Daphne's Favorite Turkey (No, it's Not Me)

We had our first Thanksgiving in St. Louis last week. Daphne's dad lives on the outskirts of St. Charles, and his house is situated along the banks of the mighty Mississippi. Daphne cringes when I say, "the mighty Mississippi", so I typed that twice for her. The snowy roads and a quick visit with Great Grandma Ruth made a six-hour drive a nine-hour trip, but we made it in one piece.

On Thanksgiving morning we jumped in Andy’s (my father-in-law) vehicle and drove about a block to a neighbor’s machine shop. He has every tool a guy could possibly want, and that includes a turkey fryer. Frying a turkey for Thanksgiving isn’t anything new, but I hadn’t watched one prepared like that. 

Check it out, he lowers the bird in with a chain hoist. Genius.

Andy’s neighbor has got it down to a science, and there wasn’t much for us to do except watch the TVs mounted on the walls, listen to the oil sizzle, and covet the racks of equipment. He uses Bob and Tom’s Original Fried Turkey recipe, but thinks 4 minutes per pound is too long. He set his timer for 3 1/2 minutes per pound, and our first turkey was done in 47 minutes. That is fast.

Once you get it home and in the kitchen, no one would ever know you made this in the garage. 

Honestly, Daph isn't a fan of whole bird turkey, but she loved this, and this is the first year she has actually been excited about Thanksgiving leftovers. We trucked a large, take-home box back to our place.

While we were busy watching our birds fry, Char was "working" on the computer with the hat she stole from her mom.

After dinner Char hung out with her grandparents.

I've got this thing for wearing offbeat, thrift store t-shirts on holidays. Here's this year's selection.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

recipe link