Hello All,
Well it's getting to be that time of year when I break out the deep fryer (ok I do it all year) and cook my whole turkeys. I now have a CS 160 and all this may change.
In the past I would inject 16oz of Cajun injector marinade (all kinds) in every bird and sprinkle with cajun shake. At that time I placed each bird in a garbage bag, suck out most of the air inside and tie off. Then into the fridge for up to a week, turning a couple times a day, like a bottle of wine so the juice inside the bag touched all the bird.
When the big day came I fired up the deep fryer and started cooking, I'd weigh the bird and cook at 350 for 3 minutes a pound. I would rather go a little longer than shorter on time if I had to but it's not rocket sience. After the bird was remove from the oil I placed it into a very large SS pan, as one would use in a resturant kitchen. Three birds will fit in this pan if you use a 10-12 lbs bird, add a quart of your favorite stock, chicken, vegatable etc. cover with aluminum foil and slide into a 200 degree oven for as much as 8 hours.
Cooking a bird that fast works well but when you get down to the bone it's not done as well as it could be, that's why it goes to the oven. When time is up the meat will fall off the bone and the juice in the bottom of the pan hands down makes the best gravy I've ever had. I alway mince up a hand full of turkey meat and throw it into the gravy and serve over sausage gorganzola mash potatoes, yum yum.
Now the reason for this post is would you smoke the bird first and finish in a deep fry or fry it first and then smoke? I know I saw an episode of DD&D where they smoked it first a finish it off 3 minutes in the oil to crispen it up. What do you think? Please advise and thank you in advance, oh P.S. I'm also working on a smoked bacon wrapped tater tot, it's got posibilites!
Mark
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