When Thanksgiving Recipes Go Wrong: How Not to Deep Fry a Turkey [Video]

Thanksgiving dinner is just a few hours away. If you’re looking for a quick Thanksgiving turkey recipe and you think deep frying your turkey is the best option, you might be right. You also might be a few steps away from setting your house on fire.

According to Fox News, deep-fry fires are responsible for five deaths, 60 injuries, and more than $15 million in property damage every year. The Department of Homeland Security even issued a warning against deep frying turkeys. The DHS wrote on their Twitter account: “How dangerous can turkey fryers be?”

The DHS posted this video on Twitter.

Tommy Steen, a 28-year veteran firefighter in Mississippi, said: “99.9% of the time you can pull this off without a problem, as long as you do it right.”

So what goes wrong .1% of the time?

Steen says that there are basically four common turkey frying mistakes. Don’t deep fry a frozen turkey. Don’t let the oil get too hot. (Keep it under 400 degrees). Don’t use too much oil. Don’t fry indoors.

Seems simple enough. But still, many people will end up with something that looks like this.

Are you deep frying a turkey this year? Have you ever had a deep fry fire?

If you are responsible for the turkey this year and you’re worried about cooking the perfect bird, Mary Risley from Tante Marie’s Cooking School has a few words of advice for you: “It’s just a fuc*%!g turkey.”

Risley says that all you have to do is put the turkey in the oven. (Having a few glasses of wine doesn’t hurt either.) Here’s a Thanksgiving turkey recipe video from Tante Marie’s Cooking School.