I'm working on putting our Thanksgiving dinner together this year, and I am considering smoking a turkey and finishing it in our fryer. Has anyone done this and/or have any recommendations?
I'm working on putting our Thanksgiving dinner together this year, and I am considering smoking a turkey and finishing it in our fryer. Has anyone done this and/or have any recommendations?
hmmm... why would you do both? to crisp up the skin? seems like you'd run a high risk of overcooking the bird. -M
Yes I have and it's delicious if you don't mind having a little extra cleanup from using a smoker and a fryer.... I smoke the turkey for an hour and then finish in the fryer.
Crispy skin is the answer.... No risk of overcooking if you monitor the temp and because the bird is partially cooked and warm you don't get a lot of splatter and popping when you put it in the oil. The oil temperature also doesn't drop since the turkey should be pretty close to 130-140 when you put it in the fryer.... Other than having the additional cleanup this is my favorite method for cooking a turkey.
No. While I usually brine smoked turkey. I've never had a problem keeping deep fried turkey moist. So never bothered with either.
Don't see any issue using either technique though. Injecting would definitely work if your wanting to add a flavor profile since a rub would just come off in the fryer.
Oowee those look good!
those look pretty tasty!
made some "bacon" ribs (at least that's what i'm calling them) this past weekend. dry cured a slab of spare ribs as if they were a pork belly... salt, pepper, cure #1, maple syrup, and my typical rib rub. i let that slab cure for about a week and then smoked it over some apple wood. it came out like ham on a stick... really delicious.
next thing i want to try on the smoker is a slab of pork belly ribs... but i'm not sure where i can find any around town. finding boneless pork belly was difficult enough! -M
Used to be a place over on South Shields called Coot's BBQ that served ribs similar to that. I don't know that they cured them that long but I always felt more like I was eating ham with a handy handle than ribs.
Good luck on finding a belly with the ribs still attached.... It might be easier to just have a whole hog butchered and ask the butcher to cut the belly the way you want it.
that looks great! been meaning to do some spatchcocked chickens over the grill for a while now but haven't gotten around to it.
we just did a bone-in turkey breast instead of a whole bird... i cooked it a few hours sous vide at 130° then finished it off in the smoker for about an hour and a half over some apple wood. it may be cheating a little but it turned out really good.
Lol.... Sous vide is definitely not cheating!
Do you have the Anova sous vide cooker?
yep... that's the one i have. bought it a year or so ago to play around with, mainly to try out with steaks.
true that! i also like using it for buffalo chicken wings... cook slow kind of like duck confit to render the collagen and then fry them up to get good crisp skin. also used this technique to make buffalo turkey wings a couple weeks ago and it turned out fantastic. bought the unit on sale just to play around with but have really come to enjoy it.
Have not tried it with wings yet but I get really good results in my air fryer by dry brining wings with salt and baking powder.
The baking powder has some reaction with the skin and has some corn starch in it. So I get crispy skin with a light crust.
I do want to try using it to make fried chicken.
wings are one of my favorite foods, so I've tried several methods to get the "perfect" wing. i've tried the baking powder technique, too and like it. if you're going to cook just once, then that's the way to go. while i like the crispiness of the skin with that method, the texture of the chicken can be hit or miss as the outside and the inside might not hit the perfect doneness at the same time. haven't tried baking powder for regular fried chicken, though.
what do you do for buffalo sauce? i do about a stick of butter, a cup of franks, honey and vinegar to taste then let the whole thing reduce a bit on the stove. the flavor is spot on but the sauce isn't really thick enough for my liking... just doesn't stick to the wings enough. i've been thinking about adding just a bit of cornstarch to see if that'll help.
For the Anova, do you all have a foodsaver as well? I've been really interested in getting one, but the foodsaver doubles the investment.
For your buffalo sauce, i'm really surprised the honey hasn't made it thick enough. I don't like sweet, and prefer very spicy so we do butter, frank's, cayenne, garlic and S&P. When the fryer is not available, we bake the wings a 350 and finish on the grill.... both with a buffalo sauce marinade and a toss after they finish. We've also started to grill slices of premade biscuits as "pizza" coated in EVOO, basil and mozz.. dipped in warm marinara makes for a great app.
I use a foodsaver but it's not 100% necessary. You can use a water bath to vacuum seal for sous vide. I use the water method when I sous vide poached fruits that require a liquid ingredient.
I prefer dry wings myself so I usually just season with ghost peppe salt and a few other seasonings. When I do add a sauce I usually just add some Captain Rodney's.
that was one of my concerns when i was purchasing a unit... so far, I've gotten by using just various sized ziploc bags. i put a partial seal on the bag and use the displacement method to get most of the air out of it before fully sealing. haven't had a broken seal yet.
i don't put a lot of honey in it... maybe a tablespoon, tops.For your buffalo sauce, i'm really surprised the honey hasn't made it thick enough.
Ok, this is not about the best bbq in OKC, but in the DOK today, they had a picture of the sign of the Hickory House from the 40's to 50's. The sign is still there but not the name. I only mention this because it's where I cut my teeth on bbq. I think I was about five when I went there the first time. Was it great or the best in OKC? I don't know, but dang it was good.
C. T.
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