Wednesday, December 10, 2008

blackened turkey... a thanksgiving tale

i'm pretty confident that most of you have heard of blackened chicken.

blackened chicken

you know, the southern favorite, cajun spice chicken. i have never tried it myself because i typically don't like spicy foods. but i am sure many of you have at least heard of it or even tried it yourself. am i right?

 

well, how many of you have heard of "blackened turkey"? (upon doing a google search i did discover that it does exist, but it is also a variation on the cajun blackened chicken. this is NOT what i am referring to)

 

let me tell you a little tale of OUR "blackened turkey"....

 

since mitch and i married 9 years ago, we have managed to NEVER cook a turkey, by choice. we have always had thanksgiving with family, friends or, the one pathetically sad year we had it by ourselves, we ordered a safeway turkey dinner.

 

well, not this year! i was ready to go another year without cooking a turkey, but mitch had other plans. so, i let him be in charge of the turkey for the family gathering. ever since a neighbor practically burned down his house frying a turkey several years ago, mitch has wanted to fry a turkey. i was a bit opposed to it, not only because i didn't want the house to burn down, but a turkey fryer runs about $80, not to mention the $50 to buy the 35 gallons of oil required to fry a turkey. that's one large expense for turkey when i prefer ham!

 

fortunately, i found a fryer on sale at target for $40. i spent the $48 for the oil and, of course, bought the turkey. we were all set to fry our first turkey!

 

the day donned bright and sunny and we were ready to give it a try. before starting, mitch asked me, "where is the fire extinguisher?" once locating the extinguisher, mitch slowly lowered the turkey into the boiling oil and it sizzled away.

turkey fry

notice the extinguisher and its close proximity to the fryer! it sizzled for about 28 minutes, a few minutes less than required, but mitch was a little concerned by the turkey's appearance. so, he opted to take it out early.

 

as he carried the turkey inside the first thing i heard him say was, "it's a good thing mona and wes are bringing ham! i hope it's a big one!" i didn't know why he would say this, but i also hadn't laid eyes on the turkey, yet!  he walked into the kitchen and this is what i saw:

blackened turkey

(i was forbidden to take a picture, but i couldn't NOT document this turkey! come on, you know you would have taken a picture, too! it's our first turkey, after all! in fact in his protests he said, "hey, when you mess up a dinner i don't take pictures of it and smear it across the internet for all to see!" this is true and i am very grateful, however, i still took the picture)

 

here it is from another angle:

blackened turkey2

 

as bad as this looks, i am here to tell you that this "blackened turkey" was the BEST turkey i have EVER eaten! hands down!! it was so delicious that i asked him to make it again for christmas. this says a lot coming from a girl who NEVER asks for turkey. i have ALWAYS preferred honey baked ham! turkey has always been too dry for my liking, but not anymore! i am a changed woman, thanks to my husband and his "blackened turkey"! there were other non-turkey lovers in attendance at our dinner and they, too, agreed that it was the best turkey they had ever eaten. we're going to see if we can get the christmas turkey to be a little less black! we're trying for a golden brown next time!

 

**moral of our thanksgiving tale: never judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, never judge a turkey by it's skin color!

15 comments:

Sarah said...

That is too funny! Fried Turkey is good. That's how my little brother does it, well it's not blackened but it is moist and yummy!

Sara said...

Who knew Mitch could cook? I'm glad it was yummy. And you're right - there was no way to avoid putting a picture of that on your blog. We all really needed to see it - sorry Mitch. At least we all know it tasted good anyway!

Tonya said...

I was totally thinking that you were going to slam that turkey all the way down to the ground, so I was suprised to hear you say that you loved it. That is for sure a happy ending! I have never had deep fried turkey. It will be on my list to try. I must admit that that bird does NOT look very appetizing, so I will just trust you:0)

Bridget said...

THat is so funny! I remember you telling me that you guys had never done a turkey before. Way to start it off with a bang! Great story. Good for you for getting a picture!!

Katie Smith said...

I'm glad the turkey turned out good. I was absolutely judging that turkey by it's skin color and I've learned my lesson. Sounds like it was delicious!

Becca said...

funny! We had a "blackened turkey" this Thanksgiving too. Maybe when you scorch the outside it seals all the juices inside. We didn't make the Turkey, we were at some friends. It was good

Amanda D said...

You are brave to taste it! I'm impressed! Glad you liked it. And good luck with Christmas!

Ilene said...

Great picture. Anything fried in oil has gotta be fantastic.

Melissa-Mc said...

When I scrolled down to the picture of the turkey I laughed SO hard! I've never tried fried turkey before. Maybe when Mitch is passing through Boise...

kandra said...

I've always hated turkey, but my brother-in-law made fried turkey last year for thanksgiving, and I loved it. It's the only way to have thanksgiving turkey :)

Lauren in GA said...

I am laughing so hard at this! The way you wrote about it is so funny, too...how you hubby said that if you ruin dinner he doesn't take a picture and you said, "this is true and I am very grateful, however, I still took a picture." I am so shocked the oil costs that much...but I agree with Ilene, anything fried in that much oil has got to be a winner!

jessica said...

We've been frying turkey for four years now. With all of our Thanksgiving drama this year I couldn't truly enjoy our fried turkey this year so we are frying again for Christmas...Oh and I want that cajun recipe!

Scott-n-Allison said...

That's too funny...no wonder we slice and serve the turkey on a platter, ready to go...not straight from the oven/fryer! I'll admit, deep fried turkey is pretty tastey.

tutu lady said...

You really made me laugh, (out loud). But then Mitch's coments often make me laugh. Can't wait to taste the next cremated turkey. great picture.

Mandy said...

Oh my... I can't believe by the looks of it that you even attempted to eat it. I too am not a turkey lover so this intrigues me I know want to try blackened turkey.