Are you deep-frying a turkey this year for Thanksgiving?
If so, firefighters want to make sure you do it safely.
“Cooking fires are really a prominent cause of a fire in general,” said Amy Ray with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District. “We tend to see an increase around the holidays when people are using hot oil fryers such as turkey fryers.”
Deep fried turkeys are becoming even more popular. That's what Jaime Klund, Marketing Manager at Cabela's tells us.
“One, it's a lot quicker because it's three minutes a pound.”
It's easy. There's not as much prep work, he says.
And perhaps most importantly, “That hot oil seals in the flavor in the bird and really keeps it moist. It's delicious.”
But firefighters say it's dangerous too, especially if you have never done it before.
Friday, we deep-fried a turkey with Klund and James Judson, another employee at Cabela's to get a better idea on how a turkey should be fried.
This is what they taught us:
The first step is to check the turkey fryer, and then measure the right amount of oil in the pot. Basically, you add water to the pot to gauge the level of oil that needs to be used. It's so oil won't overflow and spill into the flame.
Another crucial tip: make sure the turkey you're trying to cook is thawed. Frozen turkeys actually increase the chances of a fire.
Let's just say a fire were to break out. Should you put it out with water? Absolutely not. The water actually makes the fire worse.
“If you can extinguish the fire with an extinguisher, that's the best thing to try and do,” Ray said.
If you want to see how to fry a turkey for yourself, Cabela's is holding one final frying demonstration Saturday, November 22 at 11am.
