Would you buy a fried Turkey?

The topic about fried/broasted chicken came from my feeling I could sell a ton of fried turkeys. Henny Penny is a company that sells a unit that has a top that twists down tight to pressure fry and protect the kitchen from fire. There are a ton of ways to season turkeys along with a straight up plain deep fried. Would you buy a whole one, would you buy part, a half, a leg, whatever. What would you be willing to pay?

I, personally don't care much for turkey but I could see you selling the whole birds just as Honeybaked sells their hams.
 
People like convenience and what better way to serve a bunch of people and not cook?
 
I wonder if your insurance company would change your coverage if you had a deep fryer for turkeys.
 
I never sold the home units in my barbecue shop because of the surcharge that my insurance company wanted from me.

I was looking to buy a fried turkey this year but no one was doing them. I think its a great idea........................Bill

You bet your sweet giblets I would. 

mar52


I, personally don't care much for turkey but I could see you selling the whole birds just as Honeybaked sells their hams.

People like convenience and what better way to serve a bunch of people and not cook?

I wonder if your insurance company would change your coverage if you had a deep fryer for turkeys.

I never sold the home units in my barbecue shop because of the surcharge that my insurance company wanted from me.

The units are incredibly safe, they have a lid that screws down very tight, it's a big broaster. There is a place in Brooklyn, I think, maybe  Manhatten, that sells a bazillion turkeys, 20 plus flavors, a young woman owns it, has a bunch of the units going fulltime.

Jive Turkey in Brooklyn specializes in deep-fried turkey.
 
http://www.thejiveturkey.com/

A few years ago, my neighbor was deep frying turkeys.  He was doing it outdoors and offered to do mine.  Great choice.  It took about 45 minutes, tender and juicy and beautifully brown.
 
I have one that I have never used due to the expense of the oil, Sorta afraid of it, using it only for one bird and disposing of the oil.
 
The taste is super.
 
In regards to Chewy's original question "How much would you pay?"  I bought my butter Ball for $0.98 per pound.  I would pay double that amount for a fresh fried Turkey.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

For goodness sakes Tom, didn't all the postings on the other thread get the message through. You're simply not going to be able to pressure fry a whole turkey. The process really isn't even frying if you read what I posted. You can deep (immersion) fry a turkey very well, but pressure frying in oil isn't what you seem to think it is . Again, it's more a momentary deep frying for browning and then the rest steaming from it's own juices at low temperatures. You seem to think that this is like a contained fryer of sorts. It isn't. Once that cover goes on and the pressure raises to operating pressure, the temp drops like a rock to about 230 degrees at 5 PSI. Elementary physics here.

Some KFC's do fried turkeys for the Holidays. They  Been doing them for years. Have to call ahead

I have seen the notices for 'Order Ahead SMOKED TURKEYs' in several of the BBQ joints we have been in over the past years (at holiday times) In St Louis the owner of one BBQ place said he did 50 or more Turkeys for the Thanksgiving customers.

DawnT


For goodness sakes Tom, didn't all the postings on the other thread get the message through. You're simply not going to be able to pressure fry a whole turkey. The process really isn't even frying if you read what I posted. You can deep (immersion) fry a turkey very well, but pressure frying in oil isn't what you seem to think it is . Again, it's more a momentary deep frying for browning and then the rest steaming from it's own juices at low temperatures. You seem to think that this is like a contained fryer of sorts. It isn't. Once that cover goes on and the pressure raises to operating pressure, the temp drops like a rock to about 230 degrees at 5 PSI. Elementary physics here.

Actually Dawn, I assumed the fryers at Jive Turkey[see above], were pressure fryers, I don't need pressure fryers, I need what they have at Jive Turkey, do you know what they are?

Have no idea. I'd venture a guess that any large capacity deep fryer that can be operated with just enough oil to allow for the inital turbulence without boiling over, but still allow for full immersion of the turkey would do. I've watched some of these scare videos that the fire departments feature every thanksgiving, but have never done anything like this. What seems to be the problem is people either put too much oil or don't allow for enough room for the turbulance. This should be a no-brainer for any deep fryer with good recovery and working with consistant sized birds. If anyone is using pressure fryers, they would be an excellent choice to be used in open mode as a regular deep fryer as they are designed to operate at about 1/3 full of oil and most have a band or helical heater element around the drum. I was actually thinking about this when I was waiting my turn at the grocery store deli and watching the kids load up ta regular deep fryer with chicken. Even though they hand drop, the basket is capable of automatically lowering and raising. From the size of the basket for this fryer, by eye it wouldn't look like I'd want to go beyond a 12-15 turkey. I don't know what a turkey would sell for, but for a machine that can only do one bird at a time drawing about 50 amps, that's a resource hog.

OK, I went to the website and watched the video. You are indeed correct that they are using pressure fryers. However some things aren't adding up. At one point in the video you do see the lid locked down, but you don't see the deadweight set. Their menu indicates they sell 10-12lb turkeys which looks right in the video. The video shows two cooked at a time and set out on a rack to rest. She mentions it takes 20 minutes to do at 350 degrees.
 
Now lets look at the numbers for 350 degrees immersion fried. Under 12 lbs, the recommended time is 2.5 minutes/lb, so that's a time of about 25-30 minutes for the same class bird.
 
Now lets go back to her video. Had the lid been locked down, the temp is going to fall (assuming the deadweight had been set) to about 240 degrees ( I think I remember the older Henny Penny's ran at 10PSI). Those cooking times are going to get longer. In the video the cook locks the lid later on, but the turkey you see has some brown to it. My guess is that this is a two part cycle where most of the frying occurs as conventional deep frying and the lid is locked down for the last part of the cycle. That would be consistant with the slightly shorter cook time calculated for immersion frying and the ability to cook through to the bone. The last part of the cycle could be for breaking down any remaining collagen that would make for more tender meat and wouldn't have to take long. It's also going to take longer for pressure to build later on as much of the moisture has already burned off as steam. Had they been just immersed you'd have the benefit of all that turbulance from the water meeting the oil. There didn't seem to be much turbulance when the lid was locked down in the video giving more evidence to a pre-deep frying at 350 degrees.
 
That's my best guess what's going on here. I stand to be corrected otherwise, but my experience hints at the above scenario.

Like they said in the video, deep frying turkeys are common in the south and they did say 350 deg. I fried a turkey outdoors one Thanksgiving but it was less than 20 deg.F outdoors (Minnesota) and not that much fun. 12 lbs took 20 minutes. That was 20 minutes of standing around in the cold because you dare not leave the fryer unattended.

Popeye's FF chains do deep fried turkeys around any major holiday
 
NYE
Memorial Day
4th July
Labor
Thanksgiving
Christmas
 
Many of the places will do it year round

I would think this is the time of year for a fried turkey, not just Christmas, but with football season in full swing and so many people hosting game parties.  The first time I ate fried turkey was the Thanksgiving my brother made one, and really enjoyed it - it was moist, and the skin crispy - nice guy that he is, and the fact he had all that oil, his neighbors brought their birds over for him to fry as well.
  

I have enjoyed Several Fried Turkeys prepared by one of my sons's in-laws. They are really very good.
   That said, I don't trust myself to do one safely here at home. My coordination seems to be dropping to the point where complete control of the hot oil and foaming Bird would be a bit risky.  I'll furnish the birds and let someone else do the hot-work!

mayor al


I have enjoyed Several Fried Turkeys prepared by one of my sons's in-laws. They are really very good.
  That said, I don't trust myself to do one safely here at home. My coordination seems to be dropping to the point where complete control of the hot oil and foaming Bird would be a bit risky.  I'll furnish the birds and let someone else do the hot-work!

Al, I did one once about 10-15 years ago.  I won't do it again with the usual equipment.  There is SO much opportunity for horrible disasters.  I've kept the gear for boiling crabs, but no more boiling oil near a live flame for me, what with children and pets, etc.

Yep, that's why I'd never sell the apparatus.  Too many opportunities for law suits!
 
 
 
 

I'm with you, Marlene.  I've read some statistics about how many house fires, etc, happen each year from this practice.  People put them near the house/garage/carport because of weather concerns, and when something goes wrong, poof.

Nope never mind. Popeye's turkeys are available through cajungrocer?
 
 

I've been researching  pressure frying turkeys the past few days. Not too much around, but from my inferences, hints in the Jive video, and a manufactuer's recommendation, the process is indeed a multi phase operation where the turkey is first pre-fried at a high temp and then once under pressure cooked at a lower temperature. There's many variables to consider here, but there is no reason that this can't be done safely in a kitchen rather then in a rickety outdoor contraption. Even with the largest 65# pressure fryers, they don't recommend anything larger then two 10# turkeys and with a standard sized fryer not exceeding 45# of oil, only a 8lb turkey at a time. Keep in mind that a pressure fryer rarely exceeds a 1/3 volume fill line unlike a standard immersion deep fryer.
 
Watching some of these videos on the tube sites, these stock pot contraptions look like a recipe for disaster to folks unfamilliar with deep frying. Instead of trying to deep fry a whole turkey, why not pieces? The cooking times are quite fast at 2-3 minutes a pound. Most people or customers generally have a preference of a particular part that's usually a compromise in a roasted turkey anyways. B4 spending a load of money on an idea that limits you to a whole turkey that's 10-12 lbs that fit for a small family, why not do pieces individually with a stove top pressure cooker? The oil line on a typical 8Q pressure cooker is around 3" for a typical capacity of about 3lbs. Less oil for smaller pieces. You can do a few legs,wing sections or a half of a breast in a reasonably short time. I thought about doing this later in the week. Only problem is the cost of individual pieces are around $3-$4/pound. You'd need several pieces to empirically develop a process and I'd rather wait until they drop down to .59-.79 cents a pound again and cut them up myself. This can be done very safely in a kitchen without the potential pyrotechnics needed to do a whole bird and a great way to test the waters to see if people would have any interest in fried turkey. The Jive restaurant features turkey plates that this would be great idea to emulate. Several pieces can be held for up to an hour in a humidified holding cabinet.
 
Likewise, this can also be done in a standard immersion fryer with results similar to the backyard stock pot method with a small,countertop 12lb fryer or larger.
 
Any thoughts?

Frying a turkey in pieces, especially on Thanksgiving or other holidays when the turkey might be a set presentation piece on the table ready for a carving tradition, would be unsatisfactory to me.
 
Frying outdoors shouldn't be that difficult with common sense. Fry on a brick or stone patio (not wood deck) and away from combustibles. Understand physics and the displacement of oil with the turkey so it does not spill over. Lower the turkey ever so slowly. Use a thermometer to control and watch oil temperature. Fry as a team so someone is present at all times. Test your equipment doing this ahead of time.
 
I would not fry a whole turkey indoors under any circumstances no matter how experienced and skilled I might be or think I am.

Davy, the point of the above is proof-of-concept before investing a fortune. People may claim to like fried turkey, but would they buy it year around? A whole turkey that's small around 10lbs max? Local vendor supply year around for sub-sized birds? Fourty five-65 lbs of a high smoke point oil isn't cheap for a dedicatied use. Peanut oil is out in the commercial sector, so you're going to have to use the very expensive blends. How many can you do b4 the oil is adulterated or breaks down? Pressure is hell on the oil life. Can you justify the space and cost of a commercial pressure fryer for only one use? Just some questions an owner/operator would need to get a grip on.
 
 

I've deep fried dozens of turkeys and the only thing you have to fear is fear itself. If you follow the directions that come with the pot and apply a dose of common sense it's a no brainer. Where people get in trouble is not following the manufacturers directions and doing stupid things.
 
As far as commercial preparation goes, the main problem would be to be able to hold the oil at a constant temp so the oil does not "Break Down" by overheating the oil and you could only cook them without seasonings on the skin and cavities since things like cajun seasoning will break down and burn in the oil.  The most turkeys I can get out of a batch of oil is 4-5 birds before needing new oil. That would make your cost per bird go up considerably. I can buy peanut oil at Walmart for $28-30.00 for a 3 gal container.

This might be happening sooner then later. I spoke with the meat manager of the local store I buy my meat. They told me that they can cut up a frozen bird to standard portions. Next time they are on sale, that would make good sense to get a few small birds cut up at below $1 a pound rather then pay over $3 pound for thawed and portioned pieces. For the first shot, I think that brined pieces would do in a double test both pressure and immersion frying. Even roasting, I never use any external seasoning outside of butter/fresh cracked pepper under the skin and brushed outside. My brine is highly seasoned and imparts much of the taste, so that should carry with both tests. I've done many batches of wings and drummettes the same way unbreaded. Turkey is going to be a nice challenge.

May I ask what might be a stupid question?  (That wasn't it)
 
How do you domestically get rid of your oil?
 
Someone bought me a sorta commercial looking deep fryer years ago and it's still in the garage because I have no idea what I would do with the used oil.
 
I've also never deep fried anything so it's a little bit scary to me.
 
"If" you follow instructions you shouldn't have any problem with the turkey fryers.  There are just too many that never even read them.

mar52


May I ask what might be a stupid question?  (That wasn't it)
How do you domestically get rid of your oil?
Someone bought me a sorta commercial looking deep fryer years ago and it's still in the garage because I have no idea what I would do with the used oil.
I've also never deep fried anything so it's a little bit scary to me.
"If" you follow instructions you shouldn't have any problem with the turkey fryers.  There are just too many that never even read them.

Most Municipalities have a place where you can take things like oil, paint, chemicals, etc for disposal. Check with your local town garbage disposal dept. If you know someone in the restaurant business, they usually will help you out. Some of the Quick Oil Change places will take it also.
BTW, read the instructions---the results are well worth the time spent reading!

I drain our house oil into those 2L bottles that you get with soda and put them in the trash. That's legal here, they just don't want you to dump it where it gets into the water supply. For occasional large volumes that you might have after a turkey fry or non-profit's like churches that might have a once a month dump, there's a few chemical reclamation centers the county has around here that will take a 35lb container or two providing you can prove you're not a commercial.

Find a restaurant that will let you use their oil barrell as they get paid for their oil and grease, at least I do, and you would be welcome to add to my supply that gets carted away by a rendering company weekly.