Turkey Fry Questions

Morning all,

I know this isn't exactly a BBQ question, but I figured it's close enough for this time of year.

We are doing Thanksgiving at my in-laws again this year. The past few years I have smoke roasted (cooked hot 325) 1-2 spatchcocked birds and my father-in-law frys a pair. We have a lot of ppl, like 50-60.

My birds always come out great, but I've never really been impressed with my FILs fryers. I was thinking about suggesting a few changes for him, but was looking for some feedback.

Typically his birds are over crispy and even burned a little on the bottom. I think this is because he uses the small 30qt pot that came with the burner kit. While it does fit the turkey, there really isn't that much oil and often the bird ends up resting on one of the sides. This year I was thinking of getting him a larger 50-60 qt pot. My thoughts are that the larger volume of oil will more evenly distribute the heat. I was also looking for a way to keep it off the bottom of the pot better. Usually we just use whatever rack came with the kit, but it only keeps it off by like 2 inches.

My questions are.
1) Is my assumption that more oil / bigger pot = better heat distribution and overall product?

2) How can we keep the turkey off the bottom better? Should I use the steamer basked instead of the rack? Both? I'm just looking to get more distance between the bottom of the pot and the turkey.

What do you all do?

Thanks,

Thanks for the responses. We don't spatchcock the fryer, just the ones I do on the drum or pig roaster. Typically the birds we fry are bigger than they should be (20lb range). I've tried explaining that bigger isn't always better, but it is what it is. Oil temp is hard, I think part of the problem is that because the birds are so big they take up a lot of room with less oil than a smaller bird would. That is part of the reason I'm hoping a bigger pot would work better as it will allow for more oil. And yes, they are overcooked, he is one of those deathly afraid of salmonella so he cooks any poultry to death.

Another question for you guys. We usually try to fry around 350f. Do you heat the oil a little hotter before putting in the turkey to account for the temp drop when you add it? I think that has been another problem we run into. He gets the oil to 350, then drops in the bird, of course temp drops, so he cranks up the heat to bring temp back up. I think that ends up burning the bottom.

Its always fun navigating the another man's house another man's cooking, but doing cringeworthy things without offending. The worst part is you get a lot of the "Wow this turkey is great!", "another good job this year" at meal time. Because you can't be a guest at someone's Thanksgiving and complain about the food. One reason I never take positive feedback from family to heart (other than my wife). Everyone tells Aunt Sally she makes the best potato salad then complains about it later.