http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/11/how-to-fry-a-turkey-and-is-the-whole-thing-a.html?ref=se-bb3

This is surely to cause some discussion and dissent from the fried turkey crowd. However, don't let science and physics get in the way of a good argument. Fact is, for the breast meat, a properly roasted bird beats the pants of a deep fried one any day of the week.

Agreed.

I assume if you're eating turkey its only because you don't know how to cook mexican food. Make some holiday tamales.

Fried, smoked, roasted, it doesn't really matter to me.

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Carve the turkey, turn the ball game on...

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What a crock. If you marinate the bird the breasts stay extremely moist. I am sure the same can be said for a roasted bird, but there are lots of ways to make the breast plenty moist.

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Sure there are. Not dumping into a 350 degree vat o fat is a good start. You don't have to brine a bird to keep it moist. If you cook the bird slowly and evenly, you don't even have to brine it. Brining will certainly help hold onto water, but there's no way that the meat that is next to the oil will stay moist. Physics won't let it.

I've had lots of meat that the old folks cooked until it was as dry as leather.

It doesn't make a damn if it's fried, baked, broiled, grilled, roasted or smoked.

If you cook it too long, it gets dry.

[This message has been edited by powerbiscuit (edited 11/4/2010 1:22p).]

How about someone cutting some turkey breast strips and chicken fryin' 'em.

Report back here.

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How about someone cutting some turkey breast strips and chicken fryin' 'em.

Report back here.

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Well, now you've moved the goalposts. Since you now have a much smaller piece of meat, you can cook it quickly in hot fat, and thus minimize the amount of time the target meat spends in the fat. I'm sure "turkey strips" are pretty damn tasty.

The best meat is the dark meat anyways (that's what she said). And when you have that crispy skin to go with it, then you can throw the breast away for all I care. My grandpa can fry one hell of a turkey!

That article assumes there is only one way to fry a turkey....

I've had fried turkey that was as moist as a roasted bird and I've had fried turkey that was dry. The author notes that due to differences in energy transfer between oven air and frying oil that when frying a turkey until the center of the breast hits 150 that a good section of the rest of the breast is way overdone....well if the thermodynamics of oven vs frying oil are so vastly different why does he insist on cooking the exactly same way in oil as he does in an oven? How about pulling that bird before it hits 150? Pull it at the right time and carry over will get it to where it needs to be. Fried bird has more carry over than an oven roasted bird so why cook them both to the same internal temp?

If you fry it, you can't make gravy worth a ****, either. There are no drippings.

AC, you can use the neck and other bits to get drippings for gravy...

Now, I'm not advocating one cooking method over another, just noting that there is more than one was to skin a cat and each has its merits.

Fried turkey is awesome and I don't need some foodblog idiot with science and facts to dissuade me.

Skinned cat....deep fried or roasted.....discuss

The reason the fried bird has more carryover is because the outer third of the meat is pushing 250 degrees, whereas the roasted bird is closer to 200 degrees. Carryover doesn't matter when the outside of the bird is past well-done.

Another thing has to do with texture. Yes, the meat juices will redistribute once you let the fried bird rest. The problem is that the meat isn't absorbing anything because the muscle fibers are too tightly wound to accept any moisture.
Think of it this way. If you wring out a sponge and then hold it under water, the sponge is going to absorb very little water, because there isn't any space between the sponge fibers for the water. The meat itself can't absorb any of those juices; they merely act as capillaries for moving the juices. Once you slice that meat, the juices go everywhere and evaporate because the meat fibers can't hold onto it.

Why would you fry skinned cat? The skin is the best part!

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The reason the fried bird has more carryover is because the outer third of the meat is pushing 250 degrees, whereas the roasted bird is closer to 200 degrees. Carryover doesn't matter when the outside of the bird is past well-done.

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Which is why you should pull a fried turkey earlier than you would an oven roasted bird so that the outer meat isn't pushing 250.

I also don't recommend frying at 350 although I've had turkey fried even hotter that still came out moist.

And since some of you have so much love for cat skin....

A fried turkey is much moister than oven roasted. You did it wrong if your fried bird comes out dry.

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Which is why you should pull a fried turkey earlier than you would an oven roasted bird so that the outer meat isn't pushing 250.

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You cannot avoid this with a fried bird. Carryover only does so much good. Plus, when you remove the bird from its heat source, the heat doesn't just keep going in, it also leaves the bird itself and goes into the atmosphere. Since a lot of that heat is near the surface, it doesn't make it into the heart of the bird.

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A fried turkey is much moister than oven roasted. You did it wrong if your fried bird comes out dry.

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You didn't bother to read the article, did you?

Think what you want, but the Second Law of Thermodynamics holds the ultimate trump card.

[This message has been edited by HTownAg98 (edited 11/4/2010 2:19p).]

Every single person on this thread has missed the whole point of frying a turkey. You fry the turkey so that an elite group of men get to go outside on Thanksgiving to do the frying. They don't have to stay in and listen to the women complain about this that or the other, be bothered by jabbering kids, or interact with the family they really don't want to see. Other family members don't come outside because you tell them that frying the turkey is just below landing at Normandy on D-Day on the danger scale and if you live in more northern lattitudes it's too cold for them to want to come out anyway.

It makes for a peaceful Thanksgiving.

A fire pit is a lot cheaper.

My Big Green Egg laughs at both sides of this argument

Just tell her you're standing there to keep the kids from falling into the fire. You are thereby observing safety protocols, and you keep the kiddos out of her hair at the same time.

I like deep fried turkey.

what Wildcat says!

For the sake of getting outside on turkey day I would much rather spit roast a turkey than fry one. Less work and more beer drinkin! Hook up the tv outside, set the turkey on rotisserie with drip pan underneath and crack some cold ones!

rln_'01 Whoop!

edited for spelling.

[This message has been edited by rln_01 (edited 11/4/2010 2:53p).]

I just make a turducken every other year.

meh...ill take a fried turkey over a roasted or smoked one any day. Thats just me.

We sometimes have one of each....and yet the overcooked, dried, terrible, unamerican fried turkey is the first to get eaten.

I wonder why that is? Cause it tastes better? I dunno....but all those 'scientific' measurements don't seem to explain it.

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You didn't bother to read the article, did you?

Think what you want, but the Second Law of Thermodynamics holds the ultimate trump card.

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You can keep you 2nd law of thermodynamics. I have cooked enough turkey both ways to know which works better without the research from some pinhead scientist wannabe cook. 2nd law of thermodynamics, geez.
And yes, I read the article.

I'm calling bull**** as well. I've fried dozens of turkeys and NEVER had a dried out breast. Apparently this "expert" is a moron.

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Fried turkey is awesome and I don't need some foodblog idiot with science and facts to dissuade me.

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