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Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
i've done it 5 times now, and am a convert! crispy bits and moist turkey cooked to perfection on every part of the bird (I brine)! do it away from any structure or overhang. i find that the most dangerous part is a 'panic moment' while you're lowering the turkey into the oil and even if the oil won't overflow it starts to feel like a possibility so you want to drop the turkey more quickly and back away (bad). my best safety tip i have not seen yet online is that when i'm ready to drop in the turkey, i get a medium saucepot with handle and a dutch oven and i take out a gallon or so (depending on size of your fry) of the hot oil. once the turkey has lowered in, i ladle that removed oil back in with the saucepot. makes the whole experience less harrowing. though you should be careful of course when ladling the oil around.
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
P.S. In an effort to sound less obnoxious, I mean more the Athens area, not all of Greece (I wouldn't know, and it is regional), and you're absolutely correct Erin that all of this stuff is technically one kind of souvlaki or another.
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
Hi Erin, thanks. Just saying that in Greece, if you told your friend you were going for a souvlaki, that's not what they'd be picturing. You'd refer to that as bifteki (which is the specialty of that area of the market). The commonly referred to "souvlaki" in Greece (eaten both in a pitta like the above picture, or ordered in piles of sticks) looks like this: http://49gym-athin.att.sch.gr/etwinning/produits/images/souvlakia2.JPG
I wasn't aiming to criticize the title, just trying to help out the fellow poster who said "So THAT'S what souvlaki is supposed to be like."
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Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
other benefit of the above is that it gives more comfort that you didn't use too much oil (which I'm guessing is what causes so many of these flameballs) and you only put back in the big pot what you need (without having to cool the fry down with cool oil). Detriment is 2 more pots to wash, which is a small price to pay once a year versus safety and fire.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
i've done it 5 times now, and am a convert! crispy bits and moist turkey cooked to perfection on every part of the bird (I brine)! do it away from any structure or overhang. i find that the most dangerous part is a 'panic moment' while you're lowering the turkey into the oil and even if the oil won't overflow it starts to feel like a possibility so you want to drop the turkey more quickly and back away (bad). my best safety tip i have not seen yet online is that when i'm ready to drop in the turkey, i get a medium saucepot with handle and a dutch oven and i take out a gallon or so (depending on size of your fry) of the hot oil. once the turkey has lowered in, i ladle that removed oil back in with the saucepot. makes the whole experience less harrowing. though you should be careful of course when ladling the oil around.
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
P.S. In an effort to sound less obnoxious, I mean more the Athens area, not all of Greece (I wouldn't know, and it is regional), and you're absolutely correct Erin that all of this stuff is technically one kind of souvlaki or another.
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
Hi Erin, thanks. Just saying that in Greece, if you told your friend you were going for a souvlaki, that's not what they'd be picturing. You'd refer to that as bifteki (which is the specialty of that area of the market). The commonly referred to "souvlaki" in Greece (eaten both in a pitta like the above picture, or ordered in piles of sticks) looks like this: http://49gym-athin.att.sch.gr/etwinning/produits/images/souvlakia2.JPG
I wasn't aiming to criticize the title, just trying to help out the fellow poster who said "So THAT'S what souvlaki is supposed to be like."
Snapshots from Greece: The Modiano Market in Thessaloniki
those little red fish that go for a whopping 28 Euro/KG are making me hungry. Barbounia/red mullet/rouget might be my favorite. I've noticed that they are really prized by the locals in greece, alexandria, italy, france, etc... i've seen them in pretty good quality at some of the better fish mongers in NYC. love them grilled with olive oil and lemon and eaten like corn on the cob. sigh
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
P.S. I've had those biftekis at Thanasis, and they are amazing.
Snapshots from Greece: Souvlaki from O Thanasis in Athens
i'm pretty sure that's not a souvlaki, it's kebab/bifteki. souvlaki is the cubes of meat.
Dinner Tonight: Ful Medames (Egyptian-Style Breakfast Beans)
the Egyptians eat Ful breakfast, lunch and dinner (as you may have experienced). It is their staple, think italians and pasta. So they'd usually prefer Tombolo's approach, and at most ful bars in egypt there are just tens of condiments to choose from, ghee, olive oil, spices, eggs all ways, green onions, etc... the Lebanese are fiercely snobbish of their own way of eating it, primarily lemon, olive oil, parsley, all-spice salt pepper and lots of garlic. Ful is also a great vehicle for tasting good olive-oils. i like it very cumin-y with a fried egg and fresh tomato and labneh on the side.
This is a nice recipe in a pinch, but if you want to get the real earthiness of how the egyptians eat it, you can't cut the corners of hydrating the dried beans and giving them a good 12-20 hour simmer (preferably in a bean pot if you can find them). you can buy the beans dried by the pound in a middle eastern grocery. the resulting water after such a simmer will be this dark earthy liquid that is amazing for braising and stewing, particularly lamb. I often use it to make lamb shanks the next day.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I was at someone's house for Thanksgiving one year when the phone rang and it was a call for one of the other guests. There had been a fire at his sister's house, caused by the deep frying of the turkey. The house burned to the ground and was a total loss. There will no turkey frying at my house! I would, however, be willing to taste a turkey that SOMEONE ELSE has fried.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I have fried a turkey now for Thanksgiving going on three years. It is great. I just hate spending $60 on oil. I am seriously interested in the Infrared turkey fryer but I am not sure how it compares in texture and flavor with oil.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Oh, the stories I could tell...
Two important phrases-
Make sure the turkey is patted or air dried very well.
Make sure it's not raining.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
As far as the oil goes cost wise, it is used several times. Its strained and put in the garage refrigerator. Peanut oil is much different than other oils. We used to fry them for our church parishioners and youth group on New Years--upwards of 30 birds. There is no oil retained in the bird, thus not oily. The correct color should be a dark golden brown or mahogany and no, its not like fried chicken. Much better. I'm like the other writer upthread, if you had it and did not like it, then it wasn't cooked right. At a luncheon last week our bird was gone in minutes and the roasted bird was left over.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Call me chicken, but I'll probably never deep fry a turkey. I've had fried turkey before and it was tasty, but didn't seem worth the danger or the expense (of buying a turkey frier) when roasted turkey can be really tasty too, and I'm confident in my turkey-roasting abilities.
The best turkey I ever had was one that had been slow-smoked all day long. Now THAT I might attempt some day, once I get a smoker. But fried turkey... I'll eat it if someone else makes it for me.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
@ frenzels: That is a tragedy! I would have banned the grandparents from the house after that.
I really want to try it but don't have the budget to spend on all the equipment yet. Maybe next year. And I loved Alton Browns turkey frying videos!
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
My dad and brother attempted to fry our bird a few years ago... it was the first and last time they tried! The bird was golden brown when they took it out at the recommended tie, but when we cut into it... way underdone, much to our chagrin and disgust. My mom didn't trust any attempts to try to cook it further, so we fell back on the ham (as well as the chicken that, for whatever reason, my nana had baked - thank goodness she did!). It's too bad, as we were psyched to try fried turkey after all the hype we'd seen on Food Network and the like about how wonderful it was. We're just too skittish to try it again!
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Another saftey tip for folks in Socal (or other warm weather spots), flip flops are not proper attire for deep frying.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Heck yeah! After we did one our first year we thought "That was a lot of work and oil for just one bird" so we started telling friends to bring over a turkey or that extra one you get for free when you spend $100 at the grocery store. Over the last 12 years it's turned into quite the neighborhood event. Last year we had 3 friers giong and did 15 turkeys by noon. We've never had a fire, but one year someone brought a turkey that wasn't completely thawed... it got very exciting, very quickly. If you use some common sense it's not nearly as dangerous as people make it out to be. No frozen birds, make sure you don't put too much oil in the pot and monitor the temp!
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
As good as they look and sound, I just can't get past the thought of spending the money to buy the fryer and the peanut oil(which is expensive),just to fry a bird on T-giving. I'm not a big turkey fan, so it would definitely be a once or twice a year thing.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
If you have had deep fried turkey and didn't like it, then it was not cooked correctly. The temperature has to be correct and the oil used should to be peanut oil. The end result should be remarkable. Not dry and oily.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I have yet to tackle the actual process of frying a turkey, but have eaten some over the years and they are delicious. There is a guy in my hometown known for selling deep-fried turkeys for Thanksgiving; he prepares them and you pick them up. You literally have to order months in advance because he gets extremely busy during holidays but his turkeys are well worth it!
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I usually spend T-day with a group of friends at a rented house in Cape Hatteras NC. I've always cooked the turkey as the rest of the gang has no idea what they're doing. They asked me to deep fry it one year and my answer was 'Oh Hells no' The thought of all that oil, all that beer, and a rented house scared the crap out of me. So, I stuck to my tried and true oven roasting technique and we had a wonderful dinner. This year it will be just my husband and myself at home so I'm going to live dangerously and smoke the bird on the grill.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I've done it several times now, and as long as you are smart about it (stay away from flammable material, make sure the bird is absolutely dry, and lower the bird slowly, no matter how much your brain screams to drop it and run away), it's an incredibly tasty way to cook turkey, and extremely popular with the family. I'm considering trying the method with other foods one of these days - read somewhere about trying it with a beef roast, and also wondering how duck or goose would turn out (although I'm a little concerned about their higher fat content and how that would react with the cooking oil).
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
They made one, plus a deep-fried chicken, at a Giants Stadium tailgate party I went to last year. Both tasted absolutely awesome.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
my grandparents are notorious for their obsession with low fat cooking. one thanksgiving, my aunt fried a turkey and put my grandfather in charge of carving it. while no one was looking, my grandfather trimmed every sliver of crispy golden fried turkey skin and threw it in the garbage. tragedy!
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I've deep fried a bird for the past three years. it's awesome. I've fried the bird in the back yard, away from any flamables, and used the displacement with water beforehand to know how much oil to use so it doesn't go over.
hands down, the best turkeys I've eaten were the deep fried variety.
also, good eats gave me a lot of good pointers on what makes a good fried turkey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E270Qx5OpxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLNLYL24qUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9mq29BaLLk
I skipped that whole ladder thing, and it came out great, and nobody was hurt.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Where your turkey comes from:
Birds are selectively bred for production-related traits, such as fast growth and large, fleshy bodies. But, in doing so, the industry has also created significant animal welfare problems. Today’s domesticated turkeys are anatomically manipulated to be so heavy and large breasted, because breast meat is the most desirable and therefore commands the best price, that they are now incapable of breeding naturally. Practically all of the turkeys raised commercially in the United States are the result of artificial insemination (AI). Their abnormally configured bodies, as well as their intensive confinement, result in health problems, including painful leg and joint disorders, lameness, heart disease, and weakened immune systems.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I am too dangerous in the kitchen let alone with a fryer...plus too cold in NH to be outside monitoring this action.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
My roommate did it with incredible results (and no fireballs). He brined it overnight before throwing it in the fryer, and It was nice and crispy on the outside and oh so tender and juicy on the inside.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I've been thinking about trying this for a few years now. Maybe one cold February day to break up cabin fever, but certainly not for the first time on Turkey Day.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I can't even light a candle without burning my fingers.
Ya think I am going to try and attempt this?
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
I did it once, and it turned out OK, but count me in the oven-roasted camp. I guess it's one of those things I grew up with that hasn't been improved. Oven roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
Fried turkey, done right is amazing. Dangerous but amazing. If you take reasonable safety precautions, it is totally worth it.
Have You Ever Deep Fried a Turkey for Thanksgiving?
The good thing about fried turkey is that everything is eaten....just a skeleton left...at least when you got a bunch of guy pickin...
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other benefit of the above is that it gives more comfort that you didn't use too much oil (which I'm guessing is what causes so many of these flameballs) and you only put back in the big pot what you need (without having to cool the fry down with cool oil). Detriment is 2 more pots to wash, which is a small price to pay once a year versus safety and fire.