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The Roux (Cooking/BBQ/Recipes) What good is a cajun site without a cooking and recipe forum? |
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#1
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Tips for frying a turkey
1. Get a pot of the right size and shape. If the pot is too large in diameter, it will take a lot of extra oil to cover the bird. If the turkey barely fits into the pot it will be hard to control the temperature and not cook evenly. 2. To determine how much oil is needed? Before doing any preparation...place the turkey in cooking pot. Using a clean gallon size container, start adding water and count the amount of water needed until the bird is just covered. This will be the amount of oil needed. If the Turkey is frozen with neck, heart, etc still inside the bird, about 1 pint more oil will be needed. This is also a good way to unthaw a frozen turkey....in water. But be sure the water is cool....Bacteria grows at room temperature. Do not add "a little extra oil"; the oil will expand some when heated. The pot should be at least 5" taller than the oil level to keep it from splashing out. I cover my pot while cooking, but watch the temperature closely. If you don’t have a lid.....some grease will splash out and make a mess. Cook on the ground or put something under the cooking burner. 3 Heat oil to 375 F. (need a cooking thermometer that is about 12" long), and while wearing gloves, very slowly add turkey to the pot. When the turkey goes into the hot oil...... it will violently boil off the water. So put the turkey in the oil very slowly. This may take 30 seconds or more to keep the oil from "boiling" too much. The oil will cool down quickly after the turkey is put in the oil while some of the excess water is boiling off. When buying a turkey frying pot, they usually come with a metal T - shaped piece to hold the turkey and it will have a hook shape to the top for lifting the bird. If you do not have this ....something must be improvised for lifting the bird! I also make a loop using a coat hanger wire so to help lift the bird. To pick up the Turkey.....get a broom handle [or something similar] and with two people, stick the broom handle through the coat hanger wire "loop" so that you can support the turkey better and very slowly put the turkey into the hot grease. 4. After the turkey is put in the pot, the oil will cool down some. Adjust fire to cook at 350 F. Cook turkey for 3 ½ minutes per pound. [I.e. 12 lb. turkey = 42 minutes.] This time will vary a little depending on how close to 350 F the bird is cooked. If the oil is about 360 F a lot of the cooking time, it may be ready a couple of minutes sooner. If you are not sure it is done....cook it a little more. 5. As the turkey cooks, the water inside the bird is boiled off. The oil will start to get hotter [after say 5 minutes of cooking] and the fire MUST be turned down to maintain the 350 F cooking temperature. Fire must be adjusted (just a little) often to keep it close to 350 F. 6. Peanut oil is great, but vegetable oil is ok to use. After oil has cooled, it can be strained and saved. 7. When injecting marinade into the bird after injecting the first spot, pull the needle part way out and push it back down at several different angles to inject different areas. It is better to inject small amounts in a lot different places....this gets the marinade evenly spread out better. Doing this, you will have fewer holes in the skin for the marinade to come back out. After injecting the bird, allow bird to marinade for at least 30 minutes [One or two hours is better] before cooking. 8. On the marinade....I make my own with a blender using melted butter, onions, garlic, salt, Tony's, lemon juice and anything else you might like. If you buy a marinade, check carefully to see what is in it and taste it to see if you like. I find some store bought marinade BAD. . 9. Be sure the turkey is completely unthawed. If not, the thicker parts may not get cooked properly. Take the bagged stuff (neck, heart, etc.) out of the chest cavity as soon as you can so it can unthaw better. But don’t allow the turkey to sit at room temperature too long. 10. If only half of the turkey is going to be eaten........Don’t slice it all up. Cutting it into slices allows the meat to dry out faster and it will not save very long. Cut the meat off in large chunks and freeze it for later use. Turkey meat is cheep.....buy a larger bird and freeze the extra. But see item one above. Good eating! |
#2
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PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN FRYING A TURKEY.
It can/will violently force oil out of the pot if it is wet or has ice on it when submerged in the pot. Keep and extinguisher handy. |
#3
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I like smoking mine. Frying tastes good, but it is a mess.
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#4
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Turn off the flame when putting turkey in the oil and when taking it out. If you do get boil over . no fire.
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#5
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Just throw it in there frozen.......it'll be an early fireworks show!!!!
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#6
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I have been using the a propane infered fryer. NO grease at all. It works great tastes just like a fried turkey with out the mess.
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#7
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I use the same thing. To me, if you are not doing a bunch of birds, the oil is to costly.
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#8
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No oil means it ain't fried......that's just sunburnt
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#9
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Lol
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
#10
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haha! nicely said
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#11
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What size?
What size pot is the right size? All I have is a 80 qt (I think) that I boil crawfish in. Been wanting to get a smaller one to do shrimp in, maybe the pot for shrimp would be good for a turkey.
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#12
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Still have my oil from thanksgiving......can I use it again for my Christmas bird?
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#13
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Turkey pots are much smaller. Some are tall and thin, others allow you to lay your bird down(which is what I have). They seem to work better.
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#14
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Re
Quote:
Longer then that I bottle it back up in the original jug. |
#15
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Do you have to filter the oil as you put it back in the jug or no? I've thrown away a good bit of single use oil because I wasn't sure. I didn't even fry my own bird this year because I was tired of throwing out one use oil.
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#16
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Quote:
Filtering is better.... but can be messy. |
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