Turkey: Deep Fried or Smoked?

[SmokeInDaEye]

Which would you choose? I can honestly say that both were the best turkeys that I have ever made and there are few leftovers from either. But one definitely won me over...

A soy and garlic brined, deep fried turkey

Or a sage butter rubbed smoked turkey

Now I'm off to make deep fried buffalo turkey wings...

 

[txschutte]

While I'm a fan of both, I'd say a PROPERLY smoked turkey would take it for me.

 

[Vince RnQ]

Rotisserie, baby!!!

 

[tjus77]

wife wouldn't let me smoke this year... but the family wanted it... so for Christmas.... he he he

 

[Big Mike's BBQ]

how about both! have any of you smoked then fried a bird. I have never done it but it sounds great.

Big Mike

 

[vr6Cop]

Deep fried turkeys are good, but a good smoked turkey rules my world.

Better yet - smoked turkey dunked in some replica Big Bob Gibson's white bbq sauce! Mmmmmm good! :biggrin:

 

[CajunSmoker]

I've been smokin thanksgiving turkeys for a long time and I smoked probably my best turkey ever thursday, but the fried one kicked it's arse:!::!::!:

I vote fried

 

[Arlin_MacRae]

how about both! have any of you smoked then fried a bird. I have never done it but it sounds great.

Big Mike

I smoked a breast till the finish and smoked a full bird for an hour before dunking it in the oil. The smoke was a little light on the smoked/fried bird, but it was great. Next year I'll go two hours and finish it in the oil.

 

[Alexa RnQ]

I'm sure both cooking methods have their upsides, according to preference -- but two prep elements are absolutely non-negotiable, and assure the optimal conclusion of either.

It's got to be a fresh-never-frozen turkey, and it's got to be brined.
THEN it goes on the rotisserie.

 

[Bob S]

I voted for smoked, but they both look great. :-D

 

[SmokeInDaEye]

I voted for smoked, but they both look great. :-D

I voted for smoked too. I've never seen breast meat as tender as that before. Our guests were late and I thought it was going to be overcooked so I shut down the Bubba keg and let it rest for an hour or so as the cooker cooled from 350 to about 200. Worked like magic.

The Butterball deepfryer on the other hand made a perfect fried turkey. I'm chopping up some of the leftovers now to make thanksgiving fried wontons!

 

[ThomEmery]

Smoked this year But that Butterball indoor fryer looks too easy

 

[NorthwestBBQ]

I voted for fried. I smoked one a month ago and it was not as good as the fried one. They both looked good but it was the taste and the crispy skin on the fried one that made it the winner.

Smoked Turkey:

Fried Turkey:

 

[HB-BBQ]

I like em both but the doc told me to cut down on the fried foods so I voted for the smoked turkey :mrgreen:

 

[milehigh]

Both! With the same bird.Smofried!!

Paul

 

[deguerre]

Since you can't choose both, I'll go with fried especially after looking at Michael's thread. Gonna hafta get one of them Butterball fryers.

 

[orangeblood]

Fried, baby, fried.

A fried turkey tastes like turkey meat. Sometimes a smoked turkey tastes liked smoked chicken. If you havent tried it, do it. Its easy, fast and you'll be surprised how moist and tasty the bird comes out. There is no oily taste.

The only draw backs are: 1) you have to be very careful about heating a few gallons of oil to 350 degrees. 2) the clean isnt hard but can be messy if you spill oil, 3) the price of peanut oil is about $10 a gallon - so you have to save/strain the oil and use it another time or 2 in order for the process to be economical - or fry birds for the entire neighborhood.

try it, you'll love it.

just my $0.02

 

[nolaman]

This year my wife and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving with some friends. He was frying two 12 lb.birds. I e-mailed him the Frank Davis, N'Awlins fried turkey Recipe the night before. He was all for it. He said he injected the birds with Creole Butter Sauce that day so they can marinate all night. The next day we brought a couple of homemade desserts,a pumpkin bread pudding, w/ a bourbon sauce, and a Kentucky walnut pie.
We fried off 2lbs. of bacon till crisp to flavor the oil. When the oil came back up to temp. he lowered the first in. We snacked on bacon while it fried.:grin: yumm..When done, he brought the bird in, and imeadiately began to whittle away with the electric knife! No rest! No picture. We did taste it. It was tender, moist, and favorful as usual. The skin had a nice bacon flavor to it, although not as strong as I had expected but still noticeable. Next time maybe 3 lbs.:biggrin:. We lower the 2nd bird into the oil and we snacked on turkey & bacon. I had my camera ready when it came out of the oil. I did get a few pictures. I also got picture of the table setting but no full plates. Please ignore the date on the pictures , I changed batteries last month but forgot to reset the date. So here are my pics of Thanksgiving Day feast.

 

[FatDaddy]

Everyone was worried about me smoking the turkey this year instead of deep frying like I have done probably the last 4-5 years. I told em not to worry. I followed Dr BBQs idea on the creole butter and creole seasoning. Smoked it in the WSM with apple/cherry chip mix for about 5 hours or so. Basted em with butter/mixed with creole seasoning. Man he came out pretty, and tasted even better. Everyone loved that turkey. Said it was the best yet.

 

[Danny]

Hey Wayne,
I vote SMO-FRIED. If you guys will go to my old web-page (www.dannysbbq.com), then to "the restaurant" down lower on the page, you'll see pics. of a smoked and smo-fried turkey, plus which one won out for best flavor. If you want to do a smo-fried turkey the right way, put it in the smoker cold, smoke it with good smoke till around 140-150 degrees internally, take it out, let it rest for 15-20 minutes, then fry it to 185 degrees in the thigh. It'll knock your socks off and have a great smoked -fried flavor at the same time. I personally guarantee it.

Danny