Customer Reviews

Eastman Outdoors Model 38021 30-Quart Professional-Grade Outdoor Cooking Set with Burner

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As was the case with the previous reviewer, I did not receive the item that was described. It is not a Professional Outdoor Cooker but a Commercial grade cooker. In addition, there are no baskets included. This set-up might be fine for frying a turkey but would not work for frying fish without additional equipment. What you'll get is what is shown in the picture - not what is described.

I purchased one of these cookers at a grocery store for thanksgiving. I didn't find out that amazon carried this brand until I went to the manufacturers website looking for the 10.5 quart fish cooker. I haven't deep fried a turkey and probably won't. My main use will be cooking Brunswick stew and chili in large quantities for freezing and cooking fish and chicken wings. I'm considering getting a wok.

I am very pleased with this cooker and would recommend it to any one wanting to use this for the reasons I use it for. It should also cook a turkey real well. The aluminum pot (and lid) is very heavy gauge thickness and the burner seemed to have a great deal of heat. The pot cleaned up just by spraying with the kitchen sink sprayer. I had to keep turning down the burner to get to a slow boil on my stew. A bottle of gass should last a long time. The 30 qt. pot was half full at the time. I can see how you could do some damage with one of these if you leave some oil unattended.

The burner had two loose phillips screws from shipping and I hand tightened those. The stand and burner assembly are of sturdy construction. Assembly instructions are well documented with photos. I started to return for a cheaper model at Target but I'm glad I didn't. It's a great cooker even though some folks were mislead by some ad listings.

I would buy again.

First, I'd like to thank everyone who gave this product a low rating. It's because of you (collective) that the price on this great turkey-fryer stays so low. :-)

The contents matched the photo, but not the description. This is the commercial-grade unit, not the professional. As such, it comes with the burner-base, pot & lid, injector, thermometer, turkey-holder & handle.

It's designed primarily for frying turkeys, as you can tell from the accessories they include. Although I'm sure it can make soups & stews, I'd recommend against it because the aluminum won't hold up well to acidic ingredients. Tomato based soups will discolor the walls and introduce off-flavors. Of course, you could also fill it up with oil and fry whatever else fits in the pot. The more oil you use, the less the temperature drops when you add the cold food. The hotter the oil stays, the less it penetrates into your food, creating crispier & healthier food. But, even at half-full, that's a lot of oil.

The burner is fairly powerful. The manufacturer rates it at 65,000 BTUs. That's a pretty meaningless number since the bottom of the pot is so small compared to the total volume, but it sure sounds impressive when you're showing off your shiny new fryer to your neighbors.

AB (y'all know who AB is right??) suggests 4 short legs (this clearly has 3 long legs) but I'd recommend otherwise. 4 legs have a tendency to wobble if 1 leg is shorter and a wobbly base is a dangerous base. 3 legs will compensate for themselves. At the end of each leg is a little foot which stabilizes the base a bit, but more important are the 2 holes on each foot. These can be used to stake the base in place on the lawn. That way you can be sure the fryer stays put. AB also recommends that the legs be welded to the base, but as long as you remember to tighten the nine 10mm nuts before each use, I don't see how that's any worse than welds. besides, you'll want the modularity of bolts for this next trick.

The pot rests on what can only be described as a claw. You can sort of make them out in the photo. Each "claw" is attached to the base at the same holes as the feet. If you undo the bolts, turn the claws around, and refasten them, you can fit a wok ring over the claws and stir fry outdoors. Wok & ring sold separately.

But why would you want to do that? To properly stir-fry, you need a lot of heat. If you've every tried to fry rice in a cheap non-stick aluminum wok indoors, you may have been disappointed with the resulting mush. That's because it wasn't hot enough to drive off the excess water quick enough. Hot & fast is the trick. Food that hits the heat should be fully cooked in a matter of seconds. That's why real Chinese food is not only delicious, but quick.

BOTTOM LINE: I love this thing. It can be pretty versatile, but out-of-the-box, only does 1 thing: fries turkeys. To ensure this stays cheap, I'm giving it 1 star although I think it deserves 4.

FYI: I bought it at $forty$, and is now selling for $thirty-six$. Get'em while they're hot.

UPDATE: I see they've raised the price back up to MSRP, so it's no longer the amazingly good deal it once was. For the money, I'd recommend getting the REAL professional version (Eastman Outdoors 37063).

The quality of this cooker is excellent. Definitely a bargain for the price paid $39.99. We did purchase this because it said in the features that an aluminum basket and fish fry pot & basket were included. AT least, that's what we thought Features meant. This package comes with everything but those things. I've contacted customer service about this and they are being very helpful.

Just received this item purchased on 11/21, Unfortunately at that time there were no reviews on it.

Again as previous reviews state:

Item is not a Professional Outdoor Cooker as listed Still, but a Commercial Grade Cooker; this printed right on the box.

Features have now been changed, Orginally stated included with an aluminum basket and fish fry pot & basket. I received the items as listed now. All in All it does appear to be a nice cooker, but I bought it for the versitiliy of the features listed previously. Contacting Customer Service on this Misleading Advertisement.

A bunch of you said this was only good for turkeys, but you are wrong. As part of the homebrew community, this has turned out to be a steal of a deal. We need to boil 5 gallons of water and have room for hops and extracts, and this looks like it will work perfectly!!! Amazon ftw!!!

I really like the cooker. I have used it for shrimp boils and it is perfect. I did have to purchase a basket to go inside. Finding the basket was not easy or inexpensive. In fact the basket cost me more than the cooker ($39). Factor that in to your purchase.

Haven't used it yet, but product shipped on schedule. Easy to assemble, and the burner will be used for brewing beer. Note: For those of you using other pots with this burner, you may need to saw off the three brackets, which hold the aluminum stock pot in place.

I received the product with a dent the pan. Everyhting else was as expected.

THe turkey was really good

I ORDERED TWO OF THESE SETS AND WAS NOT SENT WHAT IS DESCRIBED.

THERE IS NO LARGE ALUMINUM BASKET AND NO FISH FRY BASKET INCLUDED. THE DESCRIPTION SAYS IT IS PROFESSIONAL GRADE, BUT I RECEIVED COMMERCIAL GRADE. CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS OFFERED TO SEND ME OUT A REPLACEMENT, BUT I AM ASSUMING THE SAME THING WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. IT SEEMS AS IF AMAZON ATTACHED THE WRONG PICTURE AND DESCRIPTION TO THIS ITEM. BEWARE IF YOU WANT EVERYTHING THAT IS LISTED, THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU WILL GET.