Winter Oil-Less Turkey Frying
Due to the size of my oil-less fryer (char broil true infrared ) The Big Easy oil-less only holding a 16-pound turkey, I settled for a 13 pound defrosted bird.
As far as rubs go, if you use sugar-based rubs, it could overcook and burn the meat. I settled for a mixture of garlic powder, paprika, Cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, herbs de province, and Tony C’s Creole seasoning. I used a regular bowl and eyeballed amounts, but searching for Cajun seasonings/rubs will put you in a similar place as long as it isn’t sugar based.
After rubbing the turkey down with a small amount of Canola Oil, I rubbed the seasonings onto the bird and let them sit while I prepped the fryer.
The prep consisted of spraying the inside cavity with non-stick spray, hooking up the gas, and getting the burners lit. As I was trying to get the burners lit, I ran into some issues with the auto-ignitor. Thankfully it comes with a hole to manually light with a match, and we were off and running.
In addition to the turkey, I also tested a rack and cooked 4 sweet potatoes. I did nothing but pull them from the bag and threw them onto a rack above the turkey to cook. Since it was in the 30s when I started cooking, I put the lid on to cook the food.
I was surprised that in only 2 hours, not only was the turkey done, but it had a crunchy exterior and juicy interior. The other thing that really surprised me was how quickly the fryer cooled down after cooking ended. With a traditional oil fryer, it would take time to cool and properly store. Within 15 min, everything was cooled and ready to be cleaned and seasoned. I was very pleased with how easy it was to cook and look forward to using it for other items and possible tailgating opportunities.
