Frying Turkeys

Originally Posted by Footbag

Last year a bear showed up during dinner and knocked over my turkey fryer.

WHOA!

Originally Posted by Hardcz

Any tips for newbs? I keep eyeing a turkey fryer.... I figure I'd brine the bird... then what... get the oil going.... do you dry it first then lower it into the basket or....?

That's pretty much it. Follow the instructions that come with the fryer. Definitely DO NOT put a frozen turkey in there, thaw it. And don't fry it underneath an awning or indoors. Make sure there's plenty of open space and nothing flammable nearby. We do it in the middle of our street! And it splatters everywhere, on you, spills over onto the street, etc. so watch out! (You can measure how much oil to put in there the day before, by lowering the turkey into the pot with the pot filled with water and noting where on the pot to fill with oil on Thanksgiving.....but it'll still splatter)

Costco sells an infrared oil-less fryer if you don't want to have to shell out $40 in oil every time you fry one up.

So we do this every year. Last year we began a tradition of frying one and buying one from this AWESOME place: http://www.gobblegobble.com/

Greenberg Smoked Turkey's are amazing. Truly. It was the hands-down favorite last year.

So we'll fry one & have the smoked turkey.

One question I have for the experienced turkey fryers....our fryer's instructions says not to use more than a 16-pound turkey...well, Costco didn't have anything smaller than 20 pounds and I didn't know the fryer had a limit. Should I be concerned?