# Need your thoughts on a fully smoked then deep fried turkey.



## rbranstner (Nov 16, 2010)

I was reading lots of threads on smoking turkeys then deep frying them but most it seemed all of the threads I have read they aren't fully smoking/cooking the bird to say 165 then deep frying them. The birds are usually smoked for 1.5-2 hours for a smokey flavor then deep frying them to fully cook the bird. I am smoking a bunch of birds for people at work this weekend and one of the guys and I are going to experiement with a smoked then fried bird. I was planning on smoking all the birds to 165 ish then they will reheat on Thanksgiving day in the oven or roaster. Well if this guy deep fries his to reheat it how long do you think it would take? I'm thinking it won't take very long like around 5 minutes or so???? What do you think????? Usually they are cooked at around 375 for 2.5-3 minutes per lb if I remember right but if the bird is already cooked and all you are doing is heating it up then I wouldn't think it would take that long.


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## alblancher (Nov 16, 2010)

I think he is going to use 30 bucks of oil to crisp the skin and still serve a cold turkey.  The bird will be probably be over cooked on the outside before the inside of the turkey comes up to temp.  He would do better to place the bird in the oven, get close to serving temp and then fry to crisp the outside and add oil flavor.

Al


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## rbranstner (Nov 16, 2010)

That would work to. That's my whole concern is how long will it take to get the internal temp of the bird up to eating level. Or we also said he could do the reverse of your suggestion by frying it then cutting it up and putting it in his roaster pan/oven and bringing it up to eating temp that way. Either way would work I'm just worried about putting it in the fryer too long and burning the crap out of it.


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## alblancher (Nov 16, 2010)

There is something about putting fried food in the oven that I don't like.  I think it will come out greasy.


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## ak1 (Nov 16, 2010)

I'm with al on this one.

I think it would be better to bring the bird close to temp, and then deep fry it for the crispy skin. If you do the reverse you run the risk of having the skin go soft.


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## pineywoods (Nov 16, 2010)

I agree with Al do the reheat first then fry otherwise you risk soggy skin at least to some extent


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## rbranstner (Nov 16, 2010)

Yea I agree with you guys if he is looking for crispy skin then heating then deep frying is the way to go. But then again some people don't eat the skin in that case where you don't care about the skin he could fry it then put it in his oven/roaster to keep the temps or bring up to the temps he wants if the internal part of the meat is still a bit cool. I will let him know that if he wants crispy skin to warm it first then fry it. I can't wait to give this a try. I am debating if I should cook two birds on Thanksgiving and do one just warmed in the oven and another warmed then deep fried. HMMMMM


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## pineywoods (Nov 16, 2010)

Personally I'd say if he doesn't want crisp skin skip the fryer all together. If the bird is already cooked to temp then its not going to spend long in the fryer and the only reason I could think of to put it in the hot oil would be to crisp the skin


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## mballi3011 (Nov 16, 2010)

I think that I'm gonna smoke my bird this year to about 120* and then frying it to temp. I'll be taking it out of one and then into the other. But who knows and I haven't done it yet but lets see what happens.


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## meateater (Nov 16, 2010)

What if you cured it first? Then you could smoke it for say 6-8 hours then fry it without worrying about the 40-140 standard.


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## rbranstner (Nov 16, 2010)

meateater said:


> What if you cured it first? Then you could smoke it for say 6-8 hours then fry it without worrying about the 40-140 standard.




The issue I have is I am smoking them this Saturday and they won't reheat the birds until next Thursday. This would all be so much easier if I was just making it for myself then it would go right from the smoker into the fryer and be done. I'm confident they will come out great but I always like to do a bunch of research and hear what everyone else thinks just to make sure my plan will work. I've smoked plenty of birds just never ahead of time and then reheating them whole several days later.


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## drewbobo (Nov 18, 2019)

rbranstner said:


> The issue I have is I am smoking them this Saturday and they won't reheat the birds until next Thursday. This would all be so much easier if I was just making it for myself then it would go right from the smoker into the fryer and be done. I'm confident they will come out great but I always like to do a bunch of research and hear what everyone else thinks just to make sure my plan will work. I've smoked plenty of birds just never ahead of time and then reheating them whole several days later.


Hi, I am in a similar situation, I bought a fully cooked smoked turkey from the grocery store and was thinking about deep frying it but don't know how long to deep fry being that its already cooked.  I am planning on heating it up in the oven to about 140 degrees then deep frying it for around 7-8 minutes. What is your plan?


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## SmokinVOLfan (Nov 18, 2019)

Why don't you just smoke the bird at a higher temp to get the crispy skin? I smoke mine at 300-325 and skin always turns out crispy and great. I plan to do 3 birds this year...two smoked and one friend. Be curious to see how your experiment turns out though. Good luck!


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## gmc2003 (Nov 18, 2019)

drewbobo said:


> Hi, I am in a similar situation, I bought a fully cooked smoked turkey from the grocery store and was thinking about deep frying it but don't know how long to deep fry being that its already cooked.  I am planning on heating it up in the oven to about 140 degrees then deep frying it for around 7-8 minutes. What is your plan?



Rbranstner hasn't been logged on for a couple of years. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for him to answer. Your plan sounds pretty good. Maybe try it on a chicken before risking thanksgiving dinner.

Chris


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## SmokinVOLfan (Nov 18, 2019)

I just realized this thread was 9 years old lol my bad


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