Remembrance of Turkeys Past
As we prepare for Thanksgiving tomorrow, and as we recall our blessings and thank God for each and every one, let us also remember the humble turkey and the various disasters that result when that proud bird is not treated with the care that it deserves, dead or alive. Oldtimers like myself will recognize the above video as part of the famous “Turkey Drop” episode from WKRP, a sitcom from the Seventies.
Of course Turkey Disasters are not, unfortunately, restricted to the realm of fiction. Deep frying a turkey poses various risks.
Here we have a case of the flaming avian:
William Shatner warns of the dangers of deep frying turkeys:
Of course there are those among us who revel in the destructive possibilities of cooking turkey.
If deep fry a turkey you must, follow these tips:
Tomorrow my bride will roast the turkey which is the way God intended for a turkey to be prepared. As usual, the kids and I will do the dishes. Have a happy and non-flaming Turkey Thanksgiving!
16 Responses to Remembrance of Turkeys Past
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(1 days ago)
Donald,
For seven (or eight) of the last 10 years, my family has fried a turkey either for Thanksgiving or Christmas. (Plus, we sometimes fry a pork roast, too. That’s good eats.)
It’s true that people need to take precautions, but well worth it. Delicious.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Strangely, one doesn’t have these dilemmas with lasagna…
Nicholas your family obviously has more culinary daring than mine!
Smiter, I actually have eaten deep fried lasagna, although I didn’t prepare it!
Oh boy! Roast turkey, dressing and all the trimmings. Cannot wait for tomorrow. Thanks for the videos. I had a good laugh. I notice it is always men burning and blowing things up. They look like they were having fun. Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving Ruby! If you want to see a vast crowd of men assemble quickly, just tell them that a building is going to be demolished using explosives, and everyone male will be there from toddlers to elderly men carried in on stretchers!
So we have established that some men should not be trusted with a turkey frier. They probably shouldn’t be trusted with plutonium, either.
A plutonium powered turkey frier? Eureka!
” . . . burning and blowing things up.”
That’s what we do.
A blessed and happy Thanksgiving to all.
Happy Thanksgving to you T. Shaw, and to all our readers, commenters and contributors!
Don, perhaps you can answer this. I recall reading years ago that Franco air dropped supplies tethered to turkeys (during the siege of the Alcazar, IIRC). The turkeys worked well as parachutes. When I read it, I thought of WKRP, now whenever I see this video I think of the Spanish Civil War.
I searched the internet but couldn’t find to confirm or refresh my recollection.
I have read several histories of the siege of the Alcazar RL and I do not recall supplies dropped by Turkeys, although I do believe messages were dropped by planes into the Alcazar telling the garrison that a relief force was on the way. I do like the image however!
Now Mr. Carlson of WKRP was actually correct, in that wild turkeys are quite good at flying. Alas, he was using domesticated flightless turkeys!
I finally found it. It wasn’t for the Alcazar, it was for a small detachment held up in a monastery in Andujar. This link takes you to a passage from The battle for Spain: the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 By Antony Beevor (though I likely read the account in Carroll’s Last Crusade). Still, it was a clever and effective idea.
http://books.google.com/books?id=VsGtxYCcE2MC&lpg=PP1&dq=The%20Battle%20for%20Spain%3A%20The%20Spanish%20Civil%20War%201936-1939&pg=PA124#v=snippet&q=santa%20maria%20de%20la%20cabeza%20captain%20cortes&f=false
I should have recalled the incident. The nearly one year siege of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria de la Cabeza was epic, although it normally receives scant attention in English language books on the Spanish Civil War. Here is a link to a very roughly translated page discussing the siege:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://hispanismo.org/historia-y-antropologia/9289-el-capitan-cortes-el-santuario-no-se-rinde.html&ei=TR7OTp68NMnq0gGDmvQE&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CEsQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dcapitan%2Bsantiago%2Bcortes%2Bgonzalez%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1440%26bih%3D719%26prmd%3Dimvnso
Wishing everyone a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving Teresa!
Pleasant memories.
Many years ago in my callow youth, i used to (and still occasionally) enjoyed hunting – mainly red deer, but the occasional wild pig and anything else that was edible tha happened to appear in the cross-hairs.
On this occassion – about Autums 1964 – my two mates and I went to one of our favourite hunting areas. We bagged a deer, and as we were packing it out of the bush, we startled a couple of dozed rabbits. One of my mates and I had each a .410 shot pistol, which were ideal for rabbits as long as they were no more that 30 or so yards away. We managed to shoot 3 rabbits – one each. We got to our car, and as we were driving down the track and approaching farmland, we spied several turkeys feeding on the grass etc. in a paddock. There were three turkeys purched on top of fence posts, no doubt keeping watch. We couldn’t get close enough to use the .410′s, so we decided to use our trusty .303 rifles. At the count of three, wew each fired at our own turkey – three heads flew into the air minus the tasy stuff. Then, blow me down if around the next corner was a paddock full of mushrooms.
We all fed royally for a number of days; this was prior to my marriage – no wonder mum & dad encouraged me and my buddies to go hunting
Now, the only turkey we hunt is in a Tegel pack from the supermarket – how times have changed.
Man……….now I feel like a real wimp – bring back the good old days