Turkey Day tips for a more enjoyable holiday

Thanksgiving is not Thanksgiving without the traditional turkey with all the trimmings.

Unfortunately some turkeys can be quite involved and here in the south some like to deep-fry them.

Traditional cooks like Betty Hill, owner of the Santa Rosa Restaurant, suggests you to stuff the turkey with homemade cornbread stuffing as her traditional tip.

Others on the Santa Rosa Press Gazette Facebook page had a few suggestions of their own.

"I pay someone who is way better at cooking than myself to do it," said Daphne Mitchell.

But many prefer the fried method of turkey cooking as Dealisa Penton suggested using peanut oil and Cayenne pepper.

Stacie Engstrom likes her turkey deep fried and suggested going to Mamma's Place for a deep-fried Cajun turkey.

Some are worried about the health factor of deep-frying a turkey, but Shane Wolters offered his suggestion on our Facebook page to get the fried flavor without all the oil.

"Stuff a pack of Conecuh sausage and four sticks of butter in it and tie the turkey up with some butchers string," Wolters suggested. "Put it in a rotisserie over low heat and coat the outside of your bird with Creole seasoning.

"Cook until the inside temperature is done."

Wolters also offered the added tips of injecting the bird with a seasoning, but with his suggestion from last year he stated it took about 90 minutes to cook his 16-pound bird.

While Wolters method was quick, Mark Cotton can take a 10-pound bird and cook it super slow.

"Take a 10 pound turkey thoroughly thawed, season and stuff before placing inside an oven bag," Cotton said. "Preheat your oven to 450 and leave at 450 to cook your turkey for one hour.

"After one hour turn off the oven, but do not open the oven until the next morning."

Butterball, offered a few tips themselves to enjoy a picture perfect turkey:

Thaw your turkey in the refrigerator or cold water

Remove the neck and giblets from the body cavity.

Do not overstuff your bird

Check the birds temperature in the lower part next to the thigh

Check the bird 30 minutes ahead for doneness

Turkey should be 170 degrees at the thickest part

If you stuff the bird the center stuffing should be 165

Let turkey stand 15-20 minutes before carving

While these are just a few advisories, deep frying a turkey bring a whole new set of rules to light.

Santa Rosa County Emergency Management doesn't want your holiday spoiled if you choose to deep fry your own bird this holiday.

To make it safer they passed along some safety guidelines from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

If you choose to fry a turkey:

For safest operation, CPSC also recommends these guidelines for turkey fryer preparation:

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Turkey Day tips for a more enjoyable holiday