fried turkey

[n8nate]

i'm looking to get some smoke flavor in my deep fat fried turkey this thanksgiving, what do you all suggest? should i cold smoke or hot smoke prior to frying and for how long? i was thinking maybe cold smoke for a few hours the day before, i dunno, ill let you experts tell me if this is a good idea or not. thank you for any suggestions

[Gizmo]

Mind you not speaking from experience here but I would think a cold smoke for 40 to 60 minutes would impart enough flavor to kick your bird up a notch.  I would suspect the food safest approach would be to have the bird at refrigerator temp, pat the bird dry with paper towels (moisture on the surface would turn the smoke to smudge) and hit it with your favorite smoke.  I prefer lighter flavor wood on birds.  Keeping the bird out for 1 hour should not increase the internal temp past an unsafe value for putting it back in the fridge.
You could smoke the bird for an hour or more at a low temp and then move to the fryer right after.  Should not have to worry about the bad bugs that way.  If I am not mistaken the fries only take 45 minutes or so which eliminates the timing issues when enough time was not allotted for a good FTC (Foil, Towl, Preheated Cooler).
Let us know what you did and how it turned out.  Don't know if anyone has ever tried that combo before.

[Scotty-G]

I am planning on trying the same thing this turkey day.
First thing in the morning will inject with a cooled sauce of simmered garlic, onion, soy sauce, tabasco & fresh made apple juice/cider.  Back into the fridge for about 3 hours.  Pat down dry with paper towels.  Then cold smoke 2 hours (apple, apple, maple - 2x).  Then into the fryer for required time.
Usually just do everything but the smoke.  Can't wait to try it this year.

[SmokinScott]

Thats the same thing I am planning for this Turkey Day

[Wildcat]

Although I have not personally tried it, my brother has.  Although he does not own a BS he does have an actual smoke house.  He injects the bird right after the thaw, and sticks it in the smoke house for about two hours if he is going to put it in the fridge.  If he is going to deep fry immediately afterwards, he will smoke for around 3 hours.  The smoke house is usually fairly cool, depending on outside temperature.  He gets very little (if any) heat from his set-up.  I have tasted his birds prepared this way and is actually very good.  With the BS, I would recommend smoking as long as possible while monitoring the bird temp.  I would imagine that 1 to 2 hours would suffice.  Keep in mind that smoke does not always penetrate deep and the deep-frying leaves a pretty good sized crust that is not always edible.

[CLAREGO]

SMOFRIED TURKEY

check this site out
http://www.bbq-porch.org/turkey10.asp

windows IE works

firefox no go
clarego
KING of research

[iceman]

Looks like another adventure on my to do list. Sounds good CLAREGO.

[n8nate]

Thanx again for all of the replies, smofried turkey sounds like the best of both worlds!  Can't wait to try it out, unfortunatly it won't be this thanksgiving, job isnt going to allow enough time.  I will post how it came out when i do get the chance though.  This is a great forum, i've learned alot of great info about how to use my new bs smoker.

[Scotty-G]

n8nate,
Sorry to hear that you were not able to make smoke fried turkey.
Just to share my experience:

Wound up rubbing pepper & salt into the skin the night before and resting in the fridge.
T-Day I cold smoked for 3 hours (apple & maple).  Rested in the fridge for 1 hr.  Injected with fresh apple juice mixed with salt, pepper, garlic, onion & melted butter.  Rested for 1 hr. in fridge.
Took out just before firing up to heat the oil to allow turkey to come to room temp.  45 min later peanut oil was at 350 so in the bird went.  55 min later the bird was done - yum!
The legs had a fantastic smoke, fried flavor.  The outer layer of breast did to.  The inside of the breast just had the normal great fried flavor.  I guess the cold smoke did not penetrate to that area.

BTW, after the turkey came out, I heated higher (390) and then fried some battered onion blooms - yum too.

Was a GREAT tasting treat.  Will do similar again next year.  X-mas will be a dry roasted peking duck (family tradition) so maybe will try to incorporate cold smoking there.

[West Coast Kansan]

interested in how you would compare smofried to plain fried.  I did a deep fry turkey this year,,,no smoke. Just to see how it tastes as we had never tried it before.  It was good and the speed was great. I cant say it was the best turkey of my life. 

Those who have done both ... how would you compare?

[Scotty-G]

Straight fried is dynamite.  Smoked Fried legs were up there too.  Smoke Fried breast was very good.  Haven't had just smoked yet but plan to try around X-mas and will be able to completely compare then.
Will post after x-mas those results and a more total favorite ranking of style.

[redrocket]

We did a couple smoked turkeys last year, turned out great. Smoked and cooked the whole time in the smoker. It takes a while, but worth the wait. We brined (24hrs) injected with garlic oil and cayenne, I can't remember what the rub was though. That was about 12 hours before smoking. Let turkey get to room temp and smoked it with Hickory. First time, so we all thought it was really good.

This year did the Smofried. Brined it for 12 hours, injected it (same as above except with beer also) rubbed it, let it sit in the fridge for about 12 hours. Cold smoked it t-day morn for 3 hours with apple and hickory, then put it right in the fryer for 45 mins. Turned out great! Could taste the smoke, juicy and was nice and crispy on the outside. I also haven't tried just a fried turkey, but after the way this one turned out...I don't think I will.

Scotty-G, may I suggest a more intense flavor of smoke? It was only my first time, but the hickory seemed to penetrate to the breast pretty well.