Posted on 11/23/2021 12:09:33 PM PST by mylife
Deep-frying a turkey is a great way to get a delicious, moist meal for Thanksgiving. But this method of cooking can be a very dangerous undertaking.
Every fall, millions of dollars of damage, trips to the ER and even deaths result from attempts to deep-fry turkeys. The vast majority of these accidents happen because people put frozen turkeys into boiling oil. If you are considering deep-frying this year, do not forget to thaw and dry your turkey before placing it in the pot. Failure to do so may lead to an explosive disaster.
What is so dangerous about putting even a partially frozen turkey in a deep-fryer?
I am a chemist who studies plant, fungal and animal compounds and have a love of food chemistry. The reason frozen turkeys explode, at its core, has to do with differences in density. There is a difference in density between oil and water and differences in the density of water between its solid, liquid and gas states. When these density differences interact in just the right way, you get an explosion.
Understanding density
Density is how much an object weighs given a specific volume. For example, imagine you held an ice cube in one hand and a marshmallow in the other. While they are roughly the same size, the ice cube is heavier: It is more dense.
The first important density difference when it comes to frying is that water is more dense than oil. This has to do with how tightly the molecules of each substance pack together and how heavy the atoms are that make up each liquid.
Water molecules are small and pack tightly together. Oil molecules are much larger and don't pack together as well by comparison.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
It’s because zillons of frozen solid water molecules instantantaneously go to the gaseous state (water vapor) upon immersion in the heated oil. This results in explosive expansion which taken together can be very dramatic and spray oil all over the place. I always wear long sleeves, face and head protection, goggles and leather gauntlets. Most important though is to have the bird thawed and dried out.
You got to love it. Some kids are frightened, some kids
are open mouthed, some kids are smiling, those are the
ones to watch out for!
I bought an oil-less turkey fryer a few years back, and it actually does a really nice job — without danger to life and limb!
LOL amazing how many leave that in there!!
Hell, why unwrap the darn thing?
It aint rocket science...
My sister did that the first time she cooked one
on her own. I guess she never paid attention when
mom did it.
what a tard!!
“I always thought it was because the stuffing was still in the turkey.”
I don’t understand the explanation.
The explanation doesn’t directly discuss the only difference: in one case the water is frozen, in the other it’s not.
Does it actually explode or is it only the oil overflowing the pot, perhaps due steam creation but why the difference?
:)
Yeah, was going to say, cause peeps dont know who to deep-fry them.......
That darned dangerous dihydrogen monoxide! Deadly in all physical states!
Well one thing I can tell is that they don’t have NEARLY enough food there. And what fun is Thanksgiving without more relatives?
Like putting drops of water on the griddle to see if it is not enough.
The sudden release of steam (water VAPOR) expels a flammable aerosol of cooking oil from the fryer which contacts the flame and the aerosol burns REALLY rapidly, ie “e plodes.” It’s no secret.
ya, but the turkey thaws so much faster.....
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