Last year, I didn’t do anything with the turkey’s carcass after we had carved and eaten the meat… and the neck and giblets? Straight into the trash, they went!
This year, I wanted to actually use all that good nutritious goodness, so I made stock. This was one of those trial and success (versus trial and error) sorts of things! I’m not sure how you could really mess up the process, but I’ll tell you what I did.
I apologize in advance if photos of turkey necks make you queasy.
First, my dear husband cut apart the turkey carcass enough so that it could fit into our biggest pot. I dumped in the giblets (not the liver though) and the neck.
Then, I threw on about 4 roughly chopped stalks of celery, one and a half onions, chopped into large pieces, and some baby carrots cut in half. I would’ve added more carrots than this but 1) I didn’t have any more and 2) my pot was FULL. Then I dumped in some minced garlic.
Next, I added enough water to fill the pot and turned the burner to medium heat.
And covered the pot… after this I evidently forgot to take photos.
Steam (yes, obviously condensed) dripped down the sides of my pot and sizzled on the burner so I uncovered the pot after a little while.
Once everything heated up, I turned the heat down to medium-low (about a 3) .
Over the course of the day, it hardly seemed to lose much liquid, but if it had evaporated, I would’ve added more water. Not a big deal.
Everything seemed to loosen up after a couple of hours, and I poked the veggies down between everything else, with my wooden spoon.
In the evening, the entire house smelled fantastic, and I was ready to let the poor turkey rest in peace. So I put my mesh sieve over a large bowl, and drained the pot into it. The stock all went through, but none of the “chunks” did.
Then, I covered the bowl with plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, it was easy enough to scoop off the fat that had risen to the top. The rest of it was kind of a jiggly texture, which I’ve been told means “Ya diddit right.” Something about marrow or collagen or something… I didn’t bother looking it up.
Then, I spooned it into gladware containers which each hold about 3 cups, and into the freezer it went for later!
Tomorrow, I’ll post a yummy turkey noodle soup recipe I used it for… it really came in handy with me getting this horrendous cold and all.
Hi! I'm Emily. I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
Reed makes stock in a pressure cooker… you should think about getting one! Makes things like this (or, say, chili) go so much faster.
Reed makes stock in a pressure cooker… you should think about getting one! Makes things like this (or, say, chili) go so much faster.
GS, I threw them out… I just figured that after boiling for 6-8 hours, there was probably nothing good left in them anymore.
I probably would’ve given my dog a couple of the carrots if it weren’t for the onion (really toxic for dogs).
I bet you could compost them though.
You’re so welcome! I hope it goes well for you.
I make terrible soup! I think it’s because I don’t make a proper stock so…thank you so much for the easy-to-follow instuctions. I only have one question: Should I throw out the boiled vegetables? Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!
[...] the turkey stock I made and froze? Well I started with that. I dumped in a 3-cup frozen block of stock, along with 3 cups of water, [...]