11/22/2009

Fire Marshal stresses Thanksgiving safety By GARY DEMUTH Salina Journal Frying turkeys has become the latest trend for some Thanksgiving chefs, but throwing a frozen turkey in a deep pot full of cooking oil might lead to a visit from the Salina Fire Department. "Putting frozen turkeys into a deep well full of oil causes it to start spewing oil," said Roger Williams, fire marshal and the public information officer for the Salina Fire Department. "A couple of years ago, someone was cooking on their deck, and it caused the deck to catch on fire," he said. "You've got to be careful of cooking on a combustible surface." Spending Thanksgiving with family and friends can be one of the most wonderful days of the year, but a few precautions will help keep a happy occasion from turning into a potential tragedy. Williams recommended Thanksgiving cooks not leave food on the stove unattended, have working smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in the kitchen area and keep the handles of all pots and pans turned to the inside of the stove to prevent hot foods from falling off the stove or getting knocked over. "It helps to keep a close watch on what you're cooking," Williams said. "There usually are lots of little kids running around, so you really need to be careful." nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gde muth@salina.com.

By GARY DEMUTH

Salina Journal

An important tip before preparing a Thanksgiving turkey: make sure to pull out the bag of giblets first.

Otherwise, as was the case with several Salina cooks, you might have a Thanksgiving disaster on your hands.

When the Journal asked readers to share their most memorable Thanksgiving disaster stories, neglecting to remove the bag of giblets and turkey innards from the bird before cooking prompted the most responses.

Cooks also reported disasters involving dinner rolls, mashed potatoes and a tipsy table.

In one colorful instance, an errant pheasant caused a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner to be, well, shattered:

"Mom's table was loaded down with food when a pheasant flew into the window, shattering glass all over the food and even into our sister Marie's neck, sending her to the emergency room. They brought Cozy's (hamburgers) home to replace the ruined Thanksgiving food.

"That's the story that had been passed down through the years to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. When we were going through scrapbooks our sister Ida Mae had kept, we found the 1960 Salina Journal article about the pheasant flying into the window, and it hadn't been Thanksgiving! It was a birthday party! Guess we had always told that it was Thanksgiving because mom had cooked a turkey."

n Virginia (Hughes) Reeves, Salina

All right, it's close enough to a Thanksgiving story to count (the family was thankful no one was badly hurt, after all). When it came to actual Thanksgiving horror stories, however, food preparation played a big part -- especially for inexperienced cooks.

One creative Thanksgiving cook managed to turn a potential disaster into a work of art:

"Thirty years ago, I served the 'perfect' Thanksgiving dinner for my family. Does my family's long memory recall that? No. When I invited them for dinner this year, 90 percent of them responded with, 'Oh, are you making art for your wall again?' So, big deal -- 30 years ago, I baked the 'perfect' round pan of rolls and kept them in the oven on warm for 5 hours. (You got it, I forgot to serve them!) They were petrified -- so I shellacked them and hung them on my kitchen wall. You'd think I'd get credit for recycling -- not for forgetting to serve 'perfect' wall art!"

n Anita Alton, Salina

Then there's the brother and sister who (over) cooked their goose on Thanksgiving:

"We were left to fend for ourselves on Thanksgiving as our parents went out of town. We all were adult children, but we had never had Thanksgiving without Mom and Dad. My brother John was so proud of the goose he got. This was not only my very first turkey, but also my very first (and last) goose. I do believe I must have cooked it as long as I did the turkey. We could not even cut into it, and the dog wouldn't touch it. My brother, after 30 years, never fails to bring this up."

n Joyce Goates, Salina

Sometimes, furniture will conspire to ruin a Thanksgiving setting:

"When my husband and I moved to Tacoma, Wash., my aunt let us borrow a card table since we didn't have a table. One of the legs gives out, she said, so be careful. Randy (my husband), spent all day cooking the turkey, and when he went to take it out and put it on the table, the bad leg happened to be on the front. It gave out, and the turkey (in the pan) slid across the kitchen floor. The turkey rolled out and slid one way, and the pan went another way. It was really funny, except (Randy) burned himself with the hot grease. I'm glad for having tile flooring!"

n Tammy Lewis, Salina

Finally, there's the case of the missing giblets, as related by three rather embarrassed Salina cooks:

"I was fixing the turkey for the family and thawed it properly. I put the stuffing in the bird and continued to bake it. The full bird was a beautiful sight, except when my sister pulled out paper from where the dressing was! I had forgotten to take out the 'innards.'"

-- Terry Plumberg, Salina

"I had invited the family to my house for Thanksgiving so it was time to learn. I had a Girl Scout campout planned at Wilson Lake. It was customary for the camp director to provide a supper for the adult volunteers who came a day early to get ready for the campout. I worked hard to follow the instructions and felt very successful with my golden crisp turkey. The (adults) were very impressed when I stepped into the tent with the 20 pound turkey I had baked at home and brought to the camp. I was so proud.

"I was called out of the tent so I excused myself. I only reached three or four steps when I heard enormous laughter coming from the tent. When I re-entered the tent, the laughter started again with one of the adult leaders holding up a plastic bag of giblets. I asked, 'What is that?' I was then informed of the giblets in the bag and the location I should have found them before cooking the bird. I didn't know you had to check both ends.

"Laughter has followed this story for years. Thanksgiving has been much safer for my family since now I know to always check both ends."

-- Karen Vidricksen, Salina

"About the second year after we got married, (my husband's family) told us we could provide the meat for Thanksgiving dinner. I did not have much experience with cooking a turkey because in my family we did not eat that much turkey. The few times we fixed turkey, I can remember my mom always put her hand in the rear cavity of the bird and pulled out the giblets and neck. So on my first endeavor to fix a turkey for the family, I cleaned all the pin feathers and scrubbed the outside of the turkey, and I only pulled a neck from the rear cavity. I thought that was rather strange that there were no giblets.

"This turkey turned out to a beautiful golden brown and really smelled delicious. Got to the in-laws for dinner and remarked how there were no giblets that I could cook off and put in the dressing. We happened to look at the turkey and saw a nice little dark circle on the neck skin that read USDA. (We) opened up the neck skin and found that missing packet with the giblets. My face turned several shades of red."

-- Nellie Quade, Salina

nReporter Gary Demuth can be reached at 822-1405 or by e-mail at gdemuth@salina.com.

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