So I'm not concerned about how to prepare the actual turkey, but just want to make sure that I have the correct equipment.

I've done crawfish a few times, so I have a big pot, and the propane stand, along with the basket that goes in the pot. I also have gloves for pulling out the basket.

What am I missing?

TIA!

Peanut oil, Fry thermometer, Fire extinguisher, Plenty of cold beer?

Couldn't find the thread, but someone posted this a few years ago. Explains everything, and it's very good as well. Wish I could give props to whomever posted it.

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Here's what I do just about every year and I always end up with requests to do it again. I've been frying turkeys for a long time now - long before it became the popular method it is today. Over the years my methods have changed, but this is the basic method that is the framework. You are free to modify what you want on seasonings, or not follow it at all. Your choice.

SAFETY: Cook the damned bird outside. Away from structures that can catch fire. Don't have kids or dogs around. You need a place that doesn't have a lot of wind blowing either. Thaw your turkey. Wear PPE (gloves and closed toed shoes). Don't be an idiot - you are dealing with a few gallons of boiling oil and an open flame. Burn scars don't go away.

1. Obviously, ensure your turkey is completely thawed. Very important. Not so much for safety (birds don't explode like the myth, but a frozen bird won't cook and you will be shamed for all eternity). Remove the neck and gizzards package and hand them to the missus to begin the gravy process. Remove the plastic cooking indicator and the plastic hangar they use at the slaughterhouse.

2. Take your thawed turkey, put it in your pot. Fill pot with water until the turkey is just covered. Let the bird sit in the water for 3-5 minutes, top off as necessary and wait a couple of more minutes. (this allows the water to fill up the cavity and get in all the nooks and crannies). Remove turkey, let it drain for 3-5 minutes OVER THE POT, then mark the outside of the pot where the water level is. This is your oil fill level for that bird.

3. Injecting the marinade: I typically use Cajun Injector brands - Creole Butter and Garlic Butter flavors are the most popular in a 50/50 mix, but other flavors and brands work as well. I mix the two together and inject multiple places. Be sure to use small injection pockets - large pockets tend to burn and ruin the flavor of the meat. I also inject from the inside of the carcass so that the injector doesn't ooze out nearly as easily as it does if you inject on the outside.

Inject in 10 to 12 different places. When you are done, massage the bird all over for 3 or 4 minutes to work the marinade in and keep any large pockets from standing. Massage the bird, love the bird. Talk dirty to the bird.

4. Tony's - get 2 cans. Use 1 can on the outside of the bird. Don't worry about putting too much on as much of the seasoning cooks off when it's frying. Once you are done with that, take the other can and dump it in the organ cavity (all of this is obviously after removing the neck and gizzards and the plastic baking indicator). Dump it in there liberally - these seasonings will help flavor the meat from the inside out. Again, it's really almost impossible to put too much as most of the seasoning cooks out. It seems like a waste, but it works.

(Note 1: you can use just about any seasoning you want, the pre-made injectables and something like Tony's are already made, easy, cheap and work really really well though. I usually add some other stuff, but that's personal flavor likes for me)

(Note 2: some people brine their turkeys. I don't see any point in brining something that is getting essentially boiled in hot oil. Brining helps hold in moisture, which is a great thing for smoking or baking, but if your fried turkey comes out dry, well, you pretty much FUBAR'd it and probably need to just give it to the dogs and head over to Boston Market wearing a large S on your shirt for "shame")

5. Let the bird marinade in the fridge for 24 hours to 48 hours. 48 Preferred. Put it in your turkey pan and wrap up tight in saran wrap.

6. Cooking - take your pot and clean it. Don't be afraid to clean it 2 or 3 times. You want to ensure that all dirt, oil, grease, etc. is cleaned out to prevent anything like this from burning and ruining your bird. A clean pot is a happy pot. A clean pot makes a good bird.

(Note 1: clean the damned lid and thermometer also)

7. Fill pot with cottonseed or peanut oil to your mark on the outside of the pot. Heat to 350. This will take a while, but keep your eye on it - once it hits 250 or so, the temp starts to shoot up pretty quick. Around 375 and the oil will start to burn, and that's bad. Not flame up burn, but leave a bitter flavor burn. Fame up burn is bad too, but I hope you realize this already. Don't let either happen.

Once your oil hits 325-350, take a couple of potatoes and slice them up (bread also works - basically you want the starches) and toss them in the oil. Potato works best because you essentially make chips, and they are great to snack on while you cook. The starch helps condition the oil and removes any bitter taste that may be present. I season my potato slices with salt, because hey - I loves me some salty potato chips.

SLOWLY drop bird into oil when it's reached the right temp. What part of SLOW don't you understand? SLOW - take 2-3 minutes to get the entire bird submerged.

Remember that your temp will drop to about 300 when you first do this - it is important to not freak out and make massive adjustments to your heat input, otherwise when everything stabilizes you are going to have the oil too hot and end up either burning your bird or you'll spend the entire time adjusting up and down trying to regulate the temp. After about 5 minutes, if you need to increase the heat, make small adjustments until you hit your target temp.

(note - some folks turn off the flame here. That's not a bad idea. I've never had a flare up or overflow, but I take 2-3 minutes to put the bird in - welding gloves are a good thing to have here)

8. Boil/Fry at 350 for 3 minutes per pound. If you cook at 325, add another 1/2 minute per pound. Most birds are in the 12-15 pound range, so you are looking at roughly 45 minutes in the pot.

9. When your bird is done, remove from oil and hold it over the pot for a minute or so to allow the residual oil to drain out. Not doing so can leave you with a soggy bird that isn't nearly as good. That and when you put the bird on the cutting board or basing pan to sit, the oil you didn't let drain out will drain out and you'll have drawn the ire of the missus for the mess you made in her kitchen.

10. This is very important: Let your bird sit for 10 minutes before carving. I use a large cutting block for this, but you can use a basting pan. This lets the last bit of residual oil to drain out, lets the bird finish cooking and start cooling down. Odds are you'll have to keep people away, but if you don't let it sit, the bird generally ends up soggy and not nearly as good.

11. After 10 minutes, carve and serve. Then bask in the glory of being the cook. Reminder - the bird is still hot. Don't forget this.

12. After everybody is fat and happy and has taken the requisite Thanksgiving day nap, take the bones and put them in a pot, covered with water. Simmer for a few hours and jar up the awesome turkey stock you have created. Next time you make a gumbo or etouffe, use some of this stock. Again, you will have to be humble in the praise you will get from the masses, so keep that in mind.

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Remember to pre-measure the amount of oil you'll need, don't just guesstimate. Easiest way is to put the turkey (frozen/packaged) in the pot you're going to use, then fill it with water until it's a few inches over the turkey. Remove the turkey (let it drain in the pot), then mark that water spot. That way, you know you're good and won't have any messy boil-overs.

#1 thing I see people do that causes problems.

Seems like a pretty easy thing to make, and it'll be safe!

I personally like brining the turkey over injecting.

I brine when smoking and inject when frying.

You might want to consider getting a pot that is designed for frying turkeys as opposed to your crawfish pot... You'd be surprised how expensive it will be to buy enough peanut oil to fill a huge pot. Also, I'm not sure you'll want to use the basket you mentioned having . There is a specific wire rack that is made for attaching to the turkey and is realllly helpful for pulling the bird out and allowing it to drain properly and securely. I realize there is more than one way to skin a cat but I know for a fact you won't want to pull that basket up and have a 15 pound bird with a body cavity filled with oil wobbling around...


Oh and don't be alarmed when you pull your bird out and it looks burned at first... Its just right!

IMO,
smoking >

Those be my directions above.

They work, and work well. Heed them.

Don't forget to dump the ice in right before putting the turkey in for skin texture

Go to Amazon and order an electric fryer. Not the oil-less. I've used the Masterbuilt Butterball but others have good reviews too. Unless you only fry small birds, get the XL version for $130. It will pay for itself by using less oil. Much safer as well. You can use it inside but outside is better unless you like the smell.

Brine if you want, but injecting and liberally seasoning the outside is required. I like the Cajun Butter flavor myself.

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Those be my directions above.

They work, and work well. Heed them.

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Where is your thread? I couldn't find it.

I have no idea where the thread is. There are probably a dozen or more turkey frying threads.

Glad this popped up - I need to get my rig out from the garage and do the annual cleaning on it here in the next week or to, as well as take my empty propane bottle to do a swap out.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and frying a turkey is just something that I find joy in doing. Add some good football this year with my Ags against the swamp kitties, and life will simply be good.

As far as equipment goes, I have one of the Bayou Classic setups, but here is some good advice I have learned the hard way:

1. Get the stainless pot. It's about $40 or so more IIRC, but it's worth 10x that much. My first setup was the less expensive aluminum pot, and it made it through 3 fries before it developed pinhole leaks. Few things in life are more demoralizing than discovering, on Thanksgiving Day, that your turkey frying pot has a leak. (BTW, you can solder aluminum with enough McGyver in you. I know this from experience. But it's not fun.) I bought a stainless pot the next day, and my aluminum pot died a glorious death at the hands of a .223 rifle and a 2 lb Tannerite explosive charge.

2. Make sure you have this:

Turkey Rack & Lifting Hanger

3. Make sure you have a full propane bottle. The absolute last thing (well, not absolute last, but it's on up there with things you don't want happening) is to run out of propane to keep the oil hot. Bad ju-ju.

4. I've never used an electric fryer. Some people say they are good. I am suspect of both these people and the equipment on general principle. But i'm also half coon-ass and loves me some cooking with man type equipment that is inherently dangerous, but produces oh so awesome greatness.

5. Get you some welding gloves. They are cheap and work great at protecting your hands and arms while lowering and removing the turkey from the pot.

6. If you are going out to get a pot now, get one with a spigot drain on the side. I really, really, really, really wish my pot had one of these. And I'm considering adding one at some point. I can weld after all.

Pot with Drain

Number one safety tip:

Turn off the burner when you put the turkey in the pot. This way, if things splatter or spill, there's no ignition source. Once the bird is in, and you see that everything is alright, simply re-light it. Huge risk avoidance!

Have an extra turkey in case you destroy the first.

Have an extra turkey (or 2) so you can eat it later. Peanut oil is expensive, might as well cook a few turkeys.

I also agree with the advice to make your own stock with the bones. It's excellent.

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Massage the bird, love the bird. Talk dirty to the bird.

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we fried some chicken legs for snacking first one year.