Do Any of You Deep-Fry Turkey?

Tempting, but no. Someone in the area around here set their garage and car on fire today. My husband and I were talking about that today, and it's one appliance we won't buy.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ZGWAGKUyo

Yup, we've deep-fried for the last 5-6 years. If you do it, do it on cement and do it outdoors. We do it on the back patio or the driveway, depending where the wind is coming from.

Many people have set their decks, garage, and even their house on fire. Lower the bird in real slow to avoid massive spattering and spillage. Me and the boys usually have a beer or two standing outside freezing while the bird cooks. Don't leave it unattended.

Usually takes about 40-45 minutes, but it depends on the size of the bird. That's for a bird about 13 pounds as I recall. Get it a nice dark golden brown. We usually inject it with garlic butter.

We're not doing it this year though. My wife decided $10+ a gallon for peanut oil was too much. It takes about 3 gallons or a little better. Makes a good bird though.

Fried. When I think of fried meat, of course - I think of schnitzel. Never had turkey schnitzel, but it sounds like a really good idea. Coconut oil and a couple wedges of lemon. I could do that one.

If I try it, it'll be with this:

Apparently a lot of people that deep fry the turkeys forget NINE things!

1. Turkeys take up SPACE!!!!!!!
2. That space DISPLACES OIL!
3. Displacing the oil causes it to RISE!
4. Things like dissolved gas displace oil when it is released(The oil BOILS)!
5. Displacing oil too much can cause it to SPILL!
6. Spilled oil can cause burns and start fires.
7. WATER can exacerbate the problem.
8. You shouldn't use a frozen turkey.
9. My FAVORITE! An OBVIOUS truth that VERY few seem to understand, and I have tried to explain for over FOUR decades!!!!!!!! Turning up the heat does NOT necessarily mean it will cook faster. Try to triple the heat on a burger and SURE the outside may seem to cook quicker, but the inside may be RAW!

So if you DO deep fry a turkey, make sure it is not frozen, is relatively dry, and that you use oil that will END UP just a bit over covering the turkey. That level should be quite a bit below the top of the cooker. Make sure the cooker is stable and away from things that could catch fire, and lower the turkey at a distance with appropriate protection, into oil when it is at the proper temperature. ALSO, realize that turning up the heat may cause a disaster, or cause the turkey to cook improperly and yield a bad result.

BTW WATCH IT!

Steve

You don't need a machine to deep fry... a sauce pan or wok is just fine, you just have to have a sense for temperature. You can do it with regular vegetable oil (eg canola).

Steve ..........a LOT of that is just plain beside the point if you use coconut oil. It doesn't burn (smoke). If you're using an actual deep frier, you put pieces in one at a time just so you don't spill the oil. I could go on -- but my point is - you're points weren't forgotten..........just overlooked as common sense stuff that doesn't need to be delineated. I'm thinking anyone that goes near a hot stove with oil knows that they could start a fire if they aren't careful. If they don't - they should not be allowed in the kitchen. Serious.

I make turkey rolls with leftovers - shred cooked turkey - make you favorite bread, roll it out flat - heavily sprinkle it with the shredded turkey - roll the dough like you would for cinnamon rolls slice it however thick ya want - put it in on the middle rung of the oven with a pan of boiling water on the lower burner. Let rise for around an hour and turn the oven on to 350 - around half an hour or so ................and then you top them with turkey gravy when ya eat em. That's good eating.

Jeezes Dennis - slap a smilie on that thing if you're just kidding with us. That looks completely horrifying. I think I'll stick with the idea of schnitzel for fried. Serious.

You should try it sometime, Sal, it's way better than regular oven-roasted turkey. The one in the pic looks a tad overcooked, but not too much. That's not a pic from my house, it's just one I found that looks like our fryer so those who weren't familiar with it would have an idea of what we're talking about. I haven't taken any pictures of us cooking a turkey.

VERY popular here in North Carolina and much of the South. The Walmarts started pushing them into aisle stacks along with peanut and another kind of oil a few weeks ago.

William Shatner has a cautionary tale, provided alongside State Farm Insurance and some INCREDIBLE CGI flames ("Captain's Log: I...burned my turkey and myself...")



and a little more advice courtesy of State Farm. Being from Vancouver, Thunderbird, you may find the full beards disturbing, but that's how the locals roll down here


and Allstate's take on it, which makes me laugh every time I hear it

An easy way to determine how much oil you will need is to place the frozen turkey in your deep fryer then fill the fryer with water. Remove the turkey then measure the amount of water
you used. I always add an extra quart of oil because when frozen most turkeys are wrapped in plastic and the cavity does not get filled with water.

This really shows the dangers: