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When the turkey meets the oil is the critical, most dangerous time of all. The oil is splattering, churning like crazy and making a flammable mist and if you didn’t do a good job thawing, it will probably explode within the first few minutes of frying. Stand back and have your fire extinguisher handy until the moisture flashes off and the oil settles down to a nice rolling boil.
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Our turkey at full fry!
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This is what it looks like when the oil settles down and the turkey is getting a nice fry. Once your bird is fully submerged, check the oil temperature and adjust the burner to keep it at 350 degrees. The oil temp drops when the turkey is lowered, so you will need to increase heat. Be careful and don’t leave the bird unattended and let the oil overheat to the flash point. You want to fry the turkey about 3.5 minutes per pound. Make sure you have enough propane before starting out. It would suck to run out of propane in the middle of all of this.
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Martin extracts the turkey after 45 minutes. Stick a meat thermometer in a thick part of the breast and make sure the core of the meat is at 165 degrees. This ensures all salmonella and other pathogens are dead and that the meat is cooked correctly. An old set of G-FORCE nomex gloves works wonders for getting the bird and hot hanger out of the pot. We could have used the cherry picker too. Be really careful not to tip the top heavy pot over when extracting the turkey and it’s best to be sober when doing this. Also, remember that the hot oil stays dangerously hot for hours after you shut the burner off, so keep your kids, pets and drunk friends away from the rig and/or secure the pot somewhere safe until it cools down. We plan on disposing of the oil in Rockwood’s Jetta when he is not looking.
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We lined a roaster pan with foil and paper towels to drain the oil off. The paper towels keeps the turkey from getting greasy or soggy.
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Our bird cooked to perfection. Make sure to allow the bird to rest for about 5 minutes. This makes it easier to carve. The skin is crisp, and it smells oh so good. Now you can have a beer.
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All wrapped up and ready for transport. The turkey is spillproof, secure and you don’t need to worry about it getting the inside of your car dirty or greasy. Time to go eat!
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