BE CAREFUL TODAY!!

I have been deep frying turkeys (about 200 of them) for 30 years. I do about a dozen a year. I am leaving in a few minutes to fry em up again at my church.  There are a few simple things you can do to avoid the disasters you read about in the newspaper and in the pics LBH posted.

Cook outside if at all possible, even if it's cold as long as there is no precipitation. I have fried turkeys at the deer camp in 0 degree weather. Outside is the safest place.

Make sure the pot is big enough! With the turkey and the oil in the pot it should be no more than 1/2 full. The kits you buy at WalMart are not big enough IMHO. If you must have fried turkey, get the right equipment.

Use TWO thermometers! leave one in the oil at all time to monitor temps and one out side the pot to double check with. The only fire I ever had (outside and safe) was due to a bad thermomoeter. I didn't know how hot the oil was getting. I will never fry again without 2. Corn oil and shortning should fry at 325 degrees, peanut oil (my reccomendation) up to 375 degrees. Peanut oil  tastes better, has a higher flash point and is therefore safer to cook with.

MOST IMPORTANT! Your pot must have a TIGHT fitting lid! If you should get your oil to the flash point and a fire starts. A fire extinguisher will not help. A tight lid stops the fire immediately. Put the lid on FIRST, turn off the burner and walk away. Do NOT remove the lid for several hours or untill the outside of the pot is cool to the touch. If you remove the lid too soon, the fire comes back with a vengence! I have proved this!

I hope this is helpful. Have a happy, SAFE Thanksgiving!

Ronnie

Great tips Ronnie!   8-)

Right on the money Ronnie!!! Very good post.

Falcon

Thanks for the tips.

We fry about 20 to 25 birds and pork roasts each year at our LSU Alumni Chapter Turkey Fry and LSU-Alabama football game view-in.

Only once my friend, Joe (Ph.D. in chemestry; heads up Afton's research department; has degrees from Rice, Notre Dame and LSU) and I burned a turkey.

Seemed the football game was close so we went inside and forgot the turkey as we watched the Fighting Tigers pull out a win.

The turkey was black so we threw it away and went to Food Lion, got another one, and fried if for the guy, who thought the entire ordeal was funny.

One more tip to add to your list:  The ground under the pot will become very, very hot.  Be sure there are no leaves or other flammables under the burner.  When cooking over grass, be ready to have the grass under the pot get burned.

We never had a fire.  It seems the Cajuns know how to do this and so far we have been very successful.

But thanks for the tips, especially the one about using two thermometers. Great idea.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Quote Frome Alpster:

MOST IMPORTANT! Your pot must have a TIGHT fitting lid! If you should get your oil to the flash point and a fire starts. A fire extinguisher will not help. A tight lid stops the fire immediately. Put the lid on FIRST, turn off the burner and walk away. Do NOT remove the lid for several hours or untill the outside of the pot is cool to the touch. If you remove the lid too soon, the fire comes back with a vengence! I have proved this!

I wished I had read that last night

I've thought about doing the deep fry deal with turkeys.  I never thought I'd like it until I tried it.

The cost of the cooker isn't a problem so much as the cost of the oil to cook it in.

Question?

Can oil you've cooked in be recycled to reuse again or does it need to be disposed of?  If it can be reused, is there some sort of time limit that the oil must be reused again or it goes bad after so many months?  

Alpster did u get a movie of this  ;D

We deep fried one this evening...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  

I've thought about doing the deep fry deal with turkeys.  I never thought I'd like it until I tried it.

The cost of the cooker isn't a problem so much as the cost of the oil to cook it in.

Question?

Can oil you've cooked in be recycled to reuse again or does it need to be disposed of?  If it can be reused, is there some sort of time limit that the oil must be reused again or it goes bad after so many months?  

You can pour the oil into smaller containers and refridgerate it and it will last indefinitely.

Ronnie

8-)

Cool. That's what I wanted to hear.

Ronnie, I noticed Walmart has a 30qt turkey cooker.  Wondering if that's large enough for say a typical 14-18lb bird.

Cart,

Nothing wrong with the walmart cooker (burner) but I would throw away the pot, it's a piece of crap. I wouldn't use anything less than a 10 gallon (40qt) pot. You can get them on ebay very reasonable. Honestly, if you use too small a pot, it will make a huge mess and will splatter oil onto your burner and can start a fire. If you get a stainless pot, you can use it for boiling seafood, making big stews and soups and clean up is a breeze. Get a good, big pot. I promise you will not regret it.

Also it is hard to fry large turkeys and still enjoy the dark meat. If you fry a 18-20 lb turkey long enough to cook the breast meat, you will incenerate the wings and legs/thighs. 12-14lb birds are perfect for frying. You can do one in about 35-40 minutes and they are great. If you need more meat, throw in another 13lb bird, it will be done before you finish carving the first one. It's fun to do, and if you have good tools, it can be real safe too.

I am glad to answer any questions I can.

Ronnie

More good info Ronnie.  I guess I never figured on the overall cook time damaging the outer meat on a larger bird, makes sense though.  So on a 40qt (10 gal) SS pot,  you'll want to fill it with 5 gal of oil on average?

More good info Ronnie. I guess I never figured on the overall cook time damaging the outer meat on a larger bird, makes sense though. So on a 40qt (10 gal) SS pot, you'll want to fill it with 5 gal of oil on average?

Here is a simple trick to figure the amout of oil that you will need to cook your bird. place your turkey on the hook and in your deep frier pot after you have cleaned it and before you injected it with your seansons. Add water till it covers that bird with no more than 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Remove the bird. mesaure the water.

Ronnie is right on the money about the 12-14lb birds being perfect for frying. No butterballs or the birds that are inhance with the soultions. Just a plan old gobbler is what you want.

Strain and refrige your oil and it will last quiet a while.

More good info Ronnie.  I guess I never figured on the overall cook time damaging the outer meat on a larger bird, makes sense though.  So on a 40qt (10 gal) SS pot,  you'll want to fill it with 5 gal of oil on average?

Cart,

If you look at Sams Club, Costco, BJ's, etc. you will find frying oil in 35lb plastic containers wrapped in a cardboard box. These containers hold about 4 - 1/2 gals of oil. You can get one here for around $18-20. One jug works perfectly in a 10 gal pot. No measuring no fuss, pour it in the pot, heat it up and drop the bird. You will still have the container to pour back your used oil for the next fry. It's a big container and is hard to fit in the fridge, but if it's cool enough outside (not more than 45 degrees) during the day, you can just leave it outside. Just have to be careful that critters can't get to it, it smells delicious! LOL

Ronnie