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Happy Thanksgiving! I am getting ready to fry a turkey and the instructions say that I should put a whole onion in with the turkey and oil.

What would be the purpose of this?

Thanks!

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    To make the turkey cry.
    – Drisheen Colcannon
    Commented Nov 23, 2017 at 22:03
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    My guess would be to flavor the oil (and thus the turkey), but I'm not sure how much flavor you'll get from one onion in enough oil to fry a turkey...
    – senschen
    Commented Dec 5, 2017 at 22:50

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Having done this several times in the past - it is to make the oil flavoured. Like the comments have said that one onion doesn't seem to be enough, and frankly it isn't. I typically use 2, and remove the skins as well as score them allowing the juices to weep out a bit. Additionally, I know some people who toss a de-seeded bell pepper or two in as well, and it turns out well.

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the onion goes on the bottom so the meat doesn't touch the bottom of the pot and scorch.we used to do this before there were turkey fryers and baskets /stands.(30 years ago). weused coat hangers wrapped around the legs to lower and raise the bird.maybe there is some flavore enhancement with the onion.

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    Wouldn't an onion be a particularly ineffective object to use to keep the turkey from contacting the bottom? Since it's round, it would tend to roll out of the way.
    – Sneftel
    Commented Dec 11, 2019 at 6:45
  • Can you provide some more info about how this is working? Doesn't the presence of a fry basket in the recipe prevent the scorching in the first place?
    – talon8
    Commented Dec 16, 2019 at 22:15

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