Instructions for Deep Frying a Thanksgiving Turkey

Series Summary

Thanksgiving is a North American holiday that dates back to 1621, probably the first tradition of any sort established by settling Europeans. On the fourth Thursday of November in America and the second Monday in October in Canada, North Americans celebrate a holiday of giving thanks and reflecting on the blessings received in the last year. Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts had completed a successful harvest and took time in late Autumn to commune as a group and share a feast. Native Americans were invited by the settlers, and many thanks were shared with the tribe who had aided the Pilgrims so heavily during their early months on the new land.

In this free video series, Emory Davis shares his method for deep frying a Thanksgiving turkey. Many of us have probably wondered how you deep fry a turkey as large as those served in traditional Thanksgiving dinners. Well, Emory starts us at the very beginning, helping up select a bird and prepare it for stuffing. He opts for an herb pesto marinade and shows you how to add flavor beneath the bird’s skin. Introducing the deep fryer and related utensils, Emory prepares you to safely deep fry a 15lb. turkey in oil. The series continues with tips for removing, carving, and serving the bird. This could be the best Thanksgiving yet!

Video Transcript

"Hi, welcome to Expert Village dot com. I'm your chef Schmuel, and today we're going to be deep frying a turkey. Does that sound delicious, or what? Deep fried turkeys; it's originally from the South. It's a Southern specialty. But it's popular now all over the United States, and it's really one of the tastiest ways to prepare turkey for the holidays or any time. I mean I have a lot of friends who will tell me they don't eat turkey unless it's deep fried; it's the only way. So we have our turkey here. This is a fresh turkey, and a bunch of herbs because we are going to be preparing an herb pesto that we're going to put under the skin. Let it marinate and deep fry; that's going to be delicious. And back here, we have, this is our big box of oil. We need, we're using a peanut oil, vegetable oil blend made especially for the deep fryers. And this is a deep fryer. We're going to be doing this outdoors. The rest of the propane unit and heat, is all outside, and you'll get to see easily, step by step how we do that, and all the safety precautions as well. This is not a easy or, this is more advanced cooking technique, and we'll show you all this in just a second. "