OT - Deep Fried Turkey help

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cheeaa

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Brethren - First and foremost, I will apologize for the sacrilege that is deepfrying my turkey as opposed to smoking it. That said - I have a few questions and this is the only forum dedicated to food I'm a part of and I trust the hell out of you guys and gals for help.

Okay, first question - My son is allergic to peanuts so peanut oil is out. I have read Canola is the next best alternative but I'm worried about the lower smoke point. Any other good alternatives for about the same cost as peanut/canola?

Second - How crucial is brining? I have never brined my chicken or turkey I bbqued and have had some pretty juicy birds as long as I didnt overshoot the temps. Is this the same for deep frying them? I guess what I'm asking is does the very fast cooking deplete moisture more than just bbqing it would, making a brine more necessary?

I suppose that's it for now and I appreciate the help in advance.
 
You will be fine with canola oil. I preheat to 375 and then cook at 325 degrees. The key is to not try to fry too large a bird. I fry several small ones, no more than 14 pounds apiece.

I never have brined a fried turkey. I do inject the heck out of them with Cajun Injector creole butter prior to frying. Check the ingredients though for allergies.
 
You should be fine with the Canola or even vegetable.

Instead of brining, I would go with injecting also.
 
I've only begun smoking, however, I've been frying Turkey's for 20 years and we usually fry 3 or 4 every Thanksgiving. That's too bad you son is allergic to Peanut Oil as it is the best choice. If you can find it, Cottonseed Oil would be your next best choice.

I've never brined a Turkey that I'm going to fry, however, every one of them gets injected with either Tony's Creole Butter or straight Tabasco (we like em hot) and sprinkle the outside with the seasoning of your choice. Go 3.5 minutes per pound at 350 if it's 15lb or under, 4 min per pound if it's bigger (but I don't recommend frying birds that big).
 
104timberwolf said:
You will be fine with canola oil. I preheat to 375 and then cook at 325 degrees. The key is to not try to fry too large a bird. I fry several small ones, no more than 14 pounds apiece.

I never have brined a fried turkey. I do inject the heck out of them with Cajun Injector creole butter prior to frying. Check the ingredients though for allergies.
Click to expand...

Timberwolf has you covered. He does his the same way I do mine.......turns out great. I have found that 3 min 15 sec a lb is just about right.....but always double check to be sure.

Brad
 
I've brined and fried the past 3 turkeys, I injected last years as well with tony's creole butter. Injecting definitely impacted the flavor more than a brine, and all have been very moist.
 
Awesome and thanks again guys! Yeah, it does suck he's allergic to peanuts, but what can you do? Hopefully he gets over it as he gets older, but it hasn't been to bad.

Anyway, I guess I'll go with Canola simply because of the ease of getting it. I had read the Cottonseed Oil too, but never saw it. I'm liking the Creole butter injection and will probably roll with that.
 
My son is allergic to peanuts too so I use cottonseed oil too.

Dicks sporting goods carries it here in Pa.
 
Be careful and enjoy! My kids are counting the days until fried turkey day. They'll be picking on those carcasses like a bunch of zombies.
 
One important note that you probably already know, but I repeat because I almost burned down the family beach house. Determine the amount of oil you will need WITH the bird in the pot. Put the bird in, fill to the level with water, take the bird out, measure the water. My first time, I estimated, got the oil up to temperature, put the bird in, and oil came over the sides, catching fire on its way to the back porch floor. Luckily I had a fire extinguisher handy, or it could have been a disaster.
 
CarterK said:
One important note that you probably already know, but I repeat because I almost burned down the family beach house. Determine the amount of oil you will need WITH the bird in the pot. Put the bird in, fill to the level with water, take the bird out, measure the water. My first time, I estimated, got the oil up to temperature, put the bird in, and oil came over the sides, catching fire on its way to the back porch floor. Luckily I had a fire extinguisher handy, or it could have been a disaster.
Click to expand...
Yep! And I'm gonna throw myself under the idiot bus here for a sec...

Years ago, I fried my first turkey (well, first fried anything on an outdoor fryer) on my 2nd floor apartment's concrete balcony. In an attempt to keep the oil from staining the concrete, I put the fryer down on a couple towels which promptly caught fire when the oil splashed on them when putting the turkey in. Luckily, it just took a good stomping to put out the flames.
 
Make sure that bird is fully thawed too! I dropped a partly frozen one in the grease one time, and it nearly wiped out a city block.
 
CarterK said:
One important note that you probably already know, but I repeat because I almost burned down the family beach house. Determine the amount of oil you will need WITH the bird in the pot. Put the bird in, fill to the level with water, take the bird out, measure the water. My first time, I estimated, got the oil up to temperature, put the bird in, and oil came over the sides, catching fire on its way to the back porch floor. Luckily I had a fire extinguisher handy, or it could have been a disaster.
Click to expand...

Yeah I knew about this trick, and I'm actually going to measure it out tonight since I'm doing this Saturday. Get this though - I just got off the phone with the wife and brought up that we're going to use Canola. She was joking with me that I better not to start a fire and then asked in all seriousness that if a grease fire did start "I guess we would just throw water on it?" :shock: Now don't get me wrong, I would certainly like to see the fireball that would come out of throwing water onto several gallons of burning oil, but not with my house 10 feet away! :laugh: Scary part is that she's a pretty good cook! Good thing we don't fry that many things!
 
peeps said:
Yep! And I'm gonna throw myself under the idiot bus here for a sec...

Years ago, I fried my first turkey (well, first fried anything on an outdoor fryer) on my 2nd floor apartment's concrete balcony. In an attempt to keep the oil from staining the concrete, I put the fryer down on a couple towels which promptly caught fire when the oil splashed on them when putting the turkey in. Luckily, it just took a good stomping to put out the flames.
Click to expand...

lol... And did the Cabo have anything to do with that?? Man I love that stuff
 
Fried my first turkey in 1991. Had no idea it would displace that much oil. We were frying on the front porch as it was covered. The entire porch was an inch deep in oil after the turkey went in. Fortunately, no fire and it dipped below freezing that night so I shoveled oil the next morning.

Since then, I've always purchased the 3 gallon jugs of oil from walmart or academy and use a dedicated turkey frying pot so there's no need to measure every time. Definitely not for the faint of heart but well worth the effort.
 
104timberwolf said:
Fried my first turkey in 1991. Had no idea it would displace that much oil. We were frying on the front porch as it was covered. The entire porch was an inch deep in oil after the turkey went in. Fortunately, no fire and it dipped below freezing that night so I shoveled oil the next morning.

Since then, I've always purchased the 3 gallon jugs of oil from walmart or academy and use a dedicated turkey frying pot so there's no need to measure every time. Definitely not for the faint of heart but well worth the effort.
Click to expand...

Well like I said I'll be measuring, but if I do overfill somehow and it gets everywhere without burning up, it's supposed to only be 35 for the high and then 15 or so for the low on saturday, so I'm liking your clean up method! Gonna be a chilly one though!
 
cheeaa said:
lol... And did the Cabo have anything to do with that?? Man I love that stuff
Click to expand...
Nope! 100% sober as the wife's grandparents were over for dinner and they aren't big on folks drinkin'.
 
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