The lady that butchered my last batch of chickens uses one, She has a thermometer with a wire in the water to moniter temperature, if it gets too hot she adds cold water from the hose (kept handy) to cool it down. seems to work well. I don't know what brand it is just looks like a run of the mill outdoor burner with a large stock pot.

Deep frying a turkey makes for a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have been deep frying since 2001, and even then it was unusual to do here in NJ. When I built a BBQ island I installed a large side burner suitable for a turkey fryer, and the island is ceramic tile so minimal fire risk. I see some of these things they sell at various big box stores and am amazed that people will use these dangerous looking contraptions. If you are going to fry a turkey make sure the vat holding the oil is as stable as can be. It is worth it to spend the extra $30 - $60 and get the better qaulity unit. The OP asked about what else to use it for and these would include Crab fest, lobster boil, or a heck of a lot of corn on the cobb. We also will fry an oven stuffer chicken sometimes. There are some huge upsides to frying the turkey, not the least of which is that they come out delicious. Guests kindly ask for leftovers, and there are some so many marinade, brine, and injection variations that you can get very creative. Additional upsides include freeing up oven space so we could use one oven for warming while baking in the second. This year I tried smoking a turkey in addition to the fryer and it too came out wonderful. We had a vigerous discussion on which people liked better (I think I liked the smoked better myself). And we have never had a leftover dinner as anticipated as the friday after this year. Everyone came back for a second meal this year even though we skipped the fine china.

Absolutely has nothing to do with frying. It's just a roaster. It roasts some things well, but not everything. It is not very efficient in fuel use, and it does not cook food faster. I am not sure how you can use it to roast many vegetables. Since it cooks by infrared, anything in IR shadow will tend to be uncooked. It probably can roast a small chicken well. dcarch

There's just the two of us, no neighbors closer than 15 acres away through the dense woods, and family is more than hour and a half drive away, so a big seafood boil I would love but leftovers aren't as good as fresh and hot. I haven't tried my big wok on the propane burner but it should work really well - that's a great idea. I will look for a stainless steel pot if my third electric roaster gives up during my apple butter session this October. Thanks for the suggestions. My DH keeps asking why I don't use the gift and I don't have the heart to tell him why. I may take out the biggest cast iron skillet and make old fashioned pecan pancakes and bacon in it. He'd for sure like that. Thanks for all the suggestions.