Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! Jamie and I will be out in East Hampton and Southampton this weekend. We will be deep frying a turkey again, because wow they're so good. We're also continuing a tradition started last year of inviting all of our friends over the day after Thanksgiving to reuse the turkey frying oil and fry a whole bunch of things. Last year, the best items were the deep fried grilled cheese and the deep fried oreo stuffed with chocolate chip cookie dough. This year, I went to Trader Joe's and loaded up on a bunch of their frozen appetizers (samosas, tater tots, mac and cheese balls, dumplings...) so we'll see how those go!

Happy eating!

Happy (Almost) Thanksgiving

It's almost Thanksgiving! I can't wait to get out to Long Island and relax and have a cozy weekend. I am also very excited for our deep fried turkey. Jamie and I fried a turkey last year and it was excellent. The smell of a the turkey frying is intoxicating. Of course, last year we had 60 degree weather and were happy to stand outside to watch the turkey cook. This year, we may not be so lucky.

Frying a turkey means you can't have stuffing inside the turkey, but, it also means your cooking time is way, way less. We had I think a 13 pound turkey and it cooked in an hour. It takes a while to get the oil warm, so that you have to start up sooner, but the turkey cooks very quickly. The skin is crispy, the meat is juicy, and it's just fun. You have to be super careful (I don't know if you've seen these pictures?), but it's fun and tasty. I used this recipe.

Fried Turkey

First off, I'm the worst. I know. Sorry it's been so long!

Onto the fried turkey... Jamie and I fried a turkey over Thanksgiving and it was awesome. It is so speedy, and the skin is crispy and delicious. The internal brine gives the turkey meat an extra zip. I highly recommend it! The only issue is the oil. We strained it and put it back in the giant Costco canister and I hear we can use it two more times so we're planning a winter frying party, but after that I'm not sure. I read online someone gave theirs to someone who uses bio diesel in their car? I don't know. We were lucky and had a beautiful, warm Thanksgiving day, and everyone kept coming outside to see this miraculous contraption - and smell the amazingness that is a turkey frying in a vat of peanut oil.

I mostly used this recipe from the New York Times, but tried Alton Brown's method of dipping the turkey in at 250 to avoid splatter. I think if your turkey is dry enough, this is unnecessary. It takes the oil a long time to heat back up. Just make sure your bird is super dry!

Ingredients:
1 12 pound turkey
5 gallons of peanut oil