Why Should You Think Twice Before Using a Turkey-Fryer?

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The discussion revolves around various cooking methods and experiences, particularly focusing on turkey frying and unique food items like haggis and blood sausage. Participants share their thoughts on Alton Brown's cooking shows, expressing admiration for his entertaining style and effective techniques, such as his turkey brining method, which many have found successful. The conversation touches on the cultural significance of dishes like haggis and blood pudding, with some participants recalling childhood experiences related to food preparation and consumption of organ meats. There are humorous exchanges about the perceived grossness of certain foods and the dangers of frying turkeys, with anecdotes about mishaps and safety concerns. Overall, the thread highlights a blend of culinary enthusiasm, nostalgia, and humor surrounding traditional and unconventional foods.
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:smile:

That has to be the worst ever Scottish accent. Haggis is really nice if you get over what its made from :approve:
 
I'll have to catch that haggis clip.. He does put on entertaining skits. I saw him on the tube yesterday, eating a fried brain sandwich.. I believe they used pig brains.. They used to use cow brains. But with the whole bovine spongiform encephalopathy business, they've fallen out of favor.
 
That was brilliant.
 
The fried turkey show was splendid...as usual! I'm staying away from the haggis show.
 
I really liked Alton until he did the Iron Chef America show.

I still like "Good Eats" though. Speaking of turkey, has anyone tried his method for brining a turkey? I keep meaning to try it but just haven't gotten around to it.
 
FredGarvin said:
I still like "Good Eats" though. Speaking of turkey, has anyone tried his method for brining a turkey? I keep meaning to try it but just haven't gotten around to it.
I used his brining method a couple of years ago (last time I did a turkey) and it was fantastic!
 
I've been doing the turkey brining method ever since the Romancing The Bird episode came out (like 5 years ago now at least). It always gets rave reviews from the family. Amazingly enough it works no matter how large or small the turkey. You just need to make adjustments to the brining time depending on the size of the bird.
 
  • #10
That does it. I'm cooking a turkey this weekend.
 
  • #11
FredGarvin said:
That does it. I'm cooking a turkey this weekend.
Will you be risking the "fried" turkey? Even with the turkey derrick, I'm still too afraid.
 
  • #12
lol...his accent changed to australian for a sentence or two
 
  • #13
Evo said:
I used his brining method a couple of years ago (last time I did a turkey) and it was fantastic!
I'll have to try brining my next turkey before hickory-smoking it. I always brine salmon before smoking it - I don't know why it has not occurred to me to brine the turkeys.
 
  • #14
Ugh I can't believe people actually eat that.
 
  • #15
scorpa said:
Ugh I can't believe people actually eat that.

Me neither. When I first saw that show on T.V. I thought it was just a spoof. : I mean, who would eat those "bits and pieces'?
 
  • #16
larkspur said:
Me neither. When I first saw that show on T.V. I thought it was just a spoof. : I mean, who would eat those "bits and pieces'?
You should have seen what we did with pigs that we slaughtered when I was a kid. NOTHING was wasted. The blood was collected and made into sausage, the large intestine was cleaned and boiled as casing for the blood sausage, the small intestines were cleaned and boiled for regular sausage. Liver, kidneys, tongues, jowels, brains were all processed. There wasn't much left over from a hog when we were done with it.
 
  • #17
turbo-1 said:
You should have seen what we did with pigs that we slaughtered when I was a kid. NOTHING was wasted. The blood was collected and made into sausage, the large intestine was cleaned and boiled as casing for the blood sausage, the small intestines were cleaned and boiled for regular sausage. Liver, kidneys, tongues, jowels, brains were all processed. There wasn't much left over from a hog when we were done with it.
EEEEWWWW!
 
  • #18
turbo-1 said:
You should have seen what we did with pigs that we slaughtered when I was a kid. NOTHING was wasted. The blood was collected and made into sausage, the large intestine was cleaned and boiled as casing for the blood sausage, the small intestines were cleaned and boiled for regular sausage. Liver, kidneys, tongues, jowels, brains were all processed. There wasn't much left over from a hog when we were done with it.

I'll never be able to think of you the same way again you blood sausage eating monster! :smile:

Just kidding, I'd try anything once... Well, maybe not pig brains... :smile:
 
  • #19
turbo-1 said:
You should have seen what we did with pigs that we slaughtered when I was a kid. NOTHING was wasted. The blood was collected and made into sausage, the large intestine was cleaned and boiled as casing for the blood sausage, the small intestines were cleaned and boiled for regular sausage. Liver, kidneys, tongues, jowels, brains were all processed. There wasn't much left over from a hog when we were done with it.

Haha I remember in kindergarten we made sausage and some of the kids were like " that's what the casing is ??", long time ago but I still remember it.
 
  • #20
My father said that he didn't really want to buy pork ribs (I love pork ribs) because he doesn't like pork (Some story about how he grew up on a farm blah blah blah...) I think I will show him turbo-1's post.
 
  • #21
When I was little my mother would drive to an ethnic deli that sold blood sausage with tongue. It's actually not bad sliced really thin. I can still taste it to this day. It's not a taste you forget. It's almost black with the pink pieces of tongue in it.
 
  • #22
Evo said:
When I was little my mother would drive to an ethnic deli that sold blood sausage with tongue. It's actually not bad sliced really thin. I can still taste it to this day. It's not a taste you forget. It's almost black with the pink pieces of tongue in it.
Blood sausage, sliced and sauteed with onions and potatoes were a wonderful winter breakfast. I grew up in a family heavily French-Canadian and the women were absolutely adamant about putting up blood sausages. It makes sense that as an iron supplement, it would have been a valuable nutritional resource in the winter. I remember the first time I was allowed to carry the wash-pan full of pig's blood from the barnyard to the house. It was a sign that even if you were a kid, you could be trusted. Drop a pan of intestines in the dirt, no big deal, spill a pan of blood in the dirt, and you would never live it down.

NOTHING usable from a pig was wasted - my female relatives toiled in the kitchen making use of every part. Lots of organ meats found their way to sausage, etc, and lots of scraps were boiled down with pig's feet to produce hogshead cheese. Bones were broken, scraped, marrow extracted, etc. When it was time to slaughter the pigs, the whole extended family came together to share the work.
 
  • #23
Jeez guys! It's not that disgusting. Then again I guess I kinda grew up with it too.

Good ole "parts"
 
  • #24
Black (or blood) pudding is a staple part of the full English breakfast. Its lovely :biggrin:

Like I said before about the haggis, once you get past what its made from it is actually surprisingly tasty. If you ever smell one cooking you will definitely want to taste.
 
  • #25
I would probably like it. I just wouldn't want to know how it was made. :-P
 
  • #26
Hagis sure seems to require a lot of boiling. I almost wouldn't trust it after that. :rolleyes:
 
  • #27
Kurdt said:
Black (or blood) pudding is a staple part of the full English breakfast. Its lovely :biggrin:
I'd actually like some right now, but I haven't seen it anywhere for years. :frown:

Like I said before about the haggis, once you get past what its made from it is actually surprisingly tasty. If you ever smell one cooking you will definitely want to taste.
The ingredients from the video actually sound quite yummy.

The cutest food fetish I've seen on PF is Monique's love for nibbling chicken feet. I admit I've never had chicken feet before. :-p
 
  • #28
theCandyman said:
Hagis sure seems to require a lot of boiling. I almost wouldn't trust it after that. :rolleyes:
Heh "boil it for three hours or three days". :smile:
 
  • #29
Evo said:
Heh "boil it for three hours or three days". :smile:

No, no, it's "three hours AND three days, not a minute more!" :smile:
 
  • #30
Evo said:
I'd actually like some right now, but I haven't seen it anywhere for years. :frown:


We'll have to start shipping it over.

:eek:
 
  • #31
Mk said:
Jeez guys! It's not that disgusting. Then again I guess I kinda grew up with it too.

Good ole "parts"
Yeah, parts is parts. When hauling the scraps out of the kitchen, it is best not to get too inquisitive about where the "missing" parts ended up, if you are squeamish. :rolleyes: Hmm, weren't there eyes in this pig's head when I lugged it in?... I'm lugging out a skull and teeth...hmmm...
 
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  • #32
Moonbear said:
No, no, it's "three hours AND three days, not a minute more!" :smile:
Oh well, it's funny either way. :smile:

I love how the number of fingers he holds up never matches the number he says. :biggrin:

And that is one CATCHY bagpipe tune. :-p
 
  • #33
Evo said:
I'd actually like some right now, but I haven't seen it anywhere for years. :frown:
Blood sausage is impossible to find here, these days. It seems to have fallen out of favor even in the small local specialty markets. It was a staple in my childhood, but family-made, not store-bought. It was spiced and it was thickened with barley - a rich food that smelled heavenly in the frying pan.
 
  • #34
Aw, those crazy Brits. :bugeye:

"This rather medieval dish has a fanatical following. The humble black pudding even has a festival dedicated to it in northern England. In Ramsbottom, outside Manchester, hundreds compete annually in the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships. The bloody sausages are encased in ladies' tights and contestants hurl them at a 20ft-high stack of Yorkshire puddings".

Right. Ok... :rolleyes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_blackpudding.shtml

Destroying perfectly good blood sausage and yorkshire pudding? :cry:
 
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  • #35
Evo said:
Aw, those crazy Brits. :bugeye:

"This rather medieval dish has a fanatical following. The humble black pudding even has a festival dedicated to it in northern England. In Ramsbottom, outside Manchester, hundreds compete annually in the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships. The bloody sausages are encased in ladies' tights and contestants hurl them at a 20ft-high stack of Yorkshire puddings".

Right. Ok... :rolleyes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_blackpudding.shtml

Destroying perfectly good blood sausage and yorkshire pudding? :cry:
They THROW black puddings? My great-aunts would have pounded those cretins to a pulp!
 
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  • #36
turbo-1 said:
They THROW black puddings? My great-aunts would have pounded those cretins to a pulp!

Hey we have so many we don't know what else to do with them :wink:
 
  • #37
Kurdt said:
Hey we have so many we don't know what else to do with them :wink:
Heathens!

ship them here
 
  • #38
turbo-1 said:
Blood sausage is impossible to find here, these days. It seems to have fallen out of favor even in the small local specialty markets. It was a staple in my childhood, but family-made, not store-bought. It was spiced and it was thickened with barley - a rich food that smelled heavenly in the frying pan.

Really? I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the grocery stores here. You might want to try a slaugherhouse, the one by where I used to live had a huge freezer full of anything you could think off, I'm pretty sure they would have had them there.
 
  • #39
scorpa said:
Really? I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the grocery stores here. You might want to try a slaugherhouse, the one by where I used to live had a huge freezer full of anything you could think off, I'm pretty sure they would have had them there.
We have a private meat-market with lots of local connections about 10 miles away - I'll ask my wife to check with them on her way home from work.
 
  • #40
Kurdt said:
Hey we have so many we don't know what else to do with them :wink:
Holy cow! I'm glad we don't have an excess of lobsters, ocean scallops, or filet mignons that would allow a festival celebrating their waste. About the only food-wasting enterprises I have participated in have involved my cousin's son's fascination for hair-spray fueled potato bazookas, which are pretty good a propelling wormy apples, too.
 
  • #41
  • #42
Bumping this up for DL.

The turkey frying derrick videos are in the 3rd post.
 
  • #43
The wife and I absolutely love this man!

"Too many onions!" :smile:

Hilarious!
 
  • #44
Dembadon said:
The wife and I absolutely love this man!

"Too many onions!" :smile:

Hilarious!
Recently Alton was asked what his all time favorite episode was, and he said it was the Hagis episode.
 
  • #45
<GASP> The neeleys just deep fried a turkey using a masterbuilt electric Turkey fryer, UL Listed, SAFE FOR EVO!

http://www.masterbuilt.com/newsreleases/Masterbuilt%20Electric%20Fryer.pdf

I want one!
 
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  • #46
Evo said:
<GASP> The neeleys just deep fried a turkey using a masterbuilt electric Turkey fryer, UL Listed, SAFE FOR EVO!

http://www.masterbuilt.com/newsreleases/Masterbuilt%20Electric%20Fryer.pdf

I want one!

NOTHING is safe for Evo! Don't forget you can still manage to knock the whole thing over and spill boiling oil on yourself! :eek: (Okay, it might be slightly below boiling, due to the thermostat controls.) Even though it says safe to use indoors, I think you should definitely still stick to using it outdoors and under children's supervision. :biggrin:
 
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  • #47
Evo said:
<GASP> The neeleys just deep fried a turkey using a masterbuilt electric Turkey fryer, UL Listed, SAFE FOR EVO!

http://www.masterbuilt.com/newsreleases/Masterbuilt%20Electric%20Fryer.pdf

I want one!
Brine your turkeys, and roast them breast-down in your oven - the best-tasting way to make them anyway. The worst thing that can happen is you burn yourself on the oven.

Hot oil+Evo is a recipe for death or a lifetime of skin grafts. Not good! The lack of an open flame doesn't make that deep-fryer "safe" nor does a UL listing. You still have hot oil, which can cause incredible burns.

A neighbor of mine years back put her kids through college by running a hot-dog stand by the roadside, about 175 miles south of Quebec City. She grew up in Canada and was fluent in French, so the Canadian tourists would make her eatery a "must-stop". They would fill up the gas tank at her general store across the road from the stand, and load up with French fries, dynamites, burgers, 'dogs, etc, before continuing their trek (usually to Old Orchard Beach). Alice's hands and arms were pocked and scarred from years of spattering lard from the Fryolaters. To make perfect fries, after she peeled and cut the potatoes, she stored them in chilled water. Fill the basket, shake out the water, and immerse in the hot lard. Spatters were inevitable!
 
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  • #48
I used to have a deep fryer, AND a pressure cooker!

Yes, that was in my younger, less clutzy days. :redface:
 
  • #49
Evo said:
I used to have a deep fryer, AND a pressure cooker!

Yes, that was in my younger, less clutzy days. :redface:
I have a 500,000 btu/hr propane torch, a large chain saw, lots of power tools, and other dangerous stuff, but then, I'm a responsible adult with a healthy respect for my limitations. I still won't consider buying a turkey-fryer, though. My neighbor's adult sons damned near burned down his brand-new 40,000 ft2 garage/workshop/ with one of those. They had the hot oil bubbling away, and misjudged the volume of the turkey they were about to cook. When they immersed the turkey, oil overflowed the pot and ignited. One of them kicked over the stand to help get the burning oil away from the propane tank, but the burning oil headed down-slope to the brand-new building. The burning oil was so hot that it fused the dirt and gravel in the drive leading to one of the maintenance-bays. Luckily, they were able to scrape a depression in the drive and route the oil away from the building. No turkey-fryer for me, thank you.
 

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