Smoked Fried Turkey

Chef Tom fires up the smoker… and the fryer! This is Smoked Fried Turkey! This turkey gets a savory butter injection, smoke bath on the Yoder Smokers YS640S Pellet Grill and is finished off deep fried in the Bayou Classic turkey fryer. Level up your Thanksgiving dinner!

INGREDIENTS

  • 14 lb turkey
  • Cattleman’s Grill Trail Dust All-Purpose Seasoning
  • 6-7 gallons frying oil
For the injection:
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Butcher House Brine
  • 2 tbsp Cattleman’s Grill Pit Fire Hot Sauce
  • 1 tbsp garlic, grated fine on microplane

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Before you start, Make sure you have the proper amount of oil for frying. The oil needs to cover the bird fully, but shouldn’t be less than 6” from the top of the pot when the turkey is submerged. You can do a displacement test by placing your turkey in the pot (even still inside its packaging) and cover with water. Remove the turkey. Dump the water. Mark the water line with tape. Dry out the pot. Fill the pot with oil up to the fill line, then remove the tape before heating the oil.
  2. Preheat your Yoder Smokers YS640S Pellet Grill to 150ºF, set up for smoking with the second shelf removed.
  3. Make sure your turkey is fully thawed.
  4. Combine the injection ingredients in a marinade shaker (or blender) and blend until well combined and creamy. Load the marinade into a pistol grip injector and inject all over the bird, especially the breasts. Use all but about one tablespoon of the injection.
  5. Loosen the skin from the breasts by sliding your gloved hand under the skin. Pull back the skin and season underneath with Cattleman’s Grill Trail Dust All-Purpose Seasoning.
  6. Use the remaining tablespoon of injection to rub all over the skin of the turkey. Season the turkey all over: on the skin and inside the cavity.
  7. Transfer the turkey to the main cooking grate of the smoker. Smoke for 1.5 – 2 hours.
  8. As soon as the turkey is on the smoker, begin preparing the fryer. Make sure your turkey fryer is on firm, level ground and not inside your garage! Allow at least one hour to bring the oil up to temperature.
  9. Set up a FireBoard 2 Wireless Thermometer with two temperature probes. Lower one probe into the oil and clip it to the rim of the pot with a binder clip. This will allow you to monitor the oil temperature from the app, on your phone.
  10. Warm the oil over high heat until the oil reads about 350ºF. Turn down the flame, but continue to bring the oil temperature up to 375ºF, adjusting the flame to maintain 375ºF. The Bayou Classic has a safety switch that causes the flame to turn off after 15 minutes unless you press the button. So, set a timer for 14 minutes to press the button throughout the process.
  11. When you are ready to fry the turkey, remove it from the smoker and place it on the turkey stand. Place the second temperature probe in the deepest part of the breast to monitor the internal temperature.
  12. Turn off the flame below the turkey before submerging.
  13. Using the provided hook, and wearing long leather gloves, lower the bird very slowly, inching it down into the hot oil until fully submerged. If the oil begins boiling up too vigorously, pull the bird back out of the oil and little and let the bubbling calm down before beginning to lower the bird again.
  14. When the turkey is safely submerged in the oil, relight the flame beneath the pot and turn to high heat.
  15. Once the turkey is submerged in the frying oil, keep an eye on the temperature. Plan for the temperature to drop to roughly 325ºF. Adjust the flame to maintain an oil temperature of 325ºF for the remainder of the cook.
  16. A 15 pound turkey will take about 2 minutes per pound to cook, roughly 30 minutes.
  17. Cook the turkey until the thermometer inserted into the deepest part of the breast meat reads 145ºF – 150ºF. Remove the turkey from the hot oil and let cool over a sheet pan. During this time, the internal temperature will rise to a level that is safe for consumption, but stop cooking before the white meat dries out.