Man those things are great! It doesn't really add much fat to it, it just locks in the juices by searing the skin. If you inject some marinade into it, it comes out awesome!
Deep fried turkey is good eatin'! Three minutes per pound is all it takes. The rub and injected marinade helps. Wild turkey does well with this method; especially if you leave the skin on. Skin-less turkeys develop a tough rind on the outside that has it's own special flavor (must be peanut oil).
I do it a few times a year, dangerous with all that hot oil over an open flame so we set up the cooker out in the open, be carefull lowering the bird into the oil, too fast and you'll have hot oil all over you.
Never have put beer in the bird.... but I fry a turkey at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. I have been frying our turkey for three years... and everyone in the family loves it.
I like to inject a spicy marinade in one breast, and a teriyaki marinade in the other.......
Fried turkey is awesome. It is not greasy and is very tender. I almost picked up a Turkey cooker at Sam's last night, but I figured I wouldn't get 75 bucks of use out of it.
The first time I fried one, I put too much oil in the cooker. When I dropped the bird in the boiling oil it overflowed onto the patio and lit itself on fire. This was the closest I ever came to burning the house down while cooking! I measure the oil now and keep a dry chemical fire extinguisher handy. In my opinion it is worth the risk for a tasty meal! Martin
Deep fried turkey is killer! Very juicy meat - nothing dry. Temperature is very critical, as is the volume of oil. You HAVE to keep the oil volume/pound of meat within the recommended ratios. The oil is displaced by the volume of the bird. If there's too much liquid in the pot it will spill over and run directly into the open flame.
Fried turkey is damn good...if you haven't tried it you're missing out. It's a little tricky, but the meat is as good as your going to get from a turkey. Smoked it good too, it's just so hard to "roll".
