My problem with this soup is the method. As written, you end up sorting though the vegetables to fish out the bones, fine if you get them all, dangerous and messy if you don't. I like to boil the turkey carcass in water with onions, celery, herbs, and carrots added for flavor, then strain the broth and put it out on the porch until the fat rises. I throw away the fat and cook the "final" vegetables in the strained broth. Takes a bit longer, but surely less of a mess. The flavor of the soup is great, though, as long as you don't use too much water. By making the broth before adding the final vegetables, you have the option of cooking down the broth to concentrate it if needed. This broth is rich in calcium because of the bones, for an additional bonus.
This recipe should be rewritten. A novice might believe that 5 cups of water is correct, it is not. That depends on the carcass size. Also, the rice will turn to mush and picking the carcass bones out of the "soup" is a mess. There are better recipes for turkey soup.
Excellent. Make the day after Thanksgiving or freeze the carcass/skin then defrost to make recipe later. Use a crock pot/slow cooker (or pressure cooker) & make it even easier on yourself. Just make certain you cover the carcass entirely with water. Sometimes I use 3 parts water & 1 part canned broth to enhance flavor. I use a strainer over a bowl to strain out the bones/skin & retain the yummy soup. This is easier than trying to pick out bones by hand unless you have a big Chinese strainer "spoon". This works for me too.
Personally I make my broth the way PatsyK describes below. The only difference is that prior to simmering the bones and stock veggies I roast the broken up carcass/skin/meat in the oven at a high heat turning regularly. This adds a really good flavor to the stock and also turns it a nice golden brown color.
As is this recipe is a great inspiration. However, I did things slightly different and it made a great soup. Here is what I did...I used the carcass from my Crock Pot Turkey Breast and all of the juice in the bottom of the crock pot, 1 box of chicken broth, 3 bay leaves, 2 carrots, 2 ribs celery, 1 tsp poultry seasoning and cracked black pepper, brought to a boil for 1 hour. Drained out the bones etc and disgarded. Then refrigerated stock overnight and skimmed. Then I dumped stock in my crock pot and added two cans mixed veggies drained and about 2 cups of turkey I got off of the carcus and cooked all day on low. Just before sserving I dumped in two cups of cooked white rice. And walla a great turkey rice soup. Thanks for the inspiration.
I used this recipe with a few changes based on other reviews. Omit the rice. Add wide egg noodles the last 15 minutes. I used the spices that I would use with chicken soup. Oregano basil bay leaves majoram ground thyme salt pepper and a little lemon juice. Tastes great and made a whole pot of soup with what I would have thrown away. Thank you.
Good but kind of bland. Had to doctor with herbs and chicken stock. Not enough broth in soup.
Cooked the carcass with carrots & celery and then strained and threw away veggies bones etc. I then finished the recipe. It needs salt and pepper badly. Leftovers froze well.
I like to add other leftovers to this soup, such as left over spinach, sweet and white potatoes, celery, carrots, onion, parsnip, peas, corn, whatever is around. Barley or orzo also goes well in the soup. Sometimes I will process half of the cooked soup to thicken it.
