Six Simple Steps To Perfect Turkey Stock

 Making good stock, or broth, is a great skill for any cook to have. It is always easy to buy a package of broth, but why do that when you can easily make your own from leftovers you already have and add only the ingredients you want, and skip all the extra salt and preservatives? Not only does this make perfect sense for the frugal chef, it is also perfect timing for the holidays. Let's take a look at the 6 amazingly easy steps to the perfect turkey stock.

Making stock. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Clean Your Carcass

The first thing you need, in order to make stock, is a carcass. The holidays provide a perfect opportunity for a great carcass. Instead of throwing out the leftover frame and bones from your turkey, it is time to make an amazingly easy stock. The first step in the process is to clean your carcass. This means you need to pick the good meat off of the carcass, put the good meat away, and gather all the skin, fat, and loose bones and put them with the turkey frame into a large soup pot.

2. Chop Your Veggies

After you have cleaned your carcass, it is time to chop the vegetables you want to put in the broth. These vegetables can range from the simple carrots and celery to more unique ingredients such as rhubarb and leeks. When you chop your veggies, chop them into big pieces. You'll be straining these out later so you want them to be big. Put these in the pot with the bones.

3. Add the Water and Seasonings

Now that you have the carcass and vegetables in the pot, it is time to fill up the pot with cold water, enough to cover the bones and veggies.  Add sea salt to get your broth off to the right start.  Then, add whole black peppercorns.  We do this so they strain out instead of leaving the black pepper floating around your clear broth.  You can leave either seasoning out and just season in the end, but it's an easy step to get out of the way.  However, remember the turkey was probably seasoned, so the bones, skin, and fat are seasoned already. The great thing about making your own stock is the ability to taste and season as you wish. I often like to add a bay leaf or two, but depending on what the turkey was seasoned with, feel free to adjust to your own preferences. And for health purposes, you can also add a tablespoon or two of white vinegar. This will help pull some of the nutrients out of the bones into your tasty and healthy broth.

4. Boil then Simmer

Put your pot on a burner on high, leave uncovered, and watch the pot so it doesn't boil too hard.  As soon as the water comes up to a boil, turn the burner down to medium and let it boil gently, not hard, for about 1 hour. Turn the heat down to low, put the cover on, and simmer slowly for 1 to 2 more hours. Make sure you continue to stir your broth once in a while and be sure it doesn't boil hard at any point. You can also add herbs if you like during the slow simmering stage.  Add a bay leaf, thyme, sage, or any seasonings; or none at all.  Remember your broth is most likely going to be used in a recipe that calls for herbs and seasoning, so you want to be light handed.

Broth (Photo credit: beautyredefined)

5. Strain

Now your stock is ready to strain. This is where the larger vegetable pieces make it easier.  Put a large strainer or colander over a second large pot and pour the turkey, vegetables, and stock through to strain.  Let this sit, elevated over the strained broth so the solids drain off all the delicious liquids into the pot.  If desired, you can strain the stock even further by laying a couple layers of cheese cloth or a finer mesh strainer inside a colander and strain the stock through again. The goal is to have the clearest stock you can with as few pieces of seasoning sediments left behind. 

6. Cool and Store

It's important to cool the stock quickly, so as soon as you can handle the stock, pour it out of the big pot and into smaller freezer or refrigerator containers and place them in a bowl or pan of cold water to cool off fast. Once slightly cooled (10 minutes or so), cover containers and move to refrigerator.  Or you can freeze the stock for future use. If you're freezing in bags, stand bag upright inside a bowl, pour in stock and let cool.  Lay out carefully in a baking pan and, while holding opened end up, seal, pushing out the air.  Then lay flat in baking pan and freeze.  You'll have flat packages of broth that way, and you can use in lots of soup or stew recipes throughout the winter.

And there you have it. Six simple steps to a perfect turkey stock made from your leftover holiday turkey carcass. Give it a try this holiday season and you'll be amazed at just how incredibly easy making high quality turkey stock can be. The turkey is one holiday dish that gets multiple chances to take center stage!