Ok, this is sort of “Guy” fun stuff for the holidays! I was driving around the community this morning and noticed the signs of autumn – beautifully colored leaves finally changing to red and orange. One home with a wooden fence around the yard had small but brightly colored pumpkins on each post. And to top it all off, the businesses in town are promoting seasonal items like this one I found at Shop.com, Oilless turkey fryer.
Until, I’d moved to the south, I’d never heard of “Frying” Turkey, but here, for Thanksgiving and Christmas, that’s a seasonal tradition. One of the locally owned BBQ outlets will fry a turkey for you, but that doesn’t stop many aspiring turkey fryers from trying it on their own down here! So about this time various furniture and hardware stores in compete to sell you the tools you need to fry your turkey! Most of the turkey frying done around here uses deep frying in oil to accomplish the task. 
Usually a rig like this “King Kooker” Outdoor Turkey Fryer is used (see the image).
As you may have imagined, all that nasty bubbling oil is frowned upon for health reasons. I’m always a bit nervous around that much boiling oil myself as well. So that’s why the Oilless turkey fryer is becoming popular. People think it will be healthier! Will it taste the same? The “ads” say yes, but, my taste buds, for one have not been able to vote as yet! From what I can tell, the “oilless” Turkey Fryers are not so popular here yet because these Turkey Fryers – at least the ones using oil – are also likely to be used in the summer for frying catfish and hush puppies. As good as those oilless fryers may be for turkey, I really have my doubts about their ability to perform when it comes to the hush puppies and catfish!
Oilless or deep fried Turkey for me this year? Just figuring that out and getting a new fryer will be half the fun!
Thanks to Shop.com for asking me to ruminate on this subject!
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