2010/360: Bonus: Adventures In Turkey Frying
Day after Christmas Edition.
You may remember our little Thanksgiving adventure…. well, today’s little adventure actually started because of that Thanksgiving adventure.
Greg planned to fry the turkey then, but because it was very windy outside, decided that it would be safer to roast the turkey instead. The oil could wait until Christmas, and we’d fry a turkey then. Of course Greg can’t just use plain ol’ canola oil, nope, he has to flavor it with fresh rosemary, chopped garlic, and who knows what else. That oil was such a pretty green from the fresh herbs he put in! 😉
He did NOT brine the turkey this year, and it stayed in the refrigerator until this morning, and he injected it with some kind of concoction he cooked up instead. This afternoon, he set up the turkey fryer, measured how much oil he would need… everything went well, BUT…. it always has to be something! Right? This IS Greg, and he likes to experiment while he’s cooking.
He adds the oil into the pot to heat it, and then after a while he comes into the kitchen, where I was busy making mashed potatoes, and says
“I need your opinion”
“On what?”
“The oil”
Took what seemed like forever to get him to tell me what was going on with the oil, I was NOT going to stop what I was doing to go outside!
“It doesn’t smell good”
“Doesn’t smell good how? Like it went bad?”
“Yes… but I thought after it’s been cooking, it would get better”
“Then why take any chances??!!”
So outside he went, to dump out the oil, and then off to the store to get more. At least he didn’t put the turkey in first and then decide that something doesn’t seem right!
What do you think, does he find ways to mess up the turkey on purpose so I will tell him to just leave it ALL up to me? That’s just NOT going to happen. I have no problem sitting down and just eating mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, and dinner rolls. No problem at all!
Right now, the fresh, non-flavored oil is heating up, and hopefully I won’t have to come back and update this little story. Although I might go outside and take a picture to add later.
The Daily Click 
Turkey is IN the oil! It bubbled over, but the burner was off and we’re not busy, trying to keep the shed from burning down 😉
26. December, 2010 at 17:46
LOL! You will be talking about Greg and his turkey adventures in the nursing home, lol.
Was it good? When I was reading it, I thought the turkey was in the bad oil……….phew!
26. December, 2010 at 18:03
Ok, we’ve all seen and maybe actually bought infused oils, right? I’ve done it before using fresh rosemary, garlic and ginger. This time I used store bought diced garlic in the little jar. Maybe that was it or maybe it was because of the extra 4 weeks I don’t know but it Smelled. I was hoping that it was just extra strong garlic but as I added the other “non-flavored” oil I got concerned. As it got hotter I finally decided to see what ‘she’ would think. So here we are a hour late but ready to start eating in another 2-3 minutes.
26. December, 2010 at 18:41
What “she” would think? LOL 😀
The turkey was really good! I guess it pays off to leave the turkey in the fridge until it’s time to cook it (aka NOT brine it) and just use plain ol’ canola oil.
The stuffing out of the box, veggies out of the freezer, store bought dinner rolls, and made-from-scratch mashed potatoes were delicious, too! Even Greg’s gravy turned out pretty good, and wasn’t a pasty mess like a few years ago when he tried to make some. 😉
26. December, 2010 at 19:12
There’s a house in town that has a turkey fryer on the front steps. Apparently the husband (assumed) never removed it because with each season (except winter) there’s a new floral arrangement in the fryer. I guess it is the wife’s way of getting her message across.
26. December, 2010 at 23:01
glad it finally got all worked out! I have never had a fried turkey so I think I will be there next Christmas and I will bring the snow 🙂
27. December, 2010 at 10:11
Sounds good to me, Kristie!
27. December, 2010 at 10:13
Glad it turned out beautifully. (My brother did that in the house once… I was scared to DEATH, but all’s well that ends well!!
27. December, 2010 at 17:19
He fried a turkey IN the house???!!! That is crazy!!
27. December, 2010 at 17:24
Glad it all turned out well. It´s great to have an inventive chef in the house. We don´t have turkey fryers here i DK, but of course, turkey is not the most common food so this probably explain it.
28. December, 2010 at 17:13
My Respects for Greg.
If nobody tries something new, nothing new is invented.
Frying in bad oil is NOT new:
Many years ago I had fondue in Paris with some friends. The oil had an intense garlic flavor. Later in the evening we realized that they had spiced the oil with plenty of garlic to mask an oil that was far too old.
Burp! -Sorry!
28. December, 2010 at 18:23