Basic Turkey Soup Stock
When you’re faced with all that leftover turkey, you may forget about using the turkey bones for soup stock; or you may not want to face yet another turkey meal. Turkey Stock is an old fashioned idea, but one you will appeciate when you’re looking in the freezer a month from now yearning for some turkey soup!
1 turkey carcass (broken up to fit in pot) and whatever is left of the turkey once the good meat has been removed for other purposes
3 onions, scrubbed clean and cut in half (don’t bother peeling)
1/2 bunch of celery, including the tops, cleaned and coarse cut
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, cut in half (don’t bother peeling)
8 whole peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
In very large soup pot, add turkey bones, onions, celery, and mix together well. Add only enough cold water to come 1/4 way up mixture. Cook uncovered over medium heat, simmering moderately for about 30 minutes. Then after the 30 minutes, add the remaining ingredients to the pot and cover the mixture with cold water. Bring mixture up to a boil and immediately turn down to low to maintain a slow simmer. Cook, covered, for about 3 or 4 hours, checking often to make sure it’s not simmering too hard. After the 3 to 4 hours, remove from heat and pour through strainer into other pots or large bowls and refrigerate stock uncovered overnight. Discard strained off bones, etc. The next day, skim off the fat that has congealed on the surface of the stock and throw fat away. Then, divide stock into freezer containers, seal tightly and freeze. Later, when using your frozen stock, always bring it back up to a boil before using in your soup recipes.
Some folks like to add a can of chicken broth to the finished turkey stock. It adds a somewhat more familiar taste to the stock, which is a plus if you have kids who are picky eaters and, perhaps, more used to eating meals based on canned chicken broth.