T he T urkey F rying I nformation E xchange
presented by The Cajun Shoppe   www.cajunshoppe.com
C ajun D eep F ried W hole T urkey
Have you ever tasted Cajun Deep Fried Turkey???
Complete turkey frying instructions with pictures!!
The Cajun Shoppe Turkey Frying Course #101
Recipes & Instructions

Deep frying whole turkeys has been described as a science, an art, a happening, a cultural event, a social occurrence, a culinary treat, or simply the absolute best way to cook a turkey. Whatever you call it, it is fun, easy, and tasty. We have found that many people, outside of South Louisiana, have never heard of deep frying a whole turkey. We have also found that those who have tried it, seldom cook turkey any other way.

The Cajun Shoppe has constructed this home page to facilitate the exchange of information pertaining to deep frying turkey (and other things). This page is dedicated to all present and future turkey fryers. We now have two complete recipes with instructions and hope to add new recipes, instructions and tips as they become available.

Please feel free to fax or email any new tips, instructions or recipes you wish to share with the world. The Cajun Shoppe will try them out, and if found acceptable, will add them to this page. Full credit will be given, if desired, to the person offering a new idea.

The Turkey Frying Information Exchange email

Fax 1-800-560-2999 24 hours a day, every day.

Equipment needed for Turkey Frying

You will need a large pot (30-40 quart), a high output heat source, a long stem thermometer, a Cajun Spice Injector Kit , injecting sauce, and about five gallons of cooking oil. The cooking oil, if properly filtered and stored, may be saved and reused many times.
The Cajun Shoppe can provide you with all the equipment needed for deep frying turkeys. Pictured below are the products included in The Cajun Shoppe Turkey Frying Combo.

The Cajun Shoppe Turkey Frying Combo

The Cajun Shoppe
Turkey Frying Instructions & Sauce Recipe

The best way to season your turkey, or any other large piece of meat, is with an injector and a spicy sauce (recipe for sauce below). Use at least 1/2 oz. of sauce per pound of turkey (1 oz per pound is what we use), making sure to inject the sauce deeply and evenly. You should also season the turkey inside and out with seasoning such as salt, black pepper, cayenne or red pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and celery salt(Tony's Chachers Creole seasoning works well). Much of the seasoning applied to the outside of the turkey will wash off during cooking, so don't be conservative when applying seasoning. We usually try to season the turkey the night before our cookout, this seems to allow the seasoning to work better.

Preheat your cooking oil to 325 degrees F. Dry turkey with paper towels both inside and out to reduce the danger of splashing oil. Place the turkey on turkey frying stand, breast down, and lower the stand slowly and carefully into the hot oil. We have found by partially dipping the turkey in the oil and lifting it out several times helps remove the excess water and reduce splashing oil. We usually cook smaller turkeys (10#-12# or less) about four minutes per pound and larger birds about five minutes per pound. Make sure that the bird is completely submerged in oil.

Once you have everything in place to deep fry turkeys, it is very easy to cook more than one turkey. Make a social event out of it and cook for friends and relatives. Everyone will enjoy both the cooking and the eating.

Basting/Injecting Sauce Recipe 
1 Quart of water		1/2 cup salt


1 oz. pepper sauce(La red hot)	3 oz. Worcestershire sauce


1 teaspoon garlic powder	1 1/2 oz. garlic juice


1 1/2 oz. onion juice		1 teaspoon meat tenderizer
 Mix all ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a boil, let simmer for at least 15 minutes, remove from heat and let cool. This sauce may be used on meat, poultry, or wild game.
You may adjust above seasoning to taste by adding different spices or varying amounts. Any left over sauce may be stored for several weeks in the refrigerator. Some cooks substitute other liquids instead of water. Some of the liquids substituted for water are beer, Coke, Dr Pepper, and fruit juice(apple, pineapple, cranberry, etc.).

* Some people find the 1/2 cup of salt in the above recipe is too much for their taste.
* When seasoning fowl, puncture skin as few times as possible.
* When seasoning large cuts of meat always inject from the top so the sauce won't leak out. If you feel it necessary to inject from the side, always angle needle downward.


Mr Sambo's "Secret" Recipe & Instructions
The following is a recipe given to us by Mr. Sam Pickett who owns Sambo's Cajun Cooking (1-904-786-8634) in Jacksonville, Florida. Sam has been using this recipe for many years.
Sambo's Turbo Injection Liquid

2 oz onion juice

2 oz garlic juice

6 oz grape fruit juice
[(optional) orange juice, pineapple juice, or apple juice]

2 oz worchestershire (Lea & Perkins white wine)

16 oz white wine (Sauterne, Rhrine, etc.)

Mix well and refrigerate until ready to use. This sauce will keep for several weeks if refrigerated.
Sambo's instructions for deep fat fried turkey

You will need a 36 to 40 quart pot & lid, either a basket or turkey frying stand, a 12" propane cooker (at least 100,000 BTU), a long stem thermometer, 35 pounds peanut oil or 50 pounds shortening, spice injector & sauce, and a ten or twelve pound turkey.

Thoroughly thaw turkey and rinse with cold water. After you pat turkey with paper towels to dry you need to inject the sauce. Use 1 oz sauce per pound of turkey. Inject about 2 oz in each breast, 1 oz in each thigh, and 1 oz in each drumstick. Sprinkle seasoning (either Sambo's secret seasoning or Tony's Chachers Creole seasoning) inside and outside of turkey to taste(approximately 1 teaspoon per pound).

Place seasoned turkey in plastic bag and seal. Refrigerate at least over night (24 hours is better).

When you are ready to fry a turkey put enough oil in pot to completely cover turkey and preheat to 325 degrees F. Remove turkey from bag and place either in basket (backside down) or on a turkey frying stand (breast down). Insert turkey in oil slowly and carefully and then remove. Do this 3 or four times. This does two things; first it "seals" the turkey and secondly it boils out the excess moisture and prevents the oil from boiling over. Cook the turkey about 4 minutes per pound.

Remove, let cool, and enjoy.

Remember, once you have set everything up, it is very easy to cook several turkeys. You may want to cook several and freeze them for later or invite friends to provide a turkey and make it a social event.
Tips & suggestions for Turkey Frying
Contributed by: The Cajun Shoppe, Lake Charles, LA
We have also used the same procedures and equipment to deep fry whole Cornish game hens. This is a very quick way to prepare an interesting meal. The only difference is we don't use the turkey frying stand and we cook several Cornish hens at once. It only takes about eight minutes cooking time for several hens. We cook one hen for each guest.
Safety Tip
This tip was phoned in by one of our customers. When placing the turkey in the cooking oil or removing the turkey from the cooking oil turn the cooker off. This greatly reduces the chance of a grease fire and it only takes a moment to relight the cooker.
Cooking Tip
This tip was also phoned in by one of our customers. If you are frying several turkeys, use two turkey frying stands. While you are cooking the first turkey place the second turkey on the second turkey frying stand and allow it to drain. This reduces the steam generated when placing this turkey in the cooking oil. Also when you remove the cooked turkey from the oil, allow a few minutes for it to cool before removing it from the stand. This usually prevents "tearing" that may occur when handling a hot turkey.
Obviously Contributed by: The Cajun Shoppe, Lake Charles, LA
The Cajun Shoppe has just about everything you need to deep fry a whole turkey. Check out our home page. The Cajun Shoppe Home Page

If you have any recipes, suggestions, or improvements for deep fried turkey, or any other deep frying recipes you wish to share, mail, fax, or email them to The Cajun Shoppe. We will try them out, and if they are approved, we will place them on our web page. If you wish to have the credit for a tip, suggestion, or a recipe we use we will be happy to do so.

The Cajun Shoppe
PO Box 168
Lake Charles, LA 70602
Phone 1-800-434-2809 11:00 AM-7:00 PM M-F Central time
Fax 1-800-560-2999 24 hours a day, every day.

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