Skirt in the Kitchen
Seasonings for Festive Brine: 1 1/2 cups kosher salt, 7 bay leaves, fresh rosemary and thyme, 1 teaspoon juniper berries, 4 anise stars, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 2 tablespoons peppercorns, 2 tablespoons coriander, 2 cloves crushed garlic, whole cloves and allspice, 1 quartered orange or lemon, 32 ounces apple cider vinegar, 2 thinly sliced yellow onions, and 6 quarts water. Bring water and cider vinegar with seasoning to a good heat, turn off the heat and let cool. Add the turkey and brine with ice included for up to 2 days in the ‘frig. Add more ice when needed to keep it very chilled.
When the turkey has been brined and rinsed, heat the oven to 450°.
Grab lemon pepper and kosher salt.
Make sure the turkey is dry, then rub it down with lard all over the skin, even underneath; under the skin, as well. Liberally press into the skin to rub on the lemon pepper and salt. This will be very salty to tenderize while cooking, not meant for eating except when made into BBQ, allowing the meat to fall apart when thoroughly cooked.
Chop into large chunks the onion, needing 2 large ones to fill into the bottom of a shallow pan with a rack for the turkey to rest on, and for the cavity of the turkey. Put 1 tablespoon lard and onion chunks in the cavity. Pour a good amount of extra-dry Vermouth. I can’t bear to drink this: It’s nasty, just great to cook with.
After 1 hour of cooking at 450°, turn the oven down to 250°; continue to cook for up to 6 hours. Baste the turkey with lard for the first 2 hours. After that, baste with its juices and drippings on the hour. Reminder: This is a turkey precisely cooked for BBQ; otherwise, it will be too salty to eat on its own. It’s an easy, stress-free way to cook turkey. After the turkey has cooled when it’s out of the oven, place it in the refrigerator to cut up into pieces for BBQ the next day.
For 1 batch of BBQ sauce for this particular turkey, combine together these 2 BBQ sauces along with 1/2 cup ‘Jaloween Pepper Jelly Sauce’ posted September 13, 2013 on SITK.
Charbroil white onion, garlic, and an jalapeno.
Chop the meat if not torn for BBQ.
The skin is softened, left with the meat to help season the BBQ sauce. This balances out well, is not salty. The lemon pepper comes through without detecting it.
Take off the blackened edges, just the covering that’s charred. Cut up the rest and stir into the BBQ. This is nice and time-saving to feed a large crowd, and it’s different– it’s not beef or pork BBQ.
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