<font color="blue"> sounds like you you know how to fry a turkey--that can't be said about everyone </font>
I was an "early adopter", deep frying my first turkey when the only place you could get a deep-fry kit was a specialty grill store like I used to run. Since I sold the kits (which used to run about $120), I felt I had to know how to use one in order to answer my customer's questions.
I discovered two things -- deep fried turkey is a real treat, and it is a pain in the butt to do correctly. Not the cooking -- that's easy and fast -- but the setup and the cleanup. Trying to shortcut the setup is what causes people to get in trouble.
You simply must cover the turkey with water in the pot, carefully measuring in the water (or making a mark on the pot for the level once the turkey is removed). Otherwise, you may have too much oil, and it will boil over the side of the pot -- and into the flames -- when you place the turkey in it. You should use a small turkey -- we roasted an 18 pounder, but fried an 11 pounder. The turkey has to be completely defrosted, and should be patted as dry as possible, before putting it in the oil, or the water will cause the oil to bubble over the top -- and into the flames. Finally, I turn off the flames before removing the turkey, in case I get clumsy and knock over the pot -- into the flames. I also do it outside, in the grass. The first year I did it on a concrete patio and had to pressure wash the oil off the concrete (I learn by trial and error /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif).
Cleanup is another story. If I'm saving the oil, I pour the oil from the pot into a wide mouth pitcher, then from the spout of the pitcher into a funnel lined with cheese cloth, into gallon jugs. I wait until the next day when the oil is cool. I usually use the oil 3 or 4 times, then dump it, because it gets harder and harder to strain out the "cracklin'".
The turkey cooks in about 40 minutes, but setup and cleanup take a couple of hours, more at my speed. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
