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Oil-less Infrared Turkey Fryer ?
Has anyone ever used one of these? Or tasted the results?
I love fried turkey, but never tried making it myself. Besides the mess & cleanup, the price of the oil always seemed prohibitive, given that I'd usually only be cooking one bird.
This device would seem to solve that. But, of course, the taste is key...
I just do not get it-the wanting the turkey fast thing I mean.
A slow roasted bird,if cooked correctly,develops complex flavors and a mellow texture that is impossible to replicate in any other fashion.Just think of a roasted chicken versus fried chicken-but a turkey being a much tougher bird should never be subjected to quick cooking.
Slow roasting is a skill that once learned will never change-it is not that big of a skill set involved.
Deep frying involves mess and expense and danger and INO sillyness that just are not needed for an already(unnessecerily IMO) stressfull holiday.
This infared thing is already used in high volume eateries(buffets and such)and is just another gadget that is not needed to be a good-but not fast cook.
Frying turkeys has become a more-or-less of a tradition in the South, just like a pig-pickin' during other times of the year. You don't have to like it, but it's still fun for others
I agree that frying one can be dangerous and needs to be done very carefully, and make sure to keep the dog away from a boiling pot of oil - trust me, they will love the smell of a frying turkey.
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I like properly rosted turkey but I love fried turkey. If this thing would make a turkey taste like it had been fried I would buy one, safe and cheaper. But if its just a quick way to bake a turkey then I would pass.
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Okay, so I broke down last month and bought myself one of these.
I'm a fan.
It definitely lives up to the promise on the convenience side. No oil to buy; no need to pre-measure the oil; no time for pre-heating oil; much safer than a regular fryer; no vat of oil afterwards to dispose of; and it cleans easily. The assembly was relatively manageable, you season the fryer once (like you would with a cast iron pan. After that, when you're ready to cook, you just connect the propane tank, and stick the bird in. When done cooking, the cleanup is minimal: if there's food mess left in the cooker, you just keep it on for 10 minutes and burn it off.
The big advantage I see over a regular fryer is that it's practical to use to cook just a single bird. I'd be hard pressed to use a regular fryer to cook a single turkey, given the cost and effort.
It's also portable - I could see bringing this to the parking lot for a football game tailgate.
I've used it 4 times so far: I've cooked a chicken, a duck, a turkey, and a pork loin. The general guideline is 10 minutes per pound, but you definitely need to use the (included) meat thermometer. The 5 pound chicken took 65 minutes, the 10 pound turkey was ready in 90 minutes. The time may also vary on whether the meat is starting at room temperature or fridge temperature.
The results are good.
The turkey was the best. I had rubbed a light coating of peanut oil on the skin before cooking. The result was a wonderfully crispy skin, maybe not quite as good as an oil-fired bird, but very close. The meat was moist throughout.
The chicken and duck were comparable in taste to oven-cooking. The pork loin had a nice char on the outside, but the meat was a bit dry: I may have over-cooked it.
There's one other big advantage compared to oil frying: since the meat is not sitting in oil, it produces drippings (into a detachable drip tray), so you can make gravy. And you can even stuff the bird if you want, also impossible with an oil fryer.
I'm happy with the purchase, and will be using this for all my turkeys going forward.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by swag
I love fried turkey, but never tried making it myself. Besides the mess & cleanup, the price of the oil always seemed prohibitive, given that I'd usually only be cooking one bird.
This device would seem to solve that. But, of course, the taste is key...
This does not fry; it broils. It's more like a rotisserie without the rotation.
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