As usual, we (by "we" I mean Jeremy) volunteered to carve turkeys for the Thanksgiving feast at Raintree this year. He brought home 4 pre-cooked turkeys on Monday afternoon and carved them Tuesday evening (they had to thaw). For the last several years, we've made our own turkey stock from the turkey carcass and it has enriched countless meals for us throughout the year. This year, I thought I'd do a quick how to for anyone else interested in making their own stock and preserving it to use throughout the year.
First, a quick apology. I didn't have the idea to write this up until we had already made the stock, so I don't have pictures of the beginning part of the process. Please try to imagine!
1. After removing all the meat (well, almost all - some always stays stuck to the bones and that's ok), put the bones into a large stock pot (2-4 gallon pot). Break up larger bones if necessary to make them fit in the pot. We usually put the bones from 2 turkeys into each pot, although we've done it with 1 and 3 in a pot before.
2. Add vegetables. We use celery and onions typically. As a note, you can use parts of the vegetables that you don't normally eat for this. We'll put our celery leaves and little bits in a ziploc in the freezer during the year and then use those for stock. Same for onion skins/bits. You can use carrots, potato peels or anything similar. Add as much as you would for a pot of soup the size of your stock pot. For us, that's at least half an onion and a cup or so of celery bits.
3. Add salt. This is a matter of personal preference and depends a lot of what you're making the stock out of. Some meats are already salted pretty heavily (like ham) and don't need additional salt. Others (like chicken) tend not to be. Salt to taste - there's no wrong amount to use.
4. Add other seasonings if you'd like. We stick to the above and then season whatever its going into later. Do what makes you happy though!
5. Cover everything with water and bring up to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 3-4 hours covered. It should smell rich and wonderful steaming out of the edge of the pot.
6. Scoop out the big pieces from the stock. You can sometimes pick out another cup or so of meat bits at this point and they are great in soup or (our personal favorite) turkey and dumplings. When most of the big pieces have been removed, pour the rest through a strainer to catch any smaller bits that remain.
(if the stock seems watery or not strong enough, boil it down now. Reduce it until it is a rich brown color and has the flavor you want. It can take another couple of hours.)
7. Refrigerate the stock. This time of year, it can sit covered in a garage overnight if you don't have room in the refrigerator.
8. Once cold, the stock should be fairly solid. The fat will have risen to the top and can now be skimmed off. You can either keep it to flavor something rich, or discard it.
At this point, you can choose to freeze your stock or you can can it. Instructions for canning follow. I'm going to assume you can freeze it on your own. :-)
Canning supplies laid out
1. Set cold stock on stove top over medium heat to bring to a boil.
Stock simmering after fat has been (mostly) scraped off
2. Prepare pressure canner (wash and fill with 1-2 inches of water). Put the canner on the largest burner you have. Wash jars in warm water and place in the canner. Add lids to canner.
3. Set the heat to high under the canner and boil jars and lids for at least 5 minutes with the lid of the canner on but not locked (i.e. let steam escape freely during this process).
Jars and lids being sterilized
4. Remove jars and lids from canner and set on an insulated surface (folded towels work well, I usually use old rags). Leave the canner boiling on the burner.
5. When the stock is boiling, ladle it into the hot jars. Each jar should be filled to about 1 inch from the top (1" head space).
6. Wipe the jar rims and put on the lids and rings. Tighten rings just until snug - don't overtighten. If you have a helper, they can do this step while you ladle stock into the other jars.
7. Gently set each jar into the still boiling canner. I recommend placing the jar into the water at an angle to prevent an air bubble from being caught under the bottom of the jar. If one is trapped it will sometimes break the jar during processing.
8. When all jars are loaded in the canner, place the lid on and lock it. Do no put the weight/gauge on yet.
9. Let the canner come up to a boil so that you see steam coming out of the vent. Let boil like that for 5-10 minutes.
10. Add the weight or gauge and let the canner come up to 10 lbs pressure for a weighted gauge and 11 lbs for a dial gauge. Reduce heat to keep the canner at that pressure, but not increase it. Set a timer for 20 minutes.
11. When timer goes off, remove canner from heat and allow to cool. Ideally, let it cool all the way to room temperature (this will take several hours). If you don't have that much time, then give it until no more steam is coming out and you can't hear any sounds of boiling inside (1-2 hours usually). Remove the weight/gauge and lid.
12. Take the jars out of the canner and put the on an insulated surface to finish cooling. Label each jar with the date and what kind of stock is inside and put them on the shelf to use at your leisure!
Delicious turkey stock ready when we need it!
