Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren fogelbam here. Properly deep frying a
Speaker 1: turkey can make you a hero of your next holiday dinner.
Speaker 1: When done right, a deep fried turkey is a juicy,
Speaker 1: crispy alternative to roasted, which can be easily overcooked or undercooked. However,
Speaker 1: deep frying involves cooking with a large amount of very
Speaker 1: hot oil. That's why it must be executed with caution
Speaker 1: and precision. You need to plan your turkey fry several
Speaker 1: days in advance for reasons of both safety and flavor.
Speaker 1: And even if you're never planning on doing this, perhaps
Speaker 1: because like me, you injure yourself pan frying food. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you'll find the process as fascinating as I do. But okay,
Speaker 1: before you even start thinking about frying, get all the
Speaker 1: equipment you could possibly need together, including a fire extinguisher
Speaker 1: safe for use on oil fires because you never know. Also,
Speaker 1: you'll need a few aluminum roasting pans, kitchen towels, tongs,
Speaker 1: and both a meat thermometer and an oil thermometer. Plus
Speaker 1: make sure you have a hook to lower and lift
Speaker 1: the turkey into and out of the oil. This is
Speaker 1: not a hands on kind of project. Also, be sure
Speaker 1: that you have a safe spot for frying, a flat
Speaker 1: and fireproof surface, not your wooden deck. Please and plan
Speaker 1: to have someone stay with the turkey the entire time
Speaker 1: it's in the fryer, and decide how you will discard
Speaker 1: the used oil ahead of time. You can save it
Speaker 1: for reusing, or throw it away in a disposable container
Speaker 1: once it's cooled, or check with your local government. Lots
Speaker 1: of cities and municipalities have disposal or even recycling programs
Speaker 1: for cooking oil. Just don't pour it down any of
Speaker 1: your drains. Once you're all prepped, you can proceed to
Speaker 1: step one, choosing your turkey. You're going to want to
Speaker 1: opt for a smaller turkey. You want a bird that's
Speaker 1: about a quarter to a third of the size of
Speaker 1: your fryar's pot. That will leave plenty of room for
Speaker 1: the oil to completely surround the bird once you submerge it.
Speaker 1: Attend to twelve pound turkey that's about four and a
Speaker 1: half to five and a half kilos is a good
Speaker 1: size for most outdoor fryers. Make a note of the
Speaker 1: turkey's weight. A plan to fry the turkey for three
Speaker 1: to three and a half minutes per pound. Step one B.
Speaker 1: After you get your bird home and before you do
Speaker 1: anything else, put it in your fryer pot and fill
Speaker 1: the pot with water just to the point that it
Speaker 1: covers the bird. Remove the turkey, and then mark the
Speaker 1: water level. That's the level to which you'll want to
Speaker 1: add oil when it comes time for frying. Okay, Step
Speaker 1: two thaw and brine the turkey. Dumping a frozen bird
Speaker 1: in hot oil can cause an explosion, so be sure
Speaker 1: to allow enough time to completely thaw out your turkey.
Speaker 1: It's easiest to thaw in the fridge over the course
Speaker 1: of a few days. You can even keep it in
Speaker 1: its original packaging and just PLoP it in one of
Speaker 1: those roasting pans to catch the juices. But for how
Speaker 1: long you want to allow? Twenty four hours of thawing
Speaker 1: time per every five pounds or two kilos of turkey weight.
Speaker 1: If you're working with the aforementioned ten to twelve pound
Speaker 1: turkey that'll fit most outdoor fryers, that means you're looking
Speaker 1: at about two full days or forty eight fifty eight
Speaker 1: hours to be precise. During the final eighteen to twenty
Speaker 1: four hours of thawing, or once it's totally thought if
Speaker 1: you like, it's time to start wet brining your turkey,
Speaker 1: because when you fry a turkey, you won't be able
Speaker 1: to stuff the cavity with aromatics like you can when
Speaker 1: you roast one, and any rubs or fresh herbs on
Speaker 1: or under the skin would wash away or burn. But
Speaker 1: brining gives you an opportunity to flavor the meat before
Speaker 1: cooking it and to tenderize it. There are lots of
Speaker 1: recipes for brine's on the internet, but the basic is
Speaker 1: one and a half cups of salt and a cup
Speaker 1: of sugar dissolved in a gallon of water. For our
Speaker 1: metric friends, that's about three hundred and sixty million liters
Speaker 1: of salt and two hundred forty million laters of sugar
Speaker 1: in about three point seven liters of water. You can
Speaker 1: also add herbs or spices. Check out a few recipes
Speaker 1: and see what sounds good. Once made, refrigerate the brine
Speaker 1: until it's forty degrees are in height that's four degrees
Speaker 1: celsius or colder. Then place the turkey in a brining
Speaker 1: bag or large pot. Pour the brine in and seal
Speaker 1: or cover brine for eighteen to twenty four hours in
Speaker 1: the fridge. What's happening during this step is that, through
Speaker 1: the power of osmosis, the meat absorbs some of the
Speaker 1: liquid and the salt d nature's proteins in it. Proteins
Speaker 1: are these big, folded up messes of molecules like necklaces
Speaker 1: that have somehow merged while sitting in your jewelry box,
Speaker 1: or like a string after your cat or child has
Speaker 1: gotten to it. Salt relaxes some proteins, making muscle fibers
Speaker 1: less tough, and letting water, molecules and anything else that's
Speaker 1: in the water move in and hang out. But then,
Speaker 1: because you want the effects of the brine without that
Speaker 1: extra moisture, we come to step three, drying the turkey.
Speaker 1: After your bird is brined for eighteen twenty four hours,
Speaker 1: you want to let it dry out. This step takes
Speaker 1: an entire day, but it helps create a crisp skin
Speaker 1: by preventing the skin from seaming during the fry. So
Speaker 1: clear a shelf in your fridge and place a drying
Speaker 1: rack in or over a large shallow roasting pan. Remove
Speaker 1: the turkey from the brine, Discard the brine. Pat the
Speaker 1: turkey dry and place the turkey on top of the
Speaker 1: rack and let it drip dry in the fridge uncovered
Speaker 1: for twenty four hours. Then step three it's time to fry.
Speaker 1: Remove the turkey from the fridge, place it in a
Speaker 1: clean aluminum pan, and let it sit at room temperature
Speaker 1: four thirty to sixty minutes. This will help the turkey
Speaker 1: cook faster and more evenly. Meanwhile, set up your fryer
Speaker 1: according to the manufacturers instructions. Add your oil just to
Speaker 1: the fill line that you marked previously. Peanut oil, corn oil,
Speaker 1: canola cotton seeds, saff flower, soybean, and sunflower oil are
Speaker 1: all good options. Follow the instructions for bringing the oil
Speaker 1: up to the proper frying temperature, which is three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty degrees fahrenheit or one seventy six degrees celsius.
Speaker 1: Using your hook, very slowly submerge the turkey into the
Speaker 1: hot oil about a quarter of the bird of time,
Speaker 1: and wait one to two minutes between each move. Lowering
Speaker 1: the turkey slowly allows the oil to better maintain the
Speaker 1: proper frying temperature. Remember, the cool bird will lower the
Speaker 1: oil's temperature, so you want to give the oil time
Speaker 1: to heat back up to the optical temp. If you
Speaker 1: submerge the turkey too fast, the temperature of the oil
Speaker 1: may drop below frying temperature, and then you'll just be
Speaker 1: boiling the turkey and oil frying seals in the juices.
Speaker 1: Boiling releases them. Fry the turkey for about three to
Speaker 1: three and a half minutes per pound until the internal
Speaker 1: temperature is a hundred and sixty degrees fahrenheit or seventy
Speaker 1: one degrees celsius. The U s d A instructs as
Speaker 1: to cook poultry two hundred and sixty five degrees fahrenheit
Speaker 1: or seventy three celsius. But when you take your turkey
Speaker 1: out one sixty degrees, it will continue to cook from
Speaker 1: the residual heat, a phenomenon that chefs sometimes call carry
Speaker 1: over cooking. If you leave your turkey in the oil
Speaker 1: all the way until it reaches one sixty five, it
Speaker 1: will continue cooking and reach a final temp above that,
Speaker 1: maybe a hundred and seventy degrees fair in height or
Speaker 1: seventy six degrees celsius, and the turkey will be dry.
Speaker 1: When you do remove the turkey from the fryar with
Speaker 1: your hook transfer it to a clean aluminum roasting pan
Speaker 1: to allow it to drain. The moments after your turkey
Speaker 1: comes out of the fryar are a good opportunity to
Speaker 1: add extra flavor. A lot of cooks like to sprinkle
Speaker 1: a dry rub on the bird at this point. Finally,
Speaker 1: step four rest both you and the turkey. This is
Speaker 1: perhaps the most important step for a juicy turkey. Once
Speaker 1: the turkey is done, loosely cover it with foil and
Speaker 1: let it rest for at least thirty minutes before you
Speaker 1: carve it. Basically, you want to allow the meat of
Speaker 1: the turkey to cool down. As it cooks, the muscle
Speaker 1: fibers in meat firm up, pushing juices outward. By resting
Speaker 1: the turkey or a steak for that matter, you're letting
Speaker 1: those fibers relax and allowing juices inside to redistribute. If
Speaker 1: you carve it too early, the juices will flow out
Speaker 1: and your turkey again will be dry. Once you've let
Speaker 1: the turkey rest, harve as usual and enjoy your feast.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Shawn Chattis and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio's How
Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other
Speaker 1: tasty topics. Visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com,
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