Cooks love to try new dishes and awe their friends and family with their amazing culinary skills. Many holiday cooks will try—and fail—to prepare a deep-fried turkey this Thanksgiving weekend. Don’t let your holiday bird send you to the ER.
Experts Warn Not to Fry Turkeys
Deep-frying something as large as a turkey can be dangerous. It is so dangerous that the National Fire Protection Association discourages the use of outdoor gas-fueled turkey fryers that immerse the turkey in hot oil. “Use of turkey fryers by consumers can lead to devastating burns, other injuries and the destruction of property,” states the NFPA on its website.
The problem with frying a turkey is that it takes about five gallons of hot cooking oil to cook an average Thanksgiving bird. Cooking oil is highly combustible and it could actually burst into flames if over-heated.
“It’s important to make sure you don’t have any skin exposed,” advises Emergency doctor Abhi Mehrotra, M.D., from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. “Wear a long-sleeved shirt and gloves for protection. Finally, have a working fire extinguisher nearby at all times.”
Safety Tips for Deep-Frying a Turkey
To avoid a holiday disaster the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recommends the following precautions when deep-frying a turkey:
- Keep fryer inn FULL VIEW while burner is on.
- Place fryer in an open area AWAY from all walls, fences, or other structures.
- Never us a fryer ON, or UNDER a garage, breezeway, carport, porch, or any structure that can catch fire.
- Raise and lower food SLOWLY to reduce splatter and avoid burns.
- COVER bare skin when adding or removing food.
- Check the oil temperature frequently.
- If oil begins to smoke, immediately turn gas supply OFF.
- If a fire occurs, immediately call 911. DO NOT attempt to extinguish fire with water.
- Make sure there is at least 2 feet of space between the liquid propane tank and fryer burner.
- Place the liquid propane gas tank and fryer so that any wind blows the heat of the fryer away from the gas tank.
- Completely thaw (USDA says 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds) and dry turkey before cooking. Partially frozen and/or wet turkeys can produce excessive hot oil splatter when added to the oil.
Calculate How Much Oil to Use in a Deep Fryer
To find out how much oil to use in your fryer, do a water displacement test first. Simply place the turkey in the (cold) cooking pot and fill with water until the bird is covered with a ½ inch of water. Remove the turkey and dry it off. Mark the water level on the pot with a marker or piece of tape, then dump the water and dry the pot. Fill the pot with oil to the level marked.
Still not convinced that deep-frying a turkey is dangerous? Then check out this YouTube video put together by the Big Bear City Fire Department in California.
Denise Bertacchi - Denise is a full time freelancer and stay at home mom with two boys, ages 2 and 10. She is a stringer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and ...
