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I was at someone's house for Thanksgiving one year when the phone rang and it was a call for one of the other guests. There had been a fire at his sister's house, caused by the deep frying of the turkey. The house burned to the ground and was a total loss. There will no turkey frying at my house! I would, however, be willing to taste a turkey that SOMEONE ELSE has fried.

Oh, the stories I could tell...

Two important phrases-

Make sure the turkey is patted or air dried very well.
Make sure it's not raining.

Call me chicken, but I'll probably never deep fry a turkey. I've had fried turkey before and it was tasty, but didn't seem worth the danger or the expense (of buying a turkey frier) when roasted turkey can be really tasty too, and I'm confident in my turkey-roasting abilities.

The best turkey I ever had was one that had been slow-smoked all day long. Now THAT I might attempt some day, once I get a smoker. But fried turkey... I'll eat it if someone else makes it for me.

My dad and brother attempted to fry our bird a few years ago... it was the first and last time they tried! The bird was golden brown when they took it out at the recommended tie, but when we cut into it... way underdone, much to our chagrin and disgust. My mom didn't trust any attempts to try to cook it further, so we fell back on the ham (as well as the chicken that, for whatever reason, my nana had baked - thank goodness she did!). It's too bad, as we were psyched to try fried turkey after all the hype we'd seen on Food Network and the like about how wonderful it was. We're just too skittish to try it again!

Heck yeah! After we did one our first year we thought "That was a lot of work and oil for just one bird" so we started telling friends to bring over a turkey or that extra one you get for free when you spend $100 at the grocery store. Over the last 12 years it's turned into quite the neighborhood event. Last year we had 3 friers giong and did 15 turkeys by noon. We've never had a fire, but one year someone brought a turkey that wasn't completely thawed... it got very exciting, very quickly. If you use some common sense it's not nearly as dangerous as people make it out to be. No frozen birds, make sure you don't put too much oil in the pot and monitor the temp!

As good as they look and sound, I just can't get past the thought of spending the money to buy the fryer and the peanut oil(which is expensive),just to fry a bird on T-giving. I'm not a big turkey fan, so it would definitely be a once or twice a year thing.

I have yet to tackle the actual process of frying a turkey, but have eaten some over the years and they are delicious. There is a guy in my hometown known for selling deep-fried turkeys for Thanksgiving; he prepares them and you pick them up. You literally have to order months in advance because he gets extremely busy during holidays but his turkeys are well worth it!

My own favorite thing about Thanksgiving is seeing most of the people that I love. As the oldest sister of a family of eight children, it is the one day of the year that almost all of us are together, along with assorted friends and satellite family. We always eat at my youngest sister's house and last year there were forty-eight people there. There was a roast turkey, a deep-fried turkey, a whole ham, and a whole huge brisket, along with side dishes too numerous to mention. My personal favorite(s): GRAVY - made by me, and a strange creamed corn casserole that is very sweet and was actually my grandmother's original recipe. Oh yeah, I almost forget the praline pecan cheesecake. That's not too bad to end a huge meal with. Then we all play "Guitar Hero" after consuming immoderate amounts of wine and beer. Great! My favorite day of the year. PlanetChaos, the dog fart reminder is hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh on a Monday morning.

Creative left-overs--- A pizza crust, thin sliced turkey, cranberry sauce, peas, small slices of sweet potatoes, maybe a little bit of ham chunks and mozzarella cheese all over the top. - Bake and enjoy! Dave

I also love the pastry snails made from leftover dough, butter, sugar and cinnamon. I like crust, but not the bottom soggy crust. Usually pick around it and leave it behind. Lately I've been making little tarts and putting just a dab of whatever homemade jam or jelly is around. I use less sugar so the fruit flavor is more pronounced. Good way to clean the refrigerator out of too many jars with just a dab in the bottom. I've also used guava paste and quince paste with good results. I have silicone tart pans and a tart tamper gadget that takes the work out of pressing the dough in place. It really works! Can't live without it now. Here is my dough recipe. It exactly fits two 12 cup tart pans and I whip it up in the food processor. A fast sugar pastry fix!
JAM TARTS
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add yolk and vanilla. Mix well.
Add flours and salt. Mix just to combine.
Pinch off about a tablespoon of dough, roll gently into a ball and press into tart mold.
Fill with a teaspoon of jam or jelly.
Bake at 350 for 9 to 11 minutes. The edges should be very lightly golden.
Cool on rack. Make a pot of tea and try not to devour them all.

I also am a "good" crust junkie. When my mother made pies she always had enough scraps left to make what we kids called piewheels. She would roll out the scraps into a rectangle shape, put a layer of butter then brown sugar and sprinkle with nutmeg & cinammon. It was the rolled up on the longer side, edges pinched and cut into little rolls. These were baked until golden brown & bubbly. I cannot make a pie without a few piewheels to snack on while the pies finish baking. Even friends ask me to make them.

CRUSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!! Yes! Yes! Yes! Flour, butter, sugar, a pinch of salt, lovingly baked together..........H-E-A-V-E-N ON EARTH! Which is why my 3 favorite baked goods have always been plain scones [from Premier Gourmet here in Buffalo, NY-no one makes them better] shortbread cookies, and my piecrust made only with butter. Ya know, my husband will chow down.....no pun intended..... the innards of one of my fruit or pudding pies and leave the crust. He does it with everyone's pie......disgusting!!! However I usually retrieve the fluted edges of his discard to savor as dessert to my now finished piece!