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This video (on the left) was prepared by the Underwriters Laboratories to warn of the dangers of deep frying turkeys. Now, I wouldn’t advise doing what they did; placing a partially frozen, overweight turkey into an overfilled, overhot turkey fryer. But, they had a point to prove. I think that the circumstances in which they illustrate their point are a bit extreme, however, there are surely people who will unwittingly repeat this performance exactly.
Everyone is, apparently, frying a turkey this year. Millions of people will be in their backyards dipping the hapless fowl in vats filled with near boiling oil. This is a note to those of you that are trying this feat for the first time to be exceptionally careful. Although the process should be relatively straight forward, accidents can and will happen.
Having done this myself, I can give you a couple of pointers:
Before you fry the bird, fill the intended pot with water and immerse your turkey and check the amount of water it displaces. Once you have a good idea of the safe margin, make a mark inside the pot. This will save you a great deal of trouble later.
Don’t bother with injection marinades. In my opinion, they simply foul the oil (which can be reused several times if you don’t burn it) with the residue of burned seasonings. For my time and trouble, most of the marinade escaped the bird as steam and what was left behind offered little in the way of taste enhancement. Save the marinade injection for smaller pieces of chicken and such. Don’t bother to try and marinade a 16lb. turkey. In fact, the concept simply doesn’t work beyond 1/3 -1/4 inch of the meat.
Follow the instructions and safety precautions for your particular fryer implicitly. It’s just as simple as that. Many of these things are flimsy three-legged affairs that do seem quite unstable. When you are dealing with several gallons of flammable hydrocarbons, it’s best to play it safe as you can. Although I’ve conducted several searches, I’ve yet to see a news item or testimonial of a person dying or, even injured as a result of one of these things. That doesn’t mean it does not happen.
Don’t be too afraid of the thing. Once you lower the bird (s-l-o-w-l-y) into the oil it will steam like a locomotive. The oil will be rocking and rolling like crazy as the water molecules the oil can get to are exploding violently. When the time is up and you retrieve the carcass from the oil, it will resemble a burn victim. Arms and legs splayed out with black and charred flesh. Don’t worry it’s not ruined. When you’re ready to carve the thing, you’ll enjoy a good turkey and get a lot of compliments. do enjoy. Remember, the boob in the back yard didn’t really work as hard as the poor sap that spent 6 hours preparing all the other thanksgiving crap. Don’t take credit away from them.
For myself and my family, I’ll go with brined turkey every time. More on that later…