Singapore Expats

It's a bit early but hey. Happy turkey day.

Google also has this for you: http://g.co/doodle/yut4sf

I have a turkey in the oven right now! Mr. K works Thursday evenings, so we're celebrating today. We always do both Canadian and American thanksgivings, they're the best meals of the year! And we have much to be thankful for

poodlek wrote:I have a turkey in the oven right now! Mr. K works Thursday evenings, so we're celebrating today. We always do both Canadian and American thanksgivings, they're the best meals of the year! And we have much to be thankful for

When is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday?

I'm taking off half a day tomorrow and will be cooking "big bird" as well (used to kid my daughter about that - we made the mistake of kidding her one year when she was young about cooking "big bird" and that year just happened to be an 10kg turkey. RONG!

Fortunately, I cook the birds and ours is around 14lbs and will only take about 30~35 minutes to cook!

We do two or three a year, Thanksgiving, Xmas and again in Feb/Mar if we can pick up one on Xmas day real cheap and throw it in the freezer.

I love turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving all, whether you are Yank, Canadian or whatever, there's always something to be thankful for!

This one done last March for my daughter's birthday.....

Asian_Geekette wrote:

poodlek wrote:I have a turkey in the oven right now! Mr. K works Thursday evenings, so we're celebrating today. We always do both Canadian and American thanksgivings, they're the best meals of the year! And we have much to be thankful for

When is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday?

Second Monday in October, more on par with when the harvest comes in in the great white north.

sundaymorningstaple wrote:I'm taking off half a day tomorrow and will be cooking "big bird" as well (used to kid my daughter about that - we made the mistake of kidding her one year when she was young about cooking "big bird" and that year just happened to be an 10kg turkey. RONG!

Fortunately, I cook the birds and ours is around 14lbs and will only take about 30~35 minutes to cook!

We do two or three a year, Thanksgiving, Xmas and again in Feb/Mar if we can pick up one on Xmas day real cheap and throw it in the freezer.

I love turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving all, whether you are Yank, Canadian or whatever, there's always something to be thankful for!

This one done last March for my daughter's birthday.....

It looks like you boiled your turkey in fence creosote!

Good lorrrrrrrd. I couldn't see these pics on my phone. I've got a 12.5 pound stuffed bird in the oven, and I'm planning on it taking about 4.5 hrs. 35 minutes?? I guess it tastes pretty good that way? I don't think I could pull that off in my limited facilities here...the bird I have is the biggest possible I could fit in my oven and even then the top of it is getting brown way too fast.

If only I had the freezer space to store a turkey for later! I would totally have one for Easter or my birthday (around the same time) but alas. I'll have to come over to your place

I didn't cook one at Christmas last year, I chose to make a big deal of breakfast Christmas morning instead since it was the middle of Mr. K's work week and he had two shows that day.

Billy, it's not boiled, it's deep fried! 16ltr of Canola or peanut oil heated to 350°F. (I use Canola as you can use it 4 or 5 times and it doesn't go "off" like peanut oil does.)

For a bird under 12 lbs (5.5kg) it only take around 3 minutes per lb or 6 minutes/kg. For over 12 lbs, around 3.5 minutes lb. My stainless steel vat will only take up to around a 14lb bird.

Deep Frying surprising has just the opposite effect that you think. The bird has NO oil soaking like you might think. You deep inject your marinade the day before and dry the bird completely at room temperature before putting the bird in the oil. As the bird goes in, the high heat seals the skin surface and as the heat draws the moisture of the marinate out of the bird, it prevents oil from entering. It takes around 2.5~3 minutes to lower the bird fully into the vat of oil - to prevent a massive over-boil of the oil and create a fire (there is always a fire extinguisher nearby!) That way you have an absolutely moist bird with an nice brown crispy skin. A lot of the colour of the bird is due to the fact that I use a rub for the skin using Old Bay Seasoning which is a paprika based spice mixture from my home. You can pick up small shaker bottles from the supermarkets here in the McCormick section. The colour & crispness is better and more even that you could ever hope to achieve with a normal oven. I'm a convert. And I've cooked my fair share of turkeys. Can also do ducks & chickens the same way. (I've cooked three whole chickens at a time as well in that pot.

If you see the stainless basket in the background, it does fantastic Maryland style Steamed Crabs as well!

sundaymorningstaple wrote:Billy, it's not boiled, it's deep fried! 16ltr of Canola or peanut oil heated to 350°F. (I use Canola as you can use it 4 or 5 times and it doesn't go "off" like peanut oil does.)

For a bird under 12 lbs (5.5kg) it only take around 3 minutes per lb or 6 minutes/kg. For over 12 lbs, around 3.5 minutes lb. My stainless steel vat will only take up to around a 14lb bird.

Deep Frying surprising has just the opposite effect that you think. The bird has NO oil soaking like you might think. You deep inject your marinade the day before and dry the bird completely at room temperature before putting the bird in the oil. As the bird goes in, the high heat seals the skin surface and as the heat draws the moisture of the marinate out of the bird, it prevents oil from entering. It takes around 2.5~3 minutes to lower the bird fully into the vat of oil - to prevent a massive over-boil of the oil and create a fire (there is always a fire extinguisher nearby!) That way you have an absolutely moist bird with an nice brown crispy skin. Better and more even that you could ever hope to achieve with a normal oven. I'm a convert. And I've cooked my fair share of turkeys. Can also do ducks & chickens the same way. (I've cooked three whole chickens at a time as well in that pot.

If you see the stainless basket in the background, it does fantastic Maryland style Steamed Crabs as well!

Fascinating. I'll give it a try when I get back to Canada/a place with a normal sized kitchen or patio. How do you know how much oil to put in so you don't over flow when you put the bird in?

Take your bird (be it chicken, duck or turkey) and place it in the pot you are going to use. Then fill the pot with water until it is an inch or so over the top of the bird. (you don't want the bird to rest on the bottom of the pot so you would need a rack to suspend the bird off the bottom around an inch and also a carrier (can be a t-bar with an eye on the other end for the lifter to go through and lifter (hook) to get the bird out.

Once you have the bird immersed in the water and the water only an inch over the bird, make sure your pot still has 4 or 5 inches of height above that level. Then remove the bird. After removing the bird, mark the pot at that water level then remove the water and dry it completely (I mean COMPLETELY) Water and very high temperature oil don't mix too well as you know! That's the level to fill to with your oil. Dry the bird completely and put back into the fridge until it time to cook it.This is why it takes so long to put the bird into the heated oil as it steams off the moisture going in (look at the first picture at the roiling oil) That is also why you need high sides to prevent the oil from boiling over and running down the side of the pot and into the flame (ouch!).

DO NOT TRY THIS IN YOUR HOUSE OR UNDER ANY TYPE OF CARPORT OR PATIO!!!!!!!!!

http://eater.com/archives/2010/11/24/se ... asters.php

Go to U-tube and type in Deep Fried Turkey - lots more edjits there as well!

There are plenty of sites that show you how to deep fry turkey using google.

Happy Eating!

I found this and can't wait to post ...

My bird was bought fresh, direct from the farm down the street (a first for me) and will be brined as usual in a honey/sage solution. Glad I'm not deep-frying, woke up to 10 cm of snow this morning!

poodlek wrote:...the bird I have is the biggest possible I could fit in my oven and even then the top of it is getting brown way too fast.

tip #1, Cook it upside down, and then flip it over for the last half hour to brown the crown.

It will come out slightly squashed looking but the meat will be much juicier.

tip #2, Don't 'presentation carve' at the table straight off the bird. Take the cooked bird apart, and slice the breasts across the grain.

You can look on Youtube and see vids of the above being done. It really makes a big difference!


Enjoy!

JR8 wrote:
tip #2, Don't 'presentation carve' at the table straight off the bird. Take the cooked bird apart, and slice the breasts across the grain.

You can look on Youtube and see vids of the above being done. It really makes a big difference!


Enjoy!

Very true. I let the bird rest on the table under foil for 20-30 minutes then unwrap and let it set for a couple of minutes so everyone can ooh & ahh. Then I proceed to dismantle the bird as well. It also feeds a lot more as the slices are a more manageable size by cross grain cutting.

sundaymorningstaple wrote: Very true. I let the bird rest on the table under foil for 20-30 minutes then unwrap and let it set for a couple of minutes so everyone can ooh & ahh. Then I proceed to dismantle the bird as well. It also feeds a lot more as the slices are a more manageable size by cross grain cutting.

Yep, agree with all of that. Once out of the oven you can take it out on a platter, if needs be the chef can pose with carving knife/fork for pix, and then back in to the kitchen to dismantle it. Once you've done it like that you'll wonder what all the 'carving at the table' malarkey is all about.