SC - Deep-fried Turkey? OOP

[Michael F. Gunter]

Greetings, all.  I hope you all had a good Turkey-Day!

I caught a bit of a food show on NPR last Wednesday, and they were talking about
the dangers of a "new, trendy way of cooking turkey" - immersing it in boiling
oil.  They were talking about things like setting your curtains on fire or burning
yourself severely with splashing oil.  I figured this was a joke - deep-frying
a whole turkey?

But, I happened to walk into the living room on Thursday while my father-in-law
was watching the Macy's Parade on tv.  Much to my amusement, there was Bobby
Flay (I think it was him, anyway,) deep frying a turkey as a demo at the parade
site.

So, my question is, WHY??  Why would someone want to deep-fry a whole turkey?
 Does it cook faster?  Taste better?  Is a huge stock pot and 30 gallons of
oil cheaper than a roasting pan?  I can't imagine wanting to maneuver a 25 pound
bird into and out of a tall pot full of deadly-hot oil sitting way up on the
stove.  And I'm certain that I couldn't lift the pot down to the ground after
the oil was hot, put the turkey in and then lift it back UP there safely.  By
then it would be a 50 or 60 pound tall pot full of deadly-hot oil.  Ouch!  Getting
it in and out of the oven and flipping it over in the roaster is bad enough.


I was much more interested in trying to grill the bird in halves, which was
his other demo.  But, this hot oil thing still has me fascinated.  Has anybody
tried this?

Thanks!
Magdalena vander Brugghe