I’ve wanted to deep fry a Christmas turkey for a few years, and this year it just happened that that Jef bought a turkey cooker so he could use the burner for his brewing.
Now, heating 4 gallons of oil to 200C offers lots of opportunity for serious injury and/or home damage. So, we took the precaution of doing the work outside the house, never turning our back on the heating oil, and using the right gear. The burner has a cut-out should the temperature reach more than 350F and we kept our eye on the thermometer.
The process is easy, and easier than cooking the bird in the oven. We soaked it in brine with sugar overnight, drained and dried it off in the morning. Water and hot oil don’t mix so it’s best to get it as dry as possible. It can then be hung on the included grappling hook thing ready for dipping.
Next was to heat the oil for about half an hour. Once it was up to temperature just lower the turkey in and put the lid back. After 50 minutes of standing in the rain watching the pot boil we removed it and tested the meat’s temperature and that’s it. No basting, no worrying about food poisoning and the meat is much more moist and tender.
Heating the oil
Lowering the bird into the pan
Finished!
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