Turkey Stock, or Chicken!

Tweet So the Thanksgiving smorgasbord is done.  The cooking, the eating, the cleaning. The tension and stress. Now what is left?  A turkey carcass.  This is really the only thing left over from our Thanksgiving meal.  We do not reinvent left overs into some other turkey recipe or fried dressing balls (although these guys sound worth a try!).  We have a least two more meals of exactly the same thing we ate on Thanksgiving.  Does this mean we are not adventurous?  No, absolutely not.  It means we know all this food that we look forward to for a whole year won't be here for another year so we make it last as long as possible.

The one thing about a turkey carcass is once you think it is done, it is not. If you take a closer look, you will find a lot of tasty morsels all along the back, around the breast and thigh areas.  Very nice, close to the bone, succulent meat.  I found it and I had to hide it. 

Now do you throw the carcass away?  Absolutely not, not yet anyway, I can feel a broth coming on.  At this point if you don't have time or are just downright sick of turkey, toss the carcass in a large freezer bag and the leftover meat in a smaller bag and freeze them until you are ready for them.  I would definitely use them within a month or two.  In my case, within a couple of days!

My kitchen chicken.

Broth it is the cornerstone of any soup.  A soup or chowder is even better with a flavorful, homemade broth.  In this case, I am using turkey bones but chicken bones work perfectly and has more of a delicate, lighter flavor than turkey.  In all honesty, I like chicken stock the best.  Let's get to making a robust, flavorful stock.