Cajun Turkey Recipe

BrevardAUEgger

This year I'll be heading up to my brother's place in Kentucky, so no egggin the turkey. He's going to smoke one on his electric smoker & I'm going to fry one up in my Char Broil Big Easy. I wanted to do a Cajun turkey, but wanted to do something different than you're typical Tony Chachere's rub + Cajun butter. I did that a few years ago and in my opinion the Cajun butter was way too overbearing & buttery tasting. It wasn't terrible, but I felt like I was eating a stick of spicy butter with a side of turkey.

With that being said, does anyone have a good homemade Cajun turkey recipe? I'm thinking brine + injection/rub. Thanks in advance!

SGH

 Brother, I make a very simple injection of Land O Lakes butter with some cayenne mixed in. It's simple, tastes excellent, and is not overpowering at all as it lacks the garlic. Just buttery goodness with a little heat. 
With that said, there are now several ready made injections that you can buy that do not contain garlic. When it comes to ready made turkey injections, it's usually excessive garlic that turns some folks away. All the kids and grand kids really like my simple butter/cayenne injection so I stick with it. 
On a separate note, how do you like the Big Easy?

BrevardAUEgger

Great, thanks!

Man I could not be more pleased with the big easy...I need to cook on it more actually. I've had it going on 4 years & it has never disappointed.

SGH

BrevardAUEgger said:

Great, thanks!

Man I could not be more pleased with the big easy...I need to cook on it more actually. I've had it going on 4 years & it has never disappointed.

I have one and I use it mostly for making real large batches of kabobs. It does a good job on turkey, but I still prefer to deep fry them. 

YukonRon

I have a great Deep Fried turkey recipe. Every time I have made it, people tell me it is the best thing they have ever had. A couple things you will need; A bag or baggie large enough to hold the turkey for a rub/brine of 24 hours, a space in the fridge to keep it, food handling gloves It is pepper heavy, however after deep frying it is not spicy. The bird will come out a very dark brown, due to the method, a first timer will think it is burnt. but it is not.
I did two turkeys this way when I tried out the recipe, just to be sure. The first one, my wife, son and I consumed that day, just 2 meals and picking at it. The skin is delicious.
You will need the following ingredients:
16 oz of Italian Dressing
1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper
1/2 cup Black Pepper
1 cup of Creole Seasoning
2 tablespoons of Garlic Powder
Use caution, gloves, eye protection and a dust mask, should be considered when making this paste, just in case.
1) Place Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Creole Seasoning and Garlic Powder in bowl add about 12 ounces of the Italian dressing, slowly, and mix until it forms a paste, to the consistency of wet coffee grinds, be careful not to add too much.
2) Pat the entire Turkey with the paste, covering it completely.
3) Place the Turkey in the bag, cavity towards the opening of the bag.
4) Pour remaining Italian Dressing in the cavity, making sure it is rubbed in all the interior surface. If possible, add any remaining paste to the exterior surface of the bird, then seal the bag
5) Place into refrigerator over night, no longer than 24 hours.
Get oil temperature to 375F cook for 3 minutes, 30 seconds per pound, and add 5 minutes to the total.
Pull the bird and allow to drain. It will look blackish or very deep brown, It will be delicious.
Serve this, and all that will be left is the carcass.
    

Photo Egg

YukonRon said:

I have a great Deep Fried turkey recipe. Every time I have made it, people tell me it is the best thing they have ever had. A couple things you will need; A bag or baggie large enough to hold the turkey for a rub/brine of 24 hours, a space in the fridge to keep it, food handling gloves It is pepper heavy, however after deep frying it is not spicy. The bird will come out a very dark brown, due to the method, a first timer will think it is burnt. but it is not.
I did two turkeys this way when I tried out the recipe, just to be sure. The first one, my wife, son and I consumed that day, just 2 meals and picking at it. The skin is delicious.
You will need the following ingredients:
16 oz of Italian Dressing
1/2 cup Cayenne Pepper
1/2 cup Black Pepper
1 cup of Creole Seasoning
2 tablespoons of Garlic Powder
Use caution, gloves, eye protection and a dust mask, should be considered when making this paste, just in case.
1) Place Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Creole Seasoning and Garlic Powder in bowl add about 12 ounces of the Italian dressing, slowly, and mix until it forms a paste, to the consistency of wet coffee grinds, be careful not to add too much.
2) Pat the entire Turkey with the paste, covering it completely.
3) Place the Turkey in the bag, cavity towards the opening of the bag.
4) Pour remaining Italian Dressing in the cavity, making sure it is rubbed in all the interior surface. If possible, add any remaining paste to the exterior surface of the bird, then seal the bag
5) Place into refrigerator over night, no longer than 24 hours.
Get oil temperature to 375F cook for 3 minutes, 30 seconds per pound, and add 5 minutes to the total.
Pull the bird and allow to drain. It will look blackish or very deep brown, It will be delicious.
Serve this, and all that will be left is the carcass.
    

Sounds awesome...

YukonRon

@Photo Egg I have tried doing the injections and while very good, this paste process is the best I have come up with thus far. 

BrevardAUEgger

@YukonRon nice! Sounds awesome. I wonder if this would work ok with my Big Easy...It's an "oil-less" deep fryer that cooks with infrared heat. Not as good as the real deep frying, but still pretty dang good

YukonRon

BrevardAUEgger said:

@YukonRon nice! Sounds awesome. I wonder if this would work ok with my Big Easy...It's an "oil-less" deep fryer that cooks with infrared heat. Not as good as the real deep frying, but still pretty dang good

I have no experience with that. Sorry. I have an electric Cajun Cooker, which I use with peanut oil. The timer and thermostat takes a lot of the guess work out of it. I must have missed that in the original post. If you do deep fry, give this recipe a shot.

Legume

@YukonRon that sounds fantastic, but I'm guessing it absolutely wrecks the oil.  When you cooked two, they were back to back in the same oil?

Do you push any under the breast skin?

YukonRon

Legume said:

@YukonRon that sounds fantastic, but I'm guessing it absolutely wrecks the oil.  When you cooked two, they were back to back in the same oil?

Do you push any under the breast skin?

It does wreck the oil, but I filtered the oil and fried a couple batches of potatoes with it, worked out pretty well. Used it again the following week for a friend's birthday that was at the Thanksgiving deal. I have done several like this tailgaiting as well. Smells awesome while cooking, gathers crowds.

I did push some under the skin that was lose but, very little. I did not originally seek to do so.

I did cook two back to back. They were great. I threw some potatoes in for a quick crisp fry, between the birds, and they were pretty good too.

Legume

I like it - will probably scare my family off, more for me.

SGH

BrevardAUEgger said:

I wonder if this would work ok with my Big Easy...It's an "oil-less" deep fryer that cooks with infrared heat. 

I have a Big Easy myself. But I'm not an expert with it as I usually use it for cooking very large amounts of kabobs at one time. That's it's use 99% of the time. 
However I have used it enough to tell you that you have to be very selective in what rubs you use or you will end up with a smut black end product. What is really odd is the black usually doesn't taste burnt. It just looks like crap. Sugar is a no no for sure or you will definitely have a black finish. 
If you ever want to try something fantastic in the Big Easy, cook a pork loin in it. There is something about that "air fryed" taste on a pork loin that is almost magical. I'm being 100% honest here, I prefer pork loin out of the Big Easy over any of my Big Units. It excels at cooking pork loin my friend. 

YukonRon

Legume said:

I like it - will probably scare my family off, more for me.

Once they try it, they will not want it any other way. Juicy and very flavorable throughout. If I were not doing a standing french cut prime rib roast from SRF this Thanksgiving, I would certainly be doing this Turkey. It is not a spicy hot finish, and everyone that sees the recipe thinks it is. 

lousubcap

@YukonRon -  given you know how much paste you have on the bird, any comments on trying that on a BGE?  Also what size turkey is your recipe designed for?  I may have to change it up and make a mess...

YukonRon

lousubcap said:

@YukonRon -  given you know how much paste you have on the bird, any comments on trying that on a BGE?  Also what size turkey is your recipe designed for?  I may have to change it up and make a mess...

I have not tried it on the egg as yet, as the Deep Frying is better than any other way we have cooked a turkey. I can't imagine anything I can do on the BGE to be better than this method.

I cook a 12-14 lb bird, only because that is what is typically immersable in my electric Cajun Cooker. I have had others tell me they have gone larger, with excellent results.

Legume

@YukonRon this has me wondering how this heavy paste would work w/chicken or wings at high temp in egg, probably want to shake a good bit off first, but probably great to deeply season wings, then maybe cook hot and fast, 450 or more.  I may try something like this.

YukonRon

@Legume When ulling from the oil, very little of this this is left on the bird, if any.

Legume

Thanks Ron, makes perfect sense, I like the heavy paste idea, just wondering how best to employ on a high heat egg cook where it probably won't wash off.

Moleman

Ron, I assume I could just use the paste for boneless turkey breasts as well? And would you happen to know a rough time per pound? Thanks

YukonRon

Legume said:

Thanks Ron, makes perfect sense, I like the heavy paste idea, just wondering how best to employ on a high heat egg cook where it probably won't wash off.

I have no clue on that one. My skills are just not there for dry heat, high heat with this recipe.

YukonRon

Moleman said:

Ron, I assume I could just use the paste for boneless turkey breasts as well? And would you happen to know a rough time per pound? Thanks

I use 3 minutes and 30 seconds,  and add 5 minutes. I am sure you can use the recipe.