Fried Thanksgiving Turkey

Instructions

1. 01

   Mix your brining solution together, starting with 1 gallon of water.

2.  

   Ingredients

   • 1 gallon water
   • brining solution (Meat Church Bird Baptism used in the Masterbuilt reel)

3. 01

   Remove your turkey from the factory packing and rinse thoroughly with water.

4.  

   Ingredients

   • 1 Frozen Turkey (not larger than 20 pounds)

5. 01

   The first step to this recipe is figure out your timing. We do this by figuring out what time we want to serve the bird, to determine when to brine and inject, as well as cook time for the turkey. Lets assume you want to serve your Turkey on Thanksgiving at 3:00PM. We have a 12lb turkey which will take an hour to cook and rest, so turkey goes in the fryer at 2:00PM. 1-hour prior we want to apply the dry rub (1:00PM). The injection wants to be done around 6 hours before your cook (8AM) and we brine for 1 hour per pound, so 12 hours (8PM). This is now your timeline to complete all the steps that follow. Also, do not forget that a frozen turkey takes approximately 1 day / 5 pound to defrost. The brining process will help accelerate this, but not by much.

6. 04

   Place your rinsed turkey in a container large enough to fully submerge with your brine.

7. 05

   Pour your 1 gallon mixture of brine into the container with your turkey, and then top off with fresh water until the turkey is fully submerged. Refrigerate for 1 hr/lb.

8. 06

   Remove turkey from your brine, discard brine liquids and pat dry turkey thoroughly.

9. 07

   Inject your turkey, making sure to get injection into every muscle (breast, legs, wings & thighs). The turkey should hold about 1oz of injection liquid per pound of meat. After injecting, refrigerate for 4-6 hours.

10.  

    Ingredients

    • 1 bottle Tony Chachere’s Cajun Butter Injection (or injection of your choice)

11. 08

    Remove turkey from the refrigerator and give it one last thorough towel dry. Water and oil don’t mix so you want to get as much moisture off and out of the bird as possible.

12. 09

    Turn-on your Masterbuilt XL Fryer, fill with oil and set temperature to 375F (we are setting to 375F to start, as the oil temp will drop once you place in your turkey. This will make it quicker for your fryer to get back up to the proposed cooking temp of 350F)

13.  

    Ingredients

    • 3 gallons of peanut oil

14. 10

    Apply your dry rub, starting below the skin. Carefully work your fingers beneath the skin to expose the meat, and then apply your rub. When finished, pull your skin back over the meat and give a generous and consistent coating throughout.

15.  

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup dry rub (Kosmo’s Q Dirty Bird & Blues Hog Sweet & Savory used in Masterbuilt Reel)

16. 11

    With the turkey now brined, injected & rubbed with your spices – place the turkey in the Masterbuilt XL Fryer basket.

17. 12

    Open the lid of your fryer, and using the supplied basket holder, slowly lower the turkey into the fryer. This step should take close to 30 seconds, to ensure the moisture/oil reaction does not make a mess in your kitchen.

18. 13

    After the turkey is fully submerged, close the lid and set your timer for 3.5 minutes per pound.

19. 14

    When your timer goes off, lift the basket and use a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the breast is 165F.

20. 15

    Let the turkey rest for 15-20 minutes, and then slice and serve.