Turkey soup

And it begins. The long road to utilizing left overs. Anyone have any good ideas and or recipes?
I started the soup this am. Boil the carcass, strip the carcass, add rice, bring to boil and simmer for a bit. add meat from carcass and left overs, celery, carrots, salt, celery seed, parsley, ground peppercorn and a dash of red pepper flakes (gotta have the heat).

I'll take a stab..

I do it in a few steps... make the stock, defat stock, cook veggies, add meat.

1. Start by stripping all visible fat and big chunks of meat off the carcass and bones.

In a pot start a mirepox mix (onions, celery, carrots) in a little oil, deglaze, and add the carcass, bone and the water. Simmer for around 3 hours being careful not to allow to boil. The simmer allows the fat scum to float to the top where it can be skimmed off.

2. Remove all bones and the mirepox mix, strain the liquid and defat the stock. It's easiest by letting it cool as fast as possible and skimming off the top. It can be done overnight in the frige and skim off the next morning.

You now have some flavorful stock that can be used "as is", frozen, or reduced by 3x+ and frozen in ice cube trays (my preference).

3. Use the stock to cook your vegtables of choice, season as desired. I used chayote, potatos, carrots, and celery because that's what I had on hand. Rice or pasta can sub for the potato and just about any veggies work as well.

4. Add the turkey meat as a last step.

... Simmer for around 3 hours being careful not to allow to boil. The simmer allows the fat scum to float to the top where it can be skimmed off.
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Hi John,
I wonder what damage have I done by boiling for longer periods of time. I don't use a rolling boil but I keep it hot enough to get a constant stream of bubbles. I add just enough water to cover and keep it going long enough so that everything pretty much falls apart. I also take a heavy chef's knife and crack the big bones to expose the marrow.

I'm happy with the results but wonder if there is a better way.

thanks,
hank

I wonder what damage have I done by boiling for longer periods of time. I don't use a rolling boil but I keep it hot enough to get a constant stream of bubbles.

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I think you are doing it right. To me it sounds like you were simmering it as you didn't have it at a rolling boil.

A quick Google search on "why not boil stock" yielded this page which basically says that a rolling-boiled stock is cloudy from the churning of all the fat/particulate and that it may also be more oily as any fat won't be skimmed off.

Most people go by visual inspection of the pot to determine if it is simmering and recipes often call to go to a full boil and then back off to the simmer. One can also insert a thermometer if you really want to double check things, simmering is often listed as between 180 and 200F. I've even used a probe thermometer before with an temp alarm set in case things go too high but that's probably overkill even if you have a burner which is harder to adjust at low settings.

Enjoy the Turkey Soup!

Daniel, is pretty much right on. A full boil will make it very difficut or not allow one to skim off fat skum, instead the fat gets mixed in with the stock resulting in an oily stock/soup.

I simmer, and skim for the first 1-2 hrs then strain and allow to cool and finally skim off any remaining fat after it rises.

Thanks for the tips folks. I did another turkey yesterday so today I have a stock pot on the stove. I've striven to keep temps lower. At the moment it is not visibly bubbling and my probe reads 204°

I can't skim while cooking because I barely cover the bones, skin etc. But skimming is easy enough to do once the stock cools.

I usually do this at slightly higher temp (with a trickle of boiling bubbles evolving) so I might just try a second batch at higher temp using the same remains to see what kind of broth comes off on a second higher temp boil.

thanks,
hank

With water, I go about an inch or so above the bones.

I go on the recommendation to not add the aromatics until your are done skimming scum. I made two gallons of stock and added the veggies after a couple of hours worth of intermittent skimming. It worked great and they didn't get in the way, like they normally do while bobbing on the surface.

Additionally, I carefully ladled out as much as I could and passed it through a strainer. This came out very clear and will be used for clear soups. The rest, I dump though the strainer and will be used for cream soups.

so far, the first gallon went into a batch of cream of garlic soup and an asian meatball soup.

here's a couple shots:

J-placing the mirepox below the bones helps prevent them from rising as well as not cutting them too small.

Some info here, Stock Making

also if you do a lot of soups, James Peterson's "Splendid Soups" is a nice resource.