What’s up, Vegas? Never had Cajun Turkey before?
Is yummy. More yummy than Hoshi, even. First had it about the age of 12. C.T., not Hoshi.
Gotta have jalapenos in the stuffin’, ya know?
Mmmm Hmmph! Yesiree Bob, that some mighty fine eatin’!
So…couldn’t I deep-fry a chicken this way, on the stove? Assuming I used the proper oil and temps and a biiiiig ol’ pot, why not?
karol, willing to eat ANYthing deep fried
How do you think KFC fries chickens? A pressure deep fryer.
Are you following me around these boards, or am I following you? ;)
Nope, never had it in this corner of the galaxy. My fam are all of German stock from PA and had never heard of such a thing before. And they never put any jalapenos in the stuffing! I’ve seen people put cranberries in the stuffing, but it didn’t look very appetizing.
Nope. It’s a pressure cooker, essentially. See William Poundstone’s book Big Secrets. KFC doesn’t immerse the chicken in oil.
In theory, yes, but it would make a hell of a mess.
For the first time this year, my parents deep fried a turkey and it was quite good! They intend to do it again next year.
Cajun turkey…need to tell my parents about that…
I wish I could find the top ten list that was posted on msn.com. It was a list of safety tips :rolleyes:
Among the list were helpful tips like:
Make sure you only use the deep fryer on a level surface!
Allow the oil to cool completely before disposing or storing.
Do not overfill the fryer.
Fried Turkey tastes much better than oven turkey.
My brother has been deep-frying turkeys at his tavern in Shattuck, Oklahoma for over ten years at his annual day-after-Thanksgiving-turkey-fry. He’ll fry up between 10 and 20 turkeys. Different regular customers will provide the other ‘fixins’ for a real feast.
For an added bonus, I highly suggest attending his ‘other’ annual event: “The Testicle Festival”. Once a year he fries up a mess of calf fries (called mountain oysters by some). A good time is had by all. Mmmmmm mmmmmm!!!
I have to second bdgr on this one. Since when is turkey and chicken supposed to be dry? Dry turkey breast is one of the most godawful tastes and textures in culinaria. Blech. If you’re making chicken properly, the breast is supposed to be fairly moist, otherwise, you are overdoing it. And, no, the oil does not soak in if you do everything at a hot enough temperature. The skin forms a nice crisp seal. If you’ve ever deep-fried at too low a temperature, you’ll definitely notice the difference.
Careful, this just in:
" On Thanksgiving Day, Lonia Waters was preparing cornbread in the kitchen of her Seaside home as part of a huge feast for her family. She decided to go to her bedroom for a few minutes, leaving the cornbread sizzling in hot oil on top of the stove. As she was returning to the kitchen, she saw flames shooting up from the stove.
Minutes later, the Mariposa Street home was engulfed by fire. By the time the Seaside Fire Department and other fire agencies were dispatched, it was already too late."
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/4636380.htm
I’m not sure what cornbread has to do with turkey, but there was a news report a few days before Thanksgiving here about turkey fryers. It seems that idiots need an extra set of rules just for them.
**Number One Rule for Idiots with Turkey Fryers: **Do not use indoors. More than one person in the greater NY area has had their house burn down because they were using the fryers inside. One doofus put it in the middle of his livingroom.
Idiot’s Rules Two and Three: Do not overfill with oil and do not put a partially defrosted turkey in the oil. Even an idiot knows about displacement and mixing water and hot oil, right?
On second thought the extra rules wouldn’t help at all. All the above is mentioned with the instructions.
…fried cornbread…?
Yes…yer from up north aint ya boy…
I first heard about fried turkey on Justin Wilson’s Cajun Chef show back in the late-1980s or so.
Gotta comment on dry turkey. No, it’s not supposed to be dry. I’ve had white meat so dry I had to choke it down. I don’t like dry turkey. I’ve never tried frying turkey, nor have I tasted it; but I do cook my turkey in a roasting bag. Not only does the bag cook the turkey faster, it also makes it nice and juicy. “Turkey is supposed to be dry” sounds like a cop-out from someone who left it in the oven too long. Nice, juicy turkey for me!
I use the cooking bags, too, and they never fail at producing a succulent, juicy turkey. I had a 22-pound turkey this year (which I also brined) and it was done in under 3 hours.
My MIL makes such dry turkey and chicken you need about a gallon of water to choke it down. She bastes her turkey, opening the oven door every 15-20 minutes. Basting just adds to the cooking time, which causes the bird to dry out. You stick a fork in a slice and it just crumbles. And she thinks I’m crazy for not basting.
Poultry is not “supposed” to be dry. If you cook it properly, it’s moist and tender and delicious.
Deep fried turkey is gooood!
We’ve been doing it for a few years and we’ve learned a few things along the way…
After using too much oil one time (and cleaning up the mess that resulted) we check the displacement level with water before every turkey. (Turkey in pot, cover with water, remove turkey, note water level.)
Seasoning the outside skin of the bird is useless. It all gets washed off the second you immerse it in the oil. We soak the thawed turkey in strong broth with lots of onion and garlic for a couple hours before frying. If you wanna get fancy, reserve a cup or two of the broth and inject it deep into the meat just before frying. You can buy an injection kit, but I went to the feed store and got a huge syringe and needle for sixty cents. It’s injected more than 30 birds so far, and it’s still good for 30 more. You can also buy flavored injection solutions, but most of them are waaay too salty.
Get the oil up to temp on medium heat. If you do it on high heat, when you drop in the turkey the temperature of the oil drops and you’ve got nowhere to go. You can’t keep it above 360º and you’ll have a greasy bird. If it’s on medium heat, you can turn it up to high and keep the oil nice and hot.
I did a bit if research just before we fried our first bird and I remember reading that deep fried turkeys were first done by the men on the Texas oil fields in the 1930’s.