Thanksgiving is just days away! How are you preparing your turkey this year? Well if you plan on frying it it’s definitely no easy task and can be quite dangerous too. Below I’ve given some step-by-step instructions on how to get your bird in and out of the fryer with ease. Just remember to fry your turkey in an open area–not in the kitchen or under a carport!
8 Steps to Frying your Turkey
1. First gather your ingredients. Fryer/pot, cooking oil (peanut works best) and the turkey. You can either use a large pot for your turkey or a lot of stores these days sell outdoor frying setups.
2. Prepare your turkey by washing it and defrosting it.
3. You need to determine the amount of oil needed for your bird. Place the turkey in the pot and start to fill in with water. Once the bird is completely covered with water add 1 or 2 inches more to make sure you have plenty of room left at the top for when the oil starts to boil. If it’s a clos
e call, I would find a bigger pot. This isn’t one thing you want to risk. Remove the turkey from the water. The water level is how much oil you will need to use. Make sure you mark your pot.
4. Dry the turkey completely! This is incredibly important. If you’ve ever fried something in a pan before and it had water on it, then you know why this is so important. It will spatter and spray everywhere if you don’t give your turkey a complete pat down. If you’ve ever heard people say their turkey exploded while frying it, it’s because they probably kept it frozen and it had tons of ice on it. Now you can season the turkey, and you want to truss it (secure the wings, legs, tail and neck-flap).
5. Dry the pot completely and add the correct amount of oil. Bring the heat to 375°.
6. Make sure your turkey is room temperature and dry. Cut off the heat completely in case any oil spills over. No need to cause a fire on Thanksgiving. Make sure you have good cooking gloves and something to the lower the turkey into the oil with. Stores offer turkey lifters for about $40 or less. SLOWLY lower your turkey in and be prepared to lift it out if the oil gets overly bubbly. You may have to dunk it in and out a few times until the oil levels off a bit.
7. Turn the burner back on and bring the heat to about 350°. Turkey meat takes about 3-3 ½ minutes per pound to cook. So if you have a 10 pound bird you can kick back and relax for 30-35 minutes.
8. Turn the burner off when your turkey is done. Slowly lift it out of the pot and let it drip dry for a little bit. Plop it on a platter and enjoy your Thanksgiving deep fried turkey!
Photos courtesy of jamesonf, Mot the barber, uncle buck
Info provided by about.com