Well, in about an hour my time, American Thanksgiving will be a week away and I've just started to prepare my recipes for this year. This is one of my favorite holidays and the cooking is almost always done singlehandedly, by myself - I wouldn't have it any other way. I've been considering doing a Deep Fried Turkey this year. Ideally, I do a 24-Hour Brine and then bake it using Alton Brown's method (which is fantastic, by the way) but feel like trying something different this year. Then again, I told myself I would hunt my own bird this season, yet never got around to it... perhaps I'll make that my task in 2011. How about the rest of you GC Chefs out there?
I've never done the deep fried turkey. I've wanted to so bad though. I'd say following alton browns method is a great place to start. I've seen that episode, and he seems to cover all the safety issues which would be my major concern. You hear on the news every year about people burning down their houses doing it wrong. Alton brown seems to know his shit. I followed his directions for brewing beer and it really helped with the stuff they don't tell you at the beer shop. Good luck to ya. Oh as for my turkey, standard oven. But the best thing on the table? My grandmothers classic recipe for carrot kugal. it is amazing. imagine carrot cake. but like a bucket of it. and lots of spice. omg so good. dunno who's gonna make it this year. My grandmother died 12 years ago and my grandfather died last month. We're all still getting over it. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be made. this year could be either be a family shit storm or maybe oddly calm. And it's at our house this year so we can't even leave if it gets heated. yeah so... Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I do it pretty much like Alton. Start with a good turkey- we order one from a local farm every year. I make a brine with water, maple syrup, kosher salt, lemons, onions, celery, garlic, rosemary and sage (and whatever else I feel like throwing in). I brine it for for 18-24 hours. When it's time to cook it, I stuff the cavity with lemon and orange wedges, more fresh herbs, onions and garlic and I put slices of butter under the skin. I cook it at a high temperature for the first 30 minutes or so and then 350 degrees until it's done.
The only bad thing about deep fried turkey is you're limited to a 10 or 12 pound bird. That's all that will fit in a turkey fryer. If you have a huge pot you can cook bigger birds but they don't come out well. Otherwise, deep fried turkey is the best. I don't do it for Turkey Day because we have too many mouths to feed and a small bird isn't enough but I almost always do one for Christmas to go along with the ham. I always used to hunt turkeys for the holidays since there are so many around here but they're such a pain in in the ass to clean and dress, not to mention the fact that I fell out of my tree stand the last time I went, I gave up on that. We do like Penelope and get one from a guy I know who raises them locally.
I smoke mine. really we have a large smoker and a smoked turkey taste a lot better than one done in an oven. I have never tried a fried turkey.
I'm going to do a dry brine this year. Less mess and less waste. I'm debating between standard dressing and oyster dressing. It sounds really weird but I've heard oyster dressing is kickass, so we'll see.
nothing special just make sure you give it plenty of time. smoking takes a long time 6-8 hours That's the only kind my mom makes. and it's GooooD
oysters don't have a lot of flavor and no they don't taste fishy. yes it last just as long, but when my family gets together nothing last long. it's hard to describe but it just has a better flavor then most stuffing.