Introduction: Sage Infused Oil for Frying (specifically Deep Frying a Turkey)

When Deep Frying a turkey (which there are plenty of great instructables here for) the icing on the cake of an amazing piece of poultry is a flavoured essence. Sage is widely agreed to be one of the best spices for such a raw material.

Step 1: Acquire the Appropriate Spices

Fresh is always best (due to the moisture content) but dried will definitely work.
Sage is your primary ingredient here but definitely not the only one.
Basically you're replacing a bit of the frying oil with the infused oil you're making here. Each year we've fried a turkey we've used ABOUT 3.5-4 gallons of Peanut oil (Canola works too, but peanut tends to yield better overall results).
This "recipe" is for just shy of a gallon of infused flavored oil to replace that much peanut oil.

-4-5 LARGE Bunches of fresh sage
-1 large bunch of fresh rosemary
-1 bunch of fresh thyme
-7-8 Bay leaves
-tablespoon of peppercorns (doesn't matter what color)
-1-2 fresh Cayenne peppers (or equivalent weight in thai peppers or 1/2 a habanero)
-tablespoon of dried Basil or 4-5 large fresh leaves
-tablespoon of dried Oregano
-1 Gallon of Canola oil (yes, Canola - it tends to absorb flavors better).

Step 2: Cook the Spices

Chop all the spices liberally and add into saucepan (including dry ingredients).
add a 1/4 cup of the canola oil and a splash or 2 of water.

On high heat saut� while mixing thoroughly until the sage leaves start to get a bit dark (this is completely subjective, really you only need to cook for about 3-4 min)

Step 3: BLEND!

add all into blender (including another few cups of the oil).
Basically fill the blender jar about 1/2-2/3 with your spices and the canola oil.
Blend until paste-like.
add more and more oil until its full-ish (on very low blending speed).

Now funnel back into your 1 Gallon Canola oil bottle (or several bottles if you couldn't buy it 1 container).

it should now look like this pic.

Step 4: Measure!

let it sit for at least a week (I made mine about 2.5 weeks before Thanksgiving) and shake it every day or so to keep the blended leaves in suspension.

the day of thanksgiving, you want to filter out the detritus spice particles.

After your measure out the EXACT amount of oil you'll need using water (see other instrucables for full instructions) in your deep frying metal bucket (BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE AMOUNT OF OIL YOU USE, YOU COULD EASILY BURN DOWN YOUR HOUSE), subtract about 1 gallon from that amount in order to fit the Sage oil.

Step 5: Filter!

Locate a large bucket/Tupperware/Pitcher at least 1 gal in capacity this is what you'll be pouring into.

I usually use a wire mesh scooper (use for stir frying, etc) but you can use a colander + coffee filter, anything wire mesh, ideally a $40+ Williams Sonoma wire mesh splatter preventer but this can be easily substituted with any number of things.

Step 6: Add to Other Oil

Once your have your EXACT amount of oil, (marked on the side of the bucket RIGHT???!) minus the 1 gallon, add your filtered Sage oil.
Top off with the rest of your Peanut oil to the exact marking.

Don't worry about the little bit water on top, itll boil off very quickly.

Cook like normal! the Turkey will be MUCH more flavorful, in addition to the Zucchini Sticks, Blooming Onion, Mozzarella Balls/Sticks, Tater Tots, Tempura Broccoli that you SHOULD be frying as long as you have several gallons of oil available!

Don't forget to deep fry a good portion of your leftovers too, then recycle the oil...