SC - Deep-fried Turkey? OOP

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Daniel R wrote:

> If you would like to check out www.cabelas.com you will find all the
> equipment to do the deed.... outside.  As for why anyone would want to deep
> fry a turkey in peanut oil.... well its got me puzzled as well.

1. It's faster by a factor of about three.2.  Macho element.  Boiling oil,
lifting every objects in and out of deadly danger, it's MAN cookery!

Why peanut oil in particular?  Peanut oil has the highest smoking temperature of
the edible oils, so you can get it hotter before it bursts into flame.  I use it
almost exclusively in my Asian frying like stir-fry and cooking shrimp chips or
crispy noodle.

>  Come to
> think of it just how period is deep fat frying any way?  Well to explore
> that would lead us into investigating the history of doughnuts and funnel
> cakes I suppose.  But what about the deep fat frying of meat or more to the
> point poultry.  I suppose that would then lead us to explore the history of
> fondue in European culinary tradition  and Tempura in the orient!

That's one of my favorite foodie legends. I forget where I heard this first, but
this is what I remember. The Japanese looked aghast while the European Catholics
ruined perfectly good fish by dunking it in goo and boiling it in oil.  "Why are
you doing that?" they asked?  Not quite understanding, the priests explained
that it was Lent and it was the time to eat fish.  The word in Latin for "time"
is "tempora" and the Japanese took it to mean the name of the recipe.  So it is
said.

Less "legendarily," frying happens all through history, from Apicius onwards and
Platina has a whole chapter on "fricadella" or fried stuff.

> Perhaps
> the Colonel's original recipe with its secret herbs and spices has period
> antecedents and was handed down to him via the Illuminati?  So, ....anyone
> got sources to cite regards the above or input there to?

From: "Top Secret Recipes" by Todd Wilbur:

"In 1983, in his book "Big Secrets", author Wm. Poundstone hired a lab to
analyze a dry sample of the spice mix. The surprising discovery was that instead
of identifying "eleven herbs & spices," the analysis showed only four
ingredients: flour, salt, pepper, and monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer.
The cooking proceedure is believed to be the other half of the secret. Colonel
Sanders became  famous for using a pressure cooker shortly after its invention
in 1939."

Selene, Caid
selene at earthlink.net