Thanksgiving of 1996, Debbie and I were spending our first one as residents of Augusta, Georgia. One of our co-workers at “Kicks 99” was talking to us about “friend turkey,” and I looked at him like he had 6 heads.
“How do you do that? I don’t want a turkey broken apart, fried, and in a bucket like the Colonel would do?”
He then looked at me like I had 6 heads.
“Tell you what, I’ll come over Saturday night (this was a few weeks before Thanksgiving), and I’ll fry one up for you.”
That turned out to be a life-changing night for me. All I’d ever been exposed to was roasting the bird in the oven for countless hours and lunch/dinner being delayed as cooking times varied from year-to-year and bird-to-bird.
No more.
Once you submerge the turkey into the hot peanut oil, you can set your watch as to when the meal can be served. And it’s ALWAYS less than an hour.
Perfect.
Now, I’ve been doing fried turkey for more than a quarter century. I am very safe and very careful (as it’s dangerous). That being said, I would NEVER cook a turkey another way. It’s crispy on the outside and absolutely the juiciest meat you’ll every put in your mouth at mealtime.
If you’ve ever considered it, but haven’t had any kind of instruction. Here you go, young Jedi. A gift from your turkey frying Yoda.