My grandmother (born 1893) learned this from her grandmother (an Irish immigrant in the 1860's), but they added a Tblsp of cider vinegar to the water with the carcass and cooked it slowly overnight on the back of the wood stove (my crock pot today) to draw the calcium from the bones. Doing this turns the broth just slightly milky and gives the soup a unique flavor.
This is a great soup made from bones that most cooks discard. Like others for years I've used the carcass for soup. After our turkey dinner is over, my husband immediately takes most all the meat off the carcass (putting aside any small scraps to be used in the soup) and cuts the carcass in manageable pieces. Then I put the carcass in my largest crock pot along with a large onion, some cut up carrots and celery, and salt and pepper. I cook it all night on low and the next morning after discarding the carcass and vegetables, I have the most wonderful stock. I can then freeze the stock and turkey scraps until a couple weeks later when the family is again yearning for turkey.
I've also been making this type of soup for many years, but cook it longer on lower heat, to pull as much flavor from the bones as possible. I used tomatoes, as per recipe, but prefer turkey soup without them, so will leave them out next time. Also, I prefer a stronger turkey flavor, so I'll cut the water back to 3 quarts. I added a bag of frozen mixed vegetables and did not strain the broth. Great recipe for those who have never tried this method. Thanks. : )
WOW!! This has to be the one of the best soups I've ever made. Here's what I did: Using 4 quarts of chicken broth, 1 whole head of garlic gently crushed, 3 cut up carrots, 3 stalks of cut up celery and one onion diced. I simmered the carcass for almost 7 hours and then strained the broth twice and tossed out the solids. Instead of shredding a whole cabbage I used a bag of pre-shredded cole slaw. I didn't use potatoes but with 10 mins left to simmer I put in a bag of medium egg noodles. I had at least a full 1 1/2 lbs of turkey meat trimmed from the carcass that was also diced up and put in the pot. Everything else was exactly as written in the recipe. This was an incredible soup that we'll be eating for the better part of this week since it made so much. Highly recommend using this recipe when needing to use up the holiday turkey. So GOOD!!
Makes a nice hearty soup. I left out tomatoes, cabbage & potatoes but added extra carrots, celery & barley. I simmered the carcass on very low heat for more than three hours which produced a thick, gelatinous liquid. However this also dried out the white meat so I chopped that for the dogs & used only the dark meat in the soup. Then I chilled the strained liquid overnight & skimmed off a thick, pudding-like layer of fat before proceeding with step 2. Everyone asked for seconds!
Glad to see an after Thanksgiving turkey soup. I've making this for years as did my mother. You might want to try creating the soup in a slow cooker. Less water is lost and the flavors remains very fresh. Fantastic!
I have done this for years my mother taught me and I've fed this to my kids growing up. They lovingly call this " bone soup". Whenever I make this they come over for some. The grandkids love my "bone soup".
Delish! Great recipe and easy to make the day after Thanksgiving. I had to adjust the seasoning a bit due to the huge turkey we had but turned it out wonderful and I'm going to make this from now on instead of going shopping on black Friday.
Very good. Made as directed. It does need twice the barley. Next time I think I might try it with mushrooms (sauteed) instead of tomatoes. I like the idea of removing the one processed ingredient and keeping it more in the seasonal vegetable theme.
As a person who has been making homemade broth for over 40 years, I have a few suggestions. Place the carcass in the oven at 350 for at least 30 minutes. After that, place the turkey carcass, quartered onion, two carrots chopped in one inch pieces, three celery ribs quartered, a tablespoon of peppercorns, a bay leaf or two, rosemary sprigs if you have them as well as sage leaves. Add water to cover, you may add broth if you feel like it. Let it simmer for about 4 hours. Let cool, strain and continue as noted in the recipe. Your stock will be so flavorful , it will be so much better than anything you can buy at the grocery store. You aren't making broth with this, you are making turkey stock.
