The only problem I have with smoked and fried turkeys is...no pan drippings to make real gravy with. I do love smoked and fried turkeys, but I always have an oven roasted one as well. Be real careful frying those things. They have to be thawed and dried with paper towels inside and out. I've seen one of my neighbors start a huge fire in their carport...melted the siding and almost caught the whole house on fire. That was real scary. Even for me who's seen more kitchen/stove fires than most people.
Just for the heck of it...here's a link to Frank Davis' recipe. He's pretty good, in general. Frank's tried, true and safe way to fry a turkey | wwltv.com | Frank Davis
from Frank's recipe: That's gonna be one well done turkey. I take mine out at around 155deg. It will keep cooking to 160-165, which is plenty done. If you take it out at an internal of 180, it will finish at 190. Way overdone in my book.
You're right Kyle...168/169 degrees id the proper internal temp for Poultry. The internal temp keeps rising up to about 10 more degrees because the outer layers of food are hotter than the most internal portions...so the heat from the outside move inwards (equilibration). This is called the latent heat of cooking. That bird's butt is fried hotter than Gary Crowton on the hot seat at 155 degrees. :hihi:.
