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Thanksgiving: Deep-Fried Turkey

Source of Recipe

From "Thanksgiving: How to Cook it Well" by Sam Sifton


Recipe Introduction

"I first had a fried turkey at a dove shoot in rural Delaware, fired up with Cajun spices and left out on a sideboard for everyone to carve for sandwiches. It was about the best thing I had ever eaten at the time, and I vowed to make one myself, as soon as I could. That time came within a year, and if someone had filmed the process, it would have made a strong infomercial on how not to fry a turkey. I cooked with a friend, the two of us amped on beer and adrenaline, standing outside on a Brooklyn sidewalk: two city-kid rednecks with a fried-turkey rig purchased from a home improvement store, the pot filled with peanut oil, a propane hob roaring below it. Fried turkeys cook at a blazingly fast 3 ½ minutes a pound when the oil is at 350 degrees. Our oil could have been running near twice that temperature. Or half. Our thermometer did not work. Whichever, we burned the turkey badly and managed to somehow pierce the bottom of the pot while doing so, igniting the oil and starting a fire that nearly engulfed a woman dressed in white Daisy Dukes who would later become my wife. The cops came. We were pouring kitty litter onto the dying flames. One said, 'Your technique needs work.' Years later, here is my best recipe for a fried turkey: a fast and furious process that results in a tightly sealed, beautifully burnished turkey of deep juiciness and shatteringly crisp skin. The recipe gives a wide berth to brining. (Also to stuffing, for the obvious reason that it would absorb a great deal of oil.) I am not one of those who feel that it is necessary to brine a bird that is so tightly sealed by the cooking process. Moreover, I believe the process of frying a brined bird dangerous, though certainly it can be done. If you are not exceedingly careful, the excess moisture within the turkey can be converted too quickly in the frying pot to steam, which (true story!) blows the breasts right off the carcass in the hot oil and creates all kinds of issues you don't want to deal with on Thanksgiving, or any other day. Whether to brine a turkey you intend to fry should depend on your experience with the process and the kind of bird you are frying. More advice: Most fried-turkey kits (cooking hob, giant pot, rack for the bird) come with a large syringe that some use to inject the meat with marinade in advance of the frying. Pass on this. The risks (a bolus of marinade in the breast, pierced skin, etc.) far outweigh the reward. Finally, and one hopes obviously: Cook outdoors on a plot of land you do not mind desecrating with hot oil if things start to splatter or problems arise. Make sure you are a good distance away from your house or any other structure, so that you do not become a feature on the evening news if something goes really, terribly wrong. Make sure, also, that you have a long-pronged candy thermometer in the oil, so that you know what temperature it is while you are cooking. And wear shoes!"

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 1 12- to 16-pound turkey, thawed, with giblets and neck removed
â—¦ 3 tablespoons kosher salt
â—¦ 1 ½ tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, or to taste
â—¦ 1 5-gallon container peanut oil


Recipe

Place the turkey in an empty fryer pot and cover with water. Remove the turkey from the pot, rinse, and dry with paper towels. Mark the water level with a marker on the outside of the pot, or score the inside with a nail or paring knife. You will need that much oil in the pot when you cook, and no more. Empty the pot, then wash and dry.

Rub the bird inside and out with salt, pepper, and cayenne.
Fill pot with peanut oil so that it reaches the level the water was after the turkey was removed, and attach an extra-long candy thermometer to the inside of the pot. Heat oil over an outdoor propane hob until the oil reaches 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, place the turkey on its rack—generally a device shaped something like a grappling hook, with a long shank, that will allow you to put the bird into the heated oil and retrieve it at the end of the cooking process. Simply thread the bird onto the shank so that it sits with its breast side up.

Working carefully, use the handle that attaches to the rack to lower the turkey slowly into the heated oil. The process may take up to a minute, as the oil bubbles and pops because of excess moisture on the exterior of the bird. Wear gloves and do not perform your duties barefoot or while drunk.

Cook for approximately 3 ½ minutes per pound. Remove from oil, allowing the excess to drain off the carcass, and allow the bird to rest for at least 30 minutes, covered in foil. Remove bird from rack and carve.