Thanksgiving wrap up

Yes I stole the title from a friend of mine's similar post, get over it.

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We deep fried a turkey again this year. I couldn't possibly recommend that method any more. As long as you have a fire extinguisher, aren't an idiot, actually measure the amount of oil needed and do it far from the house I don't see any danger. The turkey turns out moist and then you have leftover WVO to settle/filter then use in your biodiesel Land Rover. There are plenty of sets of instructions to not burn down your house making thanksgiving here, here's one -> http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-SAFELY-fry-a-Turkey/

About 2 weeks before you can prepare your herb-infused oil for it. Here's an instructable I wrote a few years ago on how to do that -> http://www.instructables.com/id/Sage-Infused-Oil-for-Frying-specifically-deep-fry/


Everything turned out absolutely great. As the turkey was cooking we pulled it out every 10-15 min or so and injected a mixture of bacon fat, sage butter, white wine and saffron*.

First have a beer, I love Celebration Ale time of year!

Here's what I started with, pre-herbs

One last filtering of detritus (herb leaves and such)

setting up the cooking area, at least 15-20' from the house

after getting the oil up to temp, some potato-based appetizers. We are Irish...

dropping in the first batch of food

After 90 seconds from frozen

The color has changed significantly after cooking anything, mostly the remaining herbs having burned a bit

Shutting off the burner to drop the Turkey in, wow the sun went down fast. Fire extinguisher ready just in case.

Already smells incredible

I want to bottle that steam/smoke

Wifey had to grab the dog who came out to investigate

after about 45 minutes (16lb turkey) breast and thigh temp at 170°F (rounded up just in case from 165°F)

resting for about 15 min

Go!

*We collected bacon fat after making a 2-3 weeks worth of breakfasts, storing the grease in the freezer. About an hour before it was needed, put the (unbelievably gross when coagulated) paste into a small sauce pan, add about half as much sage butter, a few splashes of white wine (I don't measure and the type of wine doesn't matter), a tablespoon or so of fine salt and as a healthy pinch of saffron. You can't really use too much saffron as its so expensive...get that to a nice thin liquid and use with your meat injector a few times into each large part of the meat during the frying process.

Earlier Thanksgiving posts -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-dinner-family-dynamics-aka.html
http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-differences-between.html

Last year -> http://www.dannyfinnegan.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-pies.html