Turkey Stock

[ysabetwordsmith]

The turkey stock is cooking.  The carcass just barely fits in my biggest crockpot.  This is why I am a size queen when it comes to crockpots.  :D  To give you an idea, the tail is about the size of my palm.  So, cram the turkey in the crock, cover with as much water as will fit, turn on Low.  Add some onion quarters, a bay leaf, some black peppercorns, and a bit of smoked salt.  Cover and ignore for hours.

Because the carcass is so big, I probably won't get as much stock as usual.  I may mess with it later to see if I can pry any more meat off the bones, thus making more room to add a little extra water.

EDIT: Done and put away.  I got 10 containers of various sizes, which is more than I expected.  \o/

Comments

[mama_kestrel]

If you have a larger stock pot that will fit in your oven, an oven set at 210 degrees does a marvelous imitation of a crock pot on low. That's how I handle my turkey carcasses, when I have them.

try this

[dialecticdreamer]

After at least an hour of simmering, break the bones into parts exactly as if you were jointing the bird to make fried chicken. I'd immediately cool and freeze half the bones to make a separate batch of stock, but depending on your crock pot, you still have enough bones for TWO big batches of stock, given your size estimate.

For comparison- I've gotten rich turkey stock using just the wing tips and backbone of a similar sized bird. The trick is to add bay leaves (3-4 in our house) and about the same number of cloves, stuck into the onion quarters to make it easier to retrieve them later.

[earthspirits]

I love making soup! There's something so satisfying and delightfully homy about it. Yours sounds yummy.