Has anyone either had one, or better still, bought a deep-fat frier and cooked one?

I have to say it sounds utterly disgusting to me, but my OH has been raving about it - so much so he's looked up the frier and is threatening to buy one

So, do they get a or a

I've never had one, but I've heard they are fantastic.

That's what the husband keeps telling me guys at work are telling him. The skin gets deep fried, but the meat is juicy and tender. As long as you don't eat the skin, the meat has no more fat in it than an oven cooked turkey.

I'm not convinced, but willing to be proven wrong if it cooks a turkey in a fraction of the time. Plus, it'll be his baby, so he can do the cooking on Thanksgiving and Christmas

Now that's a smart way to look at it! Just tell him to be careful - lots of fires start as a result of someone trying to deep fry a turkey. I think it's also very, very important to make sure the turkey is fully thawed if you buy a frozen one. It's definitely supposed to be a lot faster than cooking a turkey in an oven would be.

The frying seals the moisture in

I found the thought revolting too but went to a friend's about two years ago. It was okay not greasy like I thought it would be but pretty tasteless as it's cooked so quickly and the juices can't seep through the bird like you do when it's cooked slowly and upside down!
And no chestnut stuffing which is the whole point of turkey isn't it? And of course no delicious natural gravy!?

Big thumbs down from me

That makes perfect sense. I make a mean stuffing, and great gravy (both courtesy of Jamie O!)

Still, tasteless turkey vs me doing all the cooking. Hmm.

Philip Schofield bangs on about this every year. Apparently he has a huge outdoor one, a present from his FiL.

I'm quite interested in trying it, I despise stuffing with a passion so it's perfect for me.

My BIL has cooked them and I've had it once. Its not bad, although cooking anything in a deep fat fryer can't be a good thing.

The guys where M works always deep fry at work the day before TXG and Xmas. He says it's ok but he is not a great Turkey lover anyway..

I have had one, they aren't.

My brother is obsessed with deep frying turkeys. Even he admits that they only turn out "GREAT" about half the time though. Which tells me he doesn't really have a system - he's just as surprised as everybody else when they turn out okay.

But there is a deeper and, IMO, more insidious problem with the whole thing. Deep fried turkeys are ugly. They look like a withered old man's ass, complete with gaping cavernous hole. Besides, I don't get it. My baked turkey is just as moist as the good deep fried ones and my turkey is far more attractive. People shouldn't eat ugly food on Thanksgiving. It is wrong and should be stopped.

So, when we have Thanksgiving at his house, like this year, he'll stand outside over that bucket of boiling grease waiting for his surprise, and I'll make a real Thanksgiving turkey. When his is done it gets plopped on the ugly platter and people just hack off pieces of it. It isn't even worthy of carving.

I'm just glad my mother isn't alive to see it.

It's an ace day if your a lover of Fire Engine Sirens though

Our neighbours cooked us one in their outdoor turkey fryer and I have to say, it was damn good. Cooked to perfection in 48 minutes, very moist, very nice. I have looked at the indoor ones but tbh I wouldn't pay over $100 for something I probably wouldn't use that much. I think the neighbours one was like $20 from Walmart several years ago. Was going to take up some mars bars for them to deep fry, but maybe that's going a bit toooooo far. I think I'll stick to my normal deep fryer and keep making my veg and chicken pakora to keep the longing for scottish indian takeaways at bay

This is the Cleveland thanksgiving special.

1. Put fryer in garage.
2. Fill up to the top with oil.
3. Heat up oil to frying temperature.
4. Drop in turkey.
5. Run away screaming for the fire department because the oil spilled over and exploded into flames.

It's unbelievable how many times every year this happens.