Our traditional holiday turkey soup

My grandmother who survived the Great Depression that took my grandfather's car dealership once took me to the side when I was very poor attending college and taught me one recipe that can stretch a dollar beyond your imagination---leftover turkey soup. Since then I have modified a bit, but it is basically the same and something I make starting out every year at this time.

First, let me state that Sue and I purchased 5 turkey's during King Soopers pre-Thanksgiving sale, four for $6 bucks apiece, (all 12-13#'s), plus one 19 # at $8. The 19-#'er we served on December 27th for a traditional holiday feast for Sue's visiting family. We had two holiday feasts this year, a ham and a turkey. The holiday sale seems to take place every year and you need to plan for it, we make certain we have enough freezer room here and up at the vacation mountain home.

To get the turkey's at one shopping trip, we had to check out each one in a separate transaction and now with the new automatic self check lanes we didn't even have to get back in line, we simply paid out each purchase, then restarted another.When you think about it buying whole birds at $0.47 a pound can't be beat and we now still have three turkey's still in the freezer for the upcoming cold winter months. Full price was at least 3 times that much, anyway...

This leftover turkey already provided us Sue's desired turkey dinner hash (a carousal of leftover mashed potatoes, stuffing, dark meat--often the thigh meat and leg meat, gravy and green vegetables, layered like a lasagna) , and also some breast meat for those scrumptious sandwiches, but now the bird has pretty much been picked over and is ripe for its final coup d’état! The secret that Grandma taught me was that try never to use freshly purchased items for holiday or leftover turkey soup---it must be guilt free to taste the best. Back then she told me to scour my mother's refrigerator and save all the vegetable pieces and leftovers while demanding the carcass.

During the holiday week there will undoubtedly be served various vegetables especially celery and carrots pieces, save the ends that are cut off and place them in a separate plastic bag for the stock recipe, this also includes those raw vegetables not eaten in various appetizer spreads, that are beginning to turn plus some green or scallion onions and their ends.

Now I begin by trying to remove as much of the remaining turkey meat as possible, you will be surprised how much meat remains in large pieces, especially on the back, wing bones, around the thigh and even the breast cavities. Set the meat aside in the refrigerator. Now place the remaining bones and carcass into a large stock pot. We have great aluminum pot, a 5-gallon stock pot, indestructible. It was given to us as a wedding present. Remember this whenever you are thinking of giving a gift, a high quality big stock pot is precious and we use it at least weekly. The night before Sue used to make too big a batch of homemade potato salad for the final holiday dinner with her traveling family.

Also place in the stock pot large cut up chucks (because of easier removal) the leftover celery including their leaves, carrots, scallion tops, at least one a chopped large sweet onion, some whole garlic gloves about a half dozen whole black peppercorns. I add, one dried hot pepper from my garden for a hint of a front range flavor, shhhh don't tell Sue!

Now fill the stock pot to almost the top and bring to boil, this will take some time. In the meantime chop up the harvested turkey meat into cubes and place in the refrigerator. As I clean up the kitchen where I periodically look into the brewing stock pot and skim off the scum that forms on the top. This is very important, especially in the modern age of processed frozen turkey that was infused with various foreign elements. If you don't you will have a bitter after taste. You will probably have to do perform this many times over the half hour or so it takes for the pot to come to a boil with medium heat. Once it begins to start rolling boil turn it down to simmer and partially cover. Simmer the stock for 3 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the size of the bird and how rich you want the broth, keeping it below a boil makes a very clear broth, small boil makes it deeper.

Remember this; a famous Cordon Bleu chef who mentored me in my early twenties told me that making stock is an art form passed down from gastronomy science, where the object is in making the best base of your soup or stew makes all the difference. Short cutting the process makes for a wasted effort. We like our soups country-style, thick and flavorful since they will be our main course, so I like a small boil. 

After almost 4 hours of brewing turn it off and let it cool a bit. We then begin taking out the bones and large piece of vegetables using a fryer strainer, this removes most of the carcass and vegetables, discard hopefully in a compost pile, it will provide you a good garden soil next spring. Then we take the dutch oven and screen strainer and slowly run the broth through removing the small pieces of bone and fully cooked meat pieces from the broth. Doing this also removes the peppercorns, garlic and remaining vegetables, leaving a fairly clear broth. We then allow the broth to cool, usually outside, where Sue contributes making certain to remove the solidified grease that forms on top.

Next I then find the remaining carrots, potatoes that never became mashed, broccoli leftovers, (especially the stems), green beans (even the leftovers), any assorted frozen vegetables, one can of diced tomatoes, along with the cubed meat and bring the forming soup to a boil again. We then add some brown rice and barley, (not too much for it will turn the soup into chowder-stew real fast), and bring the soup to a boil again, turn down a simmering low boil, about 20-30 minutes or so. The potatoes and rice are the determining factors when the soup is done.

As for spices this is your choice but we like parsley, thyme, sage, salt and pepper---nothing overpowering and we add them in stages tasting the broth as the soup is finishing. Usually the soup provides us at least two, often three more dinners where we freeze remaining soup in gallon freezer bags. Then during the following work week, when we are trying to get acclimated to the 8-5 schedule again we simply can take out the frozen soup with some bread and have a nice dinner, guilt free.

So back to Grandma, the original $8 turkey that provided us the center-piece of a holiday feast, continued its contribution providing us meat for a leftover dinner carousal and some luncheon sandwiches, then continued its life providing us the base for at least three more dinners of glorious---guilt free turkey soup! That is how you Never Pay Full Price after the holidays---save the carcass, save the vege's, and make some homemade soup!