No Bacon Was Harmed--Deep Frying A Turkey

For several years now I've been deep frying a turkey for Thanksgiving #2 (Thursday is Thanksgiving #1 with my wife's family, and Friday is Thanksgiving #2 with mine, though her some of her family has found a way to come to Friday's redux as well--I suspect it's the turkey). People who have never had deep fried turkey are usually skeptical, thinking that it will be greasy or charred beyond any recognizable taste.



Then they taste it.



Here's my method. I use a Masterbuilt Electric Turkey Fryer outside on the side of my house. Get the peanut oil in and heated to 400 degrees (takes about an hour from a 60 degree starting point). While the oil is heating I rub and inject a 12-14 lb bird with whatever sounds good. This year it was a thinned out (water added) Carolina BBQ Sauce. And the beauty is you don't have to use an expensive turkey. This 13 pounder that I cooked cost .29 a pound. Yes, the whole bird cost less than $4.



So the bird is ready and the oil is hot. Now comes the fun part. Following all the safety recommendations (it is REALLY hot oil and will burn the heck out of you if you don't follow the simple safety precautions) you then put the turkey into its bath of scalding peanut oil as seen in the video.







After about 45 minutes, you turn off the fryer (it has a timer and shutoff, but I like to be there when the magic ends) and lift the bird out, letting it hang for a few minutes in its basket so that any excess oil in the cavity can drain out.



And this is what you get...







You can reuse the peanut oil several times as long as you store it properly. I usually fry up a few things right after Thanksgiving and then dispose of the oil. By then I'm already dreaming of next year.