How do you safely use a turkey fryer?

Alton Brown from the Food Network show "Good Eats" has a solution that I have used and have never had a mishap since I did it his way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bAWjlsWtsc

The video covers it all. Including what to watch for if you got one of those fryer kits that may or may not be well constructed. If you got one like he shows...consider giving it away and getting a decent one.

But if you build his turkey derrick and follow his common sense instructions...you can have a very tasty bird and have it done safely.

Deep fried turkey is great and forget the horror stories. Precautions: 1. Put the fryer in the middle of the yard where it can burn out if anything happens. Hey, sometimes things happen in spite of all your precautions. 2. The turkey needs to be thoroughly defrosted. If you drop a frozen turkey into hot oil it turns into a searing oil bomb. I never did this but it sounds so dreadful I'd never try it. 3. Wear eye protection and gloves. I know a woman who got a corneal burn from working at a fast food place. It healed, but you don't want to go through that.

Yes, there's a hazard but it may be safer than driving to the mall to exchange unwanted Christmas gifts with all that traffic. Read the instructions, do the bit with measuring out the oil level needed with water and the defrosted bird, and put it where if it catches fire you can sit back and laugh at it. The horror stories are about stupid people and you can usually figure out what they did wrong.

How good is it? The first time my neighbor did it, four of us ate a turkey. It's all we ate. I took the leftovers and made soup. Go ahead, do it. You won't regret it.

Some turkey fryers are perfectly safe to use. I like the newer Counter Top models that came out this year. But if you have one of those Back Yard types, do be careful.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/postdetails.c...

http://insrecord.com/home/?p=909

http://www.csagroup.org/consumers/consumer_site/ti...

If you know a back yard chef who has a turkey fryer, it would be a good idea to watch him/her fry a turkey and then do it yourself at home. Lowes Hardware used to give demonstrations on turkey frying, don't know if they still do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWeiLarxGf0

Carefully read and then follow the instructions that came with it. They don't want a bunch of lawsuits, they are gonna lay out all the safety info in the manual.

I wouldn't use one, would you want to eat turkey soaked in fat? Turkey is a lean meat for a reason, think of the calories.