I've been doing turkeys for about 20 years and never had a fire dept. fire that makes the news, a little over the edge but not the fire they show on tv, that's still no excuse for NOT being careful.
I use between a 10 and 12 lbs bird, thaw and inject with Cajun Injectors, anything they have is great but garlic butter is a hit always the I cover with Cajun shake and put in a small garbage bag (clean:becky
and in the fridge they go, from 12 hours to a week. I may do 6 birds at a time.
Fire up the oil, bring up to 350 and slowly insert bird. I built a pully system like Alton Brown has, works slick and you may want to watch his show for cooking turkeys, it's great.
When the bird hit's the oil watch your temp, it will drop so add more heat right away, as the bird cooks you will continually lower your cooking fire but try to stay at 325-350. I go three minutes a pound + or -, kinda like Julia Child, I'm a what the hell kinda cook!
When you pull the bird out it's hot, just like broasted chicken so let it cool, 30 minutes is good but someone always has there hands on the skin before that. To finish I take three birds and place them in a large stainless steel pan and add a quart of chicken stock, cover and into the oven for 4 to 6 hours at 225. This cooks the meat right down to the bone and all those yum yums end up in the pan. Take the stock out of the pan and place in a skillet, bring to a boil, mix up your corn starch COLD water mix and start adding it to the broth. It makes some of the best gravy you may ever have.
This is what has worked for me for years, hope you give it a try and enjoy!:thumb:
Mark