287381 Thu Jul 19 09:06:13 -0700 2001 53 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1545600 I have just been invited by an American friend ( if Brits and Americans can ever be friends after Mel " who cares if it's true" Gibson's crimes against historical accuracy in Braveheart and The Patriot ) for a meal next weekend which she assures me will feature a deep fried turkey which has been pre-injected with Sprite to make it sweeter. Now I know there was a thread about deep fried turkeys a while ago, but I thought that was some horrible gag. Surely this dish can't exist. has anyone ever eaten it? And survived? S Thu Jul 19 09:06:13 -0700 2001 0 Simon Majumdar 1 1545601 It is no gag. This is a regional specialty of Louisiana and thereabouts, which has been popularized nationally in the U.S. over recent years. Don't worry: the turkey is not breaded. Rather, it is usually injected with marinades (often quite spicy, as turkey is a rather bland meat) and lowered very slowly (my brother uses a pulley system) into a drum or deep pot filled with peanut oil at deep-frying temperature. For safety's sake, this is usually down outdoors, with asbestos gloves, etc. Takes less than an hour to cook and it does taste marvelous, if I do say so myself.... I just can't be bothered to do it myself. Remember that, deep frying, if done at the right temperature, is really a dry heat method of cooking and thus the turkey does not taste greasy at all (unless you inject fat into the bird). Thu Jul 19 09:16:49 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Karl 2 1545602 Isn't this a Paul Prudhomme household specialty? I know I saw it in one of his cookbooks. I don't know that he injects it with Sprite though -- God. Thu Jul 19 09:18:46 -0700 2001 1545601 0 John Tracey 3 1545604 When is the turkey injected with Sprite? While it's still alive on the farm or what? Karl if your brother is genuinely concerned about safety then tell him to bury the asbestos gloves 2 metres underground. Is Melvin Gibson an American? Wasn't there an Australian of the same name at one time? Thu Jul 19 09:46:12 -0700 2001 1545602 0 Michael Lewis 4 1545605 I don't think turkeys like Sprite. PS. If he heard you call him "Melvin," he'd kick your ass, in Australia OR America. Thu Jul 19 10:09:49 -0700 2001 1545604 0 John Tracey 5 1545607 It doesn't surprise me that turkeys are turned off by Sprite, you'd go off Coca Cola pretty quickly if you were forced to take intravenously. However, Melvin Gibson has been injecting himself and his children with Dr Pepper for years and with little or no side-effects. Thu Jul 19 10:39:52 -0700 2001 1545605 0 Michael Lewis 6 1545608 ive got two large white peking ducks ive been thinking about injecting with butter but now iam pretty sure i start the orange crush drip on. Thu Jul 19 10:42:39 -0700 2001 1545607 0 mrranchcuisine 7 1545645 I don't think you want to inject ducks. They have so much fat beneath their skins already that they don't need the extra moisture. Fri Jul 20 07:07:30 -0700 2001 1545608 0 christina z 8 1545656 my ducks will be glad to hear that. Fri Jul 20 10:51:52 -0700 2001 1545645 0 mrranchcuisine 9 1545737 What's really good is when you inject a nice NY steak with turkey. Sun Jul 22 16:41:40 -0700 2001 1545656 0 2chez mike 10 1545741 Would that be Wild Turkey or domestic? Sun Jul 22 20:31:16 -0700 2001 1545737 0 MarkB 11 1545835 I think ill just inject myself with the wild turkey and pretend ive done the marinade. Tue Jul 24 18:29:57 -0700 2001 1545741 0 mrranchcuisine 4 1545610 Mel Gibson: born in the US to American parents, raised in Australia, now an international man of schlocky cinema. As a young actor from Australia, he did some good work (esp with Peter Weir), but now he's a Movie Star. Thu Jul 19 12:03:14 -0700 2001 1545604 0 Caitlin McGrath 4 1545612 Asbestos is only dangerous to breathe. Wearing the gloves is about as risky as wearing polyester. Thu Jul 19 12:30:15 -0700 2001 1545604 0 fladd 5 1545615 Asbestos is really 100% safe... It's only dangerous if you breathe it. Now they've stopped selling it in breathable form we're all safe. Really. Especially when handling food. But polyester safe! Just look at the Americans who are abducted by aliens. They all wear polyester and have a lot of it in their houses. Thu Jul 19 13:19:25 -0700 2001 1545612 0 Michael Lewis 4 1545655 Shhhh! Technicalities. A colonial is a colonial. :) Fri Jul 20 10:50:48 -0700 2001 1545604 0 Roger Lee 2 1545609 Emeril doesn't use Sprite in his marinade, but he does use just about everything else, including cider and beer and worcestershire sauce and crab boil and honey. I'm getting hungry. Link: http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/deepfriedcajunturkey.html Image: http://www.wchstv.com/gmarecipes/i/deepfriedturkey3.jpg Thu Jul 19 11:07:28 -0700 2001 1545601 0 John Tracey 3 1545644 I've tried Emeril's marinade for fried turkey and I don't like it because it burns too quickly and turns the turkey skin black before the meat inside it completely done. Since that disaster (on Thanksgiving when I had guests!) I concoct a marinade without sugar or honey or skip injecting the bird altogether. That way I get must more consistent, predictable (and not burnt) results. Fri Jul 20 07:05:04 -0700 2001 1545609 0 christina z 1 1545603 You may want to check out the discussion on turkey frying that cropped up on the Texas message board a few months ago. I've eaten lots of these things, fried quite a few, and come to the conclusion that injecting the bird with flavored oils and roasting produces a better result for less money and mess. Don't get me wrong, fried birds are good but need to be eaten right away. Because they are carved so quickly, the leftovers tend to be really dry. I can't imagine using Sprite as a marinade; it seems to me that the sugar would burn before the bird was cooked. Good luck to your friend and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. Thu Jul 19 09:44:28 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Greg Spence 2 1545606 I have a friend who owns a corned beef market and much to my suprise insists that adding coke to the cooking liquid really helps cooking the corned beef. i tried it and well it works, at least as well as regular liquids. iam not sure the sprit would burn but may simply carmalize. this depends on the temp. and cooking time. I wonder what other dishes people use pop in. Thu Jul 19 10:38:59 -0700 2001 1545603 0 mrranchcuisine 3 1545614 Turkeys fry at 400-425F, for about 4 minutes a pound. Plenty of time to burn sugar at that temp. Try infusing oil with fines herbs and injecting that into your ducks. BTW, I get BIG veterinary syringes at the feed store and use a new one each time. It's cheap, clean, and makes a smaller hole (less leakage) than the commercial injecting products. Thu Jul 19 12:59:16 -0700 2001 1545606 0 Greg Spence 4 1545653 sounds great but my ducks are alive. Fri Jul 20 10:41:05 -0700 2001 1545614 0 mrranchcuisine 3 1545641 Coca-cola basted ham is outta-this-world. Fri Jul 20 00:33:39 -0700 2001 1545606 0 bryan 3 1545700 My grandmother used to use Coca Cola as part of the basting liquid for the brisket for the jewish holidays. Outta this world. Link: http://www.egullet.com Sat Jul 21 07:38:55 -0700 2001 1545606 0 Jason Perlow 2 1545613 I agree completely. But I am happy to participate if others do the labor and know how to keep the bird from getting dry (brining always works for me, failsafe). Thu Jul 19 12:33:12 -0700 2001 1545603 0 Karl 2 1545623 The sprite wasn't used as a marinade. It was used as an "injection". This adds moisture and flavor to the muscle tissue beneath the skin, especially the breast, which is low in fat and dries out very quickly. The sprite, as well as the birds natural juices are sealed in when the hot oil sears the skin. Any flavoring placed on the skin would just burn off. Deep fried turkey bastes itself from the inside. Thu Jul 19 18:09:05 -0700 2001 1545603 0 2chez mike 1 1545611 Have you seen everything? Have you seen a turducken? Thu Jul 19 12:05:09 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Caitlin McGrath 2 1545786 Well, Caitlin, I can't believe no one has bit...so, since I like to think I've seen *almost everything*, I will. If I recall correctly from my New Orleans daze - er, days - a turduckin is a small chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed within a turkey. I do not know if it should be deep fried. Mon Jul 23 22:07:41 -0700 2001 1545611 0 Lisa Bee 3 1545795 Turduckin - That's exactly what it is but it should definitely not be deep fried. There's a different kind of stuffing between each bird and the entire creation needs to be roasted until cooked through. Tue Jul 24 07:19:04 -0700 2001 1545786 0 christina z 1 1545622 As a fanatic chowhound, let me just say don't knock it til you try it ! I was raised in Cajun country (I live in Los Angeles now) and after years of marvelous turkey's my father killed himself over for hours on Thanksgiving and Christmas, we now eat nothing but Fried Turkey on holidays (along with our family's true specialty, a great pork roast). Fried Turkey cannot be beat. Tender, moist, flavorful -- delicious! Thu Jul 19 17:34:06 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Tom P 2 1545643 Yes - it is messy but very flavorful. Fried turkey does indeed sound strange until you've tasted it. Even the turkeys that have turned black because I've fried them too long have been juicy and tender inside and never dry. Simon, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Fri Jul 20 07:00:30 -0700 2001 1545622 0 christina z 1 1545625 Back in the late 60's I worked new products for McDonald's Corporation. One of the items we were devloping was a roast beef sandwich of comparable quality to the original (not current / communtated) Arby's roast beef sandwich. We started out a la Arby's - roasting from scratch, slicing, etc. Great sandwich. Impossible operationally for all sorts of reasons. Then we tried the other extreme - flash frozen individual portions of beef aswim in gravy, reheated in a water bath. Not bad for what it was, but not a rare roast beef sandwich. We also tried roasting whole beefs, that were precooked by the processor. Too Dry. Our final attempt was reheating precooked roast beef in what we named a tepidarium - a converted low temperature deep fat fryer, filled with shortening. This turned out to be the best approach. The quality was very good and the most consistent. The cooking time was relatively short, making production easier to control. The roast beef was much juicier, making for both a better tasting sandwich and, as the sandwiches were sold be weight, a better yield / profit per pound. We eventually proved that McDonald's shouldn't be in the Roast Beef Sandwich business. But of all the approaches to roast beef, low temperature deep frying was the best. Holly Moore HollyEats.Com Link: http://www.hollyeats.com Thu Jul 19 18:40:08 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Holly Moore 1 1545640 Simon: keep an open mind (and don't blame us for Mel Gibson). Deep fried turkey is wonderful. My friends from Clear Lake, Louisiana fry their's outside in a huge vat of oil on a special stand over a grill. It is a mess and I would never do it myself but I consider myself very lucky to be their guest on Thanksgiving. Fri Jul 20 00:33:17 -0700 2001 1545600 0 Jennifer Fish Wilson 2 1545728 I love your name, "fish". Sun Jul 22 02:06:48 -0700 2001 1545640 0 2chez mike 3 1545729 I'm not being clever, it really is my name--my maiden name. Pretty appropriate on Chowhound, huh? Sun Jul 22 02:24:07 -0700 2001 1545728 0 Jennifer Fish Wilson 4 1546073 Any relation to Hamilton F.? Mon Jul 30 22:32:34 -0700 2001 1545729 0 Mead Maker 1 1545646 We tried to fry a turkey for thanksgiving, it didn't work out (the less said the better). My uncle cooks a turkey on the grill, which for my taste is the way to go. I don't have a grill with a cover so can't try it myself, but he would start with it uncovered for about 15 minutes then cover it. It made a moist turkey (good thing because no gravy) that tasted HEAVILY of smoke. good stuff. ben Fri Jul 20 07:59:49 -0700 2001 1545600 0 ben fisher 2 1545647 Hey Ben, when we smoke turkeys, we buy some turkey parts to make the gravy. Try roasting up some drumsticks and/or necks and making gravy with those. Fri Jul 20 09:14:13 -0700 2001 1545646 0 Greg Spence 3 1545659 twist my arm. that's a really good idea, plus everyone in my family fights over the neck anyway. Still, as much as I like gravy I can't make it to save my life, any suggestions? Ben Fri Jul 20 11:00:14 -0700 2001 1545647 0 ben fisher 4 1545669 Roast salt and peppered turkey pieces with a mire poix at 400F until everything is a little past golden brown. Transfer everything to a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Throw in a couple of bay leaves. Deglaze roasting pan (I use sherry for this) and add to the stockpot. Bring to a simmer and let it go for 2+ hours. Strain, reduce, add some cream and the giblets. Adjust seasoning to your taste. Fight for your fair share. Fri Jul 20 12:00:31 -0700 2001 1545659 0 Greg Spence 5 1545675 I used to deglaze the pan with white wine until one Thanksgiving when my (ex)mother-in-law managed to drink all the wine before gravy makin' time. The only thing we could find was a bottle of bourbon. It was heavenly - added a hint of sweet smokey flavor to the gravy. Fri Jul 20 14:13:46 -0700 2001 1545669 0 Shmingrid 4 1545681 I used to hate gravy (my mother made the worst.) At my soon-to-be inlaws house, first Thanksgiving with the family, they passed a boat of turkey gravy. I asked "what's that", it looked so unlike what I grew up on--mahogany, rich, with chunks of giblets. It was a revelation! It is truly the "sacred nectar" of the family. So important, in fact, we recorded mother-in-law making it (think Smithsonian/Alan Lomax level oral histories.) The method depends on oven-roast turkey, but you can probably punt with grilled as well. Step 1 Take the neck, giblets and any other odd parts and put on low simmer with onion and celery stalk. This makes the stock. Step 2 Roast the turkey. We use the Martha Stewart method that uses probably half pound of butter and 1 bottle white wine melted together. This creates a lot of pan juices that extend the gravy into at least 3-4 boatfuls. Dip cheese cloth square to soak and place over breast. Roast as usual using the wine/butter mixture to baste. Step 4 Cook whatever vegetables you're serving (spuds, green beans) reserve liquid. Step 3 When turkey is done, drain the pan juices into a measuring cup. Use more white wine to deglaze the pan. Pour off liquid, saving fat. Use 1T fat to 1T flour to 1c. liquid. Make a roux with flour and fat, make sure to cook flour in fat until its golden brown. Add neck/giblet stock and juices from pan (remember proportions 1T flour/1T fat to 1 C liquid) to make a smooth sauce, thin with vegetable liquid as needed. Step 4 Shred neck meat and chop. Add to gravy. Chop giblets and add to gravy. Adjust seasoning. Sacred nectar now ready to serve! Ideal over fluffy mashed potatoes and cornbread dressing (oysters optional). Fri Jul 20 16:14:19 -0700 2001 1545659 0 berkleybabe 5 1545709 I was lucky, my mother made wonderful gravy. Another hint: use the water from cooking the potatoes as part of your liquid. Also, if you cook peas use that water, too. All this adds even more flavor. Love that gravy! Sat Jul 21 14:37:45 -0700 2001 1545681 0 Kit H. 2 1545667 Here's the link for Weber's turkey grilling instructions. Lots of great info!! Link: http://www.weber.com/Public_Weber/cookbook/grill101_index.asp?Turkey=True Fri Jul 20 12:00:14 -0700 2001 1545646 0 Nancy Berry 2 1545670 This is one of the BEST ways to prepare a bird. We do this at least once a month because I like having turkey sandwiches for lunch and its more cost effective to buy a turkey breast or a whole turkey than to buy fresh turkey from a deli counter. I freeze or vaccum seal (with a telia foodsaver) most of the meat. I have a Weber Genesis Silver and basically all we do is put the bird on the grill, put the 3 burners on low and cook it with the top closed for about an hour and a half. Comes out perfect. One thing we DO though is take the breast or bird and brine it in a salt water solution for an hour or so before cooking, which makes it very tender. If you buy a kosher bird or breast (empire turkey breast rules) you dont need to do this. Link: http://www.egullet.com Fri Jul 20 12:09:41 -0700 2001 1545646 0 Jason Perlow 2 1545673 Hey there. If anyone's interested there was an exchange about smoking turkeys with charcoal grills here a couple months ago (link below). I've done this for last couple thanksgivings -- fantastic! -- which gets me to my question... Having eaten said turkeys, my mother just asked me if I could smoke a few whole chickens on her grill (a barrel-shaped charcoal number) for a party tomorrow. I cockily said 'No Prob, Mom!' but the truth is I've never done this before. Any advice? I'm planning on using same method I do with turkey -- birds in a shallow bath in foil roasting tins nestled among coals... wood chips for smoke... occasional spritzing for steam and cooling... Or is that all overkill for chicken? One thing I have no idea about: how long should I expect to take them to cook? Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/287190#1543402 Fri Jul 20 13:43:59 -0700 2001 1545646 0 Rafi 3 1545679 Try the indirect heat method instead. Build your charcoal fire on one end of the grill and put the chickens on the other end. Try to keep the temp around 300 F. Just keep the fire even and use unsoaked chips in small handfuls throughout the cooking process. Use an instant read thermometer in the thigh if you're worried about doneness, or just give the leg a shake and pull 'em off when the leg is loose in the socket. Let 'em rest for 15-20 minutes and chow away. Fri Jul 20 15:11:14 -0700 2001 1545673 0 Greg Spence 4 1545686 Thanks Greg. I'll try that. Now that I think about it, part of the reasoning behind the roasting pan in the coals method -- as opposed to putting a bird on a grill -- is that turkeys are usually too big for a bbq. Not an issue with chicken. Q: why not soak the chips? Fri Jul 20 16:43:45 -0700 2001 1545679 0 Rafi 5 1545724 You're trying to somke the chickens, not steam them. I'm not quite sure where the chip soaking idea started, but it never made any sense to me. If they're burning up too quickly, get bigger chips. Remember, you can always add more when you check the birds. Sat Jul 21 22:51:10 -0700 2001 1545686 0 Greg Spence 3 1545694 When planning to grill in a Weber Kettle via the indirect coals method, using wet wood chips for smoke flavor, put an aluminum foil pan next to the coals, under the rack that the chickens(s) sit on. In the pan, pour white wine & water, add onion, carrot, celery, parsley and bay leaf (optional: giblets and wingtips). This pan creates steam, which keeps the meat moist while cooking. Juices from the meat drip down into the pan. When the birds're done, take out the foil pan, strain and degrease the stock and use it to make divine gravy, which will have a hint of smoke. Fri Jul 20 21:45:36 -0700 2001 1545673 0 zora 1 1545654 never fear simon, ive found that turkey in general mystifies most people on your side of the atlantic. its better to think of it as a large more versatile chicken. I have some thai friends who use it to make the largest angel wings imaginable. those are wings where they are deboned then stuffed with a mixture of spring roll like filling then deep fried and served with a sweet hot fish sauce. WOW...even mel gibson would like them. try the deep fried turkey youll like it. Fri Jul 20 10:50:30 -0700 2001 1545600 0 mrranchcuisine 2 1545678 in 1989, at a department-store lunch counter in sioux falls, south dakota, i had a deep-fried turkey salad sandwich. that is, an entire sandwich, on white bread, with very mayonnaisey turkey salad, dipped whole in some kind of batter and then deep-fried. it was intense. Fri Jul 20 14:55:49 -0700 2001 1545654 0 andy 3 1545688 Ate lots of fried turkey cutlets in Israel. Fri Jul 20 17:02:16 -0700 2001 1545678 0 Melanie Wong 1 1545891 I've fried about 50 of these birds over the last number of years. For a while, I did it without marinating. Then I started injecting, using veterinary supply needles as another contributor described. I use equal parts strained Italian salad dressing (the only time I use the stuff) and white or red wine, maybe some Worchestshire and Tabasco, and throw in a tablespoon or so of Cajun seasoning, which is also used to coat the bird before frying. I can barely hack oven cooked turkey now. It's too dry. If you keep the temperature of the oil above 350, the bird doesn't absorb much. My friends crave the stuff. And the carcasses afterward boiled with some vegetables make for great stock! Thu Jul 26 12:00:16 -0700 2001 1545600 0 M. King