Zach Crockett, Raiders fullback, and chef

	Zach Crockett, Raiders fullback, and chef Michael Sugrue/SI
	Zack Crockett's Thanksgiving Recipes Deep Fried Turkey Ingredients: 10-20 pound turkey; marinade of choice - Crockett uses a teriyaki marinade for half of his turkey and a Cajun garlic marinade for the other half. He makes the latter marinade by melting down two sticks of butter and mixing in pressed garlic cloves and cayenne pepper; dry rub of choice - Crockett uses a homemade Cajun rub; peanut oil Cooking items: Injector; thermostat; turkey bag; deep fryer; turkey stand; large pan lined with paper towels; platter Preparation: Inject turkey all over, inside and out, with marinade. Thoroughly massage turkey all over the outside with dry rub. Insert in a turkey bag and store in fridge for two days. Important safety tip: Place turkey on turkey stand and lower into pot. Add water to the pot to measure how much oil you will need to use without it overflowing. Overflowing hot oil could lead to burns. Cooking: Fill fryer pot roughly half full with oil. Light the fryer. Use the thermostat to check the temperature until it gets to 475 degrees. Place turkey on stand and lower into pot. Temperature will drop to around 450 degrees. Add more oil until turkey is completely covered. For every pound the turkey weighs, cook in the fryer for 2 1/2 minutes. Remove and place in large pan lined with paper towels. Let sit for 20 minutes. Remove stand from turkey. Place turkey on lettuce leaves on platter for presentation. Carve and serve. Turkey Dressing Ingredients: Two boxes of Stove Top stuffing; one package of croutons; cornbread (1 1/2 cups of self-rising cornmeal, 1 1/2 cups of water); one scallion; one celery; one onion; one bell pepper; one can of chicken broth; 3 turkey necks; six eggs; one stick of butter; accent; salt; pepper. How to make it: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix cornmeal and water together until soupy and place in buttered cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Season turkey necks with accent, salt and pepper. Place them in pot, cover with two cups of water and bring to a boil. Cook for 30 minutes until water has boiled down. Scrape meat off turkey necks and put in separate bowl. Save drippings to pour into dressing. Crumble the cornbread and place in a large bowl with croutons and Stove Top mix. Hard boil the eggs, dice them and add to bowl. Chop the pepper, onion, celery and scallions and sauted in a pot with a 1/2 stick of butter for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the can of broth to the vegatbles and boil. Mix the drippings, broth and vegetables into the large bowl with the dry products. Stuff inside turkey or duck or bake separately in loaf pan for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Test with a knife to check if it's finished. Serve.

As told to Ben Reiter

On his Thanksgiving specialty, deep-fried turkey

Once you go deep-fried, you never go back. And if you inject something into the meat, it's much juicier and you have so much flavor. I inject a Cajun garlic butter on one side and on the other side teriyaki.

On cooking

I learned from my grandmother Elmarie Hall when I was growing up in Pompano Beach [Fla.]. It wasn't a punishment, but it kind of seemed like it when I was a little kid. The first thing my grandmother taught me was how to season food, then how to work the stove. Eventually, cooking became a competition between me and my mom and everyone in my household. It was a great skill to have when I was going off to college. Also, when you get guys together to eat, it brings camaraderie to your team.

On whom he's expecting for Thanksgiving

We've got a new team, a lot of changing of the guard this year, but the new guys caught on fast -- they know who cooks. A lot of my teammates are coming; my family comes. We average 20 people. Sapp comes over, Randy Moss, LaMont Jordan, Nnamdi Asomugha. Coaches.

On the Thanksgiving scam his teammates pulled on him when he broke in as a Colt in 1995

They gave the rookies vouchers for turkeys at the supermarket and said, Go pick up your turkey. One of my friends on the team gave me his, so I had two. We used the vouchers and came home with two huge, heavy bags, sealed up. We put them in my family's freezer, and when the time came they opened them up to baste the turkeys -- and there were two big blocks of ice! My teammates had us on camera picking up the "turkeys" at the supermarket, and they laughed so hard. It was funny, but I felt bad because my family got caught in it.

On the weekly fish fry he hosts for his teammates

We had to move it from Thursday to Friday because we weigh in on Thursday, and guys were a little scared. People eat a lot, yes they do. I've been doing it since college. We start around 4:30 or five, end around nine o'clock. We usually have about 20 people, and we'll watch TV. I'll make tilapia, and we've got guys from Mississippi who like catfish and cheese grits.

On his upcoming cookbook, Cooking with Crockett

The idea came a year and a half ago. I did it for my oldest daughter, Zachoria, who's 16, so that when she goes out on her own, she can cook. I am also trying to raise money for my foundation for inner-city kids, the Crockett Foundation (crockettfoundation.org). I took 16 recipes, a real mix -- pastas, Peking duck, desserts, blackened fish, salads, soul food. Some I came up with, and some are my family's traditional dishes. I'm definitely thinking about going to culinary school once I finish in the NFL.

CROCKETT, A 12-YEAR VETERAN IS AVERAGING 5.0 YARDS A CARRY.