Good advice Gator. Too bad I'm the only one in my family that eats turkey for Thanksgiving. Who just eats ham? Honestly? I'm pretty sure it's just my family. <><

[zeeeman28]

nah man, one side of my family always had ham, and the other side always had turkey. Screw ham, it's good but turkey is better and Thanksgiving means turkey for some reason, that's why Im having it at my house this year lol. I did get lucky though, nobody that's gonna be attending my fried turkey party likes drumsticks/dark meat, so I HAVE ALREADY CLAIMED BOTH DRUMSTICKS!!!!

Yeah I hope yer right about the amount of oil cuz im kinda scared!

[MasterZ]

Great advice... I am also going to edit the top post for some tips..

[Tony]

We have fried the turkeys every year for about 4 years now. What Jason said (in the edit) is just about right but I have one thing to add. You will want the turkey out of the plastic, take out the neck and "crap in a bag" cause that will add to the level. I have yet to have a boil over but I have my bird in the fridge for over a week and I make sure that he is thawed. And, I put a dry rub on mine 24 hours before I fry it and OMG is it good. Use a lot of Cayanne pepper and fresh ground pepper cause the fryer will knock the kick down a lot. Hope you all have a great T-Day, I know that I will. I'm having it here at my house for the second year and we are setting up now.

[Randy L]

Bringing this to the top since many will be frying turkeys next week.

[Randy L]

I've been frying turkeys for years now and have never had an issue of a boil over since I follow the safety procedures listed above. The MOST important things to do to prevent a fire is to pre-measure the oil level, like Jason mentioned. Since liquids rise up as it boils, as mentioned above, make sure the top of the pot is at least 3" ABOVE the oil level with the turket in it.

As Gator said, the turkey MUST be fully thawed to prevent a voilent reaction as the turkey is SLOWLY lowered into the pot with oil.

The south uses Peanut oil for an awesome flavor. It also has a little higher flash point for added safety.

We also inject the turkey with the Cajun Injector brand CREOLE BUTTER.
The Sports Academy here in Mississippi has it on their shelves.
I've tried other brands and flavors and EVERYONE agrees this IS the best.
Do this one day before cooking (turkey must be thawed too). I also season the skin with a special blend I make, but Zararain's seasoning is good too.
Cajun Injector - Buy Cajun Injector Marinades for $3.75 at CajunGrocer.com

Fry the turkey with oil at 350*F at 3-1/2 minutes per pound. This makes for a crispier skin that everyone ends up fighting for.

For added safety, I heat the oil up to around 375-380*F, then turn the fire off. I then SLOWLY lower the turkey into the oil. DON'T hold the turkey basket with your bare hands. Use a stainless steel "hook" sold in BBQ sections of most stores to gain some extra distance from the oil. Wear leather or grilling gloves (mine is a gauntlet which goes 3" past my wrist). When the oil really begins to boil violently, don't lower the turkey any further than it is. Let the oil settle down to a rolling boil, THEN begin lowering some more. When the turkey is about 3/4 the way in, the oil will begin to pour into the cavity and once again will violently boil. Watch out for this!

Once the turkey is fully lowered, I relight the fire and bring the temp back up to 350*F (The oil will have cooled to around 325*F due to the turkey going in). On smaller BTU burners, this may not be practical since it will take too long to heat the oil back up to 350*F. I don't use electric turkey fryers, but I think there won't be a danger of flashover since there is no flame.

I normally place the burner on the grass so any spilt oil won't run (down the driveway or patio. I also make sure I have a DRY CHEMICAL fire extinguisher about 20 feet away in case of an emergency.

[Paulster2]

I haven't seen it mentioned, so think I'll tell you a little story, then I'll also throw in a couple more words of advice.

The first year I bought my fryer and my jug of peanut oil so I could fry a Christmas turkey for the family. I thawed the turkey completely over a couple of days before, just like was said. I cleaned out all the innards of the turkey to make sure it was ready. I then proceeded to fill the pot with water and dunked the turkey into the water. Poured out the excess water to get the right level. I pulled the turkey out to figure out how high the oil should be in the pot without the turkey. Okay, got the level and dumped out the water. I dried out the pot like I was supposed to and proceeded to pour in the oil. Glug, glug, glug, glug ... WTH? ... I don't have enough oil!!! Christmas day and I don't have enough oil. You ever try to get PEANUT OIL ON CHRISTMAS DAY! 7-11 don't carry any peanut oil! Crap, what now! ... So, I started dumping anything that was oil based into the pot. I put cooking oil, shortening (including butter flavored Crisco), and what ever else I could find. And it wasn't enough. I was about 2" shy of where I needed to be. I finally (after running all over town looking for some) started asking my neighbors if they had some oil (remember, this is Christmas day ... I felt like a putz for knocking on peoples doors). After four neighbors, one finally had some ... a bottle of peanut about. It was just enough to get to the level I needed. I was finally able to start up the burner and get things a cookin' ... literally!

Okay, so my words of wisdom for those looking to fry turkeys:

1) You'll need two jugs of peanut oil (the big square jugs from Wally World - but I guess you figured that from what I posted above )
2) Make sure you allow yourself enough time to heat the oil. If it's cold and/or windy outside, you can double or triple your time to get the oil to temp.
3) You can reuse your peanut oil. At $24+ per jug, it only makes sense that you do. Skim the chunks out of the pot or filter it as you put it back into the jugs (or where ever you are going to store the oil until next use).

To capitalize on a couple of things said above.

- The advice of heating the oil to 370-380 and cutting the gas seems like a very good idea.
- With the hole in the neck of the turkey, the oil flows up through it as you lower it slowly. It shouldn't overflow the side of the pot, or rush into the turkey causing any issues.

Hope this helps!

[brianswimmer23]

you can add to much flavor injector and it can dry out the turkey before its ready just so ya know, so dont use to much.
I dont fry my turkey but for thoughs that dont as well this is for you. when i cook it in the oven to make it very moist i cook it in a oven bag after i coat it with some nice virgin olive oil and i place it breast down with some injector(i like cajun) and salt and pepper with garlic and onion i even put some orange juice in the bag for some sweetness. cook at 325 for about 5 hours or until the little popper pops or your thermometer is where you want it normally around 180 degrees or the leg can be twisted off.
one of these years im gonna BBQ a turkey!

[Randy L]

Originally Posted by brianswimmer23

one of these years im gonna BBQ a turkey!

I tasted a grilled turkey and it was awesome!

[mychevyisntheavy]

does anyone remeber the muffets? the french cook?
this is how he cooked it, well youu` take` da` birdie` and youu` stuff da` birdie` like`a` this`. then` you` pout` the birdie` in the` pan`like` this` then` youu` pout` da` birdie` ind` d`oven. lol

[Randy L]

I remember that episode! LMAO. It was the MUPPETS.

[brianswimmer23]

YouTube - The Muppet Show. Swedish Chef - Rroasted Turkey (ep.4.08)

[Paulster2]

Originally Posted by brianswimmer23

YouTube - The Muppet Show. Swedish Chef - Rroasted Turkey (ep.4.08)

Holy cow that was funny! Kick in the way back machine!