Engineers should be great cooks! Why? Because we are the masters of processes and cooking is just a process. So jump in, roll up your sleeves and volunteer for turkey duty this year. As the newly appointed Turkey engineer, your first hurdle is picking whether you are going to bake, fry or smoke your way to Thanksgiving bliss. Here at AutomationDirect, our crew of highly-skilled turkey engineers are in the final stages of their preparation for our annual Thanksgiving celebration. Our crew is responsible for the preparation of around 40 birds, including both fried and smoked, to feed over 200 employees. That’s a whole lotta coma-inducing goodness!
For some, getting just one turkey right can be troubling but imagine making 40 turkeys! Not a problem for our crew. To be sure the turkeys are ready for the lunch, the cooking process usually begins around 4:30am and utilizes numerous fryers and charcoal smokers. Last year 10 fryers and 4 smokers were required. The images below show the setup from years past. Now if you think the smell of fried turkey permeating your office could be a distraction, well, you just wait until the homemade donuts are done – that’s right, I said “homemade” and “donuts”![hozbreak]
Turkey Tips From Our Experts…
As you can see, our crew here is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to cooking turkeys. That’s why I decided to reach out to Matt Roper, one of our turkey pros, and ask if he had any advice for someone (like myself) who has very little turkey experience:
So Matt, what is your favorite method for cooking turkeys?
Both are easy, it just depends on the time allotted. Frying is much quicker than smoking. If I had to choose a favorite, I’d say fried.
What goes into prepping the turkeys before you cook them?
After the birds are thawed, we mix up the rubs, wash the birds and let the birds dry. Then we place the clean bird in a turkey pan so that we can apply the rub or injection. After we have applied our rub or injection, we put the bird in an oven turkey bag and in the refrigerator or cooler with ice so it can marinate through the night. The next day, we remove the turkey from the oven bag and we’re ready to cook.
When it comes to frying, do you have any advice?
Never put a frozen turkey in the oil. You need to allow the turkey to thaw for at least 24 hours in the fridge before frying and always make sure the turkey is completely defrosted all the way through to the inside. Depending on the size of the bird, some turkeys may take longer than 24 hours to thaw completely.
You’ll also want to be sure the giblets are removed and that there is an opening, a clear shot from head to rump, so the oil can drain.
Slowly insert the bird into the oil. You can figure out the amount of oil needed by placing the turkey, still wrapped in packaging from the store, in the pot and cover with water. Remove the bird and make a mark on the pot at the water level. Be sure to empty and dry the pot before you fill the pot with oil up to the mark.
When frying, cook at 350 degrees submerged in peanut oil. Cooking time is approximately 3 ½ minutes per pound of turkey.
How about advice for turkey smokers?
Use a turkey rack and a basting pan to collect the juices and always keep the turkey moist by basting it often. We’ve used wine, orange juice, apple juice and butter for basting in the past.
When smoking we keep our Big Green Egg® at 350 degrees. Cook time could take 4-6 hours depending on the size of the bird. We check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer in the breast of the turkey. And. remember, a minimum of 165 degrees is required for a turkey to be ready to eat.
I’ve heard you should let the turkey sit for a while after cooking. Is that a good idea?
We let ours sit for an hour or so to cool. If not, you won’t have fun trying to carve it. And you have to be able to taste test it.
What type of wood do you use for smoking?
Here we smoke them using Big Green Egg lump charcoal. It gives it a good smoky flavor. You can use hickory or apple wood chips for a more robust smoke flavor but you can add too much smoke flavor if you’re not careful.
Do you have a turkey recipe we can share? …and don’t forget the donuts?
Sure, we used both injections and rubs. We have a spicy and a more traditional rub we have used a few times. We’ll share a couple of recipes from our turkey pros. Donuts… yeah, those are really good and easy to prepare. We made about 400 to 500 donuts last year. [hozbreak]
Turkey Recipes
Spicy Cajun Rub
Creator – George Hermann (AutomationDirect turkey pro)
4 Tablespoons Cajun Seasoning
3 Tablespoons Lemon Pepper
3 Tablespoons Meat Tenderizer
3 Tablespoons Garlic Salt
1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
Mix ingredients together and rub turkey inside and out using all of the mixture. Leave in refrigerator overnight, 24 hours if possible.
Traditional Rub
Creator – Brian Sugrue (seasoning specialist)
¾ cup Paprika
¼ cup Black Pepper
¼ cup Kosher Salt
¼ cup Sugar
2 tbsp. Chili Powder
2 tbsp. Garlic Powder
2 tbsp. Onion Powder
2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
Mix ingredients together and grind in coffee grinder. Rub turkey inside and out using all of the mixture. Leave in refrigerator overnight, 24 hours if possible.
Donut Recipe
[hozbreak]Buy some regular can biscuits (we usually use Pillsbury® ), sugar, cinnamon, and powdered sugar. Mix some cinnamon and sugar together to sprinkle on the donuts when they are done or you could sprinkle powder sugar over the donuts using a flour sifter or do both!
After you have taken the turkey out of the fryer, keep your cooking oil around 300 to 325 degrees. Take your biscuits and stretch the dough and poke/tear a hole in the middle until it looks like a donut. You can usually do around 5 or 6 biscuits at a time; you may want to start out with 3 or 4 until you get some practice.
CAREFULLY place biscuits into the oil, if your drop them from too high the hot oil can splash on you and burn you. They will float to the top and it doesn’t take long for you to see the donut turning a golden brown. Turn the donut over and cook the other side for the same amount of time.
Then pull them out, cover with your desired sugar choice and enjoy. We use an oversized slotted spoon to flip and remove the donuts from the fryer. [hozbreak]
Don’t forget that automation can also help you with your turkey preparation. I mentioned in a previous blog about the Turkenator, which is an automated fried turkey system. Recently, we also received a Tweet (below) from one of our customers in Canada showing his new and improved homemade smoker. Dan Van Gilst used some of our products (DL06, C-more, enclosure, temperature probes, etc.) to enhance his smoking capabilities. Using a PLC, Dan is able to accurately monitor both the smoker temperature and the internal temperature of the meat.
Great work, Dan!