Justin Wilson

Jim_S

Resident Curmudgeon
Gold Site Supporter
One of my favorites. I didn't realize that you could fry a turkey until I saw Justin do it.

Web site
 

Doc

Administrator
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I always like Justin, but never got around to trying his recipes. I know with this site so handy, that is about to change. :D
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Jim, have you ever tried a deep-fried turkey? It is absolutely incredible!

A 12 pound turkey takes just over a half hour to cook, the meat is tender and juicy, and the skin??????? To DIE for!

I inject my turkeys with Cajun Creole Butter (store bought, but I do have a recipe from a friend that approximates it). I don't use a paprika rub anymore, because it makes the skin too black, just salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

The only problem with this whole idea is that it's a pain to do for just one turkey - better to cook multiple birds. If you want to cook them and give them away, that's nice, but I'd rather my friends buy their turkeys and chip in a little for the cooking oil (okay, I'm cheap). So far, only one friend is willing to do that, so I'll cook one for him next time I fire up the oil.

Lee
 

chowhound

New member
My next door neighbor and friend has a turkey fryer.
I think one of these days I'll borrow it and fry one up. Run it in to my father's house for dinner.
You guys will know whne that happens cuz I'll be asking for help.

Love JW, too. You can see a bunch of his vids on youtube.
 

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
We had a deep fried turkey one year, it was pretty darn good. Our neighbor only does them that way now.

This is gonna sound bad, but who is Justin Wilson?
 

chowhound

New member
The Cajun Cook. He used to have a cooking show before there were cooking channels. He had a very unique way of phrasing things. Do a search on youtube for him. It has a lot of his stories there.
 
And before he had a cooking show, he was a Cajun comic. I had a bunch of his albums back in the '60s, and still fondly remember a number of his stories, told in his wondermous dialect. Saw him live once, at the 1966 Texas State Prison Rodeo in Huntsville, Texas. He was so wide that he hung off his stool on both sides. By the time he did the cooking shows for Mississippi PBS, he had lost probably 200 pounds. The still rerun occasionally on the local PBS channel.
 

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
Sounds like I missed out on something good there... but at the same time I think I vaguely remember a Cajun cook on PBS. DW spends a fair amount of time on PBS and has since a teenager, so I will ask her.
 

Calicolady

New member
Mav, I GAUR UN TEE you sho ded. But I think if you type his name into Youtube, you can see a sample.
He was a pistol!
 

Maverick2272

Stewed Monkey
Super Site Supporter
It's that GAUR UN TEE that keeps rattling around in my brain!!:pat:

I will hop over to YouTube next chance I get.
 

PanchoHambre

New member
I did not know this guy... the site looks interesting I will have to browse it.. Cajun is not a cooking style I know at all
 

Gossie

New member
OMG ... I miss his shows ... Used to love it when he said put in a little bit of hot sauce and he'd still be shaking it. LOL
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I used to watch him every Saturday morning on PBS. He was funny! I guarrontee it!
 

joec

New member
Gold Site Supporter
I have a turkey fryer myself though I have fried a turkey I use it for mostly for mudbug boils. Mine has a 80 qt pot with liner.
 

sadie

New member
I just loved watching Justin Wilson. He always said "the right wine for cooking the food is the wine you like to drink the best" and of course he would add some to the recipe...a little for himself...add a little to the recipe... a little for himself... I have 3 of his cookbooks and have tried many of the recipes, several of them are favorites.
I was so sorry when he passed away.
He was quite a character "I garrontee!"
 
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Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Yeah, he most certainly was!!

I loved hearing him say "Oniones" and "I garrontee it!"

I wonder if I can get his show on DVD.
 

Luckytrim

Grill Master
Gold Site Supporter
When I was at the NASCAR event at Pocono Raceway, there was a booth selling deep-fried turkey legs; that's the closest I've come to it.

Somebody a few streets over burned his garage down a few years back......
seems he/she had the fryer against the garage, surrounded by dead leaves........and the fryer was over filled with oil. You can guess the rest.

I can credit JW with getting me away from the James Beard / Julia Child rut - rut.
 

LADawg

New member
How could anyone not like ole Justin? I always like the kind of wine he used when cooking......."Whatever is on sale" :yum:
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
Back in the 60's I could get WWL, late night clear channel, and listen to Justin Wilson tell his duck and squirrel huntng stories. He was a wonderful story teller, something we don't hear much anymore.

One of my favorite recipes from him was his dirty rice.
 

Shermie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
he was the first that i saw deep fry a turkey as well.
someday, i hope to get to try the deep fried bird.

i loved his show, too.



a little bit of the ol' bird himself:
http://www.justinwilson.com/audio/cemetery.mp3

I deep fried one myself, but the question came up, what do I do with all the leftover peanut oil?!! Took a long time to use it all up, since I only did it once. Now I have this;

It's a lot smaller so that I only which means smaller things are deep fried in it!!
Presto Big Kitchen Kettle..jpg
 
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