Another turkey fryer fire


 
Sad. I assume the rains that were moving up the east coast forced them into the garage. One stray drip of oil...
 
BFletcher said:
This picture strikes a little fear in me.
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Well, it sort of should. And that's really not a bad thing. But there's only a few things to remember about frying turkeys.

1) ALWAYS work with a fully thawed and dry bird. After brining (leave out the sugars, they'll over caramelize,) let it drain and pat it dry.
2) Don't use a bird bigger than your pot can handle. The turkey should never go above the max fill line.
3) Use the right amount of oil. Easy way to tell is to put the bird in the pot before brining, and fill with water to about an inch above the turkey. Lift the turkey out of the water and note how water is in the pot. This is how much oil you will need to fry your turkey.
4) Heat the oil. Obviously, you do not want overheat it. When you GENTLY place the bird in the oil, don't drop it, but do get it down to the bottom within a few seconds. Monitor the oil temp as it will drop when the cold turkey goes in. Again, don't overheat, you'll have to increase and decrease the flame over time.

I do like fried turkey, but the oil has gotten expensive, and it's gotten a little more entertaining to get of. Guess I'm gonna have to stick with smoked, grilled, roasted or the like.
 
JKalchik said:
Well, it sort of should. And that's really not a bad thing. But there's only a few things to remember about frying turkeys.

1) ALWAYS work with a fully thawed and dry bird. After brining (leave out the sugars, they'll over caramelize,) let it drain and pat it dry.
2) Don't use a bird bigger than your pot can handle. The turkey should never go above the max fill line.
3) Use the right amount of oil. Easy way to tell is to put the bird in the pot before brining, and fill with water to about an inch above the turkey. Lift the turkey out of the water and note how water is in the pot. This is how much oil you will need to fry your turkey.
4) Heat the oil. Obviously, you do not want overheat it. When you GENTLY place the bird in the oil, don't drop it, but do get it down to the bottom within a few seconds. Monitor the oil temp as it will drop when the cold turkey goes in. Again, don't overheat, you'll have to increase and decrease the flame over time.

I do like fried turkey, but the oil has gotten expensive, and it's gotten a little more entertaining to get of. Guess I'm gonna have to stick with smoked, grilled, roasted or the like.
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I will also suggest that you turn off the burner before immersing the bird so that there is no open flame present. It's the oil mist or vapor that catches fire most readily.
 
BFletcher said:
Yes, @Jim C in Denver please know my post was intended to express appreciation for your wisdom.
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Well, yeah, for sure.

Look, what we tinker with here does flat out scare a lot of other people, and yet we take it as normal. As an example, how many people will build a charcoal fire that will burn unattended for hours? Then again..... look for my annual footwear warning around Memorial Day for a good example.
 
BFletcher said:
Yes, @Jim C in Denver please know my post was intended to express appreciation for your wisdom.
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No worries.

I did the fried turkey for many years without any mishaps. But at some point, the annual stories of completely incinerated homes got in my head (rightly or wrongly).

The other thing that got to me was the overall hassle. Sure the actual cooking time was crazy short. But it takes a looong time to get the oil up to temp. And then a looong time for the oil to cool off. And then you have to deal with quarts of dirty peanut oil.

So the gas grill, WSM or kitchen oven eventually won out.
 
The scariest part is the lowering in, once that's done the rest is easy. ( except for clean up )
Last time I looked the oil was $60.00 for 3 gallons and that was a sale price.
Rain or not, you would think they had a covered gazebo or breezeway to shelter in.
 
My wife reports that arson is being investigated as a source of the CT fire, so maybe not so dumb after all...if she's right. I catch her watching TikTok so sometimes I wonder.
 
Ed P said:
My wife reports that arson is being investigated as a source of the CT fire, so maybe not so dumb after all...if she's right. I catch her watching TikTok so sometimes I wonder.
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i wasn't going to say it but now you did.

check to see if the "family business" is under water or if the mortgage payments are up to date.

insurance companies aren't stupid. they just don't write blank checks.

criminal acts are never covered by insurance.

thanks for posting this. i didn't want to be the negative nelly by calling out my own suspicions.
 
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