Customer Reviews

Bayou Classic 3016 30-Quart Outdoor Turkey Fryer with Basket and Fry Pot

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have long been skeptical of "deep frying" at home. The smell, the mess, the smell...Anyway, I recently decided to throw a fish fry and decided it was time to invest in a fryer. The biggest issue for me in purchasing a fryer was the sturdiness of the burner stand. Besides having the ability to heat 12 quarts of oil, I also wanted a burner stand that would hold the weight of 20 quarts of beer for my homebrewing. I decided on the Bayou Classic.

This Bayou Classic kit came with everything and setup was simple. The burner stand exceeded my expectations for sturdiness and the height was such that when using the 10 quart stock pot, you could place the burner stand on a safe sturdy work surface to elevate it off the ground. I plan on also using this burner with my wok. The burner was able to bring the oil to temperature in approximately 15 minutes. The Fish and Chips turned out great.

Of course when using 350 degree boiling oil, you do not want your weekend fry festival to end with either a trip to your local burn unit or a reason to see if Allstate really has you in good hands. Common sense must prevail and last time I checked, Amazon does not sell that yet. Set your fry area up away from kids, pets and anything that you want to see another day. If you follow that simple advice, all should turn out okay.

Clean up can be best described as "sticky", but in order to get the life out of your aluminum parts, don't skimp. Now that I have tackled fish and chips, I will have to move on to the other "must have" fried foods these days: turkeys, chickens, and Twinkies. I can't wait.

When I first heard about frying turkeys, I just new I'd try it eventually and this fryer has everything I needed (minus the turkey, oil & fuel) to get started. My cooker arrived right on time in perfect condition and went together without a hitch.

I fried up some chickens so I'd have some frying practice before T-day rolled around and learned a few tips:
The meat should be at nearly room temp before cooking. I took my bird out of the fridge the night before and put it in a cooler with no ice so it was cool but not cold. Also, the oil temp. should be right at the red-line before putting the meat in. If your bird is still cold from the fridge or if the oil is not hot enough, the oil temp will plunge to below 300 and it will take most of the listed cook time to get back to 350. Then you'll be guessing at to whether your meat is done.

When I put the Thanksgiving turkey in, I hung the neck around one of the legs and after about ten minutes, I fished it out with a pair of tongs and had a perfectly cooked snack while tending the fryer. At the end of the calculated cook time, I pulled the bird out and checked the breast with my electronic meat thermometer rather than the oil thermometer, perfect. If you think your meat is not quite done, you are better off finishing up in the oven rather than going back in the fryer, you don't want to overcook.

Since this was my first time out, I wanted to make sure I had a back-up plan so we wouldn't wind up feasting on cranberry salad and frozen pizzas. I told the in-laws to go ahead and cook their regular bird in case mine didn't turn out and they had the usual monster bird with the breast meat like drywall. The birds went to the table side by side and my 13 pounder was gone, picked clean and the little kids were asking was there any more turkey while the oven bird was still hardly touched (hee hee.) It was a smash.

More tips: I had a friend pick up a jug of peanut oil at the wholesale club and that was just a bit more oil than I needed for a 13 lb bird. I poured the unused oil off into some clean quart jugs so I could use the original 4.5 gallon jug to dispose of the dirty oil.

If you enjoy grilling, you will enjoy cooking with this fryer. It extends the summertime joy of getting outside with a refreshing beverage into autumn.

Yes the pot held the oil and turkey and the fire lit under the pot. It didn't fall down under it's own weight and fried my turkey. That said here are some problems. I had to make 3 trips to the hardware store so if you purchase this item and read this first, you should knock that down to ONE trip. But you will make the trip none-the-less. First off the three scews that hold the legs on are listed at 2" but are more like 1 1/4" and thus had to be replaced ( or you WON'T get the nut on the screw ). Second, and this is crucial, the main bolt that goes through the burner assembly, burner holding bar, and heat shield is made of "Made in China" crap metal. It will already be installed and is sticking out of the burner assembly. In the instructions you have to remove it's nut and washers. But when reapplying the nut and washers through the bar and heat shield, it WILL strip unless you get lucky and tighten it just right the first time. This bolt needs to be made of good steel... and it's not! If it's tight just let it be because you will strip it if you mess with it. It is impossible to find if you need to replace it because both hardware stores I went to didn't have it and didn't know where else to find it. It is a 6mm 2 3/4" bolt. My solution to fix the stripped bolt was to add 3 washers before screwing on the nut and thus catching on some fresh unstripped thread. Luckily there was enough bolt showing. Had that not worked this thing would have been junk just 1 day before Thanksgiving and I'd have been rushing off to buy a differant one.
Just look over your parts before assembling this thing and make sure those bolts are as long as they're supposed to be and if not make that one trip to the store for bolts and washers too. I guess whatever model/brand you get will be made in China too (isn't everthing?) so I don't want to recommend another, besides I've only owned this one. Make sure you follow ALL precautions about using this thing to the letter. I would also add that even a little wind will slow down or stop your cooking time as the burner blasts out the gas so fast (which is normal for that hot a flame needed) that the fire is only on the tips of the gas so find a relatively wind free place, errect/effect/find a windblocker/lean-to but DEFINATELY outside and away from structures or anything that can fall and knock over your pot. Gobble Gobble!
By the way the turkey was soooo good that everyone raved about it and wanted to take (did take) it all home. Look around for tips on preparing, injecting and rubbing the bird. I kept the temp at 350 (initially at 375 but after you SLOWLY... slowly dip in the bird the temp will go down) and then maintain 350 from there out. Get a bird at 15lbs or under (or the pot will fill too high) and cook for 3 1/2 min. per pound. Look for more tips online. That bird was tastey!

I am a southern guy from GA, and have been using outside cookers all of my adult life. This one is a winner, you can't go wrong with this purchase if you enjoy using an outside cooker. With the various size cooking pots, you can cook for 2 or 20. Very simple to set up and use. I really like this one and the price was a bargin.

The fryer does a great job!! Only one thing I found wrong with the prduct ..The screws did not match the fryer legs....Put together, but wrong still works great..

I received this fryer in August as a birthday gift and I am very glad that I did. The kit comes with everything you need to get started, minus the propane tank and oil. Assembly was a breeze and only took around 10 minutes at the most (I assembled it while relaxing in the garage).

As some reviewers have stated after the first couple uses some of the paint for the stand was burned off resulting in it no longer appearing new. I can see how this would bother some users but for me it did not detract from the quality of the product. I am more of a function over appearance kind of person and the paint burning off did nothing to take away from the function of the stand.

I see the price has gone up (it was $80 when I got it) maybe since it's closer to Thanksgiving, but even at the higher price I think it is worth it.

Purchased the 30-Quart Outdoor Turkey Fryer to steam lobsters - worked great. Only concern was the "fire" that started when I first used it - the paint that was used to coat the the base did catch fire, but it burned off after 5 minutes - did catch me by surprise. Definately make sure nothing is around, because there were flames. Once the paint coating burned off, the stand was stable and the pot provided plenty of room (8 1.5 lbs. lobsters). Looking forward to using it for other outdoor cooking events!

It is a good product and works pretty well. The only drawback I have found is the burner works overtime to keep up when you are frying fish with the large pot. It takes a pretty good while to get up to temp with the large pot full of oil.

Did a ton of research on these cookers before I found this one. Everything came as advertised and for what you get in the package you can't beat the price. Just had my first crab boil with this and it turned out awesome. I can't wait to fry up my first turkey this Thanksgiving!

Everything about this cooker screams quality!!!Easy to put together,easy to use and to clean up afterwards....would recommend for anyone....The pots and kettles are extra heavy duty..well worth the money...