Things I Eat: Turkey Carcass Soup

Carcass? Ewwwww. . .

HEY! HEEEY! You think you are a carnivore, then you use every piece of the beast. Also, bones and remains are how you make fantastic soups and stocks. If you say you are a hard-core meat-eater and don't use the carcass and bones after a meal, you're not doing it right.

What do you mean you buy it?

Just kidding, I buy broth. But, I always enjoy grabbing a carcass to make my own soup!

What You Need

• A carcass – We had two turkey at about 15lbs each. I got both! We strip the meat pretty good, but, there is always stuff left and. . .well. .DA BONES! You can use any type of animal for stock: lamb, cow, goat, duck - whatever
• Onion – Some of this depends on how big your carcass is. I use about four onions
• Garlic – I used about 4 cloves and a healthy squeeze from the minced garlic thingy
• Sage – LOVE sage. I have it in my spice rack
• Basil – YES! I used the dried kind, again
• Thyme – Lots and lots! This is what makes stuffing taste so good, I think.
• Corn – I used one bag frozen corn
• Red Bliss Potatoes – I think I used about 5lbs. 
• Kale – Raw and chopped
• Salt – To taste

Optional
Carrots, celery, parsley – all those staples. My lover doesn’t like celery or carrots. .and I didn’t have any.

What You Do
It's good to have a stock pot on hand. Stock pots are large and awesome. They are good for making broths, like this, large stews and even stuff like shelfish. You could use a pasta pot, but, you might be sad. Mine is huge. HUGE. Great for this kind of stuff.

You can break down the carcass if it's not fitting in there. No worries.  Just get all the stuff in there. Chop up your onions and garlic. You can be sloppy about it because you are going to be cooking everything until these things break down. Also, cut up about half your taters. Potatoes cook down and make things creamy and thick. Then you cover the thing in water – or at least so 95% of the carcass is covered in water.

Season generously with sage, thyme and basil. Boil and then simmer for. . .about. .let’s say 3 hours. It can be less, it can be more. Taste and season more if you need to.

After you are done simmering it – pull out the carcass pieces. Let them cool for a minute – then pull away any meat. The meat should pretty much be falling off the bones at this point, put all the meat into the soup. Toss the bones without any meat left on them. Unless you use them for something else. I chuck mine at this point.

Add in some whole potatoes – if they are too large, cut them into fourths or whatever. I like to have some whole potatoes in my stew. Let that simmer until the potatoes are soft. You can also add more water if it's too thick for you. Add in the bag of frozen corn,  a couple handfuls of kale or spinach and any other extra seasonings and simmer until it’s all warm again.

Serve!

It’s delicious. It also stores very well! Freeze a couple containers for later consumption. Throw the rest in your fridge - it gets better with age. You can always add a little water before you warm it up. I like a nice, thick soup, but, you can add some water to make it thinner and still delicious.

You can add noodles, if you want. Or add some turkey meatballs. Stuffing? Anything! It's super delicious in waffles. .anything.