SC - Deep-fried Turkey? OOP

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Tara Sersen wrote:
> 
> I caught a bit of a food show on NPR last Wednesday, and they were talking about
> the dangers of a "new, trendy way of cooking turkey" - immersing it in boiling
> oil.  They were talking about things like setting your curtains on fire or burning
> yourself severely with splashing oil.  I figured this was a joke - deep-frying
> a whole turkey?

Nope, no joke. 
> 
> But, I happened to walk into the living room on Thursday while my father-in-law
> was watching the Macy's Parade on tv.  Much to my amusement, there was Bobby
> Flay (I think it was him, anyway,) deep frying a turkey as a demo at the parade
> site.

Note that Mr. Flay was outdoors where there were no curtains to catch
fire... Incidentally, do people outside of New York City generally refer
to the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade as the Macy's Parade? My favorite
permutation is "The Macy's Day Parade"; it honestly displays the true
focus in most people's minds. I would say that most New Yorkers tend to
call it the Thanksgiving [Day] Parade or the Macy's Parade. 
 
> So, my question is, WHY??  Why would someone want to deep-fry a whole turkey?
>  Does it cook faster?  Taste better?  Is a huge stock pot and 30 gallons of
> oil cheaper than a roasting pan?  I can't imagine wanting to maneuver a 25 pound
> bird into and out of a tall pot full of deadly-hot oil sitting way up on the
> stove.  And I'm certain that I couldn't lift the pot down to the ground after
> the oil was hot, put the turkey in and then lift it back UP there safely.  By
> then it would be a 50 or 60 pound tall pot full of deadly-hot oil.  Ouch!  Getting
> it in and out of the oven and flipping it over in the roaster is bad enough.
> 
> I was much more interested in trying to grill the bird in halves, which was
> his other demo.  But, this hot oil thing still has me fascinated.  Has anybody
> tried this?

I haven't tried it, but what seems to be most commonly recommended is a
setup specifically for deep-frying large objects. It generally involves
some kind of fairly powerful butane burner and stand, about knee-height,
a stockpot of maybe 35-40 quarts, and some kind of wire
truss/hook/handle, which you leave protruding from the tail end of the
bird -- and the oil -- while frying. An unstuffed turkey will cook
somewhat faster (I don't have numbers pertaining to this just now)
because the hot oil will penetrate into the body cavity and begin to
cook the meat from both the inside and the outside. I seem to recall
that cooking an entire turkey takes considerably less than an hour.

In theory the bird will be instantaneously seared and will remain juicy.
Not having tried it, I can only fall back on Harold McGee's research
into the seared-versus-non-seared-roast question, which research seemed
to indicate that it made no difference, assuming proper cooking in other
respects.  

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com