Delicious Turkey Mess

RhumAndJerk

This non-egg event left me wishing that I had transported and used my egg.[p]I cured my cooking bug this weekend. [p]I requested a mission and for my sins they gave me one. And when it was all over, I would never want another …[p]On New Years Day I deep-fried my first turkey. This started out on the wrong foot. After the festivities of the previous night and an hour drive to the In-laws, I was ready to begin the process. Many problems followed. First, we could not get the travel plug out of the tank. After, a half-hour, we realized that someone had opened the valve and we were fighting pressure. Next, the hose that was provided had the wrong fitting for the tank that I had, something about a new safer fitting. I made a Trip to Lowe’s for converter with my father. A new hose was cheaper. Made it back and realized that we would not eat Turkey as part of the dinner. Ate a wonderful meal, minus the turkey. [p]Finally, I got everything setup and set the oil to boil. I did use the water method to determine how much oil to use, I guess that still used too much. At this point, someone had to watch the whole setup with six kids running around (If it were the egg, I would not have worried). I injected the 15-pound turkey with a half of jar of Chef Williams’ Teriyaki and Honey Marinade. I then lightly rubbed the skin with Zatarain’s Creole Seasoning. When the oil got to 350, I submersed the bird. Oil was jumping all over the place, I was sure that I was going to get a fireball any minute. The oil temp dropped 50 degrees, and it took 20 minutes to get it back to 350. I then remembered that I should have calibrated the new thermometer that was provided. I had brought my polder (for time only), so it was keeping time for the blessed event. [p]At 45 minutes, I pulled the bird out of the oil enough to check the temperature of the meat. My father measured 180 in the thigh and 160 in the breast. Perfect, so out it came. It looked overdone and definitely blackened. I threw in some cut up potatoes for fresh French Fries. I carved up the turkey and it was delicious, moist and flavorful. It was somewhere around 4PM when we finished cooking. The turkey did not last long. [p]The next part is what I dreaded, the clean up. Start with a half-bag of cat litter to soak up the oil on the driveway. It took four hours for the oil to cool down enough to work with it. I did not have a strainer for the oil. My wife’s one aunt suggested that we use a two liter pop bottle as a funnel. Wonderful lady, it worked like a charm. I was using a coffee filter to strain the oil. This simply took forever. I finally replaced the coffee filter with some gauze. It took over an hour to strain the oil. Somehow, I finally got everything to the point that I could pack it up and take it home.[p]I was exhausted. We got home a 10 PM. The kids had to open their Christmas Presents; they had been at Grandma’s for almost two weeks. At 1AM, I finally finished the cleanup back at my house. I did check the thermometer and it was off by 12 degrees. Halfway trough the cleanup, I was dreaming about the cleanup of cooking on the egg. Close Vent and Place Cap on. [p]The turkey flavor was unique, but I do not know if it was worth the effort.[p]Happy Grilling,
RhumAndJerk[p]

Char-Woody

RhumAndJerk, LOL !![p] Sounds like my kind of day...Wow!! great story!
That kinda curbs my curiostity over the oil cookers. ~:-)
C~W

RhumAndJerk

Char-Woody,
Despite the long-winded approach, the turkey was excellent. I think that I just need some more equipment, like and oil strainer. I will try it again in the future with less oil. [p]The people here on the forum got me father than I would have by myself. A couple more iterations and I should have it down. Given the shared investment in the equipment, I will use it again.[p]Thank you to all that contributed to the turkey,
RhumAndJerk[p]

Unknown

RhumAndJerk,[p]I also bought me one of those turkey deep friers and I think I used it twice. As you mentioned, it is a mess to clean up and when all that grease gets to boiling it's pretty scary...not to mention the thunderous roar provided by the 100,000 BTU burner.[p]I think I used 5 cans of Crisco and never did reclaim it. The fowl was good but I don't think it was any better than the Egg and the Egg does it almost as juicy too.[p]Egg 1
Deep friers 0[p]

Grill With Bill

RhumAndJerk,[p]I got two different filter systems for my turkey fryer. One is a pump that I picked up at Barbecues Galore (they start singing when they see me walk in there). It cost about 20 bucks and runs on 2 D batteries. It has a little hose that comes out of it which allows you to easily pump into any container you have handy. I used 1/2 gallon mason jars (8 of 'em). The other filter system (which is just a metal rack) uses cone shaped filters which are a little larger than coffee filters. I got that one at Smart and Final (which is kind of a restaurant supply store open to the public.) [p]I've now smoked turkey on the Egg, rotesseried turkey on my gas grill, and deep fried a turkey in peanut oil. All three came out great but deep fried seems to be the winner among my guests (although I will agree that clean up is the worst.) [p]So don't give up on deep frying just yet the more you do it, the easier it gets. [p]Bill