I was up all night watching late night TV, or rather, what's left
of it, and I saw the last 15 minutes of the Butterball Indoor
Turkey Fryer infomercial.

It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
though.

I'm pretty cynical and pessimistic when I watch these things (and
when I read Usenet), and this infomercial makes every marketing
claim in the "Infomercials for Dummies" book. In this case,
"Dummies" refers to the audience, not the producers.

Of course when you call, you can ask about upgrading to the "20lb
fryer" version. But you have to call. Because the whole time they
never tell you the price of either of the fryers being offered.

I will bet anybody that they make up the price when you call. The
price is dependant on how gullible you seem. It is *that*
deceptive of a commercial.

Cooking wise, the sheer size of the thing is prohibitive. It's
looks to be about 19" square, and solid. Of course it also steams
and boils, and can cook everything may ever need. It replaces
hundreds of pots and pans, so you no longer need stove or an oven.
That makes it all worthwhile.

I flipped through a few other infomercials after that, but the
Butterball fryer won the bullshit award by a large margin.
Butterball is scum.

-sw

On 28 Nov 2010 00:52:11 GMT, Cheryl wrote:

> On Sat 27 Nov 2010 07:17:25p, Sqwertz wrote in rec.food.cooking
> >:
>
>> I was up all night watching late night TV, or rather, what's left
>> of it, and I saw the last 15 minutes of the Butterball Indoor
>> Turkey Fryer infomercial.
>
> I saw that, too. My first thought was more fires.

I didn't think it was inherently unsafe except for the fact that
they're preying on idiots and morons in the first place. Which in
itself makes it a safety hazard. These are the same people that
will somehow manage to hang themselves with dental floss.

-sw

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
> turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
> times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
> though.

They might not be mentioning that you crush up
the ribcage with a meat mallet to make it smaller.
Or maybe, they expect you to debone it first.
Or maybe, you cut it in half and fry half at
a time.

If it can do a 14-lb turkey, why would they not
demonstrate that?

On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:46:58 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:

> Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>> It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
>> turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
>> times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
>> though.
>
> They might not be mentioning that you crush up
> the ribcage with a meat mallet to make it smaller.

Bury a lot of people, do you?

> Or maybe, they expect you to debone it first.
> Or maybe, you cut it in half and fry half at
> a time.
>
> If it can do a 14-lb turkey, why would they not
> demonstrate that?

There was at least and inch and half still left in the fryer basket
on all sides. But if you have it touching the fryer basket, that
part is not frying correctly.

I'm sure there was something deceptive about it. O rather,manby
deceptive things.

They showed wings cooked in a typical "regular" deep fryer that
could supposedly only hold 6 wing sections at a time (never seen
such a fryer that could only hold 6 wings). It showed those 6
wings like they had been boiled. They were all pale like they were
still raw.

And then they show a pile of 20 wings done it the Butterball fryer
that looked crispy and golden brown.

I'm sorry, Butterball, but screw you. I'm not that stupid. You
insult everyone with an IQ above 90 and take advantage of dumb
people with a commercial like that. That was one of the many
deceptive tactics in the commercial.

-sw

On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 21:29:20 -0600, Sqwertz wrote:

> I'm sure there was something deceptive about it. O rather,manby
> deceptive things.

RS232 transmission error. I've reported the problem to Ventel.

OK, so I'm using an incompatible screen/graphics driver (circa
1997) on my 24" Viewsonic monitor. And I can't always see my
editor correctly.

Really!

-Butterball Inc.

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:46:58 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> > Sqwertz wrote:
> >>
> >> It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
> >> turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
> >> times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
> >> though.
> >
> > They might not be mentioning that you crush up
> > the ribcage with a meat mallet to make it smaller.
>
> Bury a lot of people, do you?

Only a few, but I do it very well.

On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 21:04:29 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:

> Sqwertz wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, 27 Nov 2010 18:46:58 -0800, Mark Thorson wrote:
>>
>>> Sqwertz wrote:
>>>>
>>>> It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
>>>> turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
>>>> times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
>>>> though.
>>>
>>> They might not be mentioning that you crush up
>>> the ribcage with a meat mallet to make it smaller.
>>
>> Bury a lot of people, do you?
>
> Only a few, but I do it very well.

it's good to have some flair for things.

your pal,
blake

Sqwertz wrote:
>
> It does appear as if they're using a 6-pound, maybe 7 at the most,
> turkey or chicken in the demonstration. But they did say a couple
> times that it supposedly fry's a 14lb turkey. I don't see how,
> though.

I just saw it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and it's really
as small as it looks in the commercial. What you can't
see is how cheaply made it is. Thin sheet metal, not
a solid machine like a Ronco rotissiere.

> Of course when you call, you can ask about upgrading to the "20lb
> fryer" version. But you have to call. Because the whole time they
> never tell you the price of either of the fryers being offered.

At BB&B, the so-called 14 lb. machine is $149.99.