How in Sam Hill do you fry a turkey – or anything for that matter – without oil? I was about to find out.
For Christmas, my daughter Angelin and her husband, Brent, gave me a Big Easy Oil-less Turkey Fryer from Char-Broil. They knew how much I love to deep-fry a turkey, Cajun style, and that was my main present from my generous Greensboro family. The day after Christmas, we decided to check it out.
Unfortunately, Harris Teeter didn’t carry the Cajun Injector marinade and rub that I like to use, so I just bought a basic chicken rub and went with a traditional turkey recipe. I was apprehensive, but the turkey turned out moist and exploding with flavor, and it didn’t use a drop of oil.
The fryer hooks up to a propane tank and uses infra-red heat. The intense heat comes from all around and seals in the juices. It also features a rotary ignition for easy lighting and a removable grease tray for easy cleanups. It was a lot easier than cleaning my old turkey fryer, that’s for sure. A traditional turkey fryer uses 3 gallons of peanut oil – that’s about $40 or more just for the oil. You can reuse the oil, but unless you filter thoroughly, it always has some after taste. With the Big Easy, there is no grease or oil whatsoever to contend with.
The instructions say that it usually takes 10 minutes per pound for a turkey. We cooked a 14-pound bird and it took a little longer than the suggested 140 minutes to bring the internal temperature to 165. But it’s easy to take the turkey out of the cooker, check it and drop it back in if it needs more cooking time.
Next time, I intend to let my turkey rest at room temperature for at least a half hour before I begin cooking, I think that will reduce the cooking time. I also will inject the bird with Cajun Injector Creole Butter (the best!) marinade and rub the outside thoroughly with a Creole seasoning.
Thanks Ange and Brent! The Big Easy Turkey Fryer is a really neat gadget and I intend to use it quite a bit in the coming year.