Move Your Carcass

I'll warn up you up front that this is going to be a long, photo-laden food post rather like the pumpkin pie adventure from a couple of weeks ago.

One of the best things about Thanksgiving and all the trimmings is the leftovers, don't you think? You can go back for a few days and sample your favorite things again. One of my sisters will cook a turkey dinner even if she's eating somewhere else, just to have the leftovers.  I like to use the turkey in other dishes as well. We have 2 or 3 that are required after the main event that my family really like. One of them is this  soup. Now, I will tell you that this is one of those non-exact recipes. And because it is, I have taken pictures all along the way so you don't get lost. DH's grandmother cooked this way almost all the time and it used to really frustrate me when I was trying to duplicate one of her recipes.

So, here is Carcass Soup, so named because you use the turkey bones to make it.

You need the turkey carcass and any other bits and pieces of meat on the bones and drippings. My DH is really good at taking the meat off the bird and saving this stuff for me in a ziploc bag. I don't have to touch it. You can throw that ziploc in the freezer and just leave it there until you're ready to use it.

Put the carcass in a large pot with:

• about 1/2 a large onion
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 2 bay leaves
• About a Tablespoon of peppercorns
• Some minced garlic
• 2-3 chicken bouillon cubes or about 1 Tablespoon chicken soup base
• Enough water to fill the pot about 2/3 full

Essentially, you're making a turkey stock here. Bring everything to a boil, partially cover pot, reduce heat and simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours. Your house will start smelling like Thanksgiving all over again.

Strain the stock into a bowl. Ideally, this should be done early in the day or even a day before, because then you can put the bowl in the fridge and the fat from the stock will rise to the top as it cools and you can scrape it off, making it really healthy. Failing that, you can invest in one of these fat separating measuring cups and do just about the same thing while the stock is warm.

Return stock to your large pot and bring it back to a boil. In the meantime, cut up some celery, onion and carrots. (These carrots are from our garden. DH and The Girl dug them and stored them in our cool storage.) I've got about 3 stalks of celery, half an onion and 2-3 carrots here. Put them in the boiling broth and let them hang out there cooking.

And while we're on the subject of vegetables, let me introduce you to a little something. This is a container I keep in my freezer. You know those last 2 Tablespoons of vegetables that no one ever seems to be able to eat? I throw them in here and then use them in things like soup or pot pies.  You'll throw these in just to heat through at the end because they are already cooked.

While the vegetables are cooking, cut up some turkey and add it when the vegetables are pretty tender.

Now you have some choices to make. You need to decide what starch you want to add to the soup. You can throw in 1/2 cup of long grain rice and let it cook until done. Or you can throw in some kind of pasta/noodles. Or you can make your own noodles. Making your own noodles isn't hard. It takes a little time and is one of those things that my family loves that I will do for special things like this soup. I know what you're thinking...."She's nuts! She's crazy if she thinks I'm going to make noodles." And that's totally OK. This soup is very flexible and you can add just about anything you want to it and it will be delicious.  But just consider maybe making this soup on a nice snowy weekend when you're at home all day and don't have anything else going on. Not that it takes all day to make noodles....because it doesn't.

So decide what starch you want and add it now, along with the container of leftover veggies. I like to put in about a teaspoon of rosemary and a teaspoon of thyme when I add the starch. When the noodles/rice are cooked, you're good to go.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished soup until we were done with dinner, so here you have the half empty pot....with a very large spoon for visual interest.

Now, if you do decide to go on that big noodle adventure, here's how it comes together.

Noodles (from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook)

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon oil

In a good-sized bowl, measure your flour and salt. Make a well in the middle of it.

In a smaller bowl or measuring cup, mix the egg, water and oil. Pour all at once into the well in the flour and mix together. It's going to get harder and harder to stir as you mix.

When it looks about like this, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 8 minutes, until it's smooth and elastic.

It will looks something like this. Cover it with a towel and let it rest 10 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 sections. Working with 1 section at a time, roll it out into a rectangle approximately 12x9 inches, about 1/16" thick. I don't get it this thin. We like ours a little more substantial. This step takes the longest time. The dough likes to bounce back after you roll it. You can pick it up and stretch it a little, just be careful not to tear it.

Let your rectangles rest on the counter for 20 minutes. Don't go longer than this because the dough starts to dry out. Going back to your lightly floured surface....and I do stress lightly. The more flour you add, the tougher your noodles will be. You want the dough just dry enough to work with, without it sticking to your hands.

Lightly dust the dough with flour. Notice that you can't see obvious flour on the dough. Roll it into a loose jelly roll and slice it with a sharp knife the width you want. Mine end up being about 3/8" wide.

Unroll the noodles and cut the long pieces into about 3" segments.

Repeat this with the other 3 sections of dough until you have a nice gathering of noodles. ( I used two sections of dough in my soup. I threw them in to cook while I rolled the other two sections out.) Drop them into boiling soup or water. Because they are fresh and not dried, they only take a few minutes to cook. Mine took about 5 because they were a little thicker than the recipe called for. If you get yours rolled really thin, they will only take a couple of minutes to cook.

You can freeze the leftover noodles. Just let them dry flat on the counter for at least an hour, then put them in a freezer bag. Do not thaw them before using. Add a minute or two cooking time for frozen noodles.

 

 

Comments

[andrea]

Thank you so much for all the details. I'm one of those that needs exact instructions at first. Can't wait to try this after the next turkey. Thanks!

[Little Sis]

You make your own noodles!!!!!!!!!!! You know, you can buy those.

[margaret]

Yea - this looks good, but way labor intensive. The pioneer woman recommends some pre-made noodles that I found in the freezer section at Walmart.

[pam]

soup looks really good!

[Renee Hicks]

Thanks for the heads up on the turkey noodle soup. I've always wanted to attempt that, but never asked. The noodle recipe was much appreciated too. I never knew how my mother made them, but they taste really good.