🍗 Mark and Arlene Have a Fried Turkey 4th of July Family Cookout! 🇺🇸

Well, hello, and happy 4th of July. We’re so glad you joined us today. We’re not in the kitchen, but we’re right outside the studios here at Cornerstone Television. We’ve pitched a couple of tents. We’ve got the grill going. And we’re having a 4th of July picnic. All kind of good things. You don’t want to miss it. Call your friends on the phone, say come on, turn in, because you know we always do great things when we have an outdoor picnic. The sun is in our favor today. We have no rain, happy to say. And the temperatures are pleasant. So, right after the hint, we’re going to come back and Mark is here, my favorite nephew. He’s here to do some great things in our picnic area and you don’t want to miss it. We’ll be right back in just a minute. Here’s today’s At Home Hint. The next time you bake a cake, spray the beaters with Pam before mixing the batter. When the batter is made, you won’t have to clean the beaters off because the batter falls right off the beaters. No waste, and the clean up is a snap. If you’ve got a helpful hint, we’d like to hear from you. Send your hint to At Home Hints, Cornerstone Television, Wall, Pennsylvania 15148-1499. Well, here he is. He’s back again. Mark, we’re so glad you’re here.

Oh, I’m glad to be here.

Oh man.

Glad to be here.

Okay, so, did you bring us fish?

No, no fish this time.

This is the fish — and no deer.

No deer. No fish.

What’d you bring?

No pizza. Turkey.

Turkey?

I’m going to fry up a nice 14-pound turkey.

Okay, and how you going to do it?

We’re going to deep fry it.

Wow, okay.

[Inaudible] on this pot we got going right here.

Okay, so, tell me, how do you do this? Because there’s a lot of safety factors and a lot of stuff that goes on.

It’s a lot of setup. Safety is a big factor.

Yeah, that’s good to have that.

Got to have a fire extinguisher —

Absolutely.

Close by. Some water just in case —

Okay.

You overspill. Here we are setting it up. This is a new style tank.

Yeah.

You can see, you don’t need a wrench or nothing. It’s just hand tight.

Cool.

It’s all you need to do.

And, you know, this is really — this is B role what we call. So, we’ve taped this earlier because we want to stress how important it is to do the safety factor.

Sure.

Okay.

Make sure that’s nice and tight.

Then —

Here —

Oh, look at that baby.

Setting the pot on. It’s brand new. Ain’t that nice?

You did that for the show, how nice.

Oh, they’ve changed so many things from the old style —

I’m telling you.

That I had 10 years ago.

Oh, okay.

What I’m doing here, we got the turkey in there. This is the way we’re going to fry up. We have no oil in there.

Yeah, but there’s no oil.

That’s right.

What’s the deal?

We’re seeking the oil level, so we’re using water to do that.

Because you don’t want to take it — clear the top so it’s —

No.

Like bubbling everywhere. Okay.

Even though the pot is marked, we got to make sure just to be safe.

All right. So, what are you —

So, we’re pouring the water in, just like we pour the oil on.

Just plain water?

Just plain water.

Plain water, okay.

And you want it to come up just to the top, maybe an inch or two below.

The turkey, you mean?

Exactly.

Okay.

Because it’s going to bubble up. It’s going to cook fine.

Yeah. So, that’s how you gauge how much oil you’re going to need, by how much water?

That’s exactly right.

So, you should remember how much water it takes, and then that’s how far you fill it, right?

Sure. Now, one thing you don’t want to do is mark that level.

You don’t want to mark that level?

No. No. No. See, that’s how high the water is right now.

Oh, okay. Okay.

That’s not where you want to make your mark.

Well, how do I know where I want to make my mark?

Well, we’re going to take the turkey out.

Okay.

And the basket.

Okay. And you just let that drain because that’s just plain water, because it’s all perfectly clean.

Just let it drain because it’s just like your oil is going to do the same thing.

All right, good. And so, then you just let that drain?

Yeah.

Now, we have to season that. We’re going to do that in a minute. But does it take a long time for the oil to come up, to get it to heat?

Yeah, it does. Probably about a half hour, 45 minutes.

Okay.

Now see, there’s our oil level, right there.

Now, how do we know that, though?

Well, see, it’s marked on there. And I just proved the fact that that’s a good mark on the can.

Okay, great.

On the pot.

On the pot.

Yeah.

So, you know what to do.

We know what to do.

Because the pan, they’re making these better, huh?

It proved to me for that bird. And the turkeys come different sizes, different weights.

Right.

So, you’re better off checking it that way to make sure.

Good idea.

You don’t want it coming and boiling over.

Okay, so, now you have the hot oil going, right?

Right. I’m just taking it just under 400 degrees.

Oh, unde4r 400.

Just under.

That’s hot oil, isn’t it?

Cooking temperature, 350.

Okay.

It’s going to cook three and a half minutes per pound.

Okay, great.

So, 14-pound bird.

Okay, so, this is — what kind of oil we using here?

That’s a cottonseed oil.

Oh, I know you used to do peanut a lot.

Peanut is absolutely the best.

I know, but —

But —

Some people have allergies.

Some people have allergies, so we’re playing it safe.

Hey, but this is just as good. It’s a nice, light oil, isn’t it?

Oh yeah. It’s fantastic.

Cottonseed.

And we take it up to the same level —

That you marked it.

As before.

Okay. Okay. And then that’s going to come up to temp, which is about 400. Then when you drop the turkey, that baby is going to —

Oh yeah.

It’s going to go down, right?

You’ve got to be careful, yeah.

Yeah.

Just under 400. Because when you put the turkey in, it’s cold, it’s going drop the temperature of the oil.

Now, should —

And you want to maintain 350.

Should that turkey be right out of the fridge or should it be like room temperature?

You can take it room temperature.

Probably better because the colder —

Yeah, got to make sure —

Is going to take a little longer.

There’s no water and it’s dry.

Okay, and in the instructions, they’re going to be in our newsletter.

Yeah. And these pots, they’re marked so well, you know?

Oh yeah.

So maybe people have made mistakes. Catch your garage, your house on fire.

Everybody’s learning, yeah.

They’re —

You don’t want to stuff this turkey.

Safe as possible.

You don’t want to stuff it?

Oh no, no.

Never.

No, you don’t want to do that.

That’s what will give you that combustion, like burning down the house thing. We don’t want to do that.

Exactly.

Okay. All right, go ahead. Now, we got to season it, right?

Okay, what I do, I’m going to trim it up. I take —

Yeah, the part that went over the fence last.

That off, and any very, very loose skin.

But, you know, skin is good when it’s deep fried.

Oh —

But you don’t want too much of that, right?

It’s fantastic. But I don’t want nothing that’s going to keep the oil in when I pull it out.

No, you’re right. You’re right.

You know, I want to make sure this is —

Oh, you’re even cutting that part, too.

I’ll cut off — oh yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, we’re going to trim that off.

Well, you know, it’s going to look nicer, too, when you go to carve it, too.

It does.

And you just carve this like you would like a Thanksgiving turkey, right?

Exactly.

Nothing extra special. Nothing fancy.

Nothing special. I like to keep this cavity open all the way through just so you get a good drain.

Sure.

If you don’t — if you like to do it this way, put the bird in legs first.

Oh okay. Okay. That makes sense.

Because it’ll just hold the oil in.

Now, tell me this, could you do this with a turkey breast?

Sure. You just three and a half minutes a pound.

Three and a half minutes a pound.

Put it in the basket. Season it up anyway you like.

No matter what size turkey, as long as it fits in there and you go through those first steps.

That’s correct.

Then everything will be cool. But you just got to make sure that you do it by 3.5 minutes per pound, right?

That’s right.

Okay.

Three and a half minutes a pound.

Okay.

And we’ll give it an extra five.

Just to be sure.

Just to be sure.

Yeah, there’s nothing worse than opening a turkey and it’s not ready.

So, that’s trimmed up pretty good.

Yeah.

You can take any fat —

Okay.

Off that you see.

Got three minutes here.

Okay.

It’s looking good. Nice turkey. You know, while you’re doing — you’re carving that, we’re going to come while you’re doing that. But I’m going to put some stuff together for some side dishes.

Okay.

Okay? What kind of seasoning are you going to do?

This is a Cajun seasoning. That’s it.

Just any —

That is it.

Your favorite, right?

I don’t inject them. I just —

I think that’s good.

And you’re going to think there’s a lot on here.

Now, it deep fries off the —

You put — you just cover it with it.

Okay.

Inside and out.

While he’s doing that, I’m going to start with my — I figure some side dishes, like a nice taco dip with some — like tortilla chips would be nice. So, I have eight ounces of cream cheese, really soft, here. And I’m going to put eight ounces. This is called eight-ounce taco dip, because it’s eight ounces of everything, okay? And then we’re going to do eight ounces, which would be a up, of sour cream. And you know what, you don’t have to be super, super, super careful on the amounts with this. And we’re just going to mix those together. And then we’re going to add, since it’s an eight-ounce taco dip — wow, does that smell good, Mark. Geez. Maybe you should throw some of that —

Spicy, yeah.

Over here in my taco dip.

And you’ll surprised, you know, it just adds the right flavor.

Oh yeah.

You know?

It’s got all those good spices in there.

Uh-huh.

Then we’re going to do about a cup — about a cup of salsa. Now, I got — I got the medium, because if it’s hot some people can’t eat it. But I don’t know any on this crew that would be. But just for the ladies in the crowd, okay? And now we have — mix this together really, really well. Okay, you’re dropping it in that bucket.

Yeah, just drop it right in. The old style has a stand, which was nice and it worked good.

Yeah.

But I like the bucket.

Well, it’s so much easier —

I really like the bucket.

To get it out, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, my goodness.

Sits right6 in there. You’re done with it.

Sure.

And we got the oil up to just under 400. And —

Now, you don’t cook it the whole time?

These are — these are welding gloves [Laughing].

Just to be safe, right?

Yeah.

No chance.

I’m going to put them both on. Because this thermometer will get hot.

Okay, does that come with the whole setup?

It does.

Okay, great.

That and the hook. You got this hook here.

Okay. Look at that.

Now, we’re going to drop it.

Man, have they perfected these babies.

And the reason you have the glove because you want to put it in as slow as possible.

Possible, yeah. And drained —

Because it’s going to —

Of all water, too, by the way.

Absolutely [Oil sizzling].

Hear that sizzle. Wow.

Just a little at a time.

Yeah, slowly, huh? Oh.

Because if you don’t, it’s going to —

I can smell it already. That’s awesome. Wow.

That’s incredible. I wish you could smell this because, of course, those — all of that is just coming this way and it smells wonderful. It smells like we’re eating — sitting — ready to sit down at the table and eat because that grease is really hot and it’s searing that outside skin, right?

Uh-huh. Oh yeah.

You know what I like, too, is when you have hot grease and you put food in it, it doesn’t make the food greasing.

No.

If you sit it in a lower temperature grease, it soaks into the meat because it’s not frying it.

That’s right.

That’s the difference between —

And right at the end, don’t get too anxious to just drop it in.

Take a little at a time.

Just hold it there for a while.

Yeah, I see it’s taking you some time.

The oil is dropping temperature a little bit.

Sure. But then you’re going to maintain, not 400, right? You’re going to bring it up to 350?

Three fifty we’re going to cook it at.

Gotcha. Okay.

So, 14 pounds at three and a half minutes, about 50 minutes.

About 50 minutes.

Fifty-five minutes we’ll cook it.

Okay. Okay, when we —

And we’ll check it.

When we come back, believe it or not, that turkey is going to be done. My taco dip is going to be done. And we’re going to make some stuff on the grill. Stay with us. We’ll be right back in just a minute. Oh, look at that. Well, if you’re just joining us, we’re here at our 4th of July picnic outside the studios at Cornerstone. We’ve dropped the turkey, remember when we left you. It’s 55 minutes later and look at the turkey. He just pulled it up out of the pot. And now, you’re letting it just rest, huh?

Just drain it a little bit. It’s been draining for about five minutes getting all the excess —

Look at that.

Grease out of there.

Are you seeing that picture inside? Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

Everything is totally cooked.

So, it’s been draining.

Now, you’re going to do what?

I’m going to pull it out, put it on this, and leave it sit for about — at least 15 minutes before you ever carve it.

Yeah, so the juices all go back in, right?

Exactly.

Okay, so, we have a nice big, heavy platter here and we have some paper towels, right?

Right. Okay, go for it. Oh, my goodness. And look, there’s not even any grease or anything like really dripping from it because you let it drip in there, right?

That’s right. There we go.

If it flies away, I’m leaving, folks. No, it’s going to stay [Laughing]. It looks like it could take off, though, doesn’t it, Mark?

It’s good.

Wow, look at that seasoning on there. Awesome.

Good. It smells great.

Okay, now, you still got the oil hot.

Still got the oil going.

We may as well do something, right?

Absolutely.

What do you think?

We got some French fries.

We got potatoes. Let’s French fry. Oh, can you imagine a Cajun seasoning in that oil on these fries.

Oh, yeah.

Go for it.

It’s all in the oil.

Yeah.

It’s great.

Now, you have to let that come back up.

We still — we still got temperature. We’re still good.

Oh, you do.

See, 350. We left it going.

So, do you do the fries on the same, 350?

We’re good to go.

Three fifty.

Yeah, we’re going to use the same basket.

Oh man. Okay.

Now, we got hot oil, let’s just keep going.

Everything with the gloves on, folks, so there’s no burning possible.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay? We don’t want that.

Yeah, we don’t want to get burned.

Okay, I’m going — I’m going to do some coleslaw, okay?

Okay.

All right, we already have like a nice, big head of cabbage here that we had — we’ve used the food processor to grind it. Put a little bit of carrot in there. You can put some like red onion, whatever you want to. But this is the way mama made it, okay? This is sugar. I just do like two teaspoons of sugar, depending more if you have a bigger had a cabbage, okay? And then we do a little salt. I like to use — do you use this kosher salt, nice and thick?

Oh, I love it.

Because it bursts. I love that. You don’t have to use as much either. And then I’ve got this new — this is my new favorite toy. Look at this.

Pepper [Inaudible].

Yeah. And you know what —

Oh yes.

It’s like four bucks. It’s like you get the whole thing and the grinder and everything.

I love a lot of pepper.

Yeah, me too. That’s what makes it good.

I got about half of these in there. That should be about enough.

Yeah, because we got 10 pounds of — you know, if we’re doing this, we’re doing it up. We got 10 pounds of potatoes. Oh, okay, enough with the pepper.

Just like the turkey, real slow.

Slow and easy, huh?

That’s right [Oil sizzling].

All right, wow. If you could smell this, you would just be going crazy time because it doesn’t take long for them to cook, does it? Not in that kind of heat.

Not long at all. I’m going to mix them up.

Okay, now, back to my coleslaw. I’m just going to add — you have to use Hellmann’s. You know, I’m not getting a kickback, but I’m telling you, Hellmann’s is the best when it comes to a creamy coleslaw. You’ve got to use Hellmann’s. And you can make it — I like to make this even like a couple hours ahead because, as it sits, the juice from the cabbage thins out the mayonnaise and makes an incredibly delicious sauce for your coleslaw. You want to keep all of this stuff, anything that has mayonnaise, you know, anything like with cream cheese, sour cream, keep it refrigerated right until you’re ready to serve it. What’s it looking like over there? How long do you think they have to cook?

Oh, probably five minutes.

Five minutes.

Five, seven minutes, that’s all.

And a whole big basketful, too.

Oh yeah.

Wow.

Shouldn’t take long.

You know what, even if I never did a turkey, I’d do that for the French fries, man. That’s awesome.

Yeah.

I love it.

It takes great with all that seasoning in there.

Yeah.

That’s the best.

Okay, so, like I know you can do fish in that thing and everything else, huh?

Oh yeah.

I mean —

Like seafood boils.

Like it’s not just for turkey.

You know, fill it with water.

Okay.

You could probably do a dozen ears of corn.

Yeah, I was just going to say probably corn on the cob would be great.

Oh, absolutely.

And you can control the heat, too, which is nice.

You have to.

Sometimes when you do it on a charcoal grill, if it goes out —

Right.

You’ve lost your heat.

And with this oil, it’s very important to control the heat throughout the whole process, the whole cooking process.

Oh yeah.

Keep it at 350 and you’re good.

That’s great. And again, like those pots, they’ve really improved them, haven’t they —

Oh yeah.

From what they used to be? Sure.

They’re a lot safer.

Okay.

You can see all the writing on there.

Yeah.

All the caution, don’t do this, do this.

And before you ever use one of these, please read the booklet thoroughly.

Yeah.

That’s your best friend.

Definitely. Absolutely.

Okay. Great.

Absolutely.

We’re having French fries. We have turkey, coleslaw. We have a taco dip. We have a killer fruit salad, a melon ball salad. That’s all I’m going to tell you. And then we have peppermint brownies. Oh, can you imagine peppermint brownies? Awesome. Delicious. Okay, you know what, you got them cooking.

They’re going good.

I’ve got this going.

we’re going to put some brats on the grill. And when we come back, we’re going to be at the picnic table with Mark’s whole family, the rest of our kids. We’ll be back in just a minute. Well, it’s time to eat. We’ve done a lot of prep, Mark and I. And Mark’s family, Lisa, Jake, and, of course, you know Josh. He’s a little guy on the open. Not so little anymore, just graduated high school. But we’ve join — we all joined together, and a lot of other people are coming. But here’s the table. Mark, this stuff —

It’s great.

Oh, my goodness. Let go to the turkey. We’re going to go around. Let’s just go around the table. Here’s the turkey. He’s already totally carved it.

Rested out and cut evenly, then it’s all dark meat and —

And that crispy skin is on there.

Oh, just — it’s the best part.

And it tastes so good. Next, we did some asparagus on the grill. Just a little bit of olive oil and a little season salt — I mean, a little sea salt. It’s that kosher salt. We’re going to squeeze some lemon that. Look at the French fries.

That looks good.

That is like — that’s 10 pounds of potatoes, you know that?

Is it?

That’s what 10 pounds of French fries —

Ten pounds.

Looks like. Absolutely. There’s my coleslaw up there. That’s a nice addition to it. Then we did some bratwurst. These are Johnsonville brats. Just grill them, cut little slits in them, brown them on the grill. Put — oh, this is a great bun.

Great bun, yeah.

Yeah. Then we just did — we fried up some sauerkraut.

Sauerkraut.

A little bit of onion, a little bit of butter. We can put that on that. Or we have hotdogs also. This is our taco dip we talked about. And we put them — this is my — isn’t this neat?

Uh-huh.

This is melon ball salad. All melons, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon. Then we just did some cherries. And when you have to worry about the heat, we packed it in a watermelon. Made — this is the receptacle. Then we just put it in a big bowl with ice around it to keep it chilled, because fruit will deteriorate really quickly. And then we just put some parsley and just to jazz it up a little bit. Added some hotdogs. And then over there, that’s our peppermint brownies. Now, I’m going to tell you, they’re good. Are they good, Lisa?

Yeah, they’re good.

Yeah, they’re good. Okay. They’re so easy with a layer of peppermint patties in it with the brownie mix. We did some lemonade. And you know what, these are great because on a hot day like this, these little freeze pops, everybody enjoys this. Everybody enjoys it. And you know what, it’s nothing greater than to have family around on a holiday, just get together like this. It’s just great. And thank God, Mark, that we have a country that we have the freedom to do that.

Absolutely.

There’s countries all over the world that they’ve not even seen some of their family because they’ve been scattered because of war, been scattered because of families going this way, that way. We are so privileged to live in the United States of America. Do we have problems? I’d say yeah. But you know what, this country was founded on Godly principles. And the Scripture says if we will humble ourselves and pray for our country, He would heal it. So that’s our part. That’s what we can do. Pray for our political leaders. But let us remember to always be thankful. This is a country of freedom, and freedom is not free.

That’s right. We have to keep God in our Constitution.

Absolutely.

To keep America strong and keep going strong.

Yeah, that’s what this country was built on.

That’s what it was built on, absolutely.

And when we waver from that, that’s when we get into problems.

That’s right. And every time I see us getting further and further away, it’s so disserving.

Yeah, it’s scary.

It is.

Because I think about these guys, what they’re going to have to face.

That’s right.

But you know what, I’m also reminded that we serve a powerful God, and He took care of my generation, taking care of your generation, taking care this guy’s generation. And until Jesus comes, we know that He holds the world in the palm of His hands. That’s a real comfort to me.

Oh, absolutely.

That’s a really big comfort. Well, I hope you’re planning something like this for your big holiday party and picnic. And if it rains, make it anyway and eat it on the inside. Why not? You know, the best part of it is having family around, having good food, having conversation. You say, Arlene, but you don’t know about my family. We get together, we fight. Don’t do it on this day. Just say truce, time out. Everybody time — you don’t — you guys don’t fight.

Huh-uh.

No, honest, they don’t. Well, maybe every once in a while [Laughing]. Right, Jake? But anyway, we’re really glad that this could be a meaningful time. A lot of this stuff can be prepared ahead of time. I would do the turkey right before. I would do the fries before. But most everything else can be prepared ahead of time.

Right on the grill.

Yeah, and vary the menu, too, right?

Yeah, I appreciate the help today, too.

Hey, yeah.

It was great.

Everybody was pitching in today. This was great because we’ve been working two days to pull this off. You can’t imagine. But we like to do it for you because you’re part of our family. We pray that you have a wonderful, wonderful 4th of July. It’s — it is truly a nation under God. We can’t get away from it. We don’t want to get away from it because that’s our hope, okay? Well, what’s the plans?

Plans? Let’s —

Swim in the pool after this?

Oh yeah.

We’ve got to find somebody who has a pool.

Take a dip. Got to eat first.

Oh yeah, have to. We’ll go to Lisa’s, she got the pool.

That’s right.

Somebody should call and tell Lisa we’re coming because we’re all going to take a dip because it’s really — it’s a great day. And I’m so thankful for all of you being here. Thankful, family, that you’re here today because, without you, it wouldn’t be worth doing programs like this. I hope you enjoy the cookouts. And remember, when Jake was on just last year when the whole family was on and he was cooking with us, we had a great time. That’s what family is about, doing things together. And we like it when you, the family, drop by. So, what else can we say?

I don’t know.

Nothing else, right?

Except tune in next week.

Yeah. There’s a good idea. We’ve heard that before somewhere [Laughing].

Somewhere.

Somewhere, yeah, like for 15 years. By the way, this week, this week is the beginning of our 17th year doing At Home. We are the longest running Cornerstone Television produced program and we thank you.

Wow.

Hundreds and hundreds of programs. On the 5th of July, we start our 17th year.

Wow.

Thank you because you made it possible, family. Happy 4th of July. Be sure to join us the next time because, you know what, it just wouldn’t be the same without you here At Home. We’ll see you then.

Happy 4th of July.

Happy 4th. Happy 4th, yeah. Let’s eat. Pass us the plate over there.

Furnishings provided by Levin Furniture, featuring Lane’s Country Living collection. Food provided by Jordan Banana Company, wholesalers of fresh fruit and vegetables in Dravosburg, Pennsylvania.

Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.