I'm sure most folks think THEIR way to cook a turkey is best, but the way "I" prefer my turkey is deep fried! It's just plain easy and even the breast meat is super moist without any of the turkey being greasy!
I finally decided to buy a Butterball brand, electric turkey fryer and give it a go, so I can deep fry my turkeys indoors, and here it is,
It uses 2-3/4 gallons of oil, and peanut oil is recommended. It will fry up to a 20 pound turkey, or several chickens ect... You can also put water in it for "boils", but I bought it primarily to fry turkeys and I bought a couple 14 pounders that were on sale to try it out.
Anyway, I filled it with the proper amount of oil and turned it on to "pre-heat". It has a dial to set the temp of the oil and 375* is the MAX and is also the recommended temp to use.
After about a 40 min. warm up (I didn't time it) a green light comes on and tells you it's up to temp, I seasoned the turkey, patted it dry and set it in the pan that comes with it, then SLOOOOWLY lowered it into the oil,
Everything went smoothly and I set the timer for 50 minutes, 3.5 to 4 mins per pound is recommended.
After the 50 mins I set it for, a beeper (could be louder) went off, it does NOT shut the cooker off or anything else, it's just a digital timer. I kept track of the time and was at the cooker when it "beeped" and I lifted the basket/turkey out of the oil with the handle they supplied,
(it was actually a bit darker than the pict. shows) After "tenting" the turkey and letting it "rest" about 20 mins, I cut into it!
I gotta tell ya, everyone absolutely LOVED the turkey! The skin was crisp, the white meat was really moist, same as the dark meat! NONE of the meat was greasy, as the high heat seals the grease out... It was a complete success and totally painless to do!
This roaster works completely as advertised, I'm glad I bought it, we will use it not only for turkeys, but I'm sure we will be using it for chickens too, as we will be able to fry them two at a time, that's about perfect for us, as we like those kind of leftovers!
Clean up is pretty easy as the steel liner comes out to wash, and draining the oil out is easy too, as you use a supplied spigot, that screws into a bottom corner of the roaster that allows you to drain the oil back into the jugs it came out of.
There you have it... The BEST way to cook a turkey for ME! lol
SR