How much oil to deep-fry a cornish hen?
- Thread starter georgevan
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pictonguy
Sous Chef
Probably 2 or 3 liters would do it. Make sure the oil doesn't come up past half way while the hen is in the oil. The size of the pot will dictate the amount of oil, basically a pot that's a little bigger then the hen diameter wise will dictate the least amount of oil, hopefully that makes sense to you. 
Why do you want to deep fry?
Why do you want to deep fry?
georgevan, could you post a link to the recipe please? Cornish hens, IMHO, don't get deep fried! LOL - could be wrong but would love to see the recipe!
The way to figure out how much oil to deep fry a turkey is to place the turkey in a deep pan, then add enough water to cover with an extra inch or 2. Remove turkey. Use a measuring cup to remove the water.
Make sure your hens are totally defrosted and patted dry as much as possible.
Make sure your hens are totally defrosted and patted dry as much as possible.
pictonguy
Sous Chef
I don't doubt that is a good way to measure but alternatively if you just cover the bird in the oil to be used by 2" then remove and then heat the oil I don't see the problem, the bird is not going to absorb any oil at all or cause a problem when put back in the oil and probably not cause the oil to bubble up from any residual water either on the bird or in the cavity, which can, if neglected cause a safety concern.
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But, measuring the oil needed doesn't really tell the person how much oil they need to have on hand to do this. Measuring the bird in water and then keeping it uncovered to dry out in the fridge while going to the store to buy that oil seems reasonable to me.
pictonguy
Sous Chef
Yep, an excellent reason to use water.
Yes. Turkeys are a big thing to fry in U.S. for Thanksgiving and you have to buy the oil in advance since the vast majority of groceries are closed on Thanksgiving Day.
Besides the fact that any seasoning would wash off as the cold oil drained off the bird.
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Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
I've deep fried turkeys several times. The standard method for determining the amount of oil needed is to put the whole turkey into the fryer (still in the plastic bag or not) then add enough water to cover the turkey. Mark the water level on the inside of the pot, remove the bird, measure the amount of water in the pot. Easy peasy. Clearly, you can do this same procedure with many different liquids but why? Water is the cheapest and least messy. Once you've determined how much oil you'll need you can refrigerate the bird, go to the store and buy the needed oil.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
Sounds like you might be used to cooking in restaurant where there are large amounts of ingredients available
There wasn't a recipe. If they can deep fry chicken why can't cornish hen be deep fried?
pictonguy
Sous Chef
Haha, that's exactly it. The water measurement make sense for home cooks for sure.Sounds like you might be used to cooking in restaurant where there are large amounts of ingredients available
Personally we don't sell any domestic poultry in the restaurant like chicken or turkey but do bring in carcasses for stock. We do use pheasant, quail, duck and grouse. Don't remember actually deep frying any whole birds, just not something I would do, not that there's anything wrong doing that.
Understood georgevan. No reason why not what-so-ever! Just seems strange to me. Even though 'just a chicken' people often pay more for them and I honestly couldn't see using a technique out of the ordinary for them. Just me! just me!
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
This be Amurica, girl. We can deep fry anything from turkeys to twinkies!
Sir_Loin_of_Beef
Chef Extraordinaire
Get yourself one of these. It's about 2.25 gallons of peanut oil, which is excellent for deep frying, or any kind of frying, really.
Even if you don't do a lot of frying, you'll use it up eventually.
Even if you don't do a lot of frying, you'll use it up eventually.
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