Pre-Thanksgiving

As mentioned in a previous entry, we’re having Thanksgiving at our house (thanks to my big mouth last year). The plan was to do our standard deep-fried turkey, since it’s always a hit and makes people think we’re really hip (culinarily speaking), and god knows we need all the help we can get in the public perception department. But as we got closer to the holiday, we began to dread to inevitable messy pain the ass that deep-frying a turkey brings.

And then we went to CostCo, and there was a light at the end of that peanut oil-soaked tunnel.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the Char-Broil Big Easy.



Deep frying… without oil? We looked at one another and, in that solitary suspended-in-time moment, a mutual decision was made, without words, without hesitation.


Yesterday (Sunday 11/23) we test-drove the beast, so to speak (and, since our reputations; nay, our very honor was riding on this, a pre-holiday attempt seemed wise). We injected the turkey with a healthy amount of garlic and herb-infused liquefied butter and, after resolving a propane tank issue (a frosty regulator, which we deduced was caused by the square-headed dope at the gas station overfilling the tank), we fired it up on the back porch and dropped the turkey in.



We waited. And waited. Our digital meat thermometer crept slowly up toward that magic number (165 degrees). We decided to take it out a bit early, since it would continue to cook as it rested (you can typically go up about 10 more degrees during the resting process if you cover the turkey with tin foil). We brought the turkey inside, thermometer still in place, covered it in tin foil, and whipped up the side dishes (mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and rolls). We kept an eye on the thermometer, waiting to see 165 appear.

It didn’t. It never did.

What went wrong? We couldn’t figure it out. As panic blossomed like a rose in a warm room, we decided to put the turkey back in the fryer and cook it some more. We fired up the Big Easy again, dropped the turkey back in, and waited for the thermometer to creep its way up to 165.

It didn’t. It never did.

We got frustrated. Hell, we got mad. We gave up on the turkey fryer, brought the bird back inside, and started pre-heating the oven in defeat. I then suggested that maybe we should cut into it, just to see. Teresa pulled out her sharpest knife (no, not from her purse) and commenced carving. The meat inside was beautiful, apparently fully cooked. It was then that we realized that the fryer hadn’t failed us at all…. the digital thermometer had. The turkey was fully cooked and mostly moist (the outermost meat was a bit dry, undoubtedly from being in the fryer too long) and delicious. The dark meat was perfect. Absolutely amazing, especially since it spent well over an extra hour in the fryer.



The verdict? The Char-Broil Big Easy is awesome. Just make sure your meat thermometer doesn’t suck.