Posted on 11/25/2008 5:56:26 AM PST by GeorgiaDawg32
Wow! You’re quick!
Have a working CO2 or dry chemical fire extinguisher within arm's reach.
I think the CO2 is probably preferable - more likely the turkey will be salvagable if you end up having to use it.
>>>>1) DO NOT place the fryer on or near wood such as a house or deck. <<<<<<
A friend who is a 20+ year volunteer fireman told me that cooking on the backyard deck is a significant problem, and that nationally thousands of guys set their deck on fire every single Thanksgiving without fail (including, he said, his pals at the VFD).
Also the water test above is important because that’s the main cause: dropping a 20 lb. turkey into a cauldron of boiling oil which immediately overflows the brim and catches fire.
When I was growing up on a farm in Iowa, the standard rule concerning edible livestock was that any critter, that has a name, is safe from becoming Sunday dinner.
My sister and I had a pet turkey named "Tom" (how original...hey, we were kids) that we raised from a 'chick' and he was imprinted with the image of us being his mom.
He followed us around constantly like a spare shadow and always came out to meet us, getting off the school bus each afternoon. He'd come out and fan out his feathers and strut around a bit. It was his main, possibly only, talent.
In early November, word leaked out to us that he was going to be the main course for Thanksgiving dinner. The old rule had been over-ridden and Tom was about to be "axed" literally.
Come the day before Thanksgiving, we all dreaded what was about to happen and nobody would volunteer to be his executioner. Just thinking about it spread through the family to where we were all nearly in tears.
Happy ending:
We couldn't bear to kill Tom for dinner, so we ate the dog.
If there is any HTML commands in the post, it loses formatting..............
Where’s the
DO IT OUTSIDE AWAY FROM FLAMABLES
admonition?
You don’t need the crazy contraption Alton Brown came up with to fry a Turkey!
And seriously...Do not over consume when frying a bird. Moderate consumption is a-ok for the “experienced”! /sarc
Be safe and enjoy the bird freepers!
You gotta ruin all the fun!................
Skip the de-feathering part. When the explosion occurs the feathers will be burned off anyway.
And make sure you ship the bones to PETA headquarters in Norfolk Va. :-)
Do you dip it in beer batter first, or just egg and flour it?
I have an electric fryer, that keeps the oil at proper temp, had it for 3 years total success every time. Best can use it on counter top.
Seriously, if there is a way for the fryer to be downstream from the house everyone will be a lot happier if the worst occurs. (The worst is your friend at the other end of the broomstick getting the shakes and knocking over the fryer with the gallons of hot oil now running down the driveway and into the garage. No, on second thought, the worst is you forgetting to turn off the flame before the foregoing occurs).
OMG!!!!
Seriously, my FRiend. I often say I spew coffee when somthing is funny.
This time I did.
LOL!
Just a couple of thoughts. I do a dry rub a day or two before frying. Place the turkey in a kitchen sized garbage bag, rub him down with spicy mustard, then apply the dry rub liberally with your hands. (Tony Chachare’s, mostly, but a few other goodies). This creates a nice crusty outside on the bird after frying.
***Very important - A few years ago, I decided to do a couple of turkeys, and while indulging in pretty healthy doses of Wild Turkey (the drink), I forgot to pull the ‘giblet bag’ out of the turkey. You know, the plastic bag filled with the neck and other goodies. Well, I fried the turkey with this stuff inside of the carcass, and ended up ruining not only the turkey, but the oil.
400 degrees is too hot . . . 350 should be about the max.
Also, if this is your first turkey, DONT do it on the driveway or sidewalk, unless you cover it with towels or blankets. Otherwise, you will wind up with a 2 month slick spot. Be very cautious when dropping the bird into the oil. When the inside of the bird fills up with oil, sometimes a vacuum creates and ‘spits’ oil out of the top of the bird. Make sure to open up the neck of the bird an inch or two.
by PRE-heating to 400, then turning off the flame, when the turkey is dropped the temp will fall to about 250-275. That’s when you relight and bring the temp up to 350..
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