Monday, December 1, 2008

Thanksgiving Debriefing

The big innovation this year on Turkey Day was deep-frying a turkey.  We borrowed a gigantic crawfish pot and propane burner from some neighbors, stoked up about 9 gallons of peanut and canola oil to 370 degrees, and started frying anything we could get our hands on. 

We learned a lot of things doing this frying:
1) You cannot overestimate the amount of oil you need. (Thank you to Randalls for being open until 4pm)
2) High-temperature resistant silicone gloves are essential
3) Deep-fried turkey is really good - BUT, for the effort involved, I'm not sure it's worth it.  We also had smoked turkey and a regular roasted turkey, and the fried turkey was not that much better.
4) Have a really deep pot (like we did) to fry a turkey, because oil shoots out of the turkey's butt when you put it in
5) Deep fried mashed potato balls are incredibly good.  They have earned a spot on our regular T-giving menu.  So puffy.  So tasty.  Mmmmmmmmmm.....
6) On the other hand, deep-frying a Reese peanut butter cup is not worth the trouble.
7) Hanging outside with your fryer is a nice way to spend Thanksgiving.  We chucked everything in there - onion rings, jalapenos, mushrooms, candy bars, the turkey, mashed potatoes.  If Abby and Maddie had not been careful, I probably would have battered and fried them too

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://worshipbacon.com/wiki/Holy_Book_of_Bacon

thought you might like this.

Berna said...

Injecting the turkey with a tasty marinade before frying puts it over the top (you must have a cajun injector).

Anonymous said...

Did you deep fry some bacon?