In the Aftermath of Turkey Day: Taking Stock of the Situation

This evening I had homemade turkey soup for dinner. I started making the soup this past Sunday - or, to be more accurate, I made the turkey stock with which I cooked the soup last night.

My Mom kindly donated to me the leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. Most importantly, the carcass from the turkey roast, which included rather a large amount of meat (both white and dark - I don't discriminate). I tossed the carcass (bones, gristle, skin, bits of meat, and all) into a big stockpot. I also added:

• 1 quartered white onion
• a couple heads of garlic with the tops lopped off
• a couple big carrots chopped into big pieces
• several celery stalks with the tops
• a few whole scallions

Don't bother peeling the veggies (a brief wash helps). I then filled the pot with water so it just covered the carcass and seasoned it with:

• about a tablespoon of peppercorns (black, green, red and white)
• a tablespoon of red pepper flakes
• a few allspice corns
• a few bay leaves
• a tablespoon or so of salt
• and a generous couple tablespoons of generic mixed Italian seasoning

I brought the pot up to a boil, stirring occasionally, and then reduced it to a simmer, where I left it bubbling happily away on the stove, uncovered, for about five hours.

After all this time passed, a lot of breakdown had occurred. The straining part can be tricky, depending on the equipment you have lying around. I hear cheesecloth is key; I didn't have any. What I did was remove the big stuff with a slotted spoon or tongs, tossing all solid matter in the trash - that's right, all those veggies, bones, skin, etc. that are floating around in there. I did a two-step straining process - first I poured the remaining liquid through a colander, which helped to clear out some of the smaller bits and pieces of gristle, detritus and what-have-you. For the next step in the straining process I poured the stock through a napkin laid on the bottom of the colander - this will ensure that you filter out most of the peppercorns, tiny bits of vegetable matter, dirt and whatever other undesirable particulate matter remains in the stock. What you will be left with is a vast amount of beautiful, golden-brown, slightly cloudy turkey stock. I put the stock into the fridge to cool, so as to more easily separate the fat.

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Monday evening when I got home from work I took the stock out of the fridge. It had assumed a thick, gelatinous consistency with a layer of white fat on the top. From what I've read and from what I've gleaned from my primary culinary consultant (Mom), it's necessary to leave some fat in the stock for flavor, but exactly how much is a matter of taste. I've also read that keeping a layer of fat on the stock helps preserve it longer. I skimmed off the majority of the fat (probably about 4/5 of it) and put it in a tupperware container along with probably about half of the stock to freeze for later. Chicken (or turkey, in this case) stock is infinitely useful in a number of cooking applications - as a base for soup or sauces; deglazing a pan of meat drippings; cooking risotto - it's always good to have lying around, and it will last for a good three months in the freezer.

I heated the stock to a boil and added in the following ingredients. You can add whatever you want of course - I've made this before a couple times with pasta but opted to go for the potatoes this time:

• about 2lbs of small, quartered red bliss potatoes
• 1 cup of diced scallions
• 1 cup of diced celery
• 1 cup of roughly chopped roasted turnip (leftover from Thanksgiving)
• two of those frozen mixed veggie packages (carrots, peas, green beans, corn)
• a generous amount of roughly chopped roasted turkey meat (even less than perfect pieces end up tasting great in the soup)
• 3 bouillon cubes (cheating?)
• 2-3 tablespoons of salt

Bring this all to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. Let it simmer for a good couple hours. It will be edible now, but as with most things in the stew/soup category, I find that the taste vastly improves with time and cooling/reheating. So I didn't eat any of the soup yesterday aside from tasting the broth and deciding it was shockingly delicious. I popped the pot in the fridge so that the flavors would meld overnight.

This evening I got home after work, took the turkey soup out and heated up a bowl in the microwave. It was a steaming bowl of hearty, thick goodness, replete with chunky turkey and soft veggies sitting in a cloudy, golden broth. Turkey soup - unpretentious yet ethereal.

The good thing about these types of meals is that they are relatively easy to prepare, requiring little technical skill but a good deal of time. They allow for a lot of variation and experimentation on the way to perfecting your stock and soup recipes. This is a great way to extend those roast chicken or turkey leftovers you have, and as we are right in the middle of Soup Season, it's pretty much perfect fare for lunch or dinner.