I did one for thanksgiving along with a smoked turkey. Everyone agreed he smoked turkey was the best. My mom even commented and said she is never again doing one in the oven if she can get me to smoke one.

The problem i found with the fried turkey is I believe it was over done. Without going into a long story I over cooked it a bit. My question is does anyone subscribe to Alton Brown's method of pulling the turkey off the fryer when the breast meat reaches 151 Degrees ? I thought this was a bit low but wanted to hear your thoughts.

Thanks!

I would agree with that. As he says,

quote:

Once the breast reaches 151 degrees F, gently remove from the oil and allow to rest for a minimum of 30 minutes prior to carving. The bird will reach an internal temperature of 161 degrees F due to carry over cooking.

Link

Bill

I concur with pulling early. I have been frying turkeys for over twenty years. Only recently have I even checked internal temp. Thru trial and error I had developed a time table of 3 min. a lb for a bird less than 12 lbs. and 3.25 min. a lb for anything larger. I fry @ 350 (start at 370, temp will drop when you put the bird in the oil) The first time I checked the internal temp after pulling with my proven timing system I kind of freaked out. The breast measured 153. I considered putting back in the fryer but finally convinced myself that I would stick with my timing system since it had never let me down. I let it rest on the counter and checked 20 min. later and sure enough it had gained 10 degrees. I also cooked both a fried and smoked turkey this year. The fried was the more "moist" turkey.

Great News I will have to make sure I pull the bird @ 151-153 in the future, or I can try the timing method as well. Great stuff Thank you for the replies.