Buffalo Fried Turkey | The Food Lab

Does anyone not like Buffalo wings? Crispy, salty, tangy, hot and moist, they are perhaps the ultimate snack food. They're the only thing that my wife simply can't get enough of (besides my glowing and affable personality, that is). So what could be better than a pile of Buffalo wings? How about an entire deep-fried Buffalo turkey?

Yes, we're going there.

Video: How to Make Buffalo Fried Turkey

As I've recently discovered, despite some initial misgivings and snafus, deep fried turkey can actually be pretty awesome. At its best it's hot, moist, and ultra-crisp—exactly the characteristics you want in a Buffalo-style anything. The problem with it, of course, is that deep frying leaves you with nothing leftover to make a gravy with. You're forced to consume your bird naked*.

Enter my buddy Frank. He makes a mean hot sauce, and mixed with a bit (or more) of butter, becomes lip-smackingly delicious.

Accompaniments are also a no-brainer. Celery is a natural to cut through that rich butteriness. A whole snap-off-a-stalk-and-eat-it head will do nicely.

Blue cheese dressing is also a requisite. You can go the storebought route, or make your own. It's easy enough to do with just a few ingredients.

So here are your options this thanksgiving:

1. A Standard Roasted Turkey: delicious, pretty, ties up the oven, moderate skin, many hours to prepare, requires making separate gravy, not all that cool.
2. Buffalo Fried Turkey: delicious, beautiful, frees the oven, lets you sit outside and drink beer under the foliage, 35 minute to cook, Buffalo sauce is easy as all hell to make, really really fu*king cool!

You do the math.

Check out the video and the recipe up top.

*No, that's not what I meant, you dirty dirty mind.