The Weekly Feast – Broth

If you’re like me, you currently have a turkey carcass somewhere in your fridge, freezer, or on your (very cold) porch. Thanksgiving was delicious, and you’ve mostly picked that carcass clean. What’s left are the bits no one generally eats (wings maybe, or the bottom of the bird, the backbone, and perhaps the neck and giblets). Don’t throw those away, folks. That right there is Winter Gold.

To make a hearty turkey broth is quite easy. You can do it in a crockpot, a Westinghouse (which is my method), or on your stove top. This can even be done over a fire, on a hearth, or on top of your wood stove, if you like. You simply need a heat source that will bring your liquid to a low simmer, but not a full boil.

Whatever method you’re using, the preparation is exactly the same. First, denude your bird. Pull off ALL the edible meat (yes, even from the legs). Leave behind tendons, bones, gristly bits, and parts no one eats. Store the meat in the fridge for later. Now take your hands, a large knife, or a good pair of kitchen sheers and cut the bird into pieces that will fit into whatever you’re making your broth in. You want all the bones and bits to be submerged, so depending on your size of pot, you may need to chop up the bird fairly small. It’s perfectly okay to put the carcass into your pot then use a large spoon or a wooden mallet to shove and break it until it fits. For our purposes, it does not matter if the bones are broken.

Once the bird is in the pot, you will begin to add your vegetables. If you want to be truly frugal, you should add in all the peelings and skins from Thanksgiving dinner. I didn’t save all mine (though I have in the past), so instead, I’m adding in the following:

• one whole onion, skin on, quartered
• one head of garlic, cut in half so all the cloves are halved, skin on
• 2 bay leaves
• leftover carrots (carrot tops and skins are fine here, too)
• celery tops (the leafy bits, rough chopped)
• whatever herbs you prefer (my garden yielded the last of the sage, thyme, and some parsley)
• whatever spices you prefer (at least the standards: salt, pepper, garlic)

Add all these to your pot, and then pour in enough water to cover everything, but not to boil over. Bring your broth to a boil, and then put the temperature down to low and let it simmer for several hours.

What you’ll end up with, after all of the above, is a lovely pot of turkey broth. You should strain the broth through a very fine mesh sieve or some cheesecloth, so that all you have left is the broth itself. This can be frozen, canned, or if you are going to use it soon, put into the fridge. I always let my broth sit and cool either on the porch or in the fridge, then I skim off the fat from the top (which I use in other things, I might add).

If you want to be TRULY frugal, take all the bones and bits, and dump them back into your stock pot. Add more water. Take that big wood mallet or spoon and smash down the bones, breaking them. Add more spices, and if you want, more vegetables. Bring to a boil and then let it simmer on high this time for quite a while, at least several hours. This will actually begin to dissolve the bones, and you’ll end up with a bone broth. Bone broth will get a somewhat gelatin look to it when it’s stored in the fridge, and it’s VERY good for you. It’s also tasty as all get out. This second batch of broth will be more dense, because the marrow from the bones will get into it. I tend to freeze it in ice cube trays, so that I can grab out one “broth cube” whenever I need a burst of flavor. A broth cube is about a tablespoon of broth, which is handy for many recipes.

To make turkey soup, all you need to do is add your pre-made broth to a soup pot, then add in whatever meat and vegetables you’d like. Tonight, I’ll be adding a potato, an onion, a carrot, a bit of celery, some leftover plain rice, a bunch of leftover turkey, and a spoonful of the gravy we made (it adds a bit of fat and flavor). Simmer on low heat for an hour or two, until the vegetables are soft and ready to eat. You can also dump everything into your crockpot and set it to low heat for up to 8 hours.

I’ll also be making noodles for my soup tonight. I’ll be kneading together two eggs, a couple of cups of all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, and a scant quarter teaspoon of very good olive oil. These will be kneaded until they’re smooth and dense, then let to rest for 30 minutes. After resting, I’ll roll out the dough in two or three pieces, until it’s a 16th of an inch thick (or thereabouts). I’ll cut it into thin noodles, then cook them separately in a little bit of broth (you can cook them in the soup, but they will tend to fall apart if you have leftovers, so I make them separately and let people add what they want to their soup bowl). I’ll be serving it up with the last of the refrigerator rolls I made for Thanksgiving dinner.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your friends or family. I hope you had enough to eat, good company, and a relaxing evening with a glass of wine or cider, or a bottle of beer.