Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook—so glad you’re here!
One of the most comforting smells that can come out of a kitchen after the big meal, is the smell of turkey stock simmering on the stove. I try to make turkey stock from every turkey I roast. I usually use up the stock right away, but it also freezes beautifully, so you can pull it out on a weeknight for a quick, nutritious meal of soup and salad or bread.
Making stock is not hard, it just takes a long time–you really do have to simmer it for at least 6-8 hours (or more) to extract the good, rich flavors from the turkey bones. I once had a friend say—“Keri—I tried your recipe for stock and it just didn’t come out—it had no flavor.” I asked a couple of questions and then asked the threshold question: how long did you let the stock simmer? He answered (as he waved his hand dismissively) “oh, gosh—for well over an hour!” I stifled a big snort, and instead patiently explained that stock takes at least 6-8 hours, and more is better. He clearly hadn’t read my recipe. And another note: I tried making stock in a pressure cooker and it had no flavor, so I don’t recommend using a pressure cooker…or a slow-cooker for that matter. To get the really good, rich flavors, you need to have your stock simmering very gently for many hours, and the stovetop is the best place for that.
And so I reitterate: making stock is time-consuming, but it’s worth it. Just remember to schedule it for a day when you’re going to be home. I like to cook stock on a day when I know I’m going to be busy doing other things–yard work, laundry or work. It’s very comforting to know that dinner is already taken care of while I’m toiling away at something else and I don’t have to think about what I’m going to make for dinner 🙂
Once the stock is made, you can toss in some vegetables (either a bag of frozen mixed vegetables or get creative and clear out your fridge—for my soup this year, I tossed in some leftover broccoli I had in the fridge, a couple of carrots, celery and some leftover rice and it made a lovely turkey-vegetable-rice soup.
Or—
Your can make a little roux and thicken the stock to make this deeply satisfying turkey stew:
I hope you had a house overflowing with joy and peaceful coexistence at your house this year and that you’ll enjoy your turkey day leftovers.
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
