John's Annual Frying a Turkey Recipe

Back by popular demand, it’s the (now) annual “How to Cajun fry a turkey” 2.0 edition.

As you know, my last name is Chauvin (pronounced Show-Van).  There is a little fishing community some 70 miles south of New Orleans called “Chauvin, LA”.  No, I’ve never lived there personally but my grandfather was born there and our family ties run deep in Cajun country.  My turkey frying knowledge, I guess, came from this little town that bears my last name.  I myself have been frying turkeys for as long as I can remember and here’s how I do it:

 Supplies needed: 

• A turkey fryer. You can buy the entire set-up for around $100 at Academy.  The set-up comes with a stand, thermometer, propane hose and hookup, plus the pot and all the accessories needed for dropping the turkey in/out of the pot.  (Propane NOT included)

• Welding gloves or barbecue gloves (also available at Academy).

• Large 3 gallon (large square box) of peanut oil (available at… you guessed it, Academy)!

Spices needed:

This part is subjective and you can add or delete just about any spice your palette desires, here’s what I use:

• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder 
• Tony’s Creole Seasoning
  
• Cayenne pepper 
• Crushed red pepper 
• Tony Chachere’s Creole Butter liquid injection (comes with the syringe)

Here’s the important part.  A 12-pound turkey fits perfectly and displaces the exact amount of oil (assuming you’re using the 3-gallon size) in a 30-quart pot.  Read that again… 12 lbs. bird, 30-quart pot, 3-gallon box of oil.  Yes, that combination will keep you from spilling or overflowing hot 350-degree oil all over your garage/patio which can create all kinds of dangers and possible injury.  

Yes, a turkey that is exactly 12-pounds is very hard to find.  Half a pound or so up or down, won’t be an issue.  Just don’t go plopping a 15-pound bird into that same amount of oil. 

The next VERY IMPORTANT part.  THAW your turkey completely prior to cooking.  Frozen turkeys will cause all kinds of havoc when you drop ice into hot grease.  Again, THAW it completely.  

The process:

I take my fully thawed turkey out the night before.  I pull out EVERY non-connected part, bag, plastic leg grabber, pop up plastic thermometer (Butter Ball brand is famous for these) and set aside or trash.  I’ve found over the years, plastic doesn’t fry very well!

I then attempt ever so gently to separate the breast skin from the meat using my fingers while being careful not to tear the skin.  I only want to separate it so I can toss my dry seasonings between that skin and the breast meat.

Mix all your dry seasonings in a bowl.  Pull up on the skin from the breast meat, toss in a couple pinches of seasoning and rub your hand inside there to spread it as even as you can. 

I then rub my dry seasoning all over the bird, both inside and out.

Injection:  You want to make as few holes with the needle as you can so you don’t have a porcupine looking bird when it’s finished.  So, I suck the injection into the needle straight from the jar, poke one hole in the top of the breast and squirt about a third of the syringe.  I then pull the syringe about halfway out, tilt the needle in a different direction and do it again.  Then a third time to empty the syringe.  All of this was done poking one hole.  I’ll then poke another hole in the rear or back of the breast and repeat.  Of course, you’ll have to do the same for the other breast.  Once you have both breasts injected, you can inject at will on the rest of the body.  I put some in the legs, back, underneath or just about wherever I can.  I almost never use the entire bottle, in fact, I can get 4 turkeys out of one bottle of injection.

Remember, all of this is done the night before.  Wrap the turkey back up in a foil pan, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Cooking:

Dump the entire 3 gallons of oil into your 30-quart pot.  It will only fill it about half-way.  Light the burner, put the lid on your pot and insert the thermometer into the little hole in the lid.  Watch until your oil gets to 350 degrees. It’s okay if you go above 350 degrees a little because your bird will lower the temp. 

Insert the stand through the bottom of the turkey (butt end) leaving the larger portion of the stand at the butt of the bird.  When you stand it up, the legs should be pointing up.  Use the other handle that came with your contraption at Academy, hook that on the stand that the bird is sitting on and SLOWLY lower the bird into the oil.  There will be some moisture in the bird that will snap, crackle and pop as you lower it.  THIS IS WHY YOU NEED THE LONG GLOVES.  (Wear closed toe shoes as well).

If your temperature drops, crank up the gas.  You want it to come back to 350 as fast as you can but it may take a couple minutes.  Once the temperature starts to get back to 350, lower the gas. 

Cook Time:

Real easy:  3 minutes per pound.  So, a 12-pound turkey = 36 minutes cook time.  If you go over a minute or two, no worries but nobody wants an under cooked bird.

When your 36 minutes are up, pull the bird out, let it rest, yes it will be very hot so WEAR YOUR GLOVES. 

After a few minutes of cooling time, you’re ready to carve.  I cut the entire breast out in one piece.  Turn it sideways and slice thin with an electric knife.  The rest of the bird I have to simply pick off the bone with my rubber gloves on.  When I’m finished, I’ll have a nice stack of white meat from the two breast and loads of dark meat. 

I hope this helps, if you have any questions, call the Hewlett VW resident Cajun cooker (me) direct (512) 681-3000 and I’ll be glad to walk you through it.

Happy Thanksgiving!  

John Chauvin – GM

Hewlett Volkswagen