If you're planning on frying up your turkey for Thanksgiving, you probably should avoid propane-powered gas fryers. Although some chefs endorse them, often citing fast heating times as one of their reasons, Consumer Reports and product safety-testing nonprofit Underwriter Laboratories (UL), has found them to be unsafe. Most of the dangers pertain to fire risks because the units are highly combustible and a spillover of oil can cause the whole unit to ignite. Most tip over easily and many have no thermostat controls, which would prevent the cooking oil from coming close to "600 degrees [F],...the flash point of oil."
A safer alternative is an electric fryer. UL endorses the Turk N' Surf, which has a safety shutoff and adjustable thermostat. It is also safe enough to use indoors and produces a finely fried turkey.
If you already have a gas fryer and are not planning to replace it before Thanksgiving, keep some of these safety tips in mind:
- Use outdoors on a flat, fireproof surface, away from buildings, pets and children.
- Never leave it unattended and keep a close watch on the oil temperature.
- Use very well insulated pot holders when touching the unit and wear safety goggles to protect your eyes from to possibility of oil splatter.
- Keep an all-purpose fire extinguisher nearby in case anything goes wrong. You might want to have the number for take-out on speed dial, too, as a backup.
[Thanks, Marc!]
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