Deep fried turkey is not for the faint of heart or those afraid of scalding hot oil. A few years ago the hubs decided that he had to do this at least once.
After doing much research online, including watching many videos on YouTube on how this cooking technique can go wrong, this is what he came up with.
FIRST
Make sure you have proper fire extinguishing methods handy. I can’t tell you just how many videos I saw of houses, porches, and carports going up in flames because people just weren’t prepared to deep fry a turkey. And remember, an oil fire is the same as a grease fire in the kitchen. If the oil is on fire, water will not put that fire out. But keep the hose handy in case any structures catch on fire.
SECOND
Make sure you bird is totally thawed and dry. You want to pat that thing dry as best you can, both outside & in. DO NOT put any water into boiling oil.
THIRD
You want to make sure that you have your oil and heat source AWAY from your house – much further away than what is pictured in this post. But since he was very confident after watching all the ways this could go wrong, he ended up this close to both the house and fence.
FOURTH
You need to have a way to lower the turkey into the scalding hot oil. You don’t want to just drop it in with a plop because oil WILL go shooting everywhere and then ignite. Hubs decided his A-frame ladder and some heavy kitchen twine were the perfect combination to achieve this feat. Begrudgingly I must say he was correct.
LASTLY
Have patience. This doesn’t cook that much faster than doing it in the oven. It’s just a different technique. You may need to add more oil during the process, and if you do, remember you have to wait a bit for the oil to reach the correct temperature again.
It was very juicy, but I have to admit – I like oven baked better (but don’t tell him I said that)!