Fried Turkey

Have you tried fried turkey?? If you have, you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, it's good- right?? If you haven't, I am sorry. Truly sorry. Fried turkey is juicy, flavorful and just YUM! It's a 2-day process, because we brine our turkey the day before. Brining tenderizes the meat and makes it more flavorful. You can brine it is pretty much anything, but it needs to have salt (to tenderize) and be completely immersed in liquid.

Oh, yeah!! He ate the WHOLE leg by himself.

Our Turkey Brine
1 orange, quartered
1 lemon, quartered
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup salt
herbs
water

*Do this the day before you are cooking the turkey. Keep refrigerated.

In a large pot (remember, the turkey has to be immersed in liquid), add sugar and salt. Fill 1/3 way with warm water, and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar.

Add lemons and oranges, squeezing the juice as you drop them in.

Add herbs, whatever you have on hand. I added rosemary and thyme.

Place turkey in and fill with water until turkey is immersed.
Pull turkey out of pot, discard brine. Pat dry.
Apply with dry rub (we actually used a pork rub because we had it on hand-
I am BIG on use what you got- and alot of it)
Place in basket. Oil needs to be at 350
(it takes about 45 minutes for oil to heat up to temperature)
Cook the turkey 3 minutes/lb plus 5 minutes. Our turkey was 9.65 lbs and we cooked it 34 minutes. It needs to reach an internal temperature of 165. We pull it out
when it is within 5 degrees of that. It drains in the basket, out of the oil for 10
minutes and will achieve that temperature.

Let drain in basket and then let cool for at least 5 minutes before you begin slicing.
Mmmm, let's just take a second and wipe that little bit of drool coming out
of our mouths before we move on, shall we?

The skin is so good. It's not fatty, it's crispy and incredibly flavorful