How Do You Make Turkey Soup?

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Pull all the meat off the (comparatively small) bones. Cover with water and simmer for an hour. You can add a little celery and onion if you want. Do not salt.
Strain the broth and add what you want. "Turkey soup" may just refer to the type of broth you have--turkey, beef, chicken, seafood.
You can make a lovely vegetable soup adding onions, celery, canned tomatoes, cabbage, etc. Simmer for an hour or so.
Perhaps for a simpler turkey soup, add some onion and celery and simmer to get them done. Then add some sliced mushrooms and rice and simmer until the rice is tender. If you want a soup with meat (like your leftover turkey) add chopped meat when you add the rice and simmer. Taste for salt needed. Add herbs as you like. A bit of thyme and sage would be nice with this.
 
simmer the carcas with aromatic veg...carrot celery and onion 1 hr to 1/2 hr, and any pan drippings you may have saved. skim and strain broth, retuen slices or chunks of meat to broth and add any veg or pasta or rice that you like. Lots of folks use frozen mixed soup vegetables. I prefer fresh...turnips cauliflower escarole ... all these cook in 15 min or so, add great texture, mild flavor, and take to the turkey broth flavor very well, and noodles. season with salt and pepper
 
Since a turkey breast doesn't have any fat to speak of, I'd add a little butter to the broth for flavor. Just a couple of tablespoons will go a long way. I would also simmer some whole cloves of garlic along with the carcass.
 
I'd add some white wine to the stock too to help with flavor as well as peppercorns. I'd also reduce the stock after it was made to concentrate the flavor and make a small batch of excellent flavor than a larger batch of weaker flavor.

thymeless
 
thymeless said:
I'd add some white wine to the stock too to help with flavor as well as peppercorns. I'd also reduce the stock after it was made to concentrate the flavor and make a small batch of excellent flavor than a larger batch of weaker flavor.

thymeless

You don't want to add thyme? :bb: (sorry, couldn't help it - but thyme would be good! lol)

I totally agree about reducing it. I'm a fan of slow roasting the bones first then putting in the water, aromatic veggies, etc., to flavor it.
 
Hee hee hee, I grew up with my old man always making turkey soup. The problem was he made gallons and gallons of it! He'd simmer the carcass of a 20 some pound bird for seemingly ever. No seasonings whatsoever. Then once the stock was made, essentially whole veggies went in. Whole onions, large carrots cut in half, maybe thirds. Ditto with celery. Then all the meat that was left over and simmered off the bones.
 
Use the carcass, wings, and bones from the leg quarters. Figure on 2-2.5lbs of tukey parts per 1qt of fluid for a proper stock. If you try to stretch it, it will taste watery and you will probably over-salt in an attempt to heighten the flavors that just aren't there (pretty much what you get with canned/carton stocks). If you want more stock than you have bones for, buy some turkey wings/quarters in advance to supplement what you have from the whole roast. Follow the recipe below, substituting tukey parts for chicken parts...
Brown Chicken Stock

Brown chicken stock is used for hearty poultry or vegetable based dishes. Stripped down, it's essential components (like all good stocks) are clean water (filtered if necessary, but not distilled), bones/joints, aromatics, herbs and spices. It's essential that high quality ingredients are used, as the flavors derived are subsequently reduced and condensed which will magnify any shortcuts taken. The mouth-feel of a good stock is created by collagen in the connective tissues breaking down into gelatin. Browning the bones and aromatics not only brings color, but makes use of the Maillard and Caramelization reactions to increase flavor complexity and depth. It's important that sufficient browning is reached, but care must be taken not to burn anything. Burnt items create a bitter flavor in the stock which is unpleasant and gets worse as the stock is reduced. Some flavors and aromatics are volatile, and care must be taken not to boil them away. Boiling is bad not just for flavor, but also decreases the clarity of the final product. Frequent skimming is also necessary to remove foam and scum which will reduce the stock's quality if left to break down and suspend itself. Stock should be started cold and cooked at a bare simmer. Cooking time begins once the stock reaches a bare simmer.

10-lbs Chicken Bones (or Wings/Drumsticks)
Canola Oil
4-qt + 2-C Water
1 Large Onion - Diced
2 Medium Carrots - Diced
2 Stalks Celery - Diced
6-oz Tomato Paste
2 Medium Cloves Garlic - Crushed
1-t Black Peppercorns
3 Sprigs Fresh Parsley
3 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
2 Bay leaves

Preheat the oven to 425*F and heat a large heavy roasting pan filmed with canola Oil. Add the chicken bones and roast until evenly browned, turning as needed - roughly one hour. Remove the chicken to a large stock pot, and add the water to cover. De-glaze the roasting pan with some water, and add to the stock pot. Bring the chicken to a a bare simmer over medium heat and then reduce the temperature to maintain the bare simmer as necessary. If the water level falls below the level of the chicken, heat some water in a separate sauce pan and gently replenish some of the lost water. Do not completely replenish the lost water, as the stock eventually needs to reduce to 1-gal.

Three and a half hours into simmering, film a skillet with canola oil and add the mirepoix (onion, carrot, and celery). Saute over medium-high heat until the onions are caramelized. Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir constantly until it turns a golden brown and smells sweet. De-glaze the pan with a few ladles of stock, and then add the mixture to the stock pot along with the remaining ingredients.

After the stock has simmered for five hours, carefully strain it with a chinois or cheesecloth and measure the final volume - the target is 1-gal (4-qts). If the volume is short, add enough water to reach 4-qts. If the volume is large, return the strained stock to a simmer, and reduce until 4-qts is achieved. Chill the stock, and then degrease once the fat has stratified and turned solid.

Obviously you don't need to re-roast parts that have already been roasted. I'd roast any supplemental parts you have purchased though. Adjust the quantities for the desired amount of stock.

Once you have a stock you can go a couple ways, thickened or unthickened. I'm not a fan of thin soups with hearty ingredients, so I thicken. You can go with a Roux, Cornstarch, or blending part of the cooked soup and adding it back in. Cornstarch is only good fo a few hours before it looses it's hold and begins to weep, so I like Rouxs or the blender method. For the roux method, do the following (this is essentially a thin veloute).

3-T Turkey Fat (You saved it right?... :ermm: )
4-T Flour
2-Qt Brown Turkey Stock (Prepared as above)
1/4-C Dry White Wine (e.g. Sauvignon Blanc)
1 Medium Onion - Minced
1 Large Carrot - Small Dice
1 Rib Celery - Small Dice
1 Large or 2 Medium Red Potatoes - 1/2" Cubes with Skin On
1 Large Garlic Clove (Crushed)
1 Fresh Sprig Thyme
1 Fresh Sprig Parsley
1 Bay Leaf
1-t Black Peppercorns
1-C Cubed or Shredded Turkey
1/2-C Peas (Fresh or Frozen)
Kosher Salt - To Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper - To Taste

Tie the garlic clove, peppercorns, fresh herb sprigs, and bay leaf in a piece of washed cheesecloth.

Heat the fat in a pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and sweat until the onions are transparent and on the verge of taking on color. Add the flour, and stir constantly scraping the bottom until the raw scent of flour has given way to a slightly nutty aroma. Be very careful not to burn the flour - carefully control your heat! You might need an extra tablespoon of turkey fat depending on your pan size/shape.

Slowly add the stock adding 1/2-C or so at a time while whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Add the wine and cheesecloth sachet and cook at a bare simmer for 30min - stir often.

Add the potatoes and cook until they are thoroughly tender (fish one out and eat it).

Remove/discard the sachet, and season the thickened broth to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the turkey and peas, and cook until the peas are tender (or reheated in the case of frozen). Check the S&P again before serving.

This recipe works just as good for a quick chicken stew too. Make sure you do everything without covers. As the soup simmers it will lose a bit of volume and reduce itself for an even more intense flavor. The key is in the stock!
 
I usually just buy turkey parts and make a gallon of stock before having people over for roast turkey. The stock is used to make the dressing and gravy for the main meal, and then I use it for soup/stew the next day. It's great for gratins, base for pot pies, turkey chunk gravy over taters ala 5th grade, reduced with some uber-thin n' whispy egg noodles and a squirt of lemon juice, reduced to a glace to make quick pan sauces down the road, and so on...
 
Nicholas Mosher said:
The stock is used to make the dressing and gravy for the main meal, and then I use it for soup/stew the next day. It's great for gratins, base for pot pies, turkey chunk gravy over taters ala 5th grade, reduced with some uber-thin n' whispy egg noodles and a squirt of lemon juice, reduced to a glace to make quick pan sauces down the road, and so on...

hey nicholas, have a good recipe for pot pies?
 
To be honest I really haven't "worked" on a a pot-pie recipe. However, I do sometimes make a quickie version in my single serving crocks. Basically just use the recipe above for turkey soup, but use just 1qt of stock instead of two. This will produce a thick gravy/stew like consistency. Then I warm my crocks and bake off some rounds of puff-pastry. Set the puff pastry on the warm stew filled crock and have at it.

Not really a "Pot-Pie" recipe though. Some restaurants around here make this as "pot-pie", and it is good, but I refer to it more as a comforting way to use leftovers.

I'll work on a real pot-pie recipe some day this fall, and get back with whatever findings I have. :)
 
I should also mention that you can increase the amount of meat/veggies in the turkey stew recipe I posted. Another classic addition would be some sage for that late-fall/early-winter holiday flavor. Just throw a leaf in the cheesecloth sachet so you can easily remove it later.
 
I predict you get as many recipes for soup as there are posters here.

I always sweat the mire poix first. Heat small amount olive oil in large stock pot, toss in chopped carrots, celery and onion. Cook over medium heat long enough to give a bit of colour. Deglaze the pan with marsala. Add dried thyme now (or wait till later to add fresh). Fill pot with water and bring to a simmer. Add the entire breast leftover to the water, simmer gently for an hour. You may find the flavour to be weak, since this is the second cooking for the bones. Most of the flavour was realeased when you roasted the breast the first time. If this is the case, add some stock or base, storebought is fine. Pull the breast out, wait till it's cool enough to handle and then pull the meat off the bones and return to the pot.
Before I serve, I sprinkle fresh chopped parsley and thyme into the pot, stir. I also grate romano cheese over the soup in the bowls.
 
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