Fry mamaElise Wiggins, chef at Denver’s popular Panzano restaurant (, 303-296-3525) , is emphatic about her turkey-cooking method: deep frying. “I will only cook and eat a fried turkey,” she says. “It’s the best-tasting turkey. Every part of the bird is moist, including the breast.”
Wiggins also cites the speed (most turkeys can be deep-fried in less than an hour) and the healthiness of frying. “If you measure the amount of oil that you have before frying, and then measure the amount after you cooked the turkey, you will find that there is very little oil missing.”
The reason it works, says Wiggins, is that the oil seals in all the turkey’s natural juices. “The turkey is really steaming itself when it’s surrounded by oil, but the skin gets the crispy benefits.”
(Turkey frying is not for the timid, or the tipsy. Visit and click on “Turkey Cooking Tips” for instructions and safety tips for deep frying.)
In 2009, Masterbuilt introduced an indoor countertop turkey fryer. It requires less oil than an outdoor fryer — about 2 gallons as opposed to 5. But the real improvement over outdoor turkey fryers is that the indoor model also handles fish, hush puppies, French fries and chicken — giving it a life beyond the holiday.
Tucker Shaw
