A Southern, deep-Fried Christmas

Herr J and I spent Christmas with my family in coastal South Carolina.

Every family has its own traditions, but deep frying the Turkey has become quite popular for Thanksgiving and Christmas in the South. Not only is the turkey tasty and juicy, but the process is fun. To put it in man-friendly terms, there is fire, hot oil, drinking outdoors, and the potential for serious injury and/or property damage. So, who wouldn't love it?

 

The Setup:

To fry a turkey, you need a couple of things...a huge pot with a propane burner, peanut oil, thermometer, and a rack or basket for the turkey.

For safety, it's also best to have an outdoor non-flammable surface and heavy gloves.

And for enjoyment, a couple of soccer-mom chairs and some adult beverages.

Step 1:
Heat the oil until it reaches 350°.

Because different sized turkeys will displace different amounts of liquid, you'll want to measure how much oil to use. Using too much will cause a spill (and an unpleasant oil fire), and too little will also be a problem. Dad's brilliant method is to test it with your turkey and water to determine the correct amount to cover the turkey. He then removes the turkey, marks the correct water level, and refills the pot with oil up to the mark.  

See here for videos demonstrating exactly why you don't want the oil to overflow...or why not to fry on your deck. ("7 Best Deep-Fried Turkey Disasters")

Step 2:

Best to marinate the turkey the night before - here he used butter and spices. Some people put a rub under the skin or use injectors to inject spices into the turkey. We prefer our turkey to taste like turkey rather than spices, so we went with the simpler method.

Place turkey on the turkey frying rack. Carefully lower into boiling oil.

 Step 3:

Continue to cook (covered, keeping the oil around 325°F) until a meat thermometer reads 170° F in the breast and 180° F in the thigh. It should take around 3 minutes per pound for a whole turkey. Then carefully remove turkey, cool a few minutes, and serve.

Along with the turkey, we usually have prime rib, collards, spiced peaches, rice, green beans (the only green vegetable I would eat as a child...now I also eat asparagus), dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, and biscuits. And a table full of wonderful homemade desserts....German Chocolate Cake, pecan pie, pound cake (my aunt make the best pound cake in the world!), sweet potato pie, this year's new feature Lemon Coconut Spice Cake, and whatever other cookies or candies people have given us for the holidays. And then we go into a food coma watching football....

What are your Christmas dinner traditions?