Thanksgiving in July (Thelma and Louise Deep Fat Fry a Turkey)

With Thanksgiving coming just around the corner, I thought I would share a summer adventure with you. THANKSGIVING IN JULY! When you live in a place where you expect the sun to shine everyday, when it rains for multiple days in a row it an make one a bit stir CRAZY. Well,  we experienced a week like this in July and when I got together with my sister Teena, we both confessed that the weather was making us think about comfort food, like major carbohydrates--mashed potatoes gravy--stuff you eat during the winter, grey days in the Midwest. Well, considering that we have shared Thanksgiving together for the past few years, we went there...YUP! we decided that we could simply satisfy the craving in a simple, not-so-soul satisfying way OR we could do it right. If you know me and Teena, when it comes to doing things together, we tend to do it RIGHT! Hence, we decided that in honor of her family visitors, we would have Thanksgiving in July!
 A few years ago, to add a challenge to our Thanksgiving experience, we decided to deep fry the turkey. It was an adventure that we giggled about and referred to as Thelma and Louise fry a turkey. If you know the reference, it appears to set us up for disaster; however, we prefer to look at Thelma and Louise as good, supportive, non-judgmental friends who stick with each other to the bitter end. Thus, we created the soon-to-be- famous
Thelma and Louise Brine Recipe

1 gallon Cool Water

1 Packet Chicken Flavor Boost*

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup Kosher Salt

¾ cup Brown Sugar

1 T Rosemary

1 tsp Thyme

2 T Dried Garlic

1 T Whole Peppercorns

2 T Rachel Ray’s 24/7 (unground)**

2 T Rubbing Sage

1 T Onion and Herb Mrs. Dash

*Chicken Flavor Boost:  Concentrated Chicken Broth

**Rachel Ray’s 24/7:  Sea Salt, Coriander Seeds, Garlic, Black Peppercorns, Red Bell Peppers, Chili, Cumin Seeds

In addition to the deep fried turkey, we decided to have the a little more of the Thanksgiving dinner, which includes my cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, three-hour gravy, and Teena's Famous and Apple pies. So, after we did this it dawned on me that we should not wait until the third Thursday in November to prepare a ridiculous amount of food, eat until we can not move, and kick off the winter weight gaining season. I contend that if we did this more than once a year, people would eat more modestly and not overindulge during the holidays. If Amazon can successfully launch Christmas in July, we can begin a new tradition of Thanksgiving in July. Holidays are generally happy times so, why not celebrate and bring joy to people more than once a year? Summer is a great way to do that.
In addition to the brine recipe, I am going to share the Three-hour Gravy recipe with you, too.
Because we are frying the turkey, we need to have real slow-roasted turkey gravy. This recipe is amazing and worth every minute of your life to prepare it.

Three-Hour Turkey Gravy

Ingredients

2 pounds turkey wings

5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, halved

4 carrots chopped

1 head of garlic

2 sprigs of sage

2 sprigs of thyme

2 sprigs of Rosemary

8 black peppercorns

6-8 cups of stock (vegetable, chicken, or turkey)

2 tablespoons of butter

¼ cup of flour

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat oven to 375°

Put the turkey wings in a small roasting pan and roast them until they are golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.

Add the onion, carrots, garlic, herbs, and peppercorns and cook for five minutes. Add the roasted turkey wings.

Put a little stock into the roasting pan, scrape up all the browned bits and add to stockpot. Cover everything in the pot with chicken or turkey stock. By 1 inch and bring to a boil skimming any phone that rises to the surface. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

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Strain out the solids and discard. Wipe out the pot and put over medium heat. Melt the butter with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and add flour. Cook this roux, stirring frequently, until it is golden brown. Slowly whisk in the strained stock being careful to work out any lumps. Cook until gravy is thickened about 15 minutes.