Electric turkey fryer

[islander]

Anyone use an electric turkey fryer?

We are hosting a dinner for 4 couples in a couple of weeks and are going to deep fry a turkey. After watching all the exploding turkey videos on Utube, I bought a new electric fryer on Craigslist.
From what I've read, the downside to an electric fryer is that since it uses 1/3 the oil of a propane unit, the temp of the oil drops too much when you put the cold bird in. This causes the turkey to be a bit greasy as it doesn't sear right away.
Would it be advisable to 'warm' the turkey in the oven at say 150 or so deg for half an hour before putting it in? This would also dry the bird as any water droplets cause problems in 375 deg oil.

Thanks - and I don't post very much here but I do appreciate all the knowlege that is shared.

Gregg

 

[haha]

Anyone use an electric turkey fryer?

We are hosting a dinner for 4 couples in a couple of weeks and are going to deep fry a turkey. After watching all the exploding turkey videos on Utube, I bought a new electric fryer on Craigslist.
From what I've read, the downside to an electric fryer is that since it uses 1/3 the oil of a propane unit, the temp of the oil drops too much when you put the cold bird in. This causes the turkey to be a bit greasy as it doesn't sear right away.
Would it be advisable to 'warm' the turkey in the oven at say 150 or so deg for half an hour before putting it in? This would also dry the bird as any water droplets cause problems in 375 deg oil.

Thanks - and I don't post very much here but I do appreciate all the knowlege that is shared.

Gregg

I think it might be microbe heaven on that turkey by the time you get it into the hot oil. Not certain, but it sounds risky to me.

Ha

 

[ERD50]

Maybe a 300-325F oven would be better, for the microbe reasons that haha mentioned (though those would get killed off during the oil dunk, and would only be growing for a half hour or so?).

In half hour, the meat temperature won't come up all that much, but every bit would help. The drying effect will be large I would think, it takes a lot of energy to turn the moisture into steam. Dry the turkey with paper towels, then put a fan on it for 1/2 hour to dry off (our 3-season room was about 40F one year, so we did that out there).

Use convection on the oven if you have it, to dry it further. Get the inside as dry as you can as well.

-ERD50