Ah, Thanksgiving. It’s one of those holidays where we indulge ourselves with food, often by way of a multitude of side dishes and usually accompanied by a turkey. Some folks of course opt to stray from the traditional roasted bird and go the route of deep frying. And that’s a decision that all too often results in accidents for those who aren’t accustomed to frying a turkey in…well…the proper way. It also results in YouTube videos.
Science and tech blog io9 collected this video list of The Best Turkey Frying Disasters on the Internet to remind such people what not to do should they choose to deep fry their turkey this Thanksgiving. [Language warning for some of the videos].
“It’s gonna be delicious now.”
In all seriousness though, safety is of some concern. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that since 2003, “there have been more than 125 turkey fryer-related fires, burns, explosions, smoke inhalations, or laceration incidents reported to CPSC staff,” and likely many more that were never reported. (Let’s be honest, if you did some of the things like those in the above videos, would you report it unless you had to?) Those numbers don’t necessarily warrant some of the over the top warnings out there, especially given that tons of people fry their turkeys each year without incident. But incidents are simply so easily avoidable. Texas and Illinois lead the way in Thanksgiving Day grease- and cooking-related insurance claims, by the way, reports the National Journal.
State Farm this year features some of the guys from Duck Dynasty in its “Hang On A Minute” spot for turkey fryer safety. In 2011, it was Star Trek star William Shatner dishing out the company’s safety advice.
But if you really want to know how to do turkey frying the right way, who else than Alton Brown to show you.
So, in short, be safe and enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday. Try not to end up on YouTube in one of those videos.
(Featured image credit: YouTube video)
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