Eight Deep-Fried Turkey Disaster Videos [you're doing it wrong]

November 12, 2009, 11:50 am 8 Comments

4: Use the fire extinguisher!

Yeah, that doesn't work.

3: Morning Show Flameball

Some morning show DJs show how you can burn down your living room with a fried turkey.

2: AT&T Says: Defrost the Bird

Completely.

1: Turkey Flameball 2007

This turkey is stuffed with ice cubes for a purposeful flameball.

If you really must deep-fry a turkey, you should probably follow Alton Brown's advice, found in these videos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Have a safe Thanksgiving!

—Paula Forbes

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8 Comments

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Curtis L

That is some very serious internet.

November 12, 2009, 12:06 pm Reply
Lilac

Wow, I never even knew about deep-fried turkey until this day... roll on 26th November!

November 12, 2009, 2:07 pm Reply
dav

lol, entertaining; its a spectator sport. They should do this in Iron Chef or something.

Most of the time people heat up the oils to their smoke point! Use a temp gauge and it'll never turn into a volcano.

November 12, 2009, 2:46 pm Reply
Okuma

ALWAYS take the utmost precaution when frying turkey. It's unbelievably delicious when done right, and downright deadly when done by morons. Agreed if you're going to fry turkey, check out the links to the Alton Brown videos at the bottom of the article. Granted you don't have to be as safe as he does, but use the rest of these vids as examples of what NOT to do.

November 13, 2009, 9:04 pm Reply
Algonkin

I do this often...the problem with most people is that:

1) They don't pat dry the turkey. Water and hot oil = no no
2) Do it far away from the house
3) Make sure the ground is level so that the burner can be sturdy on its legs
4) Obeserve weather conditions ... don't deep fry a bird when it rains or snows.
5) Dip the turkey very very slowly. An inch at a time if necessary.

November 16, 2009, 10:17 am Reply
Orion

I've had deep-fried turkey a few times and I don't really even like it. It was oily and dry and didn't cook evenly, IMO. I always stick my turkeys in a bag in the oven and they come out great every time. The oil, the mess, the fire hazard...I don't know why people bother.

November 22, 2009, 4:42 pm Reply
bobbcat

It would never occur to me to deep-fry a turkey. As mentioned before, all that oil, the mess just aren't worth it. Baking it in the oven is far preferable, easier, with less muss and fuss. Our turkeys always come out delicious each and every year. Skip the deep-fry bit, I say..........

November 22, 2009, 9:20 pm Reply
bad bob

we've fried turkeys now for years, and never had any problems. And they are, indeed, delicious. Orion, I don't think you ever had it done right, it's nothing like you describe.

The main thing is to actually follow directions, and take the kind of safety precautions any sane person would when dealing with large amounts of boiling oil...

November 23, 2009, 10:45 am Reply