Ultimate Turkey Stock Food

TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Combine turkey carcass, onions, carrots, celery, green bell pepper, garlic, chicken bouillon cubes, peppercorns, and bay leaves in a stockpot; pour in enough water to cover. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until flavors blend, about 1 hour. Remove stockpot from heat and let sit for 15 minutes. Strain stock through a cheese cloth and discard solids.

INSTANT POT TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Preheat a 6-quart Instant Pot® using the saute setting on high (see Cook's Note). Add 2 tablespoons oil to the pot and brown your turkey pieces in batches, adding more oil as needed, until golden brown on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Add all the browned turkey pieces back to the pot along with the garlic, celery, carrot, onion, sage, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, peppercorns, 2 quarts water and 2 teaspoons salt.
• Follow the manufacturer's guide for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to pressure cook on high 45 minutes. After the pressure cycle is complete, follow the manufacturer's guide for quick release and wait until the quick release cycle is complete. Be careful of any remaining steam and unlock and remove the lid. Strain the stock through a fine mesh strainer and skim any fat off the top before using.

HOMEMADE TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 450°F.
• Using heavy cleaver, chop wings into 2-inch pieces. (See Test-Kitchen Tips, below.) Spread wings in roasting pan and roast, turning with tongs after 20 minutes, until deeply browned, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in 6-quart stock pot over moderate heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Add wings and any pan juices and reduce heat to low.
• Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners on high heat and cook until browned bits are sizzling, about 1 minute. Add 2 cups cold water and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits with flat wooden spatula or spoon. Pour liquid into pot and add enough cold water to cover ingredients by 1 inch, about 14 cups.
• Raise heat to high and bring to boil, skimming foam from surface. Add parsley, thyme, peppercorns, and bay leaf. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 3 hours, adding water as needed to keep wings covered.
• Pour stock through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, discarding solids. If using immediately, let stand until yellow fat rises to surface, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and discard fat. If not using immediately, place bowl in larger bowl of iced water. Let stand, changing ice water as it warms, until stock is tepid, at least 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, then scrape off and discard fat. (Stock can be made ahead and refrigerated in airtight container up to 2 days or frozen up to 6 months. Reheat in saucepan over low heat before using for stuffing and turkey.)

HOMEMADE TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Place all ingredients in a stockpot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1-1/2 hours., Discard turkey carcass. Cool broth 1 hour. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined colander; discard vegetables and herbs. If using immediately, skim fat from broth; or refrigerate 8 hours or overnight, then remove fat from surface. Broth can be frozen up to 2-3 months.

ROASTED TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Using a sturdy knife or your hands, cut or tear turkey carcass into large pieces. Arrange in a single layer in a roasting pan and roast until brown and sizzling, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from oven and transfer pieces to a stockpot.
• Add onions, carrots and celery to the empty roasting pan and place over medium heat. Sauté briefly, just to loosen the crusty turkey bits from bottom of pan.
• Return pan to oven and cook until vegetables are browned around the edges, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove pan from oven and place it over medium heat. Add white wine and cook, stirring, until wine is reduced to a syrup, about 3 minutes.
• Add wine-vegetable mixture to stockpot. Add garlic, thyme, bay leaves, black peppercorns and chile. Add 6 quarts water and place over medium-high heat just until mixture comes to a boil.
• Immediately reduce heat to low, skim any foam floating on top and simmer, skimming as needed, for 3 hours. Add 1 teaspoon salt and taste. If stock tastes watery, keep simmering until stock is flavorful. Taste for salt again and add more if needed.
• Strain stock through a sieve into a large container or containers. Discard solids. Let stock cool slightly, then refrigerate. Skim off any fat from the top of the stock. Use within 4 days or freeze.

TURKEY BROTH

Steps:

• Insert kitchen shears into the carcass and make a few cuts to get you started. Then, use your hands to carefully pull the carcass into 4 or 5 pieces.
• Combine the carcass, onions, carrots, celery, parsley, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves in a stockpot. Cover with cold water (about 7 quarts).
• Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer about 2 hours, occasionally skimming any foam or fat from the surface with a large spoon or ladle.
• Pour through a large mesh strainer into a pot; discard the solids. Cool slightly, then refrigerate in covered containers for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.

TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot or your biggest saucepan, and top up with 2 litres water. Add more water to cover all the ingredients if needed.
• Bring to a simmer over a high heat, skimming off any foam that appears on top of the liquid with a spoon. Reduce to a medium heat, then simmer, half covered, for 3 hrs - the stock will have reduced and concentrated its flavours. Or, if you prefer a lighter stock, cover fully while simmering.
• Turn off the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes, then carefully strain into a container or bowl to cool completely. Will keep in the fridge for a week and for three months in the freezer.

TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500°F with rack in lowest position.
• If using turkey wings, halve at joints with a cleaver or large knife, then crack wing bones in several places with back of cleaver or knife. (Do not crack bones if using other parts.) Pat turkey dry. Roast turkey parts, skin sides down, in dry roasting pan, turning once, until browned well, about 1 hour. Transfer to an 8-quart stockpot using tongs, reserving fat in roasting pan.
• Add onions, celery, and carrots to fat in pan and roast, stirring halfway through roasting, until golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Add vegetables to turkey in stockpot.
• Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add 2 cups water and deglaze by boiling, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 1 minute. Add deglazing liquid to turkey and vegetables in stockpot, then add remaining 3 1/2 quarts water along with remaining ingredients and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer, uncovered, 3 hours.
• Strain stock through a large fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, discarding solids. (You will have about 10 cups stock.) If using immediately, let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes, then skim off and discard fat. If not, chill, uncovered, until cool, then covered, before skimming fat (it will be easier to remove when cool or cold).

RESCUED TURKEY STOCK

Steps:

• First, you need a turkey carcass, stripped of all its meat; if you're lucky, you'll be at someone's home and they'll be throwing it away-- that's the time to shout, I'll take it!
• You will also likely discover that you'll be able to rescue a lot of meat off the carcass; this is a bonus, since you now have the meat for the soup as well.
• Try to make the stock the day after the turkey was cooked, but if you have to wait another day or so, that's okay; it'll taste best, though, if you can get to it soon.
• Let's get started; first, get out a large pot.
• Next, start to strip off any meat clinging to the carcass; put this in a container and set aside; note that this is a hands-on job and you will get a little messy; that's okay, both your hands and your counter wash up easily.
• As you are stripping off the meat (don't fret, you won't get it ALL, some stubbornly clings to the bones and that's okay, it too flavours the stock), continue to break up the bones and put them in the pot; also put in the pot any turkey skin and all the other assorted"bits" that aren't edible meat.
• When you have the pot full of bones, pour the cold water over and turn heat to high; bring to a boil.
• Now wash up and prepare the veggies and parsley; make sure to leave the onion skin ON as it gives your stock a lovely rich colour.
• When the stock comes to a boil, add all remaining ingredients and turn heat down to a lightly bubbling simmer, the type where the bubbles barely break the surface.
• Now let it simmer for 3 to 4 hours, stirring every once in a while.
• I much prefer letting it reduce down to where I'll only get 7 or 8 cups of stock; I find the flavour much better and stronger, even if I have to add water when making the soup.
• If you only let it simmer till you have about 12 cups of stock, it will be ready sooner but the flavour is much weaker.
• Once you feel your stock is ready, strain it through a fine-meshed sieve into a large bowl; if your sieve is not fine, line it first with cheesecloth; discard the bones and veggies you used to make the stock, all their goodness is now in your stock.
• Refrigerate stock, covered, for several hours or preferably overnight; then you can either make soup the next day, or freeze the stock; make sure you skim off the solidified fat before you either make soup or freeze the stock.