Real Cooking Made Simple
By Chef Kurt Michael Friese
New Traditions: How to Deep-Fry a Turkey
That pale, tasteless, hormone-laden excuse for a bird in your grocer's freezer is no turkey. Real turkeys can fly, they can reproduce (without a syringe), they are not stupid and they taste marvelous! For years many have thought that their moms and grandmas couldn't cook turkey well; but it wasn't grandma's fault. I'm here to tell you, it was the bird.
To make great food you need great ingredients. Folks in the computer-programming world refer to this phenomenon as G.I.G.O. – Garbage In, Garbage Out. Like anything in life, you get back exactly what you put into it. In this part of the world you can get a fantastic bird grown right down the road in Kalona by Henry and Ila Miller. The turkeys live very happy, free range turkey lives and are cared for on a family farm, not manufactured on a factory assembly line.
These "Heritage" turkeys were developed to have rich, savory meat and therefore they take longer and cost more to raise than industrial birds. Slow Food is now working with farmers across the country, including Henry and Ila, to reintroduce these varieties to the market. Slow Food makes no money whatsoever from this endeavor, every penny goes to farmers like the Millers. For more information, visit www.slowfoodiowa.org.
There is a lot of advice out there for preparing a good turkey. Some of what you may have read elsewhere includes brining (soaking the bird in sugar/salt water solution for hours before cooking), which is a good idea, and roasting for 18 hours at 180 degrees, which is a terrible idea. If you are going to roast the turkey, brine it, season it, and roast it at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes per pound. Take an internal temperature reading near the end of that time and look for 165 degrees. Schedule your roasting to allow for a 1/2 hour covered rest before serving (for the bird, not you).
What follows is my favorite method for preparing your turkey. If you have the means, I highly recommend deep-frying your bird. Granted there is a bit of extra equipment involved, but it really is worth your extra effort.
To Deep-Fry a Turkey:
Equipment Needed:
- A King Cooker®, or other large outdoor stove
- A large pot (size depends on the size of your bird)
- A Candy or deep-fat thermometer
- A Turkey-frying rack (available at most camping stores) or…
- A Strong piece of wire (like from a good coat hanger) bent around a dowel
- An Instant-Read Meat Thermometer (for determining doneness)
Ingredients:
- 1 Slow Food Heritage Turkey, any size
- 30 pounds (yep, 30 pounds – or as needed for smaller birds) of lard, though peanut oil makes an interesting substitute. Heck, live a little.
- 2 Tablespoons each, Salt, Minced Garlic and Pimenton or Paprika
- 1 Tablespoon Cracked Black Pepper
- Olive oil, as needed
Procedure:
Place the lard in the pot over a medium flame on the cooker. I highly recommend doing this outdoors, on the lawn. This way if there is an accident, you end up with a scorched spot in your lawn and a dirty turkey instead of a burned-down house and a ruined holiday. Nothing spoils the spirit of Thanksgiving like a house fire.
While the lard is heating up to 375 degrees, and being closely monitored and protected from children & pets, wash the bird in cool water and pat dry, inside and out. Mix the spices with just enough oil to make a paste. Rub this marinade all over the bird, inside and out, then place on the rack or wire by running through the cavity from the neck end to the open end.
Allow the bird to marinate, covered, while the lard continues to heat. This may take an hour or two since you want to bring it up to temperature gradually (it's safer that way).
Once the oil is at 375 degrees, hang the wire from a long, strong dowel and have someone help you GRADUALLY lower the bird into the oil. Most of the accidents folks have had doing this are a result of putting the bird in the fat to fast, causing it to boil over and ignite. So, gradually lower the bird into the fire, and hook your wire on the edge of the pot.
Allow the turkey to cook for 4 minutes per pound. At the end of that time, gradually lift the bird from the lard using the dowel. Have someone standing by with a large casserole dish to catch the bird as it comes out of the oil. Check the internal temperature with the meat thermometer. When it reaches 165 degrees, carefully bring it inside (don't forget to turn off the cooker, unless you have other fish to fry).
Cover the turkey with foil and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes, then carve as usual and enjoy.
Hoping the holiday finds you surrounded by family, friends and great food, I bid you the peace of the season.
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Comments: 15
This article:
http://www.slowfoodusa.org/press/cal_turkeys.html
...is a bit dated, however I believe the info is still accurate, and even if it's not, it should send you off on the right track to find a good bird on the left coast.
Peace,
kmf
All deep fried food is wonderfully delicious--and obscenely unhealthy. I've also heard horror stories about injuries, deaths and huge fires caused by deep frying turkeys. I don't plan to try it any time soon.
Now to something more cheerful LOL. The trick to having a tasty fried gobbler is seasoning. The first thing I do after the bird is defrosted at least one day prior to frying is get out my injector. Do yourself a favor and get a good stainless steel injector. The plastic ones break often and this is the last thing you need amidst cooking for Thanksgiving. I like to try something new every year and this past Turkey Day I went for orange juice, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and Zatarain's Crab Boil. I have also used apple juice, grapefruit juice, pear juice and various spices. You can get very creative with your choices as they are almost endless. Depending on what else you are cooking you might want to use spices to offset the differing flavors. Mix all together and find some strategic places to poke your turkey. I usually only make about 6 to 8 holes in the bird and repeatedly inject in the same spots with the marinating juice. This keeps the marinate from gushing out when in the hot oil and still allows for plenty of juice to flavor your bird. What happens is the skin of the turkey becomes sealed by the oil and allows for the meat to cook along with the marinate. Your turk will turn out very juicy and succulent as you can't really go wrong with any flavor combo. Bon apetite'!
1) Make sure after you're done with the test to dry your pot THOROUGHLY. Any risidual water can be a big problem. That's why they say oil and water don't mix.
2) Don't get a frozen turkey. Get a fresh, locally raised, heirloom breed turkey. It makes a HUGE difference. If you're having trouble finding one, drop me a message and I'll help.
Peace,
kmf
Use lard! It's cheaper than most vegetable oils.