Thanksgiving Thread

Can I get any stickers for posting?

Thanksgiving staples on Horton Hill. 
Fried and smoked turkey, seafood stuffed chickens and little ham to boot. The ham makes a great turd (floaters).

bud812 said:

@SGH, Thanks for no pics of the floaters. 

I wasn't sure if I should post them or not

@SGH I have 2 turkeys in the freezer and a ham in the fridge. I was planning to egg a turkey and a ham for Thanksgiving. Considering also frying the second turkey now that I have a fryer. Any tips on frying a turkey? I could always google, but I'd rather have tips from you.

DMW said:

Any tips on frying a turkey? 

Absolutley brother. The most important thing I can offer is to be absolutley sure that the turkey is completely thawed. The slightest spot still frozen or even partially frozen is a real problem when deep frying. It just will not cook. I know it goes against the grain, but I let turkeys that I'm going to deep fry warm up to room temp. This way there is no doubt that they are thawed. Frying them is pretty straightforward. If frying a whole turkey, I preheat the peanut oil to 375 degrees then drop the bird in. This will set the skin. I do not try to bring the oil back up to 375, I let it fry at anywhere from 280-310 degrees. Trying to bring that much oil back up to 350-375 with 15 pounds of cold meat in it can cause you to scorch the oil. I have fried a lot of birds and can assure you that keeping the oil at 280-310 will produce a perfectly crisp skin and a juicy bird. Plus you won't scorch your oil.  I don't follow the "minutes per pound" that you see recommended. I temp the birds with my Thermopen and pull to my liking. For me, l pull when the thickest part of the dark meat registers 175. Usually the breasts will be right around 160 at this point which is just about perfect. I like a spicy or "Cajun" style bird so for a rub I use 1 part salt, 1 part black pepper and 2 parts cayenne. But you can use anything that you like. I like to inject the birds heavily with Land O Lakes real butter. Feel free to use store bought Cajun Creole Butter or whatever you like. But to me, the Land O Lakes is a tough act to follow. So to recap:

1. Be sure that the bird is thawed 100%. I can't stress enough how important this is when deep frying. 
2. Try to limit you birds to 15 pounds or less. They fry much better than larger birds. I find 10-12 pounders to fry the very best. 
3. Inject with butter or creole butter. Again I prefer Land O Lakes real butter. 
4. Rub with your rub of choice. You can rub pretty heavy as some of it will wash away in the hot oil. 
5. Drop into 375 degree oil. Maintain oil temp between 280-310. Toward the end of the cook when the bird is getting done, the oil temp will start to rise back toward 375 degrees. This is normal. But during the cook don't try to force it as you can scorch your oil. Just try to hold the 280-310. I assure you it works perfect. 
6. Pull when the deepest part of the thighs register 175 degrees. The breasts should be in the 160 degree arena at this point. 
7. Don't try to use the "minutes per pound" guide. Cook to internal temp. 

General notes.
Peanut oil is preferred. It tastes great and has a high flashpoint. 
To brine or not. For deep fried, butter injected turkey, this is one time that I don't think that it really matters if you brine or not. However I still like to do it. 
A brine bird will cook faster. 
15 pound and smaller birds fry more even than larger birds. 
Again, I can not stress enough to be absolutley sure that the bird is 100% thawed. When deep frying, this is a must, not a option. 

I hope this helps my friend. If I missed anything, feel free to ask. I will gladly offer what I can. You are in for a real treat with the deep fried turkey. 

+1 on this ^^^^^^^^ from @SGH
also be sure the turkey is perfectly dried off; inside and out. This will prevent the hot oil from splattering when putting the bird into the cooker. I usually go religiously by the 3 minutes per pound or, about 2 beers rule but also be sure to be ready to cut back on the heat after about 2/3 of the way done since the oil temp will rise quickly as the bird nears completion. Don't bother too much with the rub, IMHO fried birds are better with injections. 

Wow @SGH, that is some serious cooking. Great advice on the deep fried turkey. @Mickey, thanks for the infor on the ham. I am going to do one for Christmas like that.

@DMW when trying to measure the amount of oil, first put bird in pot and cover with water, when you cover bird turn off water. Remove bird and mark that water level. This is your line for adding oil. Trust me, you do not want to have to much oil when you lower the bird in. No bueno

This is how we did our turkey last time we hosted:

*********************

Thanksgiving went very well - I bought a fresh turkey on Monday night. Kept in the fridge until Wednesday, when we cleaned it, dried it, and put it uncovered in the fridge.

On Thursday morning, I removed it from the fridge at 11 am, and brought it up to room temp. I placed it on a V-rack in a 9x13" pan, and prepared it a la Mad Maxx - onion, lemon, salt and pepper in the cavity. For the paste: 2 sticks of softened butter, chopped thyme and sage, 2 tsp of minced garlic, and then sprinkled with Bone Sucker Sauce. Then I iced the breast for about 30 minutes, while we started the BGE.

The pan - about 8 oz of chicken broth, onion, lemon, and a quartered green apple.

Once the Egg was up to 350, the bird went in, with the previous plan:

- Charcoal 1" below the platesetter, bring temp up to 350 and stabilize.
- Platesetter legs up, grate on top.
- Roasting pan on grate, with chicken broth, veggies, etc. in the pan
- Rack in pan
- Turkey on rack, legs to the back of the BGE.

I checked it at 10 minutes to make sure the temp was holding, then let it cook for an hour before I tried basting. In the end, I simply "basted" with chicken broth from the box every 30 minutes.

The 15 lb turkey cooked in 2 hours, 45 minutes. A beautiful bird! Very tasty, and moist too. I'll see if I can attach pics.

Thanks for all the help - we will definitely do this again, since it was great to have the kitchen oven freed up for other foods!

@Sandi_k said: "On Thursday morning, I removed it from the fridge at 11 am, and brought it up to room temp."

From everything I've read on food safety, this is a no no for any kind of poultry. Might want to reconsider doing this again. I'm going to try the Mad Max method myself this year. Good luck with yours.