| Preheat oil to | Cook temp | Oil never goes below | minutes /lb | total minutes | |||
| Fearless Frying | 390 | 365 | 340 | 3-4 | rest 20 min. b4 carving | ||
| don drane | 325 | 3.5 | |||||
| Brian's belly | 350 | 3-3.5 | |||||
| Derick riches | 350 | 3-3.5 | |||||
| Tako | 375 | 350-360 | 325 | 3-3.5 | |||
| Clay johnson | 375 | 20-30 | |||||
| Fabulous Foods | 325-350 | 3 | |||||
| Gumbo Pages | 350-360 | 3.5 | rest 30 min. |
Although a roast turkey is most impressive on the Thanksgiving table, its usually the simplest part of preparing the meal. The basic recipe is to put it in a the oven and wait a few hours. Women do it this way because they need time to prepare the dressing, gravy, pies, and other side dishes, plus straighten the house, round up more chairs, and make sure the kids are clean before company arrives. On the other hand, a man will put in the extra effort to try something new and different in order to show off his culinary skills.
Cooking a Turkey the Scientific Way explains (in a throughly geeky manner) the important parts of the cooking process. Once you understand the most important concepts, you can depart from the basic recipe.
You can improve almost any food by wrapping it in bacon. It’s the American way. Bacon-Wrapped Turkey is becoming quite popular. Here’s the recipe, with a video.
Five more manly ways to prepare the bird, after the jump.
Cajun Deep-Fried Turkey has become so popular in the past few years that KFC will cook one for you. But the manly thing to do is fire up the fryer and do it yourself, while trying to not get burned. Here is the recipe, and instructions for deep-frying.
Deep frying is particularly dangerous, because of the size of the cooker and the huge amounts of hot oil needed, not to mention the size of the turkey. Cooking must be done outside. Here is a list of safety precautions, and an impressive video of what could happen.
Beer Can Turkey is a natural extension of the Beer Can Chicken recipe. The bird is propped up on a mostly full can of beer, and cooked so that the liquid from the can moistens and steams the bird from the inside. You will want to measure your cooker vertically before trying this.
A Turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck that is in turn stuffed with a chicken. This is a very involved and time-consuming recipe, as the birds need to be deboned. The cooking time is around nine hours. But the result is so impressive to guests. Bonus: Use sausage stuffing for a fourth meat. Yes, you can add some bacon if you like.
What could be more manly than Bourbon Whiskey Turkey? As to the step that says to discard the marinade, don’t be tempted to treat it as a cocktail, since raw poultry may have introduced unsavory microorganisms, despite the alcohol content. You can also inject the whiskey marinade. No, inject it into the turkey! If you’re wondering what kind of bourbon to use, Wild Turkey would be fitting.
The most manly turkey of all is the one you bagged in the wild. Wild turkeys are usually older and always leaner than farm turkeys, so recipes recommend that you marinate it, parboil it, or bake it in a cooking bag to keep it as moist as possible. Deep-frying is also recommended. Always remember, you lose manly points if you ask someone else to clean your kill.
If you want to be super manly, shoot a wild turkey, marinate it in whiskey, steam it with beer, stuff it with other animals, wrap it in bacon, and deep-fry it. Even if your manly turkey preparation turns into a disaster, there is a bright side. Your story will become a part of the family’s holiday tradition. Every year, you will hear, “remember that time you tried to cook the turkey and…”
How To Deep Fry A Turkey
By Cheri Sicard
Deep frying a turkey may sound like a strange concept, but trust me, it doesn't come out like you'd think. Deep fried turkey is moist and delicious and not at all greasy.
Of course, an idea like fried turkey originated in the south, the frying capital of the United States, but it is gaining popularity nationwide. In fact, a recent block party I attended in South Central Los Angeles had three fried tukeys going. Several groups of neighbors had gotten together and split the cost of the oil and special equipment needed to make this dish. Needless to say, their tables were some of the most popular.
You Will Need
In addition to a turkey, you'll need a 40 or 60 quart pot with basket or turkey frying hardware, plus a propane gas tank and burner, a candy/deep fry thermometer, a meat thermometer and lots of oil. Use oils that have a high smoke point, such as corn, peanut or canola oils.
Click here to shop for Turkey Frying supplies at Amazon.com.
You should also keep a fire extinguisher and plenty of heavy duty pot holders nearby. An injector to add marinades and seasonings to the meat is also good to have, although you can make a plain turkey without it.
As far as the turkey itself goes, smaller birds work better for frying. Try not to go over 15 pounds.
For the most flavorful birds, Before cooking you can inject the turkey with your favorite marinade (see below) and/or rub it with a dry spice rub. You will also need about 3 1/2 - 5 gallons of oil in which to fry the turkey (see "How To Fry" Below).
Where to Fry
Because so much oil is flammable, you should never fry a turkey indoors. Place the fryer, outdoors, on a level dirt or grassy area. Avoid frying on wood decks, which could catch fire. You will also want to avoid concrete surfaces, unless you don't mind oil stains. Always keep a fire extinguisher nearby.
Before You Fry
Before beginning, (and before you even season or marinate your turkey) determine the amount of oil you'll need by placing the turkey in the basket (or on the hanger, depending on the type of fryer you are using) and putting this in the pot. Add water until it reaches about two inches above the turkey. Remove the turkey and note the water level by using a ruler to measure the distance from the top of the pot to the surface of the water. Remove the water and thoroughly dry the pot.
How to Fry
Using the candy thermometer to determine temperature, heat the oil to about 325°F and no higher than 350°F. This usually takes between 20 to 30 minutes. Once the oil is hot enough, place the turkey in the basket or on the turkey hanger (follow instructions that came with your turkey frying kit) and slowly lower it into the pot.
With whole turkeys, you can estimate on about three minutes per pound to cook. Remove turkey and check the temperature with meat thermometer. The temperature should reach 170° F. in the breast and 180° F. in the thigh.
Using an Injector to Marinade Your Turkey
An injector, which resembles a large hypodermic needle, allows you to inject a marniade directly into the meat. While you can make a fried turkey without this step and get a moist bird, it won't be as flavorful as if you take the time to inject your bird with marinade about an half hour or so before frying.
While we tried many of the injector needles on the market, we sell some inexpensive plastic models here at FabulousFoods.com that are our favorite. We found that the metal needles break easily and these tend to be more flexible. They are also cheap enough that we can sell you 3 of them for what we used to have charge for one of the metal kind.
Fill your syringe with marinade and inject it into both sides of the breast, the legs and the thighs of the turkey. Don't be afiraid to move the needle around to get the marinade into the whole bird. Sometimes it's easier to get the thighs from the inside of the cavity.
Injector Marinades
There are a plethora of commercial jarred injectable marinades available at the supermarket or gourmet shops, but why buy something that's so easy to make yourself?
We've come up with some terrific injectable marinade recipes (see links below), but it's easy to come up with your own too. Just remember, the injector needles are small so you must use ingredients that dissolve or that are pureed so finely they won't clog the needle. As such, garlic and onion powder work better than their fresh counterparts. Also look for concentrated liquid spices in gourmet shops or like those sold by Watkins (click for more information or to order). Watkins also makes an incredible barbecue sauce concentrate that I use in one of the recipes below. These potent sauce concentrates make great flavor bases for barbecue flavored fried turkeys and they are always a huge hit with crowds.
Tips & Troubleshooting
