Deep Fried Butterball Turkey (Indoors)

Deep Fried Butterball Turkey (Indoors)

Thanksgiving is coming.  

You may as well start thinking about it. 

How are you going to cook that turkey this year.

I started with 1 frozen turkey

Thawed for 2 days in a 5 gallon pail of water.

Take it out of the bag

Opening and opening

Cut the wing tips off.  

Save them for the gravy.

Take what ever excess skin off

I used scissors.  Safety first.

Keep the skin for the gravy.

Clean the bird with water

Use paper towel to get as much moisture out of the bird as you can

Keep drying

Pat pat here and pat pat there

Looks like it is all patted dry

Someone is teasing me

She can't wait till the turkey is done

OK, turkey does fit in the deep frying basket

Put together the Indoor Butterball Deep Fryer

Purchases at WalMart for $29.99

I used Peanut Oil

Again, purchased at WalMart for $29.99 for 3 gallons.

There ain't near enough oil just yet

Other saved jug from a previous deep fried turkey

Looks like there is enough oil now

It is hot and ready to deep fry

Go get the turkey

Introduce the bird to the deep fryer

Lower it SLOWLY into the boiling hot oil

If it starts to boil up, take it out

Keep on lowering it

More and more of the turkey going into the boiling oil

OK, immersed in the boiling oil

Setting the timer

OK, 14 pound bird @ 2 minutes per pound is 48 minutes

48 minutes later

Lift it out and let it drain the oil out of the bird

Get a plate or other item to catch the oil dripping as you don't want to make a mess of the kitchen floor.

Move towards the prep area

OK, turkey is resting for a few moments

IT'S STUCK!

I had to remove piece by piece out of the basket

Tester pieces of turkey

Yup, it's cooked all the way through

I keep grabbing pieces of the turkey and cutting it up.

Finally released from the basket

Cutting and de-boning

So this turkey is so moist.  It doesn't taste like oil.  It actually does taste like turkey.  But not dried out like your grandmother used to make.

There is a down side.  No turkey drippings to make gravy.  Ah, but you do have the pieces of turkey that you cut up earlier and you do have the bones.  But that is another post.

You can make stuffing.  I've tried making it from scratch.  Yes it tastes pretty good.  But I keep going back to the stuffing from the box.  It's consistent.  It's always good.

So, sorry for those of you that were expecting a recipe today.  Today was just to show you that you can deep fry a turkey indoors.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Blooming Onion

Blooming Onion 

Ingredients

2 large sweet onions
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 gallon peanut oil
salt, pepper and ketchup

Directions

Slice the onion into 16 petals. Whisk the flour & spices in a wide bowl. In a small deep bowl, whisk the eggs, and milk.  You can add water if you don't have enough egg wash.

Place the onion in a separate bowl, cut-side up, and pour all of the flour mixture on top.  Check to make sure the onion is fully coated, especially between the "petals." Lift the onion by the core, turn over and pat off the excess flour; reserve the bowl of flour.

Using a slotted spoon, fully submerge the onion in the egg mixture (spoon on top, if necessary). Remove and let the excess egg drip off, then repeat the flouring process. Refrigerate the onion while you heat the oil.

Heat the oil in a large deep pot over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees. Pat off excess flour from the onion. Using a wire skimmer, carefully lower the onion into the oil. Fry about 10 minutes, then drain on paper towels. Season with salt, pepper and serve with ketchup.

How to Slice a Bloomin' Onion

1. Cut off 1/2 inch from the pointy stem end of the onion, then peel.

2. Place the onion cut-side down. Starting 1/2 inch from the root, make a downward cut all the way through to the board.

3. Repeat to make four evenly spaced cuts around the onion.

4. Continue slicing between each section until you have 16 evenly spaced cuts.

5. Turn the onion over and use your fingers to gently separate the outer pieces.

As tasty as this is, I would recommend that you leave this to the restaurants that want to have this on their menu.  It was a lot of work and made a mess of the oil.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome