Larsen Family Love

Thanksgiving this year was done at my house. I have heard rumors that the best turkey is a deep fried turkey. I figured I should try it out.

I knew that my co-worker (Julie J) would have a deep fryer. She had every kitchen gadget you could imagine (even if she only uses it once). When I asked her if she had a fryer she said yes and was awesome enough to lend it to me.

I researched a lot of recipes and finally found one I was excited about.

I read numerous articles about how the frying process should work. I printed them out, told Matt about it and was determined to follow the directions exactly!

Step 1: Thaw the turkey
Step 2: Put the turkey in the fryer, fill with water and mark so that you know how much oil you will need
Step 3: Remove turkey, pat dry (inside and out)
Step 4: Season turkey and refrigerate

(Sounds pretty easy up til this point, right?)

Well after all of my reminder to Matt and to myself I forgot Step 2. How much oil do I need? I have no idea. (Seriously mad right now and it's 2 am Thursday morning)

I consider rinsing the turkey off, even though I seasoned it to perfection but decide that instead I will run to Smiths to buy another turkey the same size so I can put it in the fryer to see how much oil I need.

So off I run to Smiths. Can I find a 12 lb turkey the morning of Thanksgiving? Well yes but it isn't just a turkey... It's a turkey, with a chicken and stuffing inside. So for my mistake I spend $26 buck on a 12 lb turkey that could be my fryer dummy.

I am sure you are all just thinking well why not buy extra oil and put it in the fryer. Well because you have to heat it up to 400* and if there is too much oil and you put the turkey in then all the oil comes out over the top of the fryer (I am sure we can remember all those great vidoes on YouTube from the genious' that go this route). Sounds much more dangerous than spending an extra $26 bucks on a turkey.
Ok so turkey is marinated. Phew!

Thanksgiving day... the big day... We pull out the turkey and come up with this ingenous way of getting it into the fryer. The boys put a broom handle through the top so that they can lower it down slowly, while standing 3 feet away from the fryer (per instructions, see I did read them). The turkey goes in and it smells amazing. No oil over the side, no flames coming out of the fryer. We got this!

Then we go to put the thermometer back into the oil and it spins. Oh PERFECT! Now we can make the temperature any degree we want it (so much easier ya know). You would think that we would have some cool gadget that would measure the temp digitally but nooooo, Matt left it at work. So I send my brother and step-dad out to find a thermometer 15 minutes before the stores are closing, luckily they were able to track one down.

The great thing about fried turkey.... 36 minute cook time!

I was a little nervous when we pulled it out of the fryer. It was burnt black (only on the very outside) but smelled divine. We carved it and tasted the first bite. To DIE for. The most tender turkey I have ever eaten. Moist and juicy with a nice flavor. Fried turkey is without a doubt the way to go every Thanksgiving from here on out!