Traditional Thanksgiving... fried turkey pr0n ala Alton Brown

So after we were done with the "traditional" Thanksgiving fare of chicken tikka from the tandoor, with kaali dal, and lamb dum pukht biryani on Friday, we fried a turkey on Sat. I set up a turkey derrick ala Alton Brown with a 6' ladder, 2 pulleys and rope. It rained all day Saturday and I was getting a little frantic, but decided I wasn't going to let Mother Nature deprive me of my fried bird. The yard was a soggy boggy mess, and gale force winds were blowing, so I set-up my canopy with a side panel in one corner of the yard where the fence would protect the burner from the wind and fried away underneath it - figured if the canopy burned up it would be far better then burning my garage or house down. My wife was much happier with this arrangement. The turkey was an organic 14# turkey from Costco. Injected with Tony C's Creole butter injectable marinade, and rubbed with Todd's Dirt. The bird fried for 42mins (3mins per pound) at 300°F (53°F outside so couldn't get it hotter) and rested for 30mins. Used 4.5 gallons of peanut oil from Costco, and the bird and oil just about fit in the pot. Measured the oil as recommended by putting the bird in the pot earlier in the day, filling it with water, taking the bird out and then marking the level of the water to figure outhow much oil would be needed. It was farkin good !!

Pic 1 Turkey in the fryer

Pic 2 The turkey derrick

Pic 3 Turkey done and resting

Pic 4 Side view

Pic 5 The bird ready to be carved up

2ndchance said:

Any recipie that I have triedthat Alton Brown comes up with is a winner. Nice looking bird and I'm sure it was outstanding. :-D

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I was getting a little paranoid about the safety aspect... standing over a pot of hot oil while I lowered a big turkey into it didn't sound enticing. The turkey derrick worked like a charm.

SmokinAussie said:

One thing I WOULD have been wearing, would have been long pants and a solid pair of shoes! I wouldn't want boiling oil on my tootsies...

Apart from that, it looks like a lot of fun!

Cheers!

Bill

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That was my friend... he is actually standing further back than it may appear in the pic. I was covered head to toe - face shield, long pants, sweatshirt, long gloves, covered shoes, and a face shield. I looked like a dork... but I don't have any oil burns!:-D

fingerlickin': its a good thing I didn't have a game of flip cup going since I can't find my asbestos skivvies :becky: