Don't do This for Thanksgiving

[Jim Koepke]

Some folks will try deep frying a turkey. From what I've heard, they only try it once.

Here is a demonstration of why that may be > https://www.facebook.com/wmur9/videos/3220605188200841

jtk

[Adam Grund]

As with anything- If you take the time to learn the how to before hand, it’s really not that hard.
Too much oil in the pot, putting the turkey in too fast, and lastly- not turning off the heat source before dropping the turkey in.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'd also suggest that one thaw and drain any water/liquids from it before putting it in the correct amount of oil. I once attended a 60th birthday party for a friend where his children and their spouses fixed turkeys like that. It was excellent and they didn't have any fires.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

As with nearly anything, doing it stupidly is a poor choice. I had a fried turkey once. I didn't think it was all that great. But it is a lot like folks who smoke while pouring gasoline, or light a match to see where the gas smell is coming from, etc. There is no pill to cure stupid. Do it carefully and wisely. Frying a turnkey is not dangerous when done within some common sense guidelines. Water and hot oil are explosive, most cooks learn that their first few times at the stove. But then again, the guys are trying to cook the turkeys, and probably after a few beers and as a distraction from a game. That alone is trouble.

My ex-wife once called me to the kitchen to stir a cake batter. It was stiff as can be and didn't look right. The recipe called for 2 cups of coffee. NOT 2 cups of coffee grounds.

[Frederick Skelly]

Guy I work with told me about a time in college when his roommates tried to fry a turkey in the living room of the house they were renting, because it was raining outside. Turns out they also overfilled the oil. When they put the turkey in the oil, the hot oil overflowed and caught things on fire.

Stupid, huh?

[Bruce Wrenn]

You Can't Fix Stupid! Think about the economics of frying a ten dollar turkey in $25 worth of peanut oil. Suddenly you have a $35 turkey, plus a bunch of used oil to get rid of. You are supposed to put turkey in cooking pot, then add enough water to cover turkey. Take turkey out and dry it, measure water level in pot (without turkey,) dry pot and add oil back to original water level. Bring oil to cooking temp (usually 350-375,) turn off burner, then lower turkey into hot oil. Relight burner, and cook 6 minutes per pound of bird. I'll continue to cook my turkey in the oven, thank you.

[Jim Koepke]

It seems there is always something new to try for preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving Day.

Search this one > spatchcock turkey < It is supposed to cause a more even cooking so the breasts do not dry out before the darker meat is done.

jtk

[Tom M King]

We used to cook several like that at big Boy Scout camping trips. I have a hoe handle that still has the hook after the blade was broken off of a cheap one. That lets me stand about five feet to the side when lifting one out. You can strain the oil and use it a number of times, but without a crowd being without an oven, it's not worth the trouble.

[Edward Weber]

Some folks will try deep frying a turkey. From what I've heard, they only try it once.

Here is a demonstration of why that may be > https://www.facebook.com/wmur9/videos/3220605188200841

jtk



Next, you'll be telling me not to heat the house using my gas grill.

I'm going to go and run with scissors now

[Rob Luter]

I used to work at a company that did a Thanksgiving potluck for the entire office staff. They would deep fry 5 or 6 turkeys out in the parking lot. Delicious.

I usually do mine on a Big Green Egg.

https://live.staticflickr.com/4913/46059356951_36751b92a8_b.jpg

[Keegan Shields]

Now that’s a good lookin turkey!

[Kev Williams]

While I appreciate the public service message the Fire Department provided to show the dangers of deep frying a turkey,
I don't really appreciate the fact that video is completely, and ridiculously (my opinion) STAGED.
First, that turkey is WAY too big for that pot! If that pot was more than 1/4 full of oil it would likely be too much oil.
But check the video stills, the turkey is only what, barely 2" below the top edge of the pot and broiling oil is literally gushing out!
490206
--so how big is that pot? 6 gallons, 8 gallons-? And it was nearly filled to the top with oil...
And they drop in a turkey that'll simply push 3/4 of the oil out even if it's not hot yet--

Doesn't surprise me that this happened!
490208

OK, so maybe I'm being a bit nit-picky-? ;) I just think a more realistic approach could have been taken that would produce pretty much the same results...

FWIW, our turkey(s) always gets cooked in one (or more) of these--
490211
Roasters have never failed us, and the oven is left available for baking pies, rolls and candied yams :)

[Roger Feeley]

Alton Brown did a “Good Eats” dedicated to this. In addition to determining the correct amount of oil by testing with water, he advocated setting up a step ladder over the pot and lowering the turkey using rope and pulley.

[Kris Cook]

Easiest way to deal with this is have prime rib instead.:D

[Jim Koepke]

While I appreciate the public service message the Fire Department provided to show the dangers of deep frying a turkey,
I don't really appreciate the fact that video is completely, and ridiculously (my opinion) STAGED.

It most certainly was staged.

Many of us have good heads on our shoulders and know how to use them. On the other side of humanity are many people who "know everything" and mess up even more.

I see this video as at least a warning to families to not let the family "know it all" burn down the house or end up in the hospital this Thanksgiving.

jtk

[George Yetka]

Ive been wanting to smoke one but I never host and im not dragging my 800 lb smoker to my sisters

[Alan Lightstone]

Always wanted to have a fried turkey. We've settled on Heritage Turkeys, but they've gotten absurdly expensive. I really like Turducken, and so easy to cook, but the past 10 years I've been outvoted on that one. Last year we got a cooked heritage turkey from Whole Foods and Beef Wellington. Easy/peasy.... This year, not available by us for whatever reason.

Lots of rednecks down here frying turkeys. A few houses go up in flames every year.

Yes the video was staged, but yes houses burn down every year doing this. Of course it can be done safely, but "Hold my beer and watch this"...

[Bruce Wrenn]

490211[/ATTACH]
Roasters have never failed us, and the oven is left available for baking pies, rolls and candied yams :)How does turkey turn out in roaster? Taste the same as cooked in the oven? I know turkey breasts cooked in crock pot don't have the same flavor. Always thought I wanted a roaster, but where would I store it? After first of the year, thrift stores around here usually have several for less than one fourth of new price. Most don't look as if they have ever been used.

[Edward Weber]

I had a deep-fried one once, and it was good.
I cook mine on the grill, so I don't heat up the kitchen too much and have oven room for sides.
I also place it breast side down, so all the fat and juices from the back drains down into the breast.

[John Stankus]

It seems there is always something new to try for preparing a turkey for Thanksgiving Day.

Search this one > spatchcock turkey < It is supposed to cause a more even cooking so the breasts do not dry out before the darker meat is done.

jtk

I'm doing an even different method... I am making a Thanksgiving Lasagna!:)
John

[Jim Koepke]

I'm doing an even different method... I am making a Thanksgiving Lasagna!:)
John

I like a good Thanksgiving Ham or Prime Rib. Though SWMBO likes Prime Rib for our anniversary/New Years Day celebration.

jtk

[Derek Meyer]

We are doing Thanksgiving lasagna this year as well. I did get a free turkey from work (annual gift from the owners to all employees) so we will do that for meat for sandwiches.

[Jim Koepke]

We are doing Thanksgiving lasagna this year as well. I did get a free turkey from work (annual gift from the owners to all employees) so we will do that for meat for sandwiches.

The Fred Meyer chain of grocery stores gives their Rewards Card holders a free turkey if the spend $100 on a single shopping trip. We forgot all about it until after we were checking out. Candy went back and grabbed on, a 20 pounder.

I don't know if all of Kroger's stores do this or if it is just Fredy's.

jtk

[Jack Frederick]

It reminds me of the old lead pots we used to use for CI lead and oakum joints. Working on a refinery in Pt Arthur, TX, in ‘76 we had to weld up a big enough pot to hold the hundred lbs or so of lead we were pouring for the 18” joints. We had a cherry picker and a come along to handle the tip. We had a good crew and we were tight. Had a carpenter walk by our area with a big chew and as hee walked by the pot he spit a wad into the pot and it blew about half the pot all over. Pretty amazing to see. When I was an apprentice we were told under penalty of excommunication not to screw around with the lead pot. The nut got burned a bit but the rest of us were far enough away avoid the molten lead. Pretty much the same concept with the turkeys. I did a lot of work in the propane industry and frying turnkeys was a big deal at the trade shows. Never a problem, but those people were pros. I like my turkeys cooked on a charcoal grill.

[John K Jordan]

Some folks will try deep frying a turkey. From what I've heard, they only try it once.
…

I have a turkey fryer and used it for several years. It just takes some common sense and a few minutes to read the instructions to be safe.

Years ago I read of another hazard associated with turkey fryers and the lack of common sense: some have used them with water to boil woodturning blanks and roughed out bowls which is actually a good idea. Boiling works well to stabilize the wood and prevent cracking while drying. However a few people reportedly found out the hard way that if boiling a turned bowl with the diameter that just barely fits in the turkey fryer pot the wood can swell slightly to seal against the metal sides causing the pot to build up pressure and rupture/explode.

JKJ

[Brad Chenoweth]

We've deep-fried our turkeys for years. As John said, you just have to use common sense. However, I finally bought an oil-free fryer this year. We'll see how that turns out. The flavor of a well -prepared turkey done in the fryer is SO much better than one done in an oven.

[Ron Selzer]

We've deep-fried our turkeys for years. As John said, you just have to use common sense. However, I finally bought an oil-free fryer this year. We'll see how that turns out. The flavor of a well -prepared turkey done in the fryer is SO much better than one done in an oven.

Got that right. Have eaten some very good turkey that was deep-fried by guys who knew how to do it

[Jim Koepke]

I have a turkey fryer and used it for several years. It just takes some common sense and a few minutes to read the instructions to be safe.
…
JKJ

In some gatherings, "common sense" is a rare commodity.

jtk

[Alex Zeller]

No different than the 4th of July. Many people light fireworks off safely and yet we know there will be far too many that don't. There's always more than a few who try to deep fry a frozen turkey only to find out just how quickly ice can expand into steam.