Deep Fried Turkey

No stinky pits for our bird

Powder his butt. Shady Grove, my little love. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Shady Grove, my little love. Look at that, y'all. Happy Thanksgiving, Mama

Happy Thanksgiving, son. May I have a little kiss? Sure, Mama. Y'all, let me tell you

Yum. We're frying a turkey today, and as much turkey as we've eaten growing up

and we would go to Statesboro, Georgia every year with our family. Huge tradition for us

Until we got in the restaurant business. Yeah, until we started the restaurant business. But I'd never fried a turkey or had a low country bowl or any of that stuff until we moved to Savannah

So if y'all have never heard of the fried turkey, and I don't know if we got it from this area

or if it kind of took off around that same time, but a fried turkey, oh my gosh, it's not greasy

It seals in all the juice. It is so delicious. It's like eating a great big piece of fried chicken, y'all

It's so easy, too. This is a 13-pound bird, so traditionally, this would, in the oven, this would take you three or four hours

And we're going to be able to fry this bird in less than an hour in about 53 minutes

You figure it up per pound. This is a 13-pound bird. We're probably going to go about four minutes a pound

No, may I tell you what I cook them? Tell me, Mama

All right, I cook them three minutes per pound. and then when that is up, I cook it for an extra five minutes

And it seems like that always turns out perfect. But, you know, you'll find different people use different measurements

Don't listen to anything I say. Listen to my mama. I ain't saying that

I'm just saying. Here's what, but you're not going to take any chances with this

That's how long you cook it, and then you put a thermometer in it. That's right. Being a poultry product, you got to make sure that it's up to $165

I know you put a thermometer in it. Don't listen to anything I say

Listen to my mama. So I'm going to show you all the dry rub that we're going to do for our turkey first

I have two tablespoons of kosher salt. I have two tablespoons of black pepper. I'm going to put in two tablespoons of thyme

I've got two tablespoons of rosemary. I've got one teaspoon of sage

and we've got half a teaspoon of garlic powder, and I'm gonna use a little bit of Mama's house seasoning

because it's good. So I'm gonna use about another half a teaspoon. And that, too, has salt, pepper, and garlic in it

So I'm gonna mix this up. So this is our dry rub. It's really that simple. So Mama, if you want to oil it

we'll get the buttered oil taken care of. Absolutely. Absolutely, son. And I'm using just a vegetable oil

just so it'll help stick our seasonings. Now, I recommend doing this

just like Granny taught me to do my chicken, you know, because they're both poultry

seasoning this early in the day and letting all those beautiful herbs soak in there

But, you know, as long as our chicken, our turkey was dry

you know, it'd be hard to get those herbs to stick to him. Okay, well, flip them over

Oh okay He excited I see that

All right, we want to make sure we stand him up and you get inside of him real good

Got it. Real good. There. He's beautiful, son. Perfectly seasoned. So like I said, I would put him in the refrigerator

even the night before, or certainly no later than the morning of

So your basket is shaped like your bird. Mm-hmm. So we are just..

That's built for about a nine-pound bird, and we got 13 pounds

so you're going to have to jam it down in there. Well, actually, to me, son

a perfect-sized bird to fry is a 12-pounder. I always buy a 12-pound bird

This is going to work out very, very good. Listen to what I'm saying. Okay

Make sure that your turkey is not wet and that most especially..

Oh, no, frozen, frozen. It is not frozen. Take time right now

You're on your iPad. Click over and look for a frozen turkey fryer

It will explode. It will explode and hurt someone. Make sure that it's not frozen

and use these safety handles, too. Yes. You got to be really careful when you're doing this, y'all

I like to do it outside a lot, but this is really a nice cooker

so we can do it inside and still visit and be together. A friend of mine developed

Watch your kids, watch your dogs. Be careful. This is a lot of hot grease

You got to be careful with this. A friend of mine developed this particular indoor fryer

and I've used it many times, and it works very, very well

and it'll have the fill line to show you where to fill the grease to

Listen, if you don't have a fill line on your thing, put your bird in and then put water in it and then mark your own line

And then measure that water. Measure the water that covered that bird

and then you'll know just how much oil. Are you boys ready

And I always recommend frying your turkey in peanut oil. Pinot oil not only gives it fabulous flavor

it has a high resistance to burning. Don't burn yourself, my darling angel

I'm not. Look at that. Look at that. Get that closed down, y'all

and this is going to cook for just under an hour. It tastes better than a roasted turkey

and it cuts a third of the time. And everybody knows that Thanksgiving

and the one thing you don't have enough of is time because the Lord knows the family's coming

and everybody knows they're hungry and you got 15 sides that you got to cook

so why not do it in an hour instead of three hours? Hey, look, it's my friend Andy

Howdy. This is one of my oldest friend's husband. They're from Albany, Georgia

This is my friend Amy. Everybody knows her as itch. This is her husband

and he builds guitars he builds fiddles He a super talented guy And they visiting for the weekend so we lucky to get to have Andy come in and play a little something

Well, I guess you'd think, my pretty little miss, that I can't live without you

I'll let you know before I go how little I care about you

Shady girl, my little miss, shady girl, my darlin' shoes. Shady Grove, my little miss, I'm going back to Harlem

You're doing great. I went to see my Shady Grove. Pick it, baby, pick it

She asked me for supper. Stumped my toe on the table leg and I run my nose into butter

Shady Grove, my little love, Shady Grove, my darling. Shady Grove, my little love, I'm going back to Harlem

Oh! Andy's fabulous. Andy is fabulous

And look how easy it is to kill an hour at Thanksgiving. You call out the family, the banjo players, and look here

It's great to have family members that are talented. You know, real talent

So we're very lucky. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Look at here

So we actually cooked that for 45 minutes, right, son? Do you need me to hold that for you

Yeah, I think. Now, this is the tricky part, y'all. Okay. Well, you put it right here, Mama

Okay. That basket is hot. Hot. The bird is hot. So be real careful when you're..

How are you going to get his legs to go down underneath that thing? Kitchen tools. You need kitchen tools

You need towels. You need space. You have to be patient. Now, I'm not in a big hurry here because, just like any other meat

we want this to rest for about 10 minutes and let the juices get back off the bones

So you don't have to hurry. Can I show you how I would do it? Oh, that's good

That's exactly how I'd do it. Now kind of just dump him out

Now let's see. Whoa, son. Here, let me hold your basket. Don't burn me. Okay

Look at that, y'all! We'll bring him up here. Whoa

Oh, my goodness, my grannies, my gracious. That's what I was thinking

Oh. Now. This is the part we fight over, y'all. Uh-huh. I'm just kidding, mom

I ain't gonna fight you for it. But look. Come here. I do want to make it pretty, though

Now, look how beautiful this is. So it's apples, and we've got oranges and lemons

Lemons, uh-huh. So pretty. Isn't that so pretty? And it just makes a beautiful..

And it's fall colors. That is gorgeous. Uh-huh, just beautiful garnish. And it's all edible

The apples are just beautiful Mm Yum What should we do mama You want to cut a leg off Yeah let lace that up James These people are hungry

Okay. So the first thing you want to remove is your legs and your flappers, your wings

Turn him on his side. and I would recommend taking your rag

so you can hold him and break that joint. All right, now that'll kind of show you

where to cut it, son. Perfect

Now see, that would be my piece at the table. I love, love, love a wing

especially the flapper part. That would be my piece right there

Who loves turkey skin? I know. I know. But trust me, y'all, my family are bone gnawers

Now, when we get through With our turkey or our chicken

This is the part I give to Lady Bird My blue and gold macaw

And that's her Thanksgiving dinner She loves Thanksgiving as much as her mom

Alright, we can't wait no more Banjo Pickers hungry Y'all come on up here

You, all y'all, come on. Everybody, get up here. We're not gonna bring you food

You gotta come get it yourself. Y'all, come on. Who likes a flapper

Who likes another flapper? Too slow to go

That's part of another. Yeah, you guys reach in there. I know, perfectly cooked turkey

Yum, yum. Yum, yum. Ooh, that's the oyster on the turkey right there

Come on, y'all, dig in. Y'all just say these to Lady Bird, please

She's hungry, too. And that's how we do it, y'all. Happy Thanksgiving from the Paul Dean Network

That may be dark. I'm looking for a piece with skin on it